Connect with us

Featured

Oakland High Schoolers Join Kaepernick in National Anthem Protest

Published

on

As dozens of athletes across the country are joining 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in his national anthem protest, one group of young protestors has grabbed the nation’s attention. 

 

Students at the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) have been particularly vocal about their opposition to a lack of police accountability and the unfair treatment of Black and Brown people at the hands of law enforcement.

 

In the past two weeks, football players at Castlemont High School and members of the OUSD honor band have held protests similar to Kaepernick’s during national anthems.

 

Castlemont High School gained national attention two weekends ago when its football players kneeled with their fists raised during the pre-game national anthem.

 

Then, last weekend, Kaepernick came to visit the players before an away game, offering them words of support and appreciation for their action.

 

“You are important. You make a difference. This matters and everything you do matters,” Kaepernick told the students in a locker room before the game.

 

Kaepernick later knelt down beside the Castlemont team as they held another national anthem protest, during which the players laid on the ground with their hands raised.

 

According to Castlemont’s athletic director, Traivon Soto, students and faculty held a number of discussions before their initial protest to talk about all sides of the issue.

 

“We talked about Kaepernick kneeling for the American flag and do you agree and disagree and why,” Soto told the Post.

 

“We teach life skills and talk about social issues at Castlemont because in a lot of ways students are deprived of resources,” he said. “We try to have discussion to make kids aware of what it’s like once they leave high school.”

 

Social justice issues are prevalent at the high school, which has ethnic studies as part of its curriculum, and the players have received a lot of positive support from their peers and administration.

 

Members of the OUSD honor band kneel during the national anthem at an Oakland A's game. Photo courtesy of OUSD.

Members of the OUSD honor band kneel during the national anthem at an Oakland A’s game. Photo courtesy of OUSD.

 

Last week, members of the OUSD honor band held a similar action by kneeling down on one knee near the end of their performance of the national anthem at an Oakland A’s baseball game.

 

As the song ended with the words “land of the free and home of the brave,” students took a knee, “as if to say, no we’re not all free but we’re brave and we’re going to do this,” said Zachary Pitt-Smith, music director at Edna Brewer Middle School, which participated in the protest.

 

Both protests have been widely praised by the greater Bay Area community, but they have also received backlash from those who claim that students are too young to understand issues of police brutality.

 

Pitt-Smith, however, says those claims are unfair to students whose experiences may be personally tied to issues of state violence.

 

“These kids are savvy and they live in somewhat violent communities and come from all walks of life,” he said.

 

“A lot of times they’re looked down upon in the general community as not informed or not old enough to vote. This (protest) gave the students a voice.”

City Government

San Pablo Appoints New Economic Development and Housing Manager

Kieron Slaughter has been appointed as the economic development & housing manager for the City of San Pablo. Since 2017, Slaughter has served as chief strategic officer for economic innovation in the City of Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development. Previously, he served in a 2.5-year appointment in the Pacific West Region as one of 10 Urban Fellows in the United States National Park Service.

Published

on

Kieron Slaughter. Photo courtesy of the City of San Pablo
Kieron Slaughter. Photo courtesy of the City of San Pablo

The Richmond Standard

Kieron Slaughter has been appointed as the economic development & housing manager for the City of San Pablo.

Since 2017, Slaughter has served as chief strategic officer for economic innovation in the City of Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development. Previously, he served in a 2.5-year appointment in the Pacific West Region as one of 10 Urban Fellows in the United States National Park Service.

Before that he was an associate planner in the City of Richmond’s Planning and Building Services Department from 2007-2015.

San Pablo City Manager Matt Rodriguez lauded Slaughter’s extensive experience in economic development, housing and planning, saying he will add a “valuable perspective to the City Manager’s Office.”

Slaughter, a Berkeley resident, will start in his new role on Nov. 12, with a base annual salary of $164,928, according to the City of San Pablo.

Continue Reading

City Government

Aaron Osorio Rises Up Ranks to Become Richmond’s Fire Chief

For Aaron Osorio, it started with a ride along on a firetruck at age 10. “I thought it was the coolest job,” he said, adding, “I knew being in fire service would make a big difference in the community.” Now a 27-year fire service veteran, Osorio appears to approach his work with the same youthful exuberance. And that’s good for the city as Osorio was recently named chief of the historic Richmond Fire Department.

