Crime

Booker Tells Mayors to Work for Safe Communities

WASHINGTON INFORMER — Sen. Cory Booker recently addressed a familiar audience about fighting gun violence and encouraging Americans to reach a middle ground of morality.

Published

8 years ago

February 4, 2019

Oakland Post

By James Wright

Sen. Cory Booker, who has announced a 2020 presidential bid, recently addressed a familiar audience about fighting gun violence and encouraging Americans to reach a middle ground of morality.

Booker (D-N.J.) spoke before a plenary session of the 87th annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, an organization to which he once belonged, at the Capital Hilton in Northwest on Jan. 24.

Booker, who served as mayor of Newark, N.J., before his election to the Senate in 2013, said Americans need to be more intelligent about their actions.

“We need to stop doing what is stupid and expensive and do things that reflect our values,” he said, referring to President Trump’s attempt to build a wall on the U.S. southern border. “It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat a non-fatal gunshot wound and it would be cheaper to give a child an education.”

The senator somberly addressed the public-water crisis in Flint, Michigan, where thousands of residents were exposed to lead-contaminated water.

“Flint isn’t an anomaly but an ongoing reality,” Booker said.

He also spoke about making investments in the nation’s infrastructure, commenting that “other nations are out-investing us in that area.”

During his speech, Booker told two stories that many members of the audience found stirring. The first had to do with a friend who worked at an IHOP restaurant across the street from where he lived and how often she had to decide between working extra hours for money or spending more time with her child on such things as doctor appointments.

The other story dealt with when he first moved to Newark and opted to live in the inner city. The senator said one of the leaders in the community took him to an intersection and asked him what he sought.

When Booker told the female leader he saw blight, crime, poverty and lack, she quickly turned from him and walked away. When he caught up with her he asked why she left him.

“She said, ‘Boy, you can’t help me,’” Booker said. She told him that he looks at the world in a negative lens instead of focusing on its positive side and the chance to make things better.

The senator said that the country faces dark times but “we as a country will rise again.”

“And it will be the mayors that will lead America to the mountaintop,” he said in closing.

The senator served as one of the many speakers at the conference. Columbia, S.C. Mayor Steven Benjamin presided over the meeting as the president of the organization that consists of mayors of cities that have populations of 30,000 people or more.

Kenneth Gibson of Newark served as the first Black president of the organization in 1976.

The plenary sessions and symposiums focused on a range of topics such as gun violence in the cities that featured Gary, Indiana, Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson and former D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey. While both Ramsey and Freeman-Wilson said community involvement and better police relations with people of color help the problem, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh made it clear that more work needs to be done.

“We need to get guns off of the street and this has to be done now,” said Pugh, whose city had 309 homicides in 2018.

Flint Mayor Nancy Weaver said in a conference on women mayors that she and her female contemporaries aren’t listened to as much as their male counterparts.

“Many people in the political and bureaucratic realm want to see a man in charge and we as women mayors have to work hard to change that perception,” she said. “There have been times when men want to see the mayor and they will go over to my chief of staff. I have to tell them that I am the mayor.”

Chirlane McCray, wife of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, talked about how her city tackles mental illness. She started an initiative NYC Thrive in 2015 that connects residents with the appropriate agency to deal with their mental health challenges.

“We need to get to people who suffer from mental illness a lot earlier than we do,” McCray said.

Some of the conference participants served as mayors such as Adrian Fenty of the District, Shirley Franklin of Atlanta, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore and Michael Bloomberg of New York City.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told The Informer that he enjoyed the conference. Houston ranks as the fourth-largest city in the country with 2.5 million people.

“I really like the panels especially the one on gun violence,” Turner said. “I like coming to this conference so I can learn best practices to solve problems in my city.”

Even small-city mayors found the conference productive.

“It is good to network with people and learn what others are doing in their cities,” said Port Arthur, Texas, Mayor Derrick Freeman. “I am building relationships with other mayors and seeing what they are doing.”

Freeman said he knows of past great Black mayors such as Kenneth Gibson of Newark and Richard Hatcher of Gary and honors their legacy.

“One of my mentors was the late Ronald Dellums of Oakland,” he said. “Dellums pulled me aside at my first meeting and told me what I needed to do.”

This article originally appeared in the Washington Informer.

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Black History

Oakland Observes Black August with Block Parties, Film Showings, Workshops

POST NEWS GROUP — Beginning in 1979 in San Quentin State Prison, the Black Guerrilla Family called for the remembrance of political prisoner George Jackson and his brother Jonathan Jackson who were assassinated in the early 1970s. George Jackson was considered a political prisoner in that it was the anti-Black justice system that led to his incarceration for armed robbery with a sentence of one year-to-life in 1960.

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18 minutes ago

August 15, 2026

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George Jackson wrote two books: “Soledad Brother,” and “Blood in My Eye” before her was killed in an attempt to escape prison on Aug. 21, 1971.

By Jana Lang, Propel Youth Reporter

Study. Train. Fast. Fight.

These are the four tenets of Black August, a month dedicated to commemorating the sacrifices of political prisoners and Black revolutionaries in the struggle for Black liberation.

Observers are urged to study the history of the Black struggle for freedom, train their bodies for health and self-defense, fast to cleanse the mind, body, and spirit, and fight ongoing oppression alongside their communities and local political organizations.

Beginning in 1979 in San Quentin State Prison, the Black Guerrilla Family called for the remembrance of political prisoner George Jackson and his brother Jonathan Jackson who were assassinated in the early 1970s. George Jackson was considered a political prisoner in that it was the anti-Black justice system that led to his incarceration for armed robbery with a sentence of one year-to-life in 1960.

