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"content": "\u003cp>Speaking out against racism isn’t controversial in Oakland, a city known nationwide for its activism. At least that’s what Eric Sasz of Hip-Hop For Change assumed when his nonprofit rented the \u003ca href=\"https://www.continentalcluboakland.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Continental Club\u003c/a> for its free, all ages Women’s Empowerment Summit on March 12.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Originally opened in 1961, the Continental Club hosted blues and R&B artists for decades as part of West Oakland’s once-thriving circuit of Black nightclubs. The club reopened in its current form in January, and features a Black Panther Party-themed mural on its rooftop in homage to its history. That’s why Sasz was taken aback when Ron Frydberg, the owner of the venue, asked him to take down T-shirts with the slogan “End White Supremacy” from his merch table, Sasz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was like, ‘There’s no way.’ I think this is our best-selling T-shirt,” recalled Sasz, who serves as Hip-Hop for Change’s event director. “This is what we do as an organization: fight racism and do social justice work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Sasz pushed back, he said, Frydberg backed down. But the T-shirt incident was the first in a series of discriminatory behaviors Sasz said he and his staff witnessed during the Hip-Hop for Change event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Hip-Hop For Change and other event organizers in Oakland are accusing Frydberg of racism, homophobia and sexism, and calling for a boycott of the Continental Club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s contributing to the problem in Oakland right now, which is coming into historically Black places and colonizing them,” Sasz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Frydberg denied several of the allegations. “It’s unfortunate that they had such a negative feeling towards us after doing everything we were supposed to do to host their event,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/CdMO5VePp_q/\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Accusations Over the ‘F’-Word\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Another Hip-Hop for Change staffer, who spoke to KQED under the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, was working the Women’s Empowerment Summit when a colleague came to her in tears after a conversation with Frydberg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She just came up to me and she’s like, ‘He just called me the ‘f’-word,’” said the Hip-Hop for Change staffer, referring to the homophobic slur. “And she is a transgender Black woman. And I was like, ‘Wait, what? Like, he did what?’ And [Ron] was very defensive about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the Hip-Hop for Change staffer put it, after being called the slur, the transgender woman became increasingly upset, had too much to drink and had to go home in an Uber. “When we were leaving, Ron’s security team kept calling her ‘him’ and kept saying, ‘Oh, the gay boy over there’ and stuff like that,’” the staffer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sasz discussed the situation with his staff, including the person who was allegedly called the slur. Afterwards, Sasz confronted Frydberg, who denied using that language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='large' citation='Eric Sasz, Hip-Hop for Change']‘We’re just trying to educate our community so folks don’t have the same experience we had.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When reached by KQED, Frydberg denied ever using the slur, and accused Sasz of changing his story. “What he told me is that he heard that somebody in my staff said that, not me specifically,” he said. “In fact, what had happened was I was coming to talk to him about a situation about his staff being drunk and belligerent, and harassing my security guards. … He couldn’t tell me who it was [that used the slur]. I talked to all of my staff. It became a big issue that night.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We go above and beyond to make sure that everybody is well respected while they’re at the club,” Frydberg added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sasz denies that he changed his story.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Guilty of Being White’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Tensions escalated as the Women’s Empowerment Summit continued. According to Sasz and several other witnesses, Frydberg and his security repeatedly asked one of Hip-Hop for Change’s artists, a new mother with two infants, to move from a booth Frydberg wanted to reserve for bottle service. The table hadn’t been sold, and neither had several others in the section that afternoon. (The artist, Gina Madrid, said she sat at the booth to move her babies away from the club’s speakers.) Sasz also said that at the end of the event, Frydberg raised his voice and threatened to throw Hip-Hop for Change’s chairs into the street if they didn’t get them out that night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s seeing the demographic of the crowd, I think, that we’re bringing in,” recalled Sasz, noting that most attendees of the Hip-Hop for Change event were Black and brown, while Frydberg is white. “And I think that’s where we started to feel racist behavior.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking to KQED, Frydberg denied asking Madrid to move, but also asserted his right to maintain a service offered at his club. He denied getting aggressive about the chairs, and said that he asked politely for Hip-Hop for Change to remove them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, Frydberg declined to answer questions about the “End White Supremacy” T-shirts. Shortly after Hip-Hop for Change posted their call for a boycott of Continental Club on Instagram on May 5, the club’s account commented that Hip-Hop for Change is now “bashing us because they didn’t like someone who’s only guilty of being white.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13913121\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13913121\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/MHP_6724-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/MHP_6724-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/MHP_6724-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/MHP_6724-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/MHP_6724-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/MHP_6724.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A speaker panel at Hip-Hop for Change’s Women’s Empowerment Summit at Continental Club on March 12, 2022. \u003ccite>(Jane Vick)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But in a follow-up conversation, Frydberg’s tone changed from defensive to apologetic, and he clarified that he agrees with the “End White Supremacy” message. He only wanted the T-shirts taken down from the raised display, he said, out of fear of making the club a target for angry white supremacists. (Sasz said he understood Frydberg to be asking him to not sell the T-shirt at all.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can understand how it might have been misconstrued as supporting white supremacy, but like, I’m Jewish,” Frydberg said, adding, “I clearly understand that I made the wrong decision. And it was hurtful in the moment, but it was not in any way with any intention to not support the cause.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He described Hip-Hop for Change’s boycott on Instagram as “a piling-on campaign of white supremacy and racism, when that’s not the truth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='large' citation='Ron Frydberg, Continental Club']‘I clearly understand that I made the wrong decision. And it was hurtful in the moment, but it was not in any way with any intention to not support [Hip-Hop for Change’s] cause.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Former Bar Manager Speaks Out\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Dennise Acio, the former Continental Club bar manager, said Hip-Hop for Change’s Women’s Empowerment Summit wasn’t the first time people felt unsafe or uncomfortable at the venue because of Frydberg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Acio, Frydberg regularly made sexualized comments about female staff members. “He has said many times that he wants to hire bartenders that are sexy, and [he would] point certain people out. ‘Oh, like her,’” Acio said. “I had this one guy I hired. He’s great, he’s dependable. He’s always there and doing a good job. And yet [Ron] even pointed him out like, ‘Not like him.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked whether he had ever made comments sexualizing employees, Frydberg changed the subject and said Acio was the one who was in charge of hiring. (Acio said all hiring decisions had to go through Frydberg.) Frydberg said that his staff represents the community, and includes many queer women of color. “We’re committed to having a diverse staff that represents our community in all shapes and forms and sizes, and so on and so forth,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was “using us as a face,” Acio said. “But really what he represented wasn’t the community at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13913122\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13913122\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/continental-club-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/continental-club-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/continental-club-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/continental-club-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/continental-club-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/continental-club-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/continental-club-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of the Continental Club. \u003ccite>(Nastia Voynovskaya)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘These are Dog-Whistle Words’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In January, Acio pitched Frydberg on the Continental Club hosting The Sweet Spot, a new party she’d created in collaboration with her partner, DJ and promoter Lady Ryan. Lady Ryan said that Frydberg’s former booking manager, Mark Sandstorm, relayed a flat-rate offer of $400, which she considered insultingly low. (“I’ve never seen a situation where a venue offers a promoter $400 to bring in their entire community,” Lady Ryan said, noting that the Continental Club is in a residential area without much foot traffic.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After negotiations, the two agreed that Lady Ryan and Acio would keep the door proceeds, and the venue would keep bar sales. The first Sweet Spot party on March 6 was a success. Despite the tensions with Frydberg, Acio and Lady Ryan decided to throw another one on April 3.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the second party ended, one of the bartenders poured the staff a round of after-shift drinks, a common practice in the bar industry. In a follow-up conversation, Frydberg told Acio that the drinks constituted stealing, and demanded she pay him back. Frydberg said he had a strict rule against shift drinks; Acio and Sandstorm, the former booking manager, said there was no clear, consistent policy at the time. “He picked and chose what it was,” Acio said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was making comments like, for our community to claim that they’re so woke and … that they support one another, ‘And here you guys are stealing from me,’” Acio said. “I’m like, ‘We weren’t stealing from you.’ We worked our asses off and we had a couple of drinks after work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Using the word ‘thieves,’ using the word ‘woke.’ You know, these are kind of like dog-whistle words,” Lady Ryan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To my understanding, the staff—Dennise included, Lady Ryan—decided to throw themselves a party after the event,” Frydberg said. “I felt very disrespected as, you know, as a business, that the bar manager is allowing people to effectively steal from the company,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Acio said there was no afterparty: the staff was still closing the club down and counting tips when the shots were poured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I reprimanded her, and that’s when the attacks started happening with Dennise and Lady Ryan,” said Frydberg, referring to Acio and Lady Ryan’s Instagram story posts detailing their complaints about the club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13913123\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13913123\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/1Y3A0026-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/1Y3A0026-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/1Y3A0026-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/1Y3A0026-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/1Y3A0026-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/1Y3A0026-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/1Y3A0026.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The crowd at The Sweet Spot party at Continental Club on April 3. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of The Sweet Spot and Stephen Flynn Photography)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘That’s Our Labor’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Acio and Frydberg’s working relationship deteriorated, and she quit at the end of April. But even afterward, the Continental Club’s Instagram posted photos from The Sweet Spot to advertise their rooftop bar. “That’s our vibe, that’s our energy, that’s our labor that we put into that. And they’re capitalizing off of it,” Ryan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After KQED interviewed Sasz and Frydberg about the allegations last week, Sasz got a call from DJ Sam Mack, the grandson of Curtis Christy, who co-founded the original Continental Club—first as a restaurant in 1947 and then as an expanded nightclub in 1961. Sasz said that Mack told him he’d “see [him] in the streets” if he continued to speak out about the Continental Club, which Sasz took as a threat. Sasz showed KQED screenshots of text messages from Mack telling him to “shut the fuck up about white supremacy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reached by KQED, Mack denied saying he would “see [Sasz] in the streets,” and insisted he had called to invite Sasz to a restorative justice circle to resolve the conflict. “If he took that as violence, then that’s [on] him,” said Mack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/CdZLOdYLy8d/\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sasz said that despite the perceived threat, Hip-Hop for Change is proceeding with the boycott. “Really we’re just trying to educate our community so folks don’t have the same experience we had,” he said, characterizing the night as “probably the worst venue experience I’ve ever had.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frydberg, meanwhile, said he wants to make amends and is open to meeting with Hip-Hop for Change on their terms. On May 10, he posted an apology on Instagram. “I understand that they’re hurt. And however we can rectify this, we are willing to make any commitment,” said Frydberg. “Like, if they want me to take a diversity training, I’m happy to do that. I mean, there’s nothing I won’t do to rectify this.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Speaking out against racism isn’t controversial in Oakland, a city known nationwide for its activism. At least that’s what Eric Sasz of Hip-Hop For Change assumed when his nonprofit rented the \u003ca href=\"https://www.continentalcluboakland.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Continental Club\u003c/a> for its free, all ages Women’s Empowerment Summit on March 12.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Originally opened in 1961, the Continental Club hosted blues and R&B artists for decades as part of West Oakland’s once-thriving circuit of Black nightclubs. The club reopened in its current form in January, and features a Black Panther Party-themed mural on its rooftop in homage to its history. That’s why Sasz was taken aback when Ron Frydberg, the owner of the venue, asked him to take down T-shirts with the slogan “End White Supremacy” from his merch table, Sasz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was like, ‘There’s no way.’ I think this is our best-selling T-shirt,” recalled Sasz, who serves as Hip-Hop for Change’s event director. “This is what we do as an organization: fight racism and do social justice work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Sasz pushed back, he said, Frydberg backed down. But the T-shirt incident was the first in a series of discriminatory behaviors Sasz said he and his staff witnessed during the Hip-Hop for Change event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Hip-Hop For Change and other event organizers in Oakland are accusing Frydberg of racism, homophobia and sexism, and calling for a boycott of the Continental Club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ch2>Accusations Over the ‘F’-Word\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Another Hip-Hop for Change staffer, who spoke to KQED under the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, was working the Women’s Empowerment Summit when a colleague came to her in tears after a conversation with Frydberg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She just came up to me and she’s like, ‘He just called me the ‘f’-word,’” said the Hip-Hop for Change staffer, referring to the homophobic slur. “And she is a transgender Black woman. And I was like, ‘Wait, what? Like, he did what?’ And [Ron] was very defensive about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the Hip-Hop for Change staffer put it, after being called the slur, the transgender woman became increasingly upset, had too much to drink and had to go home in an Uber. “When we were leaving, Ron’s security team kept calling her ‘him’ and kept saying, ‘Oh, the gay boy over there’ and stuff like that,’” the staffer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sasz discussed the situation with his staff, including the person who was allegedly called the slur. Afterwards, Sasz confronted Frydberg, who denied using that language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When reached by KQED, Frydberg denied ever using the slur, and accused Sasz of changing his story. “What he told me is that he heard that somebody in my staff said that, not me specifically,” he said. “In fact, what had happened was I was coming to talk to him about a situation about his staff being drunk and belligerent, and harassing my security guards. … He couldn’t tell me who it was [that used the slur]. I talked to all of my staff. It became a big issue that night.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We go above and beyond to make sure that everybody is well respected while they’re at the club,” Frydberg added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sasz denies that he changed his story.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Guilty of Being White’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Tensions escalated as the Women’s Empowerment Summit continued. According to Sasz and several other witnesses, Frydberg and his security repeatedly asked one of Hip-Hop for Change’s artists, a new mother with two infants, to move from a booth Frydberg wanted to reserve for bottle service. The table hadn’t been sold, and neither had several others in the section that afternoon. (The artist, Gina Madrid, said she sat at the booth to move her babies away from the club’s speakers.) Sasz also said that at the end of the event, Frydberg raised his voice and threatened to throw Hip-Hop for Change’s chairs into the street if they didn’t get them out that night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s seeing the demographic of the crowd, I think, that we’re bringing in,” recalled Sasz, noting that most attendees of the Hip-Hop for Change event were Black and brown, while Frydberg is white. “And I think that’s where we started to feel racist behavior.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking to KQED, Frydberg denied asking Madrid to move, but also asserted his right to maintain a service offered at his club. He denied getting aggressive about the chairs, and said that he asked politely for Hip-Hop for Change to remove them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, Frydberg declined to answer questions about the “End White Supremacy” T-shirts. Shortly after Hip-Hop for Change posted their call for a boycott of Continental Club on Instagram on May 5, the club’s account commented that Hip-Hop for Change is now “bashing us because they didn’t like someone who’s only guilty of being white.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13913121\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13913121\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/MHP_6724-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/MHP_6724-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/MHP_6724-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/MHP_6724-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/MHP_6724-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/MHP_6724.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A speaker panel at Hip-Hop for Change’s Women’s Empowerment Summit at Continental Club on March 12, 2022. \u003ccite>(Jane Vick)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But in a follow-up conversation, Frydberg’s tone changed from defensive to apologetic, and he clarified that he agrees with the “End White Supremacy” message. He only wanted the T-shirts taken down from the raised display, he said, out of fear of making the club a target for angry white supremacists. (Sasz said he understood Frydberg to be asking him to not sell the T-shirt at all.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can understand how it might have been misconstrued as supporting white supremacy, but like, I’m Jewish,” Frydberg said, adding, “I clearly understand that I made the wrong decision. And it was hurtful in the moment, but it was not in any way with any intention to not support the cause.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He described Hip-Hop for Change’s boycott on Instagram as “a piling-on campaign of white supremacy and racism, when that’s not the truth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Former Bar Manager Speaks Out\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Dennise Acio, the former Continental Club bar manager, said Hip-Hop for Change’s Women’s Empowerment Summit wasn’t the first time people felt unsafe or uncomfortable at the venue because of Frydberg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Acio, Frydberg regularly made sexualized comments about female staff members. “He has said many times that he wants to hire bartenders that are sexy, and [he would] point certain people out. ‘Oh, like her,’” Acio said. “I had this one guy I hired. He’s great, he’s dependable. He’s always there and doing a good job. And yet [Ron] even pointed him out like, ‘Not like him.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked whether he had ever made comments sexualizing employees, Frydberg changed the subject and said Acio was the one who was in charge of hiring. (Acio said all hiring decisions had to go through Frydberg.) Frydberg said that his staff represents the community, and includes many queer women of color. “We’re committed to having a diverse staff that represents our community in all shapes and forms and sizes, and so on and so forth,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was “using us as a face,” Acio said. “But really what he represented wasn’t the community at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13913122\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13913122\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/continental-club-1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/continental-club-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/continental-club-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/continental-club-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/continental-club-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/continental-club-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/continental-club-1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of the Continental Club. \u003ccite>(Nastia Voynovskaya)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘These are Dog-Whistle Words’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In January, Acio pitched Frydberg on the Continental Club hosting The Sweet Spot, a new party she’d created in collaboration with her partner, DJ and promoter Lady Ryan. Lady Ryan said that Frydberg’s former booking manager, Mark Sandstorm, relayed a flat-rate offer of $400, which she considered insultingly low. (“I’ve never seen a situation where a venue offers a promoter $400 to bring in their entire community,” Lady Ryan said, noting that the Continental Club is in a residential area without much foot traffic.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After negotiations, the two agreed that Lady Ryan and Acio would keep the door proceeds, and the venue would keep bar sales. The first Sweet Spot party on March 6 was a success. Despite the tensions with Frydberg, Acio and Lady Ryan decided to throw another one on April 3.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the second party ended, one of the bartenders poured the staff a round of after-shift drinks, a common practice in the bar industry. In a follow-up conversation, Frydberg told Acio that the drinks constituted stealing, and demanded she pay him back. Frydberg said he had a strict rule against shift drinks; Acio and Sandstorm, the former booking manager, said there was no clear, consistent policy at the time. “He picked and chose what it was,” Acio said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was making comments like, for our community to claim that they’re so woke and … that they support one another, ‘And here you guys are stealing from me,’” Acio said. “I’m like, ‘We weren’t stealing from you.’ We worked our asses off and we had a couple of drinks after work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Using the word ‘thieves,’ using the word ‘woke.’ You know, these are kind of like dog-whistle words,” Lady Ryan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To my understanding, the staff—Dennise included, Lady Ryan—decided to throw themselves a party after the event,” Frydberg said. “I felt very disrespected as, you know, as a business, that the bar manager is allowing people to effectively steal from the company,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Acio said there was no afterparty: the staff was still closing the club down and counting tips when the shots were poured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I reprimanded her, and that’s when the attacks started happening with Dennise and Lady Ryan,” said Frydberg, referring to Acio and Lady Ryan’s Instagram story posts detailing their complaints about the club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13913123\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13913123\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/1Y3A0026-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/1Y3A0026-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/1Y3A0026-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/1Y3A0026-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/1Y3A0026-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/1Y3A0026-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/1Y3A0026.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The crowd at The Sweet Spot party at Continental Club on April 3. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of The Sweet Spot and Stephen Flynn Photography)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘That’s Our Labor’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Acio and Frydberg’s working relationship deteriorated, and she quit at the end of April. But even afterward, the Continental Club’s Instagram posted photos from The Sweet Spot to advertise their rooftop bar. “That’s our vibe, that’s our energy, that’s our labor that we put into that. And they’re capitalizing off of it,” Ryan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After KQED interviewed Sasz and Frydberg about the allegations last week, Sasz got a call from DJ Sam Mack, the grandson of Curtis Christy, who co-founded the original Continental Club—first as a restaurant in 1947 and then as an expanded nightclub in 1961. Sasz said that Mack told him he’d “see [him] in the streets” if he continued to speak out about the Continental Club, which Sasz took as a threat. Sasz showed KQED screenshots of text messages from Mack telling him to “shut the fuck up about white supremacy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reached by KQED, Mack denied saying he would “see [Sasz] in the streets,” and insisted he had called to invite Sasz to a restorative justice circle to resolve the conflict. “If he took that as violence, then that’s [on] him,” said Mack.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Sasz said that despite the perceived threat, Hip-Hop for Change is proceeding with the boycott. “Really we’re just trying to educate our community so folks don’t have the same experience we had,” he said, characterizing the night as “probably the worst venue experience I’ve ever had.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frydberg, meanwhile, said he wants to make amends and is open to meeting with Hip-Hop for Change on their terms. On May 10, he posted an apology on Instagram. “I understand that they’re hurt. And however we can rectify this, we are willing to make any commitment,” said Frydberg. “Like, if they want me to take a diversity training, I’m happy to do that. I mean, there’s nothing I won’t do to rectify this.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Gay4U's Closing Is Not a Goodbye: The Trans-Centric Vegan Cafe Hits the Road",
