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Lee to Present Oakland Citizen Humanitarian Award at ‘In the Name of Love’ Concert

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On Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020, Rep. Barbara Lee will present the Oakland Citizen Humanitarian Award to Clarissa Doutherd, executive director of Parent Voices Oakland, for her outstanding work on behalf of the Oakland community at “In the Name of Love,” the 18th Annual Musical Tribute honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., an extensive civic and cultural event that pays homage through music, to one of the greatest humanitarians of our time.

The theme of this year’s tribute is “A Change is Gonna Come” highlighting five outstanding vocalists: Tony Lindsay, Tiffany Austin, Clif Payne, Tammi Brown and Raz Kennedy along with an exciting backup band including Frank Martin on piano, Troy Lampkins on bass, Ruthie Price on drums, and Shelley Doty on guitar.

These outstanding musicians have each individually made a tremendous impact on the Bay Area cultural scene, and the 2020 program will bring them together onto the stage for the first time to rekindle Dr. King’s powerful and unifying teachings.

The tribute will also serve as a platform for a one-time exciting collective, creative experience meant to inspire hope, celebrate Oakland’s cultural history and highlight the power of music to spur positive change. The tribute will also include the 65-voice Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir; and the 300-voice Living Jazz Children’s Project backed up by winners of Jazz Search West 2020, another Living Jazz program.  Dana King, American broadcast journalist and sculptor,will serve as mistress of ceremonies.

Living Jazz, an Oakland based non-profit and producers of the MLK tribute, originally created this award to acknowledge those who give of themselves beyond the call of duty and to inspire others to work for the betterment of the community.  The recipient is chosen with the help of Oakland’s Department of Human Services, and in the spirit of Dr. King’s tireless efforts, is presented annually at “In the Name of Love,” the annual musical tribute honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Doutherd is the executive director of Parent Voices Oakland, an East Bay chapter of Parent Voices California. She comes to the organization with over a decade of experience working for grassroots, non-profit organizations. Doutherd discovered her passion for child care advocacy when she lost a much needed child care subsidy for her then 3-year-old son, Xavier.

Doutherd has been a strong advocate for mothers like herself who were caught in the crosshairs of ineffective public policy. In addition to supporting Parent Voices’ statewide campaigns, she has worked to decrease the number of mothers in Oakland waitlisted for childcare subsidies.

As a collaborative movement builder, Doutherd has forged deep partnerships with large local government agencies including the County Social Services Agency, Public Health, and Behavioral Health Services.

After stepping into leadership as the co-chair on the Early Childhood Policy Committee with First 5 of Alameda County, Doutherd led efforts to refocus the group to become a cross sector collaborative which brings together community based organizations, parents and service providers to advance innovative strategies for county-wide systems change; and works to elevate parent leadership in public policy. Doutherd is the recipient of the prestigious Gloria Steinem “Woman of Vision” award, and currently sits on the steering committee for the Alameda County Early Care and Education Planning Council, the 18th Assembly District Education Advisory Committee, and the Alameda County-Oakland Community Partnership Board for the City of Oakland. Doutherd resides in Oakland with Xavier who is now 9 years old.

“In the Name of Love,” Oakland’s only non-denominational musical tribute to Dr. King, is the perfect platform in which to honor Doutherd, this year’s recipient of the Oakland Citizen Humanitarian Award and a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge a member from our own community helping to inspire change and positive contribution.

It will take place on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020 – 7:00-9:30 p.m. at the Oakland Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Dr., Oakland, CA. Tickets: $25-$60 adv., door $30-$65; discounts for children 12 and under

Tix and info: livingjazz.org/mlktribute or call 510-858-5313

Sheryl Lynn Thomas

Sheryl Lynn Thomas

Arts and Culture

Book Review: Building the Worlds That Kill Us: Disease, Death, and Inequality in American History

Nearly five years ago, while interviewing residents along the Mississippi River in Louisiana for a book they were writing, authors Rosner and Markowitz learned that they’d caused a little brouhaha. Large corporations in the area, ones that the residents of “a small, largely African American community” had battled over air and soil contamination and illness, didn’t want any more “’agitators’” poking around. They’d asked a state trooper to see if the authors were going to cause trouble.

