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Edgar “Dooky” Chase, IV — Lessons my Grandmother taught me: Pray, Work and Do for Others

NEW ORLEANS DATA NEWS WEEKLY — The Chase family is one that is close-knit with a commitment to serving others. It is in this spirit that the Legacy of Leah Chase lives on through those lives she’s touched. Data News Weekly had the opportunity to speak with Edgar “Dooky” Chase, IV, the grandson of Leah Chase, who is also the Owner and Chef of Dook’s Place located inside the Louis Armstrong Airport. Speaking of the importance of his grandmother and her amazing life and how she shaped them to pursue greatness he says, “The life and legacy of Leah Chase in terms of our family, she was the matriarch, the foundation and building block for all we do.” Continuing he says, “She taught every generation through the four walls of the restaurant not only about the industry, but about life introducing us to food, culture, art but most importantly about respecting people, about being inclusive.”

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By Edwin Buggage

The Building Blocks of Greatness

The Chase family is one that is close-knit with a commitment to serving others. It is in this spirit that the Legacy of Leah Chase lives on through those lives she’s touched. Data News Weekly had the opportunity to speak with Edgar “Dooky” Chase, IV, the grandson of Leah Chase, who is also the Owner and Chef of Dook’s Place located inside the Louis Armstrong Airport. Speaking of the importance of his grandmother and her amazing life and how she shaped them to pursue greatness he says, “The life and legacy of Leah Chase in terms of our family, she was the matriarch, the foundation and building block for all we do.” Continuing he says, “She taught every generation through the four walls of the restaurant not only about the industry, but about life introducing us to food, culture, art but most importantly about respecting people, about being inclusive.”

To Whom Much Who Is Given Much Is Required

Many who mention Mrs. Chase notes that’s what guided her life was a set of values and practices handed down from her father. “My grandmother’s motto she lived by was “pray, work and do for others.” That’s what was preached to her from her father and she passed it down to her children and they passed it down to us the grandkids and the great grandkids and that was a seed planted into us and what we will continue to live by.” While knowing of her impact on their lives; the family was surprised to hear stories of all the incredible things she did for others. “We were able to witness some, but we had no idea of the magnitude of the lives she touched and was loved by so many people.”

Building Bridges and Bringing a Community Together

Speaking with pride of his grandmother and her contribution to the lives of so many he says, “That is how she lived her life. The outpouring of support we’ve been getting is unbelievable and that is through the media, community and around the world. It’s really been uplifting to my family, it’s been inspirational not only to see her impact on so many people but it has been a driving force to sink into us that passion she had to do that we have to; to continue that legacy to pray work and do for others the same way she did.”

Leah Chase was true to the Spirit of New Orleans and being the bridge that brought people together.

“It was the love of people, that’s what she had. The love of community and that’s where her appreciation for art, food and music came — the things that bring the community together. Just the love of people and making them feel good that made her happy.”

Feeding the Soul with Love and Compassion

As he speaks of the life of his grandmother, there is emotion coming out as he composes himself speaking about her life and journey, “When we read these stories of how many lives she’s touched it sometimes brings us to tears thinking how she’s impacted our lives but WOW, look at all the people she’s helped and in many ways, made the world a better place spreading so much love and positivity.”

In a moment where his voice lights up thinking of the Life of Leah Chase he remarks, “I am fortunate and blessed to have had her as a grandparent, but even if she wasn’t, we were fortunate to have her in our presence being a truly phenomenal woman throughout her life. She will be missed and I hope the community and all the people who have been showing us love and support keep her in their spirit and that’s what she would want us to do — and pray, work and do for others.”

This article originally appeared in the New Orleans Data News Weekly.

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Activism

Oakland Awarded $675,000 Grant to Reduce Lead Hazards

 The award will assist in Oakland’s work to reduce lead hazards in older rental housing, especially in communities most impacted by housing instability. The City hired a consultant, Green and Healthy Homes Initiative, in 2024 to lead the technical aspect of the lead abatement work.

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By Post Staff

The City of Oakland has won a $675,800 grant from Partnership for the Bay’s Future (PBF) that will fund a two-year fellow to work in the Housing and Community Development (HCD) Department to support the development of lead hazard abatement and proactive rental inspection initiatives.

The award will assist in Oakland’s work to reduce lead hazards in older rental housing, especially in communities most impacted by housing instability. The City hired a consultant, Green and Healthy Homes Initiative, in 2024 to lead the technical aspect of the lead abatement work. By exploring the integration of lead hazard abatement with proactive rental inspections, the fellow’s work will aim to improve living conditions for families at risk of exposure and create safer homes for Oakland’s residents.

“We are grateful for the support of Partnership for the Bay’s Future for this award,” said Emily Weinstein, HCD director. “Housing safety and habitability are top priorities for our work in the coming year, and this fellow will ensure specific attention is paid to creating equitable solutions.”

The fellow will be dedicated full-time for the next two years to facilitate collaboration between HCD, Planning and Building Department (PBD), and a coalition of community partners. The total benefit to the City of Oakland is at least $675,800, of which $220,000 goes to a collaborative of community organizations to support the work.

The Healthy Havenscourt Collaborative brings essential community expertise to the project, connecting Oakland residents with resources and ensuring the program aligns with their needs.

These partners will engage residents directly to shape the program and make sure their voices are central to its design and implementation.

Coalition partners include Regional Asthma Management and Prevention (RAMP), La Clinica de la Raza, EBALDC, and Black Cultural Zone – all of which form the Healthy Havenscourt collaborative.

