Pendarvis Harshaw

Fours Years Later: African Americans in Oakland react to President Obama’s reelection

Four years ago, people danced in the streets in front of Everett and Jones BBQ Restaurant in Jack London Square. They embraced loved ones and high-fived total strangers. The news cameras rolled, and non-reporters became journalists as they documented history via grainy pictures from their camera phones. The first African American president in the history of the United States had been elected. Four years later, that same African American president was up for re-election, but the celebration at Everett and…

Two arrests, no reports of vandalism, graffiti after Occupy march

Apart from patches of dusty, multicolored chalk art on the sidewalks—a remnant of Chalkupy—little evidence of last night’s march and gathering commemorating the first police raid on an Occupy Oakland encampment remained Friday morning. Despite declarations that the group would hold an all-night vigil, and rumors that they might attempt to set up a new encampment, the only people at Frank Ogawa Plaza this morning were security guards, commuters and City of Oakland maintenance workers.

School board candidates sound off on district challenges

This November, four seats on the Oakland Unified School District board are up for election. In three of the district races, incumbents face new opponents, while in District 5, candidates are vying for the seat being vacated by longtime board member Noel Gallo. Gallo, who has represented Glenview and Fruitvale since 1992, is currently running for the Oakland City Council. Click on the photos of the candidates above to read brief profiles and listen to their responses to three questions…

African American students honored for perfect scores

For the third consecutive year, the Oakland Unified School District’s Department of African American Male Achievement honored students who earned perfect scores on their STAR exams, but this year’s ceremony honored both young men and women. To celebrate these students’ achievements, a boisterous crowd of parents, educators and other students attended an evening event at Frick Middle School in East Oakland on October 11.

OPD launches anonymous tip by text service

Oakland residents now have the ability to send completely anonymous texts or E-mail tips about crimes to the city’s police department, officials announced last week.

In response to a rash of homicides, with five deaths in a span of 18 hours from Monday, October 1 through Tuesday, October 2, Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan

At Castlemont, new school year brings changes, challenges

As Norman Ospina, the school attendance clerk and a translator at Castlemont High School in East Oakland, crossed the courtyard on a crisp overcast fall morning, he spotted a young man he believed had been involved in a campus brawl on September 21. Ospina, whose students call him “Mr. O,” placed his index finger over his mouth, and nodded in the direction of the student on the other side of the courtyard. The student instantly revealed a smile that was…

Volunteers flock to Oakland shorelines for Coastal Cleanup Day

Perry Parsons, an 8th grader at St. Mark’s Episcopal School in Oakland, discovered a spring, a shoe and a part of a black plastic wall socket that “looks like a face” in the Damon Slough waterway in East Oakland while volunteering on Saturday at the city’s Creek to Bay community service day. The 17th annual such service day in Oakland coincided with the world’s 27th International Coastal Cleanup Day, and the State of California’s 28th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day. From 9 until…