National
After Charges Filed and Curfew Lifted, Baltimore Regroups
Two young girls talk to national guardsmen outside of city hall in Baltimore, Md., on Friday, May 1. (Freddie Allen/NNPA News Wire Service)
By Freddie Allen
NNPA Senior Washington Correspondent
BALTIMORE (NNPA) – Friday afternoon was clear and cool enough for a light jacket, although most people wore T-shirts and shorts in Baltimore, Md. The Inner Harbor and much of city hall grounds were barricaded with low metal gates and by 6 pm, the Inner Harbor was free from the lively weekend energy that a normal spring Friday after work crowd would bring. National guardsmen milled about, weapons down, some with stern gazes others talking in hushed, but relaxed tones.
Waiting for a CNN interview at City Hall, Neill Franklin, the executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of current and former members of the criminal justice system that advocates for drug policy reform, said that the Baltimore city police officers charged Friday had multiple attempts to render aid and they failed to so even though Freddie Gray requested it.
“I’m not surprised, this is business as usual, unfortunately for many of the neighborhoods in Baltimore city,” said Franklin. “This time someone died, which has brought the attention to this type of behavior of our police officers.”
Franklin said that in 2005, after Baltimore police officers arrested more than 108,000 people, the state’s attorney’s office was forced to vacate roughly 20 percent of the arrest without filing charges because there was no probable cause for the arrest, similar to what happened with Freddie Gray.
“Hopefully, this is a turning point, I hope it is, but I think the Fraternal Order of Police missed an opportunity today,” said Franklin, referring to a statement that the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) made shortly after State Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced charges would be filed against six police officers. “They can still say we support our officers and their families, but at the same time they should have said and yes we want to partner with you community to figure out a path forward to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”
Franklin said that he feels bad for those police officers standing in the wings who want to to good and who are thinking maybe this is a turning point.
“Then you have the FOP say this nonsense,” said Franklin.
Franklin said that he hopes that residents come together with city officials and members of law enforcement to do an assessment of the police department, body-worn cameras and ways to protect officers who want to come forward when they witness fellow officers behaving badly.
Jhanee Braswell, 26, a resident of Baltimore’s east side, said that Baltimore needed the riots and the national media attention because the policed officers simply don’t care.
Braswell said that she was surprised that the state’s attorney’s office filed charges so soon. So many people get shot and killed everyday.
Braswell said that this is just another situation where things would have blown over without the cell phone footage of Gray’s arrest and the riots last Monday.
The last time Braswell was in a paddy wagon was for fighting downtown. All three times Braswell was in the paddy wagon, she said that a police officer walked her up the steps and secured in the back of the vehicle.
“I’ve been in the back of a paddy wagon and there’s no way that you can do all of that, because it’s too small to jerk yourself around like that to hurt yourself,” said Braswell.
That’s why she believes that either Gray was injured before he was placed in the wagon unsecured or that transport officer was driving erratically and contributed to Gray’s injury.
“I’m kind of glad that they did start a riot and they did start all of that stuff,” said Braswell, even though she recognized that residents like her will likely foot some of the bill for clean up and to repair the damaged properties via tax dollars. If they hadn’t burned the CVS and looted businesses, Braswell said, no one would have been held accountable for Gray’s death.
“I hope [the officers] go to jail and that this won’t be a recurring thing, because everyone should be treated fairly,” said Braswell.
“If your protocol is to walk the person up into the paddy wagon and sit them down and make sure that they are secured safely,” then you have to do that for everyone, because everyone deserves the same treatment, because their safety matters, Braswell said.
Rev. Jamal Bryant, the pastor of Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, said it was a great thing for the city of Baltimore and the Black community to turn on the nightly news and see the mug shots and names of the six police officers involved in the wrongful arrest of Gray that ultimately contributed to his death, said Bryant.
“I’m excited about the new page that American history is on,” said Bryant. “All these cameras out here is the fruit of the work of the people that marched day and day out,” said Bryant motioning to the myriad camera crews and news tents that littered the grassy mall in front of city hall.