"headTitle": "Gay4U’s Closing Is Not a Goodbye: The Trans-Centric Vegan Cafe Hits the Road | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n the corner of 14th and Peralta Street in West Oakland sits \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/gay4u.biz/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gay4U\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a small, unassuming restaurant that sells kimchi chilaquiles, vegan quesabirria and other meatless wonders. But the space has grown to be more than just another vegan restaurant. The trans flag colors (light blue, white and pink) that decorate the restaurant’s facade are just one sign of how \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gay4U has made its mark on the Bay Area’s queer and trans communities of color—and in the hearts, and stomachs, of many. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, after two and a half years in West Oakland, the restaurant is closing. Or, to be more accurate, it’s hitting the road: \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gay4U will have its last day of service as a brick-and-mortar restaurant—at least for now—on Sunday, March 27. Starting in April, the business will morph into a roving pop-up that will move across the country, from city to city, at least through the end of September.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beyond its menu of vegan dishes that draw on Latinx, Asian and American comfort food flavors, Gay4U became a fixture in West Oakland by building a supportive and safe space for trans people of color. The restaurant instituted a program wherein trans people of color could always eat for free. It set up a bright pink community fridge right outside to provide for those experiencing food and housing insecurity. Every month, it hosts a local market called “GayMart” that holds space for LGBTQ+ artists, live music and more. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All this has made the restaurant a go-to for queer and trans folks in the area.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13911179\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13911179\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-scaled.jpg\" alt='A display inside Gay4U with blocks that read \"Black Trans Lives Matter.\"' width=\"2560\" height=\"2007\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-800x627.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-1020x800.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-160x125.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-768x602.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-1536x1204.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-2048x1605.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-1920x1505.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The West Oakland restaurant has been a haven for queer and trans communities of color. \u003ccite>(Paloma Cortes)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The nurturer behind all of this is Ginger Espice, a trans femme woman who moved to the Bay Area from San Diego in their early 20s, launching a series of pop-ups to show off their vegan tamales and other vegetable-based goodies. In 2009, Espice (who was known as Sofi Peligras at the time) and their then-partner started Hella Vegan Eats, a food truck in Oakland’s Uptown Arts District. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Once I moved to the Bay Area, I felt really allotted to be myself, and a lot of that had to do with starting Hella Vegan Eats, selling food on the streets, and all the fun vegan foods that people [are] recognizing me for,” Espice says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For its last three years of business, the popular food truck operated out of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ccwbarandrestaurant/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Classic Cars West\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, but \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2019/2/7/18215793/hella-vegan-eats-closing-displaced-oakland\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">it was asked to leave\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in early 2019. Espice’s relationship with their partner ended, too, not long after that. So, Espice needed to figure out a new plan.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I was like, ‘I’m not coming correct, I’m not being myself as I need to be and that just needs to come out,’ [so] I agreed with myself that it was okay to be myself,” Espice says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The end result of this journey of self-acceptance was Gay4U, which \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareabites/135485/hella-vegan-eats-is-reborn-in-oakland-as-gay-4-u\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">opened in its new West Oakland home toward the end of 2019\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, with its new trans-POC-eat-free policy in place. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/CawytdGAIcG/\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The food itself was a big attraction from the very start. “Unusual things are what’s inspiring, just trying different flavors and textures,” says Espice, who wanted the restaurant to reflect California’s rich culture of hole-in-the-wall restaurants—like doughnut shops that also sell amazing cheeseburgers or Chinese food. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gay4U’s vegan quesabirria is a nod to their parents’ roots in Tijuana, with well-spiced snow mushrooms that imitate the chewiness of meat, a crispy blue-corn tortilla, cashew-based cheese, and a cordyceps mushroom consomé on the side for dipping or sipping. The makka birria crunch wrap (think Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme) stuffs two of those crunchy quesabirria tacos into a soft flour tortilla, along with a vegan cheddar mac and cheese, and tops the whole thing off with a sprinkling of cashew-cotija cheese—a vegan take on the much-admired aged Mexican cheese. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For Espice, food is a kind of love language: “That’s just what I do. I see people and I’m like, ‘Let me make you dinner!’” But Gay4U was never solely about the food. Espice’s bigger goal was always to make queer and trans people of color feel welcomed, seen, accepted and supported. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think for me [it’s about] having a resource and a place to see the community that I want to see \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">held up and prized,” Espice explains. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Toward that end, Gay4U also hosts the aforementioned “GayMart,” which \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Espice figured would be a clever antidote to the big corporate stores like Kmart and Walmart. One Sunday a month, the restaurant converts into an outdoor lounge for the community. Queer and trans artists set up tables and clothing racks outside, selling vintage clothing, crystals, handmade candles and a plethora of other creative things. Local DJs come through with their sound equipment and vinyl collections. Other folks stop by the community fridge to enjoy some free food, or to grab the free clothing that’s available there at times. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For Noelle, a local beauty aesthetician and owner of Oakland’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/deladerma/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">De La Derma\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“GayMart feels like a once in a lifetime experience—the people are so lovely and sweet, and it’s one of my favorite places to be.” Rizza, a tooth gem artist in Alameda who runs \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/gemsbytsg/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Topshelfgold\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, says, “I’ve vended for three years now, and there’s no other space that has been provided to me like Ginger’s space—it feels so much more supportive. There’s no words to express how much I love Ginger and how they support the queer community.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13911181\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13911181\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-scaled.jpg\" alt='Artists and other creatives set up booths on the sidewalk for the outdoor market known as \"GayMart.\"' width=\"2560\" height=\"1865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-800x583.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-1020x743.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-160x117.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-768x559.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-1536x1119.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-2048x1492.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-1920x1399.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One Sunday a month, the sidewalk outside Gay4U turns into a sprawling outdoor market known as “GayMart.” \u003ccite>(Paloma Cortes)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the past year, Espice has joined forces with Oakland-based mutual aid and QTIBIPOC artists collective \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://threadsradio.com/introducing-we-are-the-ones/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We Are The Ones\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/visibilit_/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Visibilit_\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a trans migrant-focused fundraising platform, to host dedicated trans skate parties. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/th3mb0ys/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ThemBoys\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a Bay Area skate crew, provides skate rentals, helping attendees prep for an evening dedicated to skating, rolling and bouncing. Of course, Gay4U provides the food.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The final West Oakland iteration of the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CbGXdv3PimU/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">skate party\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, at least for now, will take place at Defremery Skate Park on March 26, in honor of the Transgender Day of Visibility. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='bayareabites_135485,arts_13910410,arts_13910234']Espice hopes to bring the skate parties with them on the road, but the challenges of the pandemic made them realize that they needed to bring this chapter of their business to a close. They spent the last four years working over 100 hours a week to serve the community, build their brand and keep Gay4U afloat. But in the end, it all proved to be too much. After selling most of their belongings to pay the lease and not receiving any PPE grants, Espice decided they needed to take a break. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The stresses of running a business on my own started weighing on me,” Espice says. The pop-up tour would provide a different set of opportunities. Espice plans to be on the road for six months, starting with a two-month stint at the queer, Chinanx taqueria \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mistaconespdx/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mis Tacones\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in Portland, Oregon. The other stops have yet to be announced, but Espice plans to end the tour in New York City. And trans people of color will eat for free everywhere Gay4U goes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As for the restaurant’s current West Oakland location, Espice wanted to be sure that the kitchen went to another vegan POC-owned business. Starting in April, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.dontbechickn.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Don’t Be Chiki’n\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a Black woman-owned food truck serving vegan soul food classics like fried chicken, mac and cheese, beignets and milkshakes, will be moving in.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With many projects in the works dedicated to what they call the “gay agenda,” Espice promises that Gay4U is just getting started. During the next six months, you can also expect Espice to co-host a podcast focused on queer and trans artists, sell hand-designed clothing made in collaboration with their sibling, and much more. They’re currently working on popularizing the idea of “Trans Tuesday”—a day of the week when people are encouraged to be a little different. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In other words, Espice doesn’t believe this is a goodbye to the Bay Area from Gay4U, but a see-you-later.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I am someone who believes this is all a lucid dream, and I want to express that I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Black trans femmes,” Espice says. “I want to always show my love and admiration for the culture that blossomed and inspired me.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gay4U’s last day of business is Sunday, March 27—it will be open from 10am to 5pm at 1327 Peralta St. in Oakland. The Trans Skate Day will take place on Saturday, March 26, 2–6 pm, at the Defremery Town Park Skate Park.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A haven for queer and trans communities of color, the West Oakland restaurant embarks on a nationwide pop-up tour.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">O\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>n the corner of 14th and Peralta Street in West Oakland sits \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/gay4u.biz/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gay4U\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a small, unassuming restaurant that sells kimchi chilaquiles, vegan quesabirria and other meatless wonders. But the space has grown to be more than just another vegan restaurant. The trans flag colors (light blue, white and pink) that decorate the restaurant’s facade are just one sign of how \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gay4U has made its mark on the Bay Area’s queer and trans communities of color—and in the hearts, and stomachs, of many. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, after two and a half years in West Oakland, the restaurant is closing. Or, to be more accurate, it’s hitting the road: \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gay4U will have its last day of service as a brick-and-mortar restaurant—at least for now—on Sunday, March 27. Starting in April, the business will morph into a roving pop-up that will move across the country, from city to city, at least through the end of September.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beyond its menu of vegan dishes that draw on Latinx, Asian and American comfort food flavors, Gay4U became a fixture in West Oakland by building a supportive and safe space for trans people of color. The restaurant instituted a program wherein trans people of color could always eat for free. It set up a bright pink community fridge right outside to provide for those experiencing food and housing insecurity. Every month, it hosts a local market called “GayMart” that holds space for LGBTQ+ artists, live music and more. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All this has made the restaurant a go-to for queer and trans folks in the area.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13911179\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13911179\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-scaled.jpg\" alt='A display inside Gay4U with blocks that read \"Black Trans Lives Matter.\"' width=\"2560\" height=\"2007\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-800x627.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-1020x800.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-160x125.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-768x602.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-1536x1204.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-2048x1605.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_blacktranslives-1920x1505.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The West Oakland restaurant has been a haven for queer and trans communities of color. \u003ccite>(Paloma Cortes)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The nurturer behind all of this is Ginger Espice, a trans femme woman who moved to the Bay Area from San Diego in their early 20s, launching a series of pop-ups to show off their vegan tamales and other vegetable-based goodies. In 2009, Espice (who was known as Sofi Peligras at the time) and their then-partner started Hella Vegan Eats, a food truck in Oakland’s Uptown Arts District. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Once I moved to the Bay Area, I felt really allotted to be myself, and a lot of that had to do with starting Hella Vegan Eats, selling food on the streets, and all the fun vegan foods that people [are] recognizing me for,” Espice says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For its last three years of business, the popular food truck operated out of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ccwbarandrestaurant/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Classic Cars West\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, but \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2019/2/7/18215793/hella-vegan-eats-closing-displaced-oakland\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">it was asked to leave\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in early 2019. Espice’s relationship with their partner ended, too, not long after that. So, Espice needed to figure out a new plan.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I was like, ‘I’m not coming correct, I’m not being myself as I need to be and that just needs to come out,’ [so] I agreed with myself that it was okay to be myself,” Espice says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The end result of this journey of self-acceptance was Gay4U, which \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareabites/135485/hella-vegan-eats-is-reborn-in-oakland-as-gay-4-u\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">opened in its new West Oakland home toward the end of 2019\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, with its new trans-POC-eat-free policy in place. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The food itself was a big attraction from the very start. “Unusual things are what’s inspiring, just trying different flavors and textures,” says Espice, who wanted the restaurant to reflect California’s rich culture of hole-in-the-wall restaurants—like doughnut shops that also sell amazing cheeseburgers or Chinese food. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gay4U’s vegan quesabirria is a nod to their parents’ roots in Tijuana, with well-spiced snow mushrooms that imitate the chewiness of meat, a crispy blue-corn tortilla, cashew-based cheese, and a cordyceps mushroom consomé on the side for dipping or sipping. The makka birria crunch wrap (think Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme) stuffs two of those crunchy quesabirria tacos into a soft flour tortilla, along with a vegan cheddar mac and cheese, and tops the whole thing off with a sprinkling of cashew-cotija cheese—a vegan take on the much-admired aged Mexican cheese. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For Espice, food is a kind of love language: “That’s just what I do. I see people and I’m like, ‘Let me make you dinner!’” But Gay4U was never solely about the food. Espice’s bigger goal was always to make queer and trans people of color feel welcomed, seen, accepted and supported. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I think for me [it’s about] having a resource and a place to see the community that I want to see \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">held up and prized,” Espice explains. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Toward that end, Gay4U also hosts the aforementioned “GayMart,” which \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Espice figured would be a clever antidote to the big corporate stores like Kmart and Walmart. One Sunday a month, the restaurant converts into an outdoor lounge for the community. Queer and trans artists set up tables and clothing racks outside, selling vintage clothing, crystals, handmade candles and a plethora of other creative things. Local DJs come through with their sound equipment and vinyl collections. Other folks stop by the community fridge to enjoy some free food, or to grab the free clothing that’s available there at times. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For Noelle, a local beauty aesthetician and owner of Oakland’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/deladerma/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">De La Derma\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“GayMart feels like a once in a lifetime experience—the people are so lovely and sweet, and it’s one of my favorite places to be.” Rizza, a tooth gem artist in Alameda who runs \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/gemsbytsg/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Topshelfgold\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, says, “I’ve vended for three years now, and there’s no other space that has been provided to me like Ginger’s space—it feels so much more supportive. There’s no words to express how much I love Ginger and how they support the queer community.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13911181\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13911181\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-scaled.jpg\" alt='Artists and other creatives set up booths on the sidewalk for the outdoor market known as \"GayMart.\"' width=\"2560\" height=\"1865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-800x583.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-1020x743.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-160x117.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-768x559.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-1536x1119.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-2048x1492.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/gay4u_gaymart-1920x1399.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One Sunday a month, the sidewalk outside Gay4U turns into a sprawling outdoor market known as “GayMart.” \u003ccite>(Paloma Cortes)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the past year, Espice has joined forces with Oakland-based mutual aid and QTIBIPOC artists collective \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://threadsradio.com/introducing-we-are-the-ones/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We Are The Ones\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/visibilit_/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Visibilit_\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a trans migrant-focused fundraising platform, to host dedicated trans skate parties. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/th3mb0ys/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ThemBoys\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a Bay Area skate crew, provides skate rentals, helping attendees prep for an evening dedicated to skating, rolling and bouncing. Of course, Gay4U provides the food.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The final West Oakland iteration of the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CbGXdv3PimU/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">skate party\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, at least for now, will take place at Defremery Skate Park on March 26, in honor of the Transgender Day of Visibility. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Espice hopes to bring the skate parties with them on the road, but the challenges of the pandemic made them realize that they needed to bring this chapter of their business to a close. They spent the last four years working over 100 hours a week to serve the community, build their brand and keep Gay4U afloat. But in the end, it all proved to be too much. After selling most of their belongings to pay the lease and not receiving any PPE grants, Espice decided they needed to take a break. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The stresses of running a business on my own started weighing on me,” Espice says. The pop-up tour would provide a different set of opportunities. Espice plans to be on the road for six months, starting with a two-month stint at the queer, Chinanx taqueria \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mistaconespdx/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mis Tacones\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in Portland, Oregon. The other stops have yet to be announced, but Espice plans to end the tour in New York City. And trans people of color will eat for free everywhere Gay4U goes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As for the restaurant’s current West Oakland location, Espice wanted to be sure that the kitchen went to another vegan POC-owned business. Starting in April, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.dontbechickn.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Don’t Be Chiki’n\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a Black woman-owned food truck serving vegan soul food classics like fried chicken, mac and cheese, beignets and milkshakes, will be moving in.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With many projects in the works dedicated to what they call the “gay agenda,” Espice promises that Gay4U is just getting started. During the next six months, you can also expect Espice to co-host a podcast focused on queer and trans artists, sell hand-designed clothing made in collaboration with their sibling, and much more. They’re currently working on popularizing the idea of “Trans Tuesday”—a day of the week when people are encouraged to be a little different. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In other words, Espice doesn’t believe this is a goodbye to the Bay Area from Gay4U, but a see-you-later.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I am someone who believes this is all a lucid dream, and I want to express that I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Black trans femmes,” Espice says. “I want to always show my love and admiration for the culture that blossomed and inspired me.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gay4U’s last day of business is Sunday, March 27—it will be open from 10am to 5pm at 1327 Peralta St. in Oakland. The Trans Skate Day will take place on Saturday, March 26, 2–6 pm, at the Defremery Town Park Skate Park.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Fantastic Negrito’s Record Label Cooks Up Food-Filled Event to Support Oakland Youth",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/10384842/oaklands-own-fantastic-negrito-wins-npr-tiny-desk-concert-contest\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oakland musician Fantastic Negrito\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a.k.a. Xavier Dphrepaulezz, started his new independent record label \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.storefrontrecords.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Storefront Records\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, he talked about how he wanted its West Oakland home base to be \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.storefrontrecords.com/crowdfunding\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a resource for the local community\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. What better way to kick off that effort than by hosting free outdoor events in the building’s courtyard and parking lot at the corner of 34th Street and San Pablo Avenue?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So was born Storefront Market, a community-minded event series that takes place on the last Saturday afternoon of every month. Each iteration of the market has its own theme (say, a street food fair or a vinyl swap meet) and live music lineup—and, not for nothing, there’s always an abundance of tasty and reasonably priced food available for purchase. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The events are all meant to be family-friendly, but the edition coming up this Saturday, July 31, is \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">especially \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">focused on food, music and activities to appeal to kids. Fittingly, it’s called the Fountain of Youth Festival.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13895386']Adu Abraham, the event’s organizer, says it’s important to note that the festival’s immediate vicinity in West Oakland is largely a food desert. And there aren’t many other folks in the neighborhood putting together free events like this that pull in vendors from all over Oakland. “It’s welcoming enough that people feel comfortable to bring their kids or their dogs,” she says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As for the youth focus of Saturday’s event, it isn’t just a matter of setting up a crafts table or having someone in clown makeup tie animal balloons—not that there’s anything wrong with those things. (Indeed, the Fountain of Youth Festival will have a few hands-on activities like a drum workshop.) \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900456\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 828px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13900456\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/storefront-market_drums.jpg\" alt=\"A young child tries playing African drums at an outdoor market.\" width=\"828\" height=\"707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/storefront-market_drums.jpg 828w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/storefront-market_drums-800x683.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/storefront-market_drums-160x137.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/storefront-market_drums-768x656.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 828px) 100vw, 828px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A child plays a traditional drum at a previous Storefront Market event. \u003ccite>(Cheryl Alterman)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the biggest focus will be on providing opportunities for young people in Oakland to build a better future for themselves. In short, Abraham says, “the goal is to encourage financial literacy among the youth.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Toward that end, the majority of the vendors themselves will be teenagers, selling handmade earrings, second-hand clothing, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.crownbizoakland.com/about-us\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jean-Michel Basquiat–inspired hats\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and more. Food-wise, the headliners include a handful of talented young bakers from Oakland, including \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.yahshibakes.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yahshi Bakes\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, run by a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/for-young-bakers-brick-and-mortars-are-no-longer-necessary-2-1/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">former Food Network \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kids Baking Championship\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> runner-up\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CPhJ4mdhrW0/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Culinary Kids\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which specializes in lemon bars. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No one would fault you for assembling an entire meal of those sweet treats, but for visitors looking for something more savory, the market has also brought in a couple of (grownup-run) ringers with cult followings among East Bay food lovers: Dela Curo will be selling its popular \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/10/7/21504224/dela-curo-japanese-black-curry-b-dama-chikara-ono\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Japanese black curry\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/12/2/21754408/sundo-japanese-fruit-sandwiches-milk-bread-choujuku-pan-chikara-ono-b-dama\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">milk bread fruit sandwiches\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. And barbecue specialist \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/eastoaklandsmoke/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">MexiQ\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> will sling its signature Mexican fusion smoked chicken and ribs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s free!” Abraham says of the event. “We’re here for the community to come through.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.storefrontrecords.com/storefront-market\">Storefront Market’s events\u003c/a> are held outside Storefront Records, at 3431 San Pablo Avenue, on the last Saturday of the month from noon–5pm. This month’s kid-focused Fountain of Youth Festival edition takes place on July 31.\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Masks will be required for unvaccinated guests.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/10384842/oaklands-own-fantastic-negrito-wins-npr-tiny-desk-concert-contest\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oakland musician Fantastic Negrito\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a.k.a. Xavier Dphrepaulezz, started his new independent record label \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.storefrontrecords.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Storefront Records\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, he talked about how he wanted its West Oakland home base to be \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.storefrontrecords.com/crowdfunding\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a resource for the local community\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. What better way to kick off that effort than by hosting free outdoor events in the building’s courtyard and parking lot at the corner of 34th Street and San Pablo Avenue?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So was born Storefront Market, a community-minded event series that takes place on the last Saturday afternoon of every month. Each iteration of the market has its own theme (say, a street food fair or a vinyl swap meet) and live music lineup—and, not for nothing, there’s always an abundance of tasty and reasonably priced food available for purchase. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The events are all meant to be family-friendly, but the edition coming up this Saturday, July 31, is \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">especially \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">focused on food, music and activities to appeal to kids. Fittingly, it’s called the Fountain of Youth Festival.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Adu Abraham, the event’s organizer, says it’s important to note that the festival’s immediate vicinity in West Oakland is largely a food desert. And there aren’t many other folks in the neighborhood putting together free events like this that pull in vendors from all over Oakland. “It’s welcoming enough that people feel comfortable to bring their kids or their dogs,” she says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As for the youth focus of Saturday’s event, it isn’t just a matter of setting up a crafts table or having someone in clown makeup tie animal balloons—not that there’s anything wrong with those things. (Indeed, the Fountain of Youth Festival will have a few hands-on activities like a drum workshop.) \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13900456\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 828px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13900456\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/storefront-market_drums.jpg\" alt=\"A young child tries playing African drums at an outdoor market.\" width=\"828\" height=\"707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/storefront-market_drums.jpg 828w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/storefront-market_drums-800x683.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/storefront-market_drums-160x137.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/storefront-market_drums-768x656.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 828px) 100vw, 828px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A child plays a traditional drum at a previous Storefront Market event. \u003ccite>(Cheryl Alterman)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the biggest focus will be on providing opportunities for young people in Oakland to build a better future for themselves. In short, Abraham says, “the goal is to encourage financial literacy among the youth.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Toward that end, the majority of the vendors themselves will be teenagers, selling handmade earrings, second-hand clothing, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.crownbizoakland.com/about-us\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jean-Michel Basquiat–inspired hats\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and more. Food-wise, the headliners include a handful of talented young bakers from Oakland, including \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.yahshibakes.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yahshi Bakes\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, run by a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/for-young-bakers-brick-and-mortars-are-no-longer-necessary-2-1/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">former Food Network \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kids Baking Championship\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> runner-up\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CPhJ4mdhrW0/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Culinary Kids\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which specializes in lemon bars. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No one would fault you for assembling an entire meal of those sweet treats, but for visitors looking for something more savory, the market has also brought in a couple of (grownup-run) ringers with cult followings among East Bay food lovers: Dela Curo will be selling its popular \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/10/7/21504224/dela-curo-japanese-black-curry-b-dama-chikara-ono\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Japanese black curry\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/12/2/21754408/sundo-japanese-fruit-sandwiches-milk-bread-choujuku-pan-chikara-ono-b-dama\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">milk bread fruit sandwiches\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. And barbecue specialist \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/eastoaklandsmoke/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">MexiQ\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> will sling its signature Mexican fusion smoked chicken and ribs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s free!” Abraham says of the event. “We’re here for the community to come through.