Named in honor of the late African American social justice advocate Malcolm X, this year’s event took on added poignancy, coming just days after the death and subsequent funeral of Malcolm Shabazz, X’s grandson. A makeshift shrine set up across the street from the park, on Foothill Boulevard, paid tribute to X, Shabazz and other icons who have transitioned to ancestors: George Jackson, Betty Shabazz, Richard Aoki, Patrice Lumumba, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, and Tupac Shakur. Several speakers, including OL contributor Reginald James and activist Yuri Kochiyama, commented on Shabazz’ passing – which some seemed to think was an recent example of counterinsurgency against revolutionary activists.

Moving on to more positive themes, the park was filled with beautiful people. They were everywhere—420ing on the hill, picnicking with family and friends, browsing local artisan stalls, listening to jazz emanating from the main stage, pop-locking at the b-boy jam, waiting in line for a plate of ndole rice at Taste of Africa. There was a lot going on, but for every person who worked the crowd, socializing, there was another who kicked back and took it all in. Thanks again to ESAA for producing this event every year.

***

Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi is a triple threat: a filmmaker and photographer, he’s also known as DJ 3rd Degree. Jacobs-Fantauzzi is also the founder of the Fist Up Film Festival, currently in its 4th annual iteration. The festival opened last week with a party at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, followed by a screening of “Doin’ It In The Park,” the Bobbito Garcia film about pick-up basketball in NYC. Jacobs-Fantauzzi says the screening went so well, the New Parkway booked the film for several additional days.

The festival came about, Jacobs-Fantauzzi says, because as a filmmaker he got fed up with the rigamarole around showing films on the festival circuit, which was sometimes more trouble than it was worth. “I wanted a way for people to show their films for free and… really bring them to the community,” he related. So he chose the DIY approach, using Berkeley venue La Pena Cultural Center as the festival’s home for its first three years. This year, he adds, “we’re doing it all over the Bay,” with screenings in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley.

The remaining films in the festival are:

• “Crimes of the Police”–which screened earlier this year at the Oakland International Film Festival – a film which touches on the all-too-relevant subject of police murders of young black men, offering an alternative narrative from the mainstream media perspective by interviewing family members of the victims of police homicide. (May 22nd at Berkeley City College)
• “Coming Home,” a film about a Cuban hip-hop group, living in Miami, who visit their homeland and are forced to reconcile what they see with their own eyes with their long-held perceptions. (May 31st at the New Parish)
• “African Cypher,” a film about African street dance, which Jacobs-Fantauzzi says has parallels to the Bay’s own indigenous hyphy, sideshow, and turf dance subcultures. “The similarities are incredible,” he insists. (June 4th at the New Parkway)

***
Jinho “Piper” Ferreira, the Flipsyde MC turned police officer and playwrite, recently wrote one of the more interesting guest commentaries to appear in the Oakland Tribune of late. Like much of the Trib’s reporting, the piece is on violence in Oakland. But unlike many of the if-it-bleeds-it-leads crime stories and state-the-obvious columns, the article offers an insightful look at the culture of drugs, crime and violence, from a first-person perspective.

“The first time I held a gun I was 11,” Ferreira writes. By age 13, he was “looking up to the most notorious drug dealers in West Oakland. Most were between 17 and 25 years old, the youngest 14. I was what you would call a “little homie.” I was by no means a gangster, but I loved feeling like one.”

He goes on to describe life as a young shorty on the verge of being sucked into street life by older mentors, and facing a moment of truth: “After the entire older crew was convicted of murder, I remember all of us “little homies” deciding whether we would inherit the block or walk away. I walked away.”

Perhaps not coincidentally, Ferreira currently stars in “Cops and Robbers,” a one-man play at the Kaiser Center’s Lakeside Auditorium. Drawing from Ferreira’s experience growing up on the Oakland streets, and later as a member of the Alameda County Sherriff’s Department, the play, which has been lauded for its authenticity and credibility,  touches on hot-button subject matter, such as an officer-involved shooting, told from the perspective of the officer. “Cops and Robbers” runs until June 1.

