Activism
Board of SuperMoms Rallies Outside Alameda County Headquarters to Demand ‘Homes Not Harm’
Moms 4 Housing, a coalition of support groups and about 150 local residents gathered outside the Alameda County administration building in downtown Oakland on Tuesday to participate in a rally called Board of SuperMoms Demands Homes Not Harm.
Members of Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ), the Anti Police-Terror Project and Decarcerate Alameda County also spoke. Bay Area People’s Strike and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) hosted the rally.
“After voting to give this notoriously racist Sheriff’s Department a budget increase of over $100 million a year, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors has canceled their meeting set for September 1st,” read a Facebook invitation calling for supporters to attend the rally, which took place from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. “We are in a crisis and this failure of leadership is unacceptable.”
Moms 4 Housing and supporters arranged a table outside of the building at 1221 Oak St. and spoke in a manner that emulated and played with the style of a county meeting.
Behind the table, supporters held signs painted in yellow, red and black. One sign outlined the four demands of the Homes Not Harm agenda: Defunding the sheriff by 30-50%; placing a moratorium on all evictions during the COVID-19 crisis; canceling all rent and mortgage debt; and permanently banning law enforcement from carrying out evictions.
While no current City Council members showed up to support the rally, Moms 4 Housing member Carroll Fife, who is running for office in District 3, as well as District 5 Council candidates Zoe Lopez-Meraz and Richard Santos Raya, were in attendance.
“We live in a police state that puts capital over human life,” said Dominique Walker, a founding member of Moms 4 Housing who spoke at the rally. “The eviction of Mom’s house showed that.”
Walker, along with several other speakers referenced the militarized pre-dawn eviction on Jan. 14 when the Alameda County Sheriff raided a speculator-owned property that had long been left vacant and kicked out unhoused Black mothers and children who had taken shelter inside. The sheriff’s officers used tanks, drones, a battering ram, and assault rifles to enforce the eviction.
Speakers pointed out that law enforcement terrorizes the same people that face housing insecurity and homelessness. Black Oakland resident Barbara Doss, of the Ella Baker Center, spoke of how guards at Santa Rita Jail killed her son, Dujuan Armstrong, at age 23.
But celebrating her son’s life was difficult because the owners of her rented housing unit wanted to inspect it on the same day. After delaying the inspection, she said they sent her a threat that she would be evicted if she continued to delay the inspection. She characterized the housing in the area as “unfair” and shared fond memories of her son, who, starting at the age of 9, would feed unhoused residents in Oakland.
“He would take food underneath the ramp down at 29th street and we would feed the homeless,” she said. “That was something he wanted to do, believe me, I didn’t push him to do that. I love him for doing that.”
Speakers pointed out the same money that can be used to harm and incarcerate people could be used to provide housing. Others spoke directly to the need to cancel rent and grassroots efforts to organize tenants.
Tur-Ha Ak, of Community Ready Corps, spoke of the need for those fighting for housing justice and against the criminalization of dissent and police oppression to stand united with each other.
Pointing at the county administration building, he repeatedly said “this is the same system that killed Martin and Malcolm,” and emphasized that though activists might have disagreements about tactics, they all need to unite against the criminalization of dissent.
Fife spoke last.
“We don’t have to reimagine policing,” Fife said. “Because we live and dream about our lives mattering every day. We have organizations that have been working on this for years. Some of my mentors and elders have been working on this for decades. We just have to do it.”
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of March 13 – 19, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 13 – 19, 2024
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Activism
Oakland Post: Week of March 6 – 12, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 6 – 12, 2024
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.
Activism
Who are the Alameda County District 4 Supervisor Candidates’ Top Campaign Contributors?
Below, we’ve listed each candidate’s 10 highest campaign contributors. For Miley, two of his top campaign donors also bought their own advertisements to support him and/or oppose Esteen through independent expenditures. Such expenditures, though separate from campaign donations, are also public record, and we listed them. Additionally, the National Organization of Realtors has spent about $70,500 on their own independent expenditures to support Miley.
By Zack Haber
Nate Miley, who has served on Alameda County’s Board of Supervisors since 2000, is running for reelection to the District 4 supervisor seat.
Jennifer Esteen, a nurse and activist, is seeking to unseat him and become one of the five members of the powerful board that sets the county’s budget, governs its unincorporated areas, and oversees the sheriff, Alameda Health System, and mental health system.
