Bay Area

Carroll Fife Helped Moms4Housing Win on Housing, Now She’s Looking to Win over District 3

Published

5 years ago

July 22, 2020

A campaign launching caravan called the People’s Procession made its way through West Oakland neighborhoods on Saturday, July 18 to officially announce Carroll Fife’s candidacy for City Council District 3.

Greeted by a group of motorcyclists at Defremery Park waiting for the procession’s arrival at the final destination, the caravan worked its way around the park with signs of support while one vehicle played a message from Fife over a loudspeaker.

“Are you tired of waiting for progressive action from City Council? Are you sick of begging your elected leaders to house those without shelter, end police violence, and protect working-class families from gentrification and displacement? So am I,” was the message broadcast in a continual loop.

Once the procession stopped at the entrance of the park, Fife exited her vehicle to stand on the flatbed of a truck with speakers for a final speech for the day. Starting with a request to talk to community members to find solutions, Fife said, “I want to know what you all think, how should we govern out of City Hall, what should it look like?”

Known for being the mastermind behind Moms4Housing, where four unhoused women attempted to take over a house owned by an absentee, corporate landlord, Fife is the regional director of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE). She is also a mother and a long time advocate.

According to creatingfreedommovements.org, she served as a co-founder and co-chair of the Oakland Alliance, Oakland Justice Coalition, and the Community Ready Corps working to create racial justice, increase access to quality jobs, housing, and education. Fife founded Black Women in Elected Leadership PAC and became an elected member of the Oakland NAACP’s Executive Committee.

Fife expressed her own experience living in Oakland for over two decades witnessing the changes the city has undergone, understanding the connectivity of struggles, saying legislation should come from a place of love and compassion for everyone.

“We are in a moment in time when each one of us is so critical in the fight,” Fife said. Mentioning the recent street mural at Lake Merritt that is painted with the words “All Black trans queer nonbinary women disabled imprisoned lives matter” Fife said, “why that is important is because we are the canaries in the coal mine.”

Citing the current situation in Portland, OR, where white protesters protesting for BLM are being taken off the streets in unmarked vans by federal officers, Fife said if there had been an outcry for Black lives in recent history then situations like these would not have gone so far. “The canaries have been a signal for what is to happen to all of us inside of a state where we don’t matter. When someone’s life doesn’t matter, then anything can be done to them and it be justified,” Fife said.

Fife said it’s in the same manner homelessness can be justified because their lives don’t matter to so many people. “It’s time to change that,” Fife said. “There are folks who are going on strike, there are workers who are begging for just common decency in pay and working conditions.”

“There are teachers who cannot afford to live in the cities where they teach,” she said. “And now we are talking about re-opening them [schools] inside of a pandemic? It’s because the children who go to Oakland public schools’ lives don’t matter to someone. We have got to unite and change that.”

Fife said she also wants to hear

from the community on what they want for the Oakland A’s baseball team and its proposal to locate at the Howard Terminal in West Oakland.

“City Council is not the magic bullet,” she said. “This system is rotten from its core…we may just need to tear it down, perhaps. Or extract every piece, grain, iota of worth that we can extract from this position.”

To contact Fife’s campaign go to https://www.carrollfife.org/.

Michelle Snider

Associate Editor for The Post News Group. Writer, Photographer, Videographer, Copy Editor, and website editor documenting local events in the Oakland-Bay Area California area.

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Michelle Snider

Associate Editor for The Post News Group. Writer, Photographer, Videographer, Copy Editor, and website editor documenting local events in the Oakland-Bay Area California area.

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Activism

Asm. Corey Jackson Proposes Safe Parking for Homeless College Students Sleeping in Cars

Assemblymember Corey Jackson (D-Moreno Valley), a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), is the author of AB 90, which would require community colleges and California State University campuses to create overnight parking programs where students can sleep safely in their vehicles. With one in four community college students in California experiencing homelessness in the past year, Jackson says the state must act urgently.

Published

20 hours ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Assemblymember Corey Jackson. File photo.

By Bo Tefu
California Black Media

As California’s housing crisis continues to impact students, new legislation, Assembly Bill (AB) 90, promises to allow college students without stable housing to sleep in their cars on campus, offering a stark but practical solution aimed at immediate relief.

“This just deals with the harsh realities that we find ourselves in,” he said at a recent hearing.

The bill passed its first committee vote and is gaining attention as housing affordability remains a top concern across the state. California rents are more than 30% above the national average, and long waitlists for student housing have left thousands in limbo. CSU reported more than 4,000 students on its housing waitlist last year.

