• Berkeley

    San Leandro Police Settle Contract

    by  • March 22, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Education, Faith, Oakland News Articles, San Francisco, Special Interests Articles

    Isaac Benabou, police association president.

    The San Leandro Police Officers Association and the City of San Leandro have agreed to a three-year labor contract. The 2013-2015 agreement provides wage increases to retain  officers and to recruit qualified new officers, while keeping the city financially sustainable for the long term, according to city officials. “We commend the San Leandro Police...

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    “All I did Was Shoot My Man,” New Mystery by Walter Mosely

    by  • March 22, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, Oakland News Articles, Richmond News, San Francisco

    Walter Mosley

    By Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Bookworm Sez The dirty glasses haven’t quite made it to the kitchen yet. They’re still communing with last weeks’ newspaper in the living room, while dust bunnies dance with cookie crumbs strewn on the carpet. Forgotten toys lie everywhere and your sweatshirt is right where you left it, balled up...

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    America’s Harsh Criminal Sentences Are Out of Step

    by  • March 22, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, San Francisco

    Dana Marie Isaac

    New research conducted by USF’s Human Rights in Criminal Sentencing Project reveals that U.S. criminal sentencing practices are out of step with 193 nations. Criminals in the U.S. receive longer sentences for lesser crimes, including life without parole (LWOP) for nonviolent offenders and for juveniles, putting the country at odds with sentencing practices in...

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    Protesters Demand Leslie Knight Be Removed

    by  • March 22, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, Richmond News

    By Post Staff

    Union protesters joined whistleblower Stacie Plummer at a City Council meeting this week to demand the firing of Human Resources Director Leslie Knight after an investigation funded by the city found she had violated several city policies.
    Holding signs that read “Hold power accountable” and “Richmond needs accountability,” protesters at Tuesday’s meeting called for the removal of Knight and City Manager Bill Lindsay because he has not fired her.
    The investigation concluded that Knight had “improperly received $400 monthly in car allowance while also using a city vehicle, used paid city staff to make trinkets and ordered a subordinate to access Plummer’s emails after Plummer lodged a complaint against her,” according to the Contra Costa Times.
    Plummer, the city’s finance manager for the library and cultural services department, said Knight had asked her to design logos and postcards for Knight’s jewelry and gift business, which Plummer refused.
    Speaking at Tuesday’s council meeting, Plummer alleged that Knight “bullied” her, moving her to different positions throughout the city.
    Although the investigation concluded that Knight did not profit from the trinket making, Plummer and supporting protesters have insisted that City Manager Lindsay fire her.
    However, Lindsay has said, “The problems did not merit termination of any employee.”
    In a statement released following the complete investigative report, Knight admitted to making mistakes. She was unavailable for comment at press time.

    Left to right: Kathleen Sullivan, President BWOPA; Stacie Plummer, Whistleblower; and Pam Bilbo, President Men and Women of Valor. Photo by Joe L. Fisher, Black American Political Action Committee

    School Principal Sylvia Greenwood Follows in Family’s Footsteps

    by  • March 22, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, Education, News Articles, Richmond News

    Dr. Sylvia Greenwood

      By Kyra Worthy Dr. Sylvia Greenwood often remembers a quote her father kept on his desk as a teacher, principal and later interim superintendent of West Contra Costa Unified School District: “It is better to build children than to repair men.” It’s a phrase that the longtime Richmond educator carries with her when...

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    Former Harlem Globetrotter Celebrates Birthday

    by  • March 22, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, Richmond News

    Leroy Walker. Photo by Joe L. Fisher, Black American Political Action Committee.

    By Kia Croom Longtime Richmond resident and former Harlem Globetrotter Leroy Walker recently celebrated his 70th birthday, at the Rockefeller Lodge in San Pablo where friends and relatives shared childhood memories, basketball stories and fish tales about the local businessman. Among those attending were Elzer Minor, Joe Fisher of BAPAC. Carl Adams and Donald...

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    Hall of Fame Celebrates Oakland’s History Making Athletes

    by  • March 22, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, Oakland News Articles, Sports

    Hall of Fame inductees at the first annual Oakland Athletic League program. Sitting from left to right: Lawrence Powles (son of George Powles), Jim Hines, William Patterson, Judy Pace Flood (wife of Kurt Flood) and Rev. Greg Payton (older brother of Gary Payton); Standing left to right: Russell White (OAL commissioner), Darlene Miller (athletic director at Fremont High School), Maye Powles (daughter of George Powles), Jumoke Hinton-Hodge (School Board, District 3), Charles and Kiana Smith (children of Lola Smith), Ben Visnick (teacher), Johnny Lorigo (former OAL director), Chris Dobbins (OAL committe member). Photo by Z’ma Wyatt.

    The Oakland Athletic League (OAL) held a Hall of Fame induction ceremony last Saturday at the Oracle Arena to honor some of the stars who represent the city’s rich athletic heritage. The inaugural event honored Oakland’s homegrown high school athletes who became national and global icons in their respective sports. Inductees were Don Budge...

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    High School Students Join Barbara Lee in Civil Rights Pilgrimage to Selma

    by  • March 22, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, Oakland News Articles

    From left to right: Malcolm Jackson, Encinal High School in Alameda; Meriam Salem, Alameda Science and Technology Institute; Erin McGhee, Unity High School in Oakland; Jonah Lee; Congresswoman Barbara Lee; and Joshua Lee.

    Three local high school students joined Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) in the recent 13th Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage. The pilgrimage of more than 20 Members of Congress included events, meetings and tours in Birmingham, Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. This three-day passage, March 1-3,  through living history demonstrated the powerful role that non-violence and courage...

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    Obama Delivers More Support to Small Businesses

    by  • March 22, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, Oakland News Articles

    Elizabeth Echols

    By Conway Jones Federal Small Business Administration-backed lending is rising to record levels in Northern California, according to SBA Regional Administrator Elizabeth Echols. Echols, who met recently with the Post, talked about what President Obama is doing to help businesses to grow or get off the ground. “Under his watch, we have had two...

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    Robert Chrisman, 75, Editor of the The Black Scholar

    by  • March 22, 2013 • Bay Area, Berkeley, News Articles, Oakland News Articles

    Robert Chrisman

    Robert Chrisman, co-founder and editor of the internationally acclaimed journal, “The Black Scholar,” died March 10 in San Francisco. He was 75. Under Chrisman’s leadership, The Black Scholar – founded in 1969 by Chrisman and Nathan Hare – was a beacon of achievement and hope within the movement to create Black Studies departments and...

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    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...

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    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...

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    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...

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    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...

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    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...

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    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...

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    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...

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    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...

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    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...

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    “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...

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    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,...

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    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,...

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    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...

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    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...

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    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...

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    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...

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    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...

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    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....

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    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...

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    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...

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