“The national news media came, because Freddie died if he had lived and walked away with a cane or on crutches or [rolled away] in a wheelchair, they would have swept it away,” said Bryant.
Bryant added that the fact that Gray’s arrest and anguished screams were caught on camera as police officers dragged him to the transport vehicle also contributed to the national news coverage.
“It was too eerie and too out of order,” said Bryant.
Police in Baltimore need body cameras right now and turned on with audio, said Bryant, adding that he didn’t understand why the city was still under curfew on Friday.
“I’m confused and perplexed why the Inner Harbor closed at 6 pm,” said Bryant. “There’s nothing open on Light Street. There’s nothing open on Pratt Street.
“It says that there is a reduced expectation of the civility of Black folks even in victory,” said Bryant. “You think if the [Baltimore] Ravens had won tonight they would have shut it down? No. Because Black people won they don’t know how to respond, because they are used to us losing.”
Cars horns blared some in support others in frustration over the hundreds of people gathered at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and W. North Avenue The burned out CVS was boarded up and police officers in riot gear blocked the street adjacent to the CVS. Some people danced others held “#BlackLivesMatter” signs. The crowd was very diverse as all ages, races and ethnic groups were out celebrating Mosby’s announcement and calling for police reform.
Timeeka Addison, a resident of Southwest Baltimore who works at CEASE (an acronym for “Communities Engaged and Advocating for a Smoke-Free Environments”), an organization that helps residents to stop smoking, danced in street with friends and said that the curfew should have been lifted sooner.
“We should be able to celebrate all night long, this is a victory,” said Addison. “There’s no need to shut the city down right now.”
She doesn’t believe that if people hadn’t looted the stores and burned buildings and police cars that Mosby’s announcement would have been the same.
“People have been marching for a long time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s sad that it happened, I’m upset that it happened, but it needed to happen,” said Addison. “Everywhere else that this happens it just goes away, [officials] brush everything under the rug and say, ‘just take what we do.’ Baltimore actually made a statement and said, ‘We’re not just accepting that. You have to do something.’ Everybody said that, ‘You did it Ferguson, you did it in Florida, you can not do that here.’”
Follow Freddie Allen on Twitter at @freddieallenjr.
###
Black History
Oakland Protesters Rally to Defend Haitian Immigrants and TPS
The Haiti Action Committee traces its roots to the international movement that emerged following Haiti’s 1991 military coup, which overthrew the nation’s first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Political violence sent thousands of Haitians fleeing the country, while U.S. policies resulted in refugees being intercepted at sea, repatriated, or detained at Guantanamo Bay.
Protesters gathered in downtown Oakland near City Hall at 14th Street and Broadway on Thursday, Aug. 13, calling for protections for Haitian immigrants and an end to deportation policies affecting Haitian communities across the United States.
Organized as a call to action by the Legalization for All Network and supported by the Haiti Action Committee and other community organizations, the demonstration carried a clear message: “Defend TPS! Legalization, Not Deportation!”
Participants focused attention on the termination of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Haiti and immigration policies protesters described as continuing attacks on Haitian immigrants under the Trump administration.
Haitian Romaine Charite of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization urged demonstrators to stand with Haitian families and led chants:
“When Haitians are under attack, what do we do? We fight back.”
Injustice to one is an injustice to us all.”
“Dump Trump!”
Charite and other protesters condemned the federal government’s treatment of Haitian immigrants, describing the policies as an attack on a population already facing extraordinary hardship.
Haiti’s TPS designation was terminated effective July 27, 2026, removing temporary deportation protections and work authorization for hundreds of thousands of Haitian beneficiaries who lacked another legal basis to remain in the United States.
Gerald Smith, a protester and former member of the Black Panther Party during the 1970s, said Haitians were being unfairly targeted and warned that ending TPS would have a devastating impact on Haitian families and communities.
“These policies are racially motivated and unfair,” Smith said. “Everyone deserves the right to self-determination and protection from persecution.”
