Connect with us

Activism

HED: My Sister’s Keeper Helps to Build Up Bay Area Black Women

The African American Cultural Center on Fulton Street was the site of the fourth annual My Sisters Keepers, By All Means Necessary conference this past weekend, which brought together local and national figures to talk to young women about being assets to the local and national Black communities.

Published

on

Activist Tamika Mallory, Tina Brown of My Sister’s Keeper and Kyra Kyles with YR Media. Photo by Lee Hubbard
Activist Tamika Mallory, Tina Brown of My Sister’s Keeper and Kyra Kyles with YR Media. Photo by Lee Hubbard

By Lee Hubbard

Tina Brown was born and raised in San Francisco’s Western Addition. She had a troubled childhood, which led to her being a runaway, incarceration in Juvenile Hall and becoming a teenage mother.

Bad choices in life led to bad relationships and an unstable life situation. But things would change—with a brush with the law as an adult—that would change her life around.

Brown got a mentor, got a job and it helped her turn her life around. She became a productive citizen and an activist for young Black women.

“I began interacting with young girls and we started doing weekly meetings with young ladies aged 12 to 17,” said Brown. “We were able to talk about what’s going on in the community and their lives.”

This was the start of My Sister’s Keeper, a non-profit organization that Brown started, based in San Francisco. The organization deals with improving the lives of young Black girls through mentoring, training and exposure.

“It started out as a way to speak out to heal the trauma inside of me,” continued Brown. “I would go to these Black women conferences in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Miami and I noticed that nothing was really happening in the Bay or San Francisco.”

The African American Cultural Center on Fulton Street was the site of the fourth annual My Sisters Keepers, By All Means Necessary conference this past weekend, which brought together local and national figures to talk to young women about being assets to the local and national Black communities.

More than one hundred people were at the all-day conference. People on hand included national grassroots activists such as Tamika Mallory, Angela Davis and Dr. Syleecia Thompson, an educator and host of a Fox Soul television show.

Mallory calls herself a street politician and she came to fame during the George Floyd protest, where she gave an impassioned plea against racism and the fight for Black liberation from white supremacy in front of millions of television viewers.

“I came to this conference to share my work on how we are working politically and how we can find ways to be connected and empowered,” said Mallory.

She hosts a national podcast called Street Politicians on the iHeart network, with her co-host Mysonne.

“Black women are left out of positions of power, often because we are women,” continued Mallory. “But we need to speak up.”

“Every generation has its way of expressing itself,” said Mallory. “We as leaders need to create inclusive spaces,” so people will communicate the issues. There is still work that needs to be done, and it will take a united front to make things happen, she says.

“We need to help to liberate our Black men and help them to lead, so we can fight together,” continued Mallory.

A men’s panel also came to address the ladies. This included San Francisco hip-hop producer and activist Herm Lewis, Bishop Keith Clark from World Assembly Church in Oakland and Hakeem Brown, a city council member from Vallejo, California.

Bridgette Leblanc, a local businesswoman and vice chair of the San Francisco Black Chamber of Commerce was also present. She said women need to look more into business and then join organizations like the chamber which help to incubate and develop them.

She said that as an organization, the chamber helps to bring Black business to San Francisco and to make sure Black businesses get a share of the money coming into San Francisco.

“It’s not easy being a leader, but [we] have to move into [these positions] to make things happen,” said Leblanc.

Other women who spoke at the conference included Gina Fromer, head of the San Francisco Children’s Council, Dr. Ramona Bishop, the founder of Elite Public Schools in Vallejo and Cloey Hewlett, the California Commissioner of Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.

“People got a lot of value out of the conference,” said Brown. “It brought mentorship, sisterhood and a lot of activity that people can build upon to initiate action and change.”

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of March 15 – 21, 2023

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 15 – 21, 2023

Published

on

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 15 - 21, 2023

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.

Continue Reading

Activism

Richmond Promise Scholarship Application Deadline Closes March 17

Qualifying applicants can receive up to $1,500 annually for four years toward their post-secondary educational goals at a two-year or four-year college and/or while pursuing a Career Technical Education Certificate at any not-for-profit institution in the U.S. 

Published

on

Scholarships are available for high school graduates who want to go to a two-year or four-year college or a nonprofit vocational/technical school. Photo courtesy of Richmond Promise.
Scholarships are available for high school graduates who want to go to a two-year or four-year college or a nonprofit vocational/technical school. Photo courtesy of Richmond Promise.

