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OP-ED: East Bay Assembly Candidates in Exciting Contests
June 3rd is California Election Day. The new open primary system makes second place the more interesting race because state elections are now nonpartisan with the top two vote getters in the June primary facing off in the November election, regardless of party affiliation.
For example, the governor’s race will have Jerry Brown easily finishing in first place. However, the real fight is for the direction of the Republican Party. Will the second place winner be the new Republican who is trying to expand the brand and or the more conservative Tea Partyer who is appealing to the base, but excluding any new potential voters.
The new state election system is really the old local system, in which the races were nonpartisan, and the top two finishers faced off in a November runoff.
It changed the power of the parties and created a more diverse field of candidates. In many races Democrats of different stripes running against each other or moderate Republicans are appealing to undecided voters, hoping to squeeze into the runoff.
Two very different open seat East Bay assembly races are producing very exciting races. District 15 stretches from Richmond, Berkeley to Piedmont with northern part of Oakland. The party registration is 64.47 percent Democratic, 7.83 percent Republican, and 18.62 percent No party preference.
The demographics are 39.40 percent White, 16.31 percent Black, 21.71 percent Latino, and 19.89 percent Asian.
There are eight candidates, mostly Democrats, vying for the seat. Two candidates, Elizabeth Echols and Tony Thurmond, have raised the most money, but the real fight is to finish second for the November runoff.
Next door, District 16 is nearly the opposite. It runs from the Caldecott tunnel to Dublin. Its registration is 39.77 percent Democratic, 32.76 percent Republican, 21.25 percent No party preference. The demographics are 64.44 percent White, 2.71 percent Black, 10.95 percent Latino, and 20.10 percent Asian.
There are four candidates with the real fight between business Democrat Steve Glazer, former aide to Gov. Jerry Brown and proponent of a no strike at BART law, running opposed to union Democrat Tim Sbranti, an officer in the California teachers union.
This is turning out to be the most expensive primary assembly primary race in California.
The unions targeted Glazer, because he had the audacity to question their tactics during the BART strike and advocated for the riders. From nurses to city workers, they are pouring millions behind Mr. Sbranti, but with limited effect in a mild Democrat district.
Glazer is turning out to be a formidable candidate with a wide base of support.
The same fight is brewing in the California school superintendent race. Newcomer L.A.-based Marshall Tuck got involved in education by leading a task force to improve L.A. public schools.
His results have been impressive and he wants to bring his new ideas statewide.
The incumbent Tom Torlakson is the darling of the teachers union because he has yet to question the current school conditions and proclaims that California schools are doing just fine.
Clinton Killian, an attorney at downtown Oakland law firm Fried & Williams LLP and former public official, can be reached at ckillian@postnewsgroup.com.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 23 – 29, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 23 – 29, 2025

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#NNPA BlackPress
Chavis and Bryant Lead Charge as Target Boycott Grows
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Surrounded by civil rights leaders, economists, educators, and activists, Bryant declared the Black community’s power to hold corporations accountable for broken promises.

