By David Scott Playwright Bianca Sams is presenting ‘’Battle Cry,’’ a play based on the life of little known civil rights heroine Claudette Colvin. At the age of 15 in the Deep South, Colvin refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a Montgomery Alabama bus, nine months prior to the...
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By Carla Thomas A digital arts youth program is in danger of closing in the wake of the sale of the building where it is located, historic Liberty Hall at 1485 8th St. in West Oakland. Overcomers With Hope 2nd Chance Digital Arts Media Program, which trains youth ages 16 to 21 in television...
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By Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times Even as Californians voted to maintain the death penalty, the nation’s support for capital punishment continued to wane in 2012, with relatively few states performing executions. Only nine states executed inmates in 2012, and three-fourths of the executions occurred in Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma and Mississippi, according to the...
Read more →Outgoing North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue issued pardons this week to the Wilmington 10, a group wrongly convicted 40 years ago in a Civil Rights-era prosecution that led to accusations that the state was holding political prisoners. Perdue issued pardons of innocence Monday for the nine Black men and one white woman who received...
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OPINION By Gregory Taylor For the life of me, I just don’t understand the gun craze in America. There is a national psychosis when it comes to gun ownership. As an ex-police officer in a city where gratuitous murders have become unspectacular, I lament the fascination with a weapon whose invention and design is...
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Marva Whitney, a fiery-voiced funk singer who toured and collaborated with James Brown — along the way earning the nickname “Soul Sister #1” — died Saturday at 68, Whitney died from complications of pneumonia. She is best known for her version of “It’s My Thing,” which cracked the Hot 100 in 1969, and for...
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Courtesy of UCSF Medical Center Alfonso Garcia still carries around a baseball cap that belonged to a 22-year-old man who passed away in 2010 having never met him. But the cap is just a small token of an even bigger reminder that the 18-year-old college freshman carries with him every day: the man’s liver,...
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Mayor Edwin M. Lee and Superintendent Richard Carranza have announced that the U.S. Department of Education has selected San Francisco’s Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) to receive a five-year, up to $30 million Promise Neighborhoods implementation grant, one of the largest of the six awards granted in the nation. “The Promise Neighborhoods grants will...
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By Kia Croom Students, staff and supporters of Saint Cornelius Catholic School donated hundreds of gifts to the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP) to benefit 22 homeless families. St. Cornelius Principal Shervin Moradi contacted GRIP in November, after learning about the agency’s Adopt-A-Family Campaign, which matches local businesses, churches, individuals/families with homeless families residing...
Read more →By Jesse Jackson The new year begins with a bad hangover from 2012’s inane debate over the “fiscal cliff.” The furious debate focused only on how much damage would be done to the economy and who would pay the price, how much and what would be cut, who would pay higher taxes and who...
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Berkeley resident Kimberly E. Colwell received an unexpected surprise during the holidays. Governor Jerry Brown’s office called her Christmas Day to inform her she had been selected to fill a judicial vacancy. Colwell, 54, is believed to be the first out lesbian to be appointed to the Alameda County Superior Court and is only...
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The Alameda County Board of Supervisors has appointed Demetrious Shaffer as county Fire Chief. Shaffer has served as Interim Fire Chief since June, following former Fire Chief Sheldon Gilbert’s resignation. “We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Demetrious Shaffer, who we believe will be an outstanding fire chief for Alameda County,’’ said Nate...
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Congresswoman Barbara Lee praised this week’s Fiscal Cliff budget deal in Washington, D.C, for extending middle class tax cuts and extending Emergency Unemployment Insurance but expressed concerns about the impact of cuts on “communities of color and other vulnerable populations.” “I am pleased that a budget agreement has been reached between our president and...
Read more →A job workshop designed to recruit unemployed and formerly incarcerated community residents and to disburse information about job opportunities and community resources will be held Wednesday, Jan. 9 from 6 p.m. -7:30 p.m., at the West Side Missionary Baptist Church, 732 Willow St. in Oakland. The event is co-hosted by the church and the...
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By Kitty Kelly Epstein Oakland city officials announced last week that they plan to hire William Bratton as a consultant to the Oakland Police Department. He is the man who pushed New York City and Los Angeles to use “stop and frisk,” a policy called “racial profiling” by a host of experts and opposed...