District 4 includes most of East Oakland’s hills and flatlands beyond Fruitvale, part of Pleasanton and unincorporated areas south of San Leandro like Ashland and Castro Valley.
Voting is open and will remain open until March 5.
In California, campaign donations of $100 or more are public record. The records show that Miley has received about $550,000 in total campaign donations since he won the previous District 4 election in March 2020. Esteen has raised about $255,000 in total campaign donations since she started collecting them last July. All figures are accurate through Feb. 20.
While Miley has raised more money, Esteen has received donations from more sources. Miley received donations of $100 or more from 439 different sources. Esteen received such donations from 507 different sources.
Below, we’ve listed each candidate’s 10 highest campaign contributors. For Miley, two of his top campaign donors also bought their own advertisements to support him and/or oppose Esteen through independent expenditures. Such expenditures, though separate from campaign donations, are also public record, and we listed them. Additionally, the National Organization of Realtors has spent about $70,500 on their own independent expenditures to support Miley.
Nate Miley’s top campaign contributors:
The California Apartment Association, a trade group representing landlords and investors in California’s rental housing business, has spent about $129,500 supporting Miley’s election bid through about $59,500 in ads against Esteen, $55,000 in ads supporting Miley, and $15,000 in campaign donations.
The independent expenditure committee Preserve Agriculture in Alameda County has spent about $46,025 supporting Miley through about $27,200 in their own ads, and $18,825 in donations to his campaign. Preserve Agriculture has supported reelection efforts for former Alameda County DA Nancy O’Malley, and Sheriff Greg Ahern, a republican. It’s received funding from Chevron, PG&E, and a the California Apartment Association.
Organizations associated with the Laborers’ International Union of North America, or LiUNA, have donated about $35,000 in total. Construction and General Laborers Local 304, a local chapter of the union representing which represents over 4,000 workers, donated $20,000.
Laborers Pacific Southwest Regional Organizing Coalition, which represents 70,000 LiUNA members in Arizona, California, Hawaii and New Mexico, donated $15,000.
William ‘Bill’ Crotinger and the East Oakland-based company Argent Materials have donated $26,000. Crotinger is the president and founder of Argent, a concrete and asphalt recycling yard. Argent’s website says it is an eco-friendly company that diverts materials from landfills. In 2018, Argent paid the EPA $27,000 under a settlement for committing Clean Water Act violations.
Michael Morgan of Hayward, owner of We Are Hemp, a marijuana dispensary in Ashland, has donated $21,500.
Alameda County District 1 Supervisor David Haubert has donated $21,250 from his 2024 reelection campaign. He’s running unopposed for the District 1 seat.
SEIU 1021, which represents over 60,000 workers in local governments, non-profit agencies, healthcare programs, and schools in Northern California, has donated $20,000.
UA Local 342, which represents around 4,000 pipe trades industry workers in Contra Costa and Alameda counties, donated $20,000.
The union representing the county’s deputy sheriffs, Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Alameda County, has donated $17,000.
Becton Healthcare Resources and its managers have donated $14,625. Becton’s mission statement says it provides “behavioral health management services to organizations and groups that serve the serious and persistent mentally ill population.”
Jennifer Esteen’s top campaign contributors:
Mary Quinn Delaney of Piedmont, founder of Akonadi Foundation, has donated $20,000. Akonadi Foundation gives grants to nonprofit organizations, especially focusing on racial justice organizing,
Bridget Galli of Castro Valley has donated $7,000. Galli is a yoga instructor and a co-owner of Castro Valley Yoga.
Rachel Gelman of Oakland has donated $5,000. Gelman is an activist who has vowed to redistribute her inherited wealth to working class, Indigenous and Black communities.
California Worker Families Party has donated $5,000. The organization’s website describes itself as a “grassroots party for the multiracial working class.”
David Stern of Albany has donated $5,000. Stern is a retired UC Berkeley Professor of Education.
Oakland Rising Committee—a collaborative of racial, economic, and environmental justice organizations—has donated about $3,050.
Fredeke Von Bothmer-Goodyear, an unemployed resident of San Francisco, has donated $2,600.
Robert Britton of Castro Valley has donated $2,500. Britton is retired and worked in the labor movement for decades.
Progressive Era PAC has donated about $2,400. Its mission statement says it “exists to elect governing majorities of leaders in California committed to building a progressive era for people of color.”
East Bay Stonewall Democrats Club has donated $2,250. The club was founded in 1982 to give voice to the East Bay LGBTQIA+ communities.
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