By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent
Calling for continued economic action and community solidarity, Dr. Jamal H. Bryant launched the second phase of the national boycott against retail giant Target this week at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta. Surrounded by civil rights leaders, economists, educators, and activists, Bryant declared the Black community’s power to hold corporations accountable for broken promises. “They said they were going to invest in Black communities. They said it — not us,” Bryant told the packed sanctuary. “Now they want to break those promises quietly. That ends tonight.” The town hall marked the conclusion of Bryant’s 40-day “Target fast,” initiated on March 3 after Target pulled back its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) commitments. Among those was a public pledge to spend $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by 2025—a pledge Bryant said was made voluntarily in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020.“No company would dare do to the Jewish or Asian communities what they’ve done to us,” Bryant said. “They think they can get away with it. But not this time.”
The evening featured voices from national movements, including civil rights icon and National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) President & CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., who reinforced the need for sustained consciousness and collective media engagement. The NNPA is the trade association of the 250 African American newspapers and media companies known as The Black Press of America. “On the front page of all of our papers this week will be the announcement that the boycott continues all over the United States,” said Chavis. “I would hope that everyone would subscribe to a Black newspaper, a Black-owned newspaper, subscribe to an economic development program — because the consciousness that we need has to be constantly fed.” Chavis warned against the bombardment of negativity and urged the community to stay engaged beyond single events. “You can come to an event and get that consciousness and then lose it tomorrow,” he said. “We’re bombarded with all of the disgust and hopelessness. But I believe that starting tonight, going forward, we should be more conscious about how we help one another.”
He added, “We can attain and gain a lot more ground even during this period if we turn to each other rather than turning on each other.” Other speakers included Tamika Mallory, Dr. David Johns, Dr. Rashad Richey, educator Dr. Karri Bryant, and U.S. Black Chambers President Ron Busby. Each speaker echoed Bryant’s demand that economic protests be paired with reinvestment in Black businesses and communities. “We are the moral consciousness of this country,” Bryant said. “When we move, the whole nation moves.” Sixteen-year-old William Moore Jr., the youngest attendee, captured the crowd with a challenge to reach younger generations through social media and direct engagement. “If we want to grow this movement, we have to push this narrative in a way that connects,” he said.
Dr. Johns stressed reclaiming cultural identity and resisting systems designed to keep communities uninformed and divided. “We don’t need validation from corporations. We need to teach our children who they are and support each other with love,” he said. Busby directed attendees to platforms like ByBlack.us, a digital directory of over 150,000 Black-owned businesses, encouraging them to shift their dollars from corporations like Target to Black enterprises. Bryant closed by urging the audience to register at targetfast.org, which will soon be renamed to reflect the expanding boycott movement. “They played on our sympathies in 2020. But now we know better,” Bryant said. “And now, we move.”
#NNPA BlackPress
The Department of Education is Collecting Delinquent Student Loan Debt
BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — the Department of Education will withhold money from tax refunds and Social Security benefits, garnish federal employee wages, and withhold federal pensions from people who have defaulted on their student loan debt.

By April Ryan
Trump Targets Wages for Forgiven Student Debt
The Department of Education, which the Trump administration is working to abolish, will now serve as the collection agency for delinquent student loan debt for 5.3 million people who the administration says are delinquent and owe at least a year’s worth of student loan payments. “It is a liability to taxpayers,” says White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at Tuesday’s White House Press briefing. She also emphasized the student loan federal government portfolio is “worth nearly $1.6 trillion.” The Trump administration says borrowers must repay their loans, and those in “default will face involuntary collections.” Next month, the Department of Education will withhold money from tax refunds and Social Security benefits, garnish federal employee wages, and withhold federal pensions from people who have defaulted on their student loan debt. Leavitt says “we can not “kick the can down the road” any longer.”
Much of this delinquent debt is said to have resulted from the grace period the Biden administration gave for student loan repayment. The grace period initially was set for 12 months but extended into three years, ending September 30, 2024. The Trump administration will begin collecting the delinquent payments starting May 5. Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough, president of Talladega College, told Black Press USA, “We can have that conversation about people paying their loans as long as we talk about the broader income inequality. Put everything on the table, put it on the table, and we can have a conversation.” Kimbrough asserts, “The big picture is that Black people have a fraction of wealth of white so you’re… already starting with a gap and then when you look at higher education, for example, no one talks about Black G.I.’s that didn’t get the G.I. Bill. A lot of people go to school and build wealth for their family…Black people have a fraction of wealth, so you already start with a wide gap.”
According to the Education Data Initiative, https://educationdata.org/average-time-to-repay-student-loans It takes the average borrower 20 years to pay their student loan debt. It also highlights how some professional graduates take over 45 years to repay student loans. A high-profile example of the timeline of student loan repayment is the former president and former First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama, who paid off their student loans by 2005 while in their 40s. On a related note, then-president Joe Biden spent much time haggling with progressives and Democratic leaders like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer on Capitol Hill about whether and how student loan forgiveness would even happen.
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