Black History

Black GOP Candidates Tap Into Voter Frustrations in 2022 Election Cycle

Recently, CBM spoke with another Black Republican candidate Shawn Collins who is running for governor. Critics say Collins’ attempt to become governor is ambitious because he is barely known in the state’s political circles and last week the California Republican Party endorsed another candidate, former California State Senate Minority Leader Brian Dahle (R-Bieber), for governor.

Published

4 years ago

May 11, 2022

Oakland Post

Some of the Black Republican candidates California Black Media (CBM) has spoken with say they have already made a difference.

By Tanu Henry, California Black Media

There are 12 Black Republicans running in statewide races across California this election year.

Come June 7, when the primaries are held, many of them – already longshots without local or statewide political experience – will likely be eliminated from competing in the November general elections.

Either way it goes, some of the Black Republican candidates California Black Media (CBM) has spoken with say they have already made a difference. They entered their races to represent Californians who are frustrated with the policies coming out of the Democratic-run Legislature in Sacramento and their ideas and opposition on problems from homelessness and affordable housing to education and the environment have already begun to influence political conversations at the state, county and municipal levels across California.

“I really think 2020 woke up a lot of people to get involved in legislation — find out how a lot of things work,” said Pastor Brian Hawkins, a San Diego native and San Jacinto city councilmember who is a Black Republican candidate running to defeat U.S. Congressman Raul Ruiz.

Ruiz is a Democrat representing California’s 36^th Congressional District but due to redistricting is running to represent the 25^th Congressional District.

“People are starting to question political motives, people are questioning the education system, the model that’s been the same for hundreds of years. So, I think people are hungry for something different and this gives us an opportunity,” he said.

But Collins, 41, an attorney, father, and U.S. Navy veteran who lives in Orange County, says his message is connecting with people.

“I tell people that California’s problems are so big right now, they transcend politics,” he said. “And what I mean by that is there are certain issues in this state right now that impact you whether you’re a Democrat or Republican.”

Last week, Collins spoke with CBM about his decision to run for governor of California.

Here is an excerpt of our conversation. It has been edited for concision and clarity.

CBM: Why are you running for Governor?

COLLINS: My primary motivation is my family — my wife, and my four young children. I’m genuinely concerned about my children being able to start lives and develop careers here in California because the state has become so anti-business.

The governor’s race excites me because I track our K through 12 education. California is ranked 40 out of 50 states. How is that possible?

This is the fifth-largest economy in the world. We have a budget of over $300 billion. We have a surplus of over $31 billion and our teachers are some of the highest paid in all of America. You have to ask: why is our public education system so bad?

How do we fix it?

It is one of the first things I’ll focus on when I become governor. The Hoover Institute has been tracking this program in Dallas – in the community that I grew up in, actually.

They incentivize high-performing teachers in other school districts to come to lower income communities and try to make an impact. They say, “right now only two out of 10 kids are reading at their grade level. If you can get that up to four out of 10, there’s $50,000 attached to that.”

It’s in its second year right now and test scores have already dramatically improved.

CBM: What do you think about the growing school choice movement that a lot of conservatives support?

COLLINS: I’ve always been an advocate of school choice because it puts pressure on the school district to perform. If they don’t perform, their schools will lose funding.

CBM: What gives you the confidence that you as a Republican can win in California, one of the most Democratic states in the country?

COLLINS: Well, I’ll start with my background. You know, first of all, I’m not your traditional Republican. They’ve never seen any Republican candidate like me. And what I mean by that is I was not born into the Republican Party. You’re looking at a person that grew up in a very Democrat household. My dad was an electrician, and he was a single father because my parents divorced when I was three years old. My mom gave my dad primary custody because she was very intimidated by having to raise two young boys by herself.

CBM: How do you convince Black and other minority voters to support your candidacy?

COLLINS: I grew up in difficult circumstances, so I understand the hurt that average Californians are feeling right now. I can use that personal experience to implement policy that will make substantial changes to individuals’ lives.

CBM: How is your plan for tackling homelessness better than what Democrats have done?

COLLINS: Democrats have thrown $13 billion at the problem over the past five years, and it’s gotten worse. We have to stop this “housing first” policy. The assumption is that if you can provide a home for every single homeless person in the state of California — which is in excess of 160,000 at this point — the security of a home will somehow transform them. When you look at the breakdown of our homeless population in the state, roughly a third are homeless because of life circumstances, meaning they lost their job, or some type of catastrophic economic event. That’s one-third. The other two-thirds are drug addicted or mentally ill. So, if you’re talking about a housing option for that one-third, OK, you’re on the right track.

My policy would be to have more drug addiction and mental health services. If the drug addict or the mentally ill person says, “I don’t want your help,” then we have to implement tough love. You have to accept the help or go to jail, but you can’t live on the street because that’s not compassion.

CBM: Public safety is a big issue right now. A lot of conservatives are slamming criminal justice reforms and calling for tough-on-crime policies again. What is your take?

