Community
Becoming an Antiracist School of Public Health
For more than 80 years, Berkeley Public Health has championed equity and justice around the world. But in 2020—when vigorous calls for racial justice in the U.S. were sparked by the murder by police of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, and racial disparities in health outcomes tied to the COVID-19 pandemic—it was clear that more needed to be done both around the world and at home in Berkeley.
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By Elise Proulx
UC Berkeley News
For more than 80 years, Berkeley Public Health has championed equity and justice around the world.
But in 2020—when vigorous calls for racial justice in the U.S. were sparked by the murder by police of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, and racial disparities in health outcomes tied to the COVID-19 pandemic—it was clear that more needed to be done both around the world and at home in Berkeley.
Against that background, Dean Michael C. Lu issued a call to action for the school to become an antiracist institution.
In response, a steering group of 23 faculty, staff, and students, led by then Executive Associate Dean Amani Allen and Chief of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging & Justice (DEIBJ) Ché Abram, launched ARC4JSTC (Anti-racist Community for Justice and Social Transformative Change), a “comprehensive, multiyear antiracist change initiative encompassing faculty and workforce development, student experience, curriculum and pedagogy, community engagement outreach, and business processes.”
Over a two-year period, the project resulted in the establishment of an Antiracist Pedagogy Faculty Leadership Academy that has trained more than 100 faculty from across the UC Berkeley campus, a series of antiracism trainings for staff and non-faculty academics, and an elective course on antiracism for students.
It has also led to the development of a schoolwide antiracism strategic framework and the creation of antiracism competencies that will serve as a guide for ongoing efforts, as well as adoption of course syllabus language stating a commitment to antiracist pedagogy.
It spurred a reexamination of many of the school’s practices and policies, from student admissions to faculty recruitment to staff hiring to supervisor training to pay equity to purchasing, contracting, and more. Most recently, the project is training faculty and staff on restorative justice practices to prevent and address discrimination and microaggressions.
“ARC4JSTC had a ripple effect on the possibilities of what an antiracist public health institution can offer to students, staff and faculty,” said Dr. Andrea Jacobo, coauthor and recent UC Berkeley DrPH graduate. “The faculty who were a part of the leadership academy have integrated antiracist principles into their curriculum and have empowered students to be active in the process. Students have continued to be vocal about maintaining antiracist praxis at the core of the curriculum in their respective concentrations. What we started is a moving train that continues to build as we move forward.”
Berkeley Public Health’s journey towards becoming a more antiracist institution is documented in a paper published in a special June 8, 2023, issue of Preventing Chronic Disease entitled “Public Health, Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, and Pharmacy: Combating Racism Through Research, Training, Practice, and Public Health Policies,” published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“While we have a long way to go, our school came together to acknowledge the work that needs to be done and start the journey toward becoming an antiracist institution,” said Dr. Allen, the paper’s lead author. “We’ve learned more about ourselves in the process, both our strengths and our growth edges. The charge before us now is to not be content with the successes we have had but to forge ahead into those uncomfortable places. That is where the magic happens.”
“Berkeley Public Health students, staff, and faculty have acknowledged the importance of anti-racism praxis in making changes within and beyond our campus,” said coauthor and former UC Berkeley public health undergraduate student and recent epidemiology and biostatistics MPH graduate Navya Pothamsetty. “ARC4JSTC’s initiatives like faculty workshops, focus groups, and, most recently, published research on transformative change, are a strong foundation for continued progress towards the goal of becoming a more antiracist institution.”
Schools of Public Health “have a moral, ethical, and disciplinary imperative to support training, research, and service activities that serve our collective mission to promote health and well-being for all,” concludes the paper. “Ensuring our institutional health as a diverse, equity-minded, inclusive, and antiracist-striving organization is fundamental to those efforts.”
“While we’ve still got work to do, I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished in the past three years,” said Lu. “ARC4JSTC has transformed our culture and climate, and helped us become a better version of ourselves.”
