Oakland

Laney College President: For Who? For Oakland

Published

6 years ago

November 17, 2017

By Laney College President, Tammeil Y. Gilkerson, Ed.D.

Last Thursday, I attended the world premiere of “FOR O.” – a play at Laney’s Odell Johnson Performing Arts Center. Written by one of our former students, Antonette Bracks, the play focuses on gentrification in the Bay Area in a powerful yet humorous way.

The play, performed by student actors representing various bay area cities, is set as a “family meeting” organized by the city of San Francisco. The cities of Vallejo, Berkeley, Richmond, and Emeryville arrive for the meeting and are persuaded by San Francisco to stage an “intervention” with Oakland regarding the disconcerting changes of higher rents, new businesses, condos and outdoor encampments happening to her.

There are also other neighboring cities that show up uninvited, curious to find out about Oakland’s problems.

When first confronted by her siblings and cousins, Oakland acts defensively. She thinks that the businesses and condos – the gentrification – only shows how good her “hustle” is and that others are jealous of how “sought after” she’s become. But it’s Vallejo who tells Oakland that she’s the one who has probably been hustled out of her land.

Our student actors did a magnificent job capturing the personality of the cities they portrayed. San Francisco was the uptight and ritzy matriarch who did not want Oakland – her “cool and artsy” sister – to become like her. Berkeley, on the other hand, was the “hippie,” meditation-obsessed cousin that could sense only the “bad energy” surrounding her neighbor. Cameo appearances by San Jose, Alameda and Marin were also artfully portrayed.

As I watched “FOR O.” I couldn’t help but reflect on the need for continued support of the arts in our community. “FOR O.” and other productions like it, allows students to creatively express their thoughts and ideas while simultaneously stimulating critical thinking on issues affecting our communities. Arts education at Laney helps to nourish the creative capacities of our students and has been shown to improve academic performance. More importantly, a commitment to the arts has a way of unifying the community that cuts across all demographic categories and economic circumstances to provide a civic platform for exploring issues and facilitating dialogue.

Today the arts are under assault—especially by our current U.S. President. I believe participation and exposure to the arts fosters an innovative spirit that can help to create a common vision to tackle the larger issues we face. Find out more about our programs at http://laney.edu/academic-disciplines/.

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Faces Around the Bay: Jim Brosnahan, Esq.

James J. Brosnahan, ESQ, an international trial lawyer and trial advocacy teacher, has remained unshaken in his fervent belief in the power of the law to right injustices. Brosnahan has fought to open the legal profession to those previously excluded and worked to provide lawyers to the millions who go without.

Published

7 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Oakland Post

By Barbara Fluhrer “Isn’t this what old men are supposed to do… sit on a bench in the park?”

By Barbara Fluhrer

James J. Brosnahan, ESQ, an international trial lawyer and trial advocacy teacher, has remained unshaken in his fervent belief in the power of the law to right injustices.

Brosnahan has fought to open the legal profession to those previously excluded and worked to provide lawyers to the millions who go without. He has argued for the administrators of justice to represent the whole community. He’s tried 150 cases to conclusion and is ranked among the top 30 trial lawyers in the U.S. (Legal 500 US). He’s been called “scrappy,” “a lion in the courtroom,” and “ultra- liberal.”

One of his earliest cases (1962) involved two Navajo children shot by a White man on a reservation in Arizona. “The legal system needed to work as well for Native Americans as for White people,” he said. “The defendant was found guilty of second-degree murder.”

In 1963, U.S. Attorney Cecil Poole hired him as U.S. Attorney from a list of 200 applicants.

He and Poole, as federal observers, led the Vietnam protesters as they marched. The purpose: to avoid violence.

“Poole taught me preventative law in a chaotic situation and became one of my strongest mentors,” remembers Brosnahan.

In 1964, Brosnahan served on the NAACP’s Housing Committee in S.F., when 70% of the city’s housing was not available to Blacks. They sued racial discriminators, fought for reform and opposed the displacement of minorities in the Western Addition. They won and they lost, but they became the racial conscience of San Francisco in the fight for fair housing.

In 1969, two Black community workers in Oakland were indicted for stealing federal money.

“My two clients were activists in Oakland. I believed there was an element of racism running through Washington’s decision to indict two Black men who worked every day to help the poor,” he said.

The case was eventually dismissed. In the early 70s, he responded to a subpoena and testified against Judge Rehnquists’ confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court. He had witnessed Rehnquist obstructing voting at a polling place. Amid threats on his life, he was the chief defense lawyer for the American who joined the Taliban in 2002.

Brosnahan, his wife Carol and three children moved from S.F. to Berkeley in 1964, in part, to participate in the Berkeley school integration program. She is a retired Alameda County Superior Court judge.

Brosnahan, 90, checks in to his San Francisco firm, Morrison & Foerster often. He paints, reads, walks a mile a day, journals, and lectures, while writing another book: “Cultural History of Trials over the Centuries.”

His last book “Justice at Trial,” published in 2023, details his life and battles.

He reflects, “Over my career I have come to realize that one secret for enriching your own life is trying to help others. What better way to do that than to represent them in court.”