• Bay Area

    Babatunde Harrison, Journalist Griot in the Diaspora

    by  • March 15, 2013 • Africans in America, Bay Area, Berkeley, Marin County News, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, San Francisco, South County

    The Ancestress, Alice Ewurafua Baoye Arthur, at home with her great grandchildren in Hayward: Anthony Adeyinka DaSilva, JR., (far Left), Miles DaSilva, next to the Ancestress, Christiana Folarinde DaSilva and Malik DaSilva. Photo by Kenneth Walker.

    Part II By Babatunde Harrison In the ancient African empires of West Africa, the Griot was the custodian of the histories and genealogies of the people of West Africa. Through epic songs and poetry, the Griot told and preserved the traditions and memories of ancient Mali, Songhai and Ghana.. Since the arrival of the...

    Read more →

    Africans In America

    by  • March 15, 2013 • Africans in America, Bay Area, Berkeley, Featured, News Group Publisher, Oakland News Articles, Rev. Hunter, San Francisco, South County, Special Interests Articles

    A Veneration Ceremony often has dancing, singing ,drumming, and spiritual chants to honor the ancestors. A Yoruba Mythology saying:” As a spirit in heaven before taking a body, we each are given assignments tasks from our ancestors to achieve then we are sent to earth through selected parents. which leads to the chant - It is the errand of my ancestors that I run, or it is the path of my ancestors that I walk. Photos by Kayode Gbadebo and graphic design by Adam L. Turner

    Part II By Kayode Gbadebo According to historian John Ridpath, “Observers of traditional African culture, so inevitably influenced by Western style of thought and intellectual traditions, failed to understand and interpret the culture.” This may be because, according to writer John Bascom. “The Yoruba way of life is traditional, dating back well before the...

    Read more →

    Man Wanted for Spreading HIV to Hundreds of Men and Women

    by  • March 15, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Black Church Information, Entertainment, Marin County News, Michelle Obama, News Articles, Obituaries, Post News Feature Story, Richmond News, San Francisco, SECTIONS, site test

    Isaac Don Burks

    Authorities are offering a reward up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of 31-year-old Isaac Don Burks, who has been accused of intentionally infecting hundreds of men and women in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania with HIV. Police say his potential victims could date back as far as 2003. He has...

    Read more →

    106-Year-Old Receives High School Diploma 88 Years Late

    by  • March 15, 2013 • Article Archives, Barak Obama, Bay Area, Berkeley, Featured, Marin County News, Oakland News Articles

    reba_williams

    Reba Williams, a 106-year-old woman from Columbus, Ohio, is finally receiving her high school diploma. She never graduated from Mount Vernon High School even though she completed all 12 years. Apparently, she was being punished for being in “academic rebellion,” when she refused to read the final book assigned by her teacher during her...

    Read more →

    Kaiser Security Officers Rally

    by  • March 15, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Marin County News, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, San Francisco, South County, Special Interests Articles

    Nancy Skinner

    Security officers who work at Kaiser rallied this week in Oakland and Los Angeles calling on the state’s largest health care provider to provide more sick days and family medical benefits. The workers are members of SEIU USWW, which represents more than 1,800 contracted security officers at Kaiser facilities throughout California. The officers are...

    Read more →

    Nubian Academy for Girls Set to Open

    by  • March 15, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Faith, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, San Francisco, South County, Special Interests Articles

    Nubian Academy students participate in a science lab. Left to right are: Cierra Suarez, Empress Shalom, Meisha Butcher. The girl in back is Imari Fernandez.

    The Nubian Academy for Girls, which is opening on April 6, will host a Saturday school every weekend until the summer. The Saturday school will serve up to 50 girls from sixth through eleventh grades and will be hosted by several community centers, churches, public schools and colleges. Activities will include homework help, cultural...

    Read more →

    Wells Fargo to Lend $55 Billion to Women-Owned Businesses

    by  • March 15, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Marin County News, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, San Francisco, South County, Special Interests Articles

    Lisa Stevens

    Wells Fargo Bank has announced it will lend a total of $55 billion to women-owned businesses by the year 2020. The announcement was made recently by Lisa Stevens, Wells Fargo lead executive for Small Business and West Coast Regional Banking president, at the Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) 22nd Annual Latina History Day...