Supporters stress that the bill is not a long-term solution, but a humane step toward helping students who have no other place to go. A successful pilot program at Long Beach City College has already shown that safe, supervised overnight parking can work, giving students access to restrooms, Wi-Fi, and a secure environment.

However, the CSU and community college systems oppose the bill, citing funding concerns. Critics also worry about safety and oversight. But Jackson and student advocates argue the crisis demands bold action.

“If we know students are already sleeping in their cars, why not help them do it safely?” said Ivan Hernandez, president of the Student Senate for California Community Colleges.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Faces Around the Bay: Author Karen Lewis Took the ‘Detour to Straight Street’

“My life has been a roller-coaster with an unlimited ride wristband! I was raised in Berkeley during the time of Ron Dellums, the Black Panthers, and People’s Park. I was a Hippie kid, my Auntie cut off all our hair so we could wear the natural styles like her and Angela Davis.

Published

24 hours ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Karen Lewis. Courtesy photo.

By Barbara Fluhrer

I met Karen Lewis on a park bench in Berkeley. She wrote her story on the spot.

I got married young, then ended up getting divorced, raising two boys into men. After my divorce, I had a stroke that left me blind and paralyzed. I was homeless, lost in a fog with blurred vision.

Jesus healed me! I now have two beautiful grandkids. At 61, this age and this stage, I am finally free indeed. Our Lord Jesus Christ saved my soul. I now know how to be still. I lay at his feet. I surrender and just rest. My life and every step on my path have already been ordered. So, I have learned in this life…it’s nice to be nice. No stressing, just blessings. Pray for the best and deal with the rest.

Nobody is perfect, so forgive quickly and love easily!”

Lewis’ book “Detour to Straight Street” is available on Amazon.

Oakland Post

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Barbara Lee Accepts Victory With “Responsibility, Humility and Love”

“I accept your choice with a deep sense of responsibility, humility, and love. Oakland is a deeply divided City,” Lee said in an April 19 statement. “I answered the call to run to unite our community, so that I can represent every voter, and we can all work together as One Oakland to solve our most pressing problems.”

Published

24 hours ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Barbara Lee. File photo.

By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌,
California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌

As a candidate for mayor, former U.S. Representative Barbara Lee released a “10-point plan” last week to reassure residents that she will tackle Oakland’s most pressing challenges.

Now that she has edged out her competitors in the ranked-choice special election with 50% or more of the vote, the former Congresswoman, who represented parts of the Bay Area in the U.S. House of Representatives, can put her vision in motion as the city’s first Black woman mayor.

On Saturday evening, Taylor conceded to Lee. There are still about 300 Vote-by-Mail ballots left to be verified, according to county election officials. The ballots will be processed on April 21 and April 22.

“This morning, I called Congresswoman Barbara Lee to congratulate her on becoming the next Mayor of Oakland,” Taylor said in a statement.

“I pray that Mayor-Elect Lee fulfills her commitment to unify Oakland by authentically engaging the 47% of Oaklanders who voted for me and who want pragmatic, results-driven leadership.”

The influential Oakland Post endorsed Lee’s campaign, commending her leadership on the local, state, and federal levels.

Paul Cobb, The Post’s publisher, told California Black Media that Lee will bring back “respect and accountability” to the mayor’s office.

“She is going to be a collegial leader drawing on the advice of community nonprofit organizations and those who have experience in dealing with various issues,” Cobb said. “She’s going to try to do a consensus-building thing among those who know the present problems that face the city.”

Born in El Paso, Texas, Lee’s family moved to California while she was in high school. At 20 years old, Lee divorced her husband after the birth of her first child. After the split, Lee went through a tough period, becoming homeless and having to apply for public assistance to make ends meet.

But destitution did not deter the young woman.

Lee groomed herself to become an activist and advocate in Oakland and committed to standing up for the most vulnerable citizens in her community.

Lee traveled to Washington, D.C. to work for then U.S. Congressman Ron Dellums after receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mills College in Oakland in 1973. Lee later won a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) fellowship to attend the School of Social Welfare, and she earned a Master of Social Work from the University of California-Berkeley in 1975.

Lee later served in the California State Assembly and State Senate before she was elected to Congress in 1998.

After serving in the U.S. Congress for more than 25 years, Lee ran unsuccessfully for California’s U.S. Senate in the 2024 primary election.

Lee joins current Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass and former San Francisco Mayor London Breed as Black women serving as chief executives of major cities in California over the last few years.