Community
Assembly Candidates Confront the Issues: Howard Terminal , Local Control of Schools, Reparations
The candidates are running to represent Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro in a June 29 special election for California State Assembly District #18, a seat that was previously held by Rob Bonta, who was recently appointed as California Attorney General.


James Aguilar

Janani Ramachandran

Malia Vella

Mia Bonta
Candidates for State Assembly responded to pointed questions on some of the critical issues facing Oakland schools and the community – including displacement, housing, reparations, public safety and returning full local control to the public schools – at a recent Education Candidate Forum on Zoom hosted by the School of Education at Holy Names University in Oakland, in partnership with the Oakland Post Community Assembly.
The candidates are running to represent Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro in a June 29 special election for California State Assembly District #18, a seat that was previously held by Rob Bonta, who was recently appointed as California Attorney General. Candidates attending the forum were James Aguilar, Victor Aguilar, Mia Bonta, Joel Britton, Janani Ramachandran, and Malia Vella.
The event was hosted by Dr. Kimberly Mayfield, dean of the School of Education at Holy Names, who emphasized the importance of these issues for the city’s future.
“We have just come through a moral and political crisis (in this country) around racism and the government’s role in maintaining this system. We are looking for a new approach, and this is the lens we will be using today for this education forum,” said Dr. Mayfield.
Also welcoming the candidates and the public to event were Oakland Post publisher Paul Cobb and his wife Gay Plair Cobb, who highlighted their intense interest in schools and education. Paul Cobb is a former member of the Oakland Board of Education, and Gay Cobb served for many years on the Alameda County Board of Education.
The first question to candidates was whether they would oppose the big money coalition of politicians and powerful interests behind Oakland A’s owner John Fisher’s stadium and massive downtown real estate project at Howard Terminal.
Opponents of the project argue that the A’s proposal is vaguely worded and would come at a high cost to Oakland taxpayers, who would foot the bill for decades. They say the development would create a city-within-a-city, like Piedmont, that would displace local residents and likely wreck the Port of Oakland and its decent-paying longshore jobs, turning the city’s waterfront and downtown into a tourist attraction like Pier 39 in San Francisco.
Of the three candidates who are considered to be the top contenders., only Janani Ramachandran was strongly opposed to Fisher’s deal. Malia Vella and Mia Bonta raised concerns but did not oppose the development.
James Aguilar, Victor Aguilar and Joel Britton were also against the project.
Bonta, president of the school board in Alameda, said, “I believe that there is a way for us to be able to hold the Oakland A’s accountable to the plan and the processes that they made … starting with stakeholder involvement in the environmental impact of the proposed project.”
Malia Vella, vice mayor of Alameda and attorney for the Teamsters Union, said, “We need to have community input. The best projects are the results of a robust process that involve community stakeholders,… and an opportunity to meaningfully engage.. to get the best community benefits.”
Said Janani Ramachandran, a social justice attorney, “I was the first candidate in this race who took an uncompromising, clear and public stand against the project … because having visited Howard Terminal, I have seen why it is entirely unfeasible and harmful to our West Oakland residents and extremely harmful to our thriving port, the fifth largest in the country.”
The candidates supported the statewide demand or reparations and the movement for Reparations for Black Students raised by community groups in Oakland. They also backed an approach to public safety that deemphasizes policing and stresses the need for jobs, housing and health care to build safe communities.
Candidates also backed the return of local control of Oakland schools and loan forgiveness, to end the domination of the schools by a state-imposed trustee and the austerity program pushed by Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team (FCMAT),as well as halting the closing of schools in flatland neighborhoods.
Bonta called for “an end state receivership, which is decades old, and the FCMAT order that has created a status of fiscal enslavement of Oakland Unified, which paired with growth of charter schools has created a structural deficit that OUSD can’t get out from under.”
About teacher recruitment, all the candidates said would seek to end expensive standardized tests and other obstacles facing Black and other people of color who want to become teachers.
Janani Ramachandran said she would support legislation “to remove excess and expensive tests and other barriers that .. keep Black and other potential teachers of color from entering the profession.”
To watch the video of the forum, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vsEi_7bXx4
Antonio Thomas Stiles
Mothers in Mourning: Moms, Allies Protest Gun Violence in California
On Sept. 9, elected officials, community leaders and concerned citizens took to the streets of Watts in South Los Angeles to march against gun violence in California. Dubbed the “Mothers in Mourning March,” the women-led event was organized by Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson) featured guest speakers and over 34 participating organizations.

