Why hasn’t the money that has been donated to the Oakland movement been spent on ways of addressing the real needs of the residents of Oakland? Why does it continue to be spent on futile actions that continue to pull the Oakland movement away from the issues that directly affect Oakland?
Let’s remember the following:
1. Oakland has a serious problem providing basic public education to her children, no matter where they are living Oakland.
2. Oakland has a serious problem providing before and after school programs for her children that enrich their lives and keep them engaged in productive pursuits no matter where they are living in Oakland.
3. Oakland has a serious problem with resident and police relations that needs to be addressed.
4. Oakland has a serious problem with resident and city government relations that needs to be addressed. (Hint: Recalling Quan won’t fix it.)
5. Oakland is completely broke and her resources have been squandered by the 1% including the members of the City Council, the OPD, the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, and anyone else who has their hands in Oakland’s pockets.
6. Oakland residents have suffered egregiously at the hands of the Prison Industrial Complex.
7. Oakland has more people that must face discrimination in hiring because they must report a misdemeanor or felony on job applications than any other city in the Bay Area (and possibly California).
8. Oakland has one of the highest unemployment rates in the Bay Area even if one excludes those who are under-employed or who have given up on looking for work because there isn’t any to be found.
9. Oakland suffers from a complete lack of equitable sharing of resources among the neighborhoods where the 1% live and the neighborhoods that house the rest of us.
10. Oakland suffers from real systemic issues of racism, classism, bigotry, sexism, heterosexism, etc. that no one seems to want to address adequately.
11. Oakland has housing that sits vacant and yet out of reach of the working poor and homeless due to high rent and landlords who refuse to rent to lower income people.
12. Oakland has a vast number of residents who go hungry and/or who cannot afford to provide adequate nutrition to themselves or their children because either there is no access because grocery stores won’t set up in “certain neighborhoods” or because the food prices are so high here even though we live very close to where fresh fruit and vegetables are grown that seem to feed the rest of the country at lower prices.
I’ve only come up with 12 items. I just typed this list out of the top of my head. I know I’ve left out many more problems that can be addressed by Occupy Oakland using its donated resources if only there was the will to do so.
Anyone can feel free to add to the list. I think it’s time that the residents of Oakland make some demands of Occupy Oakland for actions that address the needs of the residents of Oakland.
Yes, it’s sad that almost no one in Occupy Oakland seems to care about what Oakland needs anymore. The lack of responses here is a sad testament to that.
im re-posting this here because it appears that the lack of dialogue aroused by what is a legitimate and productive post is a bummer.
i think the criticism of OO not being locally focused is miss placed. OO has focused on a number of local issues.
1. Police Violence – we all know this one. it’s front and center, because it is local issue. Cops in the Bay area have a long history of brutality and racism. this is true elsewhere of course but it is a central issue here because “pigs be crazy.”
2. Access to Shelter – homelessness is a big issue in the bay area. the lack of services and the coercive statist/private framework that most operate within makes it so lots of people have to sleep on the streets w/ no services no companionship and no care on any organized and sustained basis – other than what they create amongst themselves.
3. Access to Food – food politics are a huge issue in oakland. when i taught/coached debate at The Emiliano Zapata Street Academy in oakland, i found the best way to get people involved and active was to bring food because most of the students were hungry. once food became a baseline norm in the class people showed up and participated and we had one of the largest debate teams at one of the smallest schools and some the most competitive and successful debaters in all of the Bay Area Urban Debate League. the TAC talked about shutting down a burger king because of the lack of good food on the inner-city w/ the dominance of fast food chains.
4. Access to Public Space this is a significant issue in a community organizing against the gang injunction laws
5. Criminalization of the Population – oakland is the site of mass police state that prohibits access to common space and marks numerous bodies for violent state repression – Black and Latino youth, White Street Kids, the Homeless, and now any one who might be thinking of setting up another one of those damn tents.
6. Capitalist Exploitation be it the port that extracts billions in surplus value form this community and leaves a trail of destruction and disease in it’s wake. the children of west oakland are suffering form the constant assault of capital as it uses dirty tucks to ideal at the port to move its “goods” through this community at the lowest cost possible.
7. Systemic Racism (particularly in the form urban planning that destroys existing communities, and a racialized criminal justice system)
8. Corrupt City Governance they chose to close schools when money was clearly available… …oh wait …apparently that money could only be allocated for cracking skulls, rupturing spleens, chemical warfare, rioting cops hell bent on robbing the poor, w/ an army of renta-cop reinforcements.
