oakland gurl

Vote!

2006-11-06T09:02:00.000-08:00

Tuesday is Election Day. Be heard. Vote.

More heartbreak

2006-11-01T17:25:00.000-08:00

Another senseless and tragic murder in East Oakland: Bullet ends 18 year old's dream.

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T14:58:00.000-08:00

And in honor of Dia de los Muertos, check out the Latino Film Festival coming to Oakland and the rest of the Bay.

Stepping Up

2006-10-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

In honor of the impending NBA season, Oakland Gurl ventures outside of The Town to give props to Stephon Marbury, who has launched a shoe that costs less than $15 and he will wear the same one on the court. Thank you, Stephon Marbury, for stepping up. Selling shoes for over $100 to low-income urban children is just as much exploitation as the fact that someone got paid on $5 to make those shoes.

And if you want to check out the hottest NBA blog, it is SunsGossip. Check the archives for the hyphy tribute to the Yay Area.

Dia de los Muertos at the Oakland Museum

2006-10-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

The Oakland Museum does a different Dia de los Muertos exhibit every year. This year’s exhibit Laughing Bones/Weeping Hearts is on display until Dec. 3. There is an upcoming guided tour for teachers for free on Nov. 3, and other gallery talks with artists on Nov. 19 and 26.

Hit the Books

2006-10-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

Check out the exhibits on display at the Oakland Public Library on the Black Panther Party, including:

Educate to Liberate: The Black Panther Party Black Community News Service, a Retrospective
Marking the 40th anniversary of the Black Panther Party’s founding at Merritt College, this exhibit explores the history of the party’s newspaper. Theoretical writings of party leaders and visual arts by Emory Douglas and others are featured.
Oakland History Room, Main Library, Open through December 31, 2006

Rare Black Panther Party Photos by Ducho Dennis
Features pictures of Black Panther Party members working in the community implementing the party’s “Survival Programs.” Cosponsored by the It’s About Time Committee.
West Oakland Branch, On Display October 10 through 31, 2006

There are lots of other wonderful events at the library, including ongoing programs like Lawyers at the Library, that you can find on the Library's online calendar.

Oakland Black Cowboy Parade

2006-10-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

Oakland Gurl was away from The Town for a week. But she hopes you didn’t miss the annual Oakland Black Cowboy Parade. It was a great family event. The annual parade is organized by the Oakland Black Cowboy Association, which educates children and adults about the role of black Cowboys and Cowgirls in the development of the West of the United States of America.

Police will continue moving officers

2006-10-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

The Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker has been given a Jan. 31 deadline to return community policing "problem-solving" officers to their regular beats. See the San Francisco Chronicle article here. In the meantime, he will continue to send those officers to "hot spots" in East and West Oakland.

117

2006-10-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

Oakland’s murder toll for the year has risen to 117, including the murder of a Brinks armored guard in the Fruitvale this past weekend, a young father who hoped to become an Oakland police officer.

Chip Johnson was on point today with his columnOakland's daily tragedies surpass school shootings: City's soaring homicide tally fails to elicit the public outcry, official action it deserves. While I disagree with Mr. Johnson that there is no official action at the local level (I think the local government feels nearly as helpless as the residents of these neighborhoods as it tries to play catch-up to the violence), I agree that there has been a lack of public outcry among more affluent Oakland residents and in the national media over urban youth violence.

However, there was a positive development when State Senate President Don Perata unveiled an anti-violence project that will provide $3 million to Oakland and Richmond. The money will fund teams of conflict-resolution and grief counselors, along with expanded job placement and youth recreation programs.

"Get Hyphy Against Violence" Cancelled

2006-09-30T16:36:00.000-07:00

It is really a shame that this anti-violence rally four young people was cancelled over safety concerns because the event lacked enough security and failed to get certain permits. Since the City knew that the event had a sound permit but lacked other permits, it could have notified the sponsors in advance and helped them with the administrative process and demanded that they get security – with enough time to actually accomplish that.

“These were nice ladies.”

2006-09-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a follow-up article on the two women who died following Tuesday’s shooting in West Oakland: Slain bicyclist called a mother to people in the neighborhood (San Francisco Chronicle).

110th Homicide

2006-09-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

Oakland saw its 110th homicide yesterday. The total last year was 94.