Aldon Thomas Stiles | Califoria Black Media
On Sept. 9, elected officials, community leaders and concerned citizens took to the streets of Watts in South Los Angeles to march against gun violence in California.
Dubbed the “Mothers in Mourning March,” the women-led event was organized by Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson) featured guest speakers and over 34 participating organizations.
Participants marched from Jordan High School to Edwin Markham Middle School and walked back to Jordan in temperatures that hovered up to the high 80s, shouting impassioned chants like “put those guns down,” “stop the killing,” and “start the healing.”
“We are proud to be here at Jordan, and from the housing complexes to the highways we are making our voices known: Let our babies live,” Gipson posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
At a post-march rally, speakers shared personal accounts, some tearful, about their experiences with gun violence.
“For our children we lost, we are their voices, and their voices will continue to be heard here and everywhere around this nation,” Mattie Scott, the California chapter leader of the advocacy organization Mothers in Charge, said. “We will stop the killing and start the healing because this is for all of us or none of us.”
Scott reminded voters that they have power to push anti-Gun policies against the forces across the country that fiercely oppose them — from “our house, to the courthouse, to your house, to the White House.”
As of last year, firearms are the leading cause of death among children in the United States.
While the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that California has the 8th lowest death rate by guns and Los Angeles has seen a decrease between 2021 and 2022, Los Angeles County accounts for a majority of California’s gun related deaths, according to Hope and Heal Fund.
African Americans between the ages of 15 and 34 experience gun-related deaths more than any other group in the United States, according to the Center for American Progress.
Overall, Everytown Research & Policy reports, that Black Americans “experience 12 times the gun homicides, 18 times the gun assault injuries, and nearly 3 times the fatal police shootings” as compared to White Americans.
Karren Lane, the Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, stressed the importance of all Californians getting involved in the legislative process to help stem gun violence.
“Our commitment is to prevent that violence,” she said. “We cannot do that as a city without the organized political power of everyday people.”
She went on to speak about how the march might have an impact on those who have a vested interest in the prevention of gun violence.
“This event is so significant because one mother suffering alone feels isolated and silenced,” she said. “But when we come together and organize our voices, we are political power. We are organized power.”
Speakers also focused on explaining anti-gun violence bills that Gov. Newsom has signed and others the Legislature has approved.
Assembly Bill (AB) 28, for example, which has been approved by the Legislature, would impose an 11% tax for sales for firearms and firearm related items like ammunition and other “precursor parts.”
Gov. Newsom signed AB 1621, authored by Gipson, last year. It bans ghost guns, which are “unserialized and untraceable firearm” parts that can be assembled without any form of regulation or oversight.
LA Unified School District board member Tanya Ortiz Franklin, one of the speakers, encouraged Californians to vote to protect their children.
“We have the power to change the world with the kids in our district. We have future presidents, we have future engineers, we have future public safety officers, we have future changemakers right here in our district. But they need to have a future and they have to live into their potential and it’s going to take all of us demanding that,” she said.
Franklin’s voice echoed that of many of the women and allies attending the march who chanted at intervals, “No more silence, end gun violence!”
Bay Area
Writer Marc Spears Honored in Oakland
Bay Area leaders and key notables in the city of Oakland congratulated Marc Spears, NBA writer for Andscape/ESPN for receiving the 2023 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Curt Gowdy Media Award

Bay Area leaders and key notables in the city of Oakland congratulated Marc Spears, NBA writer for Andscape/ESPN for receiving the 2023 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Curt Gowdy Media Award. The event was held at Hiiiwav, a new location at 2781 Telegraph in Oakland recently purchased by Grammy Award-winner Bosko Kante and his wife Maya Kante. Pictured here, left to right, are Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce President Cathy Adams, Chef David Lawrence, Marc Spears, and Nola Turnage of Okta, Inc. Photo courtesy of Cathy Adams.
California Black Media
Elected Officials, Faith Leaders Join State Ed Chief Thurmond to Discuss Antisemitism Solutions
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond organized a virtual roundtable discussion titled “Education to End Hate: Countering Antisemitism” that brought together about 350 attendees, including elected officials and faith leaders, according to the Department of Education (CDE).