    Read more →

    Baby Born With HIV Cured, Say Scientists

    by  • March 15, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Health, HIV, Marin County News, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, San Francisco, South County, Special Interests Articles

    This image shows Dr. Deborah Persaud of Johns Hopkins’ Children’s Center in Baltimore. A baby born with HIV appears to have been cured, scientists announced Sunday, Mar. 3. AP Photo/Johns Hopkins Medicine.

    By Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press A baby born with the virus that causes AIDS appears to have been cured, scientists announced Sunday, describing the case of a child from Mississippi who is now 2 1/2 and has been off medication for about a year with no signs of infection. There is no guarantee the...

    Read more →

    Terralyn Mosby, Advocate for HIV/AIDS Awareness

    by  • March 15, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Health, HIV, Marin County News, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, San Francisco, South County, Special Interests Articles

    Terralyn and her older brother Quincey Mosby, who often uses his poetry to express himself.

    By Jesse Brooks National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a time to share knowledge and shed light on the often-overlooked impact of the disease on women and families in our communities. The official commemoration was March 10, but events happen all month. Often buried within the data on the general AIDS population...

    Read more →

    “One Man’s Battle: An African American Journey”

    by  • March 15, 2013 • Africans in America, Bay Area, Berkeley, Featured, Marin County News, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, San Francisco, South County

    The Africana and African American Studies and Friends of the Library group at Contra Costa College presented a book signing this week with Rufus Battle, author of “One Man’s Battle: An African American Journey.” The book, a tale of struggle and redemption, tells his story of living in a “sharecropper’s shack near a Louisiana...

    Read more →

    State of Emergency” Conference on Under-Performing Children

    by  • March 15, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Marin County News, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, San Francisco, South County

    Contra Costa College and Community Engagement Initiatives (CEI) are presenting a “State of Emergency” conference Saturday, April 6 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to “discuss challenges and issues facing under-performing children, their families and communities.” The conference, which will be held at Contra Costa College at 2600 Mission Bell Drive in San Pablo,...

    Read more →

    New “InYoFaceFilm” Video Production Features a Light Hearted Comical Music Video

    by  • March 15, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Entertainment, SECTIONS, Special Interests Articles

    From the left Danny A,Droop-E, Cherenna Wright, and Haqq Shabazz.

    By Shaveela Raniga Award winning director Damon Jamal and  executive producer Haqq Shabazz of InYoFaceFilm are coming out with “White Boy Faded,” a light hearted comical music video on getting faded by up and coming artist Danny A. The video features an appearance by hip-hop’s Droop-E, the son of the Ambassador of the Bay,...

    Read more →

    Myrtle Braxton Labors to Show the “True Side of Richmond”

    by  • March 15, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, Richmond News, Special Interests Articles

    Myrtle Braxton. Photo by Joe L. Fisher, Black American Political Action Committee.

    By Kia Croom Richmond resident Myrtle Braxton’s life gives meaning to  the word “service.” She  is known and loved throughout the city and West Contra Costa County for her selfless volunteerism, generosity and goodwill. On an ordinary day, Braxton can be found at one of many board or committee meetings, networking at a community...

    Read more →

    UC Berkeley Honors Public Health Heroes

    by  • March 15, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Health, News Articles

    Dr. David Satcher

    Dr. David Satcher, former U.S. Surgeon General and former CDC director, and Dr. J. Michael McGinnis, a top health official who served under four U.S. presidential administrations, are receiving the 17th annual Public Health Heroes Award this week from the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. The awards were presented Thursday, March...

    Read more →

    From Haiti to Oakland, Séphora Pierre-Louis Reaches Out to Help Her Homeland

    by  • March 14, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, Oakland News Articles

    Séphora Pierre-Louis

    By Randie Ellington On Tuesday Jan. 12, 2010, a little over three years ago, at 4:53 p.m., a catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, 16 miles from its capital city of Port Au Prince. In less than 45 seconds, more than 200,000 people were killed. One of the survivors, Séphora Pierre-Louis, found herself mourning...