The Haiti Action Committee cited the continuing political, economic and humanitarian crisis in Haiti as evidence that returning large numbers of immigrants to the country could place already vulnerable people at greater risk.
The Oakland gathering, which drew about 20 participants, reflected a decades-long history of Bay Area activism surrounding Haitian democracy, refugee rights and U.S. immigration policy.
The Haiti Action Committee traces its roots to the international movement that emerged following Haiti’s 1991 military coup, which overthrew the nation’s first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Political violence sent thousands of Haitians fleeing the country, while U.S. policies resulted in refugees being intercepted at sea, repatriated or detained at Guantanamo Bay.
Those policies sparked protests involving Haitian communities, Black activists, artists, college students, churches, labor organizations and human rights advocates. Prominent figures, including dancer and activist Katherine Dunham, tennis champion Arthur Ashe, and TransAfrica leader Randall Robinson, joined campaigns challenging the treatment of Haitian refugees.
In 1992, Haiti Action Committee joined other Bay Area organizations in a dramatic demonstration on San Francisco Bay. Boats carrying Haitian participants were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard while supporters gathered along the waterfront and reportedly chanted, “Let Them Land!”
More than three decades later, protesters have returned to the streets of Oakland, centering on protecting Haitian immigrants, opposing deportation and pressing for immigration policies that provide families with a pathway toward permanent legal residency.
For more information, visit Haitisolidarity.net.
Community
First 5 Alameda County Celebrates First Year of Measure C’s Implementation
Measure C, a community-led and voter-approved half-cent sales tax, was designed to generate approximately $150 million annually for early care and education. During its first year, the initiative reached more than 20,000 children and supported more than 6,400 early educators and caregivers throughout the county.
First 5 Alameda County marked the first anniversary of the impact of Measure C with a community celebration Friday, Aug. 7, at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, highlighting more than $135 million invested to strengthen early childhood education, families and caregivers across Alameda County.
The celebration brought together families, educators, caregivers, advocates, elected officials and community leaders for an evening of music, cultural performances, and children’s activities.
“Oakland is on the move,” said Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, commending all the advocates who helped win the victory for early childhood education and their providers.
Measure C, a community-led and voter-approved half-cent sales tax, was designed to generate approximately $150 million annually for early care and education. During its first year, the initiative reached more than 20,000 children and supported more than 6,400 early educators and caregivers throughout the county.
First 5 Alameda County CEO Kristin Spanos said, “In the first 10 months of Measure C being available after the Board of Supervisors adopted the 5-year plan, we’ve had over $135 million put directly into the community supporting children and providers with emergency grants, investments, and stipends.”
First 5 Alameda County, the public agency responsible for administering Measure C, focused on quickly moving voter-approved dollars into local communities while developing partnerships, accountability measures, and infrastructure intended to create long-term impact.
Alameda County District 5 Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas: “We’re celebrating the first year of getting money into families’ pockets and childcare providers’ pockets. This is about deploying very vital resources over the course of five years. It’s a billion-dollar impact.”
Community Advisory Council member Nancy Harvey said, “We are totally excited. It was a 10-year fight, and we fought tooth and nail. We had so much support from County Supervisors Nate Miley and Nikki Fortunato Bas, the unions, and the late Supervisor Wilma Chan. This is a historic event – people are watching Measure C all over the nation.”
Harvey explained that small childcare providers received a $40,000 grant, and larger providers received a $50,000 grant.
Childcare advocate and provider Lisa Zarodney of Livermore said, “When I got my emergency funds, I was about to close. The stipend allowed me to continue through 2026 and get all the babies on my wait list.”
In business for 27 years, Zarodney said she is now caring for the children of past clients.
“I couldn’t continue my legacy, my dream, and my passion without the funding from Measure C.”
Harvey emphasized that he next leg of the fight is to ensure workers have a sustainable wage.
“We are now pushing to raise the wage of workers to $25 to keep doors open and people employed,” she said.
First 5 Alameda County’s vision is to build an integrated and equity-centered early childhood system supporting children, families, and communities regardless of race, income, or neighborhood. As administrator of Measure C, the agency has worked to expand access to early care and education, strengthen family stability, and support the providers and caregivers families rely upon.