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.storefrontrecords.com/storefront-market\">Storefront Market’s events\u003c/a> are held outside Storefront Records, at 3431 San Pablo Avenue, on the last Saturday of the month from noon–5pm. This month’s kid-focused Fountain of Youth Festival edition takes place on July 31.\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Masks will be required for unvaccinated guests.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jollof rice might be West Africa’s most famous dish—the smoky, spicy, tomato-tinged pride and joy of countless households across Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. In the Bay Area, however, the dish is still a relative rarity. So when a new Nigerian takeout spot called \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.jollyjollyllc.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jolly-Jolly Coffee & Kitchen\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> opened in West Oakland last month, it was happy news for jollof rice lovers across the Bay—and, really, for anyone who appreciates well-spiced food. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Located in a former pupusa shop across the street from the West Oakland BART station, Jolly-Jolly specializes in what chef-owner Jahswill Ukagumaoha describes as street foods. These were the kinds of inexpensive dishes that Ukagumaoha survived on when he was a university student in Nigeria. He serves a fiery suya chicken skewer that he bakes in the oven. A breakfast plate features Indomie, Nigeria’s most popular brand of instant noodle. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13896073\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13896073\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Overhead view of jollof Indomie: Indomie instant noodles tossed with vegetables and topped with plantains and scrambled egg\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Indomie jollof: a classic breakfast for thrifty Nigerian university students. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the star of the menu is that orange-tinted jollof rice, which is available in several different configurations, topped with oxtails or stewed goat meat or even kale. It’s a family recipe, passed down from the chef’s mother. (As Ukagumaoha quips, “Who would teach a male child how to cook if not your mother?”) In fact, the chef had been making jollof for years, but he says it never tasted quite right until recently, when his mother divulged her secret ingredient. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='bayareabites_135791' label='More Jollof Rice']Of course, Ukagumaoha won’t say what that ingredient is. But the results speak for themselves: His jollof is packed with umami and fiery enough to make you break a sweat. It’s nearly impossible to stop eating. Of particular note is an extra-savory version that’s topped with kale and shrimp, both tossed in a potent shrimp-based sauce—an original creation, Ukagumaoha says, that adds a little bit of California flair to the traditional party dish.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ukagumaoha helped run a small restaurant during his university days in Nsukka, Nigeria. After moving to the Bay Area in 2014, he worked mostly in the nonprofit sector for various housing programs. During the pandemic, however, after other job contracts had run their course, Ukagumaoha started thinking seriously about starting a food business, and started doing volunteer food prep at large corporate catering companies like Bon Appétit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13896074\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13896074\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-800x574.jpg\" alt=\"Takeout container with an akara burger: bean fritters between sliced Ghanaian bread.\" width=\"800\" height=\"574\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-800x574.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-1020x732.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-160x115.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-768x551.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-1536x1102.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-2048x1469.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-1920x1377.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The akara burger. \u003ccite>(Jolly-Jolly)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While jollof is the headliner, Jolly-Jolly serves a number of other dishes that are even harder to find in the Bay. There’s an akara burger, made up of fried bean fritters that Ukagumaoha sandwiches between slices of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CNdhw_WBeOS/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">sweet agege bread made by a local Ghanaian baker\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. And in the mornings, he cranks out orders of Indomie jollof, a staple for thrifty Nigerian university students. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My mother used to buy [Indomie instant noodles] because we were five of us all in the university at the same time,” Ukagumaoha recalls. T\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">o make his version, he tosses the noodles with diced vegetables and spices, and serves them with fried plantains and a juicy egg scramble. All of those humble constituent parts combine to make up a hearty breakfast that’s almost unreasonable in its sheer deliciousness. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the long term, Ukagumaoha says his passion lies in researching spices and their various health benefits. Eventually, he hopes, that line of inquiry will give his menu a more pan-African flavor, adding recipes from Ghana, Egypt and Cameroon. Already, he’s begun incorporating the flavors of the diaspora in dishes like his baked chicken drumsticks, whose spice rub includes Jamaican curry and Ethiopian berbere. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I want to blend all the spices together to create my own signature,” he says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jolly-Jolly is open at 1498 7th Street in West Oakland, Tuesday through Friday 9 a.m.–7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m.–8 p.m. Call in orders at 415-941-8817 (preferred) or \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.jollyjollyllc.com/order\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">order online\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Jolly-Jolly Coffee and Kitchen is serving some of the Bay Area’s most delicious Nigerian and Afro-Caribbean food.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jollof rice might be West Africa’s most famous dish—the smoky, spicy, tomato-tinged pride and joy of countless households across Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. In the Bay Area, however, the dish is still a relative rarity. So when a new Nigerian takeout spot called \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.jollyjollyllc.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jolly-Jolly Coffee & Kitchen\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> opened in West Oakland last month, it was happy news for jollof rice lovers across the Bay—and, really, for anyone who appreciates well-spiced food. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Located in a former pupusa shop across the street from the West Oakland BART station, Jolly-Jolly specializes in what chef-owner Jahswill Ukagumaoha describes as street foods. These were the kinds of inexpensive dishes that Ukagumaoha survived on when he was a university student in Nigeria. He serves a fiery suya chicken skewer that he bakes in the oven. A breakfast plate features Indomie, Nigeria’s most popular brand of instant noodle. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13896073\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13896073\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Overhead view of jollof Indomie: Indomie instant noodles tossed with vegetables and topped with plantains and scrambled egg\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_noodle-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Indomie jollof: a classic breakfast for thrifty Nigerian university students. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the star of the menu is that orange-tinted jollof rice, which is available in several different configurations, topped with oxtails or stewed goat meat or even kale. It’s a family recipe, passed down from the chef’s mother. (As Ukagumaoha quips, “Who would teach a male child how to cook if not your mother?”) In fact, the chef had been making jollof for years, but he says it never tasted quite right until recently, when his mother divulged her secret ingredient. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Of course, Ukagumaoha won’t say what that ingredient is. But the results speak for themselves: His jollof is packed with umami and fiery enough to make you break a sweat. It’s nearly impossible to stop eating. Of particular note is an extra-savory version that’s topped with kale and shrimp, both tossed in a potent shrimp-based sauce—an original creation, Ukagumaoha says, that adds a little bit of California flair to the traditional party dish.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ukagumaoha helped run a small restaurant during his university days in Nsukka, Nigeria. After moving to the Bay Area in 2014, he worked mostly in the nonprofit sector for various housing programs. During the pandemic, however, after other job contracts had run their course, Ukagumaoha started thinking seriously about starting a food business, and started doing volunteer food prep at large corporate catering companies like Bon Appétit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13896074\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13896074\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-800x574.jpg\" alt=\"Takeout container with an akara burger: bean fritters between sliced Ghanaian bread.\" width=\"800\" height=\"574\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-800x574.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-1020x732.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-160x115.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-768x551.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-1536x1102.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-2048x1469.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/Jolly-Jolly_burger-1920x1377.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The akara burger. \u003ccite>(Jolly-Jolly)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While jollof is the headliner, Jolly-Jolly serves a number of other dishes that are even harder to find in the Bay. There’s an akara burger, made up of fried bean fritters that Ukagumaoha sandwiches between slices of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CNdhw_WBeOS/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">sweet agege bread made by a local Ghanaian baker\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. And in the mornings, he cranks out orders of Indomie jollof, a staple for thrifty Nigerian university students. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My mother used to buy [Indomie instant noodles] because we were five of us all in the university at the same time,” Ukagumaoha recalls. T\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">o make his version, he tosses the noodles with diced vegetables and spices, and serves them with fried plantains and a juicy egg scramble. All of those humble constituent parts combine to make up a hearty breakfast that’s almost unreasonable in its sheer deliciousness. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the long term, Ukagumaoha says his passion lies in researching spices and their various health benefits. Eventually, he hopes, that line of inquiry will give his menu a more pan-African flavor, adding recipes from Ghana, Egypt and Cameroon. Already, he’s begun incorporating the flavors of the diaspora in dishes like his baked chicken drumsticks, whose spice rub includes Jamaican curry and Ethiopian berbere. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I want to blend all the spices together to create my own signature,” he says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jolly-Jolly is open at 1498 7th Street in West Oakland, Tuesday through Friday 9 a.m.–7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m.–8 p.m. Call in orders at 415-941-8817 (preferred) or \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.jollyjollyllc.com/order\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">order online\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "One of West Oakland’s Only Grocery Stores Is In Danger of Closing",
"headTitle": "One of West Oakland’s Only Grocery Stores Is In Danger of Closing | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even as the COVID-19 crisis has touched every conceivable corner of society this past year, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/local/305/2020/03/17/817166724/one-type-of-business-that-s-thriving-during-coronavirus-locally-owned-grocery-stores\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">at least the grocery stores have done okay\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. That’s the conventional wisdom, anyway: Every in-store shopper has experienced the long lines, has seen the shelves depleted of all-purpose flour and every last scrap of toilet paper. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">West Oakland’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.communityfoodsmarket.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Community Foods Market\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> saw the same boom in sales as every other supermarket in the early days of the first shelter-in-place order, as customers rushed to stock up on essential goods. But that initial boost proved to be short-lived, says Brahm Ahmadi, the store’s founder and CEO. By summertime, as low-income West Oakland residents were hit especially hard by the COVID-spurred economic downturn, both sales and customer traffic had plummeted. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, Community Foods Market is in danger of closing altogether, Ahmadi says. To help prevent that, the company launched a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://mailchi.mp/communityfoodsmarket/save-our-store\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Save Our Store” campaign\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> today, asking customers and supporters to sign up to become “boosters” who commit to shopping at the store, or \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://shop.communityfoodsmarket.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ordering online\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, at least once a month—and to recruit at least five other people to do the same.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Otherwise, Ahmadi says, without that significant infusion of cash, the store may be forced to close its doors altogether. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If that were to happen, it would be a big loss for West Oakland. The neighborhood has long been one of the Bay Area’s most notorious fresh food deserts— a community of 25,000 people that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11740134/full-service-grocery-store-set-to-open-in-west-oakland-food-desert\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">endured decades without a full-service grocery store\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The Community Foods Market project was \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/a-grocery-store-for-west-oakland-2-1/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">more than 15 years in the making\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">: When the market finally opened in June of 2019, it became only the second grocery store in West Oakland—by far the largest, and the only one in its immediate vicinity. (\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareabites/129251/an-oakland-community-grocery-store-feeds-its-people\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mandela Grocery\u003c/a>, a smaller grocery cooperative, is located two miles away near the West Oakland BART station.)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='news_11740134']Despite people’s perception that grocery stores have thrived through the COVID era, that hasn’t really been the case for a lot of the smaller independent grocers, Ahmadi says: “The boon of the pandemic in the grocery industry has not been evenly distributed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At Community Foods, sales basically flat-lined a few months into the pandemic. And since November, the number of customers visiting the store dropped another 28 percent, prompting the store to lay off seven full-time employees—more than a third of its staff—and reduce hours for several of the ones who remained. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The problem, Ahmadi says, is that even the initial spike in sales didn’t necessarily wind up being a net positive. Community Foods had only been open for about nine months when the pandemic hit, and, as a small, relatively new independent grocer, it didn’t have cash reserves that it could use to increase its inventory to account for the sudden demand for certain essential items. “That’s what a lot of the larger corporate retailers were able to do,” Ahmadi explains. “For example, toilet paper was one of the big ones: They could order extra pallets of toilet paper, shove them in the warehouse, wait until the shelves cleared, refill and maintain stock.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At Community Foods, once the store’s shelves were depleted during those early weeks of the pandemic, they simply never got replenished—for months on end, in some cases. And so, “customers came in, saw we didn’t have the goods, and left,” Ahmad says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13895390\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13895390\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/BrahmAhmadi-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Community Foods CEO Brahm Ahmadi poses in the produce section\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/BrahmAhmadi-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/BrahmAhmadi-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/BrahmAhmadi-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/BrahmAhmadi-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/BrahmAhmadi.jpg 1156w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community Foods Market CEO Brahm Ahmadi poses in the produce section. \u003ccite>(Community Foods Market)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Exacerbating the situation were what Ahmadi describes as the “anti-competitive” practices of the large corporate grocery chains, which strike deals with suppliers to lock down exclusive access to certain products, locking out smaller markets like Community Foods. It’s a practice that has been so pervasive during the pandemic that the National Grocers Association \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgrocers.org/news/pandemic-worsens-dominant-food-retailers-anti-competitive-tactics-against-local-independent-grocers/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">recently came out with a paper\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> condemning what \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgrocers.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/NGA-Antitrust-White-Paper25618.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">it contends are antitrust violations\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ahmadi says mid-pandemic pivots like adding online ordering, with free delivery for seniors within a three-mile radius, helped a little bit, but not nearly enough. Meanwhile, given the devastating impact that the COVID crisis has had on low-income communities of color, Ahmadi recognizes that many of the store’s regular customers in West Oakland just don’t have much money to spend. Even though Ahmadi says his store’s prices are fairly competitive with the larger grocery chains, he’s had many regulars tell him that they now take the bus to shop at Walmart or Costco. Ahmadi says they’ll tell him, “I really want to just shop with you; this is our neighborhood market” — but also, “I’m on fixed income; I really need to make it stretch.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The goal of the \u003ca href=\"https://mailchi.mp/communityfoodsmarket/save-our-store\">“booster” campaign\u003c/a> is to increase customer traffic by 100 people a day over the next 30 days. Ahmadi says the company decided to go that route instead of doing a more standard crowdfunding campaign because his hope is that private investors, who have deeper pockets, will be the ones to give Community Foods Market the large cash infusion that it needs. (There is an \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-west-oakland-food-access-during-covid19?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">active GoFundMe campaign\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, however, for supporters who live too far away from the store to shop there regularly.)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Ahmadi says it’s hard to convince big investors to provide funding during a time when the store is struggling to bring customers in the door. The hope is that the campaign will help turn that tide. In that sense, Ahmadi says, it’s helpful for boosters to shop at the store even if they can only spend $5 or $10 at a time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“That helps me go back to these potential funders and tell that story,” Ahmadi says. “The community has responded to our call. It’s rallying behind us. It’s choosing us again.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Community Foods Market was open for less than a year when the pandemic hit. Despite an initial surge in sales last March, the grocery store is now fighting for its survival.",
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"description": "Community Foods Market was open for less than a year when the pandemic hit. Despite an initial surge in sales last March, the grocery store is now fighting for its survival.",
"title": "One of West Oakland’s Only Grocery Stores Is In Danger of Closing | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even as the COVID-19 crisis has touched every conceivable corner of society this past year, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/local/305/2020/03/17/817166724/one-type-of-business-that-s-thriving-during-coronavirus-locally-owned-grocery-stores\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">at least the grocery stores have done okay\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. That’s the conventional wisdom, anyway: Every in-store shopper has experienced the long lines, has seen the shelves depleted of all-purpose flour and every last scrap of toilet paper. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">West Oakland’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.communityfoodsmarket.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Community Foods Market\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> saw the same boom in sales as every other supermarket in the early days of the first shelter-in-place order, as customers rushed to stock up on essential goods. But that initial boost proved to be short-lived, says Brahm Ahmadi, the store’s founder and CEO. By summertime, as low-income West Oakland residents were hit especially hard by the COVID-spurred economic downturn, both sales and customer traffic had plummeted. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, Community Foods Market is in danger of closing altogether, Ahmadi says. To help prevent that, the company launched a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://mailchi.mp/communityfoodsmarket/save-our-store\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Save Our Store” campaign\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> today, asking customers and supporters to sign up to become “boosters” who commit to shopping at the store, or \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://shop.communityfoodsmarket.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ordering online\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, at least once a month—and to recruit at least five other people to do the same.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Otherwise, Ahmadi says, without that significant infusion of cash, the store may be forced to close its doors altogether. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If that were to happen, it would be a big loss for West Oakland. The neighborhood has long been one of the Bay Area’s most notorious fresh food deserts— a community of 25,000 people that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11740134/full-service-grocery-store-set-to-open-in-west-oakland-food-desert\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">endured decades without a full-service grocery store\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The Community Foods Market project was \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/a-grocery-store-for-west-oakland-2-1/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">more than 15 years in the making\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">: When the market finally opened in June of 2019, it became only the second grocery store in West Oakland—by far the largest, and the only one in its immediate vicinity. (\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareabites/129251/an-oakland-community-grocery-store-feeds-its-people\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mandela Grocery\u003c/a>, a smaller grocery cooperative, is located two miles away near the West Oakland BART station.)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Despite people’s perception that grocery stores have thrived through the COVID era, that hasn’t really been the case for a lot of the smaller independent grocers, Ahmadi says: “The boon of the pandemic in the grocery industry has not been evenly distributed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At Community Foods, sales basically flat-lined a few months into the pandemic. And since November, the number of customers visiting the store dropped another 28 percent, prompting the store to lay off seven full-time employees—more than a third of its staff—and reduce hours for several of the ones who remained. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The problem, Ahmadi says, is that even the initial spike in sales didn’t necessarily wind up being a net positive. Community Foods had only been open for about nine months when the pandemic hit, and, as a small, relatively new independent grocer, it didn’t have cash reserves that it could use to increase its inventory to account for the sudden demand for certain essential items. “That’s what a lot of the larger corporate retailers were able to do,” Ahmadi explains. “For example, toilet paper was one of the big ones: They could order extra pallets of toilet paper, shove them in the warehouse, wait until the shelves cleared, refill and maintain stock.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At Community Foods, once the store’s shelves were depleted during those early weeks of the pandemic, they simply never got replenished—for months on end, in some cases. And so, “customers came in, saw we didn’t have the goods, and left,” Ahmad says. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13895390\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13895390\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/BrahmAhmadi-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Community Foods CEO Brahm Ahmadi poses in the produce section\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/BrahmAhmadi-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/BrahmAhmadi-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/BrahmAhmadi-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/BrahmAhmadi-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/BrahmAhmadi.jpg 1156w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community Foods Market CEO Brahm Ahmadi poses in the produce section. \u003ccite>(Community Foods Market)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Exacerbating the situation were what Ahmadi describes as the “anti-competitive” practices of the large corporate grocery chains, which strike deals with suppliers to lock down exclusive access to certain products, locking out smaller markets like Community Foods. It’s a practice that has been so pervasive during the pandemic that the National Grocers Association \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgrocers.org/news/pandemic-worsens-dominant-food-retailers-anti-competitive-tactics-against-local-independent-grocers/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">recently came out with a paper\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> condemning what \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgrocers.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/NGA-Antitrust-White-Paper25618.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">it contends are antitrust violations\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ahmadi says mid-pandemic pivots like adding online ordering, with free delivery for seniors within a three-mile radius, helped a little bit, but not nearly enough. Meanwhile, given the devastating impact that the COVID crisis has had on low-income communities of color, Ahmadi recognizes that many of the store’s regular customers in West Oakland just don’t have much money to spend. Even though Ahmadi says his store’s prices are fairly competitive with the larger grocery chains, he’s had many regulars tell him that they now take the bus to shop at Walmart or Costco. Ahmadi says they’ll tell him, “I really want to just shop with you; this is our neighborhood market” — but also, “I’m on fixed income; I really need to make it stretch.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The goal of the \u003ca href=\"https://mailchi.mp/communityfoodsmarket/save-our-store\">“booster” campaign\u003c/a> is to increase customer traffic by 100 people a day over the next 30 days. Ahmadi says the company decided to go that route instead of doing a more standard crowdfunding campaign because his hope is that private investors, who have deeper pockets, will be the ones to give Community Foods Market the large cash infusion that it needs. (There is an \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-west-oakland-food-access-during-covid19?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">active GoFundMe campaign\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, however, for supporters who live too far away from the store to shop there regularly.)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Ahmadi says it’s hard to convince big investors to provide funding during a time when the store is struggling to bring customers in the door. The hope is that the campaign will help turn that tide. In that sense, Ahmadi says, it’s helpful for boosters to shop at the store even if they can only spend $5 or $10 at a time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“That helps me go back to these potential funders and tell that story,” Ahmadi says. “The community has responded to our call. It’s rallying behind us. It’s choosing us again.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Flint’s, an Icon of Oakland Barbecue, Plots Return to Original Location",