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Activism

Richmond Fire and Police Holiday Program Gives Toys, Food to 600 Families

The Richmond Fire and Police Holiday Program was inspired back in 1989 by now-retired Richmond firefighter Rod Woods, who organized a toy drive. Around that time, the Richmond Police Department had been running a food drive. After many years of growing their separate programs, Fire and Police united as one, with the Chevron Fire Department also stepping up and adding its continued support.

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Richmond residents accept the goodwill of the members of the Richmond Police and Fire departments. Photos by Mike Kinney.
Richmond residents accept the goodwill of the members of the Richmond Police and Fire departments. Photos by Mike Kinney.

By Mike Kinney, The Richmond Standard

About 600 local families received not only toys but also food, fresh poultry, and bicycles this holiday season, courtesy of a Richmond community that has banded together every year since 1989 to ensure children and their families in need can have a happy holiday.

The Richmond Fire and Police Holiday Drive, which takes several months and many volunteers to pull off, culminated Saturday with the annual giveaway event at the DeJean Middle School auditorium.

“We couldn’t have done it without the support of our incredible partners like Chevron, Mechanics Bank, Chevron Fire, the Richmond Police Officers Association, the Richmond Firefighters Association, the Richmond Rotary which donated bikes, the Fire Academy, the Richmond Police Explorer Post 110, Touch of New Life, and so many other volunteers and organizations who stepped up to help,” Richmond police officials said.

The Richmond Fire and Police Holiday Program was inspired back in 1989 by now-retired Richmond firefighter Rod Woods, who organized a toy drive. Around that time, the Richmond Police Department had been running a food drive. After many years of growing their separate programs, Fire and Police united as one, with the Chevron Fire Department also stepping up and adding its continued support.

The annual program involves setting out toy donation bins at police and fire stations and donations from individuals, businesses and organizations. For a third year in a row, East Brother Beer Co. hosted a benefit event or the holiday program.

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Activism

MacArthur Fellow Dorothy Roberts’ Advocates Restructure of Child Welfare System

Roberts’s early work focused on Black women’s reproductive rights and their fight for reproductive justice. In “Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty 1997)”, she analyzes historical and contemporary policies and practices that denied agency to Black women and sought to control their childbearing—from forced procreation during slavery, to coercive sterilization and welfare reform—and advocates for an expanded understanding of reproductive freedom.

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Dorothy Roberts. Photo courtesy of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Dorothy Roberts. Photo courtesy of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Special to The Post

When grants were announced Oct. 1, it was noted that eight of the 22 MacArthur Fellows were African American. Among the recipients of the so-called ‘genius grants’ are scholars, visual and media artists a poet/writer, historian, and dancer/choreographer who each receive $800,000 over a five-year period to spend as they see fit.

 Their names are Ruha Benjamin, Jericho Brown, Tony Cokes, Jennifer L. Morgan, Ebony G. Patterson, Shamel Pitts, Jason Reynolds, and Dorothy Roberts. This is the eighth and last in the series highlighting the Black awardees. The report below on Dorothy Roberts is excerpted from the MacArthur Fellows web site.

A graduate of Yale University with a law degree from Harvard, Dorothy Roberts is a legal scholar and public policy researcher exposing racial inequities embedded within health and social service systems.

Sine 2012, she has been a professor of Law and Sociology, and on the faculty in the department of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Roberts’s work encompasses reproductive health, bioethics, and child welfare. She sheds light on systemic inequities, amplifies the voices of those directly affected, and boldly calls for wholesale transformation of existing systems.

Roberts’s early work focused on Black women’s reproductive rights and their fight for reproductive justice. In “Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty 1997)”, she analyzes historical and contemporary policies and practices that denied agency to Black women and sought to control their childbearing—from forced procreation during slavery, to coercive sterilization and welfare reform—and advocates for an expanded understanding of reproductive freedom.

This work prompted Roberts to examine the treatment of children of color in the U.S. child welfare system.

After nearly two decades of research and advocacy work alongside parents, social workers, family defense lawyers, and organizations, Roberts has concluded that the current child welfare system is in fact a system of family policing with alarmingly unequal practices and outcomes. Her 2001 book, “Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare,” details the outsized role that race and class play in determining who is subject to state intervention and the results of those interventions.

Through interviews with Chicago mothers who had interacted with Child Protective Services (CPS), Roberts shows that institutions regularly punish the effects of poverty as neglect.

CPS disproportionately investigates Black and Indigenous families, especially if they are low-income, and children from these families are much more likely than white children to be removed from their families after CPS referral.

In “Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families—and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World (2022),” Roberts traces the historical, cultural, and political forces driving the racial and class imbalance in child welfare interventions.

These include stereotypes about Black parents as negligent, devaluation of Black family bonds, and stigmatization of parenting practices that fall outside a narrow set of norms.

She also shows that blaming marginalized individuals for structural problems, while ignoring the historical roots of economic and social inequality, fails families and communities.

Roberts argues that the engrained oppressive features of the current system render it beyond repair. She calls for creating an entirely new approach focused on supporting families rather than punishing them.

Her support for dismantling the current child welfare system is unsettling to some. Still, her provocation inspires many to think more critically about its poor track record and harmful design.

By uncovering the complex forces underlying social systems and institutions, and uplifting the experiences of people caught up in them, Roberts creates opportunities to imagine and build more equitable and responsive ways to ensure child and family safety.

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