Activism

Open Letter: Black Oakland Demands in Light of COVID-19 and Rates of Black Death

Published

4 years ago

April 23, 2020

Cat Brooks – Anti Police-Terror Project/Justice Teams Network Carroll Fife – AACE Action Tur-Ha Ak – Community READY Corps/Anti Police-Terror Project Desley Brooks – Community Citizen Harold Mayberry – Senior Pastor, First AME Church Patrisse Cullors – Co-founder Black Lives Matter BK Woodson – Faith in Action Jackie Byers – Black Organizing Project Saabir Lockett Zach Norris – Ella Baker Center/Oakland Not For Sale Mama Ayanna Davis – MXGM-Bay Area/Congo Angola Capoeira Institute/Healthy Black Families Keith Brown – Teacher/President OEA Derrick Muhammad – ILWU Esther Goolsby Ayodele Nzinga – BAMBD CDC/LBP, INC Dr. Noha Aboelata – ROOTS Clinic Candice Elder – East Oakland Collective Allyssa Victory – Afrikan Black Coalition Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, OEA – Black Women’s Caucus James Burch – Anti Police-Terror Project/St. James Infirmary Jakada Imani John Jones III Pastor Anthony Jenkins Jahmese Myers – Schools and Communities First Kev Choice – Musician/Educator/Activist/Oakland Arts Commissioner/Recording Academy-SF Chapter Secretary Lateefah Simon Melina Abdulla – Black Lives Matter Los Angeles Gerald Lenoir, Other & Belonging Institute Allies George Galvis – Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice Annie Banks – Anti Police-Terror Project/Justice Teams Network Daniela Kantorova – Healers for Abolition Dan Siegel – Attorney, Siegel & Yee Tony Douangviseth – Youth Together

Black People are being infected and dying at disproportionate rates from COVID-19.

This past Saturday, Community Ready Corps (CRC) and The Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP) virtually convened a range of Black leaders in Oakland to develop a set of demands around how we expect Oakland to respond to this crisis.

Despite the mainstream media narrative that Black people are “unhealthy” or live “risky lifestyles,” the reality is that for 400 years Black people in this country have been pushed down to the bottom of every indicator that would lead to a healthy and thriving quality of life.

This is true in Oakland. Black people make up the majority of the unhoused and displaced, live in the neighborhoods with the highest concentration of air pollution and have the least access to healthcare and healthy food. As a result, Black bodies are more susceptible to the ravages of COVID-19.

Oakland should have moved preemptively to stop the spread of this virus in Black neighborhoods and ensured Black residents had accurate information, cloth masks, hand sanitizers; but this work was instead left up to grassroots organizations like Community Ready Corps.

In San Francisco, new data revealed that Blacks and Latinos make up the majority of the 1,126 cases in the city. We can be sure that this will hold true in Oakland as well. The City of Oakland needs to release similar data immediately and work with trusted Black community leaders and organizations to respond.

The coalition’s demands are both short and long-term in a wide range of areas from housing to education to testing and healthcare. Some of these include: Free, full, accessible testing and retesting sites, both walk-up and drive-through, in East and West Oakland and at encampments, No criminalization of youth-related to COVID 19 precautions such as wearing a mask, etc., Immediate paid sick days for all essential service workers, Rent abatement for the duration of the administrative closure followed by percentage rent through 2020 for tenants coupled with mortgage forgiveness for landlords.

Access the full document at www.antipoliceterrorproject.org

Cat Brooks – Anti Police-Terror Project/Justice Teams Network Carroll Fife – AACE Action Tur-Ha Ak – Community READY Corps/Anti Police-Terror Project Desley Brooks – Community Citizen Harold Mayberry – Senior Pastor, First AME Church Patrisse Cullors – Co-founder Black Lives Matter BK Woodson – Faith in Action Jackie Byers – Black Organizing Project Saabir Lockett Zach Norris – Ella Baker Center/Oakland Not For Sale Mama Ayanna Davis – MXGM-Bay Area/Congo Angola Capoeira Institute/Healthy Black Families Keith Brown – Teacher/President OEA Derrick Muhammad – ILWU Esther Goolsby Ayodele Nzinga – BAMBD CDC/LBP, INC Dr. Noha Aboelata – ROOTS Clinic Candice Elder – East Oakland Collective Allyssa Victory – Afrikan Black Coalition Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, OEA – Black Women’s Caucus James Burch – Anti Police-Terror Project/St. James Infirmary Jakada Imani John Jones III Pastor Anthony Jenkins Jahmese Myers – Schools and Communities First Kev Choice – Musician/Educator/Activist/Oakland Arts Commissioner/Recording Academy-SF Chapter Secretary Lateefah Simon Melina Abdulla – Black Lives Matter Los Angeles Gerald Lenoir, Other & Belonging Institute Allies George Galvis – Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice Annie Banks – Anti Police-Terror Project/Justice Teams Network Daniela Kantorova – Healers for Abolition Dan Siegel – Attorney, Siegel & Yee Tony Douangviseth – Youth Together

