Bay Area
Florence Agnes Blackburn September 29, 1936 – February 28, 2023
Ms. Florence Agnes Blackburn was born Sept. 29, 1936 in Houston Texas. She went on to be with the Lord God on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. She was the youngest of four children born to Mr. Percy H. Amos Sr. and Mrs. Brunella Mullone Amos. Florence A. Blackburn a.k.a. “Florencia” was a woman of faith and many talents. She was baptized at St. Nicholas Catholic Church and School, the first Black parish located in Houston Texas.

Ms. Florence Agnes Blackburn was born Sept. 29, 1936 in Houston, Texas. She went on to be with the Lord God on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. She was the youngest of four children born to Mr. Percy H. Amos Sr. and Mrs. Brunella Mullone Amos.
Florence A. Blackburn a.k.a. “Florencia” was a woman of faith and many talents. She was baptized at St. Nicholas Catholic Church and School, the first Black parish located in Houston Texas.
While her family’s roots are firmly in the Cane River Creole community of Louisiana, she knew California to be home since 1942. Her parents owned and operated the first African American service station in Berkeley, California. It was there where she learned about automobiles, learning to drive by 14 years old.
When her parents moved to Anchorage, Alaska in 1952; Florence stayed in California with her siblings, Percy Amos Jr., Yvonne A. Miller and Lucille R. Amos. She attended Lafayette Elementary School, Hoover Jr. High, Holy Names High School and San Francisco State University where she majored in Biological Science.
Upon graduation she enjoyed a long career as a histologist at Highland Hospital, Oakland, California from 1959 to 1980. Florence continued her education earning additional degrees from the College of Alameda and a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of California in Berkeley 1999.
Everyone has dreams, and for Florence that dream involved fashion. She opened her boutique on Grand Avenue in Oakland. It was there she was able to pursue one of her many passions bringing her garments to life and “Florencia” was born!!
Later in life she went on to hold several positions for the City of Oakland including Litter Enforcement Officer, where she enjoyed working to discover who had dumped their property illegally. When Oakland closed that department, she worked as a library assistant at the MLK Branch before transferring to West Oakland Public Library and retiring in 2018. The library had been her second home among all those books.
Lady Blackburn was initiated into the Knights of St. Peter Claver in 2005, originally part of Court #121 St. Andrews-St. Joseph Catholic Church before transferring to St. Columba Court #127.
Making St. Columba her home, she served as a eucharistic minister, member of the Hope for Haiti Ministry, as well as on the scholarship committee. Ever the social butterfly, Florence enjoyed Wednesday morning church service and the Haiti White Party where she got to show off her amazing fashions. She was also a member of the Creole Heritage Center at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, which is celebrating its Silver Jubilee.
A few of her other passions included cultivating her backyard garden where she grew a large variety of vegetables, plants, flowers and herbs. Here she also hosted her friends on Thursday nights, enjoying her homemade wine and famous gumbo. She loved traveling to the islands and especially to Texas, spending time with her four great-grandchildren, telling them scary stories while they would laugh, act scared, run and hide.
She was preceded in death by her parents Mr. and Mrs. Percy H. Amos Sr.; older brother Percy
- Amos Jr. and her nephew Kendrick “Jerry” Miller. She is survived by her sisters Yvonne A. Miller and Lucille R. Cole; her two children, Sheila R. Payne and Dino G. Blackburn, grandchildren Pamela P. Palmer, Stephen F. Payne, Mikaela D. Blackburn, and great-grandchildren Kyra R. Payne, Kruze Z. Payne, Olivia S. Palmer and Grant W. Palmer and the many nieces and nephews who loved her.
She will be greatly missed by family and friends.
Florencia (GG), Forever our Guardian Angel!!
Memorial Service
Saturday, March 25, 2023
11:30 a.m.
St. Columba Catholic Church 6401 San Pablo Ave.
Oakland, California 94608 Celebrant Father Aidan McAleenan
Final resting place St. Augustine Catholic Church Cemetery, Natchez, Louisiana
To be determined!!
Zoom link Funeral Mass for Ms. Florence Blackburn:
Time: Mar. 25, 2023, 12 p.m. Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join the Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84373171098?pwd=NU9Qa2dtSDV0T2dTVXRlOVdvWlA5dz09 Meeting ID: 843 7317 1098
Passcode: 1898
Dial by your location
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Meeting ID: 843 7317 1098
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Activism
Oakland Post: Week of May 24 – 30, 2023
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 24 – 30, 2023

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Activism
Rise in Abductions of Black Girls in Oakland Alarms Sex-Trafficking Survivors
Nola Brantley of Nola Brantley Speaks states, “America’s wider culture and society has consistently failed to address the abduction and kidnapping of Black girls in Oakland and across the country, and this lack of concern empowers and emboldens predators.”