***
This week’s picks:
“Crimes of the Police” screening, and Q&A with filmmaker Ansar el Muhammad plus opening performance by Young, Gifted, & Black, 5/22, 7 pm, free, Berkeley City College, 2050 Center St., Berkeley

The Oakland Slam’s All-WIDE-Open Mic Show, 5/23, 9pm, $5-$10, New Parkway Theater, 474 24th St.

Bike-In Movie: “Premium Rush”, 5/24, 6pm-10pm, Trumer Pils Brauerei, 1404 4th St., Berkeley

thePeople – Oakland, 5/25, 9pm, $5 adv., New Parish 579 18th St.

Got tips? eric@oaklandlocal.com

This Weds. 5/22, 8:45 – 10:45 AM: Senior Thesis Project Showcase

Weds. 6/5, 8 – 10 AM: Exhibition Breakfast Fund Raiser

This event gives a deep view into how the school works!
Click here to RSVP!

Join us for a morning of “exhibitions” in which students showcase their unique internship-based and academic learning. Participate in a Q & A session with MetWest youth and adult leaders about our unique relationship-based, future focused, and rigorous approach to high school education.

 

If you or any potential MetWest supporter or partner want to see a MetWest exhibition but can’t make it on June 5th, we will attempt to arrange a personal visit to see exhibitions on any date from May 30th – June 11th.
To do so, please email greg.cluster@metwest.org.

Weds. 6/12, 3-5 PM: MetWest’s Graduation!

You are invited to our unique graduation ceremony at
Holy Names University, Oakland
Click here for tickets

In the Big Picture Learning tradition, all our seniors are valedictorians. Graduation is an change to hear each graduate and three mentors and families speak about their reflections on their years at MetWest. It is a heartwarming experience that gives a real sense of the
emotional power of our model and its transformational impact.

OAKLAND, CA – On Tuesday, May 21, the Oakland City Council will vote on a proposal to partner with an international microlending organization to support local entrepreneurs and promote economic development in Oakland.

The proposal sponsored by City Attorney Barbara Parker and City Councilmember Libby Schaaf will create a partnership with Kiva.org, a nonprofit organization that has raised more than $400 million to fund small entrepreneurs in 67 countries. Kiva’s mission is to create opportunity and alleviate poverty by providing capital to people without access to traditional banking systems.

file photo, OL

Under the proposal before the City Council on Tuesday, Oakland will become the first U.S. city to partner with Kiva through the organization’s Kiva Zip program. The City will serve as a “trustee” by endorsing three local microbusinesses to receive zero-percent interest loans of up to $10,000 each.

“This innovative model has helped countless entrepreneurs around the world,” City Attorney Parker said today. “Small and ‘micro’ businesses play a major role in Oakland’s economy, many of them serving immigrants, refugees and low-income residents. A few well-placed loans to burgeoning entrepreneurs can make a tremendous difference in our community.”

Under the proposal, Oakland initially will identify three businesses to receive capital. The City will not be responsible for funding, guaranteeing or repaying the loans. Kiva Zip’s crowd-funding model allows individuals to look through profiles and loan requests of Oakland businesses at zip.kiva.org and loan as little as $25 dollars to businesses of their choice. The program already has helped some Oakland businesses including the Mandela Foods Cooperative, which received a $5,000 loan to improve marketing and buy reusable and recycled bags. As Oakland borrowers pay back the loans, more Oakland businesses could be endorsed to receive crowd-funded loans.

“By providing capital to Oakland microbusinesses, this partnership will help strengthen our economy one local entrepreneur at a time,” Councilmember Schaaf said today.

According to Soll, the gallery is closing this June and the current exhibition will be her last show.

Swarm opened in February of 2006 and since then, matured into a traditional gallery – it is also a working place for local artists in 11 studio spaces, located in the back of the gallery.

