Happy New Year Oaklanders and everyone! Let’s get this started with a bang! Monday is “LibbyFest”, or what is commonly known as the Inauguration of The 50th Mayor of Oakland. But I call it LibbyFest because Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is truly a child of Oakland, and many of the people she has known for years and from places like Skyline High School (where I was graduating as part of the Class of ’80 as Libby was coming in as part of the Class of ’83), will show up to celebrate that one of us is in charge of Oakland. That’s huge, folks, it really is a big thing.
It is so, because it reminds us that Oakland really is a small big city: a place that’s not so big you can’t feel like you’re part of it, and the longer you live here, the more you can get to know everyone from your babysitter when you were a kid, to the Mayor of Oakland when you’re an adult (and for all I know someone that Libby may have baby-sat just might be at LibbyFest). It gives you the idea that you really do have a chance to be a part of something special in Oakland’s future. It also means that Libby has a larger than normal set of responsibilities on her shoulders because of the ‘hope’ attached to her, but it also means she has a lot of friends she can call on as she works to maintain the Soul Of Oakland.
That’s a different take than “Make Oakland Better” because that implies there’s a lot wrong with Oakland, when in point of fact, Oakland is, as I told the NFL in 2000 during our Super Bowl Bid Pitch Meeting, America’s real shining city on a hill: the city that is America’s model for diversity. Libby’s charge really is to maintain that diversity amid a swirl of change that points to gentrification and pricing out of Oakland’s blacks and Latinos and Asians. Libby simply must not allow Oakland to look like San Francisco: the Soul Of Oakland must be maintained.
The Soul Of Oakland is embodied in people like Oscar Grant, a young black man all of 22, who with his Latino girlfriend and wife-to-be, and his typically Oakland interracial group of friends, was just trying to make a better life for himself, never intending to do wrong, but getting into trouble because of the way he was trying to make life better. In another time, Oscar could have landed a good job in some kind of manufacturing plant in Oakland; but on New Years’ Day 2009, at just after 2 am, he was shot in the back by a BART Police Officer at Fruitvale BART. That did not need to happen.
There are a lot of Oscar Grants in Oakland, and one thing I can say for Libby is she has a track record of trying to help people like Oscar find a better path. People who know Libby, like I do, know this. If Libby wants to maintain the Soul Of Oakland, all she has to do is not lose her own soul in the job of Mayor of Oakland – by remembering what her passions are, she will not do that, and will help maintain The Soul Of Oakland.
LibbyFest Plans From January 5th To January 11th
The custodian of The Soul Of Oakland will be installed this Monday, January 5th, during the City of Oakland’s Official Inauguration Ceremony at the Paramount Theater Of The Arts at 2025 Broadway In Uptown Oakland. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, and doors open at 2:30 PM.
Along with Libby, I’m excited to report that Desley Brooks, Annie Campbell Washington and Abel Guillen will all be sworn in as the Oakland Councilmembers of Districts Six, Four and Two respectively. They will be joined by Oakland’s new Auditor (who I do hope audits the Oakland Coliseum) Brenda Roberts, and Aimee Eng, Nina Senn, Shanthi Gonzales, for Oakland Board Of Education Districts Two, Four, and Six.
As for what to expect, Libby’s emailer reports “The official swearing-in ceremony will also feature a jazz band, marching band and cheerleaders from Schaaf’s alma mater, Skyline High School. Acclaimed Oakland a capella group SoVoSo will also perform, with founding member Bryan Dyer, also a Skyline alum, singing the national anthem. “ So, Skyine High in the House, big time! Tom Hanks should be there (and by that, I mean he should come, not that he’s expected to be there. But if that news changes, I’ll let you know!)
For the full range of events for the week, and leading up to the January 11th Party at American Steel Studios, visit LibbyforOakland.com.
As a side note, I will be in Las Vegas from January 4th to January 9th for my sixth straight year of coverage of International CES – that was something cemented in stone long before the election season got going. But I’ll have a representative at LibbyFest in Alyssa! GO ALYSSA!
Lynette Gibson McElhaney To Be Named Oakland City Council President Amid Racist Media Attack
As first reported in this space (and for which other media outlets have not credited), Oakland District Three Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney will be named Oakland City Council President during LibbyFest and as part of a special meeting of the Oakland City Council. Again, congratulations to Councilmember McElhaney, who has worked to build a strong set of relationships that have formed a path to this honor.
Now, I want you to consider this: when the Oakland City Council was considering the passage of something called The Tenants Rights Ordinance last spring, one organization that lobbied against it was East Bay Rental Housing Association. Even though East Bay Rental Housing Association represents landlords, and has members who engage in house-flipping, the media completely ignored that the head of that organization, its executive director, was and is Jill Broadhurst.
