Commentary

Opinion: Not Knowing This Trivia Could Cost You

Published

7 years ago

October 24, 2019

In 1978, Mohammed Ali was easily the most famous person in America, Funkadelic topped the music charts, and The Wiz was just released. That year California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 13, profoundly changing the economic outlook for many. Along with wondering which Funkadelic album topped the charts it’s also fair to ask what is Prop. 13 and why is it important to me?

Between 1973 and 1977, property taxes on single-family homes skyrocketed, increasing by 50-100 percent. Families, seniors, and small businesses were faced with the losing their properties because they couldn’t afford to pay their property taxes. Many families were forced from their homes and small businesses were left with no choice but to raise prices.

In 1978 voters overwhelmingly passed Prop. 13, limiting property tax increases and putting an end to the days of unpredictable property taxes. Four decades later, Prop. 13 remains the only constitutional measure that helps control rising costs in California.

For small businesses and families of color, Prop. 13 has been a vital tool. By capping general property tax increases at 2 percent, it has allowed homeowners to budget for their future. For small business owners, Prop. 13 has provided certainty with their business costs. For you and me, it has kept costs down at neighborhood stores.

Today Prop. 13 is under assault. The timing could not be worse. A recent Wall Street Journal article confirms African American homeownership is at an all-time low, falling 8.6 percent since 2004. Weakening Prop. 13 will make housing more expensive, including for those who rent, and will have a profound impact on many small business owners who rent their place of business.

Homeownership is the primary path to building wealth and upward mobility for low and moderate-income families. A 2007 survey of Consumer Finances shows nationally that principal residences constituted 54% of all household wealth for African Americans.

Millennial voters of color, many of whom aren’t old enough to remember what it was like before Prop 13’s passage, need to understand that Prop 13 protects our community’s collective mobility. Now, more than ever, we have a duty to build wealth and be the sole proprietors of it. Weakening, or doing away with Prop 13 will hurt, not help, California’s African American community.

Business leaders, social justice organizations, veterans groups and more than 2,500 others have banded together to protect Prop 13 from becoming extinct. I am proud to include myself and the California State Conference of the NAACP as among those that stand in support of Prop 13.

The stakes are too high for consumers and homeowners, renters and businesses large and small. We can certainly be excused for not knowing Funkadelic’s chart topping album title, or not having seen The Wiz. That won’t cost us anything. But not knowing about the benefits of Prop 13 or the impacts if it were to go away, is not just costly to you and me, its costly for California and our economy as a whole.

More information can be found at https://www.fightforprop13.org

Alice Huffman is the president of the California/Hawaii NAACP and is also a member of the NAACP’s National Board. She runs her own consulting firm, AC Public Affairs, Inc.

Bay Area Policy Brief re commercial property tax reform.

Alice Huffman

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Activism

Cassie ‘Mama C’ Lopez Honored as Oakland’s Mother of the Year

Cassandra “Mama C” Lopez, a dedicated parent, teacher, and activist, was honored as Oakland’s Mother of the Year for her unwavering commitment to community and justice.

Published

7 minutes ago

May 15, 2026

Oakland Post

Cassandra Lopez, known as “Mama C,” is surrounded by family, friends, and neighbors at Oakland’s annual Mother of Year celebration at the Morcom Rose Garden, Saturday, May 9. Photo by Mateenah Floyd-Okanlawon.

By Ken Epstein

The City of Oakland recognized Cassandra, “Mama C,” Lopez – parent, teacher, community activist, and justice warrior – as Oakland’s Mother of the Year in a celebration at Oakland’s Morcom Rose Garden on Mother’s Day weekend.

Long recognized as a leader in her community, she was nominated by District 3 City Councilmember Carroll Fife to receive the city’s 73rd annual Mother of the Year award.

Speaking at the crowded ceremony on Saturday, May 9, where Mama C received roses and a proclamation from Mayor Barbara Lee, Fife said she felt honored to nominate Lopez, an “amazing woman – a hell-raising humanitarian, for the energy, the passion, but most of all the love for community” that makes her one of those “exceptional women whose lives, exemplify love, sacrifice, leadership, and unwavering commitment to the family and community they serve.”

Cassie Lopez was born in 1945 to Pauline and Calvin Weaver, a family that had left Florida and Jim Crow for the east side of Detroit. From an early age, she was instilled with a sense of Black awareness, love, and the importance of community in the face of hardships, including poverty, freezing winters, low pay, and slum landlords.

Fifty-five years ago, she married Juan Lopez. The couple has three children and has lived for decades in a neighborhood on the edge of downtown Oakland near Mosswood Park.

Said her husband, Juan, “Mama C has been a selfless mother of our own children, and she also became a teacher. Our home became a second home for many young people. For some, it was refuge from difficult home situations, and for others, a safe place to hang out.

“Throughout the years, Mama C was sometimes a foot soldier and other times a leader, immersed in some of the biggest national and citywide struggles of the day,” Juan said. “But less known to many is the role she played day in and day out where the rubber hits the road.

“For 35 years, she has shepherded the Mosswood Park and Recreation Center – through its good and bad times. If the Center exists (and thrives) today, it has to do with Mama C, working alongside neighbors, center directors, community advisory council, and when necessary, community coalitions, city officials, the religious community, and the labor movement.”

Said Mateenah Floyd-Okanlawon, “I am an old friend of my sister here. We met in 1970 in the sugarcane fields of Cuba, where we were helping the Cuban government harvest their sugar. We have been friends ever since. She has always been someone who does not give in to despair.”

David Johnson, an educator in Oakland, was one of the neighborhood children who grew up in the community created by Mama C and her family

“Cassandra Lopez is a beacon of light, full of compassion. She has dedicated her life to quality education to the poor and working class,” serving for 40 years as a Spanish teacher in Oakland schools, he said.

“She has dedicated her life to speak truth to power, justice to the silent, and as a member of the community, she advocates for programs and resources,” he said.

In her remarks, Mama C recognized the influence and power of all mothers. “Together, we all stand on the backs of our mothers. Mothers play a special role in society. We give when we have almost nothing left to give. We hurt when some people don’t see the hurt and the pain that our families endure. But we keep on moving forward.”

Looking at what African Americans, other people of color and working people face in the country today, she said, “We are deserving of the very best because our hands, our bodies produce the wealth of world, and yet we get the least. We see our country wholesale being stolen away from us, and we are told to grin and bear it. We’re not bearing it; we’re fighting against it.”

Continuing, she said, “There’s enough wealth in this world that there should be no hunger in the world. There should be nobody without a decent place to live. Nobody should be sleeping on the street. Teachers should get the freedom to be creative and tell the stories that exist in this nation that make us strong and great.

“We have a lot to do. We cannot despair. We cannot run. People are learning, and together, collectively, we can do it.”