9. The Longview port battle if lost would negatively impact Longshore works in Local 10 in Oakland by establishing a precedent by which the ILWU could be destroyed one local at a time, and there is ample reason to suspect Oakland would be targeted because of the radical past of Oakland’s rank and file.
10. Bank Exploitation and Destruction of communities w/ bullshit predatory loans.
11. Foreclosure and Eviction resistance.
12. legal aid for those engaging in political resistance, they helped get paco out of jail and away from those creeps in ICE. now we need to FREE KHALI. the corrections department needs to hand over all surveillance footage regarding Khali’s detention so that it can be vetted by lawyers to get him off and to ensure his rights aren’t being violated or if they are to document them and hold the authorities accountable. the more success we have in this regard the more space will be created for everyone to engage in political resistance.
pick anyone of these local issues and organize around it, or even better come up with more issues that are even more pertinent than these and find out ways of mobilizing the community around them so that the movement grows and becomes what we desire.
Wow, this is all the commentary that was generated by people on this site about the issues that actually directly affect Oakland? Does anyone wonder why most Oakland residents are scratching their heads and wondering what Occupy Oakland has to do with them?
I have to say that I’m losing more and more interest in Occupy Oakland as the issues of Oakland continue to get ignored. Oh, yeah, that’s right. We’re joining the Oscar Grant Memorial Demonstration on Jan. 1st.
There is much more to Oakland than Oscar Grant people! Wake up!
So, do you know how I can get access to that group to get help Jeanne?
Thanks Jeanne! I can’t seem to access the post because it’s a closed group? I’m not sure how to get in and get help. I honestly wouldn’t know how to edit this to make it a proposal. Thanks.
Sorry, I replied above. Please see above for your response whenever that comment gets out of moderation. I can’t move the post because I don’t have “access” to do that.
P.S. to that post though:
To add to the systemic nature of homophobia in Oakland, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Oakland was a co-author of Prop 8 and allegedly wrote most of it himself.
“What are YOU doing? Do you feed homeless? Do you do outreach to marginalized communities? Do you even know your neighbors names?”
Look, I’ve answered this criticism many times. You have no clue what I do and how involved I am in advocating for marginalized people in Oakland and Berkeley. I work with homeless youth. It’s my life, quite literally. I work for an agency that is headquartered in Oakland. I provide many services to help these oppressed and marginalized people realize their fullest potential, DAILY. And so now I ask, what do you do that is more concrete than posting here and taking part in protests about abstract issues that don’t affect the residents of Oakland directly?
And I participate in my Neighborhood Association. I know all my neighbors in my building at least on a “greeting level” and I’m close friends with some of the long timers in my building because I’ve lived there for over 9 years. I welcome each new tenant in the building when I finally make his or her acquaintance. I’m best friends with a woman who moved into the apartment next to mine and we share a balcony. There there are two more buildings on the property and I know many of the people who live there. I am on a first name basis with the live-in manager and we chat frequently just to chat. I am friends with the old super who still lives on the property. I have friends in my neighborhood who don’t live in my building. My family lives here in Oakland. All of them live within 1 mile of where I live. How about you? Do you even know any of your neighbors’ names?
Sorry, I’m sounding angry. Well, it’s because I’m starting to get angry. I’m not some apathetic jerk who doesn’t know Oakland’s issues intimately, especially the issues for the most marginalized people in Oakland. I’m tired of my contributions here being dismissed because they don’t match your experience. Are you a marginalized person in Oakland? Do you work directly with marginalized people? I am a marginalized person in Oakland and I work with marginalized people in Oakland and Berkeley DAILY.
“Please give us just one example of systemic issues in Oakland.”
I gave the following example in another thread but I guess I need to repeat myself here so I’ll just cut and paste. Please don’t asssume that since you haven’t experienced marginalization in Oakland that no one else has experienced marginalization and discrimination on a systematic basis. Thank you.
