Bay Area
Sandré Swanson Runs for State Senate, “Putting Kids and Families First”
Veteran progressive leader Sandré Swanson, who is running for office to “put kids and families first,” spoke at a fundraiser over Labor Day weekend emphasizing his commitment to serving Oakland and the East Bay as his campaign gathers endorsements and supporters for the November 2024 race for the State Senate, 7th District.

By Ken Epstein
Veteran progressive leader Sandré Swanson, who is running for office to “put kids and families first,” spoke at a fundraiser over Labor Day weekend emphasizing his commitment to serving Oakland and the East Bay as his campaign gathers endorsements and supporters for the November 2024 race for the State Senate, 7th District.
The current issues facing local communities are clearly visible all around us, Swanson said: the unhoused who struggle to survive, the piled waste and neglect on city streets, empty storefronts in commercial districts, people who tell him they are “afraid to go out at night,” and the frequent news reports of older residents who are knocked down and robbed.
“I’m running to address these issues,” he said. “I have the experience, and I am qualified, and I can make a difference – to solve the homeless problem and eliminate this crime wave.”
Already, his campaign has been endorsed by the California School Employees Association, the State Treasurer Fiona Ma, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
As a former member of the state Assembly, Swanson has left an impressive legacy. He played a major role in bringing back local control to the Oakland Unified School District after six years under state receivership that had disempowered the Board of Education and disenfranchised voters.
He also led the effort in the State Legislature to jail human traffickers and decriminalize their young victims.
He said, “I went to the police department and said, ‘you guys are arresting 12-year-olds and 14-year-olds, and you treat them like criminals.’ They said, ‘what choice do we have? We need a law.’ We wrote a law, so they have a diversion program, and the children are not treated like criminals but victims.”
Besides serving in the Assembly, Swanson worked for five years as Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Barbara Lee after serving as legislative aide, district director and senior policy advisor for 25 years for Ron Dellums, a human rights leader and the first African American man in Northern California to be elected to Congress.
Swanson also chaired the Alameda County Retirement Board protecting seniors’ pensions and was chair of the Oakland Civil Service Commission, making sure people got a fair break on public jobs.
Swanson began his career as a young activist, meeting and working with Lee during Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm’s Democratic presidential campaign in California in 1972, and he chaired Lionel Wilson’s successful campaign for Oakland mayor in 1977.
He said he is a strong candidate because he has a considerable base of support in the East Bay district because, while he was in office, he helped retirees receive their Social Security and worked to help homeowners who were in danger of losing their homes because of predatory loans. “My legislative office saved hundreds of homes,” he said.
Swanson pointed out that currently there are no African Americans representing Northern California in the State Senate.
Swanson said one of his most exciting memories was coordinating Nelson Mandela’s historic visit to Oakland in 1990. Swanson organized the celebration that brought 60,000 people to the Oakland Coliseum to hear Mandela speak following his release from prison South Africa.
Swanson and his wife have four adult children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
For more information about Swanson and his campaign, go to www.sandreswanson.net
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of February 19 – 25, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of February 19 – 25, 2025
Activism
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Lateefah Simon to Speak at Elihu Harris Lecture Series
The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.

By Scott Horton
United States House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-8) will be a speaker at the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series on Friday, Feb. 21.
The event will be held at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, 10 Tenth Street in Oakland, at 7 p.m.
The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.
The overarching goal of the lecture series is to provide speakers from diverse backgrounds a platform to offer their answers to Dr. King’s urgent question, which is also the title of Jeffries’ latest book: “Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community?”
In addition to Jeffries, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) will also speak.
“Certainly, now is a time for humanity, in general, and Americans in particular to honestly and genuinely answer Dr. King’s question,” said Dr. Roy D. Wilson, Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Executive Producer of the lecture series.
“Dr. King teaches that time is neutral but not static. Like the water in a river, it arrives and then quickly moves on,” continued Wilson. “We must urgently create conditions for listening to many different answers to this vital question, and generate the development of unity of action among all those who struggle for a stronger democracy.”
In his book, Jeffries shares his experience of being unanimously elected by his colleagues as the first African American in history to ever hold the position of House Minority Leader.
In January 2023 in Washington, Jeffries made his first official speech as House Minority Leader. He affirmed Democratic values one letter of the alphabet at a time. His words and how he framed them as the alphabet caught the attention of Americans, and the speech was later turned into a book, The ABCs of Democracy, bringing Congressman Jeffries rousing speech to vivid, colorful life, including illustrations by Shaniya Carrington. The speech and book are inspiring and urgent as a timeless reminder of what it means to be a country with equal opportunities for all. Jeffries paints a road map for a brighter American future and warns of the perils of taking a different path.
Before his colleagues unanimously elected him Minority Leader in 2022, Jeffries previously served as Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and as an Impeachment Manager during the first Senate trial of the 45th President of the United States.
Jeffries was born in Brooklyn Hospital, raised in Crown Heights, grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church and he is a product of New York City’s public school system, graduating from Midwood High School. Jefferies went on to Binghamton University (BA), Georgetown University (master’s in public policy) and New York University (JD).
He served in the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012.
Admission is free for the Feb. 21 Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series featuring Congressman Jeffries. Please reserve seats by calling the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center at (510) 434-3988.
Signed copies of his book will be available for purchase at the event.
Alameda County
After Years of Working Remotely, Oakland Requires All City Employees to Return to Office by April 7
City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week. These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.

By Post Staff
The City Oakland is requiring all employees to return to the office, thereby ending the telecommuting policy established during the pandemic that has left some City Hall departments understaffed.
City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week.
These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.
The administration may still grant the right to work remotely on a case-by-case basis.
In his memo to city unions, Johnson said former President Joe Biden had declared an end to the pandemic in September 2022, and that since then, “We have collectively moved into newer, safer health conditions.”
Johnson said “multiple departments” already have all their staff back in the office or workplace.
The City’s COVID-era policy, enacted in September 2021, was designed to reduce the spread of the debilitating and potentially fatal virus.
Many cities and companies across the country are now ending their pandemic-related remote work policies. Locally, mayoral candidate Loren Taylor in a press conference made the policy a central issue in his campaign for mayor.
City Hall reopened for in-person meetings two years ago, and the city’s decision to end remote work occurred before Taylor’s press conference.
At an endorsement meeting last Saturday of the John George Democratic Club, mayoral candidate Barbara Lee said she agreed that city workers should return to the job.
At the same time, she said, the city should allow employees time to readjust their lives, which were disrupted by the pandemic, and should recognize individual needs, taking care to maintain staff morale.
The John George club endorsed Lee for Mayor and Charlene Wang for City Council representative for District 2. The club also voted to take no position on the sales tax measure that will be on the April 15 ballot.
-
Activism4 weeks ago
Oakland Post: Week of January 22 – 28, 2025
-
Activism3 weeks ago
Oakland Poll: Tell Us What You Think About the Cost of Groceries in Oakland
-
#NNPA BlackPress3 weeks ago
PRESS ROOM: Top Climate Organizations React to Trump’s Executive Orders Attacking Health, Environment, Climate and Clean Energy Jobs
-
Activism3 weeks ago
OP-ED: Like Physicians, U.S. Health Institutions Must ‘First, Do No Harm’
-
#NNPA BlackPress3 weeks ago
Trump Exploits Tragedy to Push Racist and Partisan Attacks
-
Activism3 weeks ago
Oakland Post: Week of January 29 – February 4, 2025
-
#NNPA BlackPress3 weeks ago
Black Reaction to Trump DEI Blame on The Plane Crash
-
#NNPA BlackPress3 weeks ago
BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2025 We Proclaim It