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Refund, Restore, Reimagine, and Reclaim King’s Radical Legacy

Oaklanders have a dream too. We dream of a total transformation in how we define and implement public safety. We dream of REfunding our communities with 50% of OPD’s dollars and directing those dollars into programs, policies and practices that create true public safety. We dream of housing our unhoused and being able to afford our rent. We dream of an equitable and competent response to COVID-19. We dream of jobs that pay a living wage and schools with the resources to adequately educate our children. We dream of thriving communities that can heal, instead of being traumatized and terrorized by gun violence. We dream of a 100% progressive city government that reflects the values that are the heart and soul of our city.

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On January 18th, the nation will celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. For the vast majority, this will mean the on-going and deliberate white-washing of his legacy.  Rather than being celebrated for the strategic, disciplined, tactical organizer that he was; Coca-Cola commercials will use his image to sell products.  Rather than being honored for his willingness to stand up to power, interrupt business as usual, shut it down and put his body on the line for freedom, he will be erroneously portrayed as a quiet man who gave good speeches and begged power for concessions.  Not here in Oakland. In The Town, for the seventh consecutive year, the Anti Police-Terror Project and our allies will celebrate the true spirit of Dr. King with the annual Reclaim MLK’s Radical Legacy Weekend. On that Monday, thousands will safely car caravan from the Port to East Oakland demanding and dreaming of a Town that lives up to King’s dream.

Oaklanders have a dream too. We dream of a total transformation in how we define and implement public safety. We dream of REfunding our communities with 50% of OPD’s dollars and directing those dollars into programs, policies and practices that create true public safety. We dream of housing our unhoused and being able to afford our rent. We dream of an equitable and competent response to COVID-19. We dream of jobs that pay a living wage and schools with the resources to adequately educate our children. We dream of thriving communities that can heal, instead of being traumatized and terrorized by gun violence. We dream of a 100% progressive city government that reflects the values that are the heart and soul of our city.

Oaklanders are actively making our dream our collective lived reality. We are organizing, strategizing and mobilizing. And we are winning. We are winning Council seats, like newly inaugurated councilmember Carroll Fife and newly-elected council President Nikki Fortunato Bas. We are winning mechanisms to REfund our communities, like the City’s new Reimagining Public Safety Task Force. We are winning an end to collaboration between OPD and the federal law enforcement agencies that surveil and harm our people. We are winning renter rights and tenant protections. We are winning but there is much more to do.

This past summer, we witnessed powerful uprisings to defend Black lives after the tragic police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Protests were held in Oakland, all over the U.S. and world, and the resounding demand to defund the police dominated the narrative. Almost six years ago, the Anti Police-Terror Project made the first call to Defund the Oakland Police Department, but very few took us seriously. Now we have the support of hundreds of thousands in doing this critical work to end state sanctioned violence while visioning whole, healthy and safe communities. Now that the cameras are gone and the masses have left the streets, the organizing must continue.  Our voices must still be heard at council and commission meetings, mutual aid in these trying times must continue and the demand for the  liberation of Black bodies must be unceasing.

On King’s day, we will make the connections between the violence of the state and the violence in our streets. All violence is state violence, and we hold the Schaff administration, and the state at large, responsible for creating and/or maintaining the conditions that make this nightmare a lived reality for far too many of our people. On this Reclaim MLK Day, we will uplift the names of the fallen and REimagine an Oakland free from intercommunal warring. Here too is the place to lift up our demands to #DefundOPD and #REfundOurCommunity. Police do not prevent or interrupt violence — they respond after the violence happens, or commit the violence themselves. We have a dream that one day we will break the cycle of militarized policing and mass incarceration and invest in things that actually keep us safe. We have a dream that we will get to the gun before the bullet flies rather than watch one more mother bury her child. The data is clear: resourced communities are safe communities.  It is time for the city to invest in support services, and social programs with the same ferocity it has invested in the failed mechanism of violent policing.  We cannot incarcerate our way to wholeness.

The work to REfund, REstore, and REimagine our communities is a natural evolution of King’s work, legacy and unfulfilled dream. He said, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” That’s Oakland’s budget every year, as OPD devours half of our general fund while housing and social services get next to nothing.

As we REimagine what public safety means in Oakland — community violence prevention, housing as a human right, living-wage jobs with dignity, good schools, clean streets and parks, mental health care and crisis support, healthy and vibrant communities — we are making King’s Dream a reality. Join us.

Artivist Cat Brooks is an actress, playwright, director and advocate. She is the Co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project and Executive Director of the Justice Teams Network. She lives in West Oakland with her daughter.

 

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Oakland Post: Week of June 18 – 24, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 18 – 24, 2025

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EXCLUSIVE OP-ED: President Joe Biden Commemorating Juneteenth

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — “I’ve always believed that we need to be honest about our history, especially in the face of ongoing efforts to erase it. Darkness can hide much, but it erases nothing. Only with truth can come healing, justice, and repair.”

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By Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
46th President of the United States: 2021—2025

The people of Galveston, Texas, have been commemorating Juneteenth since the Civil War ended. Yesterday, in honor of the 160th anniversary, I went there to join them.

