Activism

Restauranteur: Vandalism Undermines Black Lives Matter Message

Published

4 years ago

July 31, 2020

Wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap that says Oakland California, Chris Pastena’s appearance looks like he could be part of any protest like the one that passed the restaurant he operates. When he tried to stop a white woman from taking a bat to the restaurant’s door during a protest on Saturday night, a crowd of people attacked him. Another group of protesters stopped the attack. They had not realized he was a co-owner of the restaurant, Tribune Tavern, or that he owned it with his wife, who is Black.

“Who brings a bat to a protest?” said Pastena.

In a Facebook post about the incident, Pastena wrote, “Dear white woman with a bat, you do not know the harm you do. You march in a righteous protest for BLM yet you choose to attack a business that is owned by a Black woman and employees almost all POC. You are in Oakland in a diverse community, any destruction that you do hurts POC. Do you care? Or is it your privilege not to care?”

The glass window door of Tribune Tavern shows broken glass after a woman with a bat hit the window during a protest on Saturday, July 25. Photo by Michelle Snider.

Pastena said the post was meant to start a difficult conversation about protests and the tactics used in recent protests, not only to destroy large corporate businesses and institutional buildings like Alameda County Superior Courthouse but have also taken a toll on small businesses as well.

Pastena’s concern is not just for the community at large but for his employees who are mostly POC and depend on his restaurant to financially survive. The business has already taken a hit due to COVID-19, and he does not want to have to shut down and let go of any of the staff members he and his wife employ.

“I don’t want to make it about me, or the Tavern or the building…It’s not about me. It’s about people who are doing things that take away from the issues at hand,” Pastena said. “It’s my job to provide a safe environment for my employees.”

The nighttime protest on July 25 was organized in response to Portland, OR ongoing BLM protests which have faced unidentifiable federal police agents arresting people and throwing them into unmarked vehicles. In response, groups like Wall of Moms and Dad’s with Blowers popped up to help the protesters.

Wall of Moms Bay Area organized the Oakland response protest on Facebook with Refuse Fascism Bay Area and Vigil for Democracy in order to march against federal agents coming to Oakland. President Donald Trump said on July 20 he would send Federal agents to Oakland. While the protest drew in a large crowd, no federal agents appeared.

Pastena said most of the protesters were peaceful on Saturday night and stayed on message. It was not until the tail-end of the protest that he noticed a change in chants and direction.

This was not the first time he had a violent during a protest. A man kicked his foot throw a window that was already broken on May 29. Pastena said when he asked the man to stop the man swung and hit him on the chin and yelled, “We’re here to burn this mother-fucker down!”

Pastena said that has nothing to do with George Floyd or the message of Black Lives Matter. Pastena said for several nights after the late May protest, young white kids would walk up to him and ask him where they were. He said it showed him that many of the people showing up downtown at night were not from Oakland. He said one of them came up to him and asked him, “Where are the riots tonight?”

Pastena said he cares about the current movement and does not wish for protests to stop. After the May 29 protest that left much of downtown with broken windows and destroyed property, he and his friends came together and cleaned up the streets. He helped people set up areas to leave paint so art can be put on boarded windows.

He and his wife own several restaurants in Oakland, and they believe deeply in taking care of the community around them. They are working with World Central Kitchen to feed thousands of homeless people. Pastena said he even drained his bank account during the pandemic to cut checks for people he works with who could not get unemployment. “That’s all we care about, my wife and myself, she’s my partner in this, she’s my partner in life and partner in businesses. Without her, none of this happens.”

When it came to last Saturday’s protest he said, “There was this really nice protest happening. It felt like there was a lot of energy. As they walked around 13th, it seemed very positive…that’s what this is all about, positive change.”

There were about a thousand people who passed by in the protest he said, but as the crowd passed the energy changed. A smaller group at the end of the crowd wearing all black with white faces started throwing trash cans. That’s when he noticed a woman swinging a bat at the Tavern door. He yelled, “stop this is a small business,” she continued to swing the bat. He approached her to try and stop her again, unsure if she was trying to swing again at him or the door. He was in between her and the door mid-swing and pushed her. That’s when a crowd started to attack him.

“At that moment…all I was thinking about is, if I can’t open tomorrow, if I can’t provide a place for work tomorrow what happens to my staff? They need jobs right now. They need income. Their kids need to eat,” said Pastena.

“Anarchy is fun” is spray-painted on the side of the Alameda Courthouse.

: A mail truck was spray painted, “Blame Feds” after a protest on July 25. Many mail trucks had spray paint all over them after the protest at the 13th Street United Postal Service Location.

: A mail truck was spray painted, “Blame Feds” after a protest on July 25. Many mail trucks had spray paint all over them after the protest at the 13th Street United Postal Service Location.

Michelle Snider

Associate Editor for The Post News Group. Writer, Photographer, Videographer, Copy Editor, and website editor documenting local events in the Oakland-Bay Area California area.

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Michelle Snider

Associate Editor for The Post News Group. Writer, Photographer, Videographer, Copy Editor, and website editor documenting local events in the Oakland-Bay Area California area.

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of June 12-18, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 12-18, 2024

Published

3 days ago

June 14, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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Activism

ICAC Invites Community to Benefit from Safe Car Park Program

The Interfaith Council of Alameda County (ICAC) will hold a meeting to announce a faith-based expansion of overnight safe car parking for unhoused families on Thursday, June 13, 2024, from 1-2 p.m. at Williams Chapel Baptist Church located at 1410 10th Avenue in Oakland. The ICAC President, Rev. Ken Chambers, announced that Williams Chapel, pastored by Rev. Kenneth Anderson, and members of ICAC, has also planned to open an overnight safe car parking program and day center to provide unhoused neighbors and families with wrap-around services.

