Activism

The Black New Deal

Published

4 years ago

June 4, 2020

Across the entire county, Black Americans have been crying out for specific data on the impacts of the coronavirus on their communities due to high rates of contraction and mortality.

In Oakland, coalition of Black-led organizations was convened to address the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 and its evisceration of the Black community.

The resulting effort is The Black New Deal, a platform of short, mid and long-range goals crafted to address the immediate needs of Oakland’s Black residents.

Black New Deal advocates are requesting, amongst a suite of other equity shifts, that the Oakland Unified School District Board of Trustees and the City of Oakland work together to provide internet access and computers to OUSD students who do not have this privilege.

In addition, the Black New Deal advocates for deeper investment from the County of Alameda to:

• Provide free testing for all of Oakland’s 400,000 citizens;

• Utilize FEMA funds to immediately shelter every unhoused person in hotels;

• Release all Black people incarcerated in Alameda County, and upon their release they be tested, provided with medical care, housing, and other services by through funding to community organizations

The Black New Deal, which is also moving in Sacramento and Los Angeles is already having an impact in Oakland as legislators are making changes to address the platform demands.

“President Roosevelt’s New Deal, the programs and reforms enacted to stabilize the United States during the Great Depression, left Black Americans out of the recovery and in many ways, exacerbated existing racist injustices and state-sanctioned discrimination,” said Carroll Fife, director of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE). “It deepened the divide between white and Black Americans in areas of educational achievement, job quality and a living wage, and access to safe and affordable housing. As a result, the Black New Deal was created for those left behind by the first New Deal as a way to say, never again.”

According to Fife, “We have to do more than just say Black people are dying disproportionately from the coronavirus. We must dig deep into the why and do the work to change the systems that are killing us. We must also change the narrative: we are not just dying of a disease, we are dying because of structural racism and benign neglect.”

“My goal is for Black people to know it’s OK to center Black health and wellness,” Fife said.

Fife urges community members to find its own solutions for the challenges here and create their own systems to take care of each other. The self- love and desire for the ‘best good’ does not mean that African Americans in Alameda County don’t want the same for others.

“Our blood, sweat and tears have fertilized the ground in America and we are still fighting for space and equity,” Fife said. “It is our responsibility to build our people, and we should also hold accountable those in positions to affect our lives to do their part.

If this pandemic is an emergency, we should act like it and move with urgency to halt the existing trend of Black disposability and do everything in our power to right the wrongs of history so we do not continue to duplicate its failures.

By Tanya Dennis and Carroll Fife

Posts by By Tanya Dennis and Carroll Fife

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

Published

3 days ago

April 26, 2024

Oakland Post

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

1 week ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

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Oakland Schools Honor Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice. His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.

Published

1 week ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

Fred Korematsu. Courtesy of OUSD.

By Post Staff

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice.

His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.
One OUSD school is named in his honor: Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy (KDA) elementary in East Oakland.

Several years ago, founding KDA Principal Charles Wilson, in a video interview with anti-hate organization “Not In Our Town,” said, “We chose the name Fred Korematsu because we really felt like the attributes that he showed in his work are things that the children need to learn … that common people can stand up and make differences in a large number of people’s lives.”

Fred Korematsu was born in Oakland on Jan. 30, 1919. His parents ran a floral nursery business, and his upbringing in Oakland shaped his worldview. His belief in the importance of standing up for your rights and the rights of others, regardless of race or background, was the foundation for his activism against racial prejudice and for the rights of Japanese Americans during World War II.

At the start of the war, Korematsu was turned away from enlisting in the National Guard and the Coast Guard because of his race. He trained as a welder, working at the docks in Oakland, but was fired after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Fear and prejudice led to federal Executive Order 9066, which forced more than 120,000 Japanese Americans out of their homes and neighborhoods and into remote internment camps.

The 23-year-old Korematsu resisted the order. He underwent cosmetic surgery and assumed a false identity, choosing freedom over unjust imprisonment. His later arrest and conviction sparked a legal battle that would challenge the foundation of civil liberties in America.

Korematsu’s fight culminated in the Supreme Court’s initial ruling against him in 1944. He spent years in a Utah internment camp with his family, followed by time living in Salt Lake City where he was dogged by racism.

In 1976, President Gerald Ford overturned Executive Order 9066. Seven years later, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco vacated Korematsu’s conviction. He said in court, “I would like to see the government admit that they were wrong and do something about it so this will never happen again to any American citizen of any race, creed, or color.”

Korematsu’s dedication and determination established him as a national icon of civil rights and social justice. He advocated for justice with Rosa Parks. In 1998, President Bill Clinton gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom saying, “In the long history of our country’s constant search for justice, some names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls … To that distinguished list, today we add the name of Fred Korematsu.”

After Sept. 11, 2001, Korematsu spoke out against hatred and discrimination, saying what happened to Japanese Americans should not happen to people of Middle Eastern descent.
Korematsu’s roots in Oakland and his education in OUSD are a source of great pride for the city, according to the school district. His most famous quote, which is on the Korematsu elementary school mural, is as relevant now as ever, “If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don’t be afraid to speak up.”