Activism

Dr. King and the ‘Spirit of Selma’ Inspired Post Publisher Cobb

Cobb said the “Spirit of Selma” and the philosophies of applied Christian activism, service and voluntarism espoused by King will be the themes of his MLK speech Saturday at the Genesis Society of the Temple Hill Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Published

5 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Cobb marched for Black voting rights from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, and U.N. Ambassador Ralph Bunche, along with Oakland residents Milton Hare (a white gentleman at Cobb’s left and William Battles behind Cobb).

By Post Staff

Part 1

Post Publisher Paul Cobb is pictured above in 1965, with a pencil in his glasses, when he was a Post reporter and correspondent for the Afro-American Association’s weekly broadcast on radio station KDIA in 1965.

“The Post has partnered with Genesis to help educate African Americans and faith-based groups about the value of the discovery of family heritage roots.

“We will work with the family search organization, JustServe and prominent leaders like actor Blair Underwood to spread these messages about the potential bounties of the Freedman’s Bureau’s bank records to help repair our nation’s wealth gap,” said Cobb.

Cobb said his Civil Rights/Black activism began when he was a young member of the Afro-American Association at the same time as the parents of Vice President Kamala Harris attended the weekly meetings.

After forming the Oakland Black Caucus in 1968, Cobb and Gay Plair helped to protest Kaiser Permanente Hospital’s practice of performing unnecessary hysterectomies on Black women.

Noting that discriminatory health practices needed to be addressed, Cobb challenged presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy during his visit to Taylor Memorial Methodist Church that since he (RFK), Dr. King and his brother President John Kennedy (JFK) were pictured together on posters and tapestries that he should support the proliferation of community health centers.

RFK was killed in Los Angeles on June 6, 1968, the day after his Oakland visit, and two months after King’s assassination on April 4, 1968.

Cobb was selected to be a fellow at the RFK Memorial Foundation where he had an opportunity to help organize in communities nationally.

Next week in Part 2 -Cobb motivated by King moved to Atlanta in 2003.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

OPINION: LA’s Fires, Trump’s Felonies, and our Nation’s Burning Divide

Don't Miss

How I Accidentally Met (And Spoke With) Rep. Barbara Lee and Survived

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

3 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

1 week 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.