Community
A truck driver in Millbrae chased a Hispanic woman down the street screaming slurs. A university researcher living in Albany, California, was confronted with swastikas on her way to work at UC Berkeley. A mosque in San José received a letter threatening to “cleanse” Muslims from the country. All of these incidents took place after the election—and in each case, the perpetrators explicitly linked their racial hatred to the election of Donald Trump. Following Trump’s November win, the nation has…
In 1973, the Black Panther Party opened an elementary school in an old church on International Boulevard. At its peak, The Oakland Community School (OCS) served around 160 students, and relied on a combination of grants and private donations to give it total autonomy: the Panthers hired whom they pleased, taught how they wanted, and won awards doing it. When the party disbanded in 1982, the school shut its doors. But a generation of its alumni still live—and to hear…
Lia Freitas is a professional baker in Oakland who uses baking as a form of therapy.
President-elect Donald Trump is famous for his divisive, and some say hateful, rhetoric. During the campaign he called for a blanket ban on allowing Muslims into the country and proposed creating a national registry of Muslims.
“What is the name of the type of whiskey that is named after a fast sailboat?” It’s Wednesday night at Room 389—trivia night, to be exact. Scattered throughout the dimly-lit watering hole are teams of no more than six, some clustered at the bar and high-top tables, some standing with answer sheets in hand, and others fortunate to be sitting at a booth. It’s round IV—the final round—and a team called Joan and The Scammers are contending for the number…
Two of the Bay Area’s top lawyers often find themselves on opposite sides of high profile police misconduct cases. One is a plaintiff lawyer who often sues police departments, another defends officers in and out of court. Here’s a story of their battle told through a few cases.
A group of disabled musicians, poets and other artists use their music for social justice work. Specifically, they aim to raise awareness and promote the disabled community.
A former grocery store and pizza spot turned community center is getting a fresh look thanks to the work of Refa One, a community artist. Refa started painting the sprawling seven-panel mural in October and hopes to finish by the end of the year. The mural, located in West Oakland’s Lower Bottoms neighborhood, includes a mix of African and African-American imagery, symbolism and cityscapes, from Timbuktu to Oakland. Refa has been painting murals in Oakland for over 15 years. Click…
For Carmen Garcia, the end of a prison sentence was the beginning of a new set of problems.
“The biggest obstacle for me was continuing to stay in school, because the halfway house wanted me to get a job right away, a full-time job,” she said. “And I remember a case manager said to me, ‘You need to take this job, whatever job they offer you, because now you have a criminal record and you’re not going to be able to get another job. Don’t worry about education, because that’s not going to help you.’”