Arts and Culture
Opposition Grows Over Proposed 40-Story High Rise in Middle of City’s Black Arts District
An out-of-town developer is trying to build a 40-story high-rise in the middle of Oakland’s Black Movement Arts and Business District against strong community opposition. At its meeting on Feb. 16, both the Planning Commission and the developer were called out by Oaklanders including the Oakland Heritage Alliance and a representative of minority builders.

By Post Staff
An out-of-town developer is trying to build a 40-story high-rise in the middle of Oakland’s Black Movement Arts and Business District against strong community opposition. At its meeting on Feb. 16, both the Planning Commission and the developer were called out by Oaklanders including the Oakland Heritage Alliance and a representative of minority builders.
The Planning Commission acknowledged that they went through the entire design review process for the building without even knowing that the Black Arts and Business District existed! The district was created in 2016 by city council resolution.
When the developers claimed to have Black support, Oakland community leader and owner of Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, Geoffrey Pete, quoted Harriet Tubman, “I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more, if they had known that they were slaves.”
At the heart of the opposition to the building is the desire to further the legacy of local Black entertainment and entrepreneurship exemplified by businesses like Pete’s. His business is housed in a building that was once the all-white Athenian Club. It is now a historic landmark and the venue for thousands of people who listen to jazz and other entertainment and hold wedding receptions and memorial services.
Geoffrey’s has hosted hundreds of homeless people for holiday dinners with table clothes and fancy cutlery and offered his venue for free to groups ranging from advocates for affordable housing to academics urging Black and Brown residents to become teachers.
Residents are asking the city to make the Black Movement Arts and Business District real by investing in its corridor along 14th Street. The Black population of Oakland has decreased rapidly in the last decade because of the city’s concentration on building housing that is not affordable to people who currently live in Oakland.
Enhancing the Black Arts District could help to stop displacement. Approving this proposed building would further displacement by continuing the policy of approving developments that current Oakland residents cannot afford.
The new building would remove the only parking available in the area and threaten a historic brick building during construction. In addition, acknowledgement of racism and the experience of other cities tell us that new high-end housing developments drive out entertainment venues, especially those frequented by Black customers.
While some argue “we need housing,” others say this claim is disingenuous because this particular housing will displace more Black and Brown Oaklanders in favor of gentrification.
Said one opponent of the development, “If Tidewater wants to build in the Black entertainment district and help Oakland with housing, they should determine the rent level that the average Black family can afford and build for those families.”
Activism
The Bay Area Celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day with Service, Marches, Music
“Make a career of humanity,” said King, who was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968, when he had come to support a strike by underpaid sanitation workers. “Commit yourself to the noble struggle for civil rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.”

By Daisha Williams
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy of radical change and community empowerment will be celebrated on Monday, Jan. 20.
Though his birthday is Jan. 15, since 1986, the national holiday has been held on the third Monday of January, often as a day of volunteer service.
“Make a career of humanity,” said King, who was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968, when he had come to support a strike by underpaid sanitation workers. “Commit yourself to the noble struggle for civil rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.”
There is a myriad of ways that people can spend this day, with many different options in the Bay Area.
In Oakland, the MLK Jr. Multicultural Rally Committee will hold its 34th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Rally on Jan. 20 at 10 a.m. at 99 Hegenberger Road featuring speakers from the MLK Freedom Center. For more information, call 510-827-2414.
The same day, the 11th Annual Reclaim MLK’s Radical Legacy Day of Action will be taking place. The Anti Police-Terror Project intends this march to hold true to Dr King’s values which have been watered down since his death. The march will begin at the Oscar Grant Plaza (Oakland City Hall) at 11 a.m.
Honoring the Day of Service, people of all ages can help clean up the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline at Doolittle Drive and Swan Way in Oakland from 9 a.m.-12 noon. Cleanups are at the Tidewater Boating Center and Oakport Staging Area, and gardening and maintenance at MLK Grove. No registration required.
The African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. will hold its annual film festival honoring Rev. King on Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Films shown appropriate for children are “The Youngest Marcher” and “The North Star,” shown at 12:10 p.m. and 12:40 p.m. respectively.
In San Francisco, the week-long MLK festival has already started.
On Monday, one of the most enduring observations will occur. According to Johnny Funcheap, “the 2025 MLK March is a poignant and symbolic journey that pays homage to the historic Selma to Montgomery marches and the monumental Voting Rights Act of 1965. Spanning 1.5 miles, this commemorative march and parade begins at San Francisco’s Caltrain Station and winds its way through the heart of the city, ultimately culminating at the serene Yerba Buena Gardens.
“A parade will begin at 11 am starting at 4th and King streets, ending at the Yerba Buena Gardens where there will be a music festival and a health and wellness festival later in the day.”

