As it looks right now, if Oakland District Six Councilmember Loren Taylor does elect not to run for re-election and pursues the job of Mayor of Oakland, and then loses, Oakland will be without a black man as a councilmember for the first time since 1963. To me, that we’re in such a situation presents, front and center, what I call Oakland’s quiet war against the ascent of black men.
It wasn’t always this way. Oakland elected Lionel Wilson as its first black mayor in 1977 and he served three terms. Elihu Harris, who was my boss when I was Oakland’s Economic Advisor, served two terms, and could have landed a third one, if he tried. And let’s remember Josh Rose, (ok, Joshua Rose) who was Oakland’s first black councilmember, and even though he was appointed in 1964, Councilmember Rose was re-elected three times to 1973, then retired in 1977 for heath reasons. And let’s remember the great Oakland Councilmember Carter Gilmore, who was elected in 1977. And of course, the man who got me my job with Mayor Harris, Larry Reid, was Councilmember / The Mayor of East Oakland from 1997 to 2020, when he gave way to his daughter, Treva Reid.
Here’s Larry….
But currently, and for the years that my friend who I am really criticizing here Libby Schaaf has been our leader, black men in positions of power have been few and far between. Moreover, for Howard Terminal, the mayor has presented teams of city administrators and consultant teams that had not one black person on them. On top of that, they have constantly presented incorrect information on the project!
And when Mayor Schaaf first staffed up, Libby had a large group of great black women, but her photo at her staff party I attended showed zero black men. And while she’s changed that, since then, I can’t get over how purely shocked I was that she, my friend for 32 years, did that. So much so, I vlogged it.
And that was the same friend who gave this great speech on racism just after she was elected…
But the Mayor of Oakland’s actions reflect what seems to be a problem, overall, in California. I think, overall, the main problem is that, unlike Emily’s List for women, as one example, there’s no organization, or even informal group, that actively trains and promotes black men for elected office. Why that’s the case is a story for another time, but here I point to the problem.
Fighting Against A Society Bent On Negative Stereotyping Of Black Men, And African Americans Do It, Too
The main problem is we have a society that’s bent on promoting negative stereotypes of black men. We do this in ways not just large, but small, too. From the constant white media presentation of black men as criminals when there are more stories of white men doing bad, to the desire to promote black men who fit negative stereotypes, we have a constant machine producing content that does not show, for example, black men as scientists, engineers, or geniuses. In turn, we have constant presentations of black men as rappers, athletes, and musicians.
Here, credit must be given to media organizations like Disney / ABC, which have worked to show black men in non-traditional roles. (Don’t forget that Disney’s MARVEL Entertainment brought us Black Panther.) But the fact is, black-owned media should do that. But guess what, folks, we don’t have a lot of black-owned media companies. ZENNIE62MEDIA, INC. is one and Paul Cobb’s Post News Group / Oakland Post is another.
This situation can’t happen without the participation of us as black folks. Even today, you have those of us who assume that we should “talk black” rather than accept that to make it, to have a chance of a good income, you have to master, as they would say, The Queen’s English. You would think we’ve come a long way from the days where one person black would put another down for that person’s mastery of the proper way to speak. Well, no. We have not. We’ve made great progress, but we still have a long way to go.
All of that, those little factors, have come together to bring us not just the George Floyd Murder but our city of Oakland to this position where a the City Council could be without a black man for the first time since 1963. It’s still early in the election game, so its possible more black male candidates will emerge, but right now only the Oakland Mayoral Election has black men running – no other race.
So if you want to change things, suggest black men who should run for Oakland council positions. The open seats are District Two, Four, and Six – none have black male candidates as of this writing.
Stay tuned.