Activism

COMMENTARY: Across America, Students Must Learn All History

A coalition of civil rights groups has launched the Black History is American History campaign to push back on Gov. Youngkin’s efforts to force teachers and schools to whitewash teaching about history and racism. Students have the right to learn the truth about our history and our present. We are inviting Virginia parents and families to use the governor’s “tip line” to tell Gov. Youngkin that denying students the freedom to learn is bad for children, families, and the future.

Published

4 years ago

April 24, 2022

Oakland Post

Ben Jealous serves as president of People For the American Way and Professor of the Practice in the Africana Studies Department at the University of Pennsylvania where he teaches leadership.

By Ben Jealous

Black history is American history.

That shouldn’t be a controversial statement. But thanks to politicians like Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, teaching honestly about history is getting downright dangerous.

Youngkin got elected, in part, by embracing a dishonest campaign launched by far-right activists to make parents fear that teaching about racism represents some kind of sinister plot to shame and indoctrinate children.

Once he took office, the very first official action he took as governor was to sign an executive order supposedly designed to “get divisive concepts out of our schools.”

You know what was “inherently divisive?” The Confederacy, which waged a brutal war to defend slavery from its capital in Richmond, Va. How about massive resistance to the desegregation of schools? How about Virginia’s law that made interracial marriage illegal until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it in 1967?

Youngkin has claimed that his order will still allow students to learn about history — both good and bad. But he also set up a tip line that parents could use to report on “divisive” teachers.

That’s in the worst tradition of authoritarian politicians everywhere.

It’s a terrible policy. It’s a terrible way to think about education.

And, I will admit, I take it a bit personally. My ancestors were enslaved in the state of Virginia. One of my forefathers was elected to the state legislature during Reconstruction. He helped create the state’s system of public education. Then white supremacists took back power, made segregation the law of the land, and made it impossible for Black Virginians to build political power for decades. That’s pretty “divisive” stuff.

We are inviting Virginia parents and families to use the governor’s “tip line” to tell Gov. Youngkin that denying students the freedom to learn is bad for children, families, and the future.

Unfortunately, Virginia is far from alone. Politicians and political operatives are out to build power by mobilizing a backlash to honest teaching about racism in our history and institutions. And those efforts are connected to campaigns for so- called “Don’t Say Gay” laws, which threaten teachers who acknowledge the reality of LGBTQ students and families.

And all of this goes hand in hand with a surge in censorship in classrooms and libraries. The American Library Association recently released its list of the books most often challenged last year.

Most of them were about Black and LGBTQ people. And that reminded me that Gov. Youngkin’s campaign actually ran an ad featuring a woman who objected to the teaching of Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Beloved” in her son’s senior-year English class.

Watching politicians build power by inflaming fears about Black people can be deeply discouraging. It can also be intensely motivating.

As a Black Christian writing this column during Holy Week, I draw strength from the historic witness of the Black church and its role in supporting and sustaining Black people as we made history. I celebrate the power and impact of Martin Luther King, Jr’s appeal to both the Constitution’s promise of equality under law and the great faith traditions’ call for us to treat one another with decency and respect.

And I lift up the words of Lonnie Bunch, the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and now the director of the Smithsonian Institution, who reminds us that “there are few things as powerful and as important as a people, as a nation that is steeped in its history.”

Ben Jealous serves as president of People For the American Way and Professor of the Practice in the Africana Studies Department at the University of Pennsylvania where he teaches leadership.

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Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

Published

2 days ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

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Chase Oakland Community Center Hosts Alley-Oop Accelerator Building Community and Opportunity for Bay Area Entrepreneurs

Over the past three years, the Alley-Oop Accelerator has helped more than 20 Bay Area businesses grow, connect, and gain meaningful exposure. The program combines hands-on training, mentorship, and community-building to help participants navigate the legal, financial, and marketing challenges of small business ownership.

Published

1 week ago

February 21, 2026

Oakland Post

Bay Area entrepreneurs attend the Alley-Oop Accelerator, a small business incubation program at Chase Oakland Community Center. Photo by Carla Thomas.

By Carla Thomas

The Golden State Warriors and Chase bank hosted the third annual Alley-Oop Accelerator this month, an empowering eight-week program designed to help Bay Area entrepreneurs bring their visions for business to life.

The initiative kicked off on Feb. 12 at Chase’s Oakland Community Center on Broadway Street, welcoming 15 small business owners who joined a growing network of local innovators working to strengthen the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

At its core, the accelerator is designed to create an ecosystem of collaboration, where local entrepreneurs can learn from one another while accessing the resources of a global financial institution.

“This is our third year in a row working with the Golden State Warriors on the Alley-Oop Accelerator,” said Jaime Garcia, executive director of Chase’s Coaching for Impact team for the West Division. “We’ve already had 20-plus businesses graduate from the program, and we have 15 enrolled this year. The biggest thing about the program is really the community that’s built amongst the business owners — plus the exposure they’re able to get through Chase and the Golden State Warriors.”

According to Garcia, several graduates have gone on to receive vendor contracts with the Warriors and have gained broader recognition through collaborations with JPMorgan Chase.

“A lot of what Chase is trying to do,” Garcia added, “is bring businesses together because what they’ve asked for is an ecosystem, a network where they can connect, grow, and thrive organically.”

This year’s Alley-Oop Accelerator reflects that vision through its comprehensive curriculum and emphasis on practical learning. Participants explore the full spectrum of business essentials including financial management, marketing strategy, and legal compliance, while also preparing for real-world experiences such as pop-up market events.

Each entrepreneur benefits from one-on-one mentoring sessions through Chase’s Coaching for Impact program, which provides complimentary, personalized business consulting.

Garcia described the impact this hands-on approach has had on local small business owners. He recalled one candlemaker, who, after participating in the program, was invited to provide candles as gifts at Chase events.

“We were able to help give that business exposure,” he explained. “But then our team also worked with them on how to access capital to buy inventory and manage operations once those orders started coming in. It’s about preparation. When a hiccup happens, are you ready to handle it?”

The Coaching for Impact initiative, which launched in 2020 in just four cities, has since expanded to 46 nationwide.

“Every business is different,” Garcia said. “That’s why personal coaching matters so much. It’s life-changing.”

Participants in the 2026 program will each receive a $2,500 stipend, funding that Garcia said can make an outsized difference. “It’s amazing what some people can do with just $2,500,” he noted. “It sounds small, but it goes a long way when you have a plan for how to use it.”

For Chase and the Warriors, the Alley-Oop Accelerator represents more than an educational initiative, it’s a pathway to empowerment and economic inclusion. The program continues to foster lasting relationships among the entrepreneurs who, as Garcia put it, “build each other up” through shared growth and opportunity.

“Starting a business is never easy, but with the right support, it becomes possible, and even exhilarating,” said Oscar Lopez, the senior business consultant for Chase in Oakland.