Community

Laney College President Elnora Webb’s Contract Renewed

Published

11 years ago

May 15, 2014

Supporters of Dr. Elnora Webb breathed a partial sigh of relief this week when the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees unanimously approved a one-year contract extension for the popular Laney College president, who was facing losing her job at the end of the school year.

However, community members are still upset that the renewal is only for one year, which does not guarantee stability at the college, and that the district is not giving Webb a sufficient budget to institute the programs that the college needs.

President Elnora Webb

The vote to renew Webb’s contact was taken in closed session and announced at the beginning of Tuesday night’s board meeting.

The board as a whole is happy that the chancellor and Dr. Webb were able to reach an agreement on a new contract, said Boardmember Linda Handy, who emphasized that “the chancellor and Dr. Webb came to a resolution. Both of them of them are accepting the terms of the contract.”

Handy said she was excited to see the passionate community outpouring to support positive change at the community colleges. “Working together, there is nothing that our city and colleges cannot accomplish for our students,” she said.

Community members who spoke at the meeting said they remained deeply concerned that Chancellor Jose Ortiz and the board had even been thinking about getting rid of Webb, considering what they see as her outstanding record and close ties to many segments of the community.

“We’ve spoken to you in person, via letters, emails and petitions with over 2,000 signatures,” said the Rev. Cheryl Ward, a founder of the East Bay Coalition for Action, speaking to the board and the chancellor.

“You have taken the vote, (and) we hope you attempt to restore confidence in the community,” she said. “We will be watching. Do not make her job difficult by not equipping her with the tools she needs.”

Among the members of the coalition are the African American Chamber of Commerce, Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA), NAACP Oakland Branch, National Action Network (NAN) of Oakland, Oakland Black Caucus, Faith Advisory Council and Pastors of Oakland and Black Elected Officials and Faith Based Leaders of the East Bay.

“We are here in total support of Dr. Elnora Webb. We get to see her in action on the campus – she is a stalwart individual,” said Carol Ward Allen, a professor in African American Studies at Laney, who has worked at the college since 1970.

“We see a shrinkage of the number of African Americans in all areas at the college,” she said.

Mary Trimble Norris, executive director of the American Indian Child Resource Center, praised Webb for creating educational opportunities for young people in her program.

“She personally reached out to the American Indians who we serve and welcomed them to attend Laney College,” said Norris, who is Oglala Lakota.

“The American Indian community often feels shut out, like we’re invisible people,” said Norris, adding that Webb has demonstrated that she is a friend “by actions, not words.”

Local business owner Geoffrey Pete said that he considered the threat to Webb’s job to be part of the overall gentrification that is progressing in Oakland.

“ I live in a city in which there is an all out assault on the African American community,” Pete said.

“Gentrification has a myriad of moving parts,” he said, which mean getting “rid of us in the residential, educational and employment aspects of our community.”

Among others who supported Webb were Merlin Edwards of the Oakland African–American Chamber of Commerce; Carl Chan, known as the mayor of Chinatown; and Ada Chan from council member Rebecca Kaplan’s office.

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Fighting to Keep Blackness

BlackPressUSA NEWSWIRE — Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C.

Published

1 week ago

March 7, 2025

Oakland Post

By April Ryan

As this nation observes the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, the words of President Trump reverberate. “This country will be WOKE no longer”, an emboldened Trump offered during his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. Since then, Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell posted on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter this morning that “Elon Musk and his DOGE bros have ordered GSA to sell off the site of the historic Freedom Riders Museum in Montgomery.” Her post of little words went on to say, “This is outrageous and we will not let it stand! I am demanding an immediate reversal. Our civil rights history is not for sale!” DOGE trying to sell Freedom Rider Museum

Also, in the news today, the Associated Press is reporting they have a file of names and descriptions of more than 26,000 military images flagged for removal because of connections to women, minorities, culture, or DEI. In more attempts to downplay Blackness, a word that is interchanged with woke, Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C. Mayor Morial Bowser is allowing the name change to keep millions of federal dollars flowing there. Black Lives Matter Plaza was named in 2020 after a tense exchange between President Trump and George Floyd protesters in front of the White House. There are more reports about cuts to equity initiatives that impact HBCU students. Programs that recruited top HBCU students into the military and the pipeline for Department of Defense contracts have been canceled.

Meanwhile, Democrats are pushing back against this second-term Trump administration’s anti-DEI and Anti-woke message. In the wake of the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, several Congressional Black Caucus leaders are reintroducing the Voting Rights Act. South Carolina Democratic Congressman James Clyburn and Alabama Congresswoman Terry Sewell are sponsoring H.R. 14, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Six decades ago, Lewis was hit with a billy club by police as he marched for the right to vote for African Americans. The right for Black people to vote became law with the 1965 Voting Rights Act that has since been gutted, leaving the nation to vote without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. Reflecting on the late Congressman Lewis, March 1, 2020, a few months before his death, Lewis said, “We need more than ever in these times many more someones to make good trouble- to make their own dent in the wall of injustice.”

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Oakland Post: Week of March 5 – 11, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 5 – 11, 2025

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March 7, 2025

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Rep. Al Green is Censured by The U.S. House After Protesting Trump on Medicaid

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question.

Published

1 week ago

March 6, 2025

Oakland Post

By Lauren Burke

In one of the quickest punishments of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the modern era, Congressman Al Green (D-TX) was censured by a 224-198 vote today in the House. His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question. Of the last three censures of members of the U.S. House, two have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus under GOP control. In 2023, Rep. Jamal Bowman was censured.

On the night of March 4, as President Trump delivered a Joint Address to Congress, Rep. Green interrupted him twice. Rep. Green shouted, “You don’t have a mandate to cut Medicare, and you need to raise the cap on social security,” to President Trump. In another rare event, Rep. Green was escorted off the House floor by security shortly after yelling at the President by order of GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson. Over the last four years, members of Congress have yelled at President Biden during the State of the Union. Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene was joined by Republican Rep. Lauren Bobert (R-CO) in 2022 in yelling at President Biden. In 2023, Rep. Greene, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) yelled at Biden, interrupting his speech. In 2024, wearing a red MAGA hat, a violation of the rules of the U.S. House, Greene interrupted Biden again. She was never censured for her behavior. Rep. Green voted “present” on his censure and was joined by freshman Democrat Congressman Shomari Figures of Alabama who also voted “present”.

All other members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted against censuring Green. Republicans hold a four-seat advantage in the U.S. House after the death of Texas Democrat and former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner yesterday. Ten Democrats voted along with Republicans to censure Rep. Green, including Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who is in the leadership as the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “I respect them but, I would do it again,” and “it is a matter of conscience,” Rep. Green told Black Press USA’s April Ryan in an exclusive interview on March 5. After the vote, a group of Democrats sang “We Shall Overcome” in the well at the front of the House chamber. Several Republican members attempted to shout down the singing. House Speaker Mike Johnson gaveled the House out of session and into a recess. During the brief recess members moved back to their seats and out of the well of the House. Shortly after the vote to censor Rep. Green, Republican Congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee quickly filed legislation to punish members who participated in the singing of “We Shall Overcome.” Earlier this year, Rep. Ogles filed legislation to allow President Donald Trump to serve a third term, which is currently unconstitutional. As the debate started, the stock market dove down over one-point hours from close. The jobs report will be made public tomorrow.