Through Measure C and partnerships with initiatives including the Oakland Children’s Initiative, First 5 Alameda County has sought to reduce fragmented services and better coordinate public resources.
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#CarlaThomas #PostNewsGroup #OaklandPost #San FranciscoPost #MeasureC #First5AlamedaCounty #AlamedaCounty #Oakland #EarlyChildhoodEducation #EarlyLearning #ChildCare #ChildrenAndFamilies #FamilySupport #EarlyEducators #ChildCareProviders #CommunityInvestment #CommunityImpact #OaklandFamilies #BayAreaFamilies #EquityInEducation #StrongStart #InvestInChildren #OaklandNews #BayAreaNews
Commentary
From Palestine to Oakland: Seeds for Liberation Examines Shared Struggles for Freedom
The screening was hosted by the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America and the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation. Following the film, director Matthew Solomon joined local community leaders for a discussion about solidarity, resistance, and the historical connections explored throughout the documentary.
Community members gathered at the Black Panther Party Museum on Saturday, Aug. 15, in downtown Oakland for a screening of “Seeds for Liberation,” an award-winning documentary examining the Palestinian liberation movement and its connections to Black, Chicano and other movements for collective liberation.
The film reveals the face of conflict, struggle, and injustice today and yesterday. In one scene, a bleeding child pleads for help on a shell-shattered rooftop after a bombing in the Gaza Strip last year. In another scene, newly freed Nelson Mandela addresses thousands at the Oakland Coliseum in 1990, at the end of apartheid.
The screening was hosted by the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America and the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation. Following the film, director Matthew Solomon joined local community leaders for a discussion about solidarity, resistance, and the historical connections explored throughout the documentary.
Directed by Solomon and executive-produced by Donna Hadjikhani and Alana Hadid, “Seeds for Liberation” situates Palestinian experiences within the broader history of anti-imperialist and decolonial movements.
Through interviews with historians, legal scholars, activists and organizers, the documentary examines Palestinian resistance. It also details the role of social media in shaping the public’s understanding of the impact of Palestine’s 77-year occupation by Israeli forces, events in Gaza and the West Bank, and relationships between liberation movements across generations and geographic boundaries.
The film includes perspectives of people connected to the Black Liberation Army, La Raza Unida and the Stop Cop City movement. Those featured talk about colonialism, U.S. foreign policy, policing, racial justice and their views of what solidarity with Palestinians has meant.
Solomon developed the documentary following his previous film, “Reimagining Safety,” which explored alternatives to traditional policing.
“I use film as a medium to connect personal testimony with larger social and political questions,” said Solomon, who is currently touring the film across the nation as well as Canada and other countries.
Executive producer Hadjikhani brought a personal connection to the project. An Iranian American designer and social justice advocate, she traveled to Gaza and the West Bank as a college student in 1993 during the First Intifada. Hadid has since focused on Palestinian stories and other underrepresented voices.
The Oakland screening carried added historical significance because it was held in the Black Panther Party Museum, where the history of Black resistance and community organizing provided a backdrop for the film’s examination of interconnected struggles.
Activist and artist Cat Brooks passionately spoke about the fight for the freedom of all people. “No one is free until everyone is free,” she said.
Brooks played a key role in the struggle for justice for Oscar Grant, who was gunned down by a BART police officer in 2009 and is co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP), whose mission is to rapidly respond to and ultimately eradicate state violence in communities of color.
Rather than treating liberation movements as isolated chapters, “Seeds for Liberation” asks audiences to consider how movements separated by time, race and geography have influenced one another and how solidarity has continued to evolve across generations.
