The Soul of Oakland, Event Preview, 8/27
Art & Sold
Glad that people like the Art & Soul festival, but as a newcomer to the neighborhood, I think the festival could use some improvement.
Why are ten blocks at the heart of downtown Oakland completely closed to pedestrians for three days — the entire Labor Day weekend? No one monitoring the fenced-off area seems to even know where the borders are, or which businesses are still accessible to the public, or by what route. Although my local coffee shop was open, they had fewer customers than usual on a Saturday morning, probably because no one could find them.
How is charging people $10 for access to the main thoroughfares of their own neighborhood for a period of three days good for this community? Outdoor concerts can be one of the joys of urban living, and any public event will involve inconveniences as well as benefits — but some of the usual benefits seem to be missing from this festival. Why aren’t there any free concerts? Not even one?
In my experiences living in other cities, usually when an event takes up blocks and blocks of public space, it’s free to the public. Sometimes there might be special seating set aside for purchase, or a series might be interspersed with occasional fund-raising performances, but I’ve never encountered a festival held in a public space that provided community members with absolutely zero access for days at a time unless they paid a fee. Surely with a little creative planning, Oakland could open the festival up a bit more, and organize it in a way that keeps the neighborhood walkable and local businesses outside the venue perimeters accessible.
Jordan Flash, Oakland
“Martyrs, Martyrs Everywhere,” Apprehension, 8/27
Remembering Jesse and Dream
I was surprised to see you quoted some of what I said from the site I blog on. I did not go to the funeral because it stressed me out thinking about it. His older brother Jesse, Mike “Dream” R.I.P., and a few others had a very tight-knit circle. When Jesse died, part of me did that day. When Dream was murdered there went another, so as hard as I tried to get ready, had my clothes picked out, I found myself texting another cousin, “I can’t do it.” Just thought I would offer a little more insight. I am older so I look at things different, but I am hip-hop; my entertainment company was started because of Jesse and Dream.
T’anne Brooks, Oakland
White Supremacy Lives On
With a crippling system of white supremacy being the mode of operation in this country, what else can we expect? This article clearly speaks to us through that lens … create fear about anything that challenges the status quo. Yes, the Black Panthers did just that, many political prisoners that suffer daily challenged the injustice of the time.
History tells you Jim Crow and education that was separate but not equal was their motivation to sacrifice their lives to demand freedom and justice.
I wonder if you wrote an article on George Washington/Presidents Day or even Veterans Day would you be so glib as to suggest that revolutionaries are simply murderers?
I attended Black August the day after a young pregnant woman was murdered in the streets of Oakland. The celebration of self-determination and healing for our community was especially important on that day. We gather for a reason, many more should attend. None but ourselves will free our minds.
Jumoke Hinton Hodge, Oakland
The Black Liberation Struggle
It is sad to see that the East Bay Express would publish something so irresponsible and lacking in integrity and commitment to upholding the standards of professionalism and ethics in journalism. Ms. Anneli Rufus’ article, “Martyrs, Martyrs Everywhere,” was grossly distorted and seemingly ill-intentioned. A responsible journalist would have checked the content of their article for accuracy and possibly done background research for context. It appears that Ms. Rufus felt she was suitably qualified to write about a topic she has no apparent background knowledge of or particular connection to. Unfortunately her lack of proper judgment has reflected poorly on the East Bay Express and has undoubtedly tarnished its credibility.
It is widely known and accepted among scholars, professors, lawyers, politicians, and the general public that there was a highly aggressive and illegal war carried out by the state against many liberation groups and individuals who were fighting to change the irrefutably racist laws and policies that were in place in the ’50s and ’60s. Let’s not forget that these movements grew out of a need for black and brown communities to defend themselves against the racism and violence of police brutality, political disenfranchisement, economic oppression, and the cultural genocide prompted by state institutions. No reasonable person can deny that the actions of that generation’s activists and freedom fighters were absolutely necessary to bring about political and cultural freedom for people of color, although that freedom is still a work in progress.
The state doesn’t deny that the creation and operations of its Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) were illegal at best and to some, even comparable to tactics used previously by fascist regimes. Under COINTELPRO, the FBI worked with local law enforcement to infiltrate, disrupt, and dismantle these organizations and lay the foundations for future militarized warfare against citizens. They used the opportunity to develop and improve highly militaristic tactics and tools including agent provocateurs, advanced surveillance systems, terror tactics such as physical and psychological torture, murdering members, and bombing offices. Domestic warfare against these people was carried out on the streets, in the community, in the media, in the courts, in jails and prisons.