Calling all high school seniors from Richmond and North Richmond: The Richmond Promise Scholarship Application period for the 2022-2023 school year closes on Friday, March 17.

High school seniors and GED students under the age of 24 who reside in Richmond and North Richmond and attend public, private, or charter schools in West Contra Costa County are eligible to apply for the scholarship.

Qualifying applicants can receive up to $1,500 annually for four years toward their post-secondary educational goals at a two-year or four-year college and/or while pursuing a Career Technical Education Certificate at any not-for-profit institution in the U.S. 

Students can also petition for an additional two years of extra funding. Throughout the process, the program provides supportive services to participating scholars from high school through college graduation, including support with identifying and applying for financial aid.

Richmond Promise launched in 2016 with a $35 million, 10-year investment by Chevron Richmond. The funds are part of a $90 million community benefits agreement between the City of Richmond and Chevron connected to the $1 billion Refinery Modernization Project.

To apply for the Richmond Promise Scholarship, go to https://richmondpromise.tfaforms.net/81. Need some help? Reach out to Richmond Promise at scholarships@richmondpromise.org. Learn more about the organization https://richmondpromise.org/

Kathy Chouteau contributed to this report

Continue Reading

Activism

Bay Area Native Dr. Terri Jett Honored by Indiana’s Butler University

Terri Jett arrived at Butler University in 1999 to begin her teaching career as an assistant professor of Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies after earning her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public Administration from Auburn University. Originally from California, Jett was unfamiliar with the Hoosier state, but was drawn to the energy of the faculty and students she met at Butler and the opportunity she saw for connecting her teaching and research with the broader Indianapolis community.

Published

on

Dr. Terri Jett poses with Butler Blue, the mascot of Butler University. Photo courtesy of Butler University Stories.
Dr. Terri Jett poses with Butler Blue, the mascot of Butler University. Photo courtesy of Butler University Stories.

By Jennifer Gunnels
Butler University Stories

Bay Area native Terri Jett was received a Distinguished Faculty Award at Indiana’s Butler University.

Terri Jett arrived at Butler University in 1999 to begin her teaching career as an assistant professor of Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies after earning her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public Administration from Auburn University.

Originally from California, Jett was unfamiliar with the Hoosier state, but was drawn to the energy of the faculty and students she met at Butler and the opportunity she saw for connecting her teaching and research with the broader Indianapolis community.

More than 20 years later, Jett has excelled at the work she set out to do. Last year, she was named a 2021-22 Distinguished Faculty Award recipient for her profound contributions to Butler University over the course of her career.

In many ways, Jett has been a trailblazer at Butler, including becoming the first Black female to earn tenure, and in 2020 becoming the first Black female to be promoted to full professor. Along with her teaching responsibilities as a member of the faculty, Jett has taken on numerous additional roles over the years including faculty director of the Hub for Black Affairs and Community Engagement (the Hub), member of the Steering Committee of the Race, Gender, Sexuality Studies Program (RGSS), faculty senator, and Faculty Fellow at the Desmond Tutu Peace Lab Think Tank. She also served as Department Chair from 2007-2014, a role she has currently resumed as interim while the current Chair is on sabbatical.

Jett has developed almost two dozen courses — core, departmental, honors, and even taught in our Washington D.C. Semester Program — and is always eager to seize on opportunities to take her students beyond the borders of campus. She has led students on numerous occasions to Selma, Alabama with the Honors course Voting Rights in Black and White: The Case of the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March. She says walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge is always a moving and eye-opening experience for her students that brings the Civil Rights Movement to life in new ways.

Of the many courses she has taught, Jett says one of her favorites to teach is the Politics of Alice Walker, which she teaches nearly every summer. Prior to the pandemic, Jett also offered the course several times at the Indiana Women’s Prison and was able to bring some of her Butler students to visit her class in prison.

Jett is committed to doing good things in the world herself and is known in the Indianapolis community for her service and activism. She currently serves on the board of Indiana Humanities and is appointed by Mayor Joe Hogsett to the Indianapolis Land Improvement Bond Bank Board. She also moderates a series on local PBS station WFYI called Simple Civics, which provides short civics lessons and was nominated for a Great Lakes Region Emmy in 2020 and again in 2021.

Jett says her community activism is inspired in part by a desire to demonstrate how to be an engaged citizen for her students as well as a desire to connect her teaching and research to issues happening within the community.

“And I do it because it’s fulfilling,” she said.