By Joe W. Bowers Jr.
California Black Media
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond organized a virtual roundtable discussion titled “Education to End Hate: Countering Antisemitism” that brought together about 350 attendees, including elected officials and faith leaders, according to the Department of Education (CDE).
The aim of the discussion, which was held Aug. 23, was to address the role of education in combating the recent increase in antisemitism.
Steve Zimmer, deputy superintendent of public instruction, moderated the discussion and cited statistics on the increase of antisemitism and hate crimes in California.
Antisemitism and other hate crimes have surged in California, rising by more than 20% last year. The main targets were Black, LGBTQ+ and Jewish people.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that antisemitic hate crimes had increased by over 40% between 2021 and 2022, especially in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Kern counties.
Thurmond is involved in initiatives related to Holocaust and genocide education, and he aims to utilize education to reduce acts of hate. He is co-chair of the Governor’s Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education along with Dr. Anita Friedman, executive director of Jewish Family and Children’s Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma counties; Sen. Henry Stern (D-Calabasas), and Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Thurmond has also partnered with the National Equity Project to help implement the $20 million Antibias Education Grant Program to empower educators and students in addressing hate, bigotry, and racism.
“I have pledged that the CDE will intervene whenever we learn about an antisemitic act or other forms of hate at a California public school,” said Thurmond.
He said he would work side-by-side with school and district leaders to ensure that teachers have the resources and partnerships needed to address both the immediate crisis and the long-term educational implications.
“My priority is to empower educators and students to confront the hate, bigotry, and racism rising against several communities in the state and nation,” said Thurmond.
Thurmond initiated the “Education to End Hate” series to tackle hate and racism through education. The next event in the series occurred on Sept. 12.
Several members of the Jewish Legislative Caucus, Senators Stern, Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), and Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park) and Assemblymembers Laura Friedman (D-Burbank) and Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), gave opening remarks for the roundtable.
The caucus members urged schools to adopt the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, which includes a unit on Jewish American studies, to foster understanding and appreciation of diverse cultures and identities.
“It is no secret if you are Jewish or if you have Jewish friends or interact with Jewish students or folks in the community, the tremendous levels of anxiety that our community is feeling at this moment [is] really unprecedented for my lifetime,” caucus co-chair Gabriel said.
Following the remarks from the Jewish legislators, a panel of Jewish community leaders presented different perspectives on the issue of antisemitism.
On the panel were Rabbi Meyer May, executive director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museums of Tolerance; Dr. Friedman; and Sarah Levin, executive director of Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa.
The panel members discussed the rich history and multifaceted elements of Jewish identity, the rise in antisemitism across the political spectrum, the intersectionality of antisemitism with other forms of oppression, and the specific ways that education can play a role in countering antisemitism throughout the state.
They also identified important resources that teachers can use to address antisemitism and all forms of hate.
Rabbi May said that being Jewish means caring for the community and treating others with dignity: “Judaism for me is an all-encompassing experience … I have an equal responsibility every day to treat my fellow persons with human dignity. That should be the core value for every human being: that we treat others with human dignity and understand that everyone has the same basic needs, that they want to support their families, have joy, and pride in their families and perpetuate their culture.”
Friedman said that antisemitism affects not only Jews but American society, more broadly. She warned that it is a sign of something wrong that needs to be fixed.
“It’s a signal, like the canary in the coal mine, that something is not right and needs to be fixed,” Friedman said.
The state’s ethnic studies curriculum, which faced strong backlash when it was first released in 2019, was a recurring topic during the discussion.
Wiener said the first draft of the state’s ethnic studies curriculum, had “despicable” and “straight-up antisemitic” language.
He said Jewish groups lobbied to change the final version, but some districts are being pressed to use the old draft, which is illegal. He also said some authors responsible for antisemitic language in the curriculum are shopping their services as “liberated ethnic studies.”
In response to Wiener’s concern, Thurmond said he had sent many letters to districts reminding them of the legal limits of ethnic studies, which should not be antisemitic or use any unapproved version of the curriculum. He also urged anyone who witnessed antisemitism in schools to contact his office.
“We’d like to get that phone call,” Thurmond said.
A full recording of the webinar can be viewed on the CDE Facebook page.
This article was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.
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