Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-13) voted to pass H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and H.R. 1446, the Enhanced Background Checks Act— two commonsense gun violence prevention measures to require background checks on all gun sales and close the Charleston Loophole that allowed the hate crime at Mother Emanuel AME Church … Read more
From now on, for particular Biden Administration releases that I believe would be of particular interest to the Oakland Community, I will put “FYI Oakland:” in the title of the post. Readout of the White House’s Meeting with Community Violence Prevention Experts Today, Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice and White House Deputy Public Engagement Director … Read more
12:43 P.M. EST MS. PSAKI: Hi, everyone. Good afternoon. I have quite a few things at the top, but then we will take plenty of questions. I wanted to take a moment, at the top of our briefing today, to note that on this day, 21 years ago, President Clinton announced the naming of the … Read more
Someone Is Shooting A Gun Just Over An Hour, Hourly, Daily, In Oakland ONN – Someone Is Shooting A Gun Just Over An Hour, Hourly, Daily, In Oakland – vlog by Zennie62 YouTube Someone Is Shooting A Gun Just Over An Hour, Hourly, Daily, In Oakland As the mainstream media focused exclusively on the naming … Read more
Oakland, CA – The Oakland City Council’s Finance & Management Committee will hear a report from City staff this Monday afternoon that contains a stark warning: without timely action to curb spending and bring expenditures in line with projected revenues, the City of Oakland could face a $62 million shortfall by the end of this … Read more
Oakland Town Hall on Violence Prevention From YouTube Channel: October 29, 2020 at 10:40PM ONN – Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf Holds Town Hall on Violence Prevention, Same Tired Views Last night, Mayor Schaaf held a virtual town hall meeting to discuss the rise in gun violence in Oakland since the Coronavirus hit the industrialized World. … Read more
Ben Bartlett and the Berkeley City Council Introduces Legislation on Group Violence Intervention (GVI) Program – to address Gun Violence in the Community
Berkeley – Berkeley has been experiencing an alarming rise in shootings throughout the City. This year alone, there have been more than 30 shootings, including one occurring on the night of October 21, 2020 that tragically left a woman gravely injured in a drive-by shooting on Prince Street in South Berkeley.
“The recent heartbreaking gun violence must come to an end, and I am ready to work collaboratively with our community in developing an effective program to achieve that goal,” Mayor Jesse Arreguin said.
Today, Councilmember Bartlett introduced urgent legislation and is calling on the City to establish a Group Violence Intervention Program (GVI), or “Operation Ceasefire,” which will assemble an inter-jurisdictional working group of law enforcement agencies, community members, and support services providers to address the cascading cycles of gun violence.
Co-sponsored by Mayor Arreguin and Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani, the item will be discussed at today’s City Council meeting if approved to be agendized. “By looking at the success of similar programs in other cities and catering it towards the needs of Berkeley, we can develop safe communities together,” Mayor Arreguin said.
Specifically, the program will identify young adults (ages 18-30) who are at greatest risk of being involved in gun violence, develop an intervention team to communicate directly and respectfully to at-risk individuals, implement an intervention plan to provide wrap-around and support services, and create a public education campaign to promote these efforts.
In cities throughout the country, GVI has proven to be an effective tool for reducing homicides and strengthening trust between community members and law enforcement. The City has the power to act now to develop its own GVI program to address the tragic rise in shootings and homicides plaguing our city.
In recognition of the interlocking geographic nature of those committing gun crimes as well as their victims, the GVI program will be centered on Berkeley. However, it should also be connected to and work in concert with community workers in neighboring jurisdictions including Oakland, Richmond, Antioch, and San Francisco.
“GVI aligns with our goals of reimagining policing, and is a more robust version of the Specialized Care Unit envisioned in the George Floyd Community Safety Act,” Councilmember Bartlett said. “The program also paves the way for greater regional collaboration, protecting communities from gun violence in Berkeley and across the Bay Area. People have put in years of work developing this model. Let’s raise up the community’s efforts and create lasting peace in the streets. Our children deserve to be safe.”
On Wednesday, 19-year-old Sereinat’e Henderson (which sounds like Sereinity Henderson) was shockingly murdered – shot in a senseless drive-by shooting that’s marked an uptick in gun violence in Berkeley, California in 2020, over 2019.
On Thursday, Sereinat’e Henderson’s family held a vigil at the site in South Berkeley where Henderson was killed. Her family members and Berkeley Councilmember Ben Bartlett gathered to mourn and to remember Sereinat’e and call for an end to the gun violence that has plagued that part of Berkeley this year.
