Reconsider Columbus Day

Christopher Columbus was a rapist, murderer and a thief. And there's a holiday named after him.

Celebrate Indigenous People's Day instead. Respect those who were here first.



Reconsider Columbus Day.

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Laney College students occupy Peralta Colleges Chancellor's Office

Following a rally at Laney College on October 7, a group of students stormed the Peralta Colleges District headquarters and briefly occupied the Chancellor's office.

The rally abruptly ended as about 30 students marched from Laney’s quad, down 8th Street towards the district’s headquarters chanting, “No cuts! No fees! Education should be free!”

The group burst into the the Peralta District’s headquarters, interrupting a Benefits Fair for employees. Corporate representatives from CostCo and 24 Hour Fitness appeared stunned as students marched past before doubling back and entering the offices of Chancellor’s staff.

Students were looking for Chancellor Dr. Wise Allen or district trustees. None were present at the time.

Staff quickly called Peralta Police Services – a contract of the Alameda County Sheriffs Office – whose offices are housed in the same building. Students continued chanting, demanding to see trustees.

“We should stay here until the Chancellor agrees to meet with us,” Laney College student Jevon Cochran said.

Deputy Glen Pace, entering the offices at that same time responded, “Here’s the agreement, you have thirty seconds to leave.” The scene greatly resembled the April 22 board meeting that was shutdown by student’s protesting the closure of the College of Alameda Children’s Center. The group left the building a minute later, while sheriff’s locked and blocking the entrance.

Students marched back to Laney, with many taking public transportation to join the demonstrations taking place at UC Berkeley.

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West Oakland Community Theater presents August Wilson's 'Gem of the Ocean'

The Lower Bottom Playaz Present August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean" from October 8 through October 17 in West Oakland.

Gem of the Ocean is the first installment of his decade-by-decade, ten-play chronicle, The Pittsburgh Cycle, dramatizing the African-American experience in the twentieth century.



The play is set in 1904 at 1839 Wylie Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Hill District. Aunt Ester, the drama's 285-year-old fiery matriarch, welcomes into her home Solly Two Kings, who was born into slavery and scouted for the Union Army, and Citizen Barlow, a young man from Alabama searching for a new life. Citizen Barlow is in search of redemption. Aunt Ester is not too old to practice healing; she guides him on a soaring, lyrical journey of spiritual awakening to the City of Bones.

The play runs October 8-17, Fridays-Sundays. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. on Sundays. The Sister Thea Bowman Memorial Theater is located at 920 Peralta Street, and is accessible by AC Transit lines 31, 26 and West Oakland BART.

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Laney College students occupy Peralta Colleges Chancellor's Office

Demanding no more budget cuts, staff layoffs, or fee increases, Laney College students held a noontime rally on the main campus quad on October 7. Some later marched to the Peralta Colleges district and briefly occupied the Chancellor’s office.

Coinciding with a National Day of Action in Defense of Education, the “Speak Out” let any student share how education budget cuts affected them. At the bottom of the event’s stage was a banner that read, “Free Speech Zone,” mocking a policy proposed last spring that critics said would limit free speech on the campus.

While most talked about budget cuts have affected them, their families and classmates, the overall emphasis of speakers was the press need for organization.

“This is exactly what we need to do to let our voices be heard and to show the powers that be that we are organized and we are one,” said Jurena Storm, a student member of the Peralta Colleges Board of Trustees. Storm left the rally early to attend a program at College of Alameda that featured a mass graveyard for education.

Laney College Black Student Union member Timothy Killings told students to take charge of their education’s by being actively engaged in the colleges’ governance, and retaking control of the school.

“First thing we need to do is clear up the misconception that our school is run by the Board of Trustees,” Killings said. “This is our school.” Killings criticized a new fee policy that dropping students from their classes if they do not pay their fees promptly.

In between speakers, the rally’s emcee, former Laney BSU President Jabari Shaw, rapped the song, “Chop from the Top.” The song – based on a popular chant at Peralta board meetings last fall – became a budget cuts anthem of sorts last spring.