Authors include: Amani M. Allen, PhD, Ché Abram, MBA, Navya Pothamsetty, MPH, Andrea Jacobo, MPH, Leanna Lewis, MSW, Sai Ramya Maddali, MPH, Michelle Azurin, MPH, Emily Chow, BS, Michael Sholinbeck, MLIS, Abby Rincón, MPH, and Ann Keller, PhD, and Michael C. Lu, MD, MS, MPH, all of UC Berkeley School of Public Health.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of February 19 – 25, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of February 19 – 25, 2025
Activism
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Lateefah Simon to Speak at Elihu Harris Lecture Series
The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.
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By Scott Horton
United States House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-8) will be a speaker at the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series on Friday, Feb. 21.
The event will be held at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, 10 Tenth Street in Oakland, at 7 p.m.
The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.
The overarching goal of the lecture series is to provide speakers from diverse backgrounds a platform to offer their answers to Dr. King’s urgent question, which is also the title of Jeffries’ latest book: “Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community?”
In addition to Jeffries, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) will also speak.
“Certainly, now is a time for humanity, in general, and Americans in particular to honestly and genuinely answer Dr. King’s question,” said Dr. Roy D. Wilson, Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Executive Producer of the lecture series.
“Dr. King teaches that time is neutral but not static. Like the water in a river, it arrives and then quickly moves on,” continued Wilson. “We must urgently create conditions for listening to many different answers to this vital question, and generate the development of unity of action among all those who struggle for a stronger democracy.”
In his book, Jeffries shares his experience of being unanimously elected by his colleagues as the first African American in history to ever hold the position of House Minority Leader.
In January 2023 in Washington, Jeffries made his first official speech as House Minority Leader. He affirmed Democratic values one letter of the alphabet at a time. His words and how he framed them as the alphabet caught the attention of Americans, and the speech was later turned into a book, The ABCs of Democracy, bringing Congressman Jeffries rousing speech to vivid, colorful life, including illustrations by Shaniya Carrington. The speech and book are inspiring and urgent as a timeless reminder of what it means to be a country with equal opportunities for all. Jeffries paints a road map for a brighter American future and warns of the perils of taking a different path.
Before his colleagues unanimously elected him Minority Leader in 2022, Jeffries previously served as Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and as an Impeachment Manager during the first Senate trial of the 45th President of the United States.
Jeffries was born in Brooklyn Hospital, raised in Crown Heights, grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church and he is a product of New York City’s public school system, graduating from Midwood High School. Jefferies went on to Binghamton University (BA), Georgetown University (master’s in public policy) and New York University (JD).
He served in the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012.
Admission is free for the Feb. 21 Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series featuring Congressman Jeffries. Please reserve seats by calling the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center at (510) 434-3988.
Signed copies of his book will be available for purchase at the event.
Alameda County
After Years of Working Remotely, Oakland Requires All City Employees to Return to Office by April 7
City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week. These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.
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By Post Staff
The City Oakland is requiring all employees to return to the office, thereby ending the telecommuting policy established during the pandemic that has left some City Hall departments understaffed.
City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week.
These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.
The administration may still grant the right to work remotely on a case-by-case basis.
In his memo to city unions, Johnson said former President Joe Biden had declared an end to the pandemic in September 2022, and that since then, “We have collectively moved into newer, safer health conditions.”
Johnson said “multiple departments” already have all their staff back in the office or workplace.
The City’s COVID-era policy, enacted in September 2021, was designed to reduce the spread of the debilitating and potentially fatal virus.
Many cities and companies across the country are now ending their pandemic-related remote work policies. Locally, mayoral candidate Loren Taylor in a press conference made the policy a central issue in his campaign for mayor.
City Hall reopened for in-person meetings two years ago, and the city’s decision to end remote work occurred before Taylor’s press conference.
At an endorsement meeting last Saturday of the John George Democratic Club, mayoral candidate Barbara Lee said she agreed that city workers should return to the job.
At the same time, she said, the city should allow employees time to readjust their lives, which were disrupted by the pandemic, and should recognize individual needs, taking care to maintain staff morale.
The John George club endorsed Lee for Mayor and Charlene Wang for City Council representative for District 2. The club also voted to take no position on the sales tax measure that will be on the April 15 ballot.
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