COLLINS: We have to have accountability built into our criminal justice system. Criminals talk. I know that because I grew up in a community where criminals talked. And if people know that they are not going to be held accountable, they are emboldened to go out and commit crimes.

How is it effective to implement tough-on-crime laws and lock more people up if rehabilitation programs are not built into the correctional system?

For me, rehabilitation is important. We have to have programs in place whereby incarcerated people can learn a vocation, a trade or skill.

If a person just goes to prison and they hang out there for a certain period of time and they pick up no skills, they have nothing to offer society when they walk out. When you walk out of the doors of that prison with no skills, you’re obviously going to return to a life of crime.

Rehabilitation needs to be intelligent.

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Activism

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses. The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Published

5 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Toks Omishakin, secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, was one of the speakers at the event. Photo by Shellee Fisher Photography and Design.

By Calvin Naito, Special to The Post

On June 4, a national nonprofit named the Equity in Infrastructure Project (EIP) – which aims to increase public construction contracting opportunities for small and historically underutilized businesses – held a day-long event in downtown San Francisco to rally supporters and build momentum to its cause.

It was attended by more than 100 individuals from public agencies, private firms, and other organizations committed to increasing contracting opportunities with governmental agencies, thereby creating more competition and lowering public costs.

The EIP event was held the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in conjunction with BuildIT, which aims to increase contracting opportunities for LGBT-owned businesses.

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses.

The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Following the workshop, BuildIT hosted a VIP evening reception honoring EIP, whose principals – Phil Washington, John Procari, and Rick Jacobs – accepted the award.

The event also set in motion the coalition’s efforts to implement recommendations from EIP’s “Procurement for Prosperity: A Playbook.”

The Playbook is a practical guide for public agency leaders and procurement and contracting practitioners to grow the capacity of small and first-time contractors, strengthen competition, and deliver better value for taxpayers.

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), a long-time EIP supporter, also told attendees, “This is about commitment. This has been a life’s work. This is a tailwind moment.”

The event’s presenting sponsor was Hub International, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the nation, which was joined by partners Travelers Insurance and the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

After the pledge-signing ceremony, attendees participated in a workshop in which they examined the policies, practices, and programs needed to meet EIP goals, learned from practitioners, and identified next steps toward utilizing the Playbook.

Ingrid Meriwether, formerly of Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services (MWIS) and current president of Hub International’s Aligned Risk Management, MWIS, described the hard-fought lessons she and her MWIS team have learned over the last three decades administering contractor development programs (CDPs) for the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, City of Los Angeles, LA Metro, and other municipalities.

The CDPs help small and local construction firms win public infrastructure contracts with these government agencies. The program provides bonding assistance, contract financing, technical support, training, and other services to underrepresented businesses funded by public agencies who seek greater contracting participation with these firms.

Merriwether said programs like these “break down systemic barriers, create greater fairness, and save taxpayers money by enabling more competition. The contractor development programs have, cumulatively, over two decades, helped contractors access over $1 billion in bonding, supporting over $380 million in awarded contracts, and maintaining a loss ratio 250 times lower than the industry average – while saving participating municipalities more than $27 million in contracting costs as a result of enabling more competition.”

Rick Jacobs, EIP co-founder and co-chair urged attendees make plans to meet again in the near future “to continue building on this work, share progress on organizational commitments, and discuss how we can collectively advance the goals of the EIP pledge.”

For more information on the EIP and to access a copy of the Playbook, go online to https://equityininfrastructure.org/

Calvin Naito is communications manager for Equity in Infrastructure Project.

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Oakland Museum Presents Landmark Retrospective Celebrating Beloved Bay Area Artist Mildred Howard

“Poetics of Memory” coincides with a year of major recognition for Howard. In 2026, she received the California Arts Council’s 50th Anniversary Award, honoring artists whose work has shaped California’s cultural and civic life, as well as the Museum of the African Diaspora’s Artist Impact Award. In 2025, she was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in recognition of her transformative contributions to American cultural life.

Published

5 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Mildred Howard. Photo by Christine Cueto for the Oakland Museum of California, 2025.

Special to The Post

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) opened “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory,” the first major museum survey of Bay Area artist Mildred Howard, on June 12.

The exhibition spans five decades of Howard’s influential work, bringing together immersive installations, found-object sculptures, archival materials, and new commissions that explore memory, identity, and power in American life.

Howard was born in San Francisco in 1945 and raised in the East Bay, where she went on to study Afro-Haitian dance, make and sell clothing, and experiment with collage and sculpture.

Her multimedia art practice emerged from these experiences, later becoming associated with West Coast conceptual art, San Francisco funk, and a vibrant community of artists like Oliver Jackson, Betye Saar, and Raymond Saunders. Since the 1970s, she has used found materials and family stories to explore memory—both individual and collective.

At OMCA, visitors enter “Poetics of Memory” through a series of intimate galleries featuring Howard’s early mixed-media pieces and sculptures, along with a large video projection of a number of her public artworks.