Published

on

Richmond Fire Department Chief Aaron Osorio. Courtesy photo.
Richmond Fire Department Chief Aaron Osorio. Courtesy photo

By Mike Kinney

The Richmond Standard

For Aaron Osorio, it started with a ride along on a firetruck at age 10.

“I thought it was the coolest job,” he said, adding, “I knew being in fire service would make a big difference in the community.”

Now a 27-year fire service veteran, Osorio appears to approach his work with the same youthful exuberance. And that’s good for the city as Osorio was recently named chief of the historic Richmond Fire Department.

Osorio is a San Francisco native who rose up the ranks in the Richmond Fire Department over the last 21 years before being elevated to chief.

He joined the department in 2002 and has served in multiple roles including firefighters, engineer, captain, battalion chief, training director and deputy fire chief. He said he truly loves working in this community.

While it isn’t common for a fire department to hire a chief that came up through its ranks, Osorio was credited by the city for serving Richmond well during uncommon times.

The city lauded him for developing internal policies and vaccination clinics during the initial COVID response, for supporting activation of the emergency operations center in response to a potential mudslide disaster in Seacliff last year, helping to draft mutual aid agreements and working to increase fire response capabilities for industrial incidents.

He’s also led departmental hiring and recruitment since 2018.

Osorio said it is an honor to be hired as chief and has big plans for the department moving forward. He said he wants to continue hiring and promoting for vacant positions, and also completing a strategic plan guiding the direction of the organization.

He also aims to replace and renovate a number of fire department facilities placed on the Capital Improvement Plan and create new ways to recruit that will enhance the diversity of the department.

Osorio said his experience within, and love for, the city of Richmond puts him in a good position to lead the department. He says he knows what is needed and also the challenges that are unique to the city.

“I look forward to utilizing that institutional knowledge to move the fire department forward in a positive direction and enhance the services we provide to the community,” the chief said.

Osorio holds a bachelor of science degree in Fire Administration and is also a California State Fire Marshal-certified chief officer, company officer, and state instructor.

He also holds numerous certifications in fire, rescue, hazardous material, and incident command.

The chief has been married to his wife, Maria, for 26 years and they have two sons, Roman and Mateo.

Continue Reading

Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Reflects on Historic Moment Less Than One Week from Election Day

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12) today released a piece on Medium reflecting on Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic presidential campaign 50 years after Lee worked on the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.

Published

on

Congresswoman Barbara Lee
Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12) today released a piece on Medium reflecting on Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic presidential campaign 50 years after Lee worked on the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm: 

“As Election Day approaches, I’m reflecting on a few dates and numbers that mean something to me.

Zero: the number of Black members in Congress 56 years ago. Next Congress, we hope to swear in over 60 members in the Congressional Black Caucus. 

Three: The number of Black women to ever serve in the United States Senate since the first Congress in 1789.

Two: The number of Black women that will be elected to the Senate this year alone if we do our job.

1972: The first time a Black woman, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, ran for president in one of the major political parties of the United States.

Zero: the number of Black women to ever serve as president of the United States. 

IF we do the work, we can change that with President Kamala Harris.

As I reflect on what would be Congresswoman Chisholm’s 100th birthday next month, I could not help but remember that my first official involvement in U.S. politics was working for her presidential campaign in 1972.

Over 50 years later, I have been involved in every single campaign since. Shirley was my mentor — she was a bold visionary, a progressive woman who understood that working together in coalitions was the only way to make life better for everyone, to build an equitable society and democracy that lived up to the creed of “liberty and justice for all.”

The historic moment we are in today is not lost on me. I have had the privilege to have known Vice President Kamala Harris for over three decades. She, after all, is a daughter of the East Bay. She, like Shirley, truly is a fighter for the people.

And I know she can move our country forward in a new way. As a member of her National Advisory Board, I have campaigned across our country to help take her message, her legacy of service, and her “to-do list,” as she says, to voters who were almost starting to feel hopeless, but are now feeling hopeful once again, captured by the politics joy and the bright possibilities brought upon by a possible Harris-Walz administration.

Recently, I visited churches in North Carolina with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The chair of our CBC political action committee, Chairman Gregory Meeks from New York’s fifth district, eloquently and powerfully presented a vision of what Dr. Maya Angelou wrote in her famous poem, “And Still I Rise:” “I am the dream and the hope of the slave.”

Meeks remarked that on Jan. 20, 2025, we will observe the birthday of our drum major for justice, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

He also described that on Jan. 20, IF we do the work — if we knock on doors, if we make those phone calls, if we spread our message — standing on the podium at the U.S. Capitol will be the first Black speaker of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries.

