Activism

State’s Reparations Task Force Takes on Education Issues, Outreach Challenges at Third Baptist Church Meeting in S.F.

Recently, the work the task force is doing has been garnering national attention. But members say they must implement a stronger communications and public relations strategy leading up to the release of its findings. By statute, the task force must issue a report to the Legislature by June 1, 2022. Their findings will be available to the public.

Published

1 year ago

April 19, 2022

Oakland Post

Third Baptist Church Senior Pastor Amos Brown is the vice-chair of the Reparations Task Force.

By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media

The California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans held its ninth meeting last week on April 13 and April 14 at Third Baptist Church in San Francisco.

The task force’s vice chair Amos Brown is the pastor of Third Baptist Church, which is located at 1399 McAllister St.

On the first day of the April meeting, the history of discrimination at colleges and professional education institutions and the school-to-prison pipeline will be discussed.

On the second day, the task force will preview its first report. Both days, sessions begin at 9 a.m.

During the meeting, the task force also plans to discuss the challenges some members say the committee has been having with communications organizations it has hired to develop public information campaigns and handle public relations.

The firms — the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA); Young Communications Group, a Los Angeles-based PR firm; and A/B Partners, a national social impact firm — are contracted to work with the task force through the California Department of Justice.

Task force chair Kamilah Moore expressed “concerns” with the communications firms at the task force’s March 29 meeting, questioning their ability to successfully perform the work the nine-member panel has assigned to them.

“We have given these (communications firms) upward of $1 million to do a job and they are not doing it by virtue of what has been stated in the contract,” Moore said of the issue from her perspective. “This is a serious concern. This has to be addressed sooner rather than later.

“We have to have a comprehensive conversation about this at our next meeting. We may have to open up the process again (to hear other communications firms) about what they can do and what deliverables they can bring to this process,” Moore said.

One of the firms “missed at least two deliverables” in January and February, and the other two groups gave out a “wrong email” when they were asked for an address to a website about task force inquiries, Moore said.

Concerns about the communications firms are related to seven “anchor organizations” charged with conducting community “listening sessions,” according to Moore.

The anchor organizations — different from the communications firms — are tasked with hosting public listening sessions in April, May and June, said task force member Dr. Cheryl Grills, a professor of psychology at Loyola Marymount University.

The “anchor orgs,” as they are referred to in meetings, will help the task force hear various perspectives of Black Californians as it assesses the extent of the state’s involvement in slavery and Jim Crow discrimination.

Grills took issue with Moore raising concerns about the communications firms, specifically bringing up allegations involving her, without giving prior notice before speaking about them in public.

Pushing back, Grills publicly said Moore met with an attorney that “organizes” and “convenes” meetings for the anchor organizations a week before the task force’s eighth meeting held March 29 and March 30. Moore did not lodge any complaints with the attorney, Grills stated.

“You didn’t raise any concerns, so then you bring it up in a public forum,” Grills told Moore during the meeting. “You cast a potentially negative light on the communications firms and the Bunche Center. That feels unfair to me. From a process perspective, this is troubling to me how you are operating.”

On the afternoon of April 14, the communications firms will present their strategies for responding to press inquiries, facilitating meetings for the anchor organizations and educating the California public on report findings.

The Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies was founded in 1969 as the Center for Afro-American Studies. It was renamed in 2003 for diplomat, scholar, activist, and UCLA alumnus Ralph J. Bunche, who was the first Black person to win the Nobel prize.

According to its website, the Bunche Center supports research that expands the knowledge of the history, lifestyles, and sociocultural systems of people of African descent. It also “investigates problems” that have relevance to the psychological, social, and economic well-being of persons of African descent.

By statute, the task force must issue a report to the Legislature by June 1, 2022. Their findings will be available to the public.

Other task force members who have fielded complaints about the communications firms are Sen. Steve Bradford (D-Gardena), Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), and San Diego City Councilwoman Monica Montgomery-Steppe.

Brown told the nine-member panel that “communications have to be at an optimum.”

He told his colleagues that the task force must leverage mainstream media, and Black-owned newspaper reporters, editors, and publishers should be contacted and informed of the group’s activities.

The civil rights leader said that Black churches, nonprofits that do community activism, and social organizations should have inside knowledge of the task force leading up and after the reports are submitted to the state Legislature.

