Given the kind of year we've had, celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King's memory and purpose this weekend in Oakland, CA seems like a pretty good idea.  Deep in the middle of a tough economy, city budget cuts,  a disaster in Haiti, and many local folks having a tough time getting by, celebrating King's purpose and spirit--and our own understanding of his work, might be just the thing.  Oakland Local takes a look at what's happening around town and hopes that at least one of these events can rock your world enough to get you out and into the spirit of the day.

Beatrice Sullivan is deep.

What does it mean to envision new landscapes for oneself and one’s people, to carve out envisioned space (even outer space)?

A few years ago while working on a national Democratic Party campaign in San Francisco, I noticed that there were virtually no people of color involved. For both moral and political reasons, I took it upon myself to do outreach and began convening meetings at the campaign headquarters with activists and community leaders from mostly African American neighborhoods.