Activism

Local Black Leaders Break Silence on “Politicization” of Oakland NAACP Branch

Several lifelong NAACP members, including Black Business Round Table host Doug Blacksher and civil rights attorney Walter Riley, held a press conference this week criticizing the conduct of the Oakland NAACP chapter for its attacks on criminal justice reform and on reformer Black DA Pamela Price, the repetition of false narratives about crime and criminal justice, and the use of historic fear-mongering that props up the system of mass incarceration.

Published

2 years ago

October 5, 2023

Oakland Post

Police accountability activist Cathy Leonard, left, and longtime NAACP members Doug Blacksher, and Walter Riley at the press conference on Tuesday. Photo by JonathanfitnessJones.

By Ken Epstein

The speakers also said the Oakland NAACP has acted in alliance with Republican anti-Black and anti-democratic forces and served as a vehicle for the self-interest actions of failed candidates in opposition to the national NAACP’s promulgated policy and positions.

Oakland “NAACP leadership is reverting to lies, fear-mongering, and the ‘tough-on-crime’ rhetoric that has targeted African Americans throughout our entire history in this country, evoking stereotypical narratives of Black criminality that maintains the United States incarcerating more Black people than there were enslaved Africans,” said Blacksher, in a media release.

“We call upon the national NAACP to reign in the Oakland Chapter and demand that Branch 1051 align itself with the mandate of the national NAACP such as addressing policies that unfairly target or penalize Black people in the criminal justice system,” Blacksher said.

Speakers at the press conference, held Tuesday at the Dr. Huey P. Newton Center for Research & Action at 1427 Broadway in Oakland were: Blacksher and Riley, as well as Chaney Turner, Oakland-born entrepreneur and organizer; Desmond Jeffries, Oakland activist; and Cathy Leonard, longtime police accountability activist.

“Interestingly, when previous district attorneys were overcharging African Americans with excessive sentences and previous councils presided over unprecedented Black displacement and homelessness, the (Oakland) NAACP was silent. Now, they are taking positions and aligning themselves with those who wish a return to the unjust status quo,” said Leonard, an Oakland native.

Riley said the Oakland NAACP chapter is working against policies and positions that the national NAACP supports. “We seek to be in alignment with the national NAACP on topics of education, public safety, housing and economic justice, but our chapter constantly contradicts this aspiration,” he said.

In a letter to national NAACP President Derrick Johnson, the press conference organizers accused current Oakland NAACP leaders of advocating conservative positions that align with the Republican Party, such as “singular support of charter school (Board of Education) candidates, efforts to recall the first Black female District Attorney in our county’s history, support (for) legislation that defunds public education in favor of tax breaks for the powerful real estate lobby over renters, and taking payouts from big tobacco and big pharmaceutical corporations.”

Letter signers included press conference speakers Blacksher, Riley, and Leonard, as well as Millie Cleveland, retired SEIU 1021 Field Representative; Ben “Coach” Tapscott, public education advocate; and Sheryl Walton, community activist and Oakland native.

The letter signers said that as NAACP members, they support formal positions taken by the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club and the Alameda County Democratic Party denouncing the hateful accusations and homophobic statements made by Oakland NAACP leader Seneca Scott.

According to the letter, Oakland NAACP leaders are utilizing Republican talking points to attack “women of color who are currently serving in Oakland, creating stark divisions in the public discourse,” and seeking to “agitate people around a divisive, yet organizable conservative agenda.”

The letter said local NAACP leaders are seeking to misdirect people on the sources of crime and disorder in Oakland, instead blaming ‘wokeness,’ progressive policies, ‘liberal Democrats,’ and debunked claims that ‘defund the police’ are the sources of everything wrong in the city.”

Proposals for reform of the Oakland chapter include:

“Cease the spread of false information. Factcheck first.”
Remove any member, officer, or former elected official …who seeks to weaponize Oakland NAACP for personal gain.
Disentangle the Oakland NAACP from the political agenda of the Alameda County Republican Party.
“Reject all connections with Sam Singer,” a corporate public relations operative.
“Provide transparency on all financial contributions.”

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Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

Published

5 days ago

June 7, 2025

Oakland Post

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.