Commentary

COMMENTARY: Actively Working For The future

CHARLESTON CHRONICLE — Set a goal, keep your eyes on the prize and work toward it. That’s what you have to do.

Published

7 years ago

March 27, 2019

Oakland Post

By Barney Blakeney

Set a goal, keep your eyes on the prize and work toward it. That’s what you have to do.

I was sittin’ here trying to figure out what the heck I’m gon write about this week. I had an idea in mind, but things didn’t go my way – one thing didn’t pan out and the other thing got bent in another direction. So here I am at the final hour trying to figure out what I’m gon do. But the goal is to write a column. I kept my eye on the objective and continued to work toward it. Then it happened! As the song says, “You gotta take what you got to get what you want sometimes, ya’ll. Gimme the bridge now, gimme the bridge now! I feel like bustin’ loose!”

I had on my mind writing about young people and activism. For the past lil while I’ve been thinking us old geezers really need to get a grip. The cycle of life dictates you get older and you die – no one lives forever. That’s the way it is, and perhaps, the way it should be. We talk about how much we love our children, but don’t plan for the future – the place and time in which they will live. We selfishly insure that our lives are comfortable, but don’t work toward their comfort.

Yeah, we give it a lot of lip service, talking about how much we do to make things better for our loved ones. And some of us actually fake the funk doing stuff that looks like we’re pushing the needle forward either knowing full well or deluding ourselves to think that we’re accomplishing something. Rev. Nelson Rivers said something recently that’s stuck with me – we must assess our work to insure we’re producing the desired result.

So I asked myself when it comes to activism, are we engaging our young people in ways that help them create the world they want to live in after we’re gone. I only can see so much. I looked at our civil rights organizations and asked if they are engaging young people so they continue what obviously is a perpetual struggle for equal rights and opportunities. Some do, some don’t. I looked at our businesses, asked the same question and got the same answer – some do and some don’t. Looked at our social organizations and asked that question getting the same answer, some do and some don’t.

So what do we get from that hit and miss strategy of inconsistency? The same thing we already have – inadequate civil rights, businesses and social opportunities.

I guess it’s hard teaching young people to become activists. Maybe that’s why our elders didn’t worry so much about it; they just did the darn thing. “Don’t do as I do. Do as I SAY!” they demanded. I talked to a young sister who thinks my generation didn’t always provide that kind of role model for them. They often didn’t see the kind of leadership in us that we saw in our elders, she said. We got too comfortable with stuff and thought that was the end game, she believes. We sought stuff and forgot about substance.

This week a local civil rights organization led a protest of public education at a Charleston school board meeting – classic direct action move. It’s been effective in the past and can be effective today. But I’m wondering if it will be. Racist oppressors have proven methods of getting around direct action. They either confront it with overwhelming force or wait for the passion to subside then develop alternatives that appease the discontented. In the end they pretty much maintain the status quo.

This publication and the daily newspaper publishers are working on a story about the effort to integrate public eating establishments in the 1960s. The millennials of that time conducted direct action sit-ins at segregated eating establishments, ultimately succeeding in integrating them. The lunch counters of today still are integrated, but most eating establishments still are very much segregated. And sadly, the few Blacks who are allowed to eat at those exclusive places feel so privileged, they ignore the segregation. Again, we place more value on stuff than substance.

My concern about the public education protests is that it may fail to produce the desired results. First of all, you can bet them folks are figuring how to end the disruptive activism of that direct action. If they have to put cops at the front door they’ll do that – it may not be legal, but they’ll do it! Or maybe they’ll go after the ring leaders. That usually shuts Black folks down!

We lost 50 years of civil rights activism because they cut off the heads of our two-headed snake – Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Whatever they decide, those folks will come to shut down the protest. I’m concerned our leadership may not have a plan beyond knee-jerk reactions. What’s the plan B? And why do Black folks expect white folks to education their children anyway? That’s never happened. In fact, they made a law against educating Black children! In the history of America white folks never have educated Black kids! We always had our own schools.

Demanding a quality education for all children is the right thing to do. White folks need to get a clue because their kids don’t get a quality education either. We’re all paying taxes to give big business tax incentives to locate in our community – businesses which import their workforce from other communities. That ain’t Black or white. That’s business! And the white kids at segregated specialty schools are part of that business as well. They’re being kept just as dumb! They also are not getting the quality education that prepares them for the multicultural world of the future in which they will live.

Where do we go from here? We set a goal of producing the best possible world for our children and grandchildren, keep our eyes on that prize and work toward it. It’s hard, uncomfortable work, but they’re worth it.

This article originally appeared in the Charleston Chronicle.