Selma, AL, USA September 14, 2011 The Brown AME Church in Selma Alabama was the starting point of Martin Luther King’s March to Montgomery to support voting and civil rights
San Francisco is not the only place with events that day though.
In Hayward, there will be a free event on Monday celebrating MLK’s life, with a program of music, community awards and a keynote address by Rev. Amos Brown of San Francisco’s Third Baptist Church. It will be held at the Hayward Unified School District Performing Arts Center beginning at 2390 Panama St. at 4:30 p.m.
The City of Marin’s celebration in honor of Dr. King’s life will take place at 630 Drake Ave. in Sausalito from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will include music, spoken word, youth presentation and speakers. Free and open to the public, this year’s theme will be “Voices of Change, Empowering a New Generation.”
There will be a similar celebration from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Jan. 20 at the Solano County Fairgrounds McCormick Hall at 900 Fairgrounds Dr. in Vallejo. This event has been organized by the Solano County Black Chamber of Commerce and is free to attend. RSVP is required. Please call 707-673-2148 or www.solanoblackchamber.com.
A popular way to spend MLK Day is by giving back to your community. In Richmond, there will be a day of community service on the Richmond Greenway. The Watershed Project organized this event to beautify the greenway and provide opportunity for community reflection and empowerment. They will be meeting at Unity Park Community Plaza at 9 a.m. on Monday to kick off this event. Not only is this free to participate in, but lunch will be provided.
In Stockton, there will be a two-day celebration in honor of Dr. King with keynote speaker Bishop Jerry W. Macklin. The first part of this event will be on Jan. 19 at 5 p.m. at Progressive Community Church in Stockton at 2820 South B St. The next day, a Unity March will begin at 10 a.m. at the Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium. Registration for the march begins at 9 a.m. This event is being put on by Ministers and Community United, INC.
Arts and Culture
BOOK REVIEW: On Love
King entered college at age fifteen and after graduation, he was named associate pastor at his father’s church. At age twenty-five, he became the pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. In late 1956, he was apprehended for his part in the bus boycott there, his first of many arrests for non-violent protests and activism for Civil Rights. But when asked if those things were what he hoped he’d be honored for in years to come, King said he wanted to be remembered as “’someone who tried to love somebody.’”

By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Author: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., c.2024, Harper Collins, Martin Luther King Jr. Library, $18.99
Turn the volume up, please.
You need it louder because this is something you’ve been waiting to hear. You need to listen very closely; these words mean a great deal to you, and they might change your life. As in the new book, “On Love” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the message beneath the message is the most important.
As the grandson and great-grandson of pastors and the son of the senior pastor at Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, it may seem as though young Martin Luther King, Jr., born in 1929, already had his life set.
King entered college at age fifteen and after graduation, he was named associate pastor at his father’s church. At age twenty-five, he became the pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. In late 1956, he was apprehended for his part in the bus boycott there, his first of many arrests for non-violent protests and activism for Civil Rights.
But when asked if those things were what he hoped he’d be honored for in years to come, King said he wanted to be remembered as “’someone who tried to love somebody.’”
His words, essays, letters, and speeches reflect that desire.
In a 1955 sermon in Montgomery, he used a parable to explain why White people needed love to gain compassion. In 1956, he wrote about the bombing of his home, telling his readers that no retaliation was needed, that to “confront the problem with love” was the righteous and better thing to do.
Later that year, he said, “I want you to love our enemies… Love them and let them know you love them.” And in November, 1956, he said, “If you have not love, it means nothing.”
“Love is the greatest force in all the world,” he said in 1962.
He wrote a book on the subject, Strength to Love, in 1963.
In 1967, just months before his assassination, he said that “power at its best is love.”
When we talk about Dr. King’s life and his legacy, so much focus is put on his work on behalf of Civil Rights and equality that it’s easy to lose sight of the thing which he felt was more important. In “On Love,” any omission is rectified nicely.
This book, “excerpted to highlight the material where King specifically addressed the topic of love,” is full of pleasant surprises, words with impact, and thought provokers. King’s speeches hammered home a need to love one’s enemies, woven into messages of gentle resistance and strength. He explained the different “levels” of love in a way that makes sense when related to equality and justice. The bits and pieces collected here will linger in reader’s minds, poking and prodding and reminding.
If your shelves are full of books about Dr. King, know that this is a unique one, and it’s perfect for our times, now. Don’t race through it; instead, savor what you’ll read and keep it close. “On Love” is a book you’ll want to turn to, often.
Activism
Dr. Kimberly Mayfield Working to Bring a ‘Black-Affirming University’ (HBCU) to Oakland
The goal, according to Mayfield, is to “create a Black-serving institution in Oakland, which means that 50% or more of the student body would be African American.” The Oakland program could either be an HBCU, which is preferable, or a Black-serving institution unaffiliated with other HBCUs. The program itself could become a stand-alone institution or an assemblage of different programs on a single campus.

