Oakland

OP-ED: Oakland Youth is A Survivor: ”A Rose that Grew from Concrete”

Published

11 years ago

November 20, 2014

By Joi Smith, Laney College student

In my community, it is hard to make friends, but losing them is easy. I look out for those I love and care about, but in my inconsistency, I tend to give up on friendships as they begin to part.

I’m from East Oakland where homicide rates will make you not want to walk the streets alone, but, like my faith, even a gunshot couldn’t stop me.

Joi Smith

I still remember it like it was yesterday. It was a long night of dancing and laughs on the block where I grew up. Two friends of mine had just gotten out of jail, so they were too elated. But they were more than friends – these two boys were like my brothers.

Typical of them, they started to play fight with me. Who knew this horse playing would turn into me risking my life.

I remember getting up off the ground ready to charge at them because they were playing entirely too much. I was thinking, here were my real friends?

Everyone thought it was funny that I had gotten so mad. But for me, laughing was the last thing on my mind. I was feeling overpowered. So I turned to my typical activity every week: fighting.

As soon as I began to call everyone out, people started telling me I was “trippin’.” I’m pretty sure I knew almost every single person standing on the corner, but it was so dark and all the black hoodies blinded me.

I heard someone call out, “Aye lil’ mama you trippin’ – you wanna hit the weed?”

My response was so intense that they wanted to take my life. Next thing you know, we heard back-to-back gunshots, and everyone scattered. I guess I believed that I was bullet proof because I was still in the middle of the street, talking crazy to someone that could have been my murderer.

I kept reminding him that he was in my territory.

My mom would have been very disappointed if she knew how “down” I was for my crew. One fight, we all fight. You have a problem with one, you have a problem with us all; that’s just how we were.

Losing three of the people I grew up with to gun violence was a wake-up call for me because I finally realized that the people close to me were slowly losing their lives. I know for me personally, God has been walking in my shadow my whole 16 years because I’m still here.

Like Tupac’s “rose that grew from the concrete,” I may have missing petals and broken stems, but I continue to grow daily. And let’s be realistic, you wouldn’t expect a rose to grow from concrete.

My life has shifted dramatically. I try my hardest to avoid gangs or situations that I know will be a bad influence. My mornings are less stressful, and I’m more motivated to get up, go to school, and move forward with my future goals.

I try to smile more. All I can do is be thankful for my growth and future success.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 3, 2025

Published

6 days ago

May 30, 2025

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

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2 weeks ago

May 25, 2025

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Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 18, 2025

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By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.