In the wings will be over 60 members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Holding Frederick Douglass’ Bible will be the first African American woman appointed to the highest court of the land, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She will be swearing-in the first Black woman to serve as president, Kamala Harris, in front of the shining white dome of the United States Capitol, built by enslaved Black people.

In front of her and beyond, the tens of millions of Black men and women who voted for her. The world will witness the hope and the dreams of our ancestors ushering in a new way forward.

As I sat in front of the stage this week at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., as Vice President Harris delivered remarks with the Oval Office behind her, I could not help but feel that our country was ready for this historic moment.

We are not only voting for a Black woman as Commander in Chief of the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world. We are definitively stating that we will not allow the clocks of freedom and justice to be turned back.

We are voting for our ancestors’ hopes and dreams. We are voting for the generations that will come after us, long after we are gone. We are voting for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Let’s get this done.

Continue Reading

Subscribe to receive news and updates from the Oakland Post

* indicates required

CHECK OUT THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE OAKLAND POST

ADVERTISEMENT

WORK FROM HOME

Home-based business with potential monthly income of $10K+ per month. A proven training system and website provided to maximize business effectiveness. Perfect job to earn side and primary income. Contact Lynne for more details: Lynne4npusa@gmail.com 800-334-0540

Facebook

Kieron Slaughter. Photo courtesy of the City of San Pablo
City Government7 hours ago

San Pablo Appoints New Economic Development and Housing Manager

Richmond Fire Department Chief Aaron Osorio. Courtesy photo.
City Government7 hours ago

Aaron Osorio Rises Up Ranks to Become Richmond’s Fire Chief

Congresswoman Barbara Lee
Barbara Lee8 hours ago

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Reflects on Historic Moment Less Than One Week from Election Day

Mayor Sheng Thao
Bay Area8 hours ago

Oakland Awarded $28 Million Grant from Governor Newsom to Sustain Long-Term Solutions Addressing Homelessness

Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Kassan. Courtesy photo.
Bay Area8 hours ago

Pamela Price Appoints Deputy D.A. Jennifer Kassan as New Director of Community Support Bureau

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao,
Bay Area8 hours ago

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s Open Letter to Philip Dreyfuss, Recall Election’s Primary Funder

Reviver founder and Chief Strategy Officer Neville Boston attended the Sacramento Kings' season opener at Golden 1 Center, witnessing players debut the company's patch. Reviver proudly supports the Sacramento Kings' community and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Photo by Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media (CBM).
Business9 hours ago

Sacramento Kings and Black-Owned Digital License Plate Firm Enter History-Making Partnership

iStock
Bay Area9 hours ago

Poll Shows Strong Support for California’s Controversial Prop 36 Crime Initiative

From left to right: Incumbent Mia Bonta (D) is running in Assembly District 18 (Oakland); Kevin Lincoln (R), Mayor of Stockton, is challenging incumbent Josh Harder (D) in Congressional District 9)(Stockton); and Lateefah Simon (D) is running in Congressional District 12 (Oakland).
Bay Area9 hours ago

NorCal Election Preview: Black Candidates on Your Gen Election Ballot 

Tony Cokes. Photo courtesy of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Art10 hours ago

Brown University Professor and Media Artist Tony Cokes Among MacArthur Awardees

iStock
Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌10 hours ago

Black Leaders, Political Orgs, Sound Alarm About Project 2025

On Oct. 23, President Joe Biden nominated Judge Benjamin Cheeks to California Federal District Court Judgeship.
California Black Media11 hours ago

Biden Appoints Black San Diego Attorney to California District Court Judgeship

Office of the Civil Rights Staff and CBM Representative. Courtesy Photo.
Activism11 hours ago

Stop-the-Hate Message Shared with Tens of Thousands at Calif’s Largest Black-Themed Street Festival

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond (Courtesy Photo)
California Black Media11 hours ago

On Your November Ballot: Prop 2 Seeks to Modernize Public Education Facilities

NAACP State Conference President Rick Callender (right) engages in a discussion on voter engagement and community advocacy with NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson during the 37th NAACP California-Hawaii State Convention in Los Angeles. Photo by Rich Woods.
Activism18 hours ago

NAACP California-Hawaii State Convention Highlights Black Voter Engagement, and More

Trending

Copyright ©2021 Post News Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.