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#PostNewsGroup #CarlaThomas #OaklandPost #SanFranciscoPost
#SeedsForLiberation #BlackPantherPartyMuseum #Oakland #Palestine #FreePalestine #BlackLiberation #ChicanoMovement #CollectiveLiberation #SocialJustice #CommunityOrganizing #Solidarity #DocumentaryFilm #IndependentFilm #OaklandEvents #EastBay #BlackHistory #LiberationMovements #MatthewSolomon #HueyPNewtonFoundation #BayAreaEvents
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Oakland Protesters Rally to Defend Haitian Immigrants and TPS
First 5 Alameda County Celebrates First Year of Measure C’s Implementation
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National
After Charges Filed and Curfew Lifted, Baltimore Regroups
Two young girls talk to national guardsmen outside of city hall in Baltimore, Md., on Friday, May 1. (Freddie Allen/NNPA News Wire Service)
By Freddie Allen
NNPA Senior Washington Correspondent
BALTIMORE (NNPA) – Friday afternoon was clear and cool enough for a light jacket, although most people wore T-shirts and shorts in Baltimore, Md. The Inner Harbor and much of city hall grounds were barricaded with low metal gates and by 6 pm, the Inner Harbor was free from the lively weekend energy that a normal spring Friday after work crowd would bring. National guardsmen milled about, weapons down, some with stern gazes others talking in hushed, but relaxed tones.
Waiting for a CNN interview at City Hall, Neill Franklin, the executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of current and former members of the criminal justice system that advocates for drug policy reform, said that the Baltimore city police officers charged Friday had multiple attempts to render aid and they failed to so even though Freddie Gray requested it.
“I’m not surprised, this is business as usual, unfortunately for many of the neighborhoods in Baltimore city,” said Franklin. “This time someone died, which has brought the attention to this type of behavior of our police officers.”
Franklin said that in 2005, after Baltimore police officers arrested more than 108,000 people, the state’s attorney’s office was forced to vacate roughly 20 percent of the arrest without filing charges because there was no probable cause for the arrest, similar to what happened with Freddie Gray.
“Hopefully, this is a turning point, I hope it is, but I think the Fraternal Order of Police missed an opportunity today,” said Franklin, referring to a statement that the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) made shortly after State Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced charges would be filed against six police officers. “They can still say we support our officers and their families, but at the same time they should have said and yes we want to partner with you community to figure out a path forward to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”
Franklin said that he feels bad for those police officers standing in the wings who want to to good and who are thinking maybe this is a turning point.
“Then you have the FOP say this nonsense,” said Franklin.
Franklin said that he hopes that residents come together with city officials and members of law enforcement to do an assessment of the police department, body-worn cameras and ways to protect officers who want to come forward when they witness fellow officers behaving badly.
Jhanee Braswell, 26, a resident of Baltimore’s east side, said that Baltimore needed the riots and the national media attention because the policed officers simply don’t care.
Braswell said that she was surprised that the state’s attorney’s office filed charges so soon. So many people get shot and killed everyday.
Braswell said that this is just another situation where things would have blown over without the cell phone footage of Gray’s arrest and the riots last Monday.
The last time Braswell was in a paddy wagon was for fighting downtown. All three times Braswell was in the paddy wagon, she said that a police officer walked her up the steps and secured in the back of the vehicle.
“I’ve been in the back of a paddy wagon and there’s no way that you can do all of that, because it’s too small to jerk yourself around like that to hurt yourself,” said Braswell.
That’s why she believes that either Gray was injured before he was placed in the wagon unsecured or that transport officer was driving erratically and contributed to Gray’s injury.
“I’m kind of glad that they did start a riot and they did start all of that stuff,” said Braswell, even though she recognized that residents like her will likely foot some of the bill for clean up and to repair the damaged properties via tax dollars. If they hadn’t burned the CVS and looted businesses, Braswell said, no one would have been held accountable for Gray’s death.
“I hope [the officers] go to jail and that this won’t be a recurring thing, because everyone should be treated fairly,” said Braswell.
“If your protocol is to walk the person up into the paddy wagon and sit them down and make sure that they are secured safely,” then you have to do that for everyone, because everyone deserves the same treatment, because their safety matters, Braswell said.
Rev. Jamal Bryant, the pastor of Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, said it was a great thing for the city of Baltimore and the Black community to turn on the nightly news and see the mug shots and names of the six police officers involved in the wrongful arrest of Gray that ultimately contributed to his death, said Bryant.
