City Government
Op-Ed: Sugary Drinks are a Social Justice Issue
By Arnold Perkins
One in two African American and Latino children are predicted to get type 2 diabetes in their lifetime (compared to one in three children overall).
Type 2 diabetes used to be a disease of our grandparents, not our grandchildren. Diabetes does not impact everyone equally in Alameda County: if you are low-income you are at twice the risk of developing diabetes compared to those with higher incomes.
The evidence is clear: consumption of sugary drinks increases risk of diabetes and is linked to heart and liver disease and tooth decay, the most common chronic disease among children.
This November, we have the power to take a positive step to combat this health crisis by taxing sugary drinks and using the funds raised to fund health programs to address the devastating effects of soda – similarly to how we have taxed tobacco.
Measure HH in Oakland and Measure V in San Francisco are small, penny-per-ounce excise tax on the distributors of sugar-sweetened beverages.
These measures, like the successful measure in Berkeley, has brought a barrage of protests from the manufacturers and distributors of sugary drinks. Big Soda has spent millions to spread blatant lies – saying that it’s a grocery tax. It’s not.
They are creating a false narrative that is meant to cause fear and confuse voters. We tell our children not to tell lies, yet Big Soda continues to deceive even after the courts declared Measures HH and V are a tax on soda not groceries.
Big Soda also says it’s a matter of personal choice to drink their products, but is it really? The industry fails to disclose that they are aggressively marketing in the same communities that have the highest rates of diabetes.
In 2013 alone, beverage companies spent $866 million to advertise unhealthy drinks, targeting youth and bypassing parents entirely. A recent study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity found that African American children and teens viewed 80-90 percent more sugary drink TV advertising than their white peers.
Big Soda also says this tax will harm poor people. The truth is that this is a tax on some of the wealthiest corporations in America, who, like the tobacco industry, claim no responsibility for the health problems associated with their products.
What the industry ignores is the unjust costs of diabetes and other chronic diseases, both the financial cost and the human toll that truly affect poor and communities of color the most.
Measure HH is estimated to raise 6 to 8 million dollars per year. The funds can be invested in communities to promote health and prevent diet related chronic diseases, especially in the communities that are most impacted.
Accountability is written into the measure and creates a community advisory board with representatives from areas disproportionately affected by chronic diseases; the board will recommend to the city council how funds should be spent.
This is a positive solution to turn our truly sobering diabetes rates around and it’s supported by over 150 health, faith and community-based organizations, city leaders and individual endorsers.
It’s up to us, my fellow Bay Area residents, to not let Big Soda dictate the future of our health and to vote YES on Measure HH in Oakland and Measure V in San Francisco.
Arnold Perkins serves on the board of directors of the California Wellness Foundation and was director of the Alameda County Public Health Department from 1994 to 2006. His views and opinions do not reflect those of his organizational affiliations or the Post News Group.”
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of March 28 – April 1, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 28 – April 1, 2025

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
Bay Area
Five Years After COVID-19 Began, a Struggling Child Care Workforce Faces New Threats
Five years ago, as COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures began, most early educators continued to work in person, risking their own health and that of their families. “Early educators were called essential, but they weren’t provided with the personal protective equipment they needed to stay safe,” said CSCCE Executive Director Lea Austin. “There were no special shopping hours or ways for them to access safety materials in those early and scary months of the pandemic, leaving them to compete with other shoppers. One state even advised them to wear trash bags if they couldn’t find PPE.”

UC Berkeley News
In the first eight months of the COVID-19 pandemic alone, 166,000 childcare jobs were lost across the nation. Significant recovery didn’t begin until the advent of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Child Care Stabilization funds in April 2021.
Today, child care employment is back to slightly above pre-pandemic levels, but job growth has remained sluggish at 1.4% since ARPA funding allocations ended in October 2023, according to analysis by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) at UC Berkeley. In the last six months, childcare employment has hovered around 1.1 million.