As mentioned here at Oakland News Now, earlier, Berkeley Councilmember Ben Bartlett (who authored a comprehensive police reform legislation called The George Floyd Community Safety Act) holds that The Pandemic is responsible for the uptick in gun violence in Berkeley. He and Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín are forming a regional task force to address the problem. The KRON take left out mention of the role of the Pandemic, and Councilmember Bartlett’s comments; the video-blog above has his thoughts on the Coronavirus and Berkeley gun violence.
Gun Violence Long A Problem In Berkeley City Council Districts 2 and 3
The location of the drive-by-killing of Sereinat’e Henderson, at Harper and Prince Streets near Malcolm X Elementary School, is in a part of Berkeley, South Berkeley, that has been haunted by gun violence for some time. That’s also true for Berkeley City Council District 2. Bartlett said that he and Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín aim to form a task force that includes East Bay Mayors of Oakland, Emeryville, and other cities.
In this story also covered by KRON TV’s Dan Thorn, Serenity Henderson (who’s spelling is Sereinat’e Henderson) is a 19-year-old mother of a 9-month-old child, and pregnant with her second baby, who was killed in a drive-by shooting on Wednesday. The drive-by shooting reportedly occured at Prince Street near Malcolm X Elementary School, at 1731 Prince St.. The suspect is still at large as of this writing.
On Thursday, Sereinat’e Henderson’s family held a vigil at the site in South Berkeley where the crime occurred. Family members and Berkeley Councilmember Ben Bartlett gathered to remember Sereinat’e and call for an end to the gun violence.
Councilmember Ben Bartlett (who authored a comprehensive police reform legislation called The George Floyd Community Safety Act) holds that The Pandemic is responsible for the uptick in gun violence in Berkeley. He and Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín are forming a regional task force to address the problem. The KRON take left out mention of the role of the Pandemic, and Councilmember Bartlett’s comments; the video-blog above has his thoughts on the Coronavirus and Berkeley gun violence.
Link Between The Pandemic And Gun Violence In Berkeley And Nationwide
That there’s a link between The Pandemic and gun violence is now well-documented. Everytown Research and Policy reports:
As of June 4, 2020, there have been over 1.8 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the US. While over 485,000 Americans have recovered from the coronavirus, nearly 108,000 have died.1 Since the onset of COVID-19, the country has seen a rise in gun violence: The number of gun deaths trended higher during the peak coronavirus outbreak period of March through the Memorial Day weekend in May than during the comparable time frame in 2019. This resulted in 354 additional firearm deaths.
Unprecedented increases in gun sales, combined with economic distress and social isolation due to COVID-19, are intensifying the country’s long-standing gun violence crisis. The pandemic highlights the deadliness of weak gun purchase and access laws that allow firearms to fall into the wrong hands, and also sheds light on existing structural inequity. The coronavirus puts vulnerable populations, including women, children, and communities of color, at heightened risk. The lethal impact of these crises, though devastating, helps point the way to laws, policies, and programs that can keep people safe and healthy—now and on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic. The collision of these two public health crises offers possibility amidst great loss.
Stay tuned.
Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest updated version of an experimental Zennie62Media , Inc. mobile media video-blogging system network that was launched June 2018. This is a major part of Zennie62Media , Inc.’s new and innovative approach to the production of news media. What we call “The Third Wave of Media”. The uploaded video is from a YouTube channel. When the video is “liked” by Zennie62 YouTube, then it is automatically uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and Zennie62-created and owned social media pages. The overall objective here, on top of our is smartphone-enabled, real-time, on the scene reporting of news, interviews, observations, and happenings anywhere in the World and within seconds and not hours – is the use of the existing YouTube social graph on any subject in the World. Now, news is reported with a smartphone and also by promoting current content on YouTube: no heavy and expensive cameras or even a laptop are necessary, or having a camera crew to shoot what is already on YouTube. The secondary objective is faster, and very inexpensive media content news production and distribution. We have found there is a disconnect between post length and time to product and revenue generated. With this, the problem is far less, though by no means solved. Zennie62Media is constantly working to improve the system network coding and seeks interested content and media technology partners.
Oakland District Two Councilmember Nikki Bas’ Digitized Newsletter
Last week, I was so moved to see #MomsHouse on Magnolia Street finally become community-owned as permanently affordable, transitional housing for unsheltered mothers.
Congratulations to Dominique Walker, Tolani King, Misty Cross, Sameerah Karim and Carroll Fife for leading this movement to end corporate speculation and house more Oaklanders. I am proud to have stood with them over the last year to call attention to making housing a human right, together with Council President Rebecca Kaplan, Councilmember Dan Kalb and Assemblymember Rob Bonta.