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Oakland Museum Presents Landmark Retrospective Celebrating Beloved Bay Area Artist Mildred Howard

“Poetics of Memory” coincides with a year of major recognition for Howard. In 2026, she received the California Arts Council’s 50th Anniversary Award, honoring artists whose work has shaped California’s cultural and civic life, as well as the Museum of the African Diaspora’s Artist Impact Award. In 2025, she was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in recognition of her transformative contributions to American cultural life.

Published

7 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Mildred Howard. Photo by Christine Cueto for the Oakland Museum of California, 2025.

Special to The Post

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) opened “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory,” the first major museum survey of Bay Area artist Mildred Howard, on June 12.

The exhibition spans five decades of Howard’s influential work, bringing together immersive installations, found-object sculptures, archival materials, and new commissions that explore memory, identity, and power in American life.

Howard was born in San Francisco in 1945 and raised in the East Bay, where she went on to study Afro-Haitian dance, make and sell clothing, and experiment with collage and sculpture.

Her multimedia art practice emerged from these experiences, later becoming associated with West Coast conceptual art, San Francisco funk, and a vibrant community of artists like Oliver Jackson, Betye Saar, and Raymond Saunders. Since the 1970s, she has used found materials and family stories to explore memory—both individual and collective.

At OMCA, visitors enter “Poetics of Memory” through a series of intimate galleries featuring Howard’s early mixed-media pieces and sculptures, along with a large video projection of a number of her public artworks.

Together, they emphasize Howard’s interest in everyday objects as powerful carriers of individual and shared stories. Highlights include collages that remix images of the artist herself; found-object sculptures like The History of the United States with a few Parts Missing (2007) that address omissions in dominant narratives; and public works like “Locks and Keys for Harry Bridges” (2001) that transform urban space into a meditation on access and labor.

This culminates in a richly detailed “studio” environment, where works in progress, archival exhibition flyers, historic photographs of Howard and her community, postcards from fellow artists, and other materials offer insight into her creative process and daily life.

The exhibition then opens into a high-ceilinged, dramatically lit space that brings together Howard’s signature immersive installations. On one end, “Crossings” (1997/2026) – a field of hundreds of ceramic eggs leading to an ornate mirror – suggests cycles of birth, motherhood, and transition, while drawing on the emotional echoes of the Middle Passage. On the other end, “Blackbird in a Red Sky” (a.k.a. “Fall of the Blood House”) (2002) – a red glass shack bordered by a pond – also uses reflection and transparency to draw viewers into the work and prompt consideration of themes of identity and home.

Howard’s newest video installation, “Moving Stills” (2026), repurposes never-before-seen family footage she took as a teenager on a train trip to the American South. Projected onto cascading layers of translucent fabric that stretch across an entire gallery wall, the piece immerses viewers in a layered meditation on memory, migration, and time.

The “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory” exhibit will be on display through Oct. 11 at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland, CA 94612. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Fridays to 9 p.m.

This story is sourced from the Oakland Museum of California press office.

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Stop the Hate Symposium Brings Oakland Together Through Dialogue, Partnership, and Community Healing

More than a meeting and panel discussion, the annual symposium serves as a powerful example of what can happen when neighbors, community leaders, and organizations choose conversation over division, and unity over silence.

Published

7 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Speakers and guests at the annual ‘Stop the Hate Symposium posed with Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council ambassadors. Photo by Marcus Calloway.

By Dr. Maritony Jones, Special to The Post

With the purpose of creating safer, stronger, and more inclusive communities, and in partnership with the Oakland Private Industry Council and other community organizations, the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council (OCIC) hosted the ‘Stop the Hate Symposium’ on June 13 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center.

The free event featured keynote speakers, breakout sessions, cultural programming, creating a space where people from many backgrounds sat together with a shared purpose.

The turnout itself reflected the urgency and importance of the topic. The room was packed with community members eager not only to listen, but also to participate. Throughout the event, speakers shared data, personal experiences, research, and practical solutions designed to address hate, violence, social inequity, and community safety.

The keynote panel featured respected leaders and advocates, including Ray Bobbitt, founder of the African American Sports & Entertainment Group (AASEG); Ryan Takemiya from RAMA; Caheri Gutierrez from the Unity Council; honorary guest speaker Oakland City Councilmember at-Large Rowena Brown and City Councilmember Charlene Wang; representatives for Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon, with Gia Vang of NBC serving as moderator.