Together, they emphasize Howard’s interest in everyday objects as powerful carriers of individual and shared stories. Highlights include collages that remix images of the artist herself; found-object sculptures like The History of the United States with a few Parts Missing (2007) that address omissions in dominant narratives; and public works like “Locks and Keys for Harry Bridges” (2001) that transform urban space into a meditation on access and labor.

This culminates in a richly detailed “studio” environment, where works in progress, archival exhibition flyers, historic photographs of Howard and her community, postcards from fellow artists, and other materials offer insight into her creative process and daily life.

The exhibition then opens into a high-ceilinged, dramatically lit space that brings together Howard’s signature immersive installations. On one end, “Crossings” (1997/2026) – a field of hundreds of ceramic eggs leading to an ornate mirror – suggests cycles of birth, motherhood, and transition, while drawing on the emotional echoes of the Middle Passage. On the other end, “Blackbird in a Red Sky” (a.k.a. “Fall of the Blood House”) (2002) – a red glass shack bordered by a pond – also uses reflection and transparency to draw viewers into the work and prompt consideration of themes of identity and home.

Howard’s newest video installation, “Moving Stills” (2026), repurposes never-before-seen family footage she took as a teenager on a train trip to the American South. Projected onto cascading layers of translucent fabric that stretch across an entire gallery wall, the piece immerses viewers in a layered meditation on memory, migration, and time.

The “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory” exhibit will be on display through Oct. 11 at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland, CA 94612. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Fridays to 9 p.m.

This story is sourced from the Oakland Museum of California press office.

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Arts and Culture

IN MEMORIAM: Oakland Dance Legend Reginald Ray-Savage, 67

Savage lived his life as tribute to the teachers who had shared their wisdom on art and life with him. With a palpably genuine enthusiasm and desire to bring out the best in people, and pass the torch to the next generation, he poured into his students, as his teachers and mentors had into him. His infectious energy, love of life, and generosity of spirit inspired countless souls, both inside and outside the dance studio.

Published

6 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Reginald Ray-Savage brought the old-school teaching techniques he learned in the Katherine Dunham Dance Company to the youth at the Oakland School for the Arts in 2003. Courtesy photo.

Special to The Post

Reginald Ray-Savage – dancer, choreographer, and beloved teacher, mentor, and inspiration to many – passed away on May 17. The Oakland School for the Arts dance instructor was 67.

Born Reginald Ray, Jr. in St. Louis, Missouri, on Sept. 5, 1958, he formally adopted the name ‘Savage,’ to honor the great Archie Savage, his mentor at Katherine Dunham’s Performing Arts Training Center where his dance training journey began in East St. Louis, Illinois.

He soon started dancing professionally with Katherine Dunham Dance Company, making dance a way of life. His grit, tenacity, and notorious work ethic brought him scholarships to train at multiple prestigious dance institutions, including The Ailey School (NYC) and Ruth Page School of Dance (Chicago), under the direction of acclaimed ballet instructor Larry Long and Dolores Lipinski-Long.

He danced with several companies including Joel Hall Dance Company, Ruth Page Ballet Chicago, Lyric Opera, Chicago City Ballet, American Festival Ballet, and touring productions of “Music Man” and “A Chorus Line”.

In 1989, Savage moved to Oakland where he started teaching seven days a week, amassing a devoted following that was attracted to his no-nonsense, impassioned, and effective old-school teaching style.

In 1992, at the insistence of his committed core of students, he founded Savage Jazz Dance Company (SJDC). Over a span of 30 years, Savage produced more than 100 original works, and tour SJDC nationally and internationally, performing at Casa del Jazz in Rome to a packed house and rave reviews—the first dance company to receive such an invitation.

Savage built SJDC into one of the Bay Area’s most respected dance companies, creating a signature style known for its combination of disciplined training, blended with rich artistic musical expression, and raw energy.

In 2003, Savage joined the Oakland School for the Arts as chair of the School of Dance. Over the next two decades, he created, built, and maintained a strong dance program, recognized, and respected by other dance institutions for forging well-trained and resilient dancers and human beings.

The depth of Savage’s tough love and care, and the skill of his teaching and mentoring are reflected in the careers of his students who have gone on to dance with the San Francisco Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Group, Janet Jackson, Ariana Grande, and companies across the globe.

Mark Kitaoka, a photographer hired by Savage in 2016, posted a living eulogy on the dance instructor.

“When I see the self-pride he builds in his students I am constantly impressed that people like Savage still exist in our ‘meme’ society,” Kitaoka wrote. “The kids he mentors are fiercely loyal to one another and I’m certain his methods teach each of those kids to put aside social status, race and gender and is replaced by solid loyalty for other souls.

“What Savage contributes to our world cannot be completely summed up in a few meager paragraphs but can be seen in the countless lives of those he has touched. Because of him, our world, and the world of the future is both a richer and better place.

Reginald Ray-Savage will forever be missed, remembered, and lovingly quoted. He is survived by his beloved wife, Alison Hurley, his sister, Sonia, and his brothers, Pierre, and Andre. May his inextinguishable spirit and impact live on in all the lives he touched.