Arts and Culture

Malonga Center Supporters Say Market-Rate Project May Cripple Cultural Institution

Published

9 years ago

February 12, 2016

Nearly a month after City Council passed a resolution designating the 14th Street corridor in downtown Oakland as the Black Arts Movement Business District “to highlight, celebrate, preserve and support the contributions of Oakland’s Black artists and business owners,” one of the city’s main cultural institutions is being threatened by two proposals to build market-rate housing developments across the street.

The Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, located at 14th and Alice St., has been a recognizable cultural institution in Oakland for over four decades and a central hub for communities of the African Diaspora.

The parking lots along 14th St., two of the only places where the Malonga Center’s patrons can park their cars when taking classes or attending cultural performances, are slated to be replaced by market-rate housing developments that will also mean the destruction of the iconic Alice Street Mural.

According to cultural activists and Malonga center neighbors, both of the development proposals were fast-tracked through the city’s Planning Commission and include no affordable housing units, no parking to replace the parking lots and little-to-no community benefits to offset the negative impacts on the Malonga Center.

Photo by Tulio Ospina

Carla Service, owner of Dance-A-Vision Entertainment and longtime resident of the Malonga Center, says the project and lack of parking will be detrimental to the cultural institution and its neighbors.

“It’s going to choke our businesses, and they are going to be crippled,” said Service. “Over here, these businesses are in dire straights, and the city should make sure it takes care of people that already exist in neighborhoods, especially if development is coming in.”

“The center is an international destination that draws visitors from across the region,” she said. “Some come from as far away as Hayward, Antioch, or Santa Rosa. Parking is already tight, and usually there are cars double-parked or people asleep in their cars waiting for a space to free up.”

Nearly 200 artists, cultural activists, drummers and Oakland students rallied Thursday in front of the Alice Street Mural and marched to City Hall to protest of the Planning Commission’s willingness to “fasttrack developments without negotiating an equitable portion of community benefits,” according to a press release by the Oakland Creative Neighborhoods Coalition (OCNC).

Organizers demanded that the decisions be overturned until the costs to replace the mural are completely financed and the ground floor of the developments become a parking garage dedicated to Malonga Arts Center staff and patrons.

They also want 15 to 28 percent of the units to be affordable to families earning less than $64,000 a year.

“The Malonga Theater is one of the cultural icons of the city, and people come from all over to see it,” said former-Mayor Jean Quan, who attended the rally.

“The city council has not really gone forward with suggestions from the Housing Equity Roadmap, and they really need to,” said Mayor Quan. “Otherwise, they’re going to be inconsistently fighting for equity space by space throughout Oakland, and we’re going to lose the diverse mix of the city.”

According to Eric Arnold, a member of OCNC’s steering committee, the two developments fly in the face of the city’s promise to support a Black Arts District.

Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney did not respond to the Post’s questions regarding how the recent approval of the Black Arts District would help protect institutions like the Malonga Center.

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Arts and Culture

BOOK REVIEW: Love, Rita: An American Story of Sisterhood, Joy, Loss, and Legacy

When Bridgett M. Davis was in college, her sister Rita was diagnosed with lupus, a disease of the immune system that often left her constantly tired and sore. Davis was a bit unfazed, but sympathetic to Rita’s suffering and also annoyed that the disease sometimes came between them. By that time, they needed one another more than ever.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Love Rita Book Cover. Courtesy of Harper.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Author: Bridgett M. Davis, c.2025, Harper, $29.99, 367 Pages

Take care.

Do it because you want to stay well, upright, and away from illness. Eat right, swallow your vitamins and hydrate, keep good habits and hygiene, and cross your fingers. Take care as much as you can because, as in the new book, “Love, Rita” by Bridgett M. Davis, your well-being is sometimes out of your hands.

It was a family story told often: when Davis was born, her sister, Rita, then four years old, stormed up to her crying newborn sibling and said, ‘Shut your … mouth!’

Rita, says Davis, didn’t want a little sister then. She already had two big sisters and a neighbor who was somewhat of a “sister,” and this baby was an irritation. As Davis grew, the feeling was mutual, although she always knew that Rita loved her.

Over the years, the sisters tried many times not to fight — on their own and at the urging of their mother — and though division was ever present, it eased when Rita went to college. Davis was still in high school then, and she admired her big sister.

She eagerly devoured frequent letters sent to her in the mail, signed, “Love, Rita.”

When Davis was in college herself, Rita was diagnosed with lupus, a disease of the immune system that often left her constantly tired and sore. Davis was a bit unfazed, but sympathetic to Rita’s suffering and also annoyed that the disease sometimes came between them. By that time, they needed one another more than ever.

First, they lost their father. Drugs then invaded the family and addiction stole two siblings. A sister and a young nephew were murdered in a domestic violence incident. Their mother was devastated; Rita’s lupus was an “added weight of her sorrow.”

After their mother died of colon cancer, Rita’s lupus took a turn for the worse.

“Did she even stand a chance?” Davis wrote in her journal.

“It just didn’t seem possible that she, someone so full of life, could die.”

Let’s start here: once you get past the prologue in “Love, Rita,” you may lose interest. Maybe.

Most of the stories that author Bridgett M. Davis shares are mildly interesting, nothing rare, mostly commonplace tales of growing up in the 1960s and ’70s with a sibling. There are a lot of these kinds of stories, and they tend to generally melt together. After about fifty pages of them, you might start to think about putting the book aside.

But don’t. Not quite yet.

In between those everyday tales, Davis occasionally writes about being an ailing Black woman in America, the incorrect assumptions made by doctors, the history of medical treatment for Black people (women in particular), attitudes, and mythologies. Those passages are now and then, interspersed, but worth scanning for.

This book is perhaps best for anyone with the patience for a slow-paced memoir, or anyone who loves a Black woman who’s ill or might be ill someday. If that’s you and you can read between the lines, then “Love, Rita” is a book to take in carefully.

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Faces Around the Bay: Author Karen Lewis Took the ‘Detour to Straight Street’

“My life has been a roller-coaster with an unlimited ride wristband! I was raised in Berkeley during the time of Ron Dellums, the Black Panthers, and People’s Park. I was a Hippie kid, my Auntie cut off all our hair so we could wear the natural styles like her and Angela Davis.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Karen Lewis. Courtesy photo.

By Barbara Fluhrer

I met Karen Lewis on a park bench in Berkeley. She wrote her story on the spot.

I got married young, then ended up getting divorced, raising two boys into men. After my divorce, I had a stroke that left me blind and paralyzed. I was homeless, lost in a fog with blurred vision.

Jesus healed me! I now have two beautiful grandkids. At 61, this age and this stage, I am finally free indeed. Our Lord Jesus Christ saved my soul. I now know how to be still. I lay at his feet. I surrender and just rest. My life and every step on my path have already been ordered. So, I have learned in this life…it’s nice to be nice. No stressing, just blessings. Pray for the best and deal with the rest.

Nobody is perfect, so forgive quickly and love easily!”

Lewis’ book “Detour to Straight Street” is available on Amazon.

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Activism

Golden State Warriors Program Is Inspiring Next Generation of Female Engineers

Breaking down barriers and biases that deter young girls from pursuing STEAM subjects is essential for creating a level playing field and ensuring equal opportunities for all. By challenging stereotypes and promoting a culture of inclusivity and diversity in STEAM fields, experts believe young girls can be empowered to pursue their interests and aspirations without limitations confidently. Encouraging mentorship, providing access to resources, and celebrating girls’ achievements in STEAM are all crucial steps in creating a supportive environment that fosters success.

Published

2 months ago

March 23, 2025

Oakland Post

Front Row: UC Berkeley Steel Bridge Team Back Row: Girls, Inc. Participants. Photo courtesy of the Golden State Warriors.

By Y’Anad Burrell

The Golden State Warriors and e-commerce giant Rakuten are joining forces to inspire the next generation of female engineers through Building STEAM Futures, part of The City Calls campaign.

Organizers say the initiative is founded on the idea that science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) are crucial fields for innovation and progress, and empowering young girls to pursue careers in these areas is more important than ever. Studies consistently show that girls are underrepresented in STEAM fields, resulting in a gender disparity that limits potential and hinders diversity.

On Saturday, March 8, International Women’s Day, the Warriors and Rakuten hosted 20 middle school girls from Girls Inc. of Alameda County at Chase Center’s Above the Rim for a hands-on bridge-building experience. The young girls from Girls, Inc. of Alameda County had an opportunity to design, build and test their own bridge prototypes and learn the fundamentals of bridge construction from the Engineering Alliance and the UC Berkeley Steel Bridge Team.

This STEAM experience for the girls followed the first session in January, where they took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Golden Gate Bridge, learning about its design and construction from industry experts. The City Calls campaign, tipped off with the unveiling the Warriors’ new bridge-themed City Edition jerseys and court design earlier this year.