Soll said that she did not know that this was going to be her last show until last month.

“Real estate is going up and a lot of restaurants are moving in, unfortunately art suffers the most in times like this,” she said. “It’s actually kind of odd that this is happening because we are starting to develop a very vibrant art scene here.”

Soll explained that she has been renting out the space and recently, the landlords wanted to either raise the rent or rent it out to another business – she said that she was basically priced out of the place.

“I do not have the capital to open another gallery space at the moment and I can’t afford to pay any more than I already am for the gallery space,” Soll said.

Soll has a strong background in the Oakland Arts community. She has a masters in Museum Studies and curatorial work. Before opening Swarm, Soll was working at Pro Arts Gallery. After leaving Pro Arts, she spent about a year developing the concept for Swarm.

“I wanted to stay in the art world and it took me eight to nine months to come up with a business model,” she said. “I developed a relationship with the land lord of Pro Arts at the time, Merritt Sher and he liked my proposal.”

Soll was not representing any artists until a year and a half after opening Swarm – she now represents local and national artists and sometimes international artists. She is currently representing eight artists, whom she refers to as ‘gallery artists’ she represents on a regular basis but also has affiliate artists to work alongside with the gallery artists.

Soll said that the whole idea was to bring affiliate artists on a noncommittal basis so that she could allow people to show work together. “I feel very inspired and interested in processes that encourage the concept of collaboration and experimentation.”

Michael Thurin, gallery associate, said that Soll has about eight to nine shows a year and that it will certainly be a loss for the arts community because Swarm has been a great resource for artists and also art enthusiasts.

“The relationship and the work of gallery artists will be maintained and we will continue to promote their work at offsite exhibitions,” he said.

Thurin said, Swarm is having a big closing night on June 9 – “there will be live music, screen printing, among others things.”

According to the gallery website, the gallery features contemporary work by emerging and established artists through exhibitions, flat files, studio space an programs, and it is an experimental platform for sound, video and installation based work.

Location & Hours:

560 Second St. Oakland CA, 94607

T/F: (510) 839-2787

Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday 12PM – 5:30PM – First Fridays 6 – 9PM

Current Exhibition: 

April 27 – June 9, 2013 FICTIONAL/FAMILIAR – Cybele Lyle, Leigh Merrill, Emma Spertus

Artist Talk, Saturday, June 1, 2013 3PM

“FICTIONAL/FAMILIAR” features two and three-dimensional work drawing on architecture, photography, and everyday objects to create an allegory of perspective and sense of place. More information on the current show: Exhibition Press Release

Gallery Links:

Swarm Gallery – Facebook Page

Swarm Gallery – Official Website

Swarm Gallery – Blog

Oakland Art Murmur – Official Website

First Friday – Official Website

The community of Cinnamongirl Inc., a nonprofit mentoring program, held a meet and greet on May 9 at the MetroCenter Auditorium in Oakland for new mentors, volunteers and additional young girls wanting to become Cinnamongirls.

The CGI is an Oakland-based program with a mission of empowering and inspiring young women (primarily African-American and Latina women) between the ages of 12-17.

Founder Renee Richard said, “We are all different spices, and this program is for all. I am more interested in what’s inside of these young ladies.

“Are they hungry enough to be the ones to truly make a difference in the world?” she added.

Richard likes to pull out those inner qualities that can set each young woman apart and enhance their true individualism.

In Oakland alone there are about 50,000 girls; 40 percent live below the poverty line, 26 percent experience abuse as young girls, more than 80 percent don’t graduate from college and less than 10 percent hold professional careers.

Cinnamongirl Inc. is the organization helping to bridge home life and helping create the reality that college life is possible regardless of your circumstances. Its main focus is to take a young woman and give her personalized mentoring in the areas of college preparation workshops, career development seminars and enrichment activities.

