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Seniors Organize for Dignity at Sojourner Truth Manor

“They’re not treating us seniors like we’re human beings; since this management company has been here, there is no communication whatsoever,” said Beverley Colston, who has lived at Sojourner Truth for eight years and serves as the chairperson of the tenant association.

Published

7 months ago

September 30, 2023

Ken Epstein

Tenants at Sojourner Truth Manor, like those above, complain that the manager, HumanGood, only communicates in English and provides no translation for non-English speakers. Photo by Ken Epstein.

By Ken Epstein

Residents of Sojourner Truth Manor in North Oakland, a housing complex for seniors founded by local civil rights and community leaders almost 50 years ago, are involved in a fight for dignity and decent living conditions with HumanGood, a nonprofit company that manages senior housing in Oakland and across the country.

Tenants interviewed by the Oakland Post said that they are kept in the dark about what the management is planning or what repairs are underway. They say management often does not respond to their complaints and concerns about needed repairs such as broken fixtures, flooding, and lack of heat or hot water in individual apartments, vermin, broken security cameras, televisions and building elevators, while the complex’s community room has been out of operation for 11 years.

More general concerns are the lack of a social service coordinator, a position that in the past offered community-building activities and provided information and support for residents. Tenants are also concerned about the failure to provide translation for tenants who are not English-speaking, including those who are Ethiopian, Eritrean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, or Arabic-speaking.

Beverly Colston, an eight-year tenant at Sojourner Truth Manor, serves as chairperson of the tenant association. Photo by Ken Epstein.

Underscoring the lack of transparency, 14-year-resident Nancy Delaney said, “Management is treating us like we’re livestock; they feel they don’t have to give us common courtesy, even to tell us what they’re doing.”

Sojourner Truth, located at 6015 Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Oakland, consists of three buildings with 74 studios and 13 one-bedroom apartments.

In the past few years, there has been turn-over of management companies that operate and maintain the complex. Since mid-2022, Sojourner Truth has been managed by HumanGood, the largest nonprofit provider of senior housing and services in California and among the 10 largest organizations of its kind in the nation, according to reports on the internet.

In Oakland, besides Sojourner Truth, HumanGood operates at Piedmont Gardens, Allen Temple’s senior residences, JL Richard Terrace and Irene Cooper Terrace.

Overall, the company has over 5,000 employees and serves over 14,000 residents in seven states.

Annual reports on the nonprofit senior living market sector are produced by LeadingEdge Ziegler 200. Ziegler is described on its website, as a “privately held investment bank, capital markets and proprietary investments firm and the nation’s leading underwriters of financings for not-for-profit senior living providers.”

While the lack of repairs is a serious concern for many tenants, the most pressing need at Sojourner Truth, said Colston, is to hire a full-time social services coordinator, a social worker “who would serve as an advocate for tenants with management and help with recertification for food stamps, health services and all the other forms we have to submit on a yearly basis.”

“We have too many people who speak too many different languages, and we get written notices in English,” she said. “They don’t communicate with us except by letters, and we often don’t understand them.”

The tenants need someone who can patiently and respectfully explain these notices, Colson said. In the past, the social services coordinator also organized bingo, exercise sessions, dominos, activities and celebrations of holidays and birthdays, she said.

In fairness, Colston said, the deterioration of physical conditions at Sojourner Truth did not begin with HumanGood but with the previous manager, Christian Church Homes. HumanGood is responsible for not communicating. “With these people here, there is no communication whatsoever,” she said.

By the Oakland Post’s deadline, HumanGood had not replied to email questions. Calls to the office of Sojourner Truth were not picked up.

Tenants at Sojourner Truth have been meeting with residents of Harriet Tubman Terrace apartments in Berkeley who are also pushing for improved conditions.

Ken Epstein

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IN MEMORIAM: Ramona Edelin, Influential Activist and Education Advocate, Dies at 78

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Born on September 4, 1945, in Los Angeles, California, activist Ramona Edelin’s early years were marked by a commitment to education and social justice. According to her HistoryMakers biography, after graduating from Fisk University with a Bachelor’s degree in 1967, she pursued further studies at the University of East Anglia in England. She earned her master’s degree before completing her Ph.D. at Boston University in 1981.
The post IN MEMORIAM: Ramona Edelin, Influential Activist and Education Advocate, Dies at 78 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Published

4 weeks ago

April 3, 2024

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

Once upon a time, Black Americans were simply known as colored people, or Negroes. That is until Ramona Edelin came along. The activist, renowned for her pivotal roles in advancing civil rights, education reform, and community empowerment, died at her D.C. residence last month at the age of 78. Her death, finally confirmed this week by Barnaby Towns, a communications strategist who collaborated with Dr. Edelin, was attributed to cancer.

Born on September 4, 1945, in Los Angeles, California, Edelin’s early years were marked by a commitment to education and social justice. According to her HistoryMakers biography, after graduating from Fisk University with a Bachelor’s degree in 1967, she pursued further studies at the University of East Anglia in England. She earned her master’s degree before completing her Ph.D. at Boston University in 1981.

Edelin’s contributions to academia and activism were manifold. She was pivotal in popularizing the term “African American” alongside Rev. Jesse L. Jackson in the late 1980s.