    Read more →

    Africans in America

    by  • March 14, 2013 • Africans in America, Bay Area, Berkeley, Featured, News Articles, Oakland News Articles, Special Interests Articles

    Babatunde Harrison, African Journalist Griot

    “There are not enough Griots to tell the stories of the brave men, women and children who lived through the pain and stench of the dungeon castle. This castle holds millions of intangible horror stories. And, annually, thousands  of descendants of the millions gone, return to pass through this dungeon  to imagine and relive...

    Read more →

    Police Chief Howard Jordan Speaks at Evergreen Church

    by  • March 14, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, Oakland News Articles

    Bishop Frank Pinkard (left) with Chief Howard Jordan. Photo by Richard Cutris of Evergreen Church.

    By Post Staff Police Chief Howard Jordan spoke last Sunday at Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church, seeking community support for his efforts to curb the high crime rate in Oakland. Speaking to the congregation, the chief emphasized that he is committed to “reducing crime and providing a safer Oakland through ways and means that increase...

    Read more →

    Catholics, World Leaders Welcome New Pope

    by  • March 14, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, Oakland News Articles

    His Holiness Pope Francis

    Pope Francis Becomes the first pontiff from the Americas By Sylvia Hui and Raphael Satter, Associated Press World leaders sent in their congratulations, and Catholics around the world were celebrating Wednesday after the Vatican announced the election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to the papacy — making him the first pontiff from the Americas....

    Read more →

    Reid, McElhaney Call for Army Base Hearing

    by  • March 14, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, Oakland News Articles, Politics and Government

    Larry Reid

    By Jesse Douglas Allen-Taylor Oakland City Councilmember Larry Reid blasted Oakland developer Phil Tagami’s and Oakland city staff’s handling of the removal of small business tenants from the old Oakland Army Base this week, telling members of the Council’s Community and Economic Development Committee that Oakland was operating a “double standard” between the small...

    Read more →

    Africans In America

    by  • March 8, 2013 • Africans in America, Bay Area, Berkeley, Featured, Marin County News, News Articles, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, San Francisco, South County, Special Interests Articles

    Elebiti (in green) and Egungun masquerader is being led from the temple beginning the procession. The man in Blue is the head of Egungun worshippers in the Ile-Ife city of Nigerian.

    Egungun Festival of Nigeria’s Yoruba Ancestors The Egungun is a secret society among the Yoruba people of Ibadan, Oyo, and Modakeke, Gbongan Osun State, Nigeria. The major Egungun festival takes place in June, when members of the society come to the market place and perform masked dances. The masks represent ancestral spirits. It is...

    Read more →

    Former Four Seasons Arts Administrator Charles L. Burns Jr., 76

    by  • March 8, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Marin County News, Oakland News Articles, Obituary, Richmond News, San Francisco

    Charles L. Burns Jr.

    By Barbara Bauer Charles L. Burns Jr., who worked as an administrator for Four Seasons Arts and other symphonies, died Feb. 24 in San Francisco. He was 76. Burns was born on Aug. 8 1936 to Beamen White Burns and Charles L. Burns, Sr. in Grand Ridge, Florida. He earned a Bachelor of Arts...

    Read more →

    True Vine Ministries’ “Men of Iron” Program Helps Youth

    by  • March 8, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Marin County News, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, San Francisco, South County

    Back row, from left to right: Bryce Manuel, Darius Falcon, Armani Wright, Jovonni Temple, Dennis McCinton; Front row, left to right: Kamal Frazier, Asante Dunn, Jacari Ward, Balall Nasher, Christopher Grigsby, Ajani Patillo.

    By Ashley Chambers Men of Iron (MOI) is an organization that seeks to provide  a positive influence for young boys in Oakland, Seeing the lives of young Black men taken away by countless homicides and incarceration, six deputy sheriffs started the program in 2007 in response to the lack of positive male role models...

