Community

Oakland Native James Jackson Takes Helm at the Alameda Health System

“As an AHS patient, physician and Board president, I am delighted that Mr. Jackson is re-joining Alameda Health System and stepping into this vital role,” said Taft Bhuket, M.D., president of AHS’s Board of Trustees.

Published

4 years ago

February 6, 2021

Kiki

James Jackson, newly appointed Interim CEO of Alameda Health System. Photo courtesy of AHS.

The Alameda Health System (AHS) Board of Trustees recently approved the appointment of former AHS executive James Jackson as the system’s interim chief executive Officer. Jackson assumed the role on January 25^th after partnering on the transition with outgoing CEO Delvecchio Finley.

According to the AHS Board, Jackson was appointed to rebuild trust and resolve labor disputes, settle labor contracts and work with the Alameda County Board of Supervisors on a potential new AHS governance structure.

An Oakland native, Jackson previously served as the chief administrative officer at Alameda and San Leandro Hospitals until 2018. His ability to build authentic internal and external partnerships to advance AHS’s mission was a key factor in the board’s decision.

“During his successful tenure at AHS, James demonstrated an inclusive leadership style and aligned AHS towards the high quality care that our population deserves. Under his leadership, Alameda Health System will be well poised to excel and navigate the complex challenges ahead.”

With over 25 years of experience in healthcare, Jackson recently served as a consultant with the Alameda County Healthcare Services Agency to establish the COVID Futures unit in response to the pandemic. Prior to that, he was the chief operating officer for Seton Hospital and Seton Coastside in Daly City, part of the Verity Health System, where he was charged with defining and implementing strategic initiatives.

“I am excited to return to AHS, and lead an exceptional organization to strive every day to achieve our mission of caring, healing, teaching and serving all,” said Jackson. If someone asked me what has been my best job, I would be talking about this job. Since day one, I’ve settled in quite comfortably and we’ve been making progress on a number of initiatives.”

“I have stood beside AHS in good and challenging times, and I am confident that together, and in collaboration with the County and key partners, AHS will step up to address the stark health inequities exacerbated by the current public health and economic crises. My commitment to the AHS community is to meet the health care needs of our people.”

On day two of the job, Jackson reached out to the AHS staff, giving them a personal perspective of the kind of individual he is. “My family history is closely connected with the health of Alameda County,” said Jackson. “As a community-based physician and the chief of what was then known as the Maternal and Child Health Program at Highland Hospital, my father cared for many generations in the East Bay. I would often accompany him to Highland when he came to visit his patients. I would sit on the steps of the old wing and observe and think about the importance of serving others.”

“Thoughts around the importance of service are once again at the forefront of my thinking. As the interim-CEO, my first consideration is how I might serve you who are serving so many others.

“My priority is to ensure that you have the resources and support you need to care for our patients during these unprecedented times.

“While leaders may change, our mission will not. It is more critical than ever that our mission of caring, healing, teaching, and serving all, sustains us in our battle against the COVID pandemic that has affected our patients, our families, and our communities.”

Jackson acknowledged Finley and his leadership team for being dedicated stewards of AHS, noting that: “While there have been challenges, they have not left the cupboard bare,” he said. “Increased efficiencies, reductions in expenses, implementation of the EPIC system, and recent successful completion of Joint Commission surveys are a testament to their leadership and success in positioning the system for an uncertain future.”

Throughout the past year, AHS conducted quality awareness surveys which identified some challenges in the system. Within his first year at the helm, Jackson hopes to address those issues. “I want to focus on quality because making sure our patients are receiving the best care possible is paramount,” he noted. “In addition, I will also be focusing on governance. There is a discussion going on about the governance model and we want to make sure our voices are heard from the board.”

“Communication and trust are also of high importance to me,” said Jackson. “There’s an opportunity from a stakeholder perspective to reset the relationships. So, I want to reach out to our partners to make sure there are dialogue and clarity where our concerns are, and where opportunities are available.”

Over the next few weeks, Jackson will be visiting all AHS facilities on a regular basis, spending half a day to meet and listen to staff. “I will take in this learning to evaluate opportunities for an important change to ensure you are supported,” he said. “The conversations will be one-on-one with small groups. I will be actively engaging internal and external stakeholders and we will strengthen bridges where they exist, and where they are absent, we will construct them.”

“I’m a son of Oakland, I grew up here and I intend to spend the rest of my time here and serve this community from this role as the highlight of my personal and professional career. Thank you for all that you do, every day. I am honored and humbled by the opportunity to support your work.”

Kiki

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Activism

Four Bills Focus on Financial Compensation for Descendants of Enslaved People

This week, CBM examines four more bills in the package — each offering ways for Black Californians to receive restitution for past injustices — from housing assistance and reclamation of loss property to fairer pay and the establishment of a state agency charged with determining eligibility for reparations.

Published

2 minutes ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

Edward Henderson
California Black Media

Last week, California Black Media (CBM) provided an update on four bills in the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) 2025 Road to Repair package.

The 16 bills in the Black Caucus’s 2025 “Road to Repair” package focus on “repairing the generational harms caused by the cruel treatment of African American slaves in the United States and decades of systemic deprivation and injustice inflicted upon Black Californians,” said the CLBC in a release.

This week, CBM examines four more bills in the package — each offering ways for Black Californians to receive restitution for past injustices — from housing assistance and reclamation of lost property to fairer pay and the establishment of a state agency charged with determining eligibility for reparations.

Here are summaries of these bills, information about their authors, and updates on how far each one has advanced in the legislative process.

