I'm Watching ... by Hugh Bassette
Black Power in Oakland;
What Is the President Thinking?
The question is what are Black people in Oakland going to do about their loss of clout in Oakland politics and among Black Oaklanders in general.
I came to Oakland in 1976 - damn I've been here a long time. In 1976, 45 percent of Oaklandís population was Black. It is 2002 and the Black population here is now 35 percent. What happened?
When cities all over this country begin to elect Black mayors Oakland finally got on the bandwagon and elected Lionel Wilson as its first Black mayor. After opening the door Black Oaklanders expected Elihu Harris to raise Blacks to the top of the totem pole, or if not at the top then at least near the top. It did not happen. Even though Blacks comprised a majority of the City Council business went on as usual. Now it is not business as usual but Blacks have been excluded from the economic renaissance promised by Jerry Brown. Even though Blacks supported Jerry Brown in two elections what have we actually gained? Nothing.
Tonight I went to a meeting of local Black activists and I left feeling good. I knew it was just a matter of time before Blacks would stand up and fight for their share of the pie. Look out for an organization called the Black Caucus. It's getting to be ready for fun in Oakland politics. The Left has been quiet for too long. It will not be the 60's but it will be as close as we can get. Sit back and watch.
October, 2002: Has Bush Gone Mad?
It is nothing short of amazing to watch the American people being led step by step into war with Iraq. Americans do not understand what war is really about. Since the Revolutionary War no fighting with a foreign power has taken place on American soil, so that Americans now view war as some sort of abstract concept. They fail to realize the destruction and misery that accompany war. I am a Vietnam veteran and I fully understand what war is all about.
Americans feel that because they possess military might that they are able to enforce their viewpoints upon the rest of the world. War is nothing more than old men sending young men out to die. The full impact of war does not seem to register until American youth began to return in body bags. Bush seems to appear to have learned nothing from our Vietnam experience. That is probably because he avoided Vietnam because of family connections and served safely in the National Guard while the war in Vietnam was largely fought by America's black and brown soldiers with a scattering of poor whites.
The Bush rhetoric of pre-emptive strikes and regime changing is in opposition to international law and goes against the policy of self-defense that this country has always followed. Now Bush has put forth the idea that we have the right to invade a country merely because we feel that a country might attack us. Following this logic any country is open to attack by us merely stating that they are planning to attack. And will somebody please tell me what are weapons of mass destruction? What is collateral damage? Regime changing? All of these phrases are code words for murder. The Bible says that "You reap what you sow." If that is the case then America is in for some unhappy times.
The result of the 9/11 incident has so shaken and frightened America that we are allowing Bush to lead us down the path of self destruction. Wars are not won in the air but are instead won on the ground. We can bomb Iraq from the air all we want but sooner or later ground troops will have to in to achieve final victory. That is when the casualties will begin to mount. Sooner or later America has to realize that she cannot play the role of policeman of the world. The idea that 9/11 was the result of jealousy of the freedoms that Americans enjoy is ludicrous. The people who crashed those planes into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center were rightly or wrongly responding to American foreign policy in the Middle East, and to fail to fully deal with those feelings will never allow us to solve the problem. To solve a problem one has to understand the problem and it cannot be fully understood by making threats and the use of military power absent diplomacy. 9/11 scared America and the Bush administration has embarked on a policy of revenge without really knowing who was responsible. I have yet to see any definite proof that bin Laden was behind the attacks. Now bin Laden's name is rarely mentioned and Sadam Hussein has become the new Bush boogey man.
It is up to the people of America to stand up and say that our government's policies are wrong and will result in additional terrorist strikes in the future. They will also result in American boys coming back home in body bags. Our opposition has been too quiet. It must be loud, long and persistent. Hopefully America will realize this before they embroil the world in global warfare. For those of you who do not know, "War is hell" is a gross understatement.
Don't sit on the sideline and watch and then later regret that you did not voice your opposition at a time when really counted. That time is now.
Hugh Bassette is a frequent speaker and critic of the Oakland City Council. He is a teacher at Fremont High School.
The legendary James Brown said it best in one of his songs:"...Like a dull knife, you just ain't cuttin', you just talking loud and sayin' nothin", just sayin' nothin'...". That has been and always will be the black "leadership" in Oakland. Lament and moan as they will the loss of power but remember this, it was BLACK people that threw them out of office (myself included).
The truth is there was "black" leadership in Oakland and it was corrupt and inept and put us where we are today. Mr. Bassette has been an active player in all of this.
As long as Mr. Bassette has been in Oakland the BEST he could ever be is a whiner and headline chaser (with minimal success I might add).
As a life-long resident (50 years) of Oakland I cringe just to think that anyone would take him seriously today. Me and others like me have done our part to ake Oakland as safe and productive as we could but the "Hugh Bassettes" have always been a thorn in the side of real progress in this city.
He should have wandered off with the dinosaurs but, heaven help us, he's a teacher.
He is part of that cottage industry that cries racism and disenfranchisment but never, ever take black people to task for their lack of responsibility.
When he and other "old guard" black entitlement mongers start putting responsibility where it belongs, which is on ourselves as a people.
Why do you bother to print anything from him at all? There are people that truly have something productive to say that you can devote space to.
All in all, I feel lucky that the majority of Americans of African descent feel as I do, leaving Mr. Bassette in a small minority.
Posted by: John W. Johnson on November 21, 2002 03:25 PMThis isn't a joke.
