Opinion

Commentary: Soulful Softball Sunday Brings Its Magic To Prison

Published

9 years ago

July 1, 2017

Richmond-area residents participated in a Soulful Softball Sunday Ministry softball game against the San Quentin Hard Timers at the state prison on June 4.

By Rodney Alamo Brown

The people of Richmond have proven in recent years that we can work together to build a safer community that focuses upon opportunity and education.

Together, we began to reach out to our young people and to bring people from all over the city to one place, including the warring factions, in order to successfully shed the city’s past reputation for being one of the nation’s most dangerous.

One important piece in sustaining Richmond’s vastly reduced crime rate is to ensure those who once wreaked havoc on our city can share in these opportunities, an effort that will require both atonement and reconciliation.

On June 4, nearly a dozen Richmond residents including KTVU/FOX and Former Gold Glove Winner Oakland A’s Pitcher Mike Norris joined me at San Quentin State Prison to film an exclusive piece on our Soulful Softball Sunday Ministry.

The prison event is an extension of the award-winning Soulful Softball Sunday that I launched at Nichol Park in Richmond.

The fun, family-friendly gathering of community members connects residents to important resources, encourages healthy living and provides financial assistance to college-bound Richmond students.

Soulful Softball Sunday had a large enough impact at Nichol Park to warrant entering San Quentin. On June 4, about 200 Richmond natives and others attended a fun softball event at the prison during which 11 Richmond-area residents played against the Hard Timers, a San Quentin softball team featuring inmates.

The game was just as it was at Nichol Park: incredible fun. We laughed and enjoyed conversation with the inmates. One of our players hadn’t seen his cousin, an inmate serving a life sentence, since 1988.
They recalled old times. Another player, Reggie Hunt from Richmond, played on the visitors team and led off the game with a base hit. He was all smiles.

That freeing feeling of running to first base would be fleeting. Once the game ended — we lost to the home team, 22-15 — Reggie would return behind the walls to continue his sentence. But Reggie, who led us in prayer after the game, didn’t see it as a loss.
A few players commented that for the duration of the game, San Quentin didn’t feel like a prison: it felt like Richmond with a wall around it.

It wasn’t about the game. It was about a brotherhood and understanding that they may have made a mistake in their life but their life isn’t a mistake.

It’s a calling that we in our Richmond community want to move forward as a peaceful community of opportunity, and that we want everyone in on it: even those who may have contributed to the city’s past woes.
The Soulful Softball Sunday Ministry offers a chance to allow guys I’ve grown up with to express sorrow to the families they’ve destroyed. Even more, establishing such connections allows us to get closer to the reasons members of our community choose a life of crime, and to do what we can to prevent that from happening.

This is Gateway to Healing 101. We do it with sheer love, understanding and commitment. We’ll let you know when we plan to do it again so that you may join in on this new wave.
Rodney Alamo Brown is an award-winning Richmond community advocate who launched Soulful Softball Sunday two years ago.

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Oakland Post: Week of February 11 = 17, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 11 – 17, 2026

Published

2 weeks ago

February 16, 2026

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#NNPA BlackPress

COMMENTARY: The National Protest Must Be Accompanied with Our Votes

Just as Trump is gathering election data like having the FBI take all the election data in Georgia from the 2020 election, so must we organize in preparation for the coming primary season to have the right people on ballots in each Republican district, so that we can regain control of the House of Representatives and by doing so, restore the separation of powers and balance that our democracy is being deprived of.

Published

2 weeks ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper. File photo..

By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper

As thousands of Americans march every week in cities across this great nation, it must be remembered that the protest without the vote is of no concern to Donald Trump and his administration.

In every city, there is a personal connection to the U.S. Congress. In too many cases, the member of Congress representing the people of that city and the congressional district in which it sits, is a Republican. It is the Republicans who are giving silent support to the destructive actions of those persons like the U.S. Attorney General, the Director of Homeland Security, and the National Intelligence Director, who are carrying out the revenge campaign of the President rather than upholding the oath of office each of them took “to Defend The Constitution of the United States.”

In California, the primary comes in June 2026. The congressional races must be a priority just as much as the local election of people has been so important in keeping ICE from acquiring facilities to build more prisons around the country.

“We the People” are winning this battle, even though it might not look like it. Each of us must get involved now, right where we are.

In this Black History month, it is important to remember that all we have accomplished in this nation has been “in spite of” and not “because of.” Frederick Douglas said, “Power concedes nothing without a struggle.”

Today, the struggle is to maintain our very institutions and history. Our strength in this struggle rests in our “collectiveness.” Our newspapers and journalists are at the greatest risk. We must not personally add to the attack by ignoring those who have been our very foundation, our Black press.

Are you spending your dollars this Black History Month with those who salute and honor contributions by supporting those who tell our stories? Remember that silence is the same as consent and support for the opposition. Where do you stand and where will your dollars go?

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Post Newspaper Invites NNPA to Join Nationwide Probate Reform Initiative

The Post’s Probate Reform Group meets the first Thursday of every month via Zoom and invites the public to attend. The Post is making the initiative national and will submit information from its monthly meeting to the NNPA to educate, advocate, and inform its readers.

Published

2 weeks ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Tanya Dennis

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) represents the Black press with over 200 newspapers nationwide.

Last night the Post announced that it is actively recruiting the Black press to inform the public that there is a probate “five-alarm fire” occurring in Black communities and invited every Black newspaper starting from the Birmingham Times in Alabama to the Milwaukee Times Weekly in Wisconsin, to join the Post in our “Year of Action” for probate reform.

Reporter Tanya Dennis says, “The adage that ‘When America catches a cold, Black folks catch the flu” is too true in practice; that’s why we’re engaging the Black Press to not only warn, but educate the Black community regarding the criminal actions we see in probate court: Thousands are losing generational wealth to strangers. It’s a travesty that happens daily.”

Venus Gist, a co-host of the reform group, states, “ Unfortunately, people are their own worst enemy when it comes to speaking with loved ones regarding their demise. It’s an uncomfortable subject that most avoid, but they do so at their peril. The courts rely on dissention between family members, so I encourage not only a will and trust [be created] but also videotape the reading of your documents so you can show you’re of sound mind.”

In better times, drafting a will was enough; then a trust was an added requirement to ‘iron-clad’ documents and to assure easy transference of wealth.

No longer.

As the courts became underfunded in the last 20 years, predatory behavior emerged to the extent that criminality is now occurring at alarming rates with no oversight, with courts isolating the conserved, and, I’ve heard, many times killing conservatees for profit. Plundering the assets of estates until beneficiaries are penniless is also common.”

Post Newspaper Publisher Paul Cobb says, “The simple solution is to avoid probate at all costs. If beneficiaries can’t agree, hire a private mediator and attorney to work things out. The moment you walk into court, you are vulnerable to the whims of the court. Your will and trust mean nothing.”

Zakiya Jendayi, a co-host of the Probate Reform Group and a victim herself, says, “In my case, the will and trust were clear that I am the beneficiary of the estate, but the opposing attorney said I used undue influence to make myself beneficiary. He said that without proof, and the judge upheld the attorney’s baseless assertion. In court, the will and trust is easily discounted.”

The Black press reaches out to 47 million Black Americans with one voice. The power of the press has never been so important as it is now in this national movement to save Black generational wealth from predatory attorneys, guardians and judges.

The next probate reform meeting is on March 5, from 7 – 9 p.m. PST. Zoom Details:
Meeting ID: 825 0367 1750
Passcode: 475480

All are welcome.