“Some of these young ladies have never been to a museum, a cultural event or seen a play at a theater,” Richard said.

CGI provides those types of opportunities for its “Cinnamongirls.”

“CGI empowers young women to take charge of their lives,” she said. “No two young ladies are the same and each needs to feel special and know that there is someone there to support them.”

Some educational goals of the Cinnamongirl Inc. program include: 100 percent of the girls will be college-bound after participating in the program; GPA’s will improve a full point after one year; 100 percent of all the girls take on a leadership role before graduating high school; and 75 percent of CGI graduates pursue a graduate degree.

“A Cinnamongirl is ambitious and intelligent, but often lacking the resources and support needed to make her dreams become a reality,” Richard said. (sic)

For the professional individual that looks to give back, CGI is an organization of choice. Each year, it recruits highly-qualified individuals from all professional fields to commit their time and resources to build a nurturing relationship with these young ladies.

“These mentors nurture bonds that foster a sustained sisterhood, which provides an environment in which the mentee can develop her unique strengths and talents,” Richard said. “The mentors care about these young ladies; they are cultivating lasting bonds that go beyond the program.”

Cinnamongirl Inc. is currently looking to match up ambitious girls with enthusiastic professional mentors. Anyone interested in getting more information on how to participate in the program or mentoring can contact (510) 531.4740 or email info@cinnamongirl.org.

African-American youth filled the first two rows of chairs lining the congregation room of the Acts Full Gospel Church in Oakland on April 27, clad in white T-shirts reading “OAKLAND NAACP Youth Leadership Conference.”

Some held slips of paper from an earlier exercise in their hands, with their colleges of choice written on them: Stanford, Yale, Berkeley. Other youth, about knee-high, still looked forward to the first grade.

Most of the older youth arrived as early as 8 a.m. to help set up the event, then waited patiently for the headliner at noon.

Looking down on them from center stage sat former Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan, OPD Lieutenant Kirk Coleman, Assistant District Attorney Terry Wiley and the president of the Black Youth Leadership Project, Loreen Pryor. The NAACP representative expected to join them on the panel was absent.

“No adults can speak to this panel!” facilitator Martin L. McWilson said to the grown-ups in the audience. McWilson is a trustee for Area 2 of the Alameda Board of Education. “Youth, this is your chance to ask us questions and tell us what concerns you, what you think about us.”

Questions trickled in, at first. A boy no more than 8 years old was the first to speak up.

“What can young people do to stop the violence?” he asked.

Coleman was the first to respond to most of the questions, including this one.

“You have to communicate with your friends,” he said. “Let them know that violence is not acceptable in your community.”

Meanwhile, the meeting rooms in the front held teen contestants for the NAACP’s “ACT-SO” program. “ACT-SO” stands for Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics and several teens at the event had their creative performances evaluated for the upcoming program.

The competitive air of the evaluations matched that of the panel. Many of the teenage students had questions for Jordan, who resigned from his 19-month position as Oakland Police Chief on May 8.

“Where I grew up, kids thought violence was cool, too,” he said. Jordan shared an anecdote about his adolescence at Stone Mountain High School in Georgia, when he and a friend, by some stroke of callousness, brought a gun to school.

“That’s what we thought was cool, long before violence had gotten to the place it was today,” he said. “So how am I sitting on this panel today? One day, I made a choice. To say, ‘Y’know what? This is stupid.”

His best friend, the other man with the gun, ended up in prison at 22, serving 25-to-life.

When asked about the possibility of officer-enforced youth curfews in Oakland, Jordan stressed the importance of a community consensus.

“We [the police] can’t enforce what the community won’t,” Jordan said.

Debra Carter-Kelly, an author and speaker at the event, described the audience of young people as “blessed” to have aspirations towards higher education and a meaningful, straight-laced career. Her husband, Kevin Kelly, elaborated on her feelings.

He said that many kids who live in disenfranchised communities like East Oakland, as he did, hardly have the opportunity to see beyond their block or street. For these kids, even Laney College can seem like a faraway option.

