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Presidential Candidates Must Address White Supremacy, Says #BlackLivesMatter Activist
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown’s death, Mara Jacqueline Willaford and two other members of Seattle’s Black Lives Matter chapter captured national media attention when they interrupted presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders’ rally in Seattle and demanded the microphone.
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After moments of arguing, Sanders eventually conceded the microphone to Marissa Johnson, Willaford’s colleague, who addressed his supporters over the boos and jeers launched back at them in return.
In an interview with the Post, Willaford explained that, “Actually one of the great things that came out of this action was that it did shine a spotlight on (Seattle) and on all the racism that is very rampant in our city.”
“We actually have a lot of the reforms that other cities are currently fighting for,” said Willaford, pointing to Seattle’s Community Police Commission (CPC) and housing affordability policies—two issues that Oakland activists are currently fighting to improve.
“It hasn’t worked,” she said.
In the moments the activists were on stage, Johnson welcomed Sanders to Seattle, characterizing the city as a place riddled with police brutality, disparate school suspension rates for Black students and intense gentrification. The group ended the action with a four-and-a-half minute moment of silence in commemoration of Michael Brown.
As several in the crowd continued their disapproving chants throughout the remembrance, tears ran down Willaford’s face as she kept her eyes shut and a Black power fist raised in the air.
According to Willaford, Seattle’s Black population continues to face massive displacement from gentrification because “a lot of housing affordability efforts are pretty colorblind” while the changes to policing recommended by the CPC go un-entertained by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray.
While many subsequently questioned and criticized the actions of Black Lives Matter for targeting Sanders, who is widely considered the most progressive presidential candidate in the race, notable changes were made to Sanders’ campaign within days after the protest.
Willaford pointed out that not only are Sanders’ staffers now more active about meeting with Black activists across the country, the action actually played a role in pushing the candidate to alter his platform.
“(Sanders) adding the racial justice component to his platform is huge. The stance that he’s taking against the privatization of prisons is huge,” said Willaford, referring to the new additions that Sanders made to his campaign after the Seattle rally.
“All of that being said, for us it was never about Bernie Sanders,” she said. “I think the platform changes are positive, but I’m much more interested in the conversations that the nation is now having. I think those are much more significant than any one particular political candidate.”
The small Seattle action helped spark a national dialogue around respectability, electoral politics and race in the United States that greatly impacted the platforms and language of every candidate in the presidential race.
While their triumph has become clear after weeks of letting the media dust settle, the question remains about what made the chemistry between Marissa Johnson, Mara Willaford and Bernie Sanders such an effective recipe for igniting a national conversation.
“I think it really hit a nerve for the nation to see two young, extremely femme Black women take power away from and completely assert power and authority in a space that we’re really not even supposed to be in,” said Willaford.
She cited the responses that the action received from Republican presidential candidates, who were “very fixated on the masculinity of Bernie Sanders and what we did to his masculinity” as a result of interrupting his speech.
According to Willaford, by organizing at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement and asserting their power, Black women are destabilizing the country’s traditional power structure and forcing the nation to question its own framework.
This threatened power structure was caught on camera, for example, when the nation witnessed a Waller County police officer—a white man—violently arrest Sandra Bland—a Black woman—after she refused his order to put out her cigarette.
“The phrase ‘All of us or none of us’ is so powerful because it speaks to the reality of this movement,” said Willaford. “And the reality is that Black women, Black trans folks and especially Black trans women are on the front lines, and they’re holding it down.”
When asked why Black Lives Matter seemed focused on Sanders, Willaford explained, “Bernie Sanders, at the time that we did this action, made much more sense than Hillary Clinton because he’s her quote-unquote radical opponent.”
“He’s to the left of (Clinton). So if he’s refusing to talk about race and if he’s cancelling meetings with Black Lives Matter activists, then I don’t think she would have had any need to respond,” she said.
Meanwhile, Willaford believes targeting Republican presidential candidates would have the opposite effect of what Black Lives Matter wants, potentially invigorating the Republican voter base.
She likened focusing on Republican candidates such as Donald Trump and Jeb Bush to the recent battle to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state capitol.
“People like to fixate on the Confederate flag the same way people like to fixate on the Republicans,” she said. “I think we’re doing ourselves a huge disservice by fixating on obvious symbols of white supremacy to the exclusion of everything else about this country.”
Rather than directly challenge that which is furthest from its shared ideologies, Black Lives Matter seems to prefer questioning the status quo of what is generally considered progressive in order to force people to reassess their political perceptions.
Last week, for example, members of Black Lives Matter’s Cleveland chapter disrupted a Hillary Clinton campaign event demanding her to “divest from private prisons, invest in black trans women.”