    Read more →

    Hugo Chavez Aided Hurricane Katrina Victims

    by  • March 8, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Marin County News, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, San Francisco, South County, Special Interests Articles

    hugo Chavez

    By Post Staff As millions of Venezuelans mourn the death of 58-year-old President Hugo Chavez, a number of local residents remember the controversial leader’s efforts on behalf of the poor in his country and the U.S. Under Chavez, the CITGO – Venezuela Heating Oil Program has provided low-cost heating oil to 1.7 million people...

    Read more →

    Math Streaming at St. Andrew School Helps Bridge the Gap

    by  • March 8, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Marin County News, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, San Francisco, South County

    Rev. Robert Lacy, Jr. of St. Andrew Private School in Oakland.

    By Ashley Chambers Students across the nation can boost their math and science scores from the comfort of their computer screens by tuning in to live stream sessions conducted by Rev. Robert Lacy Jr. of St. Andrew Private School in Oakland. As a teacher of math and science for the past 15 years, Lacy...

    Read more →

    Gigi Crowder Wins Mental Health Association Award

    by  • March 8, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Marin County News, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, South County

    Gigi Crowder

    Gigi Crowder has received the Mental Health Association of Alameda County’s Distinguished Achievement Award for her work as ethnic services manager in the county’s Behavioral Health program. Crowder received the award for her “commitment to cultural diversity in mental health” and  “the outstanding work she does to honor the consumer and family voice regarding...

    Read more →

    Celebrate Harriet Tubman at Peralta Colleges

    by  • March 8, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, San Francisco, South County, Special Interests Articles

    Harriet Tubman

      History, says Wanda Ravernell of Omnira Institute, is not a subject you study. It is something you live with. Day in and day out, we live with the choices made in the past, choices that continue to affect us. “It is important to know that history,” said Ravernell,  “because it frames the choices...

    Read more →

    Senior Travel Troupe Meeting

    by  • March 8, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, South County

    The Senior Travel Troupe will discuss upcoming excursions for adults 50+ Monday, April 1, 10 a.m. to noon at the Senior Community Center, 13909 East 14th St. in San Leandro. Learn the affordable, exciting and fun way to travel. Preregistration is required to attend this free meeting. Priority registration for all trips  will be...

    Read more →

    Teens Walk and Ride to Win a Bicycle at Bancroft Middle School

    by  • March 8, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, South County

    Pictured left to right: SLUSD Boardmember Diana Prola, Safe Routes to School Coordinator Lisa Jackson, Bancroft Middle School Principal Jonathan Ferrer, Isaac Silva, Vice Principal Fabiola Fernandez, Vice Mayor Michael Gregory.

    Bancroft Middle School sixth grader Isaac Silva won a brand new 24-inch mountain bike this week as part San Leandro’s Safe Routes to School Program. The bicycle was presented Monday by Vice-Mayor Michael Gregory, along with San Leandro School Board Trustee Diana Prola and Safe Moves Coordinator Lisa Jackson. Bancroft Middle School students took...

    Read more →

    Court Misses White Racial Entitlement

    by  • March 8, 2013 • Bay Area, News Articles, San Francisco

    By Jesse Jackson In oral arguments before the Supreme Court on the Voting Rights Act, Justice Antonin Scalia slandered the act as a “racial entitlement,” arguing, “whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes.” So, the right-wing justice intimated, the conservative “Gang...

    Read more →

    Young Community Developers Celebrate 40th Anniversary

    by  • March 8, 2013 • Bay Area, News Articles, San Francisco

    Harlan Kelly

    Young Community Developers, Inc. will celebrate 40 years of job preparation, placement and preservation services in San Francisco’s Southeast Sector, Friday March 22, at the Hotel Whitcomb in San Francisco. The benefit will honor Lennar Urban and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission General Manager Harlan Kelly for their work to improve the community. Proceeds...

    Read more →

    Joan Carpenter: “It’s All About Helping People”

    by  • March 8, 2013 • Bay Area, News Articles, Richmond News

    Joan Carpenter

    By Kia Croom Over the last 15 years, Joan Carpenter has helped establish viable community services, powerful coalitions and community partnerships in the West County. As District Coordinator for Supervisor John Gioia, she is the go-to person for constituent relations and linkages for support services in West Contra Costa County. “It’s all about helping...

    Read more →