Published

3 days ago

June 13, 2024

Oakland Post

Chambers said, "ICAC's goal is to just serve Oakland by helping to make the community surrounding 10th Avenue and International Boulevard both welcoming and safe."

by Post Staff

The ICAC President, Rev. Ken Chambers, announced that Williams Chapel, pastored by Rev. Kenneth Anderson, and members of ICAC, has also planned to open an overnight safe car parking program and day center to provide unhoused neighbors and families with wrap-around services.

Rev. Chambers said additional support for the program will also come from Bishop Bob Jackson, Pastor of Acts Full Gospel Church and Pastor Phyllis Scott, head of the Oakland Police Chaplaincy Program.

Chambers said, “ICAC’s goal is to just serve Oakland by helping to make the community surrounding 10^th Avenue and International Boulevard both welcoming and safe.”

David Longhurst, a member of Oakland Temple LDS Church and an ICAC board member, said

“We can make the city of Oakland safer, one block at a time, by connecting our community and neighbors.”

Chambers said ICAC has a $450,000 grant commitment from the City of Oakland and a $2.5M grant request has been presented to Nate Miley, President of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors President Nate Miley to cover and expand ICAC’s Safe Car Park Program located at West Side Missionary Baptist Church to additional locations including Center Street Baptist Church, Taylor Memorial United Methodist Church, Corinthians Baptist Church, Allen Temple Baptist Church, Acts Full Gospel Church, and other congregations.

Dr. Ken Chambers said he and ICAC are assisting congregations on how to receive a one-time $5,000 grant. “ICAC has plans for several tiny homes with kitchens, living space and bathrooms that we hope will become available this fall in partnership with the State, County and City of Oakland.”

Chambers is appealing to the public to help with transitioning the unhoused populations into tiny homes or affordable housing. “If you or anyone you know is living out of a car and needs a safe place to park overnight, visit interfaithAC.org, call 510-239-6681, or stop by the ICAC hub at 732 Willow Street, Oakland, CA 94607 between the hours of 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.”

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Activism

Calif. Leaders Discuss Foster Care Reform Strategies for Black and Brown Youth

Before becoming a nationally recognized social justice leader and a member of California’s Mandated Reporting Taskforce, Shane Harris spent 13 years as a foster care youth after he lost both of his parents. As President of the national civil rights organization, People’s Association of Justice Advocates (PAJA), he’s aiming to solve some of the toughest challenges Black and Brown children in the foster care system face.

Published

6 days ago

June 10, 2024

Oakland Post

Shane Harris, PAJA President and member of the California Mandated Reporting Taskforce (center) with Hafsa Kaka, Senior Advisor on Homelessness to Governor Gavin Newsom and Dr. Janet Kelly, Founder & Director of Sanctuary of Hope LA (far right) (Lila Brown CBM)

By Lila Brown, California Black Media

Before becoming a nationally recognized social justice leader and a member of California’s Mandated Reporting Taskforce, Shane Harris spent 13 years as a foster care youth after he lost both of his parents. As President of the national civil rights organization, People’s Association of Justice Advocates (PAJA), he’s aiming to solve some of the toughest challenges Black and Brown children in the foster care system face.

During National Foster Care Month in May, Harris visited the Sanctuary of Hope in Los Angeles to host a roundtable meeting with current and former foster youth, many of whom, like Harris, have beat the odds and become successful professionals.

According to the federal government’s Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, there are nearly 370,000 American children and youth in foster care.

Nationally, Black children are overrepresented in foster care. According to datacenter.kidscount.org, Black children represented 14% of the total child population in the United States. However, they represented 23% of all children in foster care. Harris pointed out that one out of every four foster youth go homeless upon exiting foster care in California. Across the state, there are nearly 65,000 children in foster care, he added. Of the 65,000 children in foster care across California, 14,000 of them are Black American.

Harris also announced a new effort already underway to push for the removal of the term “case” in L.A. County when referring to foster youth during the roundtable which featured Hafsa Kaka, Senior Advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom and Janet Kelly, the Founder and Director of Sanctuary of Hope. The session focused on solving problems foster youth face.

Sharing personal stories, insights, and various visions for policy changes, the participants discussed numerous solutions and addressed specific concerns about ongoing challenges with the foster care system.

One top priority was how to close the foster care to homelessness pipeline for the disproportionate number of Black and Brown children in LA County’s and the state’s foster care system.

“When you see the direct connection between the disproportionate rates of Black children in foster care and the disproportionate rates of Black people in the general homeless population, there is a very clear connection there in which our foster youth are coming out of care,” stated Harris during opening remarks.

Kaka said the governor has been intentional about making sure that foster children are homeless prioritized as the state addresses homelessness.

“This is a critical moment for foster care,” said Kaka. “The systems that are working together are looking at leveraging federal, state and local funds.”

Harris said he has already begun efforts in San Diego County to drop the word “case” when referring to homeless youth.

“We are asking for a 90-day public input period, in which the county CEO and leadership can facilitate discussions with the community on replacement terminology. There’s plenty of ideas,” Harris elaborated.

Kelly said a majority of the youth who go through the Sanctuary of Hope program are young people who have experienced some form of housing instability or housing crisis.

“The goal of the work that we do is really centered around helping young people leave here with leadership skills and other forms of what we call protective factors in order for them to continue on with their stabilization journey and become loving, caring and active citizens in this world,” Kelly said.