The symposium also offered multiple breakout sessions that addressed issues affecting communities across Oakland and Alameda County:

Session 1, 2, 3: Building Safer and More Inclusive Communities, led by Pastor Raymond Lankfort, CEO of Oakland Private Industry Council (OPIC), Jessica Kang, research manager for Stop AAPI Hate, Kara Guerra of The Unity Council, and Gabriela delaRiva of the Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation
Session 4: Talk Story: Collective Healing and Relationship Repair, presented by Ryan Takemiya, executive director of RAMA
Session 5: Sexual Violence Prevention, presented by Tunisia Owens, interim deputy director of Realized Potential
Session 6: Violent Attacks on Teens, presented by MaryAnn Alvarado, program manager of Youth Alive

Every session contributed to an important truth: meaningful change begins within communities, through honest dialogue and a willingness to work together.

One of the strongest themes to emerge from the day was the need to create more conversations and stronger partnerships—not just during times of crisis, but consistently and intentionally. Relationships among organizations, neighborhoods, and community leaders often operate behind the scenes but are not always highlighted or celebrated.

Bobbitt spoke powerfully about this issue, noting that partnerships and relationships often go unrecognized despite being essential to community progress. He pointed to examples such as the partnership between OPIC and OCHIC, emphasizing that these collaborations deserve more visibility, investment, and expansion.

Perhaps his most memorable message resonated deeply throughout the room. Bobbitt explained that when a grandparent is attacked or harmed, the impact extends beyond race or ethnicity because today’s families and communities are increasingly multicultural and interconnected.

“We are not going to see our grandparents as just Latino, Asian, Caucasian, or African American,” he shared in essence. “We are going to see them simply as our grandparents.”

Those words reflected the heart of the symposium. Hate may target one group, but pain and loss are felt by everyone. Likewise, healing and progress are shared responsibilities.

For more information about the Stop The Hate Program visit the website: https://www.oaklandchinatownchamber.org/stop-the-hate (or) https://oaklandpic.or

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Activism

Six Months in, Probate Reform Coalition Marks Progress in Protecting Elders From Financial Abuse

Despite the cited obstacles, NPRC has made some promising inroads towards their mission. NPRC has identified that nationwide the Attorneys General must be engaged and encouraged to implement oversight, protection and enforcement of the law; members find support from each other as they advocate for redress via “letters of compassion” sent to judges, nursing facilities and law enforcement agencies and members are instructed on their rights, how to take constructive action to protect those rights through access to resources that allow them to intelligently represent themselves in court.

Published

7 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

NPRC member Stewart E. Handte, a former Mineral County, Nevada, Sheriff and 27-year veteran of police work, currently wears an ankle monitor after he was arrested on kidnapping charges for helping his friend, Roger Hilligus, remove Hilligus’ mother, Susan Hilligus, from a nursing facility after finding her bruised and neglected. NPRC has submitted a “Letter of Compassion” for both Handte and Hilligus requesting that charges be dropped. Courtesy photo.

By Tanya Dennis

The National Probate Reform Coalition, a loose-knit national coalition of advocates, victims, and families dedicated to protecting elder rights, especially within the probate court system, was formed by the Post Newspaper Group (PNG) after more than a decade of reporting on the mistreatment of elders and the plunder of their estates.

In response, PNG Publisher Paul Cobb set in motion a series of monthly town halls to address the problem and propose workable solutions, designating it a “year of action.”

At six months, the coalition has attracted families, advocates, and experts across the nation whose strategies have proven effective in their respective states, and who are moving forward collectively with the mission of engaging judicial, legislative, and enforcement agencies to ensure elders are not exploited or abused.

“The issue of elder abuse is multi-layered”, says NPRC planning committee member Venus Gist. “Elders are our most vulnerable population, next to children, and they are easily exploited by strangers, their own family members, and the judicial system designed to protect them.”

Since January, NPRC has, via monthly virtual meetings held on the first Thursday of each month, clearly defined the issues and formulated workable solutions that can be implemented nationwide.

“There are amazing laws on the books that protect elders and their assets,” said NPRC member Zakiya Jendayi. “The problem is they are ignored, and that lack of oversight has led to systemic abuse in the Probate Court system, not just in Alameda County, but nationwide.

“The scary part is the collusion and wall of silence NPRC has encountered when reaching out to the Judicial Council, legislators, and the State Bar for assistance. It’s so obvious that one hand is washing the other, that they’re protecting each other, that it’s difficult to initiate any type of meaningful reform much less dialogue.”

Stacy Drake, a Texas member, says, “I’ve been looking for help for over 10 years with my situation, and I finally found it within the NPRC coalition. God answered my prayers.”

Broadening its reach within Alameda County, NPRC has invited Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee to assist with outreach, education, and resolution.

“We hope to host an elder abuse/elder protection symposium annually, if not twice a year, to let our elders know that Alameda County and the City of Oakland are a safe place, a place where in their golden years they have no worries regarding exploitation and abuse,” said Cobb. “Society is defined by how the care for its children and elders.”