The following paragraphs are from a post from another thread because I don’t feel much like rewriting it. I shouldn’t have to work this hard to get others to recognize that we have serious problems with overt, covert, and systemic discrimination in Oakland based on many qualities including but not limited to race, creed, religion, color, enthicity, sexual orientation, gender, age, socio-economic status, etc.:
I have always found it perplexing that I’ve faced more homophobia and discrimination for being Queer (both systemic and direct) in Oakland specifically, in Alameda County, and in the Bay Area in general than I did when living in the Midwest at times (Chicago and Quad Cities). Homophobia and discrimination against GLBTQI2S people here is more covert (mostly) and sometimes it’s painfully overt. 4 years ago during the election seeing my neighbors (many of them who I know from my neighborhood personally) from “Christian” Churches protest in support for Prop 8 was extremely painful and disappointing to say the least. I shudder as we face a possible re-match this election cycle as some queer activists are trying to get a repeal of Prop 8 on the ballot in 2012. 4 years ago the hate against the Queer Community (of which I am a member) was extremely overt and in my face every day when I drove to and from work and went about my daily business. Yes there was outside people and outside money advocating the restriction on my rights but many of the people who were active at a local level were Oaklanders (a great many of them) who were very open on street corners where I must pass expressing their free speech to pass legislation that limits my rights. That was a very overt, direct, and systemic example of marginalization that I and others in my community in Oakland experienced intimately in Oakland. Just because “they” won, it’s not over by a long shot. The rift and the pain in Oakland among the GLBTQI2S Community and the community of Oakland at large still hasn’t healed and people here are still polarized on the gay marriage issue. Even though the vote showed that most Oaklanders were with us, the vote also showed that a great many (almost 40%) weren’t and still aren’t with us.
Here is a good article from Mother Jones that describes what we faced in 2008: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2008/10/oakland-ground-zero-prop-8-hate-speech The pain I felt and still feel is indescribable.
This is only one instance of many I can go on and on about here. I can go into many more personal examples including a horrifc experience where a female African American judge dismissed me out of hand because of my sexuality at the Wiley M. Manuel courthouse. Justice isn’t served there on a regular basis. But, as you say, I can ramble. So I’ll just leave you with that. The “isms” are alive and well in Oakland and they need to be addressed. It does affect equality for the 99%.
Oh and I’m going to add now that I have faced discrimination around being queer and Jewish in the workplace at an Agency who is based in Oakland who is allegedly “Culturally Competent.” The first time it happened was when I was hired. The last instance happened just this past week. I’m not detailing these instances because that may reveal more of my identity to others than I care to let you all know in this forum.
“I believe that the people of Oakland are good people with a very small number of assholes that mess things up.”
The people of Oakland are good people, true. Unfortunately all of us are capable of being ignorant of the harm we cause others because we all live with the same set of systems that overtly and covertly discriminate against many of us. I wish it were just a very small number of assholes that mess things up. In my experience, that simply isn’t true. I know that I and other marginalized people I know here in Oakland don’t feel that it’s just “very small number of assholes that mess things up.” That’s my experience. I know others that have the same experience. I’m glad that this isn’t your personal experience. Please don’t assume that the rest of us have the same personal experience as you do. Thank you.
No, really. Draft a proposal. If you need help some people here would love to help you. I reposted your post btw. Oakland Acts. Anti-Poverty Working Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/283267221715824/
I am an Oakland resident. I got involved because to do otherwise was to surrender to apathy. What are YOU doing? Do you feed homeless? Do you do outreach to marginalized communities? Doyou even know your neighbors names?
About the “systemic issues” you cite. Please give us just one example of systemic issues in Oakland. I have worked for many different companies in Oakland. I did not encounter or witness any systemic injustice aside from the endemic cop problem. But that is another issue. Whenever you have over-armed cops you will have abuse of power.
I believe that the people of Oakland are good people with a very small number of assholes that mess things up.
“10. Oakland suffers from real systemic issues of racism, classism, bigotry, sexism, heterosexism, etc. that no one seems to want to address adequately.”
No it does fucking not. I have experienced racism in the deep south. I’m talking a bout being beat up by white kids for hanging out with black kids, bars with KKK stickers, Cops with KKK emblems on their guns. Whites only “private” clubs still existed in the late 80’s when I was in high school. Whites only “private” golf course on city land. There are individuals with bad attitudes but the bay area is pretty fucking cosmopolitan when it comes to race, orientation, gender etc. There simply is not systemic issues that you describe. Just isolated assholes, which there will always be. On the other hand class issues are pretty heavy in the bay. There is a pretty big disparity between “the hills” and the flatlands. Both in Oakland and SF. And the way homelessness is used to make political hay around here is vile.
And if you want to talk about how cops treat gays, POC and women, well that is a cop issue, not an Oakland issue.
And I find it fascinating that the only reply to my post is a dismissive barb. It really does seem that the people of Occupy Oakland don’t care about those of us who live in Oakland or our city. That’s a shame. And this is why and others aren’t being involved any more. This attitude that you all know better about what’s good for Oakland than we the residents of Oakland will continue to alienate us.
If I thought anyone were willing to listen I would. So far, lately, all I see is more childish reactions to events outside of Oakland.
I and others are starting to see that Occupy Oakland doesn’t really care about Oakland or her residents.
Why dont you stop typing and go make it happen? Last I saw, they were still accepting proposals!