If black liberation groups like the Black Panther Party or individuals associated with them are really these lawless and savage criminals, then why is it that the state needed to initiate and create illegal activities and use criminal tactics to lock up these people up? Many of the victims of the state’s illegal and inhumane actions were illegally shot and killed by police who were never held accountable. Many are still being held in the state’s monstrous prison system, despite the overwhelming evidence that they are innocent, or at the very least, did not receive a fair trial by any court’s implied standards.
Black August stands to commemorate these victims and work actively to prevent our youth from falling prey to these forces which seek to funnel them into the prison industrial complex, which is in itself evidence of California’s policy of the criminalization and mass incarceration of (mainly) black and brown youth. In 2006 California’s prison system boasted the second-largest prison population in the country at over 175,000 (roughly 1 in 200!!), just behind the federal prison system, and it has increased since then. According to the US Department of Justice statistics, California actually has the fastest-growing prison population, which is currently over twice the capacity of the population that the prisons were built to hold. It is important to note that the biggest prison construction boom took place during a period when crime rates were actually dropping. The United States as a whole has a higher incarceration rate per 100,000 than all of the countries it so self-righteously labels as undemocratic and uncivilized.
Ms. Rufus’ article was deeply offensive and discriminatory to those of us who have had to struggle and sacrifice for the right to live, an obstacle that she has been privileged enough not to have faced. I believe it would be wise and possibly redeeming for the East Bay Express and Ms. Rufus to, at the very least, issue a formal apology to the people for the extreme lack of professionalism and integrity in this article.
Azadeh Zohrabi, Oakland
Why We Celebrate
The Black August Organizing Committee was disappointed to read the article by Ms. Anneli Rufus. Indeed, we would have hoped that rather than relying on misinformation and mythology, Ms. Rufus would have done her journalistic diligence and, at the very least, come to the source.
We celebrated Black August with music, community, and educational presentations geared toward identifying very real solutions for the problems plaguing our community. Where is the celebration of murderers or lawlessness in that?
It is disheartening that the East Bay Express, once a progressive paper, would carry on in the tradition of the truly devastating legacy of J. Edgar Hoover’s plan to silence by eradication any and all dissent to the policies of an oppressive system (COINTELPRO).
The central force of his agenda used as its main tool the powerful voice of the media to spread lies and foster confusion by manipulating the truth, capitalizing on fear, and manufacturing misinformation with all the zeal of a Hollywood blockbuster.
Journalists and the professional yarn spinners prey on the fears of an unsuspecting public and utilize misconceptions to further the aims and policies of agencies such as the California Corrections Peace Officers Association. The CCPOA is the largest and most powerful union in California and engaged in an aggressive campaign to maintain the status quo of the prison-industrial complex by disseminating lies and half-truths to the mainstream population by way of the media.
It is with heavy hearts that we acknowledge many in our community will accept the position put forth by Anneli Rufus and the East Bay Express on Black August because she is considered an intellectual and is writing for a paper with long and strong roots in the community.
Unfortunately for all concerned, the basic tenets of Ms. Rufus’ article are simply not true. George Lester Jackson was never convicted of killing anyone. There were no heavily armed Panthers bursting into the Marin County Courthouse. A single seventeen-year-old youth walked into that courtroom and was shot to death moments later by San Quentin guards whose policy was to kill everyone in the van. The tagline “Free ‘Em All” belongs to a totally different movement and has nothing to do with Black August or George Jackson. Fay Stender was shot by a madman who had no connection to George Jackson and acted out of his own warped imagination.
Black August speaks to inhumane prison policies like N.H.I. (No Humans Involved), that separate prisoners from even the right to live among other human beings once they are convicted of any crime and sent to prison. It speaks to those who are singled out, and often set up for death, for speaking out against the injustices that permeate the prison-industrial complex. It speaks to those who, like Brother Bashir Hameed, become ill after decades of incarceration and extremely inadequate medical attention and die locked in a cell. Bashir Hameed died in prison on August 30, 2008 because the prison administration refused to take him to an outside hospital.
Your article encouraged readers to believe that the long history and current repression of an entire people and those who courageously stand up for those people can be written off as a bunch of “murderous radicals” undeserving of sympathy or even minimal respect or concern.