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Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. is the oldest Black Greek letter organization to ever participate in the Rose Parade in its 124-year history. The parade’s theme this year was “Oh the Places You’ll Go!” named in honor of the Dr. Seuss book. One of the book’s most famous quotes: “Congratulations! Today is your day....
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Part 1—Journey to Salt Lake City By Post Staff Pastor Ray Williams of Morning Star Baptist Church in Oakland and his wife Janet were recent guests at the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. Also visiting were Pastor H. H. Lusk and his wife Bettye of...
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By Rev. Dr. W. Haziah Williams,1988 “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.” This is a most insightful arrival of understanding the dilemma of reality. The words are more searing today than ever. The hopes and the fears are not only met in the occasion but are mingled...
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By Camryn Crump Bishop Yvette Flunder recently was awarded the “Heritage Award” at the 8th annual “Out Awards” in Las Vegas, an awards show celebrating the best Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) recording artists in music each year that have messages of inclusion, equality and creative achievements. The award comes on the heels...
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By Hattie Carwell Dr. James Gates will receive the National Science Award, and Dr. George Carruthers will receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation – among the highest honors conferred upon scientists and engineers by the federal government The newly named recipients will receive their awards at a White House ceremony next year....
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By Craig Brown The “Idle No More” movement, a campaign of grassroots First Nations protests, has spread like wildfire over the past week in response to bills passed by the conservative Canadian government. The protests are against the passage of the C-45, omnibus budget bill, which includes changes to the Canadian Indian Act regarding...
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Three Kenyans – Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, Francis Kirimi Muthaura and Mohammed Hussein Ali – are appearing at the international criminal court in The Hague charged with crimes against humanity, after being exposed by youth using the web and mobile phones. The three Kenyans are accused of contributing to an estimated 1,300 deaths in violence...
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California Department of Public Health (CDPH) director and state health officer Dr. Ron Chapman has released the state’s first “State Health Officer’s Report on Tobacco Use and Promotion” providing new data related to cigarette consumption declines, and the millions of dollars and lives saved. The report also includes new data on illegal sales to...
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Pope Benedict, white-haired, 85, and a neophyte to social media site Twitter, has beaten out 18-year old heartthrob Justin Bieber to set a percentage record for re-tweeting by his followers, the Vatican said on Thursday. The Vatican newspaper said that as of noon Italian time on Thursday the pope had 2.1 million followers on...
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The California Homeowner Bill of Rights, a landmark package of legislation that extends key mortgage and foreclosure protections to California homeowners and borrowers, will take effect on Jan. 1 The new laws restrict dual-track foreclosures, guarantee struggling homeowners a reliable point of contact at their lender and impose civil penalties on fraudulently signed mortgage...
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“In the Name of Love” is the 11th annual tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the greatest humanitarians of our time, starring American singing legend and Grammy Award winner Jennifer Holiday; the 65-voice Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir; and the 250-voice Oakland Children’s Community Choir. The event will take place from 7 p.m....
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By Lee Hildebrand The blues community is mourning the passing of bluesman Jimmy McCracklin, who diedThursday, Dec. 20, at Creekside Health Center in San Pablo. The prolific singer, pianist and songwriter, a longtime Richmond resident, was 91. “He had a style that was completely his own,” singer-guitarist Sonny Rhodes said of his late friend. ...
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By Godfrey Lee Santa Claus visited Mill Valley on Wednesday, Dec. 19 and Marin City on Sunday, Dec. 23, to give out presents and made the holiday season more joyous for the children living in Southern Marin. On Wednesday, Aaron and Tiffany Singer, owners of Seaplane Adventures, dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus, arrived...
Read more →By Alice A. Huffman, Criminal Justice Chair for the National Board of the NAACP and the State Conference President in California/Hawaii; and Wilfred T. Ussery, former National Chairman of CORE and former President of the Board of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) How proud we were to watch the president...
Read more →By Jesse Jackson Christmas decorations light the streets. Malls are full. Christmas music fills the air. But this year, there is a somber undercurrent to the celebration. We will all hug our children a little harder. Our hearts will be in our throats as they go out to play. After the horror of Newtown,...