Though Jett has various roles within and outside of Butler, she finds satisfaction in discovering ways to integrate her teaching, research, and service. For instance, her research focuses on agriculture and food justice, and last year she leveraged her area of academic expertise and her role as Faculty Director of the Hub to partner with Indy Women in Food in hosting the organization’s first conference on Butler’s campus focused on food insecurity in the city.

“I’m thrilled when I’m able to do that,” Jett said. “All of the hats that I wear are sort of constantly engaged at the same time, and I like that I get to work like that. I’m not running from one thing to the next, I feel like my work is layered with multiple connection points.”

This article is part of a series honoring the 2021-22 recipients of the Butler University Distinguished Faculty Award. Printed with permission.

Continue Reading

Subscribe to receive news and updates from the Oakland Post

* indicates required

CHECK OUT THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE OAKLAND POST

ADVERTISEMENT

WORK FROM HOME

Home-based business with potential monthly income of $10K+ per month. A proven training system and website provided to maximize business effectiveness. Perfect job to earn side and primary income. Contact Lynne for more details: Lynne4npusa@gmail.com 800-334-0540

Facebook

Activism3 days ago

Oakland Post: Week of March 15 – 21, 2023

Actors in stage production “Unapologetically Black: Here to Facilitate Harm Reduction Services for Those in Need, Inc.” (l-r): Toni Rochelle, David Cesari, Ziare Whitelow, Christina Gluszaczak, Harley Ford, Cody Johnson, Shayna Howlett, Tyler Mae and Anthony Dixon. Photo by Carla Thomas.
Arts and Culture4 days ago

‘Put Ur Play On’ Productions Showcases Local Talent at Laney College

Michelle Edmond is the founder and CEO of the Jamko Foundation
Business4 days ago

OCCUR, S.F. Foundation Offer Funding Workshop for Faith-Based Groups Virtual Workshop on March 23, 2023

Xernona Clayton (center), Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens (right) and statue sculptor Ed Dwight as the statue of Xernona Clayton is unveiled in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. Photo by Maxim Elramsisy, California Black Media.
Art4 days ago

International Women’s Day: Civil Rights Icon Xernona Clayton, Other ‘Herstory Sheroes’ Honored in Atlanta

Michelle Yeoh is the first Asian actress to win an Academy Award.
Arts and Culture4 days ago

What Asian American Oscar Victories Mean for All of Us

Black History4 days ago

Cathay Williams — The Only Known Female Buffalo Soldier

Caption: Ben Jealous.
Ben Jealous4 days ago

COMMENTARY: A Historic Vote and the Tools It Gave Us

A camp for unhoused in Oakland. iStock photo by Alex B. Mount, June 2020.
Bay Area4 days ago

COMMENTARY: Oakland’s Plan to Rehouse Wood Street Residents Can Only Fail a Self-Reliant Community

Scholarships are available for high school graduates who want to go to a two-year or four-year college or a nonprofit vocational/technical school. Photo courtesy of Richmond Promise.
Activism5 days ago

Richmond Promise Scholarship Application Deadline Closes March 17

Actress Vivica A. Fox with Hidden History Museum Founder Tariq Nasheed. Photo courtesy of Hidden History Museum web site.
Black History5 days ago

Hidden History Black Museum Opens in Los Angeles

Nita Hayden Vasquez. Photo provided by Sheri Murphy for Marin IJ.
Bay Area5 days ago

Marin City Market Owner Nita Hayden Vasquez, 80

The event features a miniature city that teaches participants how to ride safely, negotiate driveways and intersections, and understand traffic signs and signals.
Bay Area5 days ago

City of Stockton and Lincoln Unified School District Safety Department: Teach Safe Bicycling with Fun and Educational Bike Rodeo – March 25

The application period for the Fireworks Sales Permit Lottery opens today, March 1, 2023, and ends March 31, 2023, at 4:30 p.m. The lottery drawing will be held May 10, 2023.
Bay Area5 days ago

Stockton Fire Department 2023 Safe and Sane Fireworks Program: Application Period for Fireworks Sales Permit Lottery Open Until March 31

The state will also end its COVID vaccination requirement for health care workers and rescind health orders that required hospitals to accept patients from overcrowded facilities and that required the collection of an email address or phone number from a COVID vaccine recipient.
Bay Area6 days ago

State to End Indoor Mask Requirement in Health Care Facilities, Vaccine Requirement for Health Care Workers

Breed mentioned that many of the community ambassadors who are part of these programs are people of color who were formerly incarcerated or homeless.
Bay Area6 days ago

Mayor Wants to Keep Street Ambassador Program, Add Retention Bonuses for Police to Keep Streets Safer

Trending