"headTitle": "Flint’s, an Icon of Oakland Barbecue, Plots Return to Original Location | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The dark red barbecue sauce at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/flintsbarbecue/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flint’s Barbecue\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was deep in flavor, never too sweet. The house-made links were coarse-ground to maximize sauce absorption—the best around, according to the restaurant’s loyal fans. And by the time the restaurant closed the last of its three locations in Oakland in 2010, its legend was secure: To this day, there is no shortage of old-timers who insist that Flint’s was, without question, the greatest of all time, especially during the restaurant’s heyday in the 1970s and ’80s.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then it was gone for good—until two years ago, that is, when Crystal Martin, the granddaughter of founder Willie Flintroy, resurrected the Flint’s name with a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/flints-bbq-is-coming-back-to-the-town-1/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">series of pop-ups\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> featuring all of the original recipes. Now, Martin says she’s one step closer to realizing her ultimate dream: to reopen Flint’s as a full-fledged restaurant at one of its original locations. Specifically, she’s in negotiations to lease the old Flint’s location at 3114 San Pablo Ave. in West Oakland—the same restaurant where she helped out as a kid, peeling potatoes for the potato salad in the prep kitchen area in back. (“That’s all I could do,” Martin recalls.) \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13894445\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13894445\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/flints_crystalmartin.crop_.jpg\" alt=\"Crystal Martin stands inside her Alameda commercial kitchen space during one of her Flint's pop-ups.\" width=\"640\" height=\"908\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/flints_crystalmartin.crop_.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/flints_crystalmartin.crop_-160x227.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crystal Martin at her Alameda commercial kitchen space during one of her Flint’s pop-ups. \u003ccite>(HMTWNHERO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The building has sat empty since that particular Flint’s closed in the late ’90s. At first, the whole point of the pop-ups was to build up enough capital to try to buy the place outright, Martin says. Instead, someone else recently bought the building, and the new owner reached out to Martin to see if she’d be interested in leasing the space—the first time that’s been a viable option since the restaurant closed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s still a long way to go, however, before a reborn Flint’s restaurant becomes a reality. Martin says that in order to purchase all of the necessary kitchen equipment and to cover the first few months of rent while she gets the business off the ground, she needs to raise at least $75,000 to $100,000. She’s launched a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-move-back-to-san-pablo\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">GoFundMe campaign\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Her hope is that the legion of folks who are nostalgic for Flint’s glory years will rally together to support the effort.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Still, the very prospect of bringing Flint’s back to one of its original homes has Martin feeling excited and hopeful. When she did a walkthrough a couple of weeks ago, it was the first time she’d been back in the space since the San Pablo Avenue location closed. As soon as she walked in the door, Martin says, she was flooded with memories of the time she spent there as a kid. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Martin’s older sister, Lynette Martin, worked at the restaurant as a high school student in the late ’70s. “The first thing I remembered was looking at the brick oven,” she says. “That brought back a lot of memories.” The San Pablo Avenue location was a very plainly decorated takeout-only restaurant, Lynette recalls. The only furniture, really, was a big cooler where they kept the soda and a jukebox that was always on, playing whatever R&B songs were popular at the time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">David Peters, a long-time resident of West Oakland’s Hoover-Foster neighborhood, grew up just around the corner from the San Pablo Avenue location and was a regular customer from the time it first opened in the early ’70s, often drawing long lines that wrapped around the block. (The very first Flint’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://localwiki.org/oakland/Flint%27s_Bar-B-Q\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">opened on East 14th Street in 1968\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.) “My enduring memory is the ‘thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack’ — is them hitting the cleavers, chopping up the ribs with the cleavers on the cutting boards. That’s the enduring auditory memory of Flint’s,” Peters says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13894446\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13894446\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/FlintSlinks.Crop_.jpg\" alt=\"Two trays full of Flint's house-made links.\" width=\"800\" height=\"646\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/FlintSlinks.Crop_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/FlintSlinks.Crop_-160x129.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/FlintSlinks.Crop_-768x620.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The coarse-ground links were one of Flint’s signature items. \u003ccite>(Flint's Barbecue)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to Peters, what set Flint’s apart were those coarse-ground links, which he never found anywhere else, and of course that barbecue sauce, which he says was “just so delicious”: \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“You’d get it on your potato salad. You’d end up with a pool of it in their styrofoam to-go thing. You’d sop it up with bread. If I could have drank the stuff, it would have been fine.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These days, Peters is the project director for a forthcoming “\u003ca href=\"https://walk.ouroakland.net/tour/black-liberation-1/\">Black Liberation Walking Tour\u003c/a>” of the Hoover-Foster neighborhood—a guided walk that aims to celebrate the history, culture, and art of that particular stretch of West Oakland. One of the first stops on the tour that’s already been planned? A visit to the old Flint’s, of course.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Peters believes the restaurant’s return would mark an important turning point for the neighborhood, which in his lifetime has gone from having just four Black families living on the block to being a predominantly Black neighborhood to now, once again, only having four Black families on the block. Since Flint’s departure in the ’90s, the once-vital commercial strip on that stretch of San Pablo Avenue has never been the same.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“[The restaurant] was a source of pride for the neighborhood,” Peters says of Flint’s. “People knew where we lived. It was affirming to see this thriving Black business do so well.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the meantime, nostalgic barbecue lovers looking to get a taste of that classic Flint’s flavor will have to content themselves with Martin’s pop-ups for now, starting with a sauce sale in late April to mark the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CMi8B6Bs_TH/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">two-year anniversary of her Flint’s comeback tour\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The next full-on barbecue pop-up will probably take place sometime over the summer. And in June, Martin will host the first pop-up for her new Creole soul food business, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ladyflintscreolesoul/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lady Flint’s Creole Soul\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. All of the events will be held out of Martin’s commercial kitchen at 2400 Monarch St. in Alameda.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But if all goes well, it’s possible that by early next year, Flint’s—in all its saucy glory—will rise again.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Crystal Martin, the granddaughter of the restaurant’s founder, is raising money to reopen Flint’s Barbecue’s long-shuttered West Oakland location.",
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"description": "Crystal Martin, the granddaughter of the restaurant’s founder, is raising money to reopen Flint’s Barbecue’s long-shuttered West Oakland location.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The dark red barbecue sauce at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/flintsbarbecue/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flint’s Barbecue\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was deep in flavor, never too sweet. The house-made links were coarse-ground to maximize sauce absorption—the best around, according to the restaurant’s loyal fans. And by the time the restaurant closed the last of its three locations in Oakland in 2010, its legend was secure: To this day, there is no shortage of old-timers who insist that Flint’s was, without question, the greatest of all time, especially during the restaurant’s heyday in the 1970s and ’80s.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then it was gone for good—until two years ago, that is, when Crystal Martin, the granddaughter of founder Willie Flintroy, resurrected the Flint’s name with a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/flints-bbq-is-coming-back-to-the-town-1/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">series of pop-ups\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> featuring all of the original recipes. Now, Martin says she’s one step closer to realizing her ultimate dream: to reopen Flint’s as a full-fledged restaurant at one of its original locations. Specifically, she’s in negotiations to lease the old Flint’s location at 3114 San Pablo Ave. in West Oakland—the same restaurant where she helped out as a kid, peeling potatoes for the potato salad in the prep kitchen area in back. (“That’s all I could do,” Martin recalls.) \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13894445\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13894445\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/flints_crystalmartin.crop_.jpg\" alt=\"Crystal Martin stands inside her Alameda commercial kitchen space during one of her Flint's pop-ups.\" width=\"640\" height=\"908\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/flints_crystalmartin.crop_.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/flints_crystalmartin.crop_-160x227.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crystal Martin at her Alameda commercial kitchen space during one of her Flint’s pop-ups. \u003ccite>(HMTWNHERO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The building has sat empty since that particular Flint’s closed in the late ’90s. At first, the whole point of the pop-ups was to build up enough capital to try to buy the place outright, Martin says. Instead, someone else recently bought the building, and the new owner reached out to Martin to see if she’d be interested in leasing the space—the first time that’s been a viable option since the restaurant closed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s still a long way to go, however, before a reborn Flint’s restaurant becomes a reality. Martin says that in order to purchase all of the necessary kitchen equipment and to cover the first few months of rent while she gets the business off the ground, she needs to raise at least $75,000 to $100,000. She’s launched a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-move-back-to-san-pablo\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">GoFundMe campaign\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Her hope is that the legion of folks who are nostalgic for Flint’s glory years will rally together to support the effort.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Still, the very prospect of bringing Flint’s back to one of its original homes has Martin feeling excited and hopeful. When she did a walkthrough a couple of weeks ago, it was the first time she’d been back in the space since the San Pablo Avenue location closed. As soon as she walked in the door, Martin says, she was flooded with memories of the time she spent there as a kid. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Martin’s older sister, Lynette Martin, worked at the restaurant as a high school student in the late ’70s. “The first thing I remembered was looking at the brick oven,” she says. “That brought back a lot of memories.” The San Pablo Avenue location was a very plainly decorated takeout-only restaurant, Lynette recalls. The only furniture, really, was a big cooler where they kept the soda and a jukebox that was always on, playing whatever R&B songs were popular at the time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">David Peters, a long-time resident of West Oakland’s Hoover-Foster neighborhood, grew up just around the corner from the San Pablo Avenue location and was a regular customer from the time it first opened in the early ’70s, often drawing long lines that wrapped around the block. (The very first Flint’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://localwiki.org/oakland/Flint%27s_Bar-B-Q\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">opened on East 14th Street in 1968\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.) “My enduring memory is the ‘thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack’ — is them hitting the cleavers, chopping up the ribs with the cleavers on the cutting boards. That’s the enduring auditory memory of Flint’s,” Peters says.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13894446\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13894446\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/FlintSlinks.Crop_.jpg\" alt=\"Two trays full of Flint's house-made links.\" width=\"800\" height=\"646\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/FlintSlinks.Crop_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/FlintSlinks.Crop_-160x129.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/FlintSlinks.Crop_-768x620.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The coarse-ground links were one of Flint’s signature items. \u003ccite>(Flint's Barbecue)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to Peters, what set Flint’s apart were those coarse-ground links, which he never found anywhere else, and of course that barbecue sauce, which he says was “just so delicious”: \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“You’d get it on your potato salad. You’d end up with a pool of it in their styrofoam to-go thing. You’d sop it up with bread. If I could have drank the stuff, it would have been fine.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">These days, Peters is the project director for a forthcoming “\u003ca href=\"https://walk.ouroakland.net/tour/black-liberation-1/\">Black Liberation Walking Tour\u003c/a>” of the Hoover-Foster neighborhood—a guided walk that aims to celebrate the history, culture, and art of that particular stretch of West Oakland. One of the first stops on the tour that’s already been planned? A visit to the old Flint’s, of course.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Peters believes the restaurant’s return would mark an important turning point for the neighborhood, which in his lifetime has gone from having just four Black families living on the block to being a predominantly Black neighborhood to now, once again, only having four Black families on the block. Since Flint’s departure in the ’90s, the once-vital commercial strip on that stretch of San Pablo Avenue has never been the same.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“[The restaurant] was a source of pride for the neighborhood,” Peters says of Flint’s. “People knew where we lived. It was affirming to see this thriving Black business do so well.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the meantime, nostalgic barbecue lovers looking to get a taste of that classic Flint’s flavor will have to content themselves with Martin’s pop-ups for now, starting with a sauce sale in late April to mark the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CMi8B6Bs_TH/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">two-year anniversary of her Flint’s comeback tour\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The next full-on barbecue pop-up will probably take place sometime over the summer. And in June, Martin will host the first pop-up for her new Creole soul food business, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ladyflintscreolesoul/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lady Flint’s Creole Soul\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. All of the events will be held out of Martin’s commercial kitchen at 2400 Monarch St. in Alameda.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But if all goes well, it’s possible that by early next year, Flint’s—in all its saucy glory—will rise again.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "the-black-panther-party-and-the-rev-cheryl-dawson",
"title": "The Black Panther Party and the Rev. Cheryl Dawson",
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"headTitle": "The Black Panther Party and the Rev. Cheryl Dawson | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he sun shined down on West Oakland last Wednesday as I was greeted with a warm, welcoming, COVID-cautious elbow bump from Ericka Huggins.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huggins, the former director of the Black Panther Party’s Oakland Community School, stood masked among a scattered crowd of people on the 1.3-mile stretch of greenway that bisects Mandela Parkway in West Oakland. It’s here that the Cypress Structure collapsed in the ’89 quake—and also where two months prior in that same year, Black Panther Party cofounder Dr. Huey P. Newton was shot and killed just a few blocks away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And yet—as I overheard one person say during Wednesday’s gathering—“this isn’t where he died, this is where he \u003cem>lived\u003c/em>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last Wednesday, Feb. 17, would’ve been Dr. Newton’s 79th birthday. To help celebrate were newly minted street signs on a three-block section of 9th Street, now officially rechristened Dr. Huey P. Newton Way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Fredrika Newton, Dr. Newton’s widow and president of the \u003ca href=\"https://hueypnewtonfoundation.org/\">Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation\u003c/a>, ceremoniously removed the cloth that covered the new street sign on 9th Street and Mandela Parkway, the crowd made its way to the intersection of 9th and Center Streets. That’s where a freshly painted mural dedicated to the women of the Black Panther Party now radiates from the broad side of a two-story Victorian home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13893058\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13893058\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/IMG_3053-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A two-story home on Center street and 9th street in West Oakland is now home to a mural dedicated to the women of the Black Panther Party. Artwork by Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/IMG_3053-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/IMG_3053-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/IMG_3053-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/IMG_3053-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/IMG_3053.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A two-story home on Center street and 9th Street in West Oakland is now home to a mural dedicated to the women of the Black Panther Party. Artwork by Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lead artist \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/wolfe_.pack/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith\u003c/a> worked with other artists and community members on \u003ca href=\"https://linktr.ee/westoaklandmuralproject\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the #SayHerName: Women of the Black Panther Party Mural Project\u003c/a>, an initiative spearheaded by homeowner \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/missjilie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">JiLchristina Vest\u003c/a> that honors the names of the largely overlooked women of the Black Panther Party. Towering images of women supplying groceries and carrying guns, drawn from photos taken by \u003ca href=\"https://stephenshames.com/projects/black-panther-party/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Shames\u003c/a>, are accompanied by the written names of over 250 women—all former Panthers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There aren’t that many public displays honoring the Black Panthers in Oakland. The new mural and street signs join a meager collection: a \u003ca href=\"https://localwiki.org/oakland/Black_Panther_Party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">small sign\u003c/a> on the corner of 55th and Market Streets, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13851520/rightnowish-refa-one-spraypaint-in-hand-honors-west-oaklands-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">mural\u003c/a> on 14th and Peralta Streets, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.merritt.edu/student-life/hue-p-newton-lounge/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Huey P. Newton Lounge\u003c/a> at Merritt College and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/04/06/600055767/bobby-hutton-the-killing-that-catapulted-the-black-panthers-to-fame\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lil Bobby Hutton Grove\u003c/a> in DeFremery Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But countless Panther flags, shirts, and tattoos on the skin of the people in this community all stand as evidence of a widely-known fact: this is Panther territory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13893145\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13893145\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/FreeHuey.Black_.Panthers-800x524.jpg\" alt=\"Two men hold a 'Free Huey' banner at the newly christened Huey P. Newton Way in West Oakland, Feb. 17, 2021. \" width=\"800\" height=\"524\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/FreeHuey.Black_.Panthers-800x524.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/FreeHuey.Black_.Panthers-1020x668.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/FreeHuey.Black_.Panthers-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/FreeHuey.Black_.Panthers-768x503.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/FreeHuey.Black_.Panthers-1536x1006.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/FreeHuey.Black_.Panthers.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two men hold a ‘Free Huey’ banner at the newly christened Huey P. Newton Way in West Oakland, Feb. 17, 2021. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">E\u003c/span>ven beyond Oakland’s city limits, the Black Panther Party is once again in the larger public consciousness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shaka King’s recently released film \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13892640/director-shaka-kings-long-journey-to-judas-and-the-black-messiah\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>Judas and the Black Messiah\u003c/i>\u003c/a> has reinvigorated people’s interest in the life, politics, and assassination of the Illinois Black Panther Party chapter’s chairman, Fred Hampton. (The film is told from the perspective of William O’Neal, the informant who assisted the FBI in bringing Hampton down.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But well before \u003cem>Judas and the Black Messiah\u003c/em>, and the murals and new signage in Oakland, the legacy of the Party and the individuals involved has long been a personal interest of mine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I once held back childlike excitement when Ericka Huggins and archivist Lisbet Tellefsen allowed me to look through the \u003ca href=\"https://archive.curbed.com/2016/6/29/12010106/black-panther-school-mova-oakland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">old photos of the Black Panther’s Oakland Community School\u003c/a>. And I defeated pterodactyl-sized stomach butterflies of nervousness before asking Fredrika Newton \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13874735/fredrika-newton-huey-p-revolutionary-love\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">intimate questions about her relationship with Dr. Newton\u003c/a>.[aside postID='arts_13874735']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve talked to educational counselor and former Panther\u003ca href=\"https://ogtoldme.tumblr.com/post/68941837393/sometimes-we-devalue-ourselves-we-dont-really\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Massai Minters\u003c/a> at UCLA’s Campbell Hall where Bunchy Carter and John Huggins were assassinated, attended an event at Merritt College where famed Black Panther Party illustrator \u003ca href=\"https://ogtoldme.tumblr.com/post/77494359367/culture-is-a-weapon-emory-douglas-emory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Emory Douglas\u003c/a> spoke about his book \u003cem>Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas\u003c/em>, and even sat in a small apartment with a sick \u003ca href=\"https://ogtoldme.tumblr.com/post/49263235572/when-asked-what-guidance-he-would-give-to-a-young\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ronald “Elder” Freeman\u003c/a>, discussing how to address the ills of society while simultaneously looking for his medicine. Elder has since passed, but his words linger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through these interactions, as well as reading books and watching documentaries, I’ve gained a certain understanding about the Panthers: terrorized by the government, stigmatized by the media, and loved by the people (well, \u003cem>some\u003c/em> of the people). The Panthers fought to save their community from the failures of a capitalist system, while simultaneously dealing with their own personal issues—issues that were largely the byproducts of a capitalist system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond the legacy of the Black Panther Party as a whole, I often think about the stories of the individual people involved. People whose stories haven’t been fully told. People like the Rev. Cheryl Dawson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13893142\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13893142\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.2021-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Rev. Cheryl Dawson.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.2021-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.2021-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.2021-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.2021-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.2021.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Rev. Cheryl Dawson. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cheryl Dawson.)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">“I\u003c/span> took the political structure that I learned in the Party, and combined it with the information that I had about womanist theory and I took that work to the Congo—the Democratic Republic of the Congo—did I tell you about that?” Dawson asks me over the phone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I tell her that during our two previous conversations she hadn’t mentioned that, so I’m glad she called back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She tells me that about a decade ago she led empowerment workshops with women in Uganda and Haiti as well, using principles she developed when she was selling copies of the Black Panther Party newspaper on the corner of Alcatraz Avenue and Adeline Street in Berkeley back in the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an earlier conversation, she mentions another chapter in her life that was also heavily influenced by her time with the Party.[aside postID='arts_13884294']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting in the early ’80s Dawson worked in and out of prisons, developing programs for women who are incarcerated. She spent the final decade of her career working as the Rehabilitation Services Coordinator in the San Francisco County Sheriff Office’s Women’s Resource Center. That’s where she implemented a curriculum to empower women through lectures, through the use of popular media to inspire critical thinking, and by asking class attendees to reflect on “\u003ca href=\"http://ww.sfsheriff.com/newsletter_june2017.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their own cultural experiences and injustices\u003c/a>”. Upon leaving her position last year, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department honored her commitment to the work by naming Dec. 20 “Rev. Cheryl Dawson Day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I couldn’t help but wonder: \u003ci>How do you pivot from working for a revolutionary liberation organization to working for the very institution that incarcerates people?\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was working in the same sacred spaces,” explains Dawson. “The same tight corners, the same buried holes in the ground that I had tested, and walked in, and helped raise people up from when I was working in the Party … The pain that women wore in the prison is the same pain that I saw in the community from which they had come.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Simply put, Dawson saw the position as an opportunity to get deeper into the system and make a change from within.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13893149\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13893149\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.1970s.jpg\" alt=\"Cheryl Dawson in the 1970s. \" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.1970s.jpg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.1970s-160x213.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cheryl Dawson in the 1980s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Rev. Cheryl Dawson)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As a consultant at the federal prison in Dublin, she recalls sitting outside of solitary confinement, kneeling down on the cement floor, and talking through the slit in the steel door where the food was passed through. “I was trying to get a glimpse of the woman I was talking to,” says Dawson. “To just hold her gaze for a moment and try to give her hope for tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She did this work while continuing to face “that same deep intimate pain” that she experienced as a young girl; the pain that pushed her to join the Party in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a child, Dawson lived in \u003ca href=\"https://universityvillage.berkeley.edu/about/village-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Codornices Village\u003c/a>, a housing project on land leased from UC Berkeley to house wartime workers and their families in the 40s, many of them African American. It’s no coincidence that in the 1960s, when the housing projects were closed and the property was returned to UC Berkeley, \u003ca href=\"http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cities/Albany50.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the “Negro” population\u003c/a> of Albany went from 1,778 people in 1950 down to just 75 people in 1960.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Afterward, Dawson spent some time in Oakland, but Berkeley was her home. She lived one block to the white side of the city’s racial housing dividing line, formerly known as Grove street (now Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Berkeley’s Longfellow Elementary School, despite being in the Black neighborhood of South Berkeley, she saw racism firsthand. In class, Dawson says, she and the other Black kids were routinely overlooked when they raised their hands and over-punished when they got in trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13893150\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13893150\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.Wicker.jpg\" alt=\"Cheryl Dawson in the 1970s.\" width=\"600\" height=\"832\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.Wicker.jpg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.Wicker-160x222.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cheryl Dawson in the 1970s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Rev. Cheryl Dawson)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She says a brother as dark as she was once got in trouble, and a white teacher grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and put him under one of those old-fashioned wooden desks. The teacher then sat down and scooted her chair in. “She pinned him in like he was a dog or cat or something,” says Dawson. “The only thing he could do is look out from under the desk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The memory of the disobedient boy and the heavy-handed punishment stuck with her. Shortly afterward she learned about social workers, and how they helped people; especially people who looked like her. “At a very young age,” says Dawson, “I had a desire to do that, it was stamped in my heart. Unbeknownst to me, it would continue to manifest for the remainder of my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She went on to attend Willard Junior High, which was much whiter, and well above the racial dividing line. After attending Berkeley High for the majority of her high school years, she graduated from Oakland Tech and went on to Cal State East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While she was in college, Dawson was invited to an event at Oakland City College where Black Panther Party for Self-Defense co-founder Bobby Seale was speaking. And the rest was history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13893143\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13893143\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"Cheryl Dawson, seen here with her family.\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson-1536x1021.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cheryl Dawson, seen here with her children. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cheryl Dawson)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">R\u003c/span>ev. Dawson has no issue discussing details of her time in the Party, like bundling up her infant daughter at the early hour of “can’t see in the morning” so they could get to the Panther headquarters, serve the people and take political classes, only to return home at “can’t see at night.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what stands out from our conversation is Dawson periodically pausing to ask her grandchildren to “be careful while you’re doing that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community service starts at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dawson tells me she’s inspired by her great uncle, who left the south on a flatbed truck after being chased by the Klan. Once he settled in California, he sent for his sister, Dawson’s grandmother. Not too long after arriving in the Bay Area, Dawson’s grandmother and grandfather were wed through a marriage broker in West Oakland.[aside postID='arts_13825847']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking highly of her four children, Dawson proudly mentions that two of her sons chose to change their names upon adulthood in an effort to shed their slave names.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dawson holds a master’s degree in womanist theology from the American Baptist Seminary at UC Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union, as well as an M.A. in women’s spirituality from San Francisco’s California Institute of Integral Studies. She was ordained as a reverend about five years ago, at the same place she served: the historic Beth Eden Baptist Church in West Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She tells me she just recently returned to the church, as nowadays spends most of her time with the grandchildren I heard in the background on our calls. And of course, she plans to take them to see the new mural featuring images of her comrades in West Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The mural brings us from the margins to the center,” says Dawson of the artwork’s significance. “To turn the light on and say: I see you. And to further extend my view of connectivity and say, ‘I see you, because you are me.’ Just that alone is life-saving. And that’s what we were about in the Party: \u003cem>saving the lives of our people.\u003c/em>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Rev. Cheryl Dawson recently spoke about her experiences with the Black Panther Party on the KQED podcast The Bay. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11858928/west-oakland-mural-honors-women-of-black-panther-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hear it here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>As part of ‘The Black Panther Party Celebration of Activism,’ Pendarvis Harshaw interviews Ryan Coogler, Marshawn Lynch, Marcus Roberts, Charles D. King and Josh Johnson, to be broadcast on Facebook Live and YouTube on Wednesday, Feb. 24, at noon PST. \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandrootssc.com/news_article/show/1146959\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Details here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he sun shined down on West Oakland last Wednesday as I was greeted with a warm, welcoming, COVID-cautious elbow bump from Ericka Huggins.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huggins, the former director of the Black Panther Party’s Oakland Community School, stood masked among a scattered crowd of people on the 1.3-mile stretch of greenway that bisects Mandela Parkway in West Oakland. It’s here that the Cypress Structure collapsed in the ’89 quake—and also where two months prior in that same year, Black Panther Party cofounder Dr. Huey P. Newton was shot and killed just a few blocks away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And yet—as I overheard one person say during Wednesday’s gathering—“this isn’t where he died, this is where he \u003cem>lived\u003c/em>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last Wednesday, Feb. 17, would’ve been Dr. Newton’s 79th birthday. To help celebrate were newly minted street signs on a three-block section of 9th Street, now officially rechristened Dr. Huey P. Newton Way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Fredrika Newton, Dr. Newton’s widow and president of the \u003ca href=\"https://hueypnewtonfoundation.org/\">Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation\u003c/a>, ceremoniously removed the cloth that covered the new street sign on 9th Street and Mandela Parkway, the crowd made its way to the intersection of 9th and Center Streets. That’s where a freshly painted mural dedicated to the women of the Black Panther Party now radiates from the broad side of a two-story Victorian home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13893058\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13893058\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/IMG_3053-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A two-story home on Center street and 9th street in West Oakland is now home to a mural dedicated to the women of the Black Panther Party. Artwork by Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/IMG_3053-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/IMG_3053-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/IMG_3053-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/IMG_3053-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/IMG_3053.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A two-story home on Center street and 9th Street in West Oakland is now home to a mural dedicated to the women of the Black Panther Party. Artwork by Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lead artist \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/wolfe_.pack/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith\u003c/a> worked with other artists and community members on \u003ca href=\"https://linktr.ee/westoaklandmuralproject\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the #SayHerName: Women of the Black Panther Party Mural Project\u003c/a>, an initiative spearheaded by homeowner \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/missjilie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">JiLchristina Vest\u003c/a> that honors the names of the largely overlooked women of the Black Panther Party. Towering images of women supplying groceries and carrying guns, drawn from photos taken by \u003ca href=\"https://stephenshames.com/projects/black-panther-party/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Shames\u003c/a>, are accompanied by the written names of over 250 women—all former Panthers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There aren’t that many public displays honoring the Black Panthers in Oakland. The new mural and street signs join a meager collection: a \u003ca href=\"https://localwiki.org/oakland/Black_Panther_Party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">small sign\u003c/a> on the corner of 55th and Market Streets, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13851520/rightnowish-refa-one-spraypaint-in-hand-honors-west-oaklands-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">mural\u003c/a> on 14th and Peralta Streets, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.merritt.edu/student-life/hue-p-newton-lounge/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Huey P. Newton Lounge\u003c/a> at Merritt College and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/04/06/600055767/bobby-hutton-the-killing-that-catapulted-the-black-panthers-to-fame\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lil Bobby Hutton Grove\u003c/a> in DeFremery Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But countless Panther flags, shirts, and tattoos on the skin of the people in this community all stand as evidence of a widely-known fact: this is Panther territory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13893145\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13893145\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/FreeHuey.Black_.Panthers-800x524.jpg\" alt=\"Two men hold a 'Free Huey' banner at the newly christened Huey P. Newton Way in West Oakland, Feb. 17, 2021. \" width=\"800\" height=\"524\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/FreeHuey.Black_.Panthers-800x524.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/FreeHuey.Black_.Panthers-1020x668.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/FreeHuey.Black_.Panthers-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/FreeHuey.Black_.Panthers-768x503.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/FreeHuey.Black_.Panthers-1536x1006.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/FreeHuey.Black_.Panthers.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two men hold a ‘Free Huey’ banner at the newly christened Huey P. Newton Way in West Oakland, Feb. 17, 2021. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">E\u003c/span>ven beyond Oakland’s city limits, the Black Panther Party is once again in the larger public consciousness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shaka King’s recently released film \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13892640/director-shaka-kings-long-journey-to-judas-and-the-black-messiah\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003ci>Judas and the Black Messiah\u003c/i>\u003c/a> has reinvigorated people’s interest in the life, politics, and assassination of the Illinois Black Panther Party chapter’s chairman, Fred Hampton. (The film is told from the perspective of William O’Neal, the informant who assisted the FBI in bringing Hampton down.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But well before \u003cem>Judas and the Black Messiah\u003c/em>, and the murals and new signage in Oakland, the legacy of the Party and the individuals involved has long been a personal interest of mine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I once held back childlike excitement when Ericka Huggins and archivist Lisbet Tellefsen allowed me to look through the \u003ca href=\"https://archive.curbed.com/2016/6/29/12010106/black-panther-school-mova-oakland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">old photos of the Black Panther’s Oakland Community School\u003c/a>. And I defeated pterodactyl-sized stomach butterflies of nervousness before asking Fredrika Newton \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13874735/fredrika-newton-huey-p-revolutionary-love\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">intimate questions about her relationship with Dr. Newton\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve talked to educational counselor and former Panther\u003ca href=\"https://ogtoldme.tumblr.com/post/68941837393/sometimes-we-devalue-ourselves-we-dont-really\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Massai Minters\u003c/a> at UCLA’s Campbell Hall where Bunchy Carter and John Huggins were assassinated, attended an event at Merritt College where famed Black Panther Party illustrator \u003ca href=\"https://ogtoldme.tumblr.com/post/77494359367/culture-is-a-weapon-emory-douglas-emory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Emory Douglas\u003c/a> spoke about his book \u003cem>Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas\u003c/em>, and even sat in a small apartment with a sick \u003ca href=\"https://ogtoldme.tumblr.com/post/49263235572/when-asked-what-guidance-he-would-give-to-a-young\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ronald “Elder” Freeman\u003c/a>, discussing how to address the ills of society while simultaneously looking for his medicine. Elder has since passed, but his words linger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through these interactions, as well as reading books and watching documentaries, I’ve gained a certain understanding about the Panthers: terrorized by the government, stigmatized by the media, and loved by the people (well, \u003cem>some\u003c/em> of the people). The Panthers fought to save their community from the failures of a capitalist system, while simultaneously dealing with their own personal issues—issues that were largely the byproducts of a capitalist system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond the legacy of the Black Panther Party as a whole, I often think about the stories of the individual people involved. People whose stories haven’t been fully told. People like the Rev. Cheryl Dawson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13893142\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13893142\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.2021-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Rev. Cheryl Dawson.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.2021-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.2021-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.2021-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.2021-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.2021.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Rev. Cheryl Dawson. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cheryl Dawson.)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">“I\u003c/span> took the political structure that I learned in the Party, and combined it with the information that I had about womanist theory and I took that work to the Congo—the Democratic Republic of the Congo—did I tell you about that?” Dawson asks me over the phone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I tell her that during our two previous conversations she hadn’t mentioned that, so I’m glad she called back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She tells me that about a decade ago she led empowerment workshops with women in Uganda and Haiti as well, using principles she developed when she was selling copies of the Black Panther Party newspaper on the corner of Alcatraz Avenue and Adeline Street in Berkeley back in the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an earlier conversation, she mentions another chapter in her life that was also heavily influenced by her time with the Party.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting in the early ’80s Dawson worked in and out of prisons, developing programs for women who are incarcerated. She spent the final decade of her career working as the Rehabilitation Services Coordinator in the San Francisco County Sheriff Office’s Women’s Resource Center. That’s where she implemented a curriculum to empower women through lectures, through the use of popular media to inspire critical thinking, and by asking class attendees to reflect on “\u003ca href=\"http://ww.sfsheriff.com/newsletter_june2017.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their own cultural experiences and injustices\u003c/a>”. Upon leaving her position last year, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department honored her commitment to the work by naming Dec. 20 “Rev. Cheryl Dawson Day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I couldn’t help but wonder: \u003ci>How do you pivot from working for a revolutionary liberation organization to working for the very institution that incarcerates people?\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was working in the same sacred spaces,” explains Dawson. “The same tight corners, the same buried holes in the ground that I had tested, and walked in, and helped raise people up from when I was working in the Party … The pain that women wore in the prison is the same pain that I saw in the community from which they had come.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Simply put, Dawson saw the position as an opportunity to get deeper into the system and make a change from within.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13893149\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13893149\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.1970s.jpg\" alt=\"Cheryl Dawson in the 1970s. \" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.1970s.jpg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.1970s-160x213.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cheryl Dawson in the 1980s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Rev. Cheryl Dawson)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As a consultant at the federal prison in Dublin, she recalls sitting outside of solitary confinement, kneeling down on the cement floor, and talking through the slit in the steel door where the food was passed through. “I was trying to get a glimpse of the woman I was talking to,” says Dawson. “To just hold her gaze for a moment and try to give her hope for tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She did this work while continuing to face “that same deep intimate pain” that she experienced as a young girl; the pain that pushed her to join the Party in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a child, Dawson lived in \u003ca href=\"https://universityvillage.berkeley.edu/about/village-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Codornices Village\u003c/a>, a housing project on land leased from UC Berkeley to house wartime workers and their families in the 40s, many of them African American. It’s no coincidence that in the 1960s, when the housing projects were closed and the property was returned to UC Berkeley, \u003ca href=\"http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cities/Albany50.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the “Negro” population\u003c/a> of Albany went from 1,778 people in 1950 down to just 75 people in 1960.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Afterward, Dawson spent some time in Oakland, but Berkeley was her home. She lived one block to the white side of the city’s racial housing dividing line, formerly known as Grove street (now Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Berkeley’s Longfellow Elementary School, despite being in the Black neighborhood of South Berkeley, she saw racism firsthand. In class, Dawson says, she and the other Black kids were routinely overlooked when they raised their hands and over-punished when they got in trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13893150\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13893150\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.Wicker.jpg\" alt=\"Cheryl Dawson in the 1970s.\" width=\"600\" height=\"832\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.Wicker.jpg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.Wicker-160x222.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cheryl Dawson in the 1970s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Rev. Cheryl Dawson)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She says a brother as dark as she was once got in trouble, and a white teacher grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and put him under one of those old-fashioned wooden desks. The teacher then sat down and scooted her chair in. “She pinned him in like he was a dog or cat or something,” says Dawson. “The only thing he could do is look out from under the desk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The memory of the disobedient boy and the heavy-handed punishment stuck with her. Shortly afterward she learned about social workers, and how they helped people; especially people who looked like her. “At a very young age,” says Dawson, “I had a desire to do that, it was stamped in my heart. Unbeknownst to me, it would continue to manifest for the remainder of my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She went on to attend Willard Junior High, which was much whiter, and well above the racial dividing line. After attending Berkeley High for the majority of her high school years, she graduated from Oakland Tech and went on to Cal State East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While she was in college, Dawson was invited to an event at Oakland City College where Black Panther Party for Self-Defense co-founder Bobby Seale was speaking. And the rest was history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13893143\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13893143\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"Cheryl Dawson, seen here with her family.\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson-1536x1021.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/CherylDawson.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cheryl Dawson, seen here with her children. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cheryl Dawson)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">R\u003c/span>ev. Dawson has no issue discussing details of her time in the Party, like bundling up her infant daughter at the early hour of “can’t see in the morning” so they could get to the Panther headquarters, serve the people and take political classes, only to return home at “can’t see at night.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what stands out from our conversation is Dawson periodically pausing to ask her grandchildren to “be careful while you’re doing that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community service starts at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dawson tells me she’s inspired by her great uncle, who left the south on a flatbed truck after being chased by the Klan. Once he settled in California, he sent for his sister, Dawson’s grandmother. Not too long after arriving in the Bay Area, Dawson’s grandmother and grandfather were wed through a marriage broker in West Oakland.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking highly of her four children, Dawson proudly mentions that two of her sons chose to change their names upon adulthood in an effort to shed their slave names.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dawson holds a master’s degree in womanist theology from the American Baptist Seminary at UC Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union, as well as an M.A. in women’s spirituality from San Francisco’s California Institute of Integral Studies. She was ordained as a reverend about five years ago, at the same place she served: the historic Beth Eden Baptist Church in West Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She tells me she just recently returned to the church, as nowadays spends most of her time with the grandchildren I heard in the background on our calls. And of course, she plans to take them to see the new mural featuring images of her comrades in West Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The mural brings us from the margins to the center,” says Dawson of the artwork’s significance. “To turn the light on and say: I see you. And to further extend my view of connectivity and say, ‘I see you, because you are me.’ Just that alone is life-saving. And that’s what we were about in the Party: \u003cem>saving the lives of our people.\u003c/em>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Rev. Cheryl Dawson recently spoke about her experiences with the Black Panther Party on the KQED podcast The Bay. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11858928/west-oakland-mural-honors-women-of-black-panther-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hear it here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>As part of ‘The Black Panther Party Celebration of Activism,’ Pendarvis Harshaw interviews Ryan Coogler, Marshawn Lynch, Marcus Roberts, Charles D. King and Josh Johnson, to be broadcast on Facebook Live and YouTube on Wednesday, Feb. 24, at noon PST. \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandrootssc.com/news_article/show/1146959\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Details here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "what-a-vandalized-oakland-mural-says-about-black-futures-in-america",
"title": "What a Vandalized Oakland Mural Says About Black Futures in America",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">A\u003c/span> mural in West Oakland depicting three members of an African American family, dressed in white garb above the words “The Future is Ours,” was defaced this past weekend. It’s the third time the painting has been vandalized in the past two weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lead artist behind the piece and founder of the street art collective AeroSoul, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/refa1love/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Refa One\u003c/a>, says he doesn’t know the identity of the vandal, but has a feeling racism plays a role in what’s going on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve covered Refa’s work before. I’ve had him on my podcast \u003cem>Rightnowish\u003c/em> to discuss his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13851520/rightnowish-refa-one-spraypaint-in-hand-honors-west-oaklands-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr. Huey P. Newton mural\u003c/a> in West Oakland, and have photographed his Oscar Grant mural at Fruitvale BART Station. And, earlier this year, I wrote a story after Refa \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13874738/a-mural-of-tom-hanks-and-too-short-in-oakland-goes-deeper-than-paint\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">covered up a Tom Hanks and Too $hort mural\u003c/a> on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland because he felt that it didn’t properly benefit the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, you may ask, how is his own mural being defaced any different?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no comparison,” Refa One tells me. “We halted cultural gentrifiers from coming into the Black community, and went and created art that is edifying for Black people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13890130\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-13890130\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-II-800x1067.jpeg\" alt=\"A line is shown, drawn though an image of the Black family at the center of the mural on 14th st. in West Oakland\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-II-800x1067.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-II-1020x1360.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-II-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-II-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-II-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-II.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A line is drawn though the image of a Black family at the center of a mural on 14th Street in West Oakland. \u003ccite>(Refa One)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he mural on San Pablo Avenue that depicted the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/OGpenn/status/1222571572185055234\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">world-famous Hollywood actor beside the MC who popularized rapping about pimpin’ and selling tapes out of his trunk\u003c/a>—both raised in Oakland—has since been replaced with a note that a new mural is in progress (delayed by circumstances related to COVID-19) and a quote from the Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program: “We Want Decent Housing Fit For The Shelter Of Human Beings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Refa says his latest piece is a nod to the future of the Black community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/AerosoulArt/status/1335471412883070976\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recently vandalized mural\u003c/a>, with its multicolored geometrical background, is located on 14th Street in West Oakland. The area was once home to a majority African American community that’s since embarked on a mass exodus due to a number of factors—urban renewal, the war on drugs, predatory lending, gentrification, you name it. The neighborhood is much like America itself: in the grips of constant tension driven by the all-too-familiar isms of racism, capitalism, sexism and classism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some folks in this country have this notion that since Joe Biden has been elected president, we’ll be able to “go back to normal.” But we all know what normal race relations look like in America. On top of that, we know there’s a large percentage of people—\u003ca href=\"https://cookpolitical.com/2020-national-popular-vote-tracker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">46.9% of voters nationwide\u003c/a>—who aren’t too fond of this new president.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month \u003ca href=\"https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2019-hate-crime-statistics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the FBI released results\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> showing that, nationwide, the amount of reported hate crimes has been rising for almost 12 years, and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/11/16/935439777/fbi-report-bias-motivated-killings-at-record-high-amid-nationwide-rise-in-hate-c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">this year is no different\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. For the past decade, California has seen hate crimes reported at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/explorer/state/california/crime\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a rate higher than the rest of the country\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consider that there have been at least three Black men found hanged in California this year, all of which were initially ruled suicides. Over the summer, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/us/hanging-deaths-california.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">two men in Southern California\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Malcolm Harsh in Victorville and Robert Fuller in Palmdale were found hanged; Harsh’s death has since been \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.vvdailypress.com/story/news/politics/county/2020/06/20/sheriffrsquos-video-evidence-shows-malcolm-harsch-hanged-himself/42149381/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">proven to have been a suicide\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. But questions still linger about the circumstances around Fuller’s death. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent incident happened this fall in Sacramento, where \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/sacramento-tipping-point/community-voices/article246767356.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Willie Brown Jr. was found hanged from a basketball hoop, just days before the election\u003c/a>. Although still officially ruled a suicide, questions remain as to what truly happened.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That same weekend, a boat parade of Trump supporters floated along the two rivers upon which the city was founded, the Sacramento and the American. Since then, pro-Trump rallies have continued in Sacramento, including \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2020/12/05/antifa-protesters-confront-pro-trump-demonstrators-proud-boys-at-californias-capitol-violence-ensues/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">one that turned violent this past weekend\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> as Trump-supporting Proud Boys exchanged blows and pepper spray with Antifa activists on the perimeter of the state’s capitol building. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A day prior, in Richmond’s Point Richmond area, a conflict arose between a man posing with a Trump flag and a group of people fishing nearby, one of whom tried to snatch the flag. The \u003ca href=\"https://richmondstandard.com/richmond/2020/12/07/gunshot-fired-in-fight-over-trump-flag-in-richmond/?utm_source=facebook&utm_content=photo&fbclid=IwAR2KyOfzd5Tw8xyE1resasZ1DjpvqDMuE55SnKtjCji3KYCYRM_GlP7RhUs\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Richmond Pulse reports\u003c/span>\u003c/a> that the conflict led to a gun being fired in the direction of the Trump supporter, but that no one was hit.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just about a month ago, on the other side of Contra Costa County in the city of Brentwood, protestors took to the street in anger over a local resident’s extreme show of Trump support—\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ktvu.com/news/trump-house-in-brentwood-targeted-by-angry-neighbors-police-monitor-scene\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">an effigy of Joe Biden\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> hanged from a window. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All the while, I’m thinking about the end of the Civil War, and the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/us/reconstruction-violence-lynchings.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">2,000 Black people who were lynched\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the 24-month period immediately afterward.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13890131\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13890131\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"A closer look at the defaced mural, showing a black line clearly through the image of the young child\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A closer look at the defaced mural, showing a black line clearly through the image of the young child \u003ccite>(Refa One)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">S\u003c/span>o, yeah, when I hear about someone defacing a work of art dedicated to the proliferation of Black futurism, a part of me is like, ‘Yeah, murals get painted over everyday, B.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, I can’t help think about the timing, the environment and the symbolism—the lines are literally drawn on the child.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mother depicted in the mural is \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jazzhudson/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jazz Hudson\u003c/a>, a poet and owner of \u003ca href=\"https://www.goddessbutteroakland.com/shop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Goddess Butter\u003c/a>, and a friend I grew-up with in the Oakland arts community. She’s seen in a regal headwrap, sitting alongside her husband Olafemi Akintunde and the youngest of their three children, Selah. Jazz says she understands that painting over murals is all part of the street art game, but that doesn’t change how she feels seeing her child with a black line over his face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> “This last time,” Hudson tells me, “I cried, I got scared. I immediately was like, ‘I want my son’s face off that mural.'” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hudson, also unaware of the identity of the vandal or the motivation behind the defacing, says that it could be someone who doesn’t like Refa’s work, or even someone who doesn’t appreciate her family. “Either way, it does speak to the constant attack on Black people thriving,” she tells me. “\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To dress up in all white, for African people, is a representation of purity, your highest self and your ancestors.” \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hudson was once hopeful that the mural, a visual representation of the evolution of their family, would stand as a proud artifact. She now says she’s removed her emotions from the piece.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The father in the mural, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bankhtheartist/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Olafemi Akintunde\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, an artist and educator, used a well-known four-letter word to express his emotion toward the person repeatedly tarnishing the image of his family. “\u003c/span>My child’s face being defaced—it’s a powerful symbol,” says Akintunde. “\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Black child, the Black male in particular, is a symbol that scares a lot of people,” he says, adding that fear-based energy “isn’t what’s winning right now, in general.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With multiple layers of epoxy protecting the mural, the thin layer of aerosol paint sprayed on the piece requires spending money on supplies and a couple of hours of elbow grease in order to be erased.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A vandalized piece of art doesn’t compare to headlines of hangings or physical brawls at rallies. But it’s hard not to look at the defaced mural of Jazz, Olafemi and Selah and think of the everyday tension in the minds of people who reside in this divided land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only thing out here that’s more obvious than a three-foot-long jet black scar across a wall-sized painting of a Black family dressed in white are the racist and classist tensions that divide Americans—and a new president isn’t going to change that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "It may be just another defaced mural, but it's hard not to see its parallels to the post-election tension in America.",
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"title": "What a Vandalized Oakland Mural Says About Black Futures in America | KQED",