You can read about the events of Juneteenth, but there’s nothing quite like going to Galveston and seeing where it all happened.

After General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, Union troops marched across the South for two months, freeing enslaved people along the way. Their final stop was Galveston, an island off the Gulf coast of Texas. There, on June 19, 1865, Union troops went to Reedy Chapel, a church founded in 1848 by enslaved people, and posted a document titled simply “General Order #3.”

“The people of Texas are informed,” it said, “that, in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

We can only imagine the joy that spread through Galveston – and across the state and nation – on that day and those that followed.

Yesterday, there was once again joy in Galveston, with a parade, picnic, and fireworks. There was also great solemnity, because Juneteenth is a sacred day – a day of weight and power.

The Book of Psalms tells us: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Juneteenth marks both the long, hard night of slavery and subjugation, and the promise of that joyful morning to come.

As President, I had the great honor of signing the law declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday. It was our nation’s first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was created in 1983.

Our federal holidays say a lot about who we are as a nation. We have holidays celebrating our independence… the laborers who build this nation… the servicemembers who served and died in its defense.

And now, we also have a national holiday dedicated to the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans.

Signing that law was one of my proudest acts as President.

Yet for 156 years, Juneteenth was not written about in textbooks or taught in classrooms. Still today, there are those who say it does not deserve a holiday. They don’t want to remember the moral stain of slavery and the terrible harm it did to our country.

I’ve always believed that we need to be honest about our history, especially in the face of ongoing efforts to erase it. Darkness can hide much, but it erases nothing. Only with truth can come healing, justice, and repair.

I also believe that it’s not enough to commemorate the past. We must also embrace the obligation we have to the future. As Scripture says, “Faith without works is dead.” And right now, we Americans need to keep the faith and do the work.

In honor of Juneteenth, let’s help people register to vote.

For decades, we fought to expand voting rights in America. Now we’re living in an era when relentless obstacles are being thrown in the way of people trying to vote. We can’t let those tactics defeat us. In America, the power belongs with the people. And the way we show that power is by voting.

So let’s reach out to family, friends and neighbors – especially those who have never voted before. Remind them that with voting, anything is possible. And without it, nothing is possible.

Yesterday in Galveston, we gathered in Reedy Chapel to commemorate Juneteenth, just like people have done for 160 years and counting. We prayed, sang, and read General Order #3 again. The pews were full of families. How many people must have prayed for freedom inside those walls. How many must have sent fervent thanks to God when slavery finally ended.

I remembered the words of my late friend John Lewis. He said, “Freedom is not a state. It is an act.”

Juneteenth did not mark the end of America’s work to deliver on the promise of equality. It only marked the beginning. To honor the true meaning of Juneteenth, we must continue to work toward that promise. For our freedom. For our democracy. And for America itself.

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Cities Across the U.S. Shrink or Cancel Juneteenth Events as DEI Support Wanes

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Across the country, Juneteenth celebrations are being scaled back or eliminated as public funding dries up and corporations withdraw sponsorship.

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By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

Across the country, Juneteenth celebrations are being scaled back or eliminated as public funding dries up and corporations withdraw sponsorship. In many communities, the once-growing recognition of the holiday is facing sharp resistance tied to the unraveling of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

In Denver, Colorado, the annual Juneteenth Music Festival, one of the largest in the nation—was cut from two days to one. Organizers said more than a dozen corporate sponsors walked away from commitments, leaving them with a financial gap that almost canceled the event. Norman Harris, the festival’s executive director, said several companies “pulled back their investments or let us know they couldn’t or wouldn’t be in a position to support this year.” Harris credited grassroots donors and small businesses for stepping in when larger backers stepped aside.

In Colorado Springs, the local celebration was relocated to the Citadel Mall parking lot after support from previous sponsors disappeared. Organizers noted that where there were once dozens of corporate partners, only five remained. The downsized event was pieced together with limited resources, but community leaders said they refused to let the holiday go unacknowledged.

Scottsdale, Arizona, canceled its Juneteenth observance after the city council voted to dissolve its diversity, equity, and inclusion office in February. Without the office in place, the city offered no support for planning or funding, leaving residents without an official celebration.

In San Diego, the Cooper Family Foundation lost a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts that had been earmarked for Juneteenth programming. Organizers said the decision forced them to personally finance key elements of the event, including cultural exhibits, performances, and youth engagement activities.

Bend, Oregon, called off its Juneteenth event entirely. Organizers cited political tensions and safety concerns, saying they could not secure the partnerships needed to proceed. A public statement from the planning committee described the current climate as “increasingly volatile,” making it difficult to host a safe and inclusive event.

West Virginia, which has recognized Juneteenth as a paid state holiday since 2017, will not sponsor any official events this year. State leaders pointed to budget constraints and recent decisions to eliminate DEI programming across agencies as the reasons for stepping away from public observance.

Austin, Texas, has also reduced its Juneteenth programming. While the city has not canceled events outright, organizers said diminished city support and fewer private contributions forced them to focus only on core activities.

“Thankfully, there was a wide range of support that came when we made the announcement that the celebration is in jeopardy,” said Harris. “But it shows how fragile that support has become.”

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