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OP-ED: When Will Justice Come for Black and Brown Families?

Published

10 years ago

October 26, 2015

By Patrisse Cullors, reprinted from Huffington Post

Last weekend, we learned with further certainty what we have long known to be true: Black and brown families will not be granted justice by law enforcement.

New investigations into the murder of Tamir Rice concluded that the actions of the Cleveland police officer who killed him were “reasonable.” Authorities can justify police murdering a 12-year-old boy sitting on a swing in a park as being “reasonable” because police are praised for killing Black and brown people.

Last week, I traveled throughout California listening to the stories and trauma of family members who have lost loved ones to police violence.

Over eight days, the Caravan for Justice led by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the ACLU of California stopped in Oakland, Sacramento, Stockton, Salinas, Fresno, Riverside, Orange County, and Los Angeles. In each city, family members of victims of police violence, in the U.S. and from the UK, shared their stories.

In Sacramento, there was Christina Arechiga, whose cousin Ernest Duenez Jr. was gunned down by police while exiting from the backseat of a truck. In Salinas, Angelica Garza shared the story of her brother Frank Alvarado Jr., killed by police who claimed to confuse his cell phone with a weapon. In Los Angeles during Politicon, Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles member Misha Charlton shared how an officer responding to a domestic violence call killed her sister Meagan Hockaday.

Over and over, I witnessed families shouldering the burden of the violence their brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, and children suffered at the hands of law enforcement.

The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Forward Together, Research Action Design, and 20 other organizations across the country recently released a report, Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families, documenting the overwhelming debts, health challenges, and severed bonds that families face as a result of mass incarceration.

But I saw on this tour that those costs begin before people are even arrested–they begin when police first target a family member. And for black and brown communities, we live our lives as targets.

Family members described the many legal battles they have fought, the lawyers they have hired, the medical costs they have faced, all in the pursuit of justice for their loved ones.

But too often, these costly pursuits of justice end in frustration, disappointment, and more grief. We must equip families to take action and lead so that they no longer suffer these injustices.

As I write this, I am aware that 902 people have been killed by police this year. That 64 were black and unarmed. That in California, 155 have been killed and of those, 73 were black or brown victims. And there are many others who have not made it among the counted.

Black and brown families are in a state of emergency.

For most emergencies, we prepare communities. We teach people to put out fires, board up their homes, or drop under a desk if an earthquake hits. But what have we taught low-income communities of color about how to respond to the more frequent incidents of violence they face in the streets and inside of jails?

The Caravan for Justice marked the launch of Justice Teams in nine counties in California. Those teams will be local rapid response networks, building infrastructure to support victims and survivors of law enforcement violence and their families, teaching them how to prevent police brutality and how to respond effectively when it occurs.

One month ago, neighbors called the police when they heard my little brother, who was having a psychotic episode, yelling outside of my apartment. Aware of the many black people with histories of mental illness who are killed during police encounters, myself and five other witnesses recorded the police with the Mobile Justice CA app as they arrested my brother. The app allows people to record law enforcement abuses and automatically submits the videos to the ACLU of California for review.

More communities need to know these tools exist and how to use them. Because justice will come for families when we fight for ourselves.

Tamir Rice’s family has now demanded the appointment of a special prosecutor because of concerns that the grand jury presentation will be a “charade.” But justice for families won’t come only from a grand jury indictment, or an officer’s conviction.

Justice will come when we demand truth and reinvestment. An acknowledgement that people of color are brutalized, criminalized, and incarcerated because of hundreds of years of racist policies that have involved forced labor, segregation, disparate opportunity, and organized state violence against black and brown people.

It will come when we reinvest. We have poured billions of dollars into punishment-based responses–from police arresting children for absences in schools, to treating people’s drug problems in jails, to creating barriers to housing, employment, and education for formerly incarcerated people after they finish serving their sentences.

Families will receive justice when we end our addiction to policing and punishment, and resources are moved towards education, housing, healthcare, and employment for all communities.

Patrisse Cullors is one of the co-founders of #BlackLivesMatter and the Truth and Reinvestment Campaign Director at the Ella Baker Center.

Oakland Post

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Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

7 months ago

June 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Special to The Post

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department (Oakland HCD) announced its awardees for the 2024-2025 New Construction of Multifamily Affordable Housing Notice of Funding Availability (New Construction NOFA) today Five permanently affordable housing developments received awards out of 24 applications received by the Department, with award amounts ranging from $7 million to $28 million.

In a statement released on Jan. 16, Oakland’s HCD stated, “Five New Construction Multifamily Affordable Housing Development projects awarded a total of $80.5 million to develop 583 affordable rental homes throughout Oakland. Awardees will leverage the City’s investments to apply for funding from the state and private entities.”

In December, the office of Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 City Councilmember, worked with HCD to allocate an additional $10 Million from Measure U to the funding pool. The legislation also readopted various capital improvement projects including street paving and upgrades to public facilities.

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is the media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

12 months ago

January 30, 2025

Oakland Post

Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 city councilmember. File photo.

Special to The Post

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units, including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

Oakland Acquisition Company’s Acquisition of County’s Interest in Coliseum Property on the Verge of Completion

The Board of Supervisors is committed to closing the deal expeditiously, and County staff have worked tirelessly to move the deal forward on mutually agreeable terms. The parties are down to the final details and, with the cooperation of OAC and Coliseum Way Partners, LLC, the Board will take a public vote at an upcoming meeting to seal this transaction.

Published

1 year ago

January 11, 2025

Oakland Post

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Haubert. Official photo.

Special to The Post

The County of Alameda announced this week that a deal allowing the Oakland Acquisition Company, LLC, (“OAC”) to acquire the County’s 50% undivided interest in the Oakland- Alameda County Coliseum complex is in the final stages of completion.

Oakland has already finalized a purchase and sale agreement with OAC for its interest in the property. OAC’s acquisition of the County’s property interest will achieve two longstanding goals of the County:

The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum complex will finally be under the control of a sole owner with capacity to make unilateral decisions regarding the property; and
The County will be out of the sports and entertainment business, free to focus and rededicate resources to its core safety net

In an October 2024 press release from the City of Oakland, the former Oakland mayor described the sale of its 50% interest in the property as an “historic achievement” stating that the transaction will “continue to pay dividends for generations to come.”

The Board of Supervisors is pleased to facilitate single-entity ownership of this property uniquely centered in a corridor of East Oakland that has amazing potential.

“The County is committed to bringing its negotiations with OAC to a close,” said Board President David Haubert.