Religion
A billboard sitting on a hill next to Plymouth United Church of Christ in Oakland reads “Abolish the Death Penalty,” and there’s a “Yes on 34” placard pinned just below. More posters supporting Proposition 34 are scattered around the church—on a bulletin board in the sanctuary and on the door outside. Like many of Oakland’s religious leaders, the leaders of Plymouth Church have endorsed Prop. 34. If passed on November 6, it would repeal the death penalty in California and…
A rise in shootings has prompted Oakland city officials and community members to revisit Operation Ceasefire, a violence prevention program the city tried before but failed to sustain, one that specifically targets offenders with known track records of gun violence.
Armed with green forms listing license plate numbers, car models and driver descriptions, residents of the San Antonio neighborhood aim to do what billboards and tow trucks could not—reduce prostitution in their community.
Ethiopians from around the Bay Area came to Medhane Alem church in Oakland on Sunday to celebrate Meskel, an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian holiday that commemorates the finding of the True Cross by Saint Helena.
Yossi Offenberg is a die-hard fan of ball hockey, which is like roller hockey, only in shoes. He’s 48 and grew up in Toronto, where he and his friends would wait eagerly for the Saturday morning synagogue services to end so they could they rush home for lunch, and then out to play ball hockey in the streets.. They did this until the stars came out and Sabbath was over. Offenberg says those cold winter days were some of the best days of his youth.
The chants and whistles pierced the Saturday afternoon air, alerting the entire neighborhood that a mass of people waving signs was not far behind.
The sun was setting over Oakland’s Dimond Park Monday as Jewish families gathered to toss bits of bread into a small creek running that ran through the trees. The practice, called Tashlich, is part of the Jewish New Year celebration in which individuals “cast off” the sins of the past year. It is also a time for new beginnings.
Around 3,000 people turned out in Mosswood Park on Saturday to celebrate Enkutatash, the Ethiopian New Year.
As Imam Zaid Shakir walked into Oakland’s Lighthouse Mosque for Friday prayers, several of his congregation leapt to their feet and embraced him, eager to hear his take on a YouTube video, and the violent reaction to it, that have strained relations between many in the Muslim world and the United States.