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Every 28 hours. A breakthrough that’s overdue.

Every year OSA puts on three main stage productions: a play, a musical and a middle school production. There’ve been complaints from the Black demographic around the type of theater productions that would be showcased — white stories for white audiences. “The Black kids came to me saying they felt unrepresented. So, I did something about it,” said actress and theater teacher Tavia Percia.

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By Makiah Hiley

A decade after the Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) opened class enrollment it is putting on its first all-Black theater production, Every 28 hours. Directed and executive produced by OSA alumni, actress and theater teacher Tavia Percia, the show is a composition of original movement pieces, one-minute scenes, and spoken word pieces dedicated to the victims of police brutality like George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. The title, “Every 28 hours,” derives from the contested statistic that every 28 hours, a Black person is killed by police.

When OSA first opened its doors in 2002, more than 90% of the student population was people of color. Percia had attended the school during this time. She described that over 70% of kids were Black and 27% of the other students were from other P.O.C groups. “White kids were the minority here,” said Percia. It wasn’t until the school built a nationwide reputation for producing breakout stars like Kehlani and Zendaya Coleman that the school’s White population increased, so-much-so the school’s student population became predominantly White.

Every year OSA puts on three main stage productions: a play, a musical and a middle school production. There’ve been complaints from the Black demographic around the type of theater productions that would be showcased — white stories for white audiences. “The Black kids came to me saying they felt unrepresented. So, I did something about it,” Percia said.

Creating the all-Black show not only gives Black students the representation they deserve, it also creates a safe place where Black students can be themselves and form tight-knit bonds with others that look like them. Percia explained the main concept she wants the audience to take away is that Black students at OSA have a voice. Black stories are powerful, important and should be shared no matter the topic. Percia is proving OSA’s Black students can put on a damn good production even without support.

Production has faced many trials and tribulations. “The show was supposed to be a Black history production,” said Percia. “Due to not being able to find a space and COVID case risings, it had to be rescheduled.” There has also been controversy surrounding the production, with Percia having to fund the play with no help from administration, and the show’s heavy content possibly making white audiences feel uncomfortable. During OSA’s “Black history month assembly” the show had been pushed away by organizers. Despite this, Percia and students prevailed and ultimately received funding from the school. They have also found multiple spaces to perform.

Show dates are on Thursday, April 28 at 8 p.m., and Friday, April 29 at 6 and 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 and available on everytwentyeight.brownpapertickets.com. By supporting the show, OSA will use all proceeds to go towards funding for Black productions for years to come, which ensures minority students get the recognition they deserve.

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Activism

New Oakland Moving Forward

This week, several socially enterprising members of this group visited Oakland to explore ways to collaborate with local stakeholders at Youth Empowerment Partnership, the Port of Oakland, Private Industry Council, Oakland, Mayor-elect Barbara Lee, the Oakland Ballers ownership group, and the oversight thought leaders in the Alameda County Probation Department.

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iStock.
iStock.

By Post Staff

Since the African American Sports and Entertainment Group purchased the City of Oakland’s share of the Alameda County Coliseum Complex, we have been documenting the positive outcomes that are starting to occur here in Oakland.

Some of the articles in the past have touched on actor Blair Underwood’s mission to breathe new energy into the social fabric of Oakland. He has joined the past efforts of Steph and Ayesha Curry, Mistah Fab, Green Day, Too Short, and the Oakland Ballers.

This week, several socially enterprising members of this group visited Oakland to explore ways to collaborate with local stakeholders at Youth Empowerment Partnership, the Port of Oakland, Private Industry Council, Oakland, Mayor-Elect Barbara Lee, the Oakland Ballers ownership group, and the oversight thought leaders in the Alameda County Probation Department.

These visits represent a healthy exchange of ideas and plans to resuscitate Oakland’s image. All parties felt that the potential to impact Oakland is right in front of us. Most recently, on the back side of these visits, the Oakland Ballers and Blair Underwood committed to a 10-year lease agreement to support community programs and a community build-out.

So, upward and onward with the movement of New Oakland.

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Arts and Culture

BOOK REVIEW: Love, Rita: An American Story of Sisterhood, Joy, Loss, and Legacy

When Bridgett M. Davis was in college, her sister Rita was diagnosed with lupus, a disease of the immune system that often left her constantly tired and sore. Davis was a bit unfazed, but sympathetic to Rita’s suffering and also annoyed that the disease sometimes came between them. By that time, they needed one another more than ever.

