Activism

Democrats in Sacramento Take Steps to Make Voting Easier

Recently, in some states, most notoriously Georgia and Florida, lawmakers have taken steps to restrict voting access and rights for many Americans. But in California, policymakers and legislators are doing the opposite, making proposals to simplify the voting process and expand access to the polls.

Published

2 years ago

May 7, 2021

Christy Price

The electoral process is foundational to the durability of America’s democratic structure.

And as the battle for fairer voting laws rages on, politicians and activists on the political Right claim they are responding to allegations of widespread voter and election fraud. Those on the Left say they are rallying to fight a coordinated political offensive to restrict access to the polls and increasing reports of voter suppression.

Recently, in some states, most notoriously Georgia and Florida, lawmakers have taken steps to restrict voting access and rights for many Americans.

But in California, policymakers and legislators are doing the opposite, making proposals to simplify the voting process and expand access to the polls.

Invoking the violent history of voter suppression in the South that her parents endured, which sometimes involved murders — California Secretary of State Shirley Weber says it is a priority of hers to “ensure the right to vote.”

“I tell people all the time that no number is good unless it’s 100% in terms of voter participation,” Weber told the Public Policy Institute of California. “Why didn’t 5 million go to the polls? We need to figure out where they are and what stopped them from going.”

In the California Legislature, an amendment to Senate Bill (SB) 29, which passed earlier this year, was one bill in a broader legislative effort to secure the right to vote in vulnerable communities.

Before that amendment passed, California law dictated that a ballot would be mailed to all eligible voters for the November 3 statewide general election in 2020 as well as use a Secretary of State vote-by-mail tracking system to ensure votes are counted.

SB 29, which the governor signed into law in February, extended those requirements to any election “proclaimed or conducted” prior to Jan. 1, 2022.

A record number of voters participated in California elections in 2020. Some political observers attribute that spike to the vote-by-mail system instituted last year.

“To maintain a healthy democracy in California, it is important to encourage eligible voters to vote and to ensure that residents of the state have the tools needed to participate in every election,” the bill reads.

Senate Bill (SB) 583, introduced by California State Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), would require the Secretary of State to register or preregister eligible citizens to vote upon retrieving the necessary paperwork from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Citizens who do not wish to be registered can opt-out of the process altogether.

Newman stressed the importance of access and simplifying the voter registration process.

“In our state there are an estimated 4.6 million U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote who have not yet registered,” Newman said. “Our obligation as the people’s elected representatives is to make the process simpler and more accessible for them.”

On April 27, the Senate Transportation Committee passed SB 583 with a 13 to 3 vote. The Appropriations Committee has set a hearing for May 10.

Senate Bill (SB) 503, introduced by Sen. Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park), proposes that if a signature shares enough characteristics with a previous signature from the same voter, then it would be recognized as official on voting paperwork.

Current law dictates that a signature has to match exactly for it to be considered valid.

Disability Rights California (DRC), a non-profit advocacy organization that advances and protects the rights of Californians living with disabilities, has come out in support of SB 503.

“Studies have shown that signature matches disproportionately impact voters with disabilities,” Eric Harris, director of public policy for the DRC wrote in a letter.

“Voters with disabilities, including seniors, are more likely to vote by mail and would have to sign their name on their ballots,” Harris argued. “A voter’s signature changes over time and for people with disabilities, a signature can change nearly every other time one is written. Some people with disabilities might have conditions that make it difficult to sign your name the same way multiple times.”

For now, the Senate Appropriations Committee has tabled SB 503, placing the bill in what the Legislature calls a “suspense file,” where it awaits further action by lawmakers.

At the federal level, lawmakers have introduced two bills in the U.S. Congress to expand voting rights, the For The People Act of 2021 and the John L. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

The For The People Act, or H.R.1, proposes a three-pronged approach to expanding election access: Voting, campaign finance, and ethics.

Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington Bureau and senior vice president for Advocacy and Policy, compared the current voting rights battle to that of the Civil Rights Movement in a press conference about H.R.1 and the John L. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

“If you look at some of those 1960s shots of the C.T. Vivians of the world, of the Joe Lowerys and so many others that helped lead Americans to those registration sites, you’ll see them actually literally being beaten to the ground,” Shelton said, referring to well-known Civil Rights Movement activists.

The John L. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021, or S.4263, would amend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to restore the powers it lost after the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling in Shelby v. Holder. In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that laws requiring states and local communities to first clear any changes to voting their local laws with the feds, was unlawful.