By Tanya Dennis
Within the last 30 days there have been seven attempted kidnappings or successful abductions of Black girls in Oakland.
Survivors of human trafficking who are now advocates are not surprised.
Nor were they surprised that the police didn’t respond, and parents of victims turned to African American community-based organizations like Adamika Village and Love Never Fails for help.
Advocates say Black and Brown girls disappear daily, usually without a blip on the screen for society and government officials.
Perhaps that will change with a proposed law by state Senator Steven Bradford’s Senate Bill 673 Ebony Alert, that, if passed, will alert people when Black people under the age of 26 go missing.
According to the bill, Black children are disproportionately classified as “runaways” in comparison to their white counterparts which means fewer resources are dedicated to finding them.
Nola Brantley of Nola Brantley Speaks states, “America’s wider culture and society has consistently failed to address the abduction and kidnapping of Black girls in Oakland and across the country, and this lack of concern empowers and emboldens predators.”
Brantley, a survivor of human trafficking has been doing the work to support child sex trafficking victims for over 20 years, first as the director for the Scotlan Youth and Family Center’s Parenting and Youth Enrichment Department at Oakland’s DeFremery Park, and as one of the co-founders and executive director of Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth (MISSSEY, Inc.)
“It really hit home in 2010,” said Brantley, “before California’s Welfare Institution Code 300 was amended to include children victimized by sex trafficking.”
Before that law was amended, she had to vehemently advocate for Black and Brown girls under the age of 18 to be treated as victims rather than criminalized.
Brantley served hundreds of Black and Brown girls citing these girls were victims so they would be treated as such and offered restorative services. “To get the police to take their disappearances seriously and file a report almost never happened,” she said.
Then Brantley received a call from the Board of Supervisors regarding a “special case.” A councilman was at the meeting, as well as a member of former Alameda County Board Supervisor Scott Haggerty’s Office who had called Brantley to attend.
“The child’s parents and the child were there also. They requested that I give my full attention to this case. The girl was white and there was no question of her victimization,” Brantley said.
Brantley felt conflicted that of all the hundreds of Black and Brown girls she’d served, none had ever received this type of treatment.
Her eyes were opened that day on how “they” move, therefore with the recent escalation of kidnapping attempts of Black girls, Brantley fears that because it’s happening to Black girls the response will not be taken seriously.

Councilwoman Treva Reid
“I thank Councilwoman Treva Reid and Senator Steven Bradford (D) for pushing for the passing of the Ebony Alert Bill across the state so that the disappearance of Black girls will be elevated the same as white girls. We’ve never had a time when Black girls weren’t missing. Before, it didn’t matter if we reported it or if the parents reported the police failed to care.”

Senator Steven Bradford
Sarai S-Mazariegos, co-founder of M.I.S.S.S.E.Y, and founder and executive director of Survivors Healing, Advising and Dedicated to Empowerment (S.H.A.D.E.) agrees with Brantley.
“What we are experiencing is the effects of COVID-19, poverty and a regressive law that has sentence the most vulnerable to the sex trade,” S-Mazariegos said. “We are seeing the lack of equity in the community, the cause and consequence of gender inequality and a violation of our basic human rights. What we are seeing is sexual exploitation at its finest.”
Both advocates are encouraged by Bradford’s Ebony Alert.
The racism and inequity cited has resulted in the development of an underground support system by Brantley, S-Mazariegos and other community-based organizations who have united to demand change.
Thus far they are receiving support from Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, and Oakland City Councilmembers Nikki Fortunato Bas and Reid of the second and seventh districts respectively.
For more information, go to http://www.blackandmissinginc.com
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of May 17 – 23, 2023
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