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So many things to do in Oakland, so little time-you can check this report from Pamela Drake on some you may have missed: If you’re active in the life of this city, there’s a plethora of ways to keep informed. I found both our special talents and serious shortcomings on display this recent winter week. On Saturday and Sunday the East Side Arts Alliance, the National Lawyers’ Guild, the New Year’s Movement for Justice (for Oscar Grant), and a host of other civil rights and media groups sponsored A People's Hearing on Racism & Police Violence in a chilly auditorium in central Oakland. On Saturday I heard heart wrenching testimony from parents’ who had lost their children to police violence, and on Sunday young people who have been stalked by the police bore witness to being singled out for their activist activities since the murder of Oscar Grant. More testimony was given describing the profiling of Muslims and other immigrant groups targeted by US officials and the gr

The East Bay Express reported on an incident at Berkeley High earlier this year, that happened because a white student wrote the word "nigga" on their Facebook page. While some see it as an issue of lack of diversity training, and I agree, I think something else is at play: the impact of hip-hop culture. In the multi-racial world of Hip-Hop blacks using such a term is so common that whites who are consumers of the music think everyone who's black uses the term. Of course, that's not true at all. The reality is that it's has a lot of negative images and many blacks, myself among them, don't want the word to be uttered by anyone. Period. This can be confusing to anyone white who's parents aren't giving them the proper training. Couple that with the fact that there are people who still use the word offensively and you've got a real powderkeg problem. The best solution is for people to learn that even if you hear it, it's not right to use it,

More at the Tribune From Tribune: ANTIOCH, Calif.—As more and more black renters began moving into this mostly white San Francisco Bay Area suburb a few years ago, neighbors started complaining about loud parties, mean pit bulls, blaring car radios, prostitution, drug dealing and muggings of schoolchildren. In 2006, as the influx reached its peak, the police department formed a special crime-fighting unit to deal with the complaints, and authorities began cracking down on tenants in federally subsidized housing. Now that police unit is the focus of lawsuits by black families who allege the city of 100,000 is orchestrating a campaign to drive them out. "A lot of people are moving out here looking for a better place to live," said Karen Coleman, a mother of three who came here five years ago from a blighted neighborhood in nearby Pittsburgh. "We are trying to raise our kids like everyone else. But they don't want us here." -- Antioch has been known for a kind of c

Palo Alto Police Chief Resigns Amid Accusations of Racial Profiling : Indybay : “On November 20, the City of Palo Alto announced that its controversial police chief will retire on December 19. Chief Lynne Johnson sparked protests and a November 9 march on the city when she stated that she had instructed officers on her force to make "consensual contact" with African American men to counter a crime spike in Palo Alto. 

Her remarks were quoted in news reports worldwide and the topic of racial profiling became a much discussed issue at subsequent city council meetings. Some city officials took the opportunity to acknowledge that racial profiling exists and must be combatted, while others took the stance that the police chief "merely misspoke". Although the police chief made several attempts at apologizing, many residents of the city and surrounding communities were left wondering why she directed her officers to look for African Americans with do-rags when victims of

This video is nothing less than a monologue on how some remaining female supporters of Senator Clinton for President are, in pointing out sexism, being sexist themselves. I point to Salon.com's Editor-in-Chief Joan Walsh as a main example and as one who looks the other way when Michelle Obama is the target of sexism and racism, but not Senator Clinton, followed by Harriet Christian, the terrible and outwardly racist Clinton supporter who gained national attention for her racist and sexist rant against Senator Barack Obama at the DNC Rules Committee Meeting of May 31st..... click for the rest at Zennie's Zeitgeist .

I created this "vlog" (video-blog) to deal with and talk about a problem I've had with certain friends. Perhaps you've had the same problem where some of your, in my case, friends who are White (or the reverse or generally interracial) don't give you proper "consideration" in your friendship, where consideration is a kind of contract that all friendships have -- a contract of basic expectations of treatment. In other words, while you call them, they don't call you, or if you are dealing with someone who's racist, they tell you that you "see racism" rather than coming to your aide. Or they are your friends as long as they're able to take advantage of you or get information from you, but when they get around their friends, you suddenly don't exist. I'd like to know your response to my video and your view. Thanks.

Last week, I had the pleasure of talking to the owner of Easy Lounge on Lakeshore and where I had the very unpleasant encounter which I openly attributed to racism. Without going into detail about the conversation, I can happily report that the matter was taken care of. But there's one thing I have to adress, as the owner asked me "Why did you assume racism?" My answer was long and heartfelt. I explained that first his employee's treatment of me was exclusive to me -- not anyone else -- and I'd just arrived. Second, we'd never met before. Third, it was dismissive. Fourth, racism is a form of rejection and given that I had no other personal reference point with him, and a lot of experience with racist episodes that were similar in profile, I felt justified in my conclusion. He understood. I think Kolin, who owns Easy, is a good person who's trying to have an estatablishment that's a positive part of the Lake Merritt and Oakland experience.