By Scott Horton

United States House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-8) will be a speaker at the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series on Friday, Feb. 21.

The event will be held at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, 10 Tenth Street in Oakland, at 7 p.m.

The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32^nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.

The overarching goal of the lecture series is to provide speakers from diverse backgrounds a platform to offer their answers to Dr. King’s urgent question, which is also the title of Jeffries’ latest book: “Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community?”

In addition to Jeffries, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) will also speak.

“Certainly, now is a time for humanity, in general, and Americans in particular to honestly and genuinely answer Dr. King’s question,” said Dr. Roy D. Wilson, Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Executive Producer of the lecture series.

“Dr. King teaches that time is neutral but not static. Like the water in a river, it arrives and then quickly moves on,” continued Wilson. “We must urgently create conditions for listening to many different answers to this vital question, and generate the development of unity of action among all those who struggle for a stronger democracy.”

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In his book, Jeffries shares his experience of being unanimously elected by his colleagues as the first African American in history to ever hold the position of House Minority Leader.

In January 2023 in Washington, Jeffries made his first official speech as House Minority Leader. He affirmed Democratic values one letter of the alphabet at a time. His words and how he framed them as the alphabet caught the attention of Americans, and the speech was later turned into a book, The ABCs of Democracy, bringing Congressman Jeffries rousing speech to vivid, colorful life, including illustrations by Shaniya Carrington. The speech and book are inspiring and urgent as a timeless reminder of what it means to be a country with equal opportunities for all. Jeffries paints a road map for a brighter American future and warns of the perils of taking a different path.

Before his colleagues unanimously elected him Minority Leader in 2022, Jeffries previously served as Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and as an Impeachment Manager during the first Senate trial of the 45th President of the United States.

Jeffries was born in Brooklyn Hospital, raised in Crown Heights, grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church and he is a product of New York City’s public school system, graduating from Midwood High School. Jefferies went on to Binghamton University (BA), Georgetown University (master’s in public policy) and New York University (JD).

He served in the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012.

Admission is free for the Feb. 21 Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series featuring Congressman Jeffries. Please reserve seats by calling the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center at (510) 434-3988.

Signed copies of his book will be available for purchase at the event.

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By Paul Cobb
New Oakland Series
Opinion Part 3

The Post mentioned three weeks ago that a number of our local luminaries were coming together to support the “New Oakland” movement. As this current national administration continues to eliminate our “legacy” institutional policies and programs left and right, most communities find themselves beyond “frozen” in fear.

Well, esteemed actor, long-time Bay Area supporter, and philanthropist Blair Underwood returned to Oakland this week to speak with city leaders, community trust agents, students, the Oakland Post, and local celebrities alike to continue his “New Oakland” initiative.

This week, he kicked off his “Guess Who’s Coming to Read” literacy program in some of Oakland’s middle schools. Clifford Ray, who played the center position of the 1975 World Champion Golden State Warriors, donated close to 1,000 books. Ray’s fellow teammate Charles “The Hopper” Dudley also gave Converse sneakers to students.

These community activations were coordinated with the San Francisco-based non-profit program “Room to Read.” Ray said he is also donating his time to read and take pictures with students to encourage their engagement and to inspire them to read more. The inspirational book “Clifford Ray Saves the Day” highlights Clifford Ray’s true story of saving a dolphin.

Underwood also spent quality time with the Oakland Ballers ownership group and visited the amazing Raimondi Park West Oakland community revitalization site. In the 1996 TV film Soul of the Game, Underwood played the role of the legendary first Black Major League Baseball player Jackie Robinson and commended the Ballers owners.

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“This group of sports enthusiasts/ philanthropists needs to be applauded for their human capital investment and their financial capital investment,” Underwood said. “Truly putting their money and passion to work,” Underwood said.

Underwood was also inspired by mayoral candidate Barbara Lee’s open-minded invitation to bring public-private partnership opportunities to Oakland.

Underwood said he wants to “reinforce the importance of ‘collaborative activism’ among those most marginalized by non-empathic leadership. We must ‘act out’ our discomfort with passionate intentions to create healthy change.”

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By Post Staff

The people of Oakland expect and deserve a transparent, accountable government that serves the people, not special interests, according to Oakland mayoral candidate Barbara Lee, who pledges to bring the same “energy, ideas, and dedication” to ethics in City Hall that she had in Congress.

“There should be no tolerance whatsoever for secret pay-to-play schemes that erode the public trust. Oaklanders expect and deserve leaders who have only one agenda—honest, accountable leadership that serves the people of Oakland,” she said.

In a statement released recently, Lee said she fully supports current efforts by the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, ACLU, and Oakland Ethics Commissioners to look at how to strengthen accountability and trust in government.

She said she supports a review of the city charter to clarify lines of accountability between the city administrator and elected mayor, so the City of Oakland uses every tax dollar wisely to deliver essential services in the most efficient ways.

In addition, Lee said, the current prohibition on gifts to elected officials is too loosely worded and should be strengthened to ensure no one is prone to influence. There is also no user-friendly portal where any member of the public can view contract scopes and amounts, which should be available online for public review.

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She also supports the city pursuing available legal remedies to secure financial relief or judgments against persons or entities convicted of defrauding the City or using illegal means to profit on the backs of Oakland taxpayers.

Though Oakland’s governmental structure is complex, leadership is what matters, she said. The city needs reforms to ensure accountability and transparency and needs leadership.

Lee said she is proud of her strong track record on ethics and integrity.

As a congresswoman, she was a leader in one of the most sweeping political ethics reforms, which banned gifts from lobbyists and prohibited House members from traveling on private planes, among other vital reforms. That reform law ended pay-to-play schemes that had run rampant in Washington, D.C.

Congresswoman Lee also played a key role in the comprehensive ethics reform package in 2007, which required lawmakers to disclose how much campaign cash lobbyists raise on their behalf and what earmarks they have requested.

Starting from her very first day in Congress, she supported campaign finance reform to get big money out of politics, including limiting the size of campaign donations.

She spearheaded efforts to overturn the Citizens United decision, which opened the floodgate to unlimited spending by billionaires to buy elections.

She supported public campaign financing to combat the influence of big money in politics, including the Government By the People Act.

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