In a statement released on Wednesday, the organization stated the reason they targeted the candidate with this demand was, “Since Hillary Clinton makes equality for women a critical tenet of her campaign, we demand that Clinton—and our movement for Black lives—center the Black transgender women so often left out of conversations about gender and racial equality.”
As previously mentioned, however, while impacting platforms has been positive for the Black Lives Matter movement, it is the outcome of these conversations that Willaford and many others are more interested in advancing.
“The question that I’d like folks to ask themselves is do we, as Black people, need Bernie Sanders or any other candidate,” said Willaford. She explained that she supports “Black self-determination and Black folks working to change the system whether it is in a reformist or revolutionary way.”
“In our country we’re very fixated on electoral politics,” she said. “We’re so colonized in the way we think that it’s very hard for people to think outside the box and to really envision a different world beyond just voting.”
“I think unknowns really scare people,” said Willaford. “And there’s a lot of unknowns in getting free.”
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NBA All-Star Damian Lillard Returns Home for 15th Annual Backpack Giveaway
OAKLAND POST — “I know what it is to grow up here and be here in Oakland,” shared Lillard. “I do feel like it’s my responsibility to be present and supportive and be a resource and be an example for the kids and right now as somebody from Oakland that’s well positioned, with a big platform, I’m always trying to find ways to use that platform and serve our youth and community.”
Music, food trucks, bouncers, and rock climbing turned Ira Jinkins Park into a neighborhood block party on Saturday, Sept. 5, as nine-time NBA All-Star Damian Lillard hosted his 15th annual back-to-school backpack giveaway in Deep East Oakland.
The Portland Trail Blazers point guard, an Oakland High School alum, returned to the recreation center where he trained as a kid and distributed backpacks stuffed with school supplies to nearly 400 children. Lillard was joined by family, friends, and former Oakland City Councilmember Desley Brooks in an event that has become a fixture of the neighborhood.
“I know what it is to grow up here and be here in Oakland,” shared Lillard. “I do feel like it’s my responsibility to be present and supportive and be a resource and be an example for the kids and right now as somebody from Oakland that’s well positioned, with a big platform, I’m always trying to find ways to use that platform and serve our youth and community.”
While watching children play inflatable basketball and roll a giant beach ball on the grass, Lillard took in the scene.
“Doing something positive makes me feel great,” said Lillard. “I remember attending cookouts like this as a child and it was always a lot of fun. It feels great to not only show youth a great time, but to be of service to them.”
Beyond the giveaway, Lillard is funding renovations to the Ira Jinkins Recreation Center, including major upgrades to its basketball courts, the same courts he once used daily before heading to play recreation league games across town. Last Christmas, he provided gifts to more than 400 local families.
Sports agent Aaron Goodwin, who has represented Lillard throughout his career, described the tradition as core to who Lillard is: someone who consistently looks for ways to give back, uses his platform to inspire youth, and treats events like this as more than a handout, but a chance to be a genuine resource and example for kids from his hometown.
“That’s who Damian is,” said Goodwin. “He always wants to give back. He does this every summer, and he also has an annual Christmas giveaway. He wants to inspire youth that they too can achieve.”
Lillard grew up traveling to the Ira Jinkins Center to train before playing at Rainbow Recreation Center, and he went on to star at Oakland High before his college and NBA career took off.
Lillard who has built a life legacy hosted the event within a center carrying its own historical weight.
The facility is named for Ira Jinkins, a civil rights organizer who helped lead West Coast marches honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and pushed for the creation of the MLK Regional Shoreline Park.
Its building sits within the William “Bill” Patterson Park complex, beside the East Oakland Sports Center that opened in 2011. Patterson was known for his civic impact and work with EBMUD East Bay Municipal Utility District, Merritt College, and the NAACP, among other organizations. A film on Patterson’s life debuted at the Oakland International Film Festival this week.
Last year, before the NBA All-Star Weekend in the Bay Area, the City of Oakland dedicated a court at the center in Lillard’s honor, and Lillard launched a $25,000-per-year scholarship with Portland State University for high school students across nine East Bay schools. He also sponsors camps and other programming throughout the nation.
Lillard sat out of the 2025-2026 NBA season due to an Achilles tendon injury incurred as a Milwaukee Buck. The year of healing will allow him to return to the Portland Trail Blazers.
“This is a great event,” said Shawn, watching his grandchild enjoying the activities. “I’ve been to every single one of them (backpack giveaways); I’ve been knowing Dame (Damian) since he was 8 years old. You don’t have many people that give back the way Damian does. There’s no better guy to do this. His whole family is awesome from the top down.”
For Lillard, the annual tradition, held in memory of his late grandfather, Albert Johnson, remains a way of reinvesting in the community that shaped him.