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"headline": "What a Vandalized Oakland Mural Says About Black Futures in America",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">A\u003c/span> mural in West Oakland depicting three members of an African American family, dressed in white garb above the words “The Future is Ours,” was defaced this past weekend. It’s the third time the painting has been vandalized in the past two weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lead artist behind the piece and founder of the street art collective AeroSoul, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/refa1love/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Refa One\u003c/a>, says he doesn’t know the identity of the vandal, but has a feeling racism plays a role in what’s going on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve covered Refa’s work before. I’ve had him on my podcast \u003cem>Rightnowish\u003c/em> to discuss his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13851520/rightnowish-refa-one-spraypaint-in-hand-honors-west-oaklands-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr. Huey P. Newton mural\u003c/a> in West Oakland, and have photographed his Oscar Grant mural at Fruitvale BART Station. And, earlier this year, I wrote a story after Refa \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13874738/a-mural-of-tom-hanks-and-too-short-in-oakland-goes-deeper-than-paint\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">covered up a Tom Hanks and Too $hort mural\u003c/a> on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland because he felt that it didn’t properly benefit the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, you may ask, how is his own mural being defaced any different?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no comparison,” Refa One tells me. “We halted cultural gentrifiers from coming into the Black community, and went and created art that is edifying for Black people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13890130\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-13890130\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-II-800x1067.jpeg\" alt=\"A line is shown, drawn though an image of the Black family at the center of the mural on 14th st. in West Oakland\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-II-800x1067.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-II-1020x1360.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-II-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-II-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-II-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-II.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A line is drawn though the image of a Black family at the center of a mural on 14th Street in West Oakland. \u003ccite>(Refa One)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>he mural on San Pablo Avenue that depicted the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/OGpenn/status/1222571572185055234\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">world-famous Hollywood actor beside the MC who popularized rapping about pimpin’ and selling tapes out of his trunk\u003c/a>—both raised in Oakland—has since been replaced with a note that a new mural is in progress (delayed by circumstances related to COVID-19) and a quote from the Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program: “We Want Decent Housing Fit For The Shelter Of Human Beings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Refa says his latest piece is a nod to the future of the Black community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/AerosoulArt/status/1335471412883070976\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recently vandalized mural\u003c/a>, with its multicolored geometrical background, is located on 14th Street in West Oakland. The area was once home to a majority African American community that’s since embarked on a mass exodus due to a number of factors—urban renewal, the war on drugs, predatory lending, gentrification, you name it. The neighborhood is much like America itself: in the grips of constant tension driven by the all-too-familiar isms of racism, capitalism, sexism and classism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some folks in this country have this notion that since Joe Biden has been elected president, we’ll be able to “go back to normal.” But we all know what normal race relations look like in America. On top of that, we know there’s a large percentage of people—\u003ca href=\"https://cookpolitical.com/2020-national-popular-vote-tracker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">46.9% of voters nationwide\u003c/a>—who aren’t too fond of this new president.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month \u003ca href=\"https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2019-hate-crime-statistics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the FBI released results\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> showing that, nationwide, the amount of reported hate crimes has been rising for almost 12 years, and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/11/16/935439777/fbi-report-bias-motivated-killings-at-record-high-amid-nationwide-rise-in-hate-c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">this year is no different\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. For the past decade, California has seen hate crimes reported at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/explorer/state/california/crime\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a rate higher than the rest of the country\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Consider that there have been at least three Black men found hanged in California this year, all of which were initially ruled suicides. Over the summer, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/us/hanging-deaths-california.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">two men in Southern California\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Malcolm Harsh in Victorville and Robert Fuller in Palmdale were found hanged; Harsh’s death has since been \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.vvdailypress.com/story/news/politics/county/2020/06/20/sheriffrsquos-video-evidence-shows-malcolm-harsch-hanged-himself/42149381/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">proven to have been a suicide\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. But questions still linger about the circumstances around Fuller’s death. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most recent incident happened this fall in Sacramento, where \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/sacramento-tipping-point/community-voices/article246767356.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Willie Brown Jr. was found hanged from a basketball hoop, just days before the election\u003c/a>. Although still officially ruled a suicide, questions remain as to what truly happened.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That same weekend, a boat parade of Trump supporters floated along the two rivers upon which the city was founded, the Sacramento and the American. Since then, pro-Trump rallies have continued in Sacramento, including \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2020/12/05/antifa-protesters-confront-pro-trump-demonstrators-proud-boys-at-californias-capitol-violence-ensues/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">one that turned violent this past weekend\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> as Trump-supporting Proud Boys exchanged blows and pepper spray with Antifa activists on the perimeter of the state’s capitol building. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A day prior, in Richmond’s Point Richmond area, a conflict arose between a man posing with a Trump flag and a group of people fishing nearby, one of whom tried to snatch the flag. The \u003ca href=\"https://richmondstandard.com/richmond/2020/12/07/gunshot-fired-in-fight-over-trump-flag-in-richmond/?utm_source=facebook&utm_content=photo&fbclid=IwAR2KyOfzd5Tw8xyE1resasZ1DjpvqDMuE55SnKtjCji3KYCYRM_GlP7RhUs\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Richmond Pulse reports\u003c/span>\u003c/a> that the conflict led to a gun being fired in the direction of the Trump supporter, but that no one was hit.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just about a month ago, on the other side of Contra Costa County in the city of Brentwood, protestors took to the street in anger over a local resident’s extreme show of Trump support—\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ktvu.com/news/trump-house-in-brentwood-targeted-by-angry-neighbors-police-monitor-scene\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">an effigy of Joe Biden\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> hanged from a window. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All the while, I’m thinking about the end of the Civil War, and the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/us/reconstruction-violence-lynchings.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">2,000 Black people who were lynched\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the 24-month period immediately afterward.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13890131\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13890131\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"A closer look at the defaced mural, showing a black line clearly through the image of the young child\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Selah.jpeg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A closer look at the defaced mural, showing a black line clearly through the image of the young child \u003ccite>(Refa One)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">S\u003c/span>o, yeah, when I hear about someone defacing a work of art dedicated to the proliferation of Black futurism, a part of me is like, ‘Yeah, murals get painted over everyday, B.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, I can’t help think about the timing, the environment and the symbolism—the lines are literally drawn on the child.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mother depicted in the mural is \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jazzhudson/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jazz Hudson\u003c/a>, a poet and owner of \u003ca href=\"https://www.goddessbutteroakland.com/shop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Goddess Butter\u003c/a>, and a friend I grew-up with in the Oakland arts community. She’s seen in a regal headwrap, sitting alongside her husband Olafemi Akintunde and the youngest of their three children, Selah. Jazz says she understands that painting over murals is all part of the street art game, but that doesn’t change how she feels seeing her child with a black line over his face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> “This last time,” Hudson tells me, “I cried, I got scared. I immediately was like, ‘I want my son’s face off that mural.'” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hudson, also unaware of the identity of the vandal or the motivation behind the defacing, says that it could be someone who doesn’t like Refa’s work, or even someone who doesn’t appreciate her family. “Either way, it does speak to the constant attack on Black people thriving,” she tells me. “\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To dress up in all white, for African people, is a representation of purity, your highest self and your ancestors.” \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hudson was once hopeful that the mural, a visual representation of the evolution of their family, would stand as a proud artifact. She now says she’s removed her emotions from the piece.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The father in the mural, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bankhtheartist/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Olafemi Akintunde\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, an artist and educator, used a well-known four-letter word to express his emotion toward the person repeatedly tarnishing the image of his family. “\u003c/span>My child’s face being defaced—it’s a powerful symbol,” says Akintunde. “\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Black child, the Black male in particular, is a symbol that scares a lot of people,” he says, adding that fear-based energy “isn’t what’s winning right now, in general.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With multiple layers of epoxy protecting the mural, the thin layer of aerosol paint sprayed on the piece requires spending money on supplies and a couple of hours of elbow grease in order to be erased.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A vandalized piece of art doesn’t compare to headlines of hangings or physical brawls at rallies. But it’s hard not to look at the defaced mural of Jazz, Olafemi and Selah and think of the everyday tension in the minds of people who reside in this divided land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only thing out here that’s more obvious than a three-foot-long jet black scar across a wall-sized painting of a Black family dressed in white are the racist and classist tensions that divide Americans—and a new president isn’t going to change that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The north-south median-divided street now known as Mandela Parkway is a microcosm of the changes at play throughout Oakland. Once, it was the site of the Cypress Structure, a 1.6-mile-long two-deck freeway that collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and killed 42 people. Now, Mandela Parkway is home to food establishments, industrial businesses and pathways, which in the pre-pandemic era filled with affluent residents walking through the neighborhood. But tucked into the side streets is another, simultaneous, Oakland, one that reflects the uneven effects of gentrification sweeping the Town. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vanessa Espinoza, better known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dj_agana/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">DJ Agana\u003c/a>, is well aware of the disparity present in these streets. She’s looking up at \u003ci>You Are Beautiful\u003c/i>, a mural on the back of East Bay Resources recycling center on West Oakland’s Willow Street. “The mural is all trashed, I don’t know if this is going to work,” she says of a planned photoshoot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DJ Agana is an East Oakland graffiti artist and a member of the women’s artist collective \u003ca href=\"https://www.fewandfarwomen.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Few and Far\u003c/a>. Agana is also an emcee, a 3D visual effects animator, a jewelry maker and an activist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13879429\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/AganaMural_1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13879429\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/AganaMural_1200.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/AganaMural_1200-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/AganaMural_1200-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/AganaMural_1200-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/AganaMural_1200-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DJ Agana in front of her contribution to the ‘You Are Beautiful’ mural. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/carla.hr/\" target=\"_blank\">Carla Hernandez Ramirez\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>You Are Beautiful\u003c/i>, painted by Agana and Few and Far members in 2018, depicts women in all shapes and forms: pregnant, breast-feeding, voluptuous, in full tribal regalia. Its message is straightforward but emphatic—all women are beautiful. Agana’s contribution to the mural is a woman breastfeeding her baby, draped in a teal shawl, her feet surrounded by a maíz plant. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The image is Agana’s way of normalizing a part of motherhood that is often sexualized or seen as inappropriate in public space. “Breasts aren’t made for your sexual pleasure,” she says. “They are made to feed babies, they might be sexy, they might turn you on or make you uncomfortable, but I’m going to feed my baby when he’s hungry, and I don’t care who is around.”[pullquote size='medium' citation='DJ Agana']‘This is reclaiming what is sacred and keeping our traditions alive through our recipes, and our food.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fans of Agana’s work will recognize the imagery of corn, a recurring motif in her practice. Before shelter-in-place orders shuttered the eatery, it could be seen in \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/B8HNJHYFjm7/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">the mural\u003c/a> that adorns the inside wall of La Guerrera’s Kitchen, a mother-daughter food establishment in Fruitvale (currently offering \u003ca href=\"https://www.laguerreraskitchen.com/#how-to-support-during-covid-19-section\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">pick-up services\u003c/a> from a nearby brewery, Friday through Sunday).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agana’s maíz imagery draws from her Venezuelan roots and the knowledge that ancient civilizations in Mexico and Central and South America \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/rethinking-corny-history-maize-180971038/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">used the grain as a food staple\u003c/a> until it was colonized by the food industry. She wants to bring awareness to this sacred grain in its natural form, not as corn syrup or other heavily processed corn-based products. “This is reclaiming what is sacred and keeping our traditions alive through our recipes, and our food,” she says. “That’s why it is my symbol.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Agana walks around the mural on Willow Street, she notices missing pieces and new tags. All that remains of the homeless encampment that once occupied that stretch of the street is the illegal dumping lining the bottom of the mural.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13879431\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/WillowStreet_1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13879431\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/WillowStreet_1200.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/WillowStreet_1200-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/WillowStreet_1200-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/WillowStreet_1200-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/WillowStreet_1200-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Few and Far’s mural ‘You Are Beautiful,’ seen in 2020 on West Oakland’s Willow Street. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/carla.hr/\" target=\"_blank\">Carla Hernandez Ramirez\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The theme of this mural is ‘you are beautiful,’ which is super ironic considering the state that it is in right now,” Agana says. “But that was the state that [the area] was in when we first got here.” At the time, Willow Street was the site of a homeless encampment of over 100 unhoused people. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fewandfarwomen.com/meme\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Meme\u003c/a>, one of the artists in Few and Far, leads efforts to obtain permission from building owners to secure wall space for their projects. She reached out to the owner of East Bay Resources (who owns several buildings across town that often boast street art), secured sponsorships from Ironlak Spray Paint and Monster Energy, and the collective got to work. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we started working on the mural, we made friends with the homeless folks, they had our back and we had theirs,” Agana says. “We shared food, we broke bread, we brought them clothes, whatever we could do to support [them].” The collective prepped and cleaned the area before they started painting. Now, the upkeep of the mural also falls on the artists, damaged walls, trash and all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the mural and its surroundings are a juxtaposition of the changing demographics of the city. Artists struggle to remain rooted, often a few hundred dollars away from coming up short on rent and losing housing themselves—even more the case during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13874738']Talking about \u003ci>You Are Beautiful\u003c/i>, Agana touches on the subject of who has permission to paint a mural and where. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13874738/a-mural-of-tom-hanks-and-too-short-in-oakland-goes-deeper-than-paint\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Controversy recently flared\u003c/a> up over a Tom Hanks and Too $hort mural painted on the side of the building at Oakland’s San Pablo Avenue and Castro Street. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We all get our walls different ways, but there is a thing about going over other people’s art,” Agana emphasizes. “Even if the owner gives you consent, that’s not enough, you gotta know what art was there before. Where it came from, who did it, you can sue, it’s disrespectful.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agana mentions a mural in San Francisco’s Mission District created by local youth under the guidance of the Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center. When it was \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2017/06/missions-culture-not-for-sale-but-it-can-be-painted-over/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">painted over\u003c/a> in 2017, it was perceived as an attempt as a way to erase the Latinx contributions to the neighborhood. “Folks that are rooted where they are from feel some type of way,” Agana says. “If an out-of-towner rolls up and paints a wall, there’s definitely tension.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The clash isn’t just between local artists and those coming from out of town. Agana says there is tension even between artists who work in different styles. “There’s tension between the graffiti and street art, between who is native to the neighborhood and the Town, and who is coming to just get some fame,” she explains. When the artist isn’t connected to the site, she says, “People feel like they are gentrifying [a wall] and taking something that is sacred.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13879430\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/FewAndFar_1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13879430\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/FewAndFar_1200.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/FewAndFar_1200-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/FewAndFar_1200-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/FewAndFar_1200-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/FewAndFar_1200-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Few and Far is a women’s artist collective. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/carla.hr/\" target=\"_blank\">Carla Hernandez Ramirez\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Agana and the Few and Far crew, there are even more obstacles than getting permission to paint on a particular wall. The world of graffiti and street art remains heavily male dominated; getting recognition and respect as women is a battle they continue to fight. “I’m putting in a lot of work, and the ladies in the crew are also putting in a lot of work where we gain respect, but it didn’t come easy,” Agana says. “There’s a stereotype of ‘she got good because her boyfriend taught her.’ There’s this assumption that you got good because of a dude.” She emphasizes the need to respect the artistry without sexist assumptions. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agana’s work, sprayed across Bay Area walls, challenges the notion of who, and what, gets to take up space in the public realm. In her purposeful depictions of maíz, of different body types engaged in activities that represent her own lived experience—and the experiences of her community—Agana puts her own beliefs into large-scale practice. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As she says, “It’s not about putting your name everywhere and your own personal fame. It’s about everybody and what your art represents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The north-south median-divided street now known as Mandela Parkway is a microcosm of the changes at play throughout Oakland. Once, it was the site of the Cypress Structure, a 1.6-mile-long two-deck freeway that collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and killed 42 people. Now, Mandela Parkway is home to food establishments, industrial businesses and pathways, which in the pre-pandemic era filled with affluent residents walking through the neighborhood. But tucked into the side streets is another, simultaneous, Oakland, one that reflects the uneven effects of gentrification sweeping the Town. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vanessa Espinoza, better known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dj_agana/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">DJ Agana\u003c/a>, is well aware of the disparity present in these streets. She’s looking up at \u003ci>You Are Beautiful\u003c/i>, a mural on the back of East Bay Resources recycling center on West Oakland’s Willow Street. “The mural is all trashed, I don’t know if this is going to work,” she says of a planned photoshoot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DJ Agana is an East Oakland graffiti artist and a member of the women’s artist collective \u003ca href=\"https://www.fewandfarwomen.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Few and Far\u003c/a>. Agana is also an emcee, a 3D visual effects animator, a jewelry maker and an activist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13879429\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/AganaMural_1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13879429\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/AganaMural_1200.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/AganaMural_1200-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/AganaMural_1200-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/AganaMural_1200-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/AganaMural_1200-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DJ Agana in front of her contribution to the ‘You Are Beautiful’ mural. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/carla.hr/\" target=\"_blank\">Carla Hernandez Ramirez\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>You Are Beautiful\u003c/i>, painted by Agana and Few and Far members in 2018, depicts women in all shapes and forms: pregnant, breast-feeding, voluptuous, in full tribal regalia. Its message is straightforward but emphatic—all women are beautiful. Agana’s contribution to the mural is a woman breastfeeding her baby, draped in a teal shawl, her feet surrounded by a maíz plant. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The image is Agana’s way of normalizing a part of motherhood that is often sexualized or seen as inappropriate in public space. “Breasts aren’t made for your sexual pleasure,” she says. “They are made to feed babies, they might be sexy, they might turn you on or make you uncomfortable, but I’m going to feed my baby when he’s hungry, and I don’t care who is around.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘This is reclaiming what is sacred and keeping our traditions alive through our recipes, and our food.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fans of Agana’s work will recognize the imagery of corn, a recurring motif in her practice. Before shelter-in-place orders shuttered the eatery, it could be seen in \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/B8HNJHYFjm7/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">the mural\u003c/a> that adorns the inside wall of La Guerrera’s Kitchen, a mother-daughter food establishment in Fruitvale (currently offering \u003ca href=\"https://www.laguerreraskitchen.com/#how-to-support-during-covid-19-section\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">pick-up services\u003c/a> from a nearby brewery, Friday through Sunday).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agana’s maíz imagery draws from her Venezuelan roots and the knowledge that ancient civilizations in Mexico and Central and South America \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/rethinking-corny-history-maize-180971038/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">used the grain as a food staple\u003c/a> until it was colonized by the food industry. She wants to bring awareness to this sacred grain in its natural form, not as corn syrup or other heavily processed corn-based products. “This is reclaiming what is sacred and keeping our traditions alive through our recipes, and our food,” she says. “That’s why it is my symbol.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Agana walks around the mural on Willow Street, she notices missing pieces and new tags. All that remains of the homeless encampment that once occupied that stretch of the street is the illegal dumping lining the bottom of the mural.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13879431\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/WillowStreet_1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13879431\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/WillowStreet_1200.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/WillowStreet_1200-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/WillowStreet_1200-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/WillowStreet_1200-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/WillowStreet_1200-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Few and Far’s mural ‘You Are Beautiful,’ seen in 2020 on West Oakland’s Willow Street. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/carla.hr/\" target=\"_blank\">Carla Hernandez Ramirez\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The theme of this mural is ‘you are beautiful,’ which is super ironic considering the state that it is in right now,” Agana says. “But that was the state that [the area] was in when we first got here.” At the time, Willow Street was the site of a homeless encampment of over 100 unhoused people. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fewandfarwomen.com/meme\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Meme\u003c/a>, one of the artists in Few and Far, leads efforts to obtain permission from building owners to secure wall space for their projects. She reached out to the owner of East Bay Resources (who owns several buildings across town that often boast street art), secured sponsorships from Ironlak Spray Paint and Monster Energy, and the collective got to work. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we started working on the mural, we made friends with the homeless folks, they had our back and we had theirs,” Agana says. “We shared food, we broke bread, we brought them clothes, whatever we could do to support [them].” The collective prepped and cleaned the area before they started painting. Now, the upkeep of the mural also falls on the artists, damaged walls, trash and all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the mural and its surroundings are a juxtaposition of the changing demographics of the city. Artists struggle to remain rooted, often a few hundred dollars away from coming up short on rent and losing housing themselves—even more the case during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Talking about \u003ci>You Are Beautiful\u003c/i>, Agana touches on the subject of who has permission to paint a mural and where. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13874738/a-mural-of-tom-hanks-and-too-short-in-oakland-goes-deeper-than-paint\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Controversy recently flared\u003c/a> up over a Tom Hanks and Too $hort mural painted on the side of the building at Oakland’s San Pablo Avenue and Castro Street. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We all get our walls different ways, but there is a thing about going over other people’s art,” Agana emphasizes. “Even if the owner gives you consent, that’s not enough, you gotta know what art was there before. Where it came from, who did it, you can sue, it’s disrespectful.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agana mentions a mural in San Francisco’s Mission District created by local youth under the guidance of the Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center. When it was \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2017/06/missions-culture-not-for-sale-but-it-can-be-painted-over/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">painted over\u003c/a> in 2017, it was perceived as an attempt as a way to erase the Latinx contributions to the neighborhood. “Folks that are rooted where they are from feel some type of way,” Agana says. “If an out-of-towner rolls up and paints a wall, there’s definitely tension.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The clash isn’t just between local artists and those coming from out of town. Agana says there is tension even between artists who work in different styles. “There’s tension between the graffiti and street art, between who is native to the neighborhood and the Town, and who is coming to just get some fame,” she explains. When the artist isn’t connected to the site, she says, “People feel like they are gentrifying [a wall] and taking something that is sacred.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13879430\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/FewAndFar_1200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13879430\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/FewAndFar_1200.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/FewAndFar_1200-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/FewAndFar_1200-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/FewAndFar_1200-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/FewAndFar_1200-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Few and Far is a women’s artist collective. \u003ccite>(\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/carla.hr/\" target=\"_blank\">Carla Hernandez Ramirez\u003c/a>)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Agana and the Few and Far crew, there are even more obstacles than getting permission to paint on a particular wall. The world of graffiti and street art remains heavily male dominated; getting recognition and respect as women is a battle they continue to fight. “I’m putting in a lot of work, and the ladies in the crew are also putting in a lot of work where we gain respect, but it didn’t come easy,” Agana says. “There’s a stereotype of ‘she got good because her boyfriend taught her.’ There’s this assumption that you got good because of a dude.” She emphasizes the need to respect the artistry without sexist assumptions. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agana’s work, sprayed across Bay Area walls, challenges the notion of who, and what, gets to take up space in the public realm. In her purposeful depictions of maíz, of different body types engaged in activities that represent her own lived experience—and the experiences of her community—Agana puts her own beliefs into large-scale practice. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As she says, “It’s not about putting your name everywhere and your own personal fame. It’s about everybody and what your art represents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "what-students-are-saying-about-mcclymonds-closure",