Assembly Bill (AB) 57

AB 57, introduced by Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood), would require that at least 10% of the monies in the state’s home purchase assistance fund be made available to applicants who meet the requirements for a loan under the home purchase assistance program and are descendants of formerly enslaved people.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee is currently reviewing the legislation.

Assembly Bill (AB) 62

AB 62, also introduced by McKinnor, would require the Office of Legal Affairs to review, investigate, and make specific determinations regarding applications from people who claim they are the dispossessed owners of property seized from them because of racially motivated eminent domain. The bill would define “racially motivated eminent domain” to mean when the state acquires private property for public use and does not provide just compensation to the owner, due in whole or in part, to the owner’s race.

AB 62 is currently under review in the Judiciary Committee.

Senate Bill (SB) 464

SB 464, introduced by Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), aims to strengthen the existing civil rights laws in California concerning employer pay data reporting. The bill mandates that private employers with 100 or more employees submit annual pay data reports to the Civil Rights Department. These reports must include detailed demographic information — including race, ethnicity, sex, and sexual orientation — pertaining to their workforce distribution and compensation across different job categories. Furthermore, beginning in 2027, public employers will also be required to comply with these reporting requirements.

The Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment, and Rules is currently reviewing SB 464. A hearing is expected to be held on April 23.

Senate Bill (SB) 518

SB 518, introduced by Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson (D-San Diego), establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery to address and remedy the lasting harms of slavery and the Jim Crow laws suffered by Black Californians.

SB 518 is under review in the Senate Judiciary Committee. A hearing is expected to be held on April 22.

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Arts and Culture

BOOK REVIEW: Love, Rita: An American Story of Sisterhood, Joy, Loss, and Legacy

When Bridgett M. Davis was in college, her sister Rita was diagnosed with lupus, a disease of the immune system that often left her constantly tired and sore. Davis was a bit unfazed, but sympathetic to Rita’s suffering and also annoyed that the disease sometimes came between them. By that time, they needed one another more than ever.

Published

16 minutes ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Love Rita Book Cover. Courtesy of Harper.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Author: Bridgett M. Davis, c.2025, Harper, $29.99, 367 Pages

Take care.

Do it because you want to stay well, upright, and away from illness. Eat right, swallow your vitamins and hydrate, keep good habits and hygiene, and cross your fingers. Take care as much as you can because, as in the new book, “Love, Rita” by Bridgett M. Davis, your well-being is sometimes out of your hands.

It was a family story told often: when Davis was born, her sister, Rita, then four years old, stormed up to her crying newborn sibling and said, ‘Shut your … mouth!’

Rita, says Davis, didn’t want a little sister then. She already had two big sisters and a neighbor who was somewhat of a “sister,” and this baby was an irritation. As Davis grew, the feeling was mutual, although she always knew that Rita loved her.

Over the years, the sisters tried many times not to fight — on their own and at the urging of their mother — and though division was ever present, it eased when Rita went to college. Davis was still in high school then, and she admired her big sister.

She eagerly devoured frequent letters sent to her in the mail, signed, “Love, Rita.”

When Davis was in college herself, Rita was diagnosed with lupus, a disease of the immune system that often left her constantly tired and sore. Davis was a bit unfazed, but sympathetic to Rita’s suffering and also annoyed that the disease sometimes came between them. By that time, they needed one another more than ever.

First, they lost their father. Drugs then invaded the family and addiction stole two siblings. A sister and a young nephew were murdered in a domestic violence incident. Their mother was devastated; Rita’s lupus was an “added weight of her sorrow.”

After their mother died of colon cancer, Rita’s lupus took a turn for the worse.

“Did she even stand a chance?” Davis wrote in her journal.

“It just didn’t seem possible that she, someone so full of life, could die.”

Let’s start here: once you get past the prologue in “Love, Rita,” you may lose interest. Maybe.

Most of the stories that author Bridgett M. Davis shares are mildly interesting, nothing rare, mostly commonplace tales of growing up in the 1960s and ’70s with a sibling. There are a lot of these kinds of stories, and they tend to generally melt together. After about fifty pages of them, you might start to think about putting the book aside.

But don’t. Not quite yet.

In between those everyday tales, Davis occasionally writes about being an ailing Black woman in America, the incorrect assumptions made by doctors, the history of medical treatment for Black people (women in particular), attitudes, and mythologies. Those passages are now and then, interspersed, but worth scanning for.

This book is perhaps best for anyone with the patience for a slow-paced memoir, or anyone who loves a Black woman who’s ill or might be ill someday. If that’s you and you can read between the lines, then “Love, Rita” is a book to take in carefully.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Faces Around the Bay: Author Karen Lewis Took the ‘Detour to Straight Street’

“My life has been a roller-coaster with an unlimited ride wristband! I was raised in Berkeley during the time of Ron Dellums, the Black Panthers, and People’s Park. I was a Hippie kid, my Auntie cut off all our hair so we could wear the natural styles like her and Angela Davis.

Published

25 minutes ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Karen Lewis. Courtesy photo.

By Barbara Fluhrer

I met Karen Lewis on a park bench in Berkeley. She wrote her story on the spot.

I got married young, then ended up getting divorced, raising two boys into men. After my divorce, I had a stroke that left me blind and paralyzed. I was homeless, lost in a fog with blurred vision.

Jesus healed me! I now have two beautiful grandkids. At 61, this age and this stage, I am finally free indeed. Our Lord Jesus Christ saved my soul. I now know how to be still. I lay at his feet. I surrender and just rest. My life and every step on my path have already been ordered. So, I have learned in this life…it’s nice to be nice. No stressing, just blessings. Pray for the best and deal with the rest.

Nobody is perfect, so forgive quickly and love easily!”

Lewis’ book “Detour to Straight Street” is available on Amazon.