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.

By Carla Thomas

On Saturday, Feb. 26 at the Laney College Odell Johnson Theater, the Third Annual Black Centric Showcase celebrated Black History Month. The show depicted eras of Black history, while featuring talent showcases of monologues, skits, dance, rap and singing expressing the past, present and future.

“The showcase was designed to feature talented members of the community performing all eras of Black history: Where we are from, where we have been, and where are we going,” said Saleemah Jones, production company founder-producer of “Put Ur Play On” with assistant director Angel Galloway.

Pamela Terry performed a monologue spun from August Wilson’s “Fences.” Terry responded to a casting call ad for the role. “Through my audition I learned about the production company, Saleemah Jones, and assistant director, Angel Galloway,” said Terry. “These two sisters are brilliant in their work to improve the quality of life in the community.” She said the experience was both inspiring and challenging.

AKIL of Oakland performed his original song “Gave Us 28,” referring to the number of days in February for Black History Month. “I like to produce positive rap,” said AKIL. “They gave us 28 but every day we make history.”

Other performances featured an original skit on love by Lauren Black and Erynne-Dnae of Cotati, California, and a poem by Oakland middle-schooler Talia Rochelle entitled “Go to the Back, Rosa Parks.” “Rosa Parks is an important, strong, brave woman in Black history,” she said.

Paris Jackson Jr. performed an original dance.

Gary Moore of San Francisco performed a monologue from August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Shelly Broadnax performed an original poem entitled “MIBPOC,” about having to check the ‘other’ box when filling out surveys and applications.

IMAC FADICHI of Chicago performed an original rap, “The Good Show,” and Pierre Jones of Richmond performed an original monologue entitled, “Black Caesar.”

The second half of the show included the stage production “Unapologetically Black: Here to Facilitate Harm Reduction Services for Those in Need, Inc.,” written by Itoro Bassey, a Nigerian playwright.

“Itoro reached out to us, and we thought it was a great way to put this perspective on our platform to raise voices,” said Jones, play producer.

The production, satiric in nature, explored the seriousness of Black and white race relations including white privilege and white insensitivity toward African Americans in everyday situations.

In one scene a white male doctor talks to a Black female patient in a dismissive manner. At the height of their disagreement, the two actors are frozen in time. A third actor enters, “Dr. Find You an Ally,” performed by Anthony Dixon, who narrates the situation and offers to serve as a white ally for the Black woman for 24 hours at the price of $59.99.

The actors unfreeze and the Black woman joins the narrator, as he explains his services including a bootcamp provided to retrain white perpetrators and transform their behavior into one of respect, understanding and empathy toward Black people.

Actors in the production included Tyler Mae, David Cesari, Shayna Howlett, Toni Rochelle, Ziare Whitelow, Christina Gluszaczak, Harley Ford and Cody Johnson.

“It’s been great to combine a showcase featuring some of the best in Bay Area talent with a stage play production written by a Nigerian sister,” said Jones. “The month may have 28 days, but we are 365 days a year, 24-7 making history,” said Galloway.

By Daisha Williams
Post News Group Intern

A large community of unhoused people have been living in an empty lot at 1707 Wood Street. The city of Oakland would like to remove them as soon as possible so they can build 170 units of affordable housing there.

If you live in Oakland or spend any considerable amount of time here, then you have probably seen this encampment at least a few times. The West Oakland community is estimated to include 200-300 individuals. They support each other in accessing food, water, medicine, clothing and other basic living necessities.

In an interview with a city of Oakland official, a spokesperson for the community, John Janosko, described a bike ride that they all took to Sacramento last October.

“That bike ride was amazing for me. Everyone had a chance to bond,” he said. “The people in Sacramento were so welcoming and it was my birthday that morning and they had a cake at 1 o’clock in the morning when we finally rolled in.”

This bike ride was planned, organized and executed by people who have banded together to survive in a system that doesn’t seem to care if they live or die and made the best of those circumstances.

Before the city of Oakland can begin building affordable housing, they are required to provide shelter for the people currently living there. The initial plan was to simply provide cabins near the lot for the people to live in. On Feb. 3, the U.S. District Judge William Orick said that the city could move forward with disbanding this unit only for that ruling to be reversed a week later, on Feb. 10.

Oakland Assistant City Administrator LaTonda Simmons said that the delay was due to issues finalizing the contract for the cabins as well as “IT network challenges.”

The city hasn’t released a timeline detailing when they expect to begin moving people out. Simmons commented on the delay in a statement. “We believe this minor delay will result in an even more supportive cabin program for the Wood Street community.”

Current plans for shelter for the residents include cabins with 30 beds each, which are expected to accommodate 100 people. There will also be 29 parking spaces available for people living in RVs with electrical hookups and bathrooms available.

Furthermore, the city expects to have 100 more beds available at other shelters in Oakland, which will effectively divide the community that the Wood Street residents have created for themselves.

But it is also the case that the amount of affordable housing that the city plans to build in this lot will not be enough to accommodate the people currently living there and what the city considers “affordable housing” is not affordable for many people.

Another hindrance for the community is the difficulty of qualifying for affordable housing.

One hurdle is that it is necessary to provide proof of income, which makes it even less accessible.

Another is that applicants must pass a criminal background screening. Since homelessness itself has been criminalized, many people currently living in the lot will not be able to pass that screening and qualify.

Many of the people now living at the Wood Street lot were residents of a neighboring encampment that was cleared out about a year ago. That they are back on the street can indicate that the city’s processes for quickly finding housing for people in dire need are ineffective.

This is summarized best by what James Vann, co-founder and advisor to the Oakland Homeless Advocacy Working Group, said in response to Judge Orwick’s decision.

“The calamity that will follow is another instance of the City’s failure to acknowledge the homelessness crisis as real and to implement timely actions to assure adequate accommodations and health and safety of the affected unhoused residents.”

Sources for this news article include the Mercury News, the City of Oakland and the Post News Group.