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Tenants Seek Landlord’s Commitment to Improve Conditions at Sojourner Truth Manor

At this week’s meeting with board members and the staff of HumanGood, the private property managers that operate the site, tenants invited local political leaders who have expressed concerns about conditions the senior citizens are experiencing.

Published

7 months ago

October 15, 2023

Oakland Post

Unrepaired damage to the floor of one Sojourner Truth Manor apartment that flooded in May 2023, creating extreme danger to an elderly resident. Photo by Ken Epstein.

By Ken Epstein

Tenants of Sojourner Truth Manor in North Oakland are scheduled to hold a meeting this Friday with the board and managers of the senior living complex where tenants will seek commitments from the landlord to resolve their concerns about the lack of building repairs and vermin infestation, as well as failure to communicate with residents and disregard and disrespect for tenants and their rights.

Tenants of the 85-unit housing complex at 6015 Martin Luther King Jr. Way have told the Oakland Post 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 or vermin and poorly functioning security and building elevators, while the complex’s community room has been out of operation for 11 years.

Of special concern are the lack of translation services for the many tenants who speak languages other than English, including Amharic and Tigrinya; and the failure to hire a new social services coordinator, a position that in the past offered community-building activities and provided information and support for residents.

Tenants also say they are experiencing elder abuse, including intimidation and retaliation for organizing and speaking out. Immediately after an article about their concerns was published in the Oakland Post they received a 22-page list of house rules and a new contract they were told they must sign, even though they already had recently signed an annual renewal of their contracts.

In a statement to the Oakland Post, HumanGood, the private management company, explained that they only took over responsibility for Sojourner Truth last year and have had to deal with conditions at the complex that had been deteriorating for years.

“Before we took over management last October, Sojourner Truth Manor was in need of serious repairs and rehabilitation, and we are committed to completing the important work needed within the community,” according to the HumanGood statement (printed in this week’s Oakland Post).

“We are focused on modernizing the community room, addressing needed repairs around the community, and we also expect to move forward with other construction projects around the campus,” the statement said.

An article in the Oakland Post in 2014 detailed the history of the community effort that created Sojourner Truth Manor in the 1970s.

Initiating the project were the National Black Business and Professional Women and the East Bay Area Club, which mentored youth and worked on career development for Black women, and even worked to get late Congressman RonDellums elected.

In 1971, realtor Ellen Winborn came up with the idea of housing for the elderly, pointing out that federal funding was available. The club embraced the idea and approached the U.S. Department of Urban Development three times before becoming the first corporation of Black women in the country to develop such a project, breaking ground in 1975.

Fifteen Black women became part of Sojourner Truth Housing Inc., a non-profit organization that received $1.8 million from HUD and the Mason McDuffie Investment Co.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

Published

2 days ago

April 26, 2024

Oakland Post

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

1 week ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

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Oakland Schools Honor Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice. His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.

Published

1 week ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

Fred Korematsu. Courtesy of OUSD.

By Post Staff

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice.

His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.
One OUSD school is named in his honor: Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy (KDA) elementary in East Oakland.

Several years ago, founding KDA Principal Charles Wilson, in a video interview with anti-hate organization “Not In Our Town,” said, “We chose the name Fred Korematsu because we really felt like the attributes that he showed in his work are things that the children need to learn … that common people can stand up and make differences in a large number of people’s lives.”

Fred Korematsu was born in Oakland on Jan. 30, 1919. His parents ran a floral nursery business, and his upbringing in Oakland shaped his worldview. His belief in the importance of standing up for your rights and the rights of others, regardless of race or background, was the foundation for his activism against racial prejudice and for the rights of Japanese Americans during World War II.

At the start of the war, Korematsu was turned away from enlisting in the National Guard and the Coast Guard because of his race. He trained as a welder, working at the docks in Oakland, but was fired after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Fear and prejudice led to federal Executive Order 9066, which forced more than 120,000 Japanese Americans out of their homes and neighborhoods and into remote internment camps.

The 23-year-old Korematsu resisted the order. He underwent cosmetic surgery and assumed a false identity, choosing freedom over unjust imprisonment. His later arrest and conviction sparked a legal battle that would challenge the foundation of civil liberties in America.

Korematsu’s fight culminated in the Supreme Court’s initial ruling against him in 1944. He spent years in a Utah internment camp with his family, followed by time living in Salt Lake City where he was dogged by racism.

In 1976, President Gerald Ford overturned Executive Order 9066. Seven years later, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco vacated Korematsu’s conviction. He said in court, “I would like to see the government admit that they were wrong and do something about it so this will never happen again to any American citizen of any race, creed, or color.”

Korematsu’s dedication and determination established him as a national icon of civil rights and social justice. He advocated for justice with Rosa Parks. In 1998, President Bill Clinton gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom saying, “In the long history of our country’s constant search for justice, some names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls … To that distinguished list, today we add the name of Fred Korematsu.”

After Sept. 11, 2001, Korematsu spoke out against hatred and discrimination, saying what happened to Japanese Americans should not happen to people of Middle Eastern descent.
Korematsu’s roots in Oakland and his education in OUSD are a source of great pride for the city, according to the school district. His most famous quote, which is on the Korematsu elementary school mural, is as relevant now as ever, “If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don’t be afraid to speak up.”