Featured

Jane Gertrude Roberts, 92

Best known as “Momma Jane” in her later years, she was a beloved mother, aunt, grandmother, great-grandmother, great great-grandmother.

Published

4 years ago

July 2, 2021

Christy Price

Jane Gertrude Roberts, wife of attorney Hiawatha T. Roberts and longtime Oakland resident, peacefully passed away Friday, June 4, 2021. She was 92.

She was raised in Denver, Colo., and accepted Jesus Christ at a young age. Best known as “Momma Jane” in her later years, she was a beloved mother, aunt, grandmother, great-grandmother, great great-grandmother.

Ultimately, she gave up her dream of being a doctor and left the University of Denver after two years to marry Hiawatha, the love of her life. They were married for almost 72 years and, in her own words, she “adored him.”

Together Jane and Hiawatha had six children, Althea Roberts-Griffin, Karen Knight (Frank), Sandra Roberts-Stokes (Danny), Sanford Roberts, Marie Roberts, and Marion Roberts.

Jane spent her life serving her husband and children. She served as a housewife, a carpool driver, a Girl Scout leader, PTA president, and daycare provider.

The doors of her house were always open. She fed and took in her grandchildren, children of friends and friends of her children throughout the years. Jane moved through the world with kindness and love.

Yet, even with a husband and six children, Jane found time to work. Professionally, she sold real estate, worked in the Highland Hospital intensive care unit as an aide, served as a law office manager, a counselor in Project Hope where she supported high school-age students, worked for Senator Nicholas Petris, and ran her own daycare business along with a variety of other positions.

Jane lived most of her life believing that she was the only daughter of her beloved parents, Ethel Carter Mosley and Samuel Carter. Two years ago, she learned that she was adopted at a young age and had six biological siblings of which one is still living and whom she had the pleasure to meet along with a number of biological nieces and nephews.

In addition to her husband and children, Jane is survived by her grandchildren (Brandon Abram, Eryc Fields (LaRhonda) Tiffany Griffin, La Toya Roberts, Frank III (Allison), Danielle Kidd (Andre) Kenneth Griffin, Elex Stokes (Kendria), Francesca Knight, Austin Alex, Jayne Roberts, Aryn Koger (Michael), Alana Knight, Xiomara Roberts, Samantha Roberts); a sister in-law, Jernice Marie Smith, brother in-law (Surrey Poole (Marie); her great niece and nephew, Ava Linthicum and Travis Washington Jr. Great-grandchildren Kiana, Akira, Jyrone, Brandon Jr., Shane, Trey James, JoJo, Braxton, Terry, Brooklyn, Superior, Mi’oun, Fyre, Haily, Isaiah, Khalil, Milo and Maxx; Great-great grandchildren – Chloe, Gianna; Great nieces and nephews – Marisha (Kevin), Juan (Angelica); Great-great nieces and nephews – Keira, Lily, Cecilia, Juan Jr, Kionye. She was preceded in death by her nephew, Kevin Poole.

Christy Price

Posts by Christy Price

Up Next

ILWU Local 10 Honors Angela Davis on Juneteenth

Don't Miss

State Budget Revision Boosts City’s Funding For Community Responders

Christy Price

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of April 30 – May 6, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 30 – May 6, 2025

Published

4 days ago

May 4, 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

Gov. Newsom Approves $170 Million to Fast Track Wildfire Resilience

AB 100 approves major investments in regional conservancies across the state, including over $30 million each for the Sierra Nevada, Santa Monica Mountains, State Coastal, and San Gabriel/Lower LA Rivers and Mountains conservancies. An additional $10 million will support wildfire response and resilience efforts.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Courtesy of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Facebook page.

By Bo Tefu
California Black Media

With wildfire season approaching, last week Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 100, unlocking $170 million to fast-track wildfire prevention and forest management projects — many of which directly protect communities of color, who are often hardest hit by climate-driven disasters.

“With this latest round of funding, we’re continuing to increase the speed and size of forest and vegetation management essential to protecting communities,” said Newsom when he announced the funding on April 14.

“We are leaving no stone unturned — including cutting red tape — in our mission to ensure our neighborhoods are protected from destructive wildfires,” he said.

Newsom also signed an executive order suspending certain regulations to allow urgent work to move forward faster.

This funding builds on California’s broader Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, a $2.7 billion effort to reduce fuel loads, increase prescribed burning, and harden communities. The state has also launched new dashboards to keep the public informed and hold agencies accountable.

California has also committed to continue investing $200 million annually through 2028 to expand this effort, ensuring long-term resilience, particularly in vulnerable communities.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

California Rideshare Drivers and Supporters Step Up Push to Unionize

Today in California, over 600,000 rideshare drivers want the ability to form or join unions for the sole purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection. It’s a right, and recently at the State Capitol, a large number of people, including some rideshare drivers and others working in the gig economy, reaffirmed that they want to exercise it.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Shutterstock

By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌
California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌

On July 5, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into federal law the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Also known as the “Wagner Act,” the law paved the way for employees to have “the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations,” and “to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, according to the legislation’s language.

On April 8, the rideshare drivers held a rally with lawmakers to garner support for Assembly Bill (AB) 1340, the “Transportation Network Company Drivers (TNC) Labor Relations Act.”

Authored by Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), AB 1340 would allow drivers to create a union and negotiate contracts with industry leaders like Uber and Lyft.

“All work has dignity, and every worker deserves a voice — especially in these uncertain times,” Wicks said at the rally. “AB 1340 empowers drivers with the choice to join a union and negotiate for better wages, benefits, and protections. When workers stand together, they are one of the most powerful forces for justice in California.”

Wicks and Berman were joined by three members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC): Assemblymembers Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood), Sade Elhawary (D-Los Angeles), and Isaac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights).

Yvonne Wheeler, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; April Verrett, President of Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Tia Orr, Executive Director of SEIU; and a host of others participated in the demonstration on the grounds of the state capitol.

“This is not a gig. This is your life. This is your job,” Bryan said at the rally. “When we organize and fight for our collective needs, it pulls from the people who have so much that they don’t know what to do with it and puts it in the hands of people who are struggling every single day.”

Existing law, the “Protect App-Based Drivers and Services Act,” created by Proposition (Prop) 22, a ballot initiative, categorizes app-based drivers for companies such as Uber and Lyft as independent contractors.

Prop 22 was approved by voters in the November 2020 statewide general election. Since then, Prop 22 has been in court facing challenges from groups trying to overturn it.

However, last July, Prop 22 was upheld by the California Supreme Court last July.

In a 2024, statement after the ruling, Lyft stated that 80% of the rideshare drivers they surveyed acknowledged that Prop 22 “was good for them” and “median hourly earnings of drivers on the Lyft platform in California were 22% higher in 2023 than in 2019.”

Wicks and Berman crafted AB 1340 to circumvent Prop 22.

“With AB 1340, we are putting power in the hands of hundreds of thousands of workers to raise the bar in their industry and create a model for an equitable and innovative partnership in the tech sector,” Berman said.