By Ken Epstein
Dr. Kimberly Mayfield, who, until recently served as deputy mayor of Oakland, has been working for several years with educators and community groups to create a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) or other Black-serving institution of higher education in Oakland — potentially on the fully operational campus of Holy Names University in East Oakland, which went out of business in 2023.
The goal, according to Mayfield, is to “create a Black-serving institution in Oakland, which means that 50% or more of the student body would be African American.”
The Oakland program could either be an HBCU, which is preferable, or a Black-serving institution unaffiliated with other HBCUs. The program itself could become a stand-alone institution or an assemblage of different programs on a single campus.
“It could be a consortium model where programs from existing HBCUs locate in Oakland,” similar to the Atlanta Union Center in Georgia, which offers courses from Morehouse, Spelman, Morris Brown, and Clark Atlanta HBCUs, she said.
“There are four different institutions at Atlanta Union, and students can take classes from the different schools. They’re all based in the same place, but the programs are run by different institutions,” said Mayfield.
Key to the program would be the culture of the school, which would be “Black affirming,” offering students a supportive environment that recognizes them as individuals, she said. The program would be campus-based and include online course offerings.
Courses could be offered in downtown Oakland in office buildings in the Black Business and Arts District as well as at the Holy Names site, which was sold to developers for $64 million and is presently for sale.
Holy Names was a private Roman Catholic university in Oakland founded in 1868 by the Canada-based Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary with whom the university remained affiliated until it closed after facing several years of budget shortfalls.
Before serving as Deputy Mayor, Dr. Mayfield began her career as an educator in the Oakland Unified School District and served as dean of the School of Education and Liberal Arts and the vice president for external relations and strategic partnerships at Holy Names.
She said she has already found a lot of interest from various sources for donating funds to start the school, she said. “We have reached out to the East Bay Community Foundation, to set up the necessary structures to receive money to help with strategic planning,” and all other aspects investors want to see, including an internet presence.
The team working on the initiative has 16 members and is led by Mayfield, Councilmember Carroll Fife, and retired attorney Kim Thompson. They recently attended a conference of HBCU leaders held by the United Negro College Fund, where the Oakland proposal was greeted with enthusiasm.
Mayfield emphasized that the goal of bringing an HBCU is something that has broad support in Oakland and has been a subject of growing interest for several decades.
“This is a community-driven initiative. While former Mayor Sheng Thao’s support was important and allowed us to get organized in a certain way, it doesn’t end with her leadership” she said, adding that outgoing Congresswoman Barbara Lee and other mayoral candidates have expressed support for this initiative.
Mayfield said she and her team have been in conversations with leaders of some HBCUs, which are interested in expanding to the West Coast but face financial constraints.
“It’s the racial wealth gap, which affects HBCUs,” the same as the rest of Black America, she said. “They just don’t have the same financial resources that predominantly white institutions have. It’s hard for them to think about a completely separate, sustained campus, when they have to deal with preserving the infrastructure on their main campus.”
She said Holy Names University had 1,400 students at its largest enrollment, with no online component. “We could easily have 1,000 students matriculating on campus, and another online population of students, virtually.”
“We’d like all the virtual students to be close enough to come to campus and participate in the campus culture,” because that’s the difference an HBCU makes, Mayfield said. “It cares for students, sees you as a person, not a number, in touch with wraparound services, calling you if you’re not in class.”
“We want to have an institution that knows who the students are,” she said. “You know their brilliance when they walk in, and you’re doing everything possible academically for them to succeed and thrive.”
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