"title": "What Students are Saying About McClymonds' Closure",
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"headTitle": "What Students are Saying About McClymonds’ Closure | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span>n a news cycle like ours, the closure of McClymonds High School in West Oakland might seem overshadowed by national headlines about the Grand Princess cruise ship, which on Monday carried people with coronavirus to the Port of Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the McClymonds story is important. It’s a site where trichloroethylene (TCE), a cancer-causing chemical, was found in the groundwater late last month. And after two and a half weeks away from campus, it’s where students are scheduled to return to next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to TCE, the school is surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped freeway structure, thousands of shipping trucks and underground storage tanks– a number of them have resulted in documented leaks. That’s because West Oakland was an industrial bastion for the greater part of the 20th century. Numerous factories, plants and warehouses have sullied its soil. (The city’s only known EPA Superfund Site—a cleanup priority for the EPA— is \u003ca href=\"https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0905334\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AMCO Chemical\u003c/a> in West Oakland.) \u003ca href=\"http://acphd.org/media/496252/air-pollution-health-impacts-west-oakland-acphd-2018.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">It’s home\u003c/a> to Alameda County’s highest levels of asthma and lowest life expectancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And who lives in West Oakland? During the decades of rampant redlining, it was one of the few places in the Bay Area African Americans could freely move into. That’s why McClymonds, historically, is a predominantly African American school. It’s also known for its legendary alums (Bill Russell and Frank Robinson, to name a few) and honored for its football team recently winning the state championship \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/McClymonds-is-a-state-football-champion-for-3rd-13469769.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three times in a row\u003c/a>. It’s a pillar of the community, and even with the changing demographics in the neighborhood due to gentrification, the school’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.publicschoolreview.com/mcclymonds-high-school-profile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported population\u003c/a> of 372 students is still 80% African American.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the coverage of McClymonds’ closure has centered on input from adults: elected officials, parents and school administrators. But what’s it like to be a student, in a literally toxic environment? I wanted to find out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13876186\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13876186\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8532-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"Shoes and Shakur. Some of the items inside of the Restorative Justice Circle. \" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8532-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8532-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8532-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8532-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8532.jpg 1616w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shoes and Shakur. Some of the items inside of the Restorative Justice Circle. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span>nside the staff room at Ralph J. Bunche Academy in West Oakland, Saba Ghebreyesus (or Ms. Saba as the students call her), director of the youth-led multimedia platform \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/direct/t/340282366841710300949128149233437389874\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">IceeHouse\u003c/a>, stood at the dry-erase board writing the agreements for a restorative justice circle. A few minutes later, a handful of students from McClymonds trickled in, followed by a teacher, Mr. Taylor (not to be confused with the McClymonds principal, Jeffrey Taylor, who was also present, as well as Oakland Unified School District Administrator Vanessa Sifuentes-Dimaano).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal of the circle at Bunche, where McClymonds students were temporarily relocated, was to give young folks an opportunity to discuss how they’re processing the news that a potentially harmful chemical was discovered under their school just weeks ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The door closed and the students sat in a circle around a few items: an old sidekick two-way, a brick cellphone, the \u003cem>Tupac Shakur Legacy\u003c/em> book by Jamal Joseph, and the talking piece: a miniature statue of people in a rowboat. After some warm-up questions, Ms. Saba asked, “What was running through your mind and what were you feeling when you first heard a hazardous chemical was found at McClymonds?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To be honest, I just kinda seen it as no school for us last week,” said a ninth grader named Christopher as he let out a slight laugh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miles, a 10th grader, brought up Ramone Sanders, a McClymonds alumnus who was diagnosed with cancer at 19 years old in 2019. “It was kind of like, wow, that could have really been responsible for his death,” he said. “And they could shut down the whole school because of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13876187\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13876187\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8548-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"Dwayne, a senior at McClymonds stands in the hallway at Ralph J. Bunche Academy in West Oakland\" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8548-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8548-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8548-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8548-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8548.jpg 1616w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dwayne, a senior at McClymonds stands in the hallway at Ralph J. Bunche Academy in West Oakland \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other students brought up concerns about how missing class could impact their academic success. “Was that going to affect my credits? Was that going to affect my graduation?” asked a 12th grader named Neyionna. “The TCE, how long has it really been there?… I’m just saying, Mack just needs to be rebuilt, I think, because where Mack is, is an industrial area: the factories, the gas stations… And it’s all black [people], so yeah, I think that’s kinda racist,” she concluded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A senior named Dwayne pointed out that news of contamination affected his and other students’ mental health. “I have something called generalized anxiety disorder. It gets triggered by events like this,” he said. “I’m a hypochondriac as well. So, I was like, ‘I definitely have cancer.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He shared that he’s angry and confused, and that his trust in the adults in charge has been shaken. “If McClymonds were to burn down that day, what would be the plan OUSD would implement for all of this?” he asked. “Is there a plan in place for a natural disaster? It just seems like it took a little too long for us to have a plan.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ashely, another senior, said, “It’s really stressful … It’s like: Oh, my god, again? We have ANOTHER issue at McClymonds? It’s just irritating, I don’t want to go through it.” She said moving campuses, dealing with this and ‘senior-itis’ is a lot. “I just want to give up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My initial reaction was to do my research so I don’t make any wrong assumptions about what’s going on,” said Themba, a senior who wants to go to college to become a chemical engineer. “Let me figure out what’s going on, what’s TCE; I don’t want to just hear ‘it’s cancer.’ Let me figure out what it does, what’s the chemical?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite his knack for information gathering, Themba said he didn’t attend any of the community meetings held after the discovery of the chemical “because I knew it was going to be hectic, I knew it was going loud,” he said, adding that he questioned people’s intentions: “Who are you really fighting for? Where do you stand? … Are you really here for the kids who want to learn?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ms. Saba received the talking piece from Themba and said, “This is not just about McClymonds, this is about something bigger than McClymonds. This is about years of environmental waste that’s impacting a specific community, when I say years, I’m talking about 30 to 40 years of history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(\u003cem>Longer even\u003c/em>, I thought to myself.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13876189\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13876189\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8531-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"Christopher and the talking piece, Seraiah sitting behind him\" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8531-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8531-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8531-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8531-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8531.jpg 1616w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christopher and the talking piece, Seraiah sitting behind him \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Suddenly, a noise outside the door interrupted the discussion. \u003cem>I’m about to slap these little girls in the face, so somebody better go get them right now\u003c/em>, said an adult’s voice from the hallway. \u003cem>Where is the principal? … I’m not dealing with this anymore. I done had every emotion this week, and they want to come in here being disrespectful…\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clearly, tensions were high, and even the adults were on edge. Our circle sat quietly as the voice outside passed by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Principal Taylor briefly stepped out to address the noise, while Ms. Saba broke the silence. “I don’t want ya’ll to get distracted, I want ya’ll to focus on what ya’ll want to share and what’s important to ya’ll. We have one more question before we close out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She instructed everyone to take a deep breath. “What do you think needs to be done to make things as right as possible? And what do you need? What do you personally need from your principal and from yourself and from your peers?” asked Ms. Saba.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Principal Taylor held the talking piece and said, “From everybody, we need a little compassion and a little understanding. Everybody’s anxiety levels are already past ten… The students, I need them to understand that, it’s not their fault, and it’s not our fault.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Principal Taylor then somberly brought up \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/07/06/funeral-services-set-for-mcclymonds-football-standout-darryl-aikens/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Darryl Aikens\u003c/a>, who was one of his students and who died of leukemia in 2017. “Everybody keeps using him as an excuse, you know, ‘He caught cancer from the school,’” Principal Taylor said in air-quotes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They don’t even know his mom. Don’t know his family. And they keep putting him out there, and it’s making his mother sick. His grandmother sick… I just want it to stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vanessa from OUSD’s central office took the talking piece, and noted that “compassion and empathy” are required on all fronts; she concluded by asking that the students, “Continue to be that voice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13876192\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13876192\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8541-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"Miles talks while Principal Taylor sits in the background\" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8541-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8541-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8541-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8541-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8541.jpg 1616w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Miles talks while Principal Taylor sits in the background. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">M\u003c/span>iles, designer scarf around his forehead and a big jacket, took the talking piece and brought the discussion to another form of toxicity that exists at many schools, not just McClymonds. “What I need from the staff is for them to show that they actually care,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He noted that some faculty members bring their own issues with them to the classroom, and leave it to the students to educate themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re supposed to be teaching us, we’re not adults yet. I’m only in the 10th grade,” said Miles. “They’re looking at us like we’re 35. Like we’re supposed to be teaching them. They’ve gotta teach us.” He was met with at least one person’s supportive applause when he made that point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The talking piece landed back in Ms. Saba’s hands. She closed the circle by thanking all the participants and ended by sharing a quote from Margaret Mead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world,” she recited. “Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span>n a news cycle like ours, the closure of McClymonds High School in West Oakland might seem overshadowed by national headlines about the Grand Princess cruise ship, which on Monday carried people with coronavirus to the Port of Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the McClymonds story is important. It’s a site where trichloroethylene (TCE), a cancer-causing chemical, was found in the groundwater late last month. And after two and a half weeks away from campus, it’s where students are scheduled to return to next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to TCE, the school is surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped freeway structure, thousands of shipping trucks and underground storage tanks– a number of them have resulted in documented leaks. That’s because West Oakland was an industrial bastion for the greater part of the 20th century. Numerous factories, plants and warehouses have sullied its soil. (The city’s only known EPA Superfund Site—a cleanup priority for the EPA— is \u003ca href=\"https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0905334\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AMCO Chemical\u003c/a> in West Oakland.) \u003ca href=\"http://acphd.org/media/496252/air-pollution-health-impacts-west-oakland-acphd-2018.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">It’s home\u003c/a> to Alameda County’s highest levels of asthma and lowest life expectancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And who lives in West Oakland? During the decades of rampant redlining, it was one of the few places in the Bay Area African Americans could freely move into. That’s why McClymonds, historically, is a predominantly African American school. It’s also known for its legendary alums (Bill Russell and Frank Robinson, to name a few) and honored for its football team recently winning the state championship \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/McClymonds-is-a-state-football-champion-for-3rd-13469769.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three times in a row\u003c/a>. It’s a pillar of the community, and even with the changing demographics in the neighborhood due to gentrification, the school’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.publicschoolreview.com/mcclymonds-high-school-profile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported population\u003c/a> of 372 students is still 80% African American.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the coverage of McClymonds’ closure has centered on input from adults: elected officials, parents and school administrators. But what’s it like to be a student, in a literally toxic environment? I wanted to find out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13876186\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13876186\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8532-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"Shoes and Shakur. Some of the items inside of the Restorative Justice Circle. \" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8532-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8532-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8532-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8532-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8532.jpg 1616w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shoes and Shakur. Some of the items inside of the Restorative Justice Circle. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span>nside the staff room at Ralph J. Bunche Academy in West Oakland, Saba Ghebreyesus (or Ms. Saba as the students call her), director of the youth-led multimedia platform \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/direct/t/340282366841710300949128149233437389874\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">IceeHouse\u003c/a>, stood at the dry-erase board writing the agreements for a restorative justice circle. A few minutes later, a handful of students from McClymonds trickled in, followed by a teacher, Mr. Taylor (not to be confused with the McClymonds principal, Jeffrey Taylor, who was also present, as well as Oakland Unified School District Administrator Vanessa Sifuentes-Dimaano).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal of the circle at Bunche, where McClymonds students were temporarily relocated, was to give young folks an opportunity to discuss how they’re processing the news that a potentially harmful chemical was discovered under their school just weeks ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The door closed and the students sat in a circle around a few items: an old sidekick two-way, a brick cellphone, the \u003cem>Tupac Shakur Legacy\u003c/em> book by Jamal Joseph, and the talking piece: a miniature statue of people in a rowboat. After some warm-up questions, Ms. Saba asked, “What was running through your mind and what were you feeling when you first heard a hazardous chemical was found at McClymonds?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To be honest, I just kinda seen it as no school for us last week,” said a ninth grader named Christopher as he let out a slight laugh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miles, a 10th grader, brought up Ramone Sanders, a McClymonds alumnus who was diagnosed with cancer at 19 years old in 2019. “It was kind of like, wow, that could have really been responsible for his death,” he said. “And they could shut down the whole school because of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13876187\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13876187\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8548-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"Dwayne, a senior at McClymonds stands in the hallway at Ralph J. Bunche Academy in West Oakland\" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8548-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8548-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8548-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8548-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8548.jpg 1616w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dwayne, a senior at McClymonds stands in the hallway at Ralph J. Bunche Academy in West Oakland \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other students brought up concerns about how missing class could impact their academic success. “Was that going to affect my credits? Was that going to affect my graduation?” asked a 12th grader named Neyionna. “The TCE, how long has it really been there?… I’m just saying, Mack just needs to be rebuilt, I think, because where Mack is, is an industrial area: the factories, the gas stations… And it’s all black [people], so yeah, I think that’s kinda racist,” she concluded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A senior named Dwayne pointed out that news of contamination affected his and other students’ mental health. “I have something called generalized anxiety disorder. It gets triggered by events like this,” he said. “I’m a hypochondriac as well. So, I was like, ‘I definitely have cancer.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He shared that he’s angry and confused, and that his trust in the adults in charge has been shaken. “If McClymonds were to burn down that day, what would be the plan OUSD would implement for all of this?” he asked. “Is there a plan in place for a natural disaster? It just seems like it took a little too long for us to have a plan.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ashely, another senior, said, “It’s really stressful … It’s like: Oh, my god, again? We have ANOTHER issue at McClymonds? It’s just irritating, I don’t want to go through it.” She said moving campuses, dealing with this and ‘senior-itis’ is a lot. “I just want to give up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My initial reaction was to do my research so I don’t make any wrong assumptions about what’s going on,” said Themba, a senior who wants to go to college to become a chemical engineer. “Let me figure out what’s going on, what’s TCE; I don’t want to just hear ‘it’s cancer.’ Let me figure out what it does, what’s the chemical?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite his knack for information gathering, Themba said he didn’t attend any of the community meetings held after the discovery of the chemical “because I knew it was going to be hectic, I knew it was going loud,” he said, adding that he questioned people’s intentions: “Who are you really fighting for? Where do you stand? … Are you really here for the kids who want to learn?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ms. Saba received the talking piece from Themba and said, “This is not just about McClymonds, this is about something bigger than McClymonds. This is about years of environmental waste that’s impacting a specific community, when I say years, I’m talking about 30 to 40 years of history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(\u003cem>Longer even\u003c/em>, I thought to myself.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13876189\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13876189\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8531-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"Christopher and the talking piece, Seraiah sitting behind him\" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8531-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8531-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8531-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8531-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8531.jpg 1616w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christopher and the talking piece, Seraiah sitting behind him \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Suddenly, a noise outside the door interrupted the discussion. \u003cem>I’m about to slap these little girls in the face, so somebody better go get them right now\u003c/em>, said an adult’s voice from the hallway. \u003cem>Where is the principal? … I’m not dealing with this anymore. I done had every emotion this week, and they want to come in here being disrespectful…\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clearly, tensions were high, and even the adults were on edge. Our circle sat quietly as the voice outside passed by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Principal Taylor briefly stepped out to address the noise, while Ms. Saba broke the silence. “I don’t want ya’ll to get distracted, I want ya’ll to focus on what ya’ll want to share and what’s important to ya’ll. We have one more question before we close out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She instructed everyone to take a deep breath. “What do you think needs to be done to make things as right as possible? And what do you need? What do you personally need from your principal and from yourself and from your peers?” asked Ms. Saba.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Principal Taylor held the talking piece and said, “From everybody, we need a little compassion and a little understanding. Everybody’s anxiety levels are already past ten… The students, I need them to understand that, it’s not their fault, and it’s not our fault.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Principal Taylor then somberly brought up \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/07/06/funeral-services-set-for-mcclymonds-football-standout-darryl-aikens/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Darryl Aikens\u003c/a>, who was one of his students and who died of leukemia in 2017. “Everybody keeps using him as an excuse, you know, ‘He caught cancer from the school,’” Principal Taylor said in air-quotes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They don’t even know his mom. Don’t know his family. And they keep putting him out there, and it’s making his mother sick. His grandmother sick… I just want it to stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vanessa from OUSD’s central office took the talking piece, and noted that “compassion and empathy” are required on all fronts; she concluded by asking that the students, “Continue to be that voice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13876192\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13876192\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8541-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"Miles talks while Principal Taylor sits in the background\" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8541-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8541-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8541-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8541-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/03/DSC8541.jpg 1616w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Miles talks while Principal Taylor sits in the background. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">M\u003c/span>iles, designer scarf around his forehead and a big jacket, took the talking piece and brought the discussion to another form of toxicity that exists at many schools, not just McClymonds. “What I need from the staff is for them to show that they actually care,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He noted that some faculty members bring their own issues with them to the classroom, and leave it to the students to educate themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’re supposed to be teaching us, we’re not adults yet. I’m only in the 10th grade,” said Miles. “They’re looking at us like we’re 35. Like we’re supposed to be teaching them. They’ve gotta teach us.” He was met with at least one person’s supportive applause when he made that point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The talking piece landed back in Ms. Saba’s hands. She closed the circle by thanking all the participants and ended by sharing a quote from Margaret Mead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world,” she recited. “Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span> really thought I was \u003cem>doing\u003c/em> \u003cem>something\u003c/em> when I took a picture of a nearly finished mural of Tom Hanks and Too $hort and then \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/OGpenn/status/1222571572185055234\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">posted it\u003c/a> to social media. I mean, I really put my phone in my pocket, thinking I actually did something good for people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My rationale? The mural was a huge street-side tribute to two vastly different hometown luminaries. I figured it would uplift folks, and help take their minds off the deflating news cycle about the unimpeachable president, the spread of an international virus and the dire housing situation in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, that picture put a number of the issues we’re facing into perspective—issues that I didn’t notice until the mural was gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It took less than three days for the mural to be covered. All of the work from the artists, whose Instagram handles are \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/pierremadethat/\">@pierremadethat\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/charles.utero.the3rd/\">@charles.utero.the3rd\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/funkysquash/\">@funkysquash\u003c/a>, on the broad side of the building at San Pablo Avenue and Castro Street was erased.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What once was a short-lived mural depicting a young and spunky Tom Hanks from the movie \u003cem>Big\u003c/em> and an image of Too $hort from the \u003cem>Life Is… Too $hort\u003c/em> era—big donkey rope chain in tow—was gone. Poof! The details in the photo, all the easter eggs in the illustrations that accompanied Hanks’ image: a computer mouse from \u003cem>You’ve Got Mail\u003c/em>, the Wilson ball from \u003cem>Cast Away\u003c/em>, and a nod to \u003cem>Toy Story\u003c/em> in the form of a cowboy hat. Behind $hort were a number of details, too, including a boom box and some unidentified booties of women in thongs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was homage to two guys who spent their formative years in Oakland, who made it big in entertainment and who speak highly of their East Bay roots in nearly every interview I’ve ever seen. What could be wrong with that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13874868\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13874868\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/83915355_10102711897512530_1065418198855188480_n-1-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A Work in Progress\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/83915355_10102711897512530_1065418198855188480_n-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/83915355_10102711897512530_1065418198855188480_n-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/83915355_10102711897512530_1065418198855188480_n-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/83915355_10102711897512530_1065418198855188480_n-1.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Work in Progress. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">“T\u003c/span>he level (of) keebler cracker and gmo wheat toast fkery in these pictures is ridiculously pitiful,” wrote Refa One, a well-known activist and artist from West Oakland, in \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/oakmaroons/posts/2665314293585655?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCEiibWYkc0UOEBORd7mld8IUIZ9ij7SpHPEXZzG11yll845j72wqdXYfahW3B5vQsKg4u66WP0-c3XfOpH-hSrebJr3OfEWbyvN3pZI5v5pi8hCf-aXKKQMRxrdBeE5EKT3v5jLwASZZ-k6DWuosGNZ0aDvO90xfR1DCgapXTSNTwVhwT8jyEFmcMMfT4JNa1zWo_y4mvg3hRCRbu-ogjrzryDjcK4wQetfh8_wkHCJtyDYPwLtTPzf7O5PGu00eRkMGwCSEmsfDLfhgxbd6JODOoija6lnbCrm8IlavCqROMHexOYAfkywNzgKowzQ9ZU6SXuYpTKTfc1pM0E09TC7A&__tn__=-R\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a Facebook post\u003c/a> with the image of the mural. “I’m still processing the amount of thirsty accolades this work is receiving from Negropeans that have embraced defeat by the gentrifying colonizers hell bent on mascot iconography of a displaced BLACK people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Damn man, I hate to admit it, but I was one of those “Negropeans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not too long after Refa One made the Facebook post, the mural was covered with a massive blotting of light blue paint—similar to the color the \u003ca href=\"https://exhibits.stanford.edu/fitch/browse/black-panther-party-oakland-california-1968-1972?page=2&view=slideshow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Black Panther Party’s school uniforms\u003c/a>. “Mural in Progress. Reserved for Black Panther Party,” was the only message left on the elongated wall that parallels the 980 freeway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next day, I went down to the corner of San Pablo and Castro Street, and took a close photo of the new coat of paint and the message inscribed on the wall. I posted the picture on social media, and in came the questions: “Why’d they cover it?” “Who did it?” “What’s coming next?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So I called Refa One.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is about African people controlling the visual landscape in their community, particularly against all forms of gentrification,” said Refa One, a longtime Oakland-based creator who heads the international arts collective \u003ca href=\"http://www.aerosoulart.com/\">Aerosoul\u003c/a>, and the son of two Black Panther Party members. He’s also the artist behind numerous murals in Oakland, including one of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13851520/rightnowish-refa-one-spraypaint-in-hand-honors-west-oaklands-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Huey P. Newton in West Oakland\u003c/a> and one of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11753459/bart-unveils-oscar-grant-mural-and-street-sign-at-fruitvale-station\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oscar Grant at Fruitvale Station\u003c/a>. “And in this particular situation,” he added, “we’re dealing with visual culture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13874866\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13874866\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCkKU8AAllIP-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"The image of Tom Hanks and a nod to his movies.