Posts by Cat Brooks – Anti Police-Terror Project/Justice Teams Network Carroll Fife – AACE Action Tur-Ha Ak – Community READY Corps/Anti Police-Terror Project Desley Brooks – Community Citizen Harold Mayberry – Senior Pastor, First AME Church Patrisse Cullors – Co-founder Black Lives Matter BK Woodson – Faith in Action Jackie Byers – Black Organizing Project Saabir Lockett Zach Norris – Ella Baker Center/Oakland Not For Sale Mama Ayanna Davis – MXGM-Bay Area/Congo Angola Capoeira Institute/Healthy Black Families Keith Brown – Teacher/President OEA Derrick Muhammad – ILWU Esther Goolsby Ayodele Nzinga – BAMBD CDC/LBP, INC Dr. Noha Aboelata – ROOTS Clinic Candice Elder – East Oakland Collective Allyssa Victory – Afrikan Black Coalition Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, OEA – Black Women’s Caucus James Burch – Anti Police-Terror Project/St. James Infirmary Jakada Imani John Jones III Pastor Anthony Jenkins Jahmese Myers – Schools and Communities First Kev Choice – Musician/Educator/Activist/Oakland Arts Commissioner/Recording Academy-SF Chapter Secretary Lateefah Simon Melina Abdulla – Black Lives Matter Los Angeles Gerald Lenoir, Other & Belonging Institute Allies George Galvis – Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice Annie Banks – Anti Police-Terror Project/Justice Teams Network Daniela Kantorova – Healers for Abolition Dan Siegel – Attorney, Siegel & Yee Tony Douangviseth – Youth Together

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

Published

5 days ago

April 26, 2024

Oakland Post

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

2 weeks ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

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Oakland Schools Honor Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice. His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

Fred Korematsu. Courtesy of OUSD.

By Post Staff

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice.

His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.
One OUSD school is named in his honor: Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy (KDA) elementary in East Oakland.

Several years ago, founding KDA Principal Charles Wilson, in a video interview with anti-hate organization “Not In Our Town,” said, “We chose the name Fred Korematsu because we really felt like the attributes that he showed in his work are things that the children need to learn … that common people can stand up and make differences in a large number of people’s lives.”

Fred Korematsu was born in Oakland on Jan. 30, 1919. His parents ran a floral nursery business, and his upbringing in Oakland shaped his worldview. His belief in the importance of standing up for your rights and the rights of others, regardless of race or background, was the foundation for his activism against racial prejudice and for the rights of Japanese Americans during World War II.

At the start of the war, Korematsu was turned away from enlisting in the National Guard and the Coast Guard because of his race. He trained as a welder, working at the docks in Oakland, but was fired after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Fear and prejudice led to federal Executive Order 9066, which forced more than 120,000 Japanese Americans out of their homes and neighborhoods and into remote internment camps.

The 23-year-old Korematsu resisted the order. He underwent cosmetic surgery and assumed a false identity, choosing freedom over unjust imprisonment. His later arrest and conviction sparked a legal battle that would challenge the foundation of civil liberties in America.

Korematsu’s fight culminated in the Supreme Court’s initial ruling against him in 1944. He spent years in a Utah internment camp with his family, followed by time living in Salt Lake City where he was dogged by racism.

In 1976, President Gerald Ford overturned Executive Order 9066. Seven years later, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco vacated Korematsu’s conviction. He said in court, “I would like to see the government admit that they were wrong and do something about it so this will never happen again to any American citizen of any race, creed, or color.”

Korematsu’s dedication and determination established him as a national icon of civil rights and social justice. He advocated for justice with Rosa Parks. In 1998, President Bill Clinton gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom saying, “In the long history of our country’s constant search for justice, some names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls … To that distinguished list, today we add the name of Fred Korematsu.”

After Sept. 11, 2001, Korematsu spoke out against hatred and discrimination, saying what happened to Japanese Americans should not happen to people of Middle Eastern descent.
Korematsu’s roots in Oakland and his education in OUSD are a source of great pride for the city, according to the school district. His most famous quote, which is on the Korematsu elementary school mural, is as relevant now as ever, “If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don’t be afraid to speak up.”