“We’re in the driver’s seat. We have to tell them what we want to be done without delay,” Brown said of the communications firms. “If they can’t fulfill it…we might have to make a change.”

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Oakland Post: Week of May 24 – 30, 2023

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 24 – 30, 2023

Published

2 days ago

May 26, 2023

Oakland Post

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 24 - 30, 2023

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.

Activism

Rise in Abductions of Black Girls in Oakland Alarms Sex-Trafficking Survivors

Nola Brantley of Nola Brantley Speaks states, “America’s wider culture and society has consistently failed to address the abduction and kidnapping of Black girls in Oakland and across the country, and this lack of concern empowers and emboldens predators.”

Published

1 week ago

May 20, 2023

Oakland Post

Nola Brantley and Sarai Smith-Mazariegos

By Tanya Dennis

Within the last 30 days there have been seven attempted kidnappings or successful abductions of Black girls in Oakland.

Survivors of human trafficking who are now advocates are not surprised.

Nor were they surprised that the police didn’t respond, and parents of victims turned to African American community-based organizations like Adamika Village and Love Never Fails for help.

Advocates say Black and Brown girls disappear daily, usually without a blip on the screen for society and government officials.

Perhaps that will change with a proposed law by state Senator Steven Bradford’s Senate Bill 673 Ebony Alert, that, if passed, will alert people when Black people under the age of 26 go missing.

According to the bill, Black children are disproportionately classified as “runaways” in comparison to their white counterparts which means fewer resources are dedicated to finding them.

Brantley, a survivor of human trafficking has been doing the work to support child sex trafficking victims for over 20 years, first as the director for the Scotlan Youth and Family Center’s Parenting and Youth Enrichment Department at Oakland’s DeFremery Park, and as one of the co-founders and executive director of Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth (MISSSEY, Inc.)

“It really hit home in 2010,” said Brantley, “before California’s Welfare Institution Code 300 was amended to include children victimized by sex trafficking.”

Before that law was amended, she had to vehemently advocate for Black and Brown girls under the age of 18 to be treated as victims rather than criminalized.

Brantley served hundreds of Black and Brown girls citing these girls were victims so they would be treated as such and offered restorative services. “To get the police to take their disappearances seriously and file a report almost never happened,” she said.

Then Brantley received a call from the Board of Supervisors regarding a “special case.” A councilman was at the meeting, as well as a member of former Alameda County Board Supervisor Scott Haggerty’s Office who had called Brantley to attend.

“The child’s parents and the child were there also. They requested that I give my full attention to this case. The girl was white and there was no question of her victimization,” Brantley said.

Brantley felt conflicted that of all the hundreds of Black and Brown girls she’d served, none had ever received this type of treatment.

Her eyes were opened that day on how “they” move, therefore with the recent escalation of kidnapping attempts of Black girls, Brantley fears that because it’s happening to Black girls the response will not be taken seriously.

Councilwoman Treva Reid

“I thank Councilwoman Treva Reid and Senator Steven Bradford (D) for pushing for the passing of the Ebony Alert Bill across the state so that the disappearance of Black girls will be elevated the same as white girls. We’ve never had a time when Black girls weren’t missing. Before, it didn’t matter if we reported it or if the parents reported the police failed to care.”

Senator Steven Bradford

Sarai S-Mazariegos, co-founder of M.I.S.S.S.E.Y, and founder and executive director of Survivors Healing, Advising and Dedicated to Empowerment (S.H.A.D.E.) agrees with Brantley.

“What we are experiencing is the effects of COVID-19, poverty and a regressive law that has sentence the most vulnerable to the sex trade,” S-Mazariegos said. “We are seeing the lack of equity in the community, the cause and consequence of gender inequality and a violation of our basic human rights. What we are seeing is sexual exploitation at its finest.”

Both advocates are encouraged by Bradford’s Ebony Alert.

The racism and inequity cited has resulted in the development of an underground support system by Brantley, S-Mazariegos and other community-based organizations who have united to demand change.

Thus far they are receiving support from Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, and Oakland City Councilmembers Nikki Fortunato Bas and Reid of the second and seventh districts respectively.

For more information, go to http://www.blackandmissinginc.com

Activism

The Case Against SB357: Black, Vulnerable and Trafficked

on April 25, the committee approved Senate Bill 14 which would make human trafficking of minors a felony and strikable offense forcing exploiters to serve 80% of their sentence.