“College isn’t for everyone,” he said. “But the option for college is.”

Cross-posted from Laney Tower.

The Youth Peace Festival, called “Turn Up for Peace” will take place on Saturday, June 1 at Unity High School in East Oakland. There will be workshops and performances at the event all focused on the theme of creating a more peaceful community.

Although other Silence The Violence Day events will take place all around the country, it all had its start right here in Oakland.

In the summer of 2006, when Oakland was experiencing a spike in violence, Urban Peace Movement founder Nicole Lee and Rudy Corpuz Jr. from United Playaz (SF) sounded a call to action that was heard across the Bay Area. The idea and message was simple – coordinated simultaneous vigils calling for an end to urban violence.

What started out as a call for three vigils across Oakland, blossomed into 21 simultaneous vigils across the Bay Area. This annual summer event has evolved into a national day of action with cities across the country participating.

Together, with our partners, we are helping to activate hundreds across the nation to Silence The Violence and create a hopeful, positive message that everyone has a role to play in ending urban violence. You can hear PSA’s about Silence The Violence Day right now on 106KMEL and you can take a Pledge to Silence The Violence at www.urbanpeacemovement.org.

“Just read the headlines about jobs,” she said. “Joblessness is a reality, and the jobs aren’t coming quick enough.”

Bishop, however, is in a place to do something about it. As the director of St. Mary’s College Career Center, she has 16 years of experience, as well as a capable staff, dedicated to helping unemployed college graduates become employed professionals.

“We felt there was a group in career development that have knowledge we share with undergrads,” she said. “We know the realities of the job market, so why not extend beyond campus and give back to those in the community?”

That was when Bishop connected with Jill Marshal, family literacy coordinator at St. Martin de Porres Elementary School, a Catholic school in the Longfellow neighborhood that serves mostly African-American and Latino students from West Oakland. With Marshal’s help, Bishop and her staff created a program tailored to the needs of the schools unemployed parents.

“So many of the parents of their children are without work and college degrees. They are struggling, and don’t have the ability to figure out what to do next,” Bishop said. “These parents are in a different part of their lives than students, so their resumes look slightly different. This challenged us to grow and expand our knowledge base with the goal of taking our skill set and sharing it outside the boarders of St. Mary’s College.”

Bishop and her staff worked to create a program for parents that met them where they are at, talking into account their education and career goals, but also their life experiences and aspirations.

“The parents that attended were so appreciative and shared many of challenges they confronted,” Bishop said.  “We tried to create very safe environment and just sort of do our career counseling piece which opened up conversations that have to deal with their life hopes and dreams in an intimate conversation.”

Parents came to the workshop with interests in a wide range of careers, from retail to restaurants, construction to clerical work, house cleaning to childcare, and Bishop stressed the importance of the little things in job hunting: eye contact, dressing well and following up after an interview just to say thank you.

“We tried to leave them with hope and skills they can put into practice for the rest of their lives, empowering them to sell themselves so an employer can say, ‘I want that person on my team,’” she said. “Second interviews are sometimes decided by who follows up because they know that that person is motivated. It can make all the difference in the world to make you stand out as a candidate.”

Bishop also sought to create storytellers, by teaching the importance of framing answers to interview questions by first stating a problem, describing the action they took and finally showing the results.

“Employers want to hear a story about what struggles and challenges they’ve experienced in their lives, and the work that made them great,” she said.

While Bishop feels the parents who attended the April 25 workshop gained invaluable knowledge and skills that will help them find satisfying employment in a less-than-satisfying job market, it may be Bishop and her staff that benefited the most.

“This is the way we feel when working with students,” Bishop said. “ It’s satisfying working with students who don’t have a clue what they should apply to and watch them gain confidence broken down into little steps. When they come to us in the end it’s just one of those days you walk away and say, ‘This is why I’m here, and this is what I’m meant to do.’”