“I’m excited about the new page that American history is on,” said Bryant. “All these cameras out here is the fruit of the work of the people that marched day and day out,” said Bryant motioning to the myriad camera crews and news tents that littered the grassy mall in front of city hall.
“The national news media came, because Freddie died if he had lived and walked away with a cane or on crutches or [rolled away] in a wheelchair, they would have swept it away,” said Bryant.
Bryant added that the fact that Gray’s arrest and anguished screams were caught on camera as police officers dragged him to the transport vehicle also contributed to the national news coverage.
“It was too eerie and too out of order,” said Bryant.
Police in Baltimore need body cameras right now and turned on with audio, said Bryant, adding that he didn’t understand why the city was still under curfew on Friday.
“I’m confused and perplexed why the Inner Harbor closed at 6 pm,” said Bryant. “There’s nothing open on Light Street. There’s nothing open on Pratt Street.
“It says that there is a reduced expectation of the civility of Black folks even in victory,” said Bryant. “You think if the [Baltimore] Ravens had won tonight they would have shut it down? No. Because Black people won they don’t know how to respond, because they are used to us losing.”
Cars horns blared some in support others in frustration over the hundreds of people gathered at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and W. North Avenue The burned out CVS was boarded up and police officers in riot gear blocked the street adjacent to the CVS. Some people danced others held “#BlackLivesMatter” signs. The crowd was very diverse as all ages, races and ethnic groups were out celebrating Mosby’s announcement and calling for police reform.
Timeeka Addison, a resident of Southwest Baltimore who works at CEASE (an acronym for “Communities Engaged and Advocating for a Smoke-Free Environments”), an organization that helps residents to stop smoking, danced in street with friends and said that the curfew should have been lifted sooner.
“We should be able to celebrate all night long, this is a victory,” said Addison. “There’s no need to shut the city down right now.”
She doesn’t believe that if people hadn’t looted the stores and burned buildings and police cars that Mosby’s announcement would have been the same.
“People have been marching for a long time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s sad that it happened, I’m upset that it happened, but it needed to happen,” said Addison. “Everywhere else that this happens it just goes away, [officials] brush everything under the rug and say, ‘just take what we do.’ Baltimore actually made a statement and said, ‘We’re not just accepting that. You have to do something.’ Everybody said that, ‘You did it Ferguson, you did it in Florida, you can not do that here.’”
Follow Freddie Allen on Twitter at @freddieallenjr.
###
Black History
Oakland Protesters Rally to Defend Haitian Immigrants and TPS
The Haiti Action Committee traces its roots to the international movement that emerged following Haiti’s 1991 military coup, which overthrew the nation’s first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Political violence sent thousands of Haitians fleeing the country, while U.S. policies resulted in refugees being intercepted at sea, repatriated, or detained at Guantanamo Bay.
Protesters gathered in downtown Oakland near City Hall at 14th Street and Broadway on Thursday, Aug. 13, calling for protections for Haitian immigrants and an end to deportation policies affecting Haitian communities across the United States.
Organized as a call to action by the Legalization for All Network and supported by the Haiti Action Committee and other community organizations, the demonstration carried a clear message: “Defend TPS! Legalization, Not Deportation!”
Participants focused attention on the termination of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Haiti and immigration policies protesters described as continuing attacks on Haitian immigrants under the Trump administration.
Haitian Romaine Charite of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization urged demonstrators to stand with Haitian families and led chants:
“When Haitians are under attack, what do we do? We fight back.”
Injustice to one is an injustice to us all.”
“Dump Trump!”
Charite and other protesters condemned the federal government’s treatment of Haitian immigrants, describing the policies as an attack on a population already facing extraordinary hardship.
Haiti’s TPS designation was terminated effective July 27, 2026, removing temporary deportation protections and work authorization for hundreds of thousands of Haitian beneficiaries who lacked another legal basis to remain in the United States.