Please email me at jsherwin@dnai.com
I'd like to meet you and maybe offer you a column.
The way to equality and unity is not by pursuing control. If we as a black race would stop grouping, organizing, and trying to gain foothold against the white race and turn our energy towards building strong families and educating our children, the things that we envy in the white race will come!
In the word's of the timeless Gandhi, "The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to cure most of the world's problems."
Posted by: nottheway on January 20, 2003 07:03 AMWHEN IN HELL WILL BLACKS STOP COMPLAINING?.....BOATS AND PLANES LEAVE EVERY DAY
TO AFRICA......PLEASE GO....I'M SURE THAT IN AFRICA THEY HAVE WELFARE DEPTS.
What an evil little shit you are, AL. No more posts from you!
Posted by: Jeannette Sherwin on January 29, 2003 06:42 PMYou can see the loss of Black Power across the country, and it's getting me nervous. I think a big part of this has to do with the "natural" progression of capitalist cultural expansion/co-opting, where black popular culture was once new and exciting to the white mainstream, now, black pop culture IS mainstream... so it' s not as exciting to the endless seakers of the new. And since non-pop/non-reactionary culture has such a hard time existing in America, those groups whose culture was consumed by the capitalist machine are left between a rock and a hard place. So, i think what blacks and all other people must do to make their lives full and extra meaningful, is create strong indigenous culture attached to the areas that they live in, free from the whims of the government/corporate disposable/reactionary culture.
Right?
It starts in Oakland.
Posted by: Sean the Sean on February 26, 2003 08:31 PMmy complaint is with a's fans.. my visit 4-27-03
little league day, my son and his team mates ages
7-9 came mt eden LITTLE LEAGUE Dodgers,came to have a day of nothing but fun, meet a's players, walk the field, to my disappointment, when they came upon " so called adults let along a's fans"
booed "only the dodgers" as the walked by on the field.. i feel this was on outrage to all parents that participated . what was suppose to be an experience of a lifetime for these childen turned into a sad occation for them. you explain to a 7 year old WHY these people booed them.. you adults
"you know who you are" should be ashamed of your self.. thats all i have to say..
any comments can be totally relayed back to me at
bubblesbustos@excite.com i will listen to other oppinions.. thanks for posting this if it gets posted if not your no better than they were!!!!
A few weeks back The Oakland Tribune reported there was a celebration when the Canning Street housing project in North Oakland re-opened after extensive renovation. It is a beautiful project that does much to blend with and enhance the neighborhood. If these units were market rate condos they might easily sell for the high $200's. I appluade the Oakland Housing Authority for doing such a fine job. If only the same could happen on my street (58th & Shattuck).
The report went on to lament the "gentrification" of the North Oakland Neighborhood and the loss of housing for the economically challenged due to the increase in cost of housing. The general feeling amongst old time residents seems to be that the new resident owners are to blame for the gentrification...and that some how it should not be happening.
Let's remember that the sale of private property is still between a buyer and a seller in an arms-length transaction. NO ONE forces either party to come to the table. A willing seller presents his/her property for sale and accepts an offer from a willing buyer. Most ceretainly the seller does not tell the buyer to pay only half what another buyer would pay simply to maintain the status quo. Generally it's a transaction that knows no color boundries in todays economy. The most qualified buyer gets the property. Gentrification generally results in a different economic group buying into a neighborhood. Why blame the buyers?
If one does not want to see a neighborhood change he should be prepared to prevail upon the sellers to not sell their property, or better yet, sell the property in a private sale, way below market rate to someone who would be displaced if the property were to sell at market rate. The seller might also need to carry the financing.
There are tremendous economic benefits for society as the result of gentrification. These benefits are not limited to the sellers of the property, who often walk away with several huindred thousand dollars in profit. New owners often spend tens of thousands of dollars in renovations. Local businesses and craftspeople are hired providing much needed jobs. Let alone the dramatic increase in the tax base to the City of Oakland.
The next time someone complains about gentrification they need to be reminded that schools, streets, public housing and other publicly funded services are only available from a growing and vibrant local, and national, economy. Gentrification is but one of the many components of a growing and vibrant economy.
Good for you, Duane.
I, Jeannette, admit that I, Jeannette, gentrified my block and my immediate neighborhood when I, Jeannette, bought my house here in Temescal almost 30 years ago. I am proud of what I did, especially turning my tiny front yard from a postage stamp lawn into a postage stamp (with vertical features)
garden. Now every house on my block has done the same thing, they all look different and they all look great.
In the good old days, the days of Anne of Green Gables and my grandfather, gentrification would have been called "improving" and we would all belong to an Improvement Society.
(This is the only time that I totally agree with our Jackass Mayor, but even a blind pig--Jerry-- finds an acorn now and then.)
If you were an elderly couple and you had worked hard, bought a house and maintained it nicely, you should, at retirement, be looking at a gold mine.
But what if the neighbors/owners on both sides of your house are pigs and let their houses rot? Is it
right and fair that the elderly couple's house decreases in value from 200,000 to 125,000 just because of the perceived right to blight? NO!
If my elderly couple wants to move to southern sunshine, then they deserve the real value of their
house, not an artificially decreased amount. Three
trim and trig houses in a row are a good thing. And I'll bet my elderly couple agrees with my economic assessment no matter what their race is.
Column coming soon...really. This time I promise.
*This discussion has been closed. No more comments may be added.*