According to Jamilah King at Colorlines, “Fruitvale Station” got a two-minute standing ovation after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

Coogler’s film is based on the last day of the life of Oscar Grant, the 22-year-old black man who was shot and killed in Oakland by former transit officer Johannes Mehserle on New Year’s Day 2009.  The film, originally titled “Fruitvale,” got another standing ovation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and had its distribution date moved up from fall to summer 2013. Stars include Oscar winner Octavia Spencer as Grant’s mother and and Michael B. Jordan as Grant.

After Grant’s death, Oakland Local reported in depth on the trial of Mehserle, who was later convicted for killing him (but who got a light sentence for his crime.)

Are you planning to see this movie? Would you like to see it in Oakland? Leave your thoughts in the comments, please!

For more info:

Fruitvale Station Facebook Page

On Twitter

Recent articles and reviews (May 20):

Cannes review: Fruitvale Station reveals an atrocity of American injustice – Awards Daily

12 Actors Who Have the Most at Stake This Summer – Vulture

Cannes 2013: Fruitvale Station Review

In the year ahead, the Oakland Unified School District board will have a very full agenda. Not only will it need to recruit a new permanent superintendent but also work to carry out the widely endorsed “Thriving Students” strategic plan created by outgoing superintendent Dr. Tony Smith and implement new Common Core curriculum standards pushed by the Obama administration. The board will also  likely reallocate funds under Gov. Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula, which would give more money to schools with low income students, English learners and foster children.

The other six OUSD board members decided in April to appoint a new district four board member until the November 2014 election rather than spend $250,000 to $420,000 to hold a ballot election among district four residents for a relatively short term. District four includes the communities surrounding the Allendale, Fruitvale, Horace Mann, Joaquin Miller, Laurel, Montclair, Redwood Heights, Sequoia, and Thornhill elementary schools as well as Bret Harte and Montera middle schools. After interviewing candidates, the current six board members will vote June 12 to select their new colleague, the district said.

Here are the candidates who filed applications by end-of-day Friday, the last day to submit:

Carol Balfe is a science teacher in the Emery School District with a PhD in chemistry who has worked to promote science especially among young girls.

Carrie La Bauve, a retired hospital worker, has been an active volunteer in the Carl B. Munck and Manzanita elementary schools; Edna Brewer Middle School and Skyline High School and has a child who currently attends Carl B. Munck.

Jill Broadhurst, executive director of the East Bay Rental Housing Association, is a mother of two students attending Montclair Elementary School. She describes herself as among the first generation in her Latina family to attend college.

Carlos Carmona, an installer with Oakland Truck Signs, has assisted low-income high school students with the college application process.

Karl Debro, trains teachers as an educator at Contra Costa College and Oakland Teach. He has also been a college readiness coach at Oakland Technical High School and Oakland High School.

Darek DeFreece is an attorney with Wells Fargo Bank and a University of California Regent with a child in Thornhill Elementary School.

Tiffany Gipson, technical assistance director of Higher Ground Neighborhood Development Corp., advocate for equality in educational outcomes and serves on the boards of the Oakland NAACP, the Oakland African American Advisory Committee on Crime and the steering committee of the East Oakland Building Healthy Communities.

Atiff Saleem Shakir, who attended Oakland public schools from kindergarten on, is a site manager at the West Hayward Burns Institute. A former teacher in the district, he now runs the OUSD African American Male Achievement Initiative manhood development program at three high schools. He has two children.

Angie Schwartz is policy director for Alliance for Children’s Rights and a mother of a child who will start school at Thornhill Elementary School in September.

Monica Tell is a public information officer for Pacific Gas & Electric, chairwoman of the Alameda County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Her children attend Lighthouse Community School, an OUSD charter school. She is an advocate for girls’ education as a board member of Girls Inc.

Anne Campbell Washington, chief of staff to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, has two children who attend Montclair Elementary School.