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Courtesy of Columbia University Press
Courtesy of Columbia University Press.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

 Author: David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, c.2024, Columbia University Press, $28.00

Get lots of rest.

That’s always good advice when you’re ailing. Don’t overdo. Don’t try to be Superman or Supermom, just rest and follow your doctor’s orders.

And if, as in the new book, “Building the Worlds That Kill Us” by David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, the color of your skin and your social strata are a certain way, you’ll feel better soon.

Nearly five years ago, while interviewing residents along the Mississippi River in Louisiana for a book they were writing, authors Rosner and Markowitz learned that they’d caused a little brouhaha. Large corporations in the area, ones that the residents of “a small, largely African American community” had battled over air and soil contamination and illness, didn’t want any more “’agitators’” poking around. They’d asked a state trooper to see if the authors were going to cause trouble.

For Rosner and Markowitz, this underscored “what every thoughtful person at least suspects”: that age, geography, immigrant status, “income, wealth, race, gender, sexuality, and social position” largely impacts the quality and availability of medical care.

It’s been this way since Europeans first arrived on North American shores.

Native Americans “had their share of illness and disease” even before the Europeans arrived and brought diseases that decimated established populations. There was little-to-no medicine offered to slaves on the Middle Passage because a ship owner’s “financial calculus… included the price of disease and death.”  According to the authors, many enslavers weren’t even “convinced” that the cost of feeding their slaves was worth the work received.

Factory workers in the late 1800s and early 1900s worked long weeks and long days under sometimes dangerous conditions, and health care was meager; Depression-era workers didn’t fare much better. Black Americans were used for medical experimentation. And just three years ago, the American Lung Association reported that “’people of color’ disproportionately” lived in areas where the air quality was particularly dangerous.

So, what does all this mean? Authors David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz don’t seem to be too optimistic, for one thing, but in “Building the Worlds That Kill Us,” they do leave readers with a thought-provoker: “we as a nation … created this dark moment and we have the ability to change it.” Finding the “how” in this book, however, will take serious between-the-lines reading.

If that sounds ominous, it is. Most of this book is, in fact, quite dismaying, despite that there are glimpses of pushback here and there, in the form of protests and strikes throughout many decades. You may notice, if this is a subject you’re passionate about, that the histories may be familiar but deeper than you might’ve learned in high school. You’ll also notice the relevance to today’s healthcare issues and questions, and that’s likewise disturbing.

This is by no means a happy-happy vacation book, but it is essential reading if you care about national health issues, worker safety, public attitudes, and government involvement in medical care inequality. You may know some of what’s inside “Building the Worlds That Kill Us,” but now you can learn the rest.

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Arts and Culture

‘Giants Rising’ Film Screening in Marin City Library

A journey into the heart of America’s most iconic forests, “Giants Rising” tells the epic tale of the coast redwoods — the tallest and among the oldest living beings on Earth. Living links to the past, redwoods hold powers that may play a role in our future, including their ability to withstand fire and capture carbon, to offer clues about longevity, and to enhance our own well-being.

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A woman stands amid towering redwood trees in a forest. Photo courtesy of Marin County Free Library.
A woman stands amid towering redwood trees in a forest. Photo courtesy of Marin County Free Library.

By Godfrey Lee

The film “Giants Rising” will be screened on Saturday, Jan. 11, from 3-6 p.m. at the St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, located 100 Donahue St. in Marin City.

A journey into the heart of America’s most iconic forests, “Giants Rising” tells the epic tale of the coast redwoods — the tallest and among the oldest living beings on Earth. Living links to the past, redwoods hold powers that may play a role in our future, including their ability to withstand fire and capture carbon, to offer clues about longevity, and to enhance our own well-being.

