Events

Bar Association Recognizes Chevron, East Oakland Youth Development Center

Published

10 years ago

December 11, 2014

The Charles Houston Bar Association (CHBA) hosted its Annual Gala and Dinner Dance, Saturday Dec. 6 at the Oakland Marriott City Center, honoring community-based and corporate community partners, public servants and law students in Northern California.

Paul Henderson, legal analyst for CBS News and Deputy Chief of Staff/Public Safety Director for the San Francisco Mayor’s office, was the Master of Ceremonies.

Chevron U.S.A. Inc. received the “Corporate Recognition Award” honoring the Chevron Law Function, the company’s in-house legal department’s commitment to diversity and its extensive pro bono legal services.

The East Oakland Youth Development Center received the “Benjamin Travis Community Service Award” in recognition of its youth development programs that benefit more than 2,000 young people annually.

The Oakland Chapter of the NAACP received the “Clinton W. White Advocacy Award” for championing social and economic justice for persons of color.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gloria F. Rhynes received the “CHBA Hall of Fame Award”—noted for her contributions and involvement within the legal community.

Four law students receive scholarships: Tenette Smith and Anthony D. Caruthers, II of The University of San Francisco School of Law, and Allyssa Vilanueva and Rodney Nickens, Jr. of the UC Hastings College of Law.

The Charles Houston Bar Association is an affiliate of the National Bar Association. It represents the interests of African American attorneys throughout Northern California. It was founded in 1955 in honor of Charles Hamilton Houston, a litigator who championed civil rights.

To learn more about CHBA visit www.charleshoustonbar.org.

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Soaring Birds and Towering Waves Greet Attendees at 29th Annual Maafa Commemoration at Ocean Beach

The 29th Annual MAAFA Commemoration San Francisco Bay Area was held at Ocean Beach, Sunday, Oct. 13. Warm and cloudy with waves as high as tall buildings, we gathered to honor African ancestors who died by the millions over the centuries of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

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2 weeks ago

October 21, 2024

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Ayikwei H. Scott (drummer standing), Dr. Uzo Nwankpa (seated), Iya Nefertina Abrams (in background), unnamed participant to the left. Next frame: co-founder, Sister Wanda Sabir at mic. MAAFA winged chorus (center frame). We are singing the MAAFA song Brotha Clint composed. Chorus: Sister Wanda and Antwuanette Queen-Pope, Brother Desmond Iman, Baba Darinxoso Oyamasela. Minister Alisha Teasley (Lower right). Photo montage by Zochi.

By Wanda Sabir

Special to The Post

The 50 or so children and adults attending Maafa, Kiswahili word meaning ‘great disaster,’ came from as far as Monterey and Sacramento to just up the block. We all felt the ancestors’ ethereal embrace as Min. Imhotep and Min. Alicia of Wo’Se Community Church poured libations and invited us to call their names with our mouths, feet, and hands.

Birds on the beach lifted their wings in flight moving towards us and flying overhead the way legends say African ancestors flew away from plantation fields. Their collective Aṣé!

The theme for the 29^th Maafa event was accountability and as Zochi led us through Mu-i (pronounced moo-ee, a movement meditation) we embraced our power from our roots through our crown chakras. Dr. Uzo Nwankpa, a healer in residence at Freedom Community Clinic, taught us the Igbo war chant —“Eyinmba” which was also an embodied movement.

Our ancestral poet this year was Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911), born in Baltimore to free parents. She was a poet, abolitionist, suffragist, educator, and freedom fighter who lived in Philadelphia.
“It’s time to be a grown person,” Wanda Sabir, Maafa CEO stated. “Own up, fess up, get righteous. Accountability means we don’t blame others for our poor choices and their consequences. We don’t blame the system, genetic weakness, structural racism, poverty of the soul, families of origin, peer pressure, ignorance….
“We are more than the worse thing we have suffered. We are more than what our ancestors survived.
“Our ancestors do not want us to be functional. Our ancestors want us to be free.”
The drummers were phenomenal, and the section of the program open to reflections was filled with song, poetry, dance and prayers. A special treat was “Amkara Music” by Karamo Susso and Amina Janta, who will perform at Bissap Baobab in San Francisco on Oct. 20.
Join us for a Zoom dialogue on adrienne maree brown’s article, “Murmations: Love Looks Like Accountability” (Yes! Magazine, 7/25/22): Sunday, Nov. 10, 2-4 pm PT. Register in advance: MaafaSFBayArea.com, 510-397-9705. Here is the MAAFA 2024 program (https://qr1.be/CPFI).