“People have called the cuts a tragedy,” said Peter Brown, an instructor in the machine technology department. “A tragedy is when someone is hurt and no one benefits. But when someone benefits, that’s not a tragedy, that’s a crime.” Brown’s comment was a reference to Senator Diane Feinstein’s husband, Richard C. Plum, a UC Regent who has profited while the tuition has skyrocketed, along with others who benefit while people suffer.

Shaw then introduced the next speaker, a challenger for the Peralta board facing a two-term incumbent in the November 2 election, adding, “We’re trying to get rid of the incompetents.”

Monica Tell, a former Laney College student running in Trustee Area 3, introduced herself as a person who grew up in Oakland that is “going to fight the good fight to represent you.”

Student Adon Ortega, an intern with Californians for Justice, encouraged students to sign a petition about financial aid issues and the district’s new policy. “People are supposed to pay fees, and use financial aid, but financial aid doesn’t come until weeks after,” Ortega said.

Student Jevon Cochran, a member of Laney’s Student Unity and Power (SUP), called for repealing Peralta’s new fee policy and for cuts from administrators.

“When these cuts started to come down, they gave administrators raises,” Cochran said. Last year, the Bay Area News Group revealed that former Chancellor Elihu Harris gave raises to administrators against board policy. When trustees found out, instead of repeal the raises, trustees ratified the decision. “They didn’t think it was fair that (Peralta) administrators didn’t make as much as other (districts) administrators. But it’s fair for students to get kicked out of school and it’s fair that workers lose their jobs?”

Administrators need to fight against the cuts, also, Cochan said, calling on students to go picket the district’s headquarters. “We’ve got to take it to the state and to the administrators too. Let’s march!”

A group of 30 students then marched over to Peralta's district headquarters.

Read complete story on The Peralta Report.

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Dance performances tells unknown stories of early Blacks in San Francisco

Of all urban cities in the U.S., the percentage of San Francisco's African American population is the smallest. Yet, much of early Black history in California is set in the city, and remains largely untold.

Sailing Away, a site-specific dance performance on Market Street from October 7 to October 10 will explore the history of African Americans' early contributions to the development of San Francisco.

Created by Joanna Haigood, the artistic director of Zaccho Dance Theatre, Sailing Away tells the story of eight prominent African Americans who lived and worked near Market Street during the mid-nineteenth century and of the events leading up to the mass exodus of African Americans from San Francisco in 1858.

Market Street will provide the backdrop as performers enact historical narratives through a series of gestures and activities incorporating sites and monuments located between Powell and First streets. Through character interactions, audience members will get a feel for 19th-century commercial life on the city's most important thoroughfare, which was once home to myriad African American-owned enterprises.

"African Americans and their histories are disappearing from San Francisco. The average San Franciscan would not recognize the names of Mifflin Gibbs or James Whitfield and yet they were national figures, working on behalf of all African Americans. This piece hopes to illuminate obscured histories and initiate meaningful dialogue around their subsequent legacies.” Joanna Haidgood

Some of the figures explored in the work include: Mary Ellen Pleasant, an entrepreneur who used her fortune to further the abolitionist movement; Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, a devoted abolitionist, participant in the Underground Railroad and friend of Frederick Douglass, who made a fortune in the clothing and dry goods trade, real estate speculation, and transportation industries; Archy Lee, a slave who was the focus of several court cases involving slavery laws and a civil rights movement in 1858. During the performance, newspapers containing historical information is referenced in the work will be distributed.

Sailing Away also includes a contemporary character referencing African Americans living in San Francisco today and the current trend in relocation to East Bay communities.

“African Americans and their histories are disappearing from San Francisco,” Haigood said. “The average San Franciscan would not recognize the names of Mifflin Gibbs or James Whitfield and yet they were national figures, working on behalf of all African Americans. This piece hopes to illuminate obscured histories and initiate meaningful dialogue around their subsequent legacies.”

At the top of each half hour all the characters will appear at the North East corner of Market and Battery streets near Shoreline Plaque, the brass plaque that marks the early San Francisco shoreline.

“While creating this work, it was important for me to include a moment to reflect on the invisibility and loss of African American history and to comment on the current out-migration of African Americans,” Haigood said.

Sailing Way begins Thursday, October 7 and runs through Sunday, October 10. Performances will take place at the top of each half hour from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Photo Credits: San Francisco Arts Commission

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