Yet more than two million American parents report job changes due to problems accessing child care. Why does the childcare sector continue to face a workforce crisis that has predated the pandemic? Inadequate compensation drives high turnover rates and workforce shortages that predate the pandemic. Early childhood educators are skilled professionals; many have more than 15 years of experience and a college degree, but their compensation does not reflect their expertise. The national median hourly wage is $13.07, and only a small proportion of early educators receive benefits.
And now a new round of challenges is about to hit childcare. The low wages paid in early care and education result in 43% of early educator families depending on at least one public support program, such as Medicaid or food stamps, both of which are threatened by potential federal funding cuts. Job numbers will likely fall as many early childhood educators need to find jobs with healthcare benefits or better pay.
In addition, one in five child care workers are immigrants, and executive orders driving deportation and ICE raids will further devastate the entire early care and education system. These stresses are part of the historical lack of respect the workforce faces, despite all they contribute to children, families, and the economy.
Five years ago, as COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures began, most early educators continued to work in person, risking their own health and that of their families. “Early educators were called essential, but they weren’t provided with the personal protective equipment they needed to stay safe,” said CSCCE Executive Director Lea Austin. “There were no special shopping hours or ways for them to access safety materials in those early and scary months of the pandemic, leaving them to compete with other shoppers. One state even advised them to wear trash bags if they couldn’t find PPE.”
The economic impact was equally dire. Even as many providers tried to remain open to ensure their financial security, the combination of higher costs to meet safety protocols and lower revenue from fewer children enrolled led to job losses, increased debt, and program closures.
Eventually, the federal government responded with historic short-term investments through ARPA, which stabilized childcare programs. These funds provided money to increase pay or provide financial relief to early educators to improve their income and well-being. The childcare sector began to slowly recover. Larger job gains were made in 2022 and 2023, and as of November 2023, national job numbers had slightly surpassed pre-pandemic levels, though state and metro areas continued to fluctuate.
Many states have continued to support the workforce after ARPA funding expired in late 2024. In Maine, a salary supplement initiative has provided monthly stipends of $240-$540 to educators working in licensed home- or center-based care, based on education and experience, making it one of the nation’s leaders in its support of early educators. Early educators say the program has enabled them to raise wages, which has improved staff retention. Yet now, Governor Janet Mills is considering cutting the stipend program in half.
“History shows that once an emergency is perceived to have passed, public funding that supports the early care and education workforce is pulled,” says Austin. “You can’t build a stable childcare workforce and system without consistent public investment and respect for all that early educators contribute.”
The Center for the Study of Childcare Employment is the source of this story.
Activism
We Fought on Opposite Sides of the Sheng Thao Recall. Here’s Why We’re Uniting Behind Barbara Lee for Oakland Mayor
Today, we are coming together to do all we can to make sure Barbara Lee is elected Mayor in the April 15 Oakland special election. Here’s why. Now more than ever, Oakland needs a respected, hands-on leader who will unite residents behind a clear vision for change. The next mayor will have to hit the ground running with leaders and stakeholders across our political divide to get to work solving the problems standing in the way of Oakland’s progress. Job No. 1: improving public safety. Everyone agrees that all Oaklanders deserve to feel safe in their neighborhoods. But sadly, too many of us do not.

By Robert Harris and Richard Fuentes
Special to The Post
The City of Oakland is facing a number of urgent challenges, from housing and public safety to a pressing need for jobs and economic development. One of us, Robert Harris, supported the November recall vote that removed Mayor Sheng Thao from office. Meanwhile, Richard Fuentes believed the recall was the wrong strategy to tackle Oakland’s challenges.
Today, we are coming together to do all we can to make sure Barbara Lee is elected Mayor in the April 15 Oakland special election. Here’s why.
Now more than ever, Oakland needs a respected, hands-on leader who will unite residents behind a clear vision for change.
The next mayor will have to hit the ground running with leaders and stakeholders across our political divide to get to work solving the problems standing in the way of Oakland’s progress.
Job No. 1: improving public safety. Everyone agrees that all Oaklanders deserve to feel safe in their neighborhoods. But sadly, too many of us do not.