Published

1 week ago

May 20, 2023

Oakland Post

Nola Brantley is the co-founder of MISSSEY. Photo courtesy of Nola Brantley.

PART 8 – Come Back to Humanity

Although California Senate Bill 357 was intended to alleviate arrests of willing sex workers under anti-loitering laws, The Black, Vulnerable and Exploited series has established that passing SB 357 and other similar legislation harms Black communities, one of the most vulnerable and traumatized groups in America.

Over the past several weeks, overwhelming evidence against SB 357 has been presented showing why sex trafficking disproportionately impacts the Black community and how decriminalizing sex buying and exploitation will further harm vulnerable Black communities.

By Tanya Dennis and Vanessa Russell

One year and one day after Blair Williams had killed herself by walking into traffic on a busy freeway, her sister, Brianna Williams, testified before the California Senate Public Safety Committee on the horrors of sex-trafficking.

Soon after, on April 25, the committee approved Senate Bill 14 which would make human trafficking of minors a felony and strikable offense forcing exploiters to serve 80% of their sentence.

Passed with bi-partisan support in the committee, the bill means a lot to people who have been trafficked as it shows that the punishment for trafficking will be equal to the crime.

Currently, exploiters who receive 10 years for trafficking a minor may be able to get out in as little as two years. This practice of letting someone out after selling a child has created apathy among survivors who wonder if anyone understands the pain and torture they endure. The unanimous acceptance of this bill in committee is helping survivors to feel protected and valuable.

Led by Senator Aisha Wahab, the committee, which included senators Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, Steven Bradford, Senator Scott D. Wiener and Oakland’s Nancy Skinner, unanimously passed the bill written by Senator Shannon Grove.

At the hearing, Brianna Williams, a Black 28-year-old woman who was sex-trafficked in Oakland at the age of 13, shared the story of her sister Blair, who was terrorized, raped, and tortured by her exploiter.

Suffering a mental break, Blair walked onto a freeway where she was instantly killed on April 24, 2022.

Williams described Blair as a beautiful young lady, who was an avid reader and creative who loved to play with her niece and nephews and aspired to be an attorney. Blair died at the age of 23. Many senators teared up as they contemplated the torture Blair endured.

At the age of 17, Williams was able to exit with the help of nonprofits and churches who invested in her life, providing workforce development, education, mentoring, and legal help.

To address the harm that is being done to vulnerable people such as Black girls, anti-trafficking organizations are asking leaders and legislators and even proponents of full decriminalization for sex work to ‘come back to humanity’ and reconsider an ‘equity model’ that decriminalizes the exploited but maintains accountability for the buyers and exploiters.

The equity model would also provide funded exit services including mental health, housing, workforce development, and legal services for the exploited. These services would provide an opportunity for the trafficked to start again, an opportunity that 76% of women, men and transgendered people are asking for.

However, making buyers and exploiters accountable does not mean applying blanket life sentences.

Human trafficking cannot be ‘criminalized’ away, supporters of the new bill say, and instead they call for thoughtfulness and empathy regarding the intentions of those involved and ask tough questions.

Many exploiters have been abused and groomed into becoming exploiters in the same way the exploited are.

There are early intervention diversion programs that can help first-time sex buyers and exploiters take ownership for the harm they have caused, process the root of their behavior, and begin to heal and change.

Giving buyers and exploiters a platform to be accountable and make amends improves their lives, the lives of the families they are also harming, and hopefully bring some healing to the harmed.

Nola Brantley, a survivor, co-founder of Motivating, Inspiring Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth (MISSSEY), and CEO of Nola Brantley Speaks says, “As service providers, we must unite and support one another because this is very important and hard. We can’t do it alone. We need each other and the community needs us to be in solidarity!”

For more information, go to ResearchGate and Layout 1 (depaul.edu)

To get involved, join Violence Prevention Coalition for a City Wide Peace Summit on June 24^th from 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. at Laney College in Oakland. To register, go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/city-wide-peace-summit-tickets-622795647547

Tanya Dennis serves on the Board of Oakland Frontline Healers (OFH) and series co-author Vanessa Russell of “Love Never Fails Us” and member of OFH.