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Leader of Historic S.F. State University Strike, Jerry Varnado

Jerry Wayne Varnado, who passed away on Sept. 8, 2021, was a leader of the most successful and long-lasting student strike in the history of U.S. education.

Published

4 years ago

September 26, 2021

Christy Price

Caption: Jerry Wayne Varnado (center) with his wife, Marilyn, and his son Jerry R.H. Varnado at the 2011 SF State College of Ethnic Studies Anniversary.

Special to the Post

Jerry Wayne Varnado, who passed away on Sept. 8, 2021, was a leader of the most successful and long-lasting student strike in the history of U.S. education.

He was a founder of the first Black Student Union in the country and later became a practicing attorney.

Born on July 7, 1944, in Jackson, Miss., Varnado was the first of nine children born to John Otis and Lula Mae Varnado. Jerry graduated from Jim Hill High School in 1962.

He was determined to leave the South and aspired to go to school in California. He joined the Air Force and upon discharge, he used his veteran benefits to go to college.

He moved to San Francisco and lived with his aunt, within walking distance of San Francisco State University (SFSU). He was admitted to SF State in 1966 and initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc in 1967. His fraternity brothers recognized his leadership potential and immediately elected him chapter president.

Varnado earned a B.A. in economics in 1969 and later a law degree from UC Hastings College of the Law.

As a student at S.F. State, he was involved with the Negro Students Association and co-founded the Black Student Union (BSU). In 1968, he and fellow BSU leaders established a coalition with the Third World Liberation Front, other students, faculty, and community members and organized the longest student strike in the history of the nation to protest the lack of access, misrepresentation, and the overall neglect of indigenous peoples and people of color within the university’s curriculum and programs.

The strikers’ demands reflected a respect for the diverse intellectual traditions and cultural expressions of scholars, activists, and artists of color and indigenous people throughout the country.

The strike fought for tenure for minority instructors, Dr. Nathan Hare and open enrollment for African American students, including actors Danny Glover and Clarence Williams III.

Historically, SFSU, as a 4-year non HBCU, admitted more African American freshmen in the fall of 1969 than any other U.S. university. The activism and sacrifices of Varnado and other strikers were the impetus for the founding of the College of Ethnic Studies with departments in Africana Studies (formerly Black Studies), American Indian Studies, Asian American Studies, and Latina/o Studies (formerly La Raza Studies) in 1969.

Their efforts enabled future generations of students at SFSU to learn about the histories, cultures, and intellectual traditions of communities of color and indigenous peoples in the U.S. in the first-person and also to practice theories of resistance and liberation to eliminate racism and other forms of oppression.

Varnado lived a life of leadership, mentorship, and support to his community, family, and friends.

After completing his studies at SFSU and his law degree, he practiced law in the San Francisco Bay Area. He married the love of his life, Marilyn D. Jones in 1980, who he met at SFSU but later reunited in 1976.

Jerry and Marilyn had two sons: Jerry R.H. Varnado and Charles C. Varnado.

Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, he could not gather with friends and family, and this brought him more despair than being ill.

Preceding him in death were his father and mother John Otis and Lula Mae Varnado; brother, John Otis Varnado Jr.; and sisters, State Senator Alice Varnado Harden (Dennis) and Mildred L. Robinson (Willie).

He leaves to cherish his memory his five sisters Wilma G. Butler (Alex), Dr. Phillis Varnado, Shirley Varnado, Sharron Porter (Andrew) and Dr Jacqueline Jackson (Wilton) along with a myriad of uncles, aunts, cousins, and dear friends,

Donations Services will be held on October 8 and attendance will be limited to family and close friends due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Donations may be made with a check made payable to the “University Corporation, San Francisco” with “Jerry Varnado Scholarship Donation” noted on the memo line. Please mail donations to:

Office of University Development
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Ave., ADM 153
San Francisco, CA 94132

The San Francisco Post’s coverage of local news in San Francisco County is supported by the Ethnic Media Sustainability Initiative, a program created by California Black Media and Ethnic Media Services to support community newspapers across California.

Christy Price

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#NNPA BlackPress

Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

1 day ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

Published

2 days ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

4 days ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke