Activism

Oakland Activist and Organizer Denise A. Gums, 66

Published

4 years ago

August 21, 2020

Denise Gums. Photo by Wanda Sabir.

Denise Adele Gums, an innovative organizer and activist around all things related to the African Diaspora, immigrant rights and the rights of indigenous people everywhere, passed away suddenly in Oakland on July 22, 2020. She was 66.

Gums was born in Oakland on Oct. 26, 1953, and attended local schools, graduating from Bishop O’Dowd High School in 1971 and later attending Holy Names College.

A woman who knew how to have fun while working for systemic change, Gums always knew where the pulse was on any issue.

Her work, grounded in Christ or God consciousness, and honored ancestors, aimed for African Diaspora unity. Gums saw the church as a sanctuary and its role as one of liberation theology.

Her career in community organizing began in the 1970s, according to Melvin Phillips, a neighbor and former classmate. In her role as community liaison for Clergy United of Oakland and the Bay Area Interdenominational Ministry Alliances, Phillips recalls that Gums worked closely with the late Father Jay Matthews, rector of Cathedral of Christ the Light; the late Father Edgar Haasl of St. Louis Bertrand Catholic Church; Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith, pastor emeritus of Allen Temple Baptist Church, other Pentecostal clergy and the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.

Gums helped out at Black Panther Party Co-Founder Bobby Seale’s campaign for Oakland Mayor and went to jail often while protesting for housing rights, making “Good Trouble.”

She supported immigrant rights and African entrepreneurship. She loved film and volunteered at the Oakland International Film Festival. She worked at the American Red Cross training disaster relief volunteers. More recently she worked as a special education teacher; she loved children, especially those children she taught at Oakland Public Schools and worried about the effects of distance education and the digital divide in the community.

Gerald Lenoir, now a strategy analyst with Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, said Gums was a big asset when he founded the Bay Area Alliance for Just Immigration in 2006. A founding member herself, Gums was a bridge between the church and the community bringing her cultural work to bear.

She was so well known in that bridge-building role that tributes from five Oakland churches were read at her homegoing: St. Columba Catholic Church, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, St. Benedict’s Catholic Church, Imani Community Church and her church home, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.

‘Oaktown’ to the core, she always wore colorful wraps, baubles on her wrists and hoops dangling from her ears, even before it was common and fashionable. She was one of the first to model African-centered face masks as the pandemic unfolded, riding the bus to Berkeley to support an African woman-owned business. She was a ‘Race Woman,’ in the spirit of the Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

She was involved in political outreach for Africans from the Congo and Nigeria, Ethiopia, Eritrea and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa in 1980s and 1990s. She was always advocating for the rights of people of African descent in the U.S. and Haiti.

She is survived by her mother, Mrs. Thelma Gums; sisters, Deborah and Karen Gums; aunts and uncle; cousins and too many friends to count. She was preceded in death by her father, Louis Gums and brother Kevan Gums.

Gums is interred at Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland. A public ceremony and celebration of her life was held on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020, where a City of Oakland resolution declaring it Denise Gums Day was read by Oakland City Councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney.

One of her last acts was to support the people driving and riding in a caravan of vehicles decked out with Black Lives Matter signs in a COVID-19-safe protest that circled Lake Merritt in Oakland. The demonstrations began on June 2, 2020, and will run through Nov. 6, 2020, now in Gums’ honor as well. The meeting place is Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 2808 Lakeshore Ave., from 12:00-1:00 p.m. on first and third Fridays. For more information, call 510-255-5579.

If anyone is interested in helping with burial costs, please contact Mr. Osagie A.D. Enabulele, a community leader at 510-393-6262.

Michelle Snider

Associate Editor for The Post News Group. Writer, Photographer, Videographer, Copy Editor, and website editor documenting local events in the Oakland-Bay Area California area.

Posts by Michelle Snider | Website

Activism

WOMEN IMPACTING THE CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

Published

10 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Juanita Matthews

Sister Juanita Matthews

55 Years with Oakland Public School District

The Teacher, Mother, Community Outreach Champion, And Child of God

Juanita Matthews, better known as “Sister Teacher,” is a walking Bible scholar. She moved to California from the great state of Arkansas in 1971. Sister Teacher has a passion for teaching. She has been a member of Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church since 1971. She followed her passion for teaching, and in 1977 became the lead teacher for Adult Class #6. Her motto still today is “Once My Student, Always My Student”.

Beyond her remarkable love for the Lord, Sister Teacher has showcased her love for teaching by working for the Oakland Unified School District for 55 years, all but four of those years spent at Emerson Elementary and Child Development School. She truly cares about her students, making sure they have the tools/supplies needed to learn either at OUSD or Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

She’s also had a “Clothes Closet Ministry” for 51 years, making sure her students have sufficient clothing for school. The Clothes Closet Ministry extends past her students, she has been clothing the community for over 50 years as well. She loves the Lord and is a servant on a mission. She is a loving mother to two beautiful children, Sandra and Andre. This is the impact this woman of God has on her church and the community.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland’s ‘Green the Church,’ Others, Host a Climate Revival

On April 20, Oakland’s Green The Church California (GTC) and the Center For Food, Faith and Justice will celebrate Earth Day and present a Climate Revival event titled “Growing Healthy Communities From Soil To The Soul” at McGee Avenue Baptist Church at 1640 Stuart St, Berkeley, CA. The day will include inspiring talks, interactive workshops, networking opportunities, and a special panel on Food Sovereignty and Global Food Resilience.

Published

13 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

The revival will take place at McGee Avenue Baptist Church in Berkeley on April 20. Courtesy image.

Growing Healthy Communities from Soil to the Soul in Berkeley

By Y’Anad Burrell

The day will include inspiring talks, interactive workshops, networking opportunities, and a special panel on Food Sovereignty and Global Food Resilience.

The keynote speaker is Rev. Danté R. Quick, PhD, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, N.J. Quick is well known in the Bay Area, having served for more than 10 years as pastor of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Vallejo, CA.

Green The Church, founded in 2010 by Rev. Dr. Ambrose Carroll, Sr., and headquartered in Oakland, helps galvanize Black churches and their local communities and leaders to address issues critical to populations historically disengaged from conversations around pollution and health, climate change, and sustainability and energy efficiency.

The organization collaborates with major environmental, sustainability, food security, faith, and community-based non-profit organizations, and is committed to “creation justice”—care and justice for God’s people and the planet—and building the Beloved Community.

Environmental justice has long been a pressing concern for communities of color who bear the brunt of pollution and ecological degradation. Climate change exacerbates these issues, disproportionately impacting vulnerable communities. Recognizing this urgency, Black churches across the country are taking action.

With deep roots in the African American community and its commitment to social justice, the Black Church has become an essential advocate for sustainable practices and policies.

Over the past 14 years, in a powerful collaboration with significant environmental, sustainability, food security, faith, and community-based non-profit organizations, GTC has created a cadre of Black churches engaging in the environmental justice, climate, and sustainability movement.

GTC presently works with more than 1,000 pastors and congregations across the U.S., and groups in the Bahamas, Ghana, Nigeria, and the UK, showing that we can make a difference together.

The partnership between environmental justice advocates and the Black Church extends beyond individual congregations. Green The Church provides resources and support for faith communities seeking to address climate change and promote environmental justice.

Through collaboration, initiatives such as energy efficiency programs, solar installations, and environmental education have been implemented in Black churches nationwide. These efforts reduce the carbon footprint and save money on energy bills, benefiting the congregations and their communities.

The involvement of the Black Church in the fight against climate change is not just a participation, it’s a powerful message that galvanizes action across communities.

By integrating environmental justice into their ministry, Black churches are demonstrating that addressing climate change is not only a matter of science but also of social and moral responsibility, inspiring change at a grassroots level.

For more information, go to: www.greenthechurch.org.