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Open Letter: Black Oakland Demands in Light of COVID-19 and Rates of Black Death

Black People are being infected and dying at disproportionate rates from COVID-19.

This past Saturday, Community Ready Corps (CRC) and The Anti Police-Terror Project  (APTP) virtually convened a range of Black leaders in Oakland to develop a set of demands around how we expect Oakland to respond to this crisis.

Despite the mainstream media narrative that Black people are “unhealthy” or live “risky lifestyles,” the reality is that for 400 years Black people in this country have been pushed down to the bottom of every indicator that would lead to a healthy and thriving quality of life.

This is true in Oakland. Black people make up the majority of the unhoused and displaced, live in the neighborhoods with the highest concentration of air pollution and have the least access to healthcare and healthy food.  As a result, Black bodies are more susceptible to the ravages of COVID-19.

Oakland should have moved preemptively to stop the spread of this virus in Black neighborhoods and ensured Black residents had accurate information, cloth masks, hand sanitizers; but this work was instead left up to grassroots organizations like Community Ready Corps.

In San Francisco, new data revealed that Blacks and Latinos make up the majority of the 1,126 cases in the city.  We can be sure that this will hold true in Oakland as well. The City of Oakland needs to release similar data immediately and work with trusted Black community leaders and organizations to respond.

The coalition’s demands are both short and long-term in a wide range of areas from housing to education to testing and healthcare.  Some of these include:  Free, full, accessible testing and retesting sites, both walk-up and drive-through, in East and West Oakland and at encampments, No criminalization of youth-related to COVID 19 precautions such as wearing a mask, etc., Immediate paid sick days for all essential service workers, Rent abatement for the duration of the administrative closure followed by percentage rent through 2020 for tenants coupled with mortgage forgiveness for landlords.

Access the full document at www.antipoliceterrorproject.org

Cat Brooks – Anti Police-Terror Project/Justice Teams Network Carroll Fife – AACE Action Tur-Ha Ak – Community READY Corps/Anti Police-Terror Project Desley Brooks – Community Citizen Harold Mayberry – Senior Pastor, First AME Church Patrisse Cullors – Co-founder Black Lives Matter BK Woodson – Faith in Action Jackie Byers – Black Organizing Project Saabir Lockett Zach Norris – Ella Baker Center/Oakland Not For Sale Mama Ayanna Davis – MXGM-Bay Area/Congo Angola Capoeira Institute/Healthy Black Families Keith Brown – Teacher/President OEA Derrick Muhammad – ILWU Esther Goolsby Ayodele Nzinga – BAMBD CDC/LBP, INC Dr. Noha Aboelata – ROOTS Clinic Candice Elder – East Oakland Collective Allyssa Victory – Afrikan Black Coalition Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, OEA – Black Women’s Caucus James Burch – Anti Police-Terror Project/St. James Infirmary Jakada Imani John Jones III Pastor Anthony Jenkins Jahmese Myers – Schools and Communities First Kev Choice – Musician/Educator/Activist/Oakland Arts Commissioner/Recording Academy-SF Chapter Secretary Lateefah Simon Melina Abdulla – Black Lives Matter Los Angeles Gerald Lenoir, Other & Belonging Institute Allies George Galvis – Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice Annie Banks – Anti Police-Terror Project/Justice Teams Network Daniela Kantorova – Healers for Abolition Dan Siegel – Attorney, Siegel & Yee Tony Douangviseth – Youth Together

Cat Brooks – Anti Police-Terror Project/Justice Teams Network Carroll Fife – AACE Action Tur-Ha Ak – Community READY Corps/Anti Police-Terror Project Desley Brooks – Community Citizen Harold Mayberry – Senior Pastor, First AME Church Patrisse Cullors – Co-founder Black Lives Matter BK Woodson – Faith in Action Jackie Byers – Black Organizing Project Saabir Lockett Zach Norris – Ella Baker Center/Oakland Not For Sale Mama Ayanna Davis – MXGM-Bay Area/Congo Angola Capoeira Institute/Healthy Black Families Keith Brown – Teacher/President OEA Derrick Muhammad – ILWU Esther Goolsby Ayodele Nzinga – BAMBD CDC/LBP, INC Dr. Noha Aboelata – ROOTS Clinic Candice Elder – East Oakland Collective Allyssa Victory – Afrikan Black Coalition Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, OEA – Black Women’s Caucus James Burch – Anti Police-Terror Project/St. James Infirmary Jakada Imani John Jones III Pastor Anthony Jenkins Jahmese Myers – Schools and Communities First Kev Choice – Musician/Educator/Activist/Oakland Arts Commissioner/Recording Academy-SF Chapter Secretary Lateefah Simon Melina Abdulla – Black Lives Matter Los Angeles Gerald Lenoir, Other & Belonging Institute Allies George Galvis – Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice Annie Banks – Anti Police-Terror Project/Justice Teams Network Daniela Kantorova – Healers for Abolition Dan Siegel – Attorney, Siegel & Yee Tony Douangviseth – Youth Together

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Oakland Post: Week of November 26 – December 2, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of November 26 – December 2, 2025

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Oakland Post: Week of November 19 – 25, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of November 19 – 25, 2025

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IN MEMORIAM: William ‘Bill’ Patterson, 94

Bill devoted his life to public service and education. In 1971, he became the founding director for the Peralta Community College Foundation, he also became an administrator for Oakland Parks and Recreation overseeing 23 recreation centers, the Oakland Zoo, Children’s Fairyland, Lake Merritt, and the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.

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William "Bill" Patterson, 94. Photo courtesy of the Patterson family.

William “Bill” Patterson, 94, of Little Rock, Arkansas, passed away peacefully on October 21, 2025, at his home in Oakland, CA. He was born on May 19, 1931, to Marie Childress Patterson and William Benjamin Patterson in Little Rock, Arkansas. He graduated from Dunbar High School and traveled to Oakland, California, in 1948. William Patterson graduated from San Francisco State University, earning both graduate and undergraduate degrees. He married Euradell “Dell” Patterson in 1961. Bill lovingly took care of his wife, Dell, until she died in 2020.

Bill devoted his life to public service and education. In 1971, he became the founding director for the Peralta Community College Foundation, he also became an administrator for Oakland Parks and Recreation overseeing 23 recreation centers, the Oakland Zoo, Children’s Fairyland, Lake Merritt, and the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.

He served on the boards of Oakland’s Urban Strategies Council, the Oakland Public Ethics Commission, and the Oakland Workforce Development Board.

He was a three-term president of the Oakland branch of the NAACP.

Bill was initiated in the Gamma Alpha chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

In 1997 Bill was appointed to the East Bay Utility District Board of Directors. William Patterson was the first African American Board President and served the board for 27 years.

Bill’s impact reached far beyond his various important and impactful positions.

Bill mentored politicians, athletes and young people. Among those he mentored and advised are legends Joe Morgan, Bill Russell, Frank Robinson, Curt Flood, and Lionel Wilson to name a few.

He is survived by his son, William David Patterson, and one sister, Sarah Ann Strickland, and a host of other family members and friends.

A celebration of life service will take place at Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center (Calvin Simmons Theater) on November 21, 2025, at 10 AM.

His services are being livestreamed at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1250167107131991/

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Euradell and William Patterson scholarship fund TBA.

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