Community

Oakland Honors Educator Kitty Kelly Epstein

Published

8 years ago

October 28, 2017

Community members and leaders recently celebrated the contributions of community activist Kitty Kelly Epstein, who was recognized for 30 years of service in higher education, as well as teaching high school at the Oakland Street Academy and serving as a legislative aide for education in Mayor Ron Dellums’ administration.

The event, hosted by Holy Names University ‘s Teacher Apprenticeship Program (TAP) and the Post Salon Community Assembly, was held Sunday, Sept. 17, at Geoffrey´s Inner Circle in downtown Oakland.

“If you know one thing about Kitty, you know she has been unrelenting on diversifying the teacher workforce for all of her 30 years at Holy Names. She believes the workforce should represent the kids who go to the public schools,” said Dr. Kimberly Mayfield, chair of the Education Department at Holy Names.

Dr. Epstein and educator Dr. Fred Ellis started the Partnership Program, which received a federal grant to recruit teachers and later she worked in the Dellums’ administration to start Teach Tomorrow Oakland “to train Oakland residents to become teachers,” Mayfield said.

Dezie Woods-Jones, who served as the first Black Woman vice mayor of Oakland, interviewed Dr. Epstein on the topic: “Teacher Activism During Neo-Liberal Times: Navigating the System to Save Public Schools.”

“We’ve been friends for many years. I respect her passion and hard work,” said Woods-Jones, who currently serves as state president of Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA)

Among those who attended was Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell, who had been one of Dr. Epstein’s students.

Dr. Epstein said that she learned some of her lasting life lessons while working as a teacher at the Street Academy, an alternative school that began in 1970s with a federal grant.

“I learned you can win if you fight hard, if you strategize and stick together,” she said. “The school was supposed to die after five years, and it has been going for 40 years.”

She said she learned from Street Academy’s Black and Latino teachers that schools could not be good unless the teachers were representative of their students. “I learned that in life, not as a slogan,” she said.

Dr. Epstein said the roots of national and local crises in public schools lie in “neo-liberalism, which is a different word for capitalism. It’s just capitalism with the gloves off.”

Whether in education, housing, healthcare or military spending, “The big capitalists have to make a higher and higher amount of profit every year. But some of what actually needs to be done in the community, such as building a grocery store in the flatlands, won’t make them a large profit, and so they just don’t do those things,” she said.

“The biggest changes are national and international plans to make money by turning what has been a public dollar into a private dollar.”

She said the issue is larger than the debate over charter schools. There are some good charter schools, she said, but “the big plan is to privatize the money that is spent for public education.”

“Schools have never been good for Black and Latino kids,” she said, and if communities hope to win in the fight against the privatizers, “we must have a much more integrated campaign” that is committed to social equity.

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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

6 days 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.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 3, 2025

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1 week ago

May 30, 2025

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Black Feminist Movement Mobilizes in Response to National Threats

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — More than 500 Black feminists will convene in New Orleans from June 5 through 7 for what organizers are calling the largest Black feminist gathering in the United States.

Published

1 week ago

May 30, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

More than 500 Black feminists will convene in New Orleans from June 5 through 7 for what organizers are calling the largest Black feminist gathering in the United States. The event, led by the organization Black Feminist Future, is headlined by activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis. Paris Hatcher, executive director of Black Feminist Future, joined Black Press USA’s Let It Be Known to outline the mission and urgency behind the gathering, titled “Get Free.” “This is not just a conference to dress up and have a good time,” Hatcher said. “We’re building power to address the conditions that are putting our lives at risk—whether that’s policing, reproductive injustice, or economic inequality.” Hatcher pointed to issues such as rising evictions among Black families, the rollback of bodily autonomy laws, and the high cost of living as key drivers of the event’s agenda. “Our communities are facing premature death,” she said.

Workshops and plenaries will focus on direct action, policy advocacy, and practical organizing skills. Attendees will participate in training sessions that include how to resist evictions, organize around immigration enforcement, and disrupt systemic policies contributing to poverty and incarceration. “This is about fighting back,” Hatcher said. “We’re not conceding anything.” Hatcher addressed the persistent misconceptions about Black feminism, including the idea that it is a movement against men or families. “Black feminism is not a rejection of men,” she said. “It’s a rejection of patriarchy. Black men must be part of this struggle because patriarchy harms them too.” She also responded to claims that organizing around Black women’s issues weakens broader coalitions. “We don’t live single-issue lives,” Hatcher said. “Our blueprint is one that lifts all Black people.”

The conference will not be streamed virtually, but recaps and updates will be posted daily on Black Feminist Future’s YouTube channel and Instagram account. The event includes performances by Tank and the Bangas and honors longtime activists including Billy Avery, Erica Huggins, and Alexis Pauline Gumbs. When asked how Black feminism helps families, Hatcher said the real threat to family stability is systemic oppression. “If we want to talk about strong Black families, we have to talk about mass incarceration, the income gap, and the systems that tear our families apart,” Hatcher said. “Black feminism gives us the tools to build and sustain healthy families—not just survive but thrive.”