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Love Rita Book Cover. Courtesy of Harper.
Love Rita Book Cover. Courtesy of Harper.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Author: Bridgett M. Davis, c.2025, Harper, $29.99, 367 Pages

Take care.

Do it because you want to stay well, upright, and away from illness. Eat right, swallow your vitamins and hydrate, keep good habits and hygiene, and cross your fingers. Take care as much as you can because, as in the new book, “Love, Rita” by Bridgett M. Davis, your well-being is sometimes out of your hands.

It was a family story told often: when Davis was born, her sister, Rita, then four years old, stormed up to her crying newborn sibling and said, ‘Shut your … mouth!’

Rita, says Davis, didn’t want a little sister then. She already had two big sisters and a neighbor who was somewhat of a “sister,” and this baby was an irritation. As Davis grew, the feeling was mutual, although she always knew that Rita loved her.

Over the years, the sisters tried many times not to fight — on their own and at the urging of their mother — and though division was ever present, it eased when Rita went to college. Davis was still in high school then, and she admired her big sister.

She eagerly devoured frequent letters sent to her in the mail, signed, “Love, Rita.”

When Davis was in college herself, Rita was diagnosed with lupus, a disease of the immune system that often left her constantly tired and sore. Davis was a bit unfazed, but sympathetic to Rita’s suffering and also annoyed that the disease sometimes came between them. By that time, they needed one another more than ever.

First, they lost their father. Drugs then invaded the family and addiction stole two siblings. A sister and a young nephew were murdered in a domestic violence incident. Their mother was devastated; Rita’s lupus was an “added weight of her sorrow.”

After their mother died of colon cancer, Rita’s lupus took a turn for the worse.

“Did she even stand a chance?” Davis wrote in her journal.

“It just didn’t seem possible that she, someone so full of life, could die.”

Let’s start here: once you get past the prologue in “Love, Rita,” you may lose interest. Maybe.

Most of the stories that author Bridgett M. Davis shares are mildly interesting, nothing rare, mostly commonplace tales of growing up in the 1960s and ’70s with a sibling. There are a lot of these kinds of stories, and they tend to generally melt together. After about fifty pages of them, you might start to think about putting the book aside.

But don’t. Not quite yet.

In between those everyday tales, Davis occasionally writes about being an ailing Black woman in America, the incorrect assumptions made by doctors, the history of medical treatment for Black people (women in particular), attitudes, and mythologies. Those passages are now and then, interspersed, but worth scanning for.

This book is perhaps best for anyone with the patience for a slow-paced memoir, or anyone who loves a Black woman who’s ill or might be ill someday. If that’s you and you can read between the lines, then “Love, Rita” is a book to take in carefully.

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Activism

Faces Around the Bay: Author Karen Lewis Took the ‘Detour to Straight Street’

“My life has been a roller-coaster with an unlimited ride wristband! I was raised in Berkeley during the time of Ron Dellums, the Black Panthers, and People’s Park. I was a Hippie kid, my Auntie cut off all our hair so we could wear  the natural styles like her and Angela Davis.

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Karen Lewis. Courtesy photo.
Karen Lewis. Courtesy photo.

By Barbara Fluhrer

I met Karen Lewis on a park bench in Berkeley. She wrote her story on the spot.

“My life has been a roller-coaster with an unlimited ride wristband! I was raised in Berkeley during the time of Ron Dellums, the Black Panthers, and People’s Park. I was a Hippie kid, my Auntie cut off all our hair so we could wear  the natural styles like her and Angela Davis.

I got married young, then ended up getting divorced, raising two boys into men. After my divorce, I had a stroke that left me blind and paralyzed. I was homeless, lost in a fog with blurred vision.

Jesus healed me! I now have two beautiful grandkids. At 61, this age and this stage, I am finally free indeed. Our Lord Jesus Christ saved my soul. I now know how to be still. I lay at his feet. I surrender and just rest. My life and every step on my path have already been ordered. So, I have learned in this life…it’s nice to be nice. No stressing,  just blessings. Pray for the best and deal with the rest.

Nobody is perfect, so forgive quickly and love easily!”

Lewis’ book “Detour to Straight Street” is available on Amazon.

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