Jackson had announced the preference for “African American,” speaking for summit organizers that included Dr. Edelin. “Just as we were called Colored, but were not that, and then Negro, but not that, to be called Black is just as baseless,” he said, adding that “African American” “has cultural integrity” and “puts us in our proper historical context.”

Later, Edelin told Ebony magazine, “Calling ourselves African Americans is the first step in the cultural offensive,” while linking the name change to a “cultural renaissance” in which Black Americans reconnected with their history and heritage.

“Who are we if we don’t acknowledge our motherland?” she asked later. “When a child in a ghetto calls himself African American, immediately he’s international. You’ve taken him from the ghetto and put him on the globe.”

The HistoryMakers bio noted that Edelin’s academic pursuits led her to found and chair the Department of African American Studies at Northeastern University, where she established herself as a leading voice.

Transitioning from academia to advocacy, Edelin joined the National Urban Coalition in 1977, eventually ascending to president and CEO. During her tenure, she spearheaded initiatives such as the “Say Yes to a Youngster’s Future” program, which provided crucial support in math, science, and technology to youth and teachers of color in urban areas. Her biography noted that Edelin’s efforts extended nationwide through partnerships with organizations like the National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Education.

President Bill Clinton recognized Edelin’s expertise by appointing her to the Presidential Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities in 1998. She also co-founded and served as treasurer of the Black Leadership Forum, solidifying her standing as a respected leader in African American communities.

Beyond her professional achievements, Edelin dedicated herself to numerous boards and committees, including chairing the District of Columbia Educational Goals 2000 Panel and contributing to the Federal Advisory Committee for the Black Community Crusade for Children.

Throughout her life, Edelin received widespread recognition for her contributions. Ebony magazine honored her as one of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans, and she received prestigious awards such as the Southern Christian Leadership Award for Progressive Leadership and the IBM Community Executive Program Award.

The post IN MEMORIAM: Ramona Edelin, Influential Activist and Education Advocate, Dies at 78 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Stacy M. Brown

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Tennessee State University Board Disbanded by MAGA Loyalists as Assault on DE&I Continues

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Recent legislative actions in Tennessee, such as repealing police reform measures enacted after the killing of Tyre Nichols, underscore a troubling trend of undermining local control and perpetuating racist agendas. The new law preventing local governments from restricting police officers’ authority disregards community efforts to address systemic issues of police violence and racial profiling.
The post Tennessee State University Board Disbanded by MAGA Loyalists as Assault on DE&I Continues first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Published

4 weeks ago

April 3, 2024

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

Tennessee State University (TSU), the state’s only public historically Black college and university (HBCU), faces a tumultuous future as Gov. Bill Lee dissolved its board, a move supported by racist conservatives and MAGA Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly, who follow the lead of the twice-impeached, four-times indicted, alleged sexual predator former President Donald Trump. Educators and others have denounced the move as an attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) and a grave setback for higher education.

Critics argue that TSU’s purported financial mismanagement is a manufactured crisis rooted in decades of underinvestment by the state government. They’ve noted that it continues a trend by conservatives and the racist MAGA movement to eliminate opportunities for Blacks in education, corporate America, and the public sector.

Gevin Reynolds, a former speechwriter for Vice President Kamala Harris, emphasizes in an op-ed that TSU’s financial difficulties are not the result of university leadership because a recent audit found no evidence of fraud or malfeasance.

Reynolds noted that the disbanding of TSU’s board is not an isolated incident but part of a broader assault on DE&I initiatives nationwide. Ten states, including Tennessee, have enacted laws banning DE&I policies on college campuses, while governors appointing MAGA loyalists to university trustee positions further undermine efforts to promote inclusivity and equality.

Moreover, recent legislative actions in Tennessee, such as repealing police reform measures enacted after the killing of Tyre Nichols, underscore a troubling trend of undermining local control and perpetuating racist agendas. The new law preventing local governments from restricting police officers’ authority disregards community efforts to address systemic issues of police violence and racial profiling.

The actions echo historical efforts to suppress Black progress, reminiscent of the violent backlash against gains made during the Reconstruction era. President Joe Biden warned during an appearance in New York last month that Trump desires to bring the nation back to the 18th and 19th centuries – in other words, to see, among other things, African Americans back in the chains of slavery, women subservient to men without any say over their bodies, and all voting rights restricted to white men.

The parallels are stark, with white supremacist ideologies used to justify attacks on Black institutions and disenfranchise marginalized communities, Reynolds argued.

In response to these challenges, advocates stress the urgency of collective action to defend democracy and combat systemic racism. Understanding that attacks on institutions like TSU are symptomatic of broader threats to democratic norms, they call for increased civic engagement and voting at all levels of government.

The actions of people dedicated to upholding the principles of inclusivity, equity, and justice for all will determine the outcome of the ongoing fight for democracy, Reynolds noted. “We are in a war for our democracy, one whose outcome will be determined by every line on every ballot at every precinct,” he stated.

The post Tennessee State University Board Disbanded by MAGA Loyalists as Assault on DE&I Continues first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Stacy M. Brown

Posts by Stacy M. Brown

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Braxton Haulcy and the Expansion of Walker|West Music Academy

May 24, 2023 – Walker West Music Academy gets an early start on expansion. Join us for a Wednesday episode of The …
The post Braxton Haulcy and the Expansion of Walker|West Music Academy first appeared on BlackPressUSA.