Crime

Racial Harassment at Alameda’s Encinal High School

Published

13 years ago

December 20, 2013

Encinal High School in Alameda is known for its academic rigor, athletic achievements, school pride and diversity. But the recent failure of the school administration to respond to an incident of racial harassment on campus is raising concerns about a lack of cultural sensitivity at the school.

On Dec. 6, a student allegedly left a piece of paper depicting a Ku Klux Klan mask on a Black student’s desk, causing a dispute in the class. According to sources, the teacher sent both students to the office without addressing the issue.

According to a statement released by the district, “School administrators began an investigation and took immediate corrective action,” which included “talking extensively to the students involved, their parents, and staff.”

However, sources who know the student and her family are saying the victim’s parents were not informed about what happened did not learn about the incident until the student returned home.

According to staff members at the school, the incident was swept under the rug and ignored until the victim’s parents filed a police report.

It was not until Dec. 16– more than a week after the incident occurred and just a week before the school is scheduled to close for the holiday break – that the student was finally suspended.

The student who left the illustration of the KKK mask has a history of similar behavior at the school, according to a staff member. Earlier in the school year, he tied a small rope in shape of a noose and gave it to the same student. He was not reprimanded nor was he disciplined by the school, the staff member said.

Barbara Adams, Assistant Superintendent of the Alameda Unified School District, says the district is taking the student’s behavior very seriously. “ It violates school and district policies against discrimination and as such always results in discipline for the students who engage in it,” she said.

Adams insists the school district is handling the case, and school administrators and staff are “planning ways to engage the entire school community in intensive instruction and dialogue on the impact of this situation.”

“This type of behavior is absolutely unacceptable in our schools and our community,” Adams said.

However, another source at the school says that many incidents have taken place at Encinal in recent years that show a lack of sensitivity towards African American students – even from teachers.

One teacher reportedly created a PowerPoint presentation to discuss inappropriate school dress attire. The presentation focused “sagging pants,” commonly associated with Black male students but did not mention “crop tops and short-shorts,” more commonly worn by white female students, according to a staff member.

The culture and the fabric make up of the school must be addressed and changed, said the source.

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Business

AG Bonta Announces Action on Cryptocurrency, Sextortion Fraud – Increasingly Targeting Gen-Z

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is warning residents about a surge in cryptocurrency fraud and online sextortion schemes that increasingly target Gen Z through social media platforms. With internet-based scams costing Americans nearly $21 billion in 2023, Bonta highlighted how artificial intelligence and deepfakes allow criminals to impersonate loved ones and promote fraudulent investment groups. The Attorney General’s Office has already shut down over 100 fraudulent websites and is now utilizing new legislative tools to recover assets for victims. Read more.

Published

2 weeks ago

November 3, 2026

Post News Group

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned residents about rising cryptocurrency fraud and online sextortion scams, urging Californians to recognize warning signs and protect themselves as scammers increasingly target younger people through social media.

Speaking at a news conference on Oct. 19, Bonta said Americans lost $20.9 billion to internet-based scams in 2025, including $11.4 billion to cryptocurrency scams. He said artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and malicious smart contracts have made fraud easier to carry out and more difficult to detect and prevent.

While older Californians remain targets, Bonta said his office has seen a sharp rise in reports of Gen Z consumers being targeted on platforms such as Twitch, TikTok, and Instagram.

One growing scheme involves so-called rug-pull scams, in which fraudsters promote low-priced stocks or volatile cryptocurrencies through online investment groups and streaming communities. After generating interest and driving up prices, scammers sell their holdings, causing values to collapse and leaving investors with losses.

Bonta also warned about sextortion, in which scammers trick or coerce victims into sharing explicit images before threatening to distribute them to friends and family unless they pay. He advised victims not to give in to demands, saying scammers often do not release the images when victims refuse to pay. Instead, he recommended ignoring and blocking the perpetrators.

Another scheme, known as recovery fraud, targets people who have already lost money to cryptocurrency scams. Fraudsters impersonate blockchain recovery specialists or law enforcement officials and demand additional payments while promising to recover stolen assets.

Bonta urged Californians to be skeptical of promises of large returns on small investments, fake cryptocurrencies resembling established ones, and celebrity endorsements that may have been generated using artificial intelligence. He also warned that scammers can use AI to impersonate loved ones through manipulated video and audio.

“Never use a crypto ATM,” Bonta said, emphasizing that transactions can be difficult to trace and reverse and that the machines lack adequate consumer protections.

His office has shut down more than 100 fraudulent websites over the past two years that collectively scammed victims out of at least $8.3 million, he said.

Bonta also highlighted Senate Bill 1208, which he said was recently signed into law. The measure allows law enforcement to petition a court to return seized cryptocurrency to victims, including when alleged perpetrators are outside U.S. jurisdiction.

Residents who have fallen victim to scams can report them to the California Department of Justice at oag.ca.gov/report.

Bonta also urged victims not to feel embarrassed, stressing that scammers are responsible for the harm they cause.