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Oakland is redrawing its council district map to address population shifts revealed in the 2020 Census, and this time, Oaklanders can have a say. The City Charter states that Oakland must adjust council district boundaries to reflect population changes in the decennial U.S. census data, a process known as redistricting. According to 2020 census data, Oakland’s population increased by nearly 13% to 440,646 since 2010. Driving that trend were a 28% increase in the city’s Latino population and a 14%…
A day after Indigenous Peoples Day, dozens of activists and others gathered outside the KTVU building in Jack London Square Tuesday to shed light on missing Indigenous women and the lack of media coverage for Black and brown women. They set up an altar, held up flags and banners, and gathered in a circle. The scent of sage filled the air as Lyla June Johnston shared a prayer, welcoming the ancestors to the circle. “We ask that you protect our…
During every Oakland Roots home soccer game, Lisa Bonta Sumii stands on the opposite team’s sideline, carefully watching the players’ body language. At the end of a recent game, when she noticed defensive player Akeem O’Connor-Ward standing still with his hands on his hips, staring blankly as his opponents celebrated a 1-0 victory, Bonta Sumii walked over to comfort him. As the soccer club’s mental health and sports performance specialist, Bonta Sumii intervened to keep O’Connor-Ward from getting too down,…
On a recent Sunday afternoon, Callan Porter-Romero dragged her little red trolley to a restaurant in Chinatown. She unloaded her ladder, placed paint cans and brushes on the ground, then mixed purple and pink on her palette. Atop the spattered ladder, she drew orchids on the restaurant window. The flowers surrounded a sketched hand holding a pair of green chopsticks. “We need more art in the community to show that people who grew up here are still here, and their…
In the Gardena, California, park where police shot and killed her son in 2018, Fouzia Almarou addressed supporters last week about a bill carrying her son’s name that had just been signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. “I’m tired of it. I’m tired of seeing mothers crying,” said Almarou, who was eager to see the Kenneth Ross Jr. Police Decertification Act become law. It’s a feeling Amanda Blanco of Oakland understands. Her stepbrother Erik Salgado was shot and killed by California…
Oakland is the newest playground for the African-American Shakespeare Company’s upcoming tour of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, Revised.” Coming to Jack London Square this Saturday, the play challenges three actors to perform 75 characters from 37 of the bard’s plays in just under an hour and a half. The Complete Works was slated to hit the stage in September 2020, but as COVID-19 devastated the theater industry, AASC joined many of the nation’s theater companies in pushing…
Every Saturday morning, Will Scott Jr. wakes at 4 a.m. and drives from Fresno to Oakland to sell his fruits and vegetables at the Freedom Farmers Market in Temescal. Among the Black small business owners at the market this day, he is the only farmer. At 81, Scott is part of a diminishing group — one of just 429 Black farmers in California. He said he travels 175 miles each week to make a point. As president of African American…
When Akshay Prabhu’s plans for a steamed-bun cart were thwarted in 2014 by stringent restaurant standards that he couldn’t meet, frustration pushed him to change the system and the laws. Prabhu lobbied for the Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation bill, which passed statewide in 2018 and was adopted in Alameda County in May. Now Oakland residents can prepare and sell food directly from their homes, or offer sit-down dining. “With prices soaring to actually get a brick and mortar, home restaurants…
At his family-owned halal market Thursday morning, Temur Khwaja cut and marinated chicken and lamb for kebab at Marwa Market & Grill. “We need to prepare for First Friday tomorrow,” said Khwaja, anticipation in his voice, sweat on his brow. Local businesses and restaurants in the Koreatown Northgate (KONO) neighborhood are preparing for the relaunching of the Oakland First Fridays festival tonight. First Fridays is a monthly street festival held by KONO Community Benefit District. Eighteen months after the pandemic…