Culture
Dr. Prince White, a deputy director for the Oakland social justice organization Urban Peace Movement, died on August 24 from a rare autoimmune disease he had been battling since May.
“Choose discomfort over resentment” reads the tattoo on Shenaaz Janmohamed’s right arm. The Oakland-based psychotherapist, who has Muslim South Asian origins, defines herself as a “queer femme mama.” She became a mother two years ago, and said that change gave her “clarity” to devote her time to healing her community: queer Muslims. Janmohamed is a minority within a minority. She identifies as a Shia queer, and is in a relationship with a genderqueer partner (a person who identifies with neither,…
Diana Days’ face was swollen. Bruised purplish-blue lines curved along the top of her cheeks beneath her grey eyes and full eyebrows—which she intentionally had not plucked while waiting for surgery—and followed her newly-shrunken brow bone. She had recently undergone a process known as “brow bossing,” in which the brow bone is sawed down by surgeons to give the face a more feminine appearance. “Women don’t usually have this here,” she said, her hands feeling around her brow ridge, a…
For the elderly, staying active can be difficult. But that’s not the case at the Lincoln Square Recreation Center in Oakland’s Chinatown.
Ameer Aziz was playing basketball with his 8-year-old son at an Oakland park near 19th Street when he noticed something strange: a man instructing kids about how to play basketball. “Eventually, I walk to him and ask him what was he doing. Was he a coach? And then he spoke with an African accent and said, ‘No, I just like basketball,’” recalled Aziz about the encounter. He remembered thinking it was weird, because the man was doing it for free….
Notary fraud is a common set-up in which notaries unlawfully give legal advice to immigrants, and in many cases, pretend to be immigration attorneys. The scam often involves the notary reviewing a victim’s case, choosing which legal documents are appropriate for their case, helping complete these documents, and submitting them to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Office—all acts only lawyers have the authority to do.
Immigration experts and advocates say that notary fraud is one of the biggest issues facing the undocumented community. “It is also a big problem in the East Bay and surrounding areas in Northern California,” said Barbara Pinto, an immigration senior staff attorney at the Centro Legal de la Raza, a legal service agency for immigrants’ rights, located in Oakland.
Josiah Walton, a 9-year-old student who attends Carl B. Munck Elementary School in Oakland, told his mom as he woke up on Sunday morning,“Mom, today is the morning. We have to go!” His mom, Misty Walton, responded: “I already know we are going!” They were excited to join UC Berkeley’s Cal Day event, a day for prospective students of all ages to come tour the campus. She said her son has been waiting for the day, saying things like, “We…
Kava, kratom and caffeine — the stories in this episode of our podcast dive into obsession, addiction and habits. We follow reporters Susie Neilson ad Padmini Parasarathy as they goes to Melo Melo Kava Bar where people consume Kava, a Polynesian root-brewed tea, helping people with their anxiety and overcome addiction. Alexa Hornbeck takes us to Sacramento as she speaks with a mother fighting to keep kratom, a controversial herbal supplement, from being made an illegal substance in the United States….
On the corner of 23rd Avenue and International Boulevard in East Oakland, there’s a colorful mural painted on the side of a building with the phrase “CULTURE IS A WEAPON” written in bold letters. In the center of the mural is an image of a raised fist in front of flames, surrounded by portraits of Black Panther party members, musicians, farmworkers and indigenous people. While the mural is surrounded by fences on all sides, its size and color make it…