Through the voices of scientists, artists, Native communities, and others, we discover the many connections that sustain these forests and the promise of solutions that will help us all rise up to face the challenges that lay ahead.

The film’s website is www.giantsrising.com. The “Giants Rising” trailer is at https://player.vimeo.com/video/904153467. The registration link to the event is https://marinlibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/673de7abb41279410057889e

This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Marin City Library and hosted in conjunction with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and St. Andrew Presbyterian Church.

All library events are free. For more information, contact Etienne Douglas at (415) 332-6158 or email etienne.douglas@marincounty.gov. For event-specific information, contact Zaira Sierra at zsierra@parksconservancy.org.

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Activism

‘Resist’ a Look at Black Activism in U.S. Through the Eyes of a Native Nigerian

In 1995, after she and her brothers traveled from their native Nigeria to join their mother at her new home in the South Bronx, young Omokha’s eyes were opened. She quickly understood that the color of her skin – which was “synonymous with endless striving and a pursuit of excellence” in Nigeria – was “so problematic in America.”

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Cover of “Resist! How a Century of Young Black Activists Shaped America.” Courtesy image.
Cover of “Resist! How a Century of Young Black Activists Shaped America.” Courtesy image.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Bookworm Sez

Throughout history, when decisions were needed, the answer has often been “no.”

‘No,’ certain people don’t get the same education as others. ‘No,’ there is no such thing as equality. ‘No,’ voting can be denied and ‘no,’ the laws are different, depending on the color of one’s skin. And in the new book, Resist!” by Rita Omokha, ‘no,’ there is not an obedient acceptance of those things.

In 1995, after she and her brothers traveled from their native Nigeria to join their mother at her new home in the South Bronx, young Omokha’s eyes were opened. She quickly understood that the color of her skin – which was “synonymous with endless striving and a pursuit of excellence” in Nigeria – was “so problematic in America.”

That became a bigger matter to Omokha later, 15 years after her brother was deported: she “saw” him in George Floyd, and it shook her. Troubled, she traveled to America on a “pilgrimage for understanding [her] Blackness…” She began to think about the “Black young people across America” who hadn’t been or wouldn’t be quiet about racism any longer.

She starts this collection of stories with Ella Josephine Baker, whose parents and grandparents modeled activism and who, because of her own student activism, would be “crowned the mother of the Civil Rights Movement.” Baker, in fact, was the woman who formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, in 1960.

Nine teenagers, known as the Scottsboro Nine were wrongly arrested for raping two white women in 1931 and were all released, thanks to the determination of white lawyer-allies who were affiliated with the International Labor Defense and the outrage of students on campuses around America.

Students refused to let a “Gentleman’s Agreement” pass when it came to sports and equality in 1940. Barbara Johns demanded equal education under the law in Virginia in 1951. Huey Newton and Bobby Seale formed the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in 1966.  And after Trayvon Martin (2012) and George Floyd (2020) were killed, students used the internet as a new form of fighting for justice.

No doubt, by now, you’ve read a lot of books about activism. There are many of them out there, and they’re pretty hard to miss. With that in mind, there are reasons not to miss “Resist!”

You’ll find the main one by looking between the lines and in each chapter’s opening.

There, Omokha weaves her personal story in with that of activists at different times through the decades, matching her experiences with history and making the whole timeline even more relevant.

In doing so, the point of view she offers – that of a woman who wasn’t totally raised in an atmosphere filled with racism, who wasn’t immersed in it her whole life – lets these historical accounts land with more impact.

This book is for people who love history or a good, short biography, but it’s also excellent reading for anyone who sees a need for protest or action and questions the status quo. If that’s the case, then “Resist!” may be the answer.

“Resist! How a Century of Young Black Activists Shaped America” by Rita Omokha, c.2024, St. Martin’s Press. $29.00             

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