The theme of Black August 2008 was Save Our Children. Our youth are dying in these streets every day and/or rushing headlong into the arms of the prison-industrial complex. We are losing generations of potential doctors, lawyers, activists, teachers, mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters quicker than we can assess the loss or implement strategies to halt the devastation. Black August is about actively working to find ways that will reverse this trend and we are doing it in the face of knowing there are so many like you who simply do not care enough to research the truth and speak the truth. N.H.I.
Black August Organizing Committee National Headquarters, Oakland
Miscellaneous Letters
Waiting for AT&T
Is anyone else out there as furious and frustrated with AT&T as I am?
Today, Thursday, I have been sitting in my house since 8 a.m. waiting for a call from an AT&T technician … to schedule a home visit. My Internet and e-mail have been down for six weeks. The technician was to have called me between 8 and noon. It is now 4 p.m. Per the instructions of the Level 2 technician I spoke with at 7:30 a.m. (after holding for forty minutes), I have been off my phone but by the telephone awaiting this appointment call. Nothing. What am I to do if I never get called today? Today I am home. Must I start over and take another day off? Companies like AT&T sure make it easy to feel unimportant and very powerless.
Kristina Peterson, El Cerrito
Unsung Heroes
I want to write about an unpublicized gem in Oakland, the City of Oakland Department of Recreation Swim Teams. Specifically I want to acknowledge some unsung heroes in our city, the coaches of these swim teams. This summer my daughter and I were lucky enough for her to have Jason, Vanessa, and Brian as her coaches for the Live Oak Swim Team on MacArthur Boulevard.
Every day of swim practice and racing on the weekends Jason, Vanessa, and Brian guided these children, supported them, and, most importantly, believed in them. They tapped into the talent in every child. They made the kids want to do better, not out of fear, but from a magical place of inspiration.
Prior to this I have never seen competition promoted in such a fun, good-spirited way. Jason, Vanessa, and Brian inspired all of the children and families to create a Live Oak community.
The coaches showed us all, kids and parents, it is all about heart and spirit. As the weeks of the summer went on, my ten-year-old daughter would go to bed at night singing to herself, “I want to be a Live Oak swimmer, kick some butt, and be a winner.”
Thank you to all of the coaches and staff from the City of Oakland Department of Recreation for creating hundreds of winners. These are not jobs where people are getting rich. I am sure each of them could make lots more money doing other things. Thank you for your inspiration, commitment, and spirit. It has brought much joy to our beloved city. Go Live Oak!
Debra Grabelle, mom of Leah Grabelle, Oakland
Be a Hero
Between population growth and climate change, water is becoming one of the most challenging issues facing our generation. Rising temperatures are causing more precipitation to fall as rain instead of snow in mountain watersheds such as the Sierra Nevada, upon which we rely for natural water storage. This reduction of future snowpack threatens our freshwater supplies and poses challenges to water-related activities, including recreational skiing and summer rafting.
Yet despite this threat, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is proposing to divert even more water from the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park. On top of the 59 percent of the Tuolumne’s natural flow that is already diverted, the Public Utilities Commission plans to divert 25 million more gallons of water per day, based on flawed projections that inflate future water demand while underestimating the conservation potential. Such water diversion has already caused extensive environmental degradation and species decline within the Tuolumne watershed. We must turn to water conservation to improve our dire situation.
Many simple conservation opportunities and techniques can be found at WaterSavingHero.com. It is essential we focus more attention on water conservation, not only to protect at-risk resources like the Tuolumne, but also to ensure future water supplies in a time of changing climate.
Will Derwin, Portola Valley
Not One of Us
Throughout US history, the majority of presidential candidates have come from the aristocracy, and this election is no different. What voters ought to be concerned with is which candidate has a true understanding of class stratification, their place within it, and their responsibility to address it. McCain’s comment that one has to be earning $5 million annually to be considered “rich” (placing his opponent in the “middle class,” which Obama most certainly is not) shows that he either does not possess such an understanding, or at least is pretending not to. Middle- and working-class folk may not get a candidate who is “one of them,” but we at least deserve one who gets that not everyone is just as well off as them.
Shareef Elfiki, Oakland
Correction
There were several errors in our characterization of the facts surrounding George Jackson’s incarceration in our August 27 crime column (Apprehension, “Martyrs, Martyrs Everywhere”). Jackson was accused of murder but never convicted. Only one heavily armed person — not several, as we stated — broke into the Marin County Courthouse in 1970 to demand the release of Jackson and other prisoners. And Berkeley lawyer Fay Stender was shot by an admirer of Jackson and not an associate, as we indicated.