During her three decades in the state Legislature and Congress, Lee made public safety a priority, securing funding for police and firefighters in Oakland, delivering $15.8 million in community safety funding, and more. Today, she has a plan for making Oakland safer. It starts with making sure police are resourced, ready, and on patrol to stop the most dangerous criminals on our streets.
Oakland residents and business owners are feeling the impact of too many assaults, smash/grabs, retail thefts, and home robberies. Lee will increase the number of police on the streets, make sure they are focused on the biggest threats, and invest in violence prevention and proven alternatives that prevent crime and violence in the first place.
In addition, on day one, Barbara Lee will focus on Oakland’s business community, creating an advisory cabinet of business owners and pushing to ensure Oakland can attract and keep businesses of all sizes.
The other top issue facing Oakland is housing and homelessness. As of May 2024, over 5,500 people were unhoused in the city. Oaklanders are just 25% of the population of Alameda County, but the city has 57% of the unhoused population.
Unhoused people include seniors, veterans, single women, women with children, people who suffer physical and mental illness, unemployed and undereducated people, and individuals addicted to drugs. Some are students under 18 living on the streets without their parents or a guardian. Research shows that 53% of Oakland’s homeless population is Black.
Starting on her first day in office, Lee will use her national profile and experience to bring new resources to the city to reduce homelessness and expand affordable housing. And she will forge new public/private partnerships and collaboration between the City, Alameda County, other public agencies, and local nonprofits to ensure that Oakland gets its fair share of resources for everything from supportive services to affordable housing.
Besides a public safety and housing crisis, Oakland has a reputational crisis at hand. Too many people locally and nationally believe Oakland does not have the ability to tackle its problems.
Lee has the national reputation and the relationships she can use to assert a new narrative about our beloved Oakland – a vibrant, diverse, and culturally rich city with a deep history of activism and innovation.
Everyone remembers how Lee stood up for Oakland values as the only member of Congress not to authorize the disastrous Iraq War in 2001. She has led the fight in Congress for ethics reform and changes to the nation’s pay-to-play campaign finance laws.
Lee stands alone among the candidates for mayor as a longtime champion of honest, transparent, and accountable government—and she has the reputation and the skills to lead an Oakland transformation that puts people first.
The past few years have been a trying period for our hometown.
Robert Harris supported the recall because of Thao’s decision to fire LeRonne Armstrong; her refusal to meet with certain organizations, such as the Oakland Branch of the NAACP; and the city missing the deadline for filing for a state grant to deal with serious retail thefts in Oakland.
Richard Fuentes opposed the recall, believing that Oakland was making progress in reducing crime. The voters have had their say; now, it is time for us to move forward together and turn the page to a new era.
The two of us don’t agree on everything, but we agree on this: the next few years will be safer, stronger, and more prosperous if Oaklanders elect Barbara Lee as our next mayor on April 15.
Robert Harris is a retired attorney at PG&E and former legal counsel for NAACP.
Richard Fuentes is co-owner of FLUID510 and chair of the Political Action Committee, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 57.
-
Activism4 weeks ago
Undocumented Workers Are Struggling to Feed Themselves. Slashed Budgets and New Immigration Policies Bring Fresh Challenges
-
Activism4 weeks ago
Oakland Post: Week of March 5 – 11, 2025
-
Activism1 week ago
We Fought on Opposite Sides of the Sheng Thao Recall. Here’s Why We’re Uniting Behind Barbara Lee for Oakland Mayor
-
#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago
Rev. Dr. Jamal Bryant’s Black Church Target Boycott Mobilizes 150,000
-
Activism2 weeks ago
San Francisco Is Investing Millions to Address Food Insecurity. Is Oakland Doing the Same?
-
#NNPA BlackPress4 weeks ago
Trump Moves to Dismantle Education Department
-
#NNPA BlackPress4 weeks ago
Fighting to Keep Blackness
-
#NNPA BlackPress4 weeks ago
Federal Firing Leaves Gaping Holes