While in prison, George befriended fellow prisoner W.L. Nolen, who introduced him to the works of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Frantz Fanon. This radicalization coupled with his experiences of violence while imprisoned led to him writing and publishing two books, “Soledad Brother” (1970), and “Blood in my Eye” (1972). In January of 1970, George and two other prisoners were charged with murdering a corrections officer at Soledad State Prison in Monterey County.

On Aug. 7, 1970, Jonathan Jackson burst into a Marin County courtroom armed with a shotgun to demand the freedom of the Soledad Brothers. He, along with the inmates he freed, was shot and killed while driving away. This involved one of the Black Panther Party’s most notable associates, Angela Davis, because the shotgun was registered in her name. She was later acquitted of charges of conspiracy, kidnapping, and murder in 1972.

On Aug. 21, 1971, George Jackson was assassinated by a corrections officer after attempting to escape and free other inmates. As a result, there were uprisings and protests within prisons all over the country that year, calling forth resistance against racial oppression and mass incarceration.

Since its outset, Black August has evolved across the country, taking many forms to honor this history and embody the four tenets.

In Oakland, the upcoming Black August Experience, hosted by Youth Alive! and the East Oakland Boxing Association (EOBA), is a free, family-friendly event celebrating the legacy of Black August. Activities include free food and drinks, a kids’ activity zone, interactive workshops, live cooking and boxing demonstrations, and more.

Happening on Aug. 21 from 4-8 p.m. at the EOBA Patio, Carolyn Flynn, director of administration at EOBA, said the event, in its second year, will be an opportunity to engage with people in person through food, shared space, and education.

“We do regular classes in education, and those are ongoing programs that we offer, but we wanted to have [an opportunity] for our neighbors to utilize this space.” Combined with Youth Alive’s work in community violence prevention and youth leadership, this event surely aims to bring the Oakland community together to capture what Black August means today.

Here are additional Black August events happening in Oakland:

Forum and Community Discussion hosted by the Oakland Liberation Center, 1499 Fruitvale Ave., Aug. 14, 7 p.m.

“George Jackson/San Quentin” Screening hosted by Nostalgic for Nothing Cinema at Moments Co-Op, 410 13th St., Aug. 16, doors at 6 p.m., show at 6:30 p.m. (Masks required and scent-free)

Commemorating the Struggle, Building the Altar for Liberation: Black August at Bandung Books, 2269 International Blvd., Aug. 23rd, 1-5 p.m.

Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS), will host “Black August: The Arc of Liberation” at Oakland City Hall on Sat. Aug. 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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Oakland Post: Week of August 12 – 18, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of August 12 – 18, 2026

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35 minutes ago

August 15, 2026

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Crime

Congresswoman Simon Demands Investigation into Trump’s Abuse of Emergency Powers for Coal Export Terminal in West Oakland

POST NEWS GROUP — Last week, in a letter to the GAO Acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown, Simon and her colleagues questioned the Department of Energy’s plan to use up to $425 million in DPA funds to support coal-fired power plants and construct the West Gateway Terminal Project in Oakland.

Published

6 days ago

August 9, 2026

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‘No On Coal’ demonstrators protest the use of the Port of Oakland as a terminal to ship coal overseas. File photo.

By Post Staff

U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) joined California senators and other members of the California delegation to Congress to call on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the Trump administration’s use of the Defense Production Act and other taxpayer funds to support coal projects, including the proposed coal export terminal in West Oakland.

Defense Production Act funding is for national defense emergencies, such as authorizing private car companies to build parts for tanks or ships.

Since President Donald Trump’s June 4 announcement of $75 million in funding for the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, Simon has opposed and worked to stop the proposed coal terminal.

She filed an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2027 Energy and Water Appropriations bill that would have prohibited funding for the proposed Oakland coal export terminal project; however, House Republicans blocked the amendment.

Last week, in a letter to the GAO Acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown, Simon and her colleagues questioned the Department of Energy’s plan to use up to $425 million in DPA funds to support coal-fired power plants and construct the West Gateway Terminal Project in Oakland.

This terminal project would primarily serve foreign commercial markets, rather than meet national emergency needs.

“The Defense Production Act was intended to scale up domestic industrial capabilities to meet urgent military or national emergency needs; therefore, its invocation to construct a commercial, civilian export facility intended primarily to serve foreign commercial markets raises profound statutory, legal, and fiscal questions,” wrote the lawmakers, which included Senators Alex Padilla (D) and Adam Schiff (D), Jared Huffman (D-CA-02), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee and Reps. John Garamendi (D-CA-08) and Ro Khanna (D-CA-17).

“We do not believe this satisfies the statutory definition of ‘national defense’ or ‘critical infrastructure protection’ under the DPA and that there is no legally sufficient, data-driven nexus between civilian coal exports and immediate U.S. military readiness or critical infrastructure defense,” the lawmakers’ letter said.

DPA funds are intended for U.S. national security and defense readiness. The Trump administration is instead diverting these funds to support a commercial export project that primarily benefits private industries and foreign markets in East Asia.

“Congress has never appropriated funds to the DOE’s DPA account with the intent of propping up a dying industry or financing a purely commercial project,” continued the lawmakers. “We are deeply concerned that DOE has improperly diverted funds from accounts intended by Congress for the critical modernization and resilience support of our nation’s grid to instead finance a commercial fossil fuel export project.”

Simon and colleagues also raised concerns that the Trump administration has improperly diverted funds designated for critical grid modernization and may be using emergency authorities to circumvent local environmental protections.

“With no clear national security nexus, we question whether the DOE utilized emergency DPA authorities with the intent of preempting or subverting valid local health ordinances and environmental regulations. If so, this would be a gross departure from the intent of the DPA,” concluded the lawmakers.