Yes, the same Ms. Broadhurst who ran against Annie Campbell Washington for the Oakland City Council District Four Seat. The same Ms. Broadhurst who was leading Ms. Campbell Washington in polling by a wide margin. And the same Broadhurst who may have been the one sworn in on LibbyFest Day, instead of Annie. Do you realize that the same media organization that has taken a swing at Lynette Gibson McElhaney never bothered to write about Jill and her work at the East Bay Rental Housing Association with respect to running for City Council?
I’m not going to name the media outlet here, or its authors, but those who know the story know who I’m talking about. This outlet turns a collective blind eye to looking at the negative doings of any white Oakland elected official not named Don Perata. But when it comes to anyone black running for office, or in elected office in Oakland, oh, boy, the shit hits the fan. In 2014, the media outlet I’m referring to ran an obvious hit piece on Bryan Parker, before it turned its racist glare at Councilmember Gibson McElhaney. And the only time it managed to write something good about someone black running for office in Oakland in 2014, was when Michael Johnson and Shereda Nosakhare ran against Councilmember Desley Brooks, sending the message that the only time its worth praising a black candidate is when that person or persons are running against a black incumbent that media outlet doesn’t like.
The media outlet has a sad track record of not just attacking blacks running for office in Oakland, but seems to have a special taste for black women. Consider what was done to Marcy Hodge when she ran for Mayor of Oakland in 2010. This media outlet went on a rampage trying to prove that Ms. Hodge was a tool of Don Perata, who was the front-runner in the contest that Jean Quan eventually won. Here’s my interview with Marcy from that time:
Or consider how the same media outlet failed to come to the defense of Margaret Gordon, the “Mayor of West Oakland” when others, like Oakland City Councilmember Larry Reid, were fighting to mainain her place on the Port Of Oakland Board Of Commissioners in 2010 through 2011. Gordon’s term expired, but many wanted her to be retained and lobbied then-new Oakland Mayor Jean Quan to have her do so. But the media outlet I’m referring to defended young black male Jakada Imani, and made it look like Mayor Quan’s wishes were not being respected. The same media outlet could have fought for the retention of Margaret Gordon, but once again, her ‘black femaleness’ was too much for it, and so it didn’t even try. And once again, the media outlet only supported one black person running for a political position in Oakland just to counter a black person it didn’t like – in this case, Margaret Gordon.
I could actually write a book on how that media outlet disrespects Oakland’s black women elected officials and appointed ones too. There’s a lot I’m leaving out. A ton, folks.
That media outlet has a track-record of using “journalism” to cover its racist view of Oakland. The real truth is that it takes time to look into the record and snoop around and twist around information related to black people it does not like – right or wrong, it has this track-record. That media outlet is one reason why the hashtag #CrimingWhileWhite exists! If you’re white, you can get away with anything and that media outlet will pay no attention at all.
In the case of Lynette Gibson McElhaney, that media outlet said that the activities of the firm she runs, Richmond Neighborhood Housing, was house-flipping, but the same article, which I refuse to link to, also said her, meaning Lynette Gibson McElhaney, was directly involved in the actions (when she was not) and then, and here’s the part that pisses me off, said that what she did “raised legal and ethical questions” and then in its first version, the article said that what she did was “probably illegal.”
The effort was to make Lynette Gibson McElhaney look like a dishonest crook, ignoring the fact that she did not break any laws. It’s true defamation of character to say in an article that a person is doing something that is “probably illegal” if it, in point of fact, is not. There’s nothing that says an Oakland Councilmember can’t hold outside employment and not only did Lynette not do anything that was counter to her charge as Oakland City Councilmember, but the article didn’t prove she did a thing wrong!
Not happy over its obvious miss, now the media outlet’s looking into her political finance reporting records. All I have to ask is why? Why the effort to constantly smear Oakland black female elected or appointed officials? What’s the deal? You know, I don’t want to know the answer to that. I know what it is, and it boils down to complete racism.
Talk about sloppy journalism? It’s not journalism – and I’m a blogger saying this. In fact, it’s shit like this crap that media outlet pulls that is the reason I say I’m a blogger. The media outlet did not explain why it bothered to look at Councilmeber Lynette Gibson McElhaney and not Jill Broadhurst. It dis not explain why it failed to support Margaret Gordon. Do you realize that the media outlet was just going to let Jill Broadhurst stroll into office in Oakland without a word? But, oh, I forgot: it’s OK, because Jill’s white.
Anyone who cares about eliminating racism in media should be up in arms about this media organization’s long trend of racist coverage of Oakland politics. The Oakland City Council should approve Lynette as President with all deliberate speed on LibbyFest Day.
Stay tuned.