ST EOBHCSunset 072321 - Flipbook - Page 3
Fifty-five years ago in 1966, the Black Panther
Party was born in the streets of Oakland as
a direct response to ongoing police murders
of Black people. Its ten-point program
made plain the basic demands of Black and
all oppressed peoples’ rights to freedom
and liberation from poverty, violence,
and racial oppression. A generation later,
today’s Oakland has dozens of social justice
organizing groups as well as a plethora of
social change and service organizations,
proudly upholding this history of organizing
and building the power of the people.
“EOBHC helped people to grow
into their own. And East Oakland
is better because of EOBHC....
Lots of people who didn’t see
each other, or hear one another,
came and learned to respect
one another, and the honoring of
folks happened on a real level.
Folks have moved on to other spaces, to become leaders, doing things
they’d never done.”
—Ms. Towanda Sherry, long-time EOBHC and Resident Leader
“How we measure and understand relationships is key to everything we are
prioritizing in the next iteration of this work. Relationships are the ‘make
or break’ of place-based initiatives AND the key indicator in assessing realtime power and the capacity to build power.”
—Sandra Davis, TCE
East Oakland, a historically Black community where there used to be a strong industrial base,
has been neglected by decision makers for generations. Redlining, intentional segregation, gun
violence, discriminatory policing, racial disparities in employment, rising rents, and the uneven
quality of public schools have resulted in neighborhoods whose once-humming commercial
districts are now empty storefronts. Systemic gentrification has led many Black residents who grew
up here to pick up roots in East Oakland and relocate to outlying areas like Pittsburg, Antioch, or out
of state entirely. These implicit and explicit anti-Black policies have left the community reeling. And
yet, Oakland continues its legacy of resistance and community organizing.
FOR THE LOVE OF BLACK EAST OAKLAND: EOBHC Sunset Report
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