Activism

Community Fights to Keep Parker Elementary Open as ‘Liberated’ Community School

The community plan is to “liberate” the school and reopen the school as Parker Community Schools. “We will have resources, programs and classes by and for the community,” according to a flier produced by Parker supporters. “OUSD will call this an ‘illegal occupation,’ but we know this is an effort to decolonize our schools and return them to Black and Brown communities they belong to,” the flier said.

Published

3 years ago

May 29, 2022

Oakland Post

Supporters of Parker Elementary School in East Oakland picket in front of the school April 29 during one-day teacher/Longshore worker strike to protest school closings and privatization of public property in Oakland. Photo courtesy of Oaklandside.

By Ken Epstein

Parents, teachers and community members are refusing to accept the decision of the Oakland school board, district administrators and state officials who are backing them up to permanently close Parker Elementary School in East Oakland after the school year ends this week.

“OUSD will call this an ‘illegal occupation,’ but we know this is an effort to decolonize our schools and return them to Black and Brown communities they belong to,” the flier said.

Despite public outrage, hunger strikes, student-led walkouts, community marches and a one-day Unfair Labor Practice strike by Oakland teachers, the Oakland Unified School District is moving ahead with its decision to close 11 schools this year and next year. Four schools, including Parker, are set to close or consolidate at the end of this school year.

Parker has a 100-year history and currently serves a population that is 51% Black, 36% Latino and 89% low income.

Since the state takeover of the district in 2003, the district has already permanently closed more than 20 schools, mostly in Black and Latinx flatland neighborhoods, acting under pressure from state Democrats and a state-funded agency, the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team (FCMAT).

After the district closes the school this week, “On (Saturday,) May 28 we’re going to reopen as Parker Community School. The idea is to continue this fight and to make sure that this property and this piece of land stays public and stays in the neighborhood for community members,” said Azalinah Tambu, a parent of two children who attend Parker, speaking May 12 at a meeting of Schools and Labor Against Privatization (S.L.A.P), a coalition formed recently by school communities and the longshore workers in ILWU Local 10.

Tambu explained that Parker is an area of East Oakland “that lacks a lot of public resources.”

“Most of our kids walk to school,” she said. “We don’t have any other K-8 schools in the area. We don’t have a lot of rec centers, we don’t have a lot of groceries, we don’t have a lot of anything over there. So, to take a loss — like a school — is a loss that we just can’t afford to take.”

Tambu continued, “A couple of months ago if someone had told me that we could show up to board meetings and run a board member out of here, Shanthi Gonzales (who resigned recently under pressure), I wouldn’t have believed it.”

“If someone told me we could make a districtwide strike with Port (workers), I wouldn’t have believed it.”

“I didn’t know it was possible. But you guys (people in S.L.A.P.) taught me about something called ‘people power,’” she said.

“We can’t do this alone. It’s going to take something that you guys showed me. It’s going to take people power,” Tambu said.

Parker parent Rochelle Jenkins added, “We have to do everything we can and use everything we know how to use to continue to stay in the fight against school closures, the fight against gentrification and the fight for our men, women and children in our community.”

Parker supporters and other public-school advocates are holding a re-opening celebration on Saturday, May 28 with food, performers and speakers. For more information go to Linktr.ee/ParkerForThePeople

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Oakland Youth Rally in Support of Roe v. Wade

Don't Miss

Six Questions for State Controller Candidate Ron Galperin

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

Published

6 days ago

June 7, 2025

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.