Ashley Griffin

Art gets political at West Oakland gallery

With the election season underway, nine artists will have the chance to express their political beliefs through art on Friday night at the Transmission Gallery in West Oakland.

The show, titled “Unrestricted,” aims to not only raise political awareness of this year’s presidential election, the environment and immigration issues in the United States, but to also help give artists a chance to show work that typically doesn’t get shown, said Ruth Santee, the gallery’s owner and director. “With the energy of the elections, we decided to have a political show,” she said. “Political work doesn’t usually get seen. If you are too overt, people have the tendency of not showing it.”

Video footage shows hundreds protesting at Tuesday night’s Oakland City Council meeting

This raw video was taken Tuesday night by Oakland North reporter Sam Rolens, inside the Oakland City Hall council chambers, as protesters disrupted a scheduled meeting in order to demand action and more information on the shooting death in May of a young man killed by an Oakland police officer. The noisy protest broke out at 6:00 pm Tuesday evening, as family members of the young man, an 18-year-old Skyline High school student named Alan Blueford, were joined by many…

Oakland forum explores pros and cons of Propositions 30, 38 for schools

On Wednesday night, “Stand Up for Our Children: A Community Forum” at the Oakland School for the Arts in downtown Oakland brought together educators, administrators and local political figures to discuss two propositions on the November ballot that could generate new funds for public schools by raising taxes for Californians. The forum also included a “break-away” session that allowed attendees to voice their concerns in more in-depth fashion.

Oakland residents express concerns about bringing strollers on buses

On Wednesday, members of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and some Oakland residents gathered at 14th Street and Broadway to protest a rumored ban against strollers on AC Transit buses. About 20 protestors marched down nearby Franklin Street chanting, “One struggle, one fight, we need our buses, it’s our right!”