This was not a murder of a youth, but of a 52 year-old woman, but if you are looking for a way to get involved, check out:
Youth ALIVE!
Youth Uprising
Youth Employment Partnership
East Oakland Youth Development Center

And Oakland Gurl asks you to call your state and federal representatives and let them know that youth violence matters to you. We don’t need fear-mongering, but we do need awareness on a national level to get a commitment of resources in an integrated way to our schools, our churches, charities/non-profit organizations, parks and recreation departments and police with input from all of these parties.

Oakland Arts Clash This Weekend

2006-09-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

This Friday night, October 6, at 7 pm, come to the Oakland Arts Clash at the Malonga Casquelourd Theater on Alice Street.
The blurb: 1428 Productions and The Electric Vandals proudly present Oakland Arts Clash, a showcase of live music, dance and visual arts by local Oakland artists. All proceeds from this Oakland arts adventure will benefit youth dance programs in Oakland. Confirmed artists include: Savage Jazz Dance Company, Dimensions Extensions Performance Ensemble, Art B4 Money, Harvey Cartel, DJ Sake1 (Local 1200s), and KTD Graffiti Arts.

Another Oakland tragedy

2006-09-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

Oakland saw its 108th homicide of the year yesterday when a
24-year-old art student was slain in the middle of the damn day in the Eastlake.

Good reading

2006-09-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

For those who want some good political articles to read, check out some of Van Jones' work. Jones is the executive director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland. It is unfortunate that he is supporting Aimee Allison in the Distict 2 City Council race. Allison is a slick politician. Very charismatic and Oakland Gurl thinks she is out for herself. Allison's claim to fame is that she was a conscientious objector in the Gulf War but she lacked civic involvement between the early 90s and her run for City Council.

Also, there is a nice interview with Jones here.

And if you like Oaklandish …

2006-09-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

Check out Most High Clothing. Good people. Good message.

Local Love

2006-09-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

If you love Oakland, I'm sure you are already all about Oaklandish. You can also sign up to be on their mailing list which basically just reminds you that they've got events coming up. They are truly local, so show love.

When the music stops

2006-09-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

Urban youth violence continues to get national attention only when it crosses celebrity boundaries as we have seen in the last few days with the tragic shooting of several Duquesne basketball players by other young men following a Black Student Association dance. It’s time that the media takes these incidents as what they are: evidence of a national epidemic, not an aberration. It is time the media showed the fact that our communities are killing themselves while our national government reduces resources for the state and local level for education and social programs.

You can read about the sad case of young people under the age of 20 shooting each other over females that is getting national attention:
ESPN.com Arrests made in Dequesne shootings

And you can read about the bloodshed in Oakland over a t-shirt in the local news:

San Francisco Chronicle: Boy, 17, arrested in 1 of 3 fatal shootings over weekend

Offensive Nike Briscoe High football ads

2006-09-18T19:02:00.000-07:00

It seemed so hot at first. Brian Urlacher, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Michael Vick as the teammates... Steve Young as the overgrown paper boy... Matt Leinart as the new guy... Deion Sanders as dad... it's every high school boy's fantasy right? Wait. Who is the white, blond blue-eyed woman playing Mommy to the black main character Ryan? NFL Today's Jill Arrington. Gee, that's funny, the kid does not look mixed. I'd like to think it is just an aberration.

But then came part two of the ads. And now we have the love interest for the black football player played by Fox's Jillian Barberie, another white blond woman.

These were the only two women featured in the ads. And the ads are clearly supposed to represent every high school football players, and presumably black male's fantasy.

When will Nike step up to the plate and recognize that it is promoting sexualized racial stereotypes of black men as they make black women invisible? Nike simultaneously promotes the idea that black men are the objects of white women's desire only as physical specimens and that the prize for the black man is the white woman. Meanwhile, black women seem to have simply disappeared from the face of the earth.

Putting Serena Williams in a saucy tennis dress is just a token move when you continue to promote hundreds of years of this nation's sexualized racial stereotyping. In part, Nike is just reinforcing the institutionalized racism that already exists. Network television has pandered to the lowest common denominator in putting cheerleader-esque white females on their shows as reporters. But show some respect! Why not hire one of the best sideline reporters in the game, Pam Oliver, to play the mom? Or even ESPN's Lisa Salters. Or Michelle Tafoya? Or represent for the Latinas with Lisa Guerrero?

You can view the ads on YouTube:
Two-A-Days
and
Game Day