Politics

Hundreds rally for Bernie Sanders in Oakland as Super Tuesday looms

As voters went to the polls in South Carolina, and with Super Tuesday looming on March 1, about 300 people rallied for Bernie Sanders in downtown Oakland on Saturday. Local group SambaFunk provided a pulsating drum soundtrack as Sanders supporters, many with children, rallied at Frank Ogawa Plaza before marching to a CitiBank branch to call attention to Hillary Clinton’s Wall Street donations. Held at the same location as the Occupy Oakland protests of 2011, Saturday’s rally also focused on…

Performance, charter school renewal are priorities at school board meeting

Wednesday night’s Oakland school board meeting started off sparsely populated; board president James Harris joked that it would be a short meeting. But within two and a half hours, it was standing room only, as parents filed in to attend a special meeting on charter schools’ performance measures and two charter renewals. The meeting began with a joint presentation made by representatives from the groups Latino Men and Boys (LMB) and African-American Female and African-American Male Achievement (AAMA). As part…

HipHopForChange works to create a more positive image of hip hop

Jay runs a non-profit in Oakland called Hip Hop for Change. His goal is to create a more positive image of hip hop that does not reinforce the stereotypical images perpetuated by the mainstream music industry. “We’re trying to put our real image out there, so people can see our real culture, instead of making stereotypical tropes of our culture to entertain themselves with,” Jay said. “Those tropes that criminalize our black and brown youth.”

Clergy coalition continues to fight coal shipping plan

More than a dozen Oakland clergy members held signs that read “No Coal” and “Faith Against Coal” outside the city council meeting on Tuesday to demand that the council immediately stop a plan to ship coal through the city. Before the meeting, some leaders from the Christian and Jewish communities spoke enthusiastically to an audience about why they believe coal should be banned due to possible environmental and health risks.