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCkKU8AAllIP-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCkKU8AAllIP-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCkKU8AAllIP-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCkKU8AAllIP.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The image of Tom Hanks and a nod to his movies. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He told me he had a few issues with the mural of Hanks and $hort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For starters, it depicts Tom Hanks, a multimillionaire who speaks proudly of his Oakland roots, but has yet to make a public statement about inequity in Oakland, Refa One said. And that’s for a city where the housing crisis has been noted as an emergency by local, state and international officials; an emergency that has \u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/stepping-up-for-homeless-black-people-in-oakland/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">disproportionately impacted black people\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the image of Too $hort, known for misogynistic lyrics, is an issue too, Refa One added. It’s on the side of a wall that butts up against San Pablo Avenue not too far from the Greyhound Bus Station, which over the decades has been a hot spot for sex trafficking, an issue that’s plagued Oakland for longer than Too $hort has been rapping. And it has disproportionately impacted black women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then Refa One noted that two of the three artists involved in the mural were white folks, and not from Oakland. He questioned what right they had to paint the walls in a traditionally black community. “Can I go to Chinatown and paint whatever I want? Can I go to Piedmont and paint there?” he asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, when you put it like that, I get it. So did the other artists. They told me that they understood the politics behind Refa’s point and ambition to paint over their work, and deferred any further comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a good thing,” one of the artists \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/B8E2hvIp50u/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wrote\u003c/a> on Instagram. “Excited for what’s going up next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13874867\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13874867\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCmBVAAEqE_w-800x576.jpg\" alt=\"The image of Too $hort and details from aspects of his career.\" width=\"800\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCmBVAAEqE_w-800x576.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCmBVAAEqE_w-160x115.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCmBVAAEqE_w-768x553.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCmBVAAEqE_w.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The image of Too $hort and details from aspects of his career. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>here’s a long history of African American culture being compromised and remade to fit the palate of white America. Elvis Presley re-recording “Hound Dog” and selling 9.5 million more copies than the original \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hound-dog-is-recorded-for-the-first-time-by-big-mama-thornton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Big Mama Thornton version\u003c/a>. The long-running TV show \u003cem>Friends\u003c/em>, a spinoff of \u003ca href=\"https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/01/the-gentrification-of-city-based-sitcoms/513302/\">Living Single\u003c/a>. Hell, famed slavery abolitionist \u003ca href=\"https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/educate/truth.html\">Sojouner Truth\u003c/a>‘s first language was Dutch, and when she learned English, she spoke in a Dutch accent. Yet her famous speech, “Ain’t I A Woman,” is usually thought to have been spoken in “\u003ca href=\"https://www.thesojournertruthproject.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a stereotypical ‘southern black slave accent\u003c/a>,'” because that’s how (white) historians believed all enslaved Africans spoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s deeper than some paint on the walls. It’s about the importance of controlling your story, no matter the medium, because from that comes control over your life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And on that note of self-determination shown through community art, Refa One told me about a time he was painting a piece in Campbell Village, a well-known public housing project in West Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know how to do \u003cem>this\u003c/em>?” Refa One said a young man asked, watching him paint while playing with a group of friends. “We thought only white people did this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Refa One said he talked to the group of children, and told them, “The first people on the planet to ever paint murals, and to express their culture in that fashion, were African people just like us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13851523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13851523\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"Refa One in West Oakland.\" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-1200x802.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Refa One, of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/aerosoul_ig/\">@aerosoul_ig\u003c/a>, in West Oakland. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He invited the youngsters to pick up some paint and participate in the production of the piece, giving them “collective ownership of their walls.” Which is especially important in the black community, where we’re constantly combating self-hatred.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been conditioned to believe that anything happening positively in our community must come from the outside,” said Refa One, in reference to numerous images of African American leaders painted by white artists in Oakland. “Oftentimes the community is ignorant to the fact that we’re being ‘mascotted’ by white folks who consider themselves the ambassador to our culture, and how it should be used and decimated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says he can’t simply paint over those walls. It’s a Catch-22. “At that point it becomes difficult to remove those images, because people’s overall thought is that it’s positive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in a town where black folks have been disproportionately killed, over-policed, under-educated, sex trafficked and pushed out by the masses, putting up images of black folks \u003cem>is\u003c/em> like sports teams having mascots. Mascots derived from cultural aspects of the natives, who’ve been killed off of the very land where they now toss a pigskin or pitch a four-seam fastball.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Damn, it \u003cem>is\u003c/em> just like sports: it’s easy to root for a team because you like their mascot or star players, but you better do your research on who’s really in control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Otherwise you’ll be cheering for the “Negropeans.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A mural in Oakland of the actor and rapper together was painted over in a matter of days—and it turns out there's a reason.",
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"title": "A Mural of Tom Hanks and Too Short in Oakland Goes Deeper Than Paint | KQED",
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"headline": "A Mural of Tom Hanks and Too Short in Oakland Goes Deeper Than Paint",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">I\u003c/span> really thought I was \u003cem>doing\u003c/em> \u003cem>something\u003c/em> when I took a picture of a nearly finished mural of Tom Hanks and Too $hort and then \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/OGpenn/status/1222571572185055234\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">posted it\u003c/a> to social media. I mean, I really put my phone in my pocket, thinking I actually did something good for people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My rationale? The mural was a huge street-side tribute to two vastly different hometown luminaries. I figured it would uplift folks, and help take their minds off the deflating news cycle about the unimpeachable president, the spread of an international virus and the dire housing situation in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, that picture put a number of the issues we’re facing into perspective—issues that I didn’t notice until the mural was gone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It took less than three days for the mural to be covered. All of the work from the artists, whose Instagram handles are \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/pierremadethat/\">@pierremadethat\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/charles.utero.the3rd/\">@charles.utero.the3rd\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/funkysquash/\">@funkysquash\u003c/a>, on the broad side of the building at San Pablo Avenue and Castro Street was erased.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What once was a short-lived mural depicting a young and spunky Tom Hanks from the movie \u003cem>Big\u003c/em> and an image of Too $hort from the \u003cem>Life Is… Too $hort\u003c/em> era—big donkey rope chain in tow—was gone. Poof! The details in the photo, all the easter eggs in the illustrations that accompanied Hanks’ image: a computer mouse from \u003cem>You’ve Got Mail\u003c/em>, the Wilson ball from \u003cem>Cast Away\u003c/em>, and a nod to \u003cem>Toy Story\u003c/em> in the form of a cowboy hat. Behind $hort were a number of details, too, including a boom box and some unidentified booties of women in thongs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was homage to two guys who spent their formative years in Oakland, who made it big in entertainment and who speak highly of their East Bay roots in nearly every interview I’ve ever seen. What could be wrong with that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13874868\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13874868\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/83915355_10102711897512530_1065418198855188480_n-1-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A Work in Progress\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/83915355_10102711897512530_1065418198855188480_n-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/83915355_10102711897512530_1065418198855188480_n-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/83915355_10102711897512530_1065418198855188480_n-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/83915355_10102711897512530_1065418198855188480_n-1.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Work in Progress. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">“T\u003c/span>he level (of) keebler cracker and gmo wheat toast fkery in these pictures is ridiculously pitiful,” wrote Refa One, a well-known activist and artist from West Oakland, in \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/oakmaroons/posts/2665314293585655?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCEiibWYkc0UOEBORd7mld8IUIZ9ij7SpHPEXZzG11yll845j72wqdXYfahW3B5vQsKg4u66WP0-c3XfOpH-hSrebJr3OfEWbyvN3pZI5v5pi8hCf-aXKKQMRxrdBeE5EKT3v5jLwASZZ-k6DWuosGNZ0aDvO90xfR1DCgapXTSNTwVhwT8jyEFmcMMfT4JNa1zWo_y4mvg3hRCRbu-ogjrzryDjcK4wQetfh8_wkHCJtyDYPwLtTPzf7O5PGu00eRkMGwCSEmsfDLfhgxbd6JODOoija6lnbCrm8IlavCqROMHexOYAfkywNzgKowzQ9ZU6SXuYpTKTfc1pM0E09TC7A&__tn__=-R\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a Facebook post\u003c/a> with the image of the mural. “I’m still processing the amount of thirsty accolades this work is receiving from Negropeans that have embraced defeat by the gentrifying colonizers hell bent on mascot iconography of a displaced BLACK people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Damn man, I hate to admit it, but I was one of those “Negropeans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not too long after Refa One made the Facebook post, the mural was covered with a massive blotting of light blue paint—similar to the color the \u003ca href=\"https://exhibits.stanford.edu/fitch/browse/black-panther-party-oakland-california-1968-1972?page=2&view=slideshow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Black Panther Party’s school uniforms\u003c/a>. “Mural in Progress. Reserved for Black Panther Party,” was the only message left on the elongated wall that parallels the 980 freeway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next day, I went down to the corner of San Pablo and Castro Street, and took a close photo of the new coat of paint and the message inscribed on the wall. I posted the picture on social media, and in came the questions: “Why’d they cover it?” “Who did it?” “What’s coming next?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So I called Refa One.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is about African people controlling the visual landscape in their community, particularly against all forms of gentrification,” said Refa One, a longtime Oakland-based creator who heads the international arts collective \u003ca href=\"http://www.aerosoulart.com/\">Aerosoul\u003c/a>, and the son of two Black Panther Party members. He’s also the artist behind numerous murals in Oakland, including one of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13851520/rightnowish-refa-one-spraypaint-in-hand-honors-west-oaklands-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Huey P. Newton in West Oakland\u003c/a> and one of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11753459/bart-unveils-oscar-grant-mural-and-street-sign-at-fruitvale-station\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oscar Grant at Fruitvale Station\u003c/a>. “And in this particular situation,” he added, “we’re dealing with visual culture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13874866\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13874866\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCkKU8AAllIP-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"The image of Tom Hanks and a nod to his movies.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCkKU8AAllIP-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCkKU8AAllIP-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCkKU8AAllIP-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCkKU8AAllIP.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The image of Tom Hanks and a nod to his movies. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He told me he had a few issues with the mural of Hanks and $hort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For starters, it depicts Tom Hanks, a multimillionaire who speaks proudly of his Oakland roots, but has yet to make a public statement about inequity in Oakland, Refa One said. And that’s for a city where the housing crisis has been noted as an emergency by local, state and international officials; an emergency that has \u003ca href=\"http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/stepping-up-for-homeless-black-people-in-oakland/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">disproportionately impacted black people\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the image of Too $hort, known for misogynistic lyrics, is an issue too, Refa One added. It’s on the side of a wall that butts up against San Pablo Avenue not too far from the Greyhound Bus Station, which over the decades has been a hot spot for sex trafficking, an issue that’s plagued Oakland for longer than Too $hort has been rapping. And it has disproportionately impacted black women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then Refa One noted that two of the three artists involved in the mural were white folks, and not from Oakland. He questioned what right they had to paint the walls in a traditionally black community. “Can I go to Chinatown and paint whatever I want? Can I go to Piedmont and paint there?” he asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, when you put it like that, I get it. So did the other artists. They told me that they understood the politics behind Refa’s point and ambition to paint over their work, and deferred any further comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a good thing,” one of the artists \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/B8E2hvIp50u/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wrote\u003c/a> on Instagram. “Excited for what’s going up next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13874867\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13874867\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCmBVAAEqE_w-800x576.jpg\" alt=\"The image of Too $hort and details from aspects of his career.\" width=\"800\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCmBVAAEqE_w-800x576.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCmBVAAEqE_w-160x115.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCmBVAAEqE_w-768x553.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/EPeCCmBVAAEqE_w.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The image of Too $hort and details from aspects of his career. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 4.6875em;float: left;line-height: 0.733em;padding: 0.05em 0.1em 0 0;font-family: times, serif, georgia\">T\u003c/span>here’s a long history of African American culture being compromised and remade to fit the palate of white America. Elvis Presley re-recording “Hound Dog” and selling 9.5 million more copies than the original \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hound-dog-is-recorded-for-the-first-time-by-big-mama-thornton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Big Mama Thornton version\u003c/a>. The long-running TV show \u003cem>Friends\u003c/em>, a spinoff of \u003ca href=\"https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/01/the-gentrification-of-city-based-sitcoms/513302/\">Living Single\u003c/a>. Hell, famed slavery abolitionist \u003ca href=\"https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/educate/truth.html\">Sojouner Truth\u003c/a>‘s first language was Dutch, and when she learned English, she spoke in a Dutch accent. Yet her famous speech, “Ain’t I A Woman,” is usually thought to have been spoken in “\u003ca href=\"https://www.thesojournertruthproject.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a stereotypical ‘southern black slave accent\u003c/a>,'” because that’s how (white) historians believed all enslaved Africans spoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s deeper than some paint on the walls. It’s about the importance of controlling your story, no matter the medium, because from that comes control over your life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And on that note of self-determination shown through community art, Refa One told me about a time he was painting a piece in Campbell Village, a well-known public housing project in West Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know how to do \u003cem>this\u003c/em>?” Refa One said a young man asked, watching him paint while playing with a group of friends. “We thought only white people did this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Refa One said he talked to the group of children, and told them, “The first people on the planet to ever paint murals, and to express their culture in that fashion, were African people just like us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13851523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13851523\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"Refa One in West Oakland.\" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-1200x802.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Refa One, of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/aerosoul_ig/\">@aerosoul_ig\u003c/a>, in West Oakland. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He invited the youngsters to pick up some paint and participate in the production of the piece, giving them “collective ownership of their walls.” Which is especially important in the black community, where we’re constantly combating self-hatred.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been conditioned to believe that anything happening positively in our community must come from the outside,” said Refa One, in reference to numerous images of African American leaders painted by white artists in Oakland. “Oftentimes the community is ignorant to the fact that we’re being ‘mascotted’ by white folks who consider themselves the ambassador to our culture, and how it should be used and decimated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says he can’t simply paint over those walls. It’s a Catch-22. “At that point it becomes difficult to remove those images, because people’s overall thought is that it’s positive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in a town where black folks have been disproportionately killed, over-policed, under-educated, sex trafficked and pushed out by the masses, putting up images of black folks \u003cem>is\u003c/em> like sports teams having mascots. Mascots derived from cultural aspects of the natives, who’ve been killed off of the very land where they now toss a pigskin or pitch a four-seam fastball.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Damn, it \u003cem>is\u003c/em> just like sports: it’s easy to root for a team because you like their mascot or star players, but you better do your research on who’s really in control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Otherwise you’ll be cheering for the “Negropeans.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "rightnowish-refa-one-spraypaint-in-hand-honors-west-oaklands-history",
"title": "Claiming Community Walls for the Black Panther Party",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ci>Listen to the podcast to hear moments from the Rightnowish Family Gathering.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I stand on the corner of 14th and Peralta in West Oakland, marveling over a mural painted on the broad side of the Sav-Mor liquor store. With a brilliant blue background, African Adinkra symbols along the top and the image of Black Panther Party co-founder Huey Newton squarely in the middle, the words “Serve The People” send a simple, clear mission statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are standing at ground zero, where the Black Panther Party started,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.refa1.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Refa One\u003c/a>, the artist behind the mural. “And there is nothing in this neighborhood of any consequence that is promoting the legacy of the Black Panther Party.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until last year, that is, when Refa painted the mural, giving visual honor to one of the most well-known organizations to emerge from the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13851524\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13851524\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.HueyMural-800x492.jpg\" alt=\"Refa One's mural honoring Huey Newton of the Black Panthers.\" width=\"800\" height=\"492\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.HueyMural-800x492.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.HueyMural-160x98.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.HueyMural-768x472.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.HueyMural-1020x627.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.HueyMural-1200x738.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.HueyMural.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Refa One’s mural honoring Huey Newton of the Black Panthers. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Having his work on the walls around town isn’t new to Refa—he’s been active since the 1980s, when he painted with the graffiti crew BSK. You can see his work \u003ca href=\"http://www.refa1.com/uploads/1/0/4/0/10407124/ahc-mural_orig.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">under the 580 overpass at Market\u003c/a>, or on 8th Street, between Campbell and Willow. He’s currently working on a mural dedicated to the memory of Oscar Grant at Fruitvale BART station, where Grant was fatally shot 10 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the Huey Newton piece is directly representative of the reason Refa, founder of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.aerosoulart.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AeroSoul\u003c/a> art collective, is invested in art. Both of his parents were Black Panther members, rank-and-file, as he called them. His dad, \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/panther-power/Content?oid=4994061\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ducho Dennis\u003c/a>, served as official photographer for the Panthers, and walls of his photos transform Refa’s living room into a sort of mini-museum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13851523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13851523\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"Refa One in West Oakland.\" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-1200x802.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Refa One in West Oakland. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Yeah I’m a collector of many sorts, mostly related to art. Whether it’s sculpture, paintings, music, you know, I’m also an archivist,” says Refa as we walk into his house. “There’s times where I will meet rank-and-file panthers, and this documentation may be the only physical documentation that records their involvement in the party, and that means a lot to their family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it means a lot to me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knowing how rapidly West Oakland is changing, this documentation is gold. The stories from this soil need to be told, no matter their form. To let them dissipate into history would be a disservice to those who came before us—as well as those who come after us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13851525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13851525\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.fist_-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"Artist Refa One with his mural honoring Huey Newton at 14th and Peralta in West Oakland.\" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.fist_-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.fist_-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.fist_-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.fist_-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.fist_-1200x802.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.fist_.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist Refa One with his mural honoring Huey Newton at 14th and Peralta in West Oakland. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Refa One would agree about the importance of that intergenerational connection. Along with his parents’ involvement in the party, his son Senay Alkebu-lan runs a clothing line called \u003ca href=\"https://www.madowfutur.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MADOW FUTUR\u003c/a>, which features images of the Black Panther logo on the apparel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about his art’s purpose, Refa One doesn’t have to deliberate. “My mission statement can be capsulated in the Black Panther commemorative mural around the corner from here: to serve the people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A shorter version of this episode was first broadcast on February 24, 2019.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Pendarvis Harshaw's 'Rightnowish' kicks off with Oakland muralist and culture keeper Refa One.",
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"title": "Claiming Community Walls for the Black Panther Party | KQED",
"description": "Pendarvis Harshaw's 'Rightnowish' kicks off with Oakland muralist and culture keeper Refa One.",
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"headline": "Claiming Community Walls for the Black Panther Party",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ci>Listen to the podcast to hear moments from the Rightnowish Family Gathering.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I stand on the corner of 14th and Peralta in West Oakland, marveling over a mural painted on the broad side of the Sav-Mor liquor store. With a brilliant blue background, African Adinkra symbols along the top and the image of Black Panther Party co-founder Huey Newton squarely in the middle, the words “Serve The People” send a simple, clear mission statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are standing at ground zero, where the Black Panther Party started,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.refa1.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Refa One\u003c/a>, the artist behind the mural. “And there is nothing in this neighborhood of any consequence that is promoting the legacy of the Black Panther Party.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until last year, that is, when Refa painted the mural, giving visual honor to one of the most well-known organizations to emerge from the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13851524\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13851524\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.HueyMural-800x492.jpg\" alt=\"Refa One's mural honoring Huey Newton of the Black Panthers.\" width=\"800\" height=\"492\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.HueyMural-800x492.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.HueyMural-160x98.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.HueyMural-768x472.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.HueyMural-1020x627.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.HueyMural-1200x738.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.HueyMural.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Refa One’s mural honoring Huey Newton of the Black Panthers. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Having his work on the walls around town isn’t new to Refa—he’s been active since the 1980s, when he painted with the graffiti crew BSK. You can see his work \u003ca href=\"http://www.refa1.com/uploads/1/0/4/0/10407124/ahc-mural_orig.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">under the 580 overpass at Market\u003c/a>, or on 8th Street, between Campbell and Willow. He’s currently working on a mural dedicated to the memory of Oscar Grant at Fruitvale BART station, where Grant was fatally shot 10 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the Huey Newton piece is directly representative of the reason Refa, founder of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.aerosoulart.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AeroSoul\u003c/a> art collective, is invested in art. Both of his parents were Black Panther members, rank-and-file, as he called them. His dad, \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/panther-power/Content?oid=4994061\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ducho Dennis\u003c/a>, served as official photographer for the Panthers, and walls of his photos transform Refa’s living room into a sort of mini-museum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13851523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13851523\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"Refa One in West Oakland.\" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street-1200x802.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.street.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Refa One in West Oakland. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Yeah I’m a collector of many sorts, mostly related to art. Whether it’s sculpture, paintings, music, you know, I’m also an archivist,” says Refa as we walk into his house. “There’s times where I will meet rank-and-file panthers, and this documentation may be the only physical documentation that records their involvement in the party, and that means a lot to their family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it means a lot to me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knowing how rapidly West Oakland is changing, this documentation is gold. The stories from this soil need to be told, no matter their form. To let them dissipate into history would be a disservice to those who came before us—as well as those who come after us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13851525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13851525\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.fist_-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"Artist Refa One with his mural honoring Huey Newton at 14th and Peralta in West Oakland.\" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.fist_-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.fist_-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.fist_-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.fist_-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.fist_-1200x802.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/RefaOne.fist_.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist Refa One with his mural honoring Huey Newton at 14th and Peralta in West Oakland. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Refa One would agree about the importance of that intergenerational connection. Along with his parents’ involvement in the party, his son Senay Alkebu-lan runs a clothing line called \u003ca href=\"https://www.madowfutur.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MADOW FUTUR\u003c/a>, which features images of the Black Panther logo on the apparel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about his art’s purpose, Refa One doesn’t have to deliberate. “My mission statement can be capsulated in the Black Panther commemorative mural around the corner from here: to serve the people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A shorter version of this episode was first broadcast on February 24, 2019.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"onourwatch": {
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
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