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Not Just a Southern Issue: Advocates Say SCOTUS Voting Rights Decision Has Already Started to Reshape Black Political Power
OAKLAND POST — Following the Civil War and Reconstruction, constitutional amendments expanded Black citizenship and voting rights across the South, leading to dramatic increases in Black political representation. But those gains were quickly met with violent backlash and the rise of Jim Crow laws designed to suppress Black voting through poll taxes, literacy tests, and other “race-neutral” restrictions.
By Edward Henderson, California Black Media
U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) whose district spans parts of Los Angeles County, joined fellow CBC member U.S. Rep. Troy Carter (D-LA-2) for a May 21 briefing with Black media outlets in California.
The lawmakers highlighted what they describe as a mounting threat to Black political representation resulting from an April 29 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened key protections under the federal Voting Rights Act.
Kamlager-Dove and Carter warned that the decision, which narrowed the role of race in redistricting, is already reshaping congressional districts across the South and undermining Black voters’ ability to elect candidates of their choice.
“While we are a super blue state, we have far to go when it comes to Black representation; we tend to take that for granted,” Kamlager-Dove said of California, noting that the Golden State has the fifth largest Black population in the country and only has three Black members of Congress.
“While I support building coalitions, we have to make sure that as a Black community we are not yielding our power,” she added.
Calling the fight “not unique to the South,” Carter urged Black communities nationwide to recognize the broader implications of the legal and political battles unfolding in Southern legislatures and courtrooms.
The Supreme Court ruling centers on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the portion of the law that prohibits voting systems or district maps that dilute the voting strength of racial minorities. For decades, Section 2 allowed civil rights groups to challenge district maps that weakened Black political representation even when lawmakers did not openly state discriminatory intent.
Now, advocates fear that standard has fundamentally changed.
“You have to have smoking gun evidence,” said Mitchell Brown, senior voting rights counsel at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, during a recent media briefing hosted by American Community Media on May 15. “Legislators are not going to say the quiet part out loud.”
The implications could stretch far beyond congressional elections, Brown said.
Section 2 protections have historically applied not only to U.S. House districts, but also to state legislatures, school boards, county commissions, judgeships, and local governing bodies. Voting rights advocates warn that weakening those protections could reshape political representation throughout the South, particularly in states with large Black populations.
“This is not just a Southern issue,” said Amir Badat, manager of Black Voters on the Rise and voting special counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Badat described the current moment as part of a much longer historical pattern.
Following the Civil War and Reconstruction, constitutional amendments expanded Black citizenship and voting rights across the South, leading to dramatic increases in Black political representation. But those gains were quickly met with violent backlash and the rise of Jim Crow laws designed to suppress Black voting through poll taxes, literacy tests, and other “race-neutral” restrictions.
“This is the same move,” Badat said.
Advocates also emphasized that the consequences of weakened voting protections extend into everyday life.
Local elected offices such as school boards, city councils, county commissions, and judgeships often determine funding priorities, public safety policy, education standards, and infrastructure investments.
“These are not abstract numbers,” Badat said. “These have real political consequences and policy consequences on people’s day-to-day lives.”
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Rest in Peace: A.M.E. Pastor and L.A Civil Rights Icon Cecil “Chip” Murray Passes
The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray, former pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME) in Los Angeles, died of natural causes April 6 at his Windsor Hills Home. He was 94. “Today, we lost a giant. Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray dedicated his life to service, community, and putting God first in all things. I had the absolute honor of working with him, worshiping with him, and seeking his counsel,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of the dynamic religious leader whose ministry inspired and attracted millionaires as well as former gang bangers and people dealing with substance use disorder (SUD).
The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray, former pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME) in Los Angeles, died of natural causes April 6 at his Windsor Hills Home. He was 94.
“Today, we lost a giant. Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray dedicated his life to service, community, and putting God first in all things. I had the absolute honor of working with him, worshiping with him, and seeking his counsel,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of the dynamic religious leader whose ministry inspired and attracted millionaires as well as former gang bangers and people dealing with substance use disorder (SUD).
Murray oversaw the growth of FAME’s congregation from 250 members to 18,000.
“My heart is with the First AME congregation and community today as we reflect on a legacy that changed this city forever,” Bass continued.
Murray served as Senior Minister at FAME, the oldest Black congregation in the city, for 27 years. During that time, various dignitaries visited and he built strong relationships with political and civic leaders in the city and across the state, as well as a number of Hollywood figures. Several national political leaders also visited with Murray and his congregation at FAME, including Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
Murray, a Florida native and U.S. Air Force vet, attended Florida A&M University, where he majored in history, worked on the school newspaper and pledged Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He later attended Claremont School of Theology in Los Angeles County, where he earned his doctorate in Divinity.
Murray is survived by his son Drew. His wife Bernadine, who was a committed member of the A.M.E. church and the daughter of his childhood pastor, died in 2013.
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