Activism
Hundreds Support Fundraiser for Marin City Youth at SEQ CHAPTER Walk-A-Thon
People started on the walk at about 11 a.m. Several booths were set up along the route to serve the walkers with snacks and information. The tent booths included F45, Orangetheory Fitness in Mill Valley, Studio 30 in Mill Valley, and Lululemon.

By Godfrey Lee
Marin City’s Walk-A-Thon 2021, which took place on Sunday morning, Nov. 14, 2021, was an enjoyable experience for the several hundred people who walked from Rocky Graham Park down the Mill Valley-Sausalito path toward Tamalpais High School, and back to the park.
The people started gathering around 9 a.m., greeting each other warmly — some dancing to the music. Most people got their printed t-shirts and number signs from the PlayMarin tent booth.
The program began with a talk from Paul Austin, the founder and executive director of Play Marin, who is working on developing youth sports activities in Marin City. Austin wants to include as many sports as possible in the program.
Terri Green, who directs the Marin City Climate Resilience and Health Justice, described the walk as the “March for Life.”
She spoke about the issues she sees as detrimental to the health and well-being of Marin City residents and pointed out that there is only one entrance and exit into Marin City: under the freeway.
This would not be sufficient if Marin City residents need to evacuate in the event of a major emergency, and so another entrance and exit is needed.
She wrote in her flyer that “80 years of walking in contaminated waters is INHUMANE!” and pointed out that the pond next to the Gateway Shopping Center and flood waters that enter Marin City are contaminated, much of the polluted water coming from the rain running off the freeway.
Green encouraged the audience to help solve these problems by contacting their public officials.
People started on the walk at about 11 a.m. Several booths were set up along the route to serve the walkers with snacks and information. The tent booths included F45, Orangetheory Fitness in Mill Valley, Studio 30 in Mill Valley, and Lululemon.
For more information on PlayMarin, go to www.playmarin.org or call Paul Austin at (415) 944-7141. Information on the Marin City Climate Resilience and Health Justice can be found on Facebook, and by calling (415) 324-7080.

From top and left: Paul Austin photographing Terri Green speaking. Paul Austin and Terri Green. PlayMarin.org tent booth. Walkers on the trail. Booth at the end of the walk. Studio Thirty. Lululemon. F45. Orangetheory Fitness (Photos by Godfrey Lee)
Activism
How the Crack Cocaine Epidemic Led to Mass Sex Exploitation of Black People PART 3: The Case Against SB357: Black, Vulnerable and Trafficked
Although California Senate Bill 357 was intended to alleviate arrests of willing sex workers under anti-loitering laws, it opened up a Pandora’s box loophole that hinders the ability of law enforcement to halt human trafficking, especially of young Black and Brown girls. This segment continues to explore the history that led to this latest form of exploitation in Oakland.

By Tanya Dennis and Vanessa Russell
Although California Senate Bill 357 was intended to alleviate arrests of willing sex workers under anti-loitering laws, it opened up a Pandora’s box loophole that hinders the ability of law enforcement to halt human trafficking, especially of young Black and Brown girls. This segment continues to explore the history that led to this latest form of exploitation in Oakland.
It was 1980: The beginning of the end for the Black family and Black community as we knew it.
Crack cocaine was introduced to the United States that year and it rendered unparalleled devastation on Black folks. Crack is a solid smokable form of cocaine made by boiling baking soda, cocaine, and water into a rock that crackles when smoked.
The tremendous high — especially when first smoked — and the low cost brought temporary relief to the repeatedly and relentlessly traumatized members of the Black community.
What was unknown at the time was how highly addictive this form of cocaine would be and how harmful the ensuing impact on the Black family when the addicted Black mother was no longer a haven of safety for her children.
The form made it easy to mass produce and distribute, opening the market to anyone and everyone, including many Black men who viewed selling crack as their way out of poverty.
These two factors — addicted Black women and drug-dealing Black men — would lead to the street exploitation for sex as we know it today.
Encouraged to try it free initially, most poor, Black women in the 1980s used crack cocaine in a social setting with friends. When the free samples disappeared the drug dealer offered to supply the women crack in exchange for allowing him to sell their bodies to sex buyers.
The increase in the supply of women willing to exchange sex for crack — a.k.a. the “sex for crack barter system” — caused the price of sex to decrease and at the same time increased the demand for sex because more buyers could afford it.
The desperation of the women to get their hit of crack made them willing to endure any form of abuse and treatment from buyers during sex, including unprotected and violent sex.
It also pushed desperate Black women onto the street to pursue sex buyers, flagging down cars and willing to have sex anywhere actively and desperately. Street prostitution grew and buyers were able to buy oral sex for as little as $5.
This sex-for-crack barter system resulted in a dramatic increase in sexually transmitted diseases including HIV and AIDS, both of which are disproportionately represented among Black people.
It also resulted in unplanned pregnancies by unknown fathers, which then resulted in children born addicted to crack who were immediately placed in the foster care system where they were often abused and/or neglected.
For his part, the Black man who engaged in the mass production and distribution of crack was often killed by gun violence while fighting over drug territory or incarcerated for long periods of time as use and sales and distribution of crack carried longer sentences than powdered cocaine.
Crack unleashed an entire chain of new trauma upon the Black family which then all but collapsed under this latest social attack that had started with chattel slavery, followed by Jim Crow, redlining, school segregation, food deserts, et. al.
Exploitation was and is at the root of the crack cocaine epidemic. It is the latest weapon used to prey upon Black people since the beginning of our time in the United States.
The sex industry and legislation like SB357 have only increased harm to Black people who have been historically oppressed with racist laws and epidemics including crack. More must be done to restore the Black community.
Tanya Dennis serves on the Board of Oakland Frontline Healers (OFH) and series co-author Vanessa Russell of “Love Never Fails Us” and member of OFH.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tanya-Leblanc/publication/236121038_Behind_the_Eight_Ball_Sex_for_Crack_Cocaine_Exchange_and_Poor_Black_Women/links/0c9605162c8f362553000000/Behind-the-Eight-Ball-Sex-for-Crack-Cocaine-Exchange-and-Poor-Black-Women.pdf?origin=publication_detail
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of March 22 – 28, 2023
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March March 22 – 38, 2023

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

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Activism4 days ago
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