Moms 4 Housing
Sustainable, Healthy Use of Lake Merritt – Lake Merritt Vending Pilot Program Update
Coming out of the second weekend of our Lake Merritt Vending Pilot Program, we were excited to be joined by Parks and Recreation Advisory Commissioner Dwayne Aikens, Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kev Choice, the Oakland Black Vendors Association and neighbors to:
• Promote health and safety during COVID-19,
• Support struggling small businesses and entrepreneurs in this difficult time, and
• Ensure sustainable, equitable and inclusive long-term use of the Lake.
This pilot program for merchandise vendors will take place through November 22nd on El Embarcadero and along Lakeshore to Beacon from 10am to 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
This weekend, Community Ready Corps (CRC) will be joining the pilot to promote public health during COVID. Volunteers will distribute COVID kits that have face masks, hand sanitizer and gloves to help promote compliance with the County Health Order.
My team is grateful for the collaboration of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission (PRAC), the Oakland Black Vendors Association, James “Old School” Copes, city departments, and the community to ensure access, safety and equity at the Lake for everyone in our city.
This is what an Oakland for all of us means to me — working with a coalition of diverse stakeholders to ensure the Lake, as our city’s pride, is an enjoyable public space that each of us can use.
Moms 4 Housing
TUESDAY 10/20: Oakland City Council Meeting Preview Homeless Encampment Management Policy and Community Safety
Tuesday, October 20th’s 1:30pm City Council meeting will include the following important agenda items:
Item 6: COVID-19 Emergency Response And The Creation Of Clean Air Buildings For Use Of The Community During The COVID-19 Shelter In Place Emergency.
Thanks to our awesome District 2 constituent and outgoing Cleveland Heights Neighborhood Council Co-Chair Rachel Broadwin for introducing us to Dr. Rupa Basu, Section Chief for the Air and Climate Epidemiology Section of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment at CalEPA. At our September Council meeting, I expressed concern that our air quality and temperature triggers were too high to fully protect the health and safety of our most vulnerable residents. At my urging, our Fire Department staff met with Dr. Basu to discuss recommendations for activating extreme weather Emergency Respite Centers (ERC) in Oakland. As an outcome of the conversation and further discussions with internal stakeholders and community feedback, the activation triggers for the City of Oakland have been lowered to an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 200 – Very Unhealthy (versus what was previously 250) and temperatures forecasted to reach/exceed 95 degrees for 2 consecutive days or 100 degrees in one day. We are grateful for Dr. Basu and Rachel’s important expertise as we navigate these challenging times!
Item 7: Gun Violence Top Law Enforcement Priority resolution from President Kaplan to prioritize the decrease in illegal guns and gun violence by increasing gun tracing, improving response time to shooting notifications, and prioritizing response to gun crime.
Item 8: Homeless Encampment Management resolution, which proposes to designate priority areas for encampment management and outlines actions including the criteria for assessing what locations will be prioritized for enforcement or other homelessness interventions from the city.
Item 14: Adopt either the resolution proposed by the Oakland Police Commission or Oakland Police Department banning the carotid restraint and all forms of asphyxia.
Item 16: I’m co-sponsoring with President Kaplan, a resolution Terminating the Oakland Police Department’s Participation In The Joint Terror Task Force to ensure compliance with our local and state laws and focus on threats based on evidence, not bias or racial profiling.
See details to join the meeting and provide public comment. You can also share e-comments here.
TUESDAY 10/27: Community & Economic Development Meeting – Impact Fees, Economic Recovery Recommendations
On Tuesday October 27th at 1:30pm, the Community and Economic Development Committee will discuss two important items:
Item 2: Informational report on Impact Fees for Affordable Housing, Jobs/Housing, and Transportation and Capital Improvements, and
Item 3: Informational report on the Economic Recovery Council’s Draft Recommendations.
Oakland Workers, Know Your Rights! COVID-19 Emergency Paid Sick Leave
Oakland Workers Rights
Thank you to East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) for creating Know Your Rights materials on the emergency protections for Oakland workers passed by Council earlier this summer, which I was proud to co-sponsor.
The City’s Emergency Paid Sick Leave policy requires certain employers to provide leave to workers who test positive for COVID-19, present symptoms, are caring for family members who were exposed or present symptoms, or are at high risk from an infection. Check out and share the flyers in English and Spanish so that Oakland workers are aware of their rights!
City of Oakland; District 2 News and Resources
County Reopening Updates, Small Biz Legal Support, Grants for Home-Based Business
New County Health Orders Allow Additional Business Operations: Effective October 9, Alameda County now allows: hotels & lodging for tourism with their fitness centers and indoor pools restricted; museums, zoos & aquariums indoors at < 25% capacity; personal care services indoors with modification (services requiring removal of face covering still prohibited); gyms and fitness centers indoors at < 10% capacity with restrictions on aerobic exercise and classes. While the update allows partial reopening of libraries, Oakland Public LIbrary will remain closed for indoor services until plans are in place for safely reopening the buildings.