Read more →By Will Delaney The 2nd Annual McKinley Williams and John Easterling Community Chess Tournament was held recently at the Richmond Recreation facility on MacDonald Avenue. The Dec. 8 tournament was sponsored by the City of Richmond, Contra Costa College and the West Coast Chess Alliance (WCCA). Coordinators were Trendell Ball, Gerl Jenkins and Will...
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By DeVone Boggan There is an African Proverb that I am fond of quoting: “The experience of one generation becomes the history of the next, and the history of several generations becomes the traditions of a people.” On Dec. 14 like many Americans and peoples from around the world, I found myself once again...
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By Evelyn McDonald Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Richmond is celebrating the birthday of Mother Stevanna Herron, who turned 100 on Thursday. She is a charter member of the church and has been a member for 69 years. Very active in the community, she was one of the organizers of the Girls Club,...
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By Danielle Savage Chief Debra Pryor, who made history as the first woman head of the Berkeley Fire Department, is retiring at the end of the month after 20 years in the city’s fire service. She has been fire chief since 2004. “I was the first woman hired, and I just happened to be...
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Everett and Jones Barbeque hosted its annual Holiday Toy Giveaway at its Berkeley restaurant on Saturday, Dec. 22, handing out toys to children in need for Christmas. Owner Mary Everett (center photo wearing Santa hat) started the toy giveaway 20 years ago, using toys donated by her loyal customers and celeb athletes New...
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By Jim Slater, AP Fontella Bass, a St. Louis-born soul singer who hit the top of the R&B charts with “Rescue Me” in 1965, has died. She was 72. Bass died Wednesday night at a St. Louis hospice of complications from a heart attack suffered three weeks ago, her daughter, Neuka Mitchell, said. Bass...
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Mayor Jean Quan and Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan this week pledged to reduce the rates of homicide and other serious crime in Oakland in the coming year. The police department will hire nationally known police consultant William J. Bratton to institute Bratton’s CompStat data driven management model, which he first introduced in New...
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By Post Staff Nyeisha Dewitt, who has worked to secure jobs for Oakland residents on the e Army Base development project and a candidate for Oakland City Council in November, has been hired as a senior field representative in the office of newly elected Assemblymember Rob Bonta, who takes the place of Sandre Swanson,...
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Children Learn Science and Math Related to Circus Acts Prescott Circus Theatre boasts some of Oakland’s most energetic young stars. This month 30 young performers knocked the holiday socks off of the crowds at the Oakland Holiday Parade as jugglers, unicyclists, stilt walkers, and acrobats. “This is the largest contingent we’ve ever put together,”...
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Maudelle Shirek, 101, celebrated Christmas this year singing carols with fellow church members in her Berkeley home, where she still lives with round-the-clock care. A former vice mayor and eight-term City Council member in Berkeley, she was born in Jefferson, Arkansas and grew up on a farm, the granddaughter of slaves. She moved to...
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Over 2,000 firearms were seized this year from individuals legally barred from possessing them, including persons determined to be mentally unstable and those with active restraining orders, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said this week. “California has clear laws determining who can possess firearms based on their threat to public safety,” said Harris. “Enforcing...
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UC News Center At a recent UC Berkeley book-launch event, sociologist Michael Omi described his colleague john a. powell as “two persons rolled into one” — “john the theoretician, who draws on a range of disciplines to rethink notions of race, racial identity and racism,” and “john the grounded and practical policy analyst.” Both...
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Alameda County Superior Court Judge Wynne Carvill has ordered the Illinois-based Walgreen Co. to pay $16.57 million as part of a settlement of a civil prosecution because its stores were illegally Dumping hazardous wastes and confidential customer medical information. The judgment is the culmination of a civil enforcement lawsuit filed in Alameda County in...
Read more →By Carla Thomas The Bay Area Black Pilots Association held its annual Christmas fundraiser banquet on Saturday, Dec. 8 at the Doubletree Hotel in the Berkeley Marina. “Once you get hooked on flying, there’s no turning back,” said BABPA President Greg Scott, who greeted nearly 100 people at the banquet. “We have a great...
Read more →Crab Cove Visitor Center at Crown Beach in Alameda is holding a holiday week open house from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, Dec. 26 through Dec. 28. There will be special activities each day, such as nature crafts, games, and interaction with the center’s snake and turtle. The daily schedule includes...
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