“Well, we’ve become more sophisticated in our disenfranchisement,” Shelton continued. “We want to make sure that we stop that disenfranchisement all along the way and that’s why we’re convinced that a bill named for John Lewis and a bill that speaks for the people are bills that need to pass.”

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Activism

Community Opposes High Rise Development That Threatens Geoffrey’s Inner Circle

City Council chambers were full for the May 17 Planning Commission hearing, and almost all the 40 speakers who had signed up to make presentations talked about the importance of the Inner Circle as part of Oakland and Geoffrey Pete as a stalwart community and business leader who has served the city for decades.

Published

19 hours ago

May 30, 2023

Oakland Post

Geoffrey Pete went to City Hall to appeal the city Planning Commission’s approval of the high-rise development that threatens the closure of his 44-year historic cultural mecca. Photo by Jonathan ‘Fitness’ Jones.

By Ken Epstein

An outpouring of community supporters – young, old, jazz lovers, environmentalists and committed Oakland partisans – spoke out at a recent Planning Commission hearing to support Geoffrey Pete and his cultural center – The Inner Circle – an historic Oakland landmark whose future is threatened by a proposed skyscraper that out-of-town-developer Tidewater Capital wants to build in the midst of the city’s Black Arts Movement and Business District (BAMBD).

The speakers argued passionately and persuasively, winning the sympathy of the commissioners, but were ultimately unsuccessful as the Commission unanimously approved the high-rise to be built either as a residential building or office tower on Franklin Street directly behind Geoffrey’s building.

Mr. Pete has said he would appeal the decision to the City Council. He has 10 days after the hearing to file an appeal on the office building. His appeal on the residential tower has already been submitted.

Mr. Pete said the Planning Department still has not published the boundaries of the BAMBD. “Tidewater’s applications and subsequent applications should not be approved until the Planning Department fully acknowledges the existence of the BAMBD,” he said.

“This (proposed) building poses a grave danger to the historic (Inner Circle) building next to it, arguably Oakland’s most meaningful historic building,” Pete said.

“We’re here to advocate for what’s best for the African American district and community that has gotten no representation, no advocacy, as of yet,” he said. “The (commission) is guilty, the City of Oakland is guilty, and Tidewater is guilty.”

One of the first speakers was Gwendolyn Traylor, known as Lady SunRise, who directly addressed the developers.

“With all due to respect to your business, it’s not a need of this community. I would like to ask you to reconsider the location …What is being (promised) here does not add to the healing of this community,” she said.

Naomi Schiff of the Oakland Heritage Alliance emphasized that Geoffrey’s Inner Circle is a treasure of Oakland’s history.

“Our first concern is the integrity of the historic district, in particular the former Athenian-Nile Club, now Mr. Pete’s equally historic venue, which has been the location of a great number of important community events,” she said. “It would not be OK with us if the integrity of the building were damaged in any way, no matter how much insurance (the developer bought) because it is very difficult to repair a historic building once it’s damaged.”

The Inner Circle was previously owned and operated by the Athenian-Nile Club, one of the Bay Area’s largest all-white-male exclusive private membership club, where politicians and power brokers closed back-room deals over handshakes and three martini lunches.

Cephus “Uncle Bobby X” Johnson pointed out that commissioners and the city’s Planning Department have “acknowledged that you went through the entire design review process without even knowing that the Black Arts Movement and Business District existed.”

The district was created in 2016 by City Council resolution. “At the heart of the opposition to this building is the desire to further the legacy of local Black entertainment and entrepreneurship exemplified by businesses like Mr. Pete’s … a historical landmark and venue (that serves) thousands of people who listen to jazz and other entertainment and hold weddings, receptions, and memorial services,” said Uncle Bobby.

This development is taking place within a context in which the “Black population in Oakland has decreased rapidly … because of the city’s concentration on building houses that are not affordable for people who currently live in Oakland,” he said.

John Dalrymple of East Bay Residents for Responsible Development said, “This project will result in significant air quality, public health, noise, and traffic impacts. He said the city has not adequately studied the (unmitigated) impacts of this project on the Black Arts Movement and Business District.

“This project is an example of what developers are being allowed to do when they don’t have to follow the law, and they don’t have to be sensitive to our city’s culture and values,” he said. The commission should “send a signal today that we will no longer be a feeding ground for the rich.”

Prominent Oakland businessman Ray Bobbitt told commissioners, “Any decision that you make is a contribution to the systemic process that creates a disproportionate impact on Black people. Please do yourself a favor, (and) rethink this scenario. Give Mr. Pete, who is a leader in our community, an opportunity to set the framework before you make any decision.”

