By Virtual T. Murrell
Special to The Post

On his way to seeking the presidency, then-Gov. Jimmy Carter visited the Bay Area in his capacity as campaign chairman of the Democratic National Committee in March of 1974.

A friend of mine, Bill Lynch, a Democrat from San Francisco, had been asked to host Carter, who was then relatively unknown. Seeking my advice on the matter, I immediately called my friend, civil rights icon Georgia State Representative Julian Bond, for his opinion.

Bond said that Carter, along with governors Reuben Askew of Florida, Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, and Terry Sanford of North Carolina, were all a part of what was being dubbed the “New South” and so supported civil rights and voting rights for African Americans.

Based on Julian’s comments, I agreed to host the governor. We picked him up at the San Francisco Airport. With his toothy smile, I could tell almost right away that he was like no other politician I had ever met. On his arrival, there was a message telling him to go to the VIP room, where he met then-Secretary of State Jerry Brown.

After leaving the airport, we went to a reception in his honor at the home of Paul “Red” Fay, who had served as the acting secretary of the Navy under President John Kennedy. (Carter, it turned out, had been himself a 1946 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a submariner in the 1950s.)

The following afternoon, the Niagara Movement Democratic Club hosted a reception for Carter, which was a major success. Carter indicated that he would be considering running for president and hoped for our support if he did so.

As the event was winding down, I witnessed the most amazing moment: Carter’s wife, Rosalynn, was in the kitchen with my former wife, Irene, wearing an apron and busting suds! You would have to have been there to see it: The first and last time a white woman cleaned up my kitchen.

A few months later, President Richard Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal. He was succeeded by his vice president, Gerald Ford.

On the heels of that scandal, Jimmy Carter’s election in 1976 represented integrity and honesty at a point in America’s history when he was just what the nation needed to lead as president of the United States.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

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.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

By Kimberly King and Victoria King

In a powerful demonstration of grassroots organizing, activists joined forces in direct action that started on Dec. 17 to call for the establishment of sanctuary communities across the West Coast

The goal of the effort is to raise awareness about misleading narratives around homelessness and to present concrete solutions to a crisis that leaves over 35,000 people unsheltered each night in the Bay Area.

The action, led by members of Oakland’s Wood Street Commons and Homefullness/Poor Magazine, represents a direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approach to homelessness. At the core of the movement is a fundamental truth: housing is a human right, not a commodity to be bought and sold for profit.

People who are homeless want real housing, not temporary shelters that are dangerous and crowded. The City of Oakland has been telling the public that the sweeps of encampments are an effective solution, but it just pushes people from block to block, wasting tax money on paying police officers overtime in a budget crisis. This is true at the state level too, where California spends $42,000 per person that is unhoused per year. The city and state could just help pay residents’ rent, rather than pay for police to harass people on the streets, many of whom have disabilities or are elders.

The coalition of organizations, led by people with lived experience of homelessness, coordinated their efforts to show the unity behind this movement, including setting up sweeps-free sanctuary communities and resource centers and presenting solutions to city council. The message is clear: unhoused residents refuse to remain invisible in the face of policies that have resulted in 347 deaths for people experiencing homelessness in Alameda County just this year alone.

The coalition presented four key demands, each addressing different aspects of the housing crisis. First, they called for the establishment of sanctuary communities instead of sweeps, urging the redirection of encampment management funds toward positive solutions like encampment upgrades and permanent low to no-income housing.

The second demand focuses on utilizing public land for public good, specifically identifying vacant properties like the Hilton Hotel on Port of Oakland land. The coalition emphasized the immediate availability of these spaces to house hundreds of currently unhoused residents.

Prevention forms the third pillar of the coalition’s demands, with calls for strengthened renter’s rights, rent subsidies, and a permanent moratorium on rental evictions and foreclosures for non-payment.

Finally, the coalition demands the defunding of coercive “Care Courts,” advocating instead for non-carceral approaches to mental health care and harm reduction.

The Poor People’s Campaign’s motto, “When we lift from the bottom, no one gets left behind,” encapsulates the spirit of the action. Daily activities, including opening prayers for those who have died while homeless, served as powerful reminders of the human cost of failed housing policies that treat housing as a commodity rather than a fundamental right.

As this crisis continues to unfold, these activist groups have made it clear that the solution to homelessness must come from those most directly affected by it.

About the Authors

Kimberly King and Victoria King are Oakland Residents who advocate for the unhoused and propose solutions to end homelessness and housing insecurity.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post