Gerald Smith, a protester and former member of the Black Panther Party during the 1970s, said Haitians were being unfairly targeted and warned that ending TPS would have a devastating impact on Haitian families and communities.
“These policies are racially motivated and unfair,” Smith said. “Everyone deserves the right to self-determination and protection from persecution.”
The Haiti Action Committee cited the continuing political, economic and humanitarian crisis in Haiti as evidence that returning large numbers of immigrants to the country could place already vulnerable people at greater risk.
The Oakland gathering, which drew about 20 participants, reflected a decades-long history of Bay Area activism surrounding Haitian democracy, refugee rights and U.S. immigration policy.
The Haiti Action Committee traces its roots to the international movement that emerged following Haiti’s 1991 military coup, which overthrew the nation’s first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Political violence sent thousands of Haitians fleeing the country, while U.S. policies resulted in refugees being intercepted at sea, repatriated or detained at Guantanamo Bay.
Those policies sparked protests involving Haitian communities, Black activists, artists, college students, churches, labor organizations and human rights advocates. Prominent figures, including dancer and activist Katherine Dunham, tennis champion Arthur Ashe, and TransAfrica leader Randall Robinson, joined campaigns challenging the treatment of Haitian refugees.
In 1992, Haiti Action Committee joined other Bay Area organizations in a dramatic demonstration on San Francisco Bay. Boats carrying Haitian participants were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard while supporters gathered along the waterfront and reportedly chanted, “Let Them Land!”
More than three decades later, protesters have returned to the streets of Oakland, centering on protecting Haitian immigrants, opposing deportation and pressing for immigration policies that provide families with a pathway toward permanent legal residency.
For more information, visit Haitisolidarity.net.
Community
First 5 Alameda County Celebrates First Year of Measure C’s Implementation
Measure C, a community-led and voter-approved half-cent sales tax, was designed to generate approximately $150 million annually for early care and education. During its first year, the initiative reached more than 20,000 children and supported more than 6,400 early educators and caregivers throughout the county.
First 5 Alameda County marked the first anniversary of the impact of Measure C with a community celebration Friday, Aug. 7, at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, highlighting more than $135 million invested to strengthen early childhood education, families and caregivers across Alameda County.
The celebration brought together families, educators, caregivers, advocates, elected officials and community leaders for an evening of music, cultural performances, and children’s activities.
“Oakland is on the move,” said Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, commending all the advocates who helped win the victory for early childhood education and their providers.
Measure C, a community-led and voter-approved half-cent sales tax, was designed to generate approximately $150 million annually for early care and education. During its first year, the initiative reached more than 20,000 children and supported more than 6,400 early educators and caregivers throughout the county.
First 5 Alameda County CEO Kristin Spanos said, “In the first 10 months of Measure C being available after the Board of Supervisors adopted the 5-year plan, we’ve had over $135 million put directly into the community supporting children and providers with emergency grants, investments, and stipends.”
First 5 Alameda County, the public agency responsible for administering Measure C, focused on quickly moving voter-approved dollars into local communities while developing partnerships, accountability measures, and infrastructure intended to create long-term impact.
Alameda County District 5 Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas: “We’re celebrating the first year of getting money into families’ pockets and childcare providers’ pockets. This is about deploying very vital resources over the course of five years. It’s a billion-dollar impact.”
Community Advisory Council member Nancy Harvey said, “We are totally excited. It was a 10-year fight, and we fought tooth and nail. We had so much support from County Supervisors Nate Miley and Nikki Fortunato Bas, the unions, and the late Supervisor Wilma Chan. This is a historic event – people are watching Measure C all over the nation.”
Harvey explained that small childcare providers received a $40,000 grant, and larger providers received a $50,000 grant.
Childcare advocate and provider Lisa Zarodney of Livermore said, “When I got my emergency funds, I was about to close. The stipend allowed me to continue through 2026 and get all the babies on my wait list.”
In business for 27 years, Zarodney said she is now caring for the children of past clients.
“I couldn’t continue my legacy, my dream, and my passion without the funding from Measure C.”