Though the City Council created the BAMBD, the 2016 resolution was never implemented. The district was created to “highlight, celebrate, preserve and support the contributions of Oakland’s Black artists and business owners and the corridor as a place central historically and currently to Oakland’s Black artists and Black-owned businesses.”

The district was intended to promote Black arts, political movements, enterprises, and culture in the area, and to bring in resources through grants and other funding.

Activism

Community Meeting on Crime and Violence

Join Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb to discuss the uptick in crime and violence in District 1 and across Oakland. Representatives from the Oakland Police Department will be in attendance. This event will be held in-person and online.

Published

22 hours ago

May 29, 2023

Oakland Post

Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb

Tuesday, May 30, 2023
6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Oakland Technical H.S. Auditorium
300-340 42^nd St.
Oakland, CA 94611

For more information, contact District 1 Chief of Staff Seth Steward: ssteward@oaklandca.gov, 510-238-7013.

Activism

Emil Guillermo: ‘Strong Like Bamboo’ Stories of AAPI Resilience at Oakland Asian Cultural Center

The name from the project came from the husband and partner of Nancy Wang, a psychotherapist as well as an ASIA member and a founder of Eth-Noh-TEC, Robert Kukuchi-Yngoho, who came up with ‘Strong Like Bamboo.’ “There’s an ancient anecdote that a single bamboo piece can be bent and eventually broken,” said Kukuchi-Yngoho. “But when you put together many bamboos, they are strong like iron. As Asian Americans that’s who we are as a community.”

Published

4 days ago

May 27, 2023

Oakland Post

Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St, Oakland, CA 94607

By Emil Guillermo

During the pandemic, I was in a group of Asian American storytellers based in the Bay Area on a weekly Zoom call when six Korean American women were killed in what has come to be known as the Atlanta Spa killings in March of 2021.

From that point on, the storytellers of Asian American Storytellers in Action (ASIA) realized we all had stories of discrimination and hate worth sharing.

The group’s discussion through the pandemic has resulted in “Strong Like Bamboo: Stories of Resilience for Healing in the Era of Anti-AAPI Violence,” a community event Sunday May 28 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center from 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

“I asked myself ‘how do we heal?’ How do we respond to the crises we’re going through,” said Nancy Wang, a psychotherapist as well as an ASIA member and a founder of Eth-Noh-TEC, a storytelling theater based in San Francisco.

“I thought it would be great to gather to hear other people’s stories about discrimination they have experienced but came through it somehow as an inspiration for others to also find solace and support and strength in dealing with what’s going on.

“We all need to know we’re not alone,” she added. “That we have each other and we have allies.”

The name from the project came from Nancy’s husband and partner Robert Kukuchi-Yngoho, who came up with “Strong Like Bamboo.”

“There’s an ancient anecdote that a single bamboo piece can be bent and eventually broken,” said Kukuchi-Yngoho. “But when you put together many bamboos, they are strong like iron. As Asian Americans that’s who we are as a community.”

The free, three-hour event will feature storytelling from six professional storytellers (including yours truly) and others from the national AAPI community like Alton Takiyama Chung from Portland, Ore., MJ Kang from Los Angeles, and Linda Yemoto from the Bay Area.

Afterward, Russell Jeong, professor of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State, will lead a group discussion of the stories. Jeong is also the co-founder of #StopAAPIHate which recorded more than 14,000 instances of self-reported hate transgressions during the pandemic.

Some say it was the remarks of former President Donald Trump scapegoating Asians for the spread of the virus that led to the violent reaction toward AAPI.

The audience will then break into groups where people can share their stories.

The afternoon will also include two short movies on the Asian American experience. The event closes with a reflective song by Kukuchi-Yngoho, and a number by a well-known group of rappers made up of senior women known as the Follies.

I look forward to sharing my stories and hope to see you all at the free event.

JOIN IN PERSON:
Date: Sunday May 28th, 2022
Time: 2:00-5:00 pm PDT
Where: Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St, Oakland, CA 94607
Register to attend this Free live, in-person event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/strong-like-bamboo-tickets-509561551317
*Recording of the live event will be made available for those unable to attend.

– or –

JOIN ON ZOOM:
This event will be livestreamed on Zoom and recorded, same date and time!
To register for the live virtual event on Zoom, please visit:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwpceyrpjIoHtGozoJo7reCVDGg2PRXkGKi#/registration
*Our Zoom links have not worked in past emails, so let us know if our long link doesn’t work.

If you have any questions, please reach out to contact@ethnohtec.org.

The program is funded in part by the California Arts Council.