Harvey emphasized that he next leg of the fight is to ensure workers have a sustainable wage.
“We are now pushing to raise the wage of workers to $25 to keep doors open and people employed,” she said.
First 5 Alameda County’s vision is to build an integrated and equity-centered early childhood system supporting children, families, and communities regardless of race, income, or neighborhood. As administrator of Measure C, the agency has worked to expand access to early care and education, strengthen family stability, and support the providers and caregivers families rely upon.
Through Measure C and partnerships with initiatives including the Oakland Children’s Initiative, First 5 Alameda County has sought to reduce fragmented services and better coordinate public resources.
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Commentary
From Palestine to Oakland: Seeds for Liberation Examines Shared Struggles for Freedom
The screening was hosted by the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America and the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation. Following the film, director Matthew Solomon joined local community leaders for a discussion about solidarity, resistance, and the historical connections explored throughout the documentary.
Community members gathered at the Black Panther Party Museum on Saturday, Aug. 15, in downtown Oakland for a screening of “Seeds for Liberation,” an award-winning documentary examining the Palestinian liberation movement and its connections to Black, Chicano and other movements for collective liberation.
The film reveals the face of conflict, struggle, and injustice today and yesterday. In one scene, a bleeding child pleads for help on a shell-shattered rooftop after a bombing in the Gaza Strip last year. In another scene, newly freed Nelson Mandela addresses thousands at the Oakland Coliseum in 1990, at the end of apartheid.
The screening was hosted by the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America and the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation. Following the film, director Matthew Solomon joined local community leaders for a discussion about solidarity, resistance, and the historical connections explored throughout the documentary.
Directed by Solomon and executive-produced by Donna Hadjikhani and Alana Hadid, “Seeds for Liberation” situates Palestinian experiences within the broader history of anti-imperialist and decolonial movements.
Through interviews with historians, legal scholars, activists and organizers, the documentary examines Palestinian resistance. It also details the role of social media in shaping the public’s understanding of the impact of Palestine’s 77-year occupation by Israeli forces, events in Gaza and the West Bank, and relationships between liberation movements across generations and geographic boundaries.
The film includes perspectives of people connected to the Black Liberation Army, La Raza Unida and the Stop Cop City movement. Those featured talk about colonialism, U.S. foreign policy, policing, racial justice and their views of what solidarity with Palestinians has meant.
Solomon developed the documentary following his previous film, “Reimagining Safety,” which explored alternatives to traditional policing.
“I use film as a medium to connect personal testimony with larger social and political questions,” said Solomon, who is currently touring the film across the nation as well as Canada and other countries.
Executive producer Hadjikhani brought a personal connection to the project. An Iranian American designer and social justice advocate, she traveled to Gaza and the West Bank as a college student in 1993 during the First Intifada. Hadid has since focused on Palestinian stories and other underrepresented voices.
The Oakland screening carried added historical significance because it was held in the Black Panther Party Museum, where the history of Black resistance and community organizing provided a backdrop for the film’s examination of interconnected struggles.
Activist and artist Cat Brooks passionately spoke about the fight for the freedom of all people. “No one is free until everyone is free,” she said.
Brooks played a key role in the struggle for justice for Oscar Grant, who was gunned down by a BART police officer in 2009 and is co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP), whose mission is to rapidly respond to and ultimately eradicate state violence in communities of color.
Rather than treating liberation movements as isolated chapters, “Seeds for Liberation” asks audiences to consider how movements separated by time, race and geography have influenced one another and how solidarity has continued to evolve across generations.
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#PostNewsGroup #CarlaThomas #OaklandPost #SanFranciscoPost
#SeedsForLiberation #BlackPantherPartyMuseum #Oakland #Palestine #FreePalestine #BlackLiberation #ChicanoMovement #CollectiveLiberation #SocialJustice #CommunityOrganizing #Solidarity #DocumentaryFilm #IndependentFilm #OaklandEvents #EastBay #BlackHistory #LiberationMovements #MatthewSolomon #HueyPNewtonFoundation #BayAreaEvents
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