Beginning Friday, October 16, Alameda County will permit additional outdoor activities, including playgrounds, that follow the State’s guidance. Additionally, Alameda County is preparing to update the local Health Officer Orders to permit additional activities during the week of October 26. These activities will include: indoor dining up to 25% capacity or less than 100 people, whichever is less; indoor worship services up to 25% capacity or less than 100 people, whichever is less; indoor theaters up to 25% capacity or less than 100 people, whichever is less; expansion of indoor retail and malls at up to 50% of capacity and permitting limited food courts.
County Guidance on Safe Halloween Practices: Bay Area health officials recently released guidance on how to celebrate Halloween and Dia de los Muertos safely. Gatherings, celebrations, events or parties with non-household members are not permitted unless conducted in compliance with local and state health orders. Please avoid participating in traditional trick-or-treating where treats are handed to children who go door to door and do not have trunk-or-treat where treats are handed from car trunks lined up in large parking lots.
Many traditional Halloween celebrations, such as parties and door-to-door trick-or-treating, pose a high risk of spreading COVID-19 and are strongly discouraged by CDPH
Not only do traditional celebrations pose a spread risk, they would also result in great difficulty in conducting appropriate contact tracing
Local Health Departments may have additional, more stringent restrictions
CDPH recommends that families begin planning for safer alternatives.
Legal Help for Oakland Small Businesses with Lease Negotiations: Oakland has allocated $150,000 of California CARES funding to the nonprofit Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the SF Bay Area to provide legal advice and assistance on lease negotiations to small businesses that have suffered revenue losses due to COVID-19. Business owners can access these free, multilingual legal services here, such as commercial leasing webinars through mid-December, 1:1 one-hour consultations and longer-term assistance which may include lease negotiation, pre-litigation and settlement negotiations or representation in a court proceeding.
$2-4K Grants for Home-Based Businesses: Income from a home-based business is often a big source of household income for our city’s entrepreneurs. The Oakland CARES Act Home-Based Business Grant program will distribute $500,000 to home-based, for-profit businesses. Apply here by 11:59pm on Monday, November 2 in 4 languages. Priority will be given to businesses representing a broad geographic diversity in Oakland, especially those located in low-income areas or otherwise historically vulnerable communities; those who have received $4,000 or less in funding from the Paycheck Protection Program; and those with annual gross business revenue under $150,000.
Several Grants Extended:
The Oakland CARES Act Small Business Grant Program will accept applications until 5 p.m. on Friday, October 23. This program will provide $10,000 grants to qualifying Oakland small businesses that have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 and have gross revenues under $2 million. Online applications and eligibility requirements in four languages are available at: mainstreetlaunch.org/oakland-cares-act-grant/
The application deadline for the Oakland CARES Nonprofit Grant Fund has been extended to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28. This program will award grants of up to $25,000 to qualifying community-serving nonprofits with annual budgets of less than $1 million that address the impact of COVID-19 and the needs of low-income residents and businesses in the following areas: Health & Human Services; Economic & Workforce Development; Legal Support; Food Security; Homeless and Renter Support Services; and Education. Online applications and eligibility requirements are available at: communityvisionca.org/oaklandcares/
The application deadline for the Oakland CARES Fund for Artists and Arts Nonprofits impacted by COVID-19 has been extended to 1pm Friday, October 23. The program will distribute awards of up to $20,000 to arts nonprofits with annual budgets of less than $2.5M, while supporting individual artists with grants of up to $3,000 each. Learn more here.
Oakland Parks & Recreation Foundation’s 1st Citywide Parks Workshop: Whether you’re an experienced community leader or a new volunteer, join this free workshop taking place on Saturday, November 14, from 9:00am to 1:00pm to collaborate and learn about strategies and tools to improve Oakland parks. Learn more and register here.
East Bay Community Energy’s Resilient Home Program: Oakland has partnered with nonprofit public electricity provider East Bay Community Energy to launch a solar + battery backup program for homeowners. EBCE has partnered with Sunrun to provide no-cost / obligation-free consultations and will provide a proposal for your consideration. If you decide to move forward, there is a $1,250 incentive to homeowners that enroll their battery in the program and share power with EBCE during peak times when there isn’t a power outage. Since launch in August, nearly 700 homeowners countywide have registered for consultations. Sign up for your consultation and learn more at upcoming webinars.
Voting Reminders
Vote Early!
Given the pandemic and the threats to our democracy, please vote early. All registered voters will be sent an absentee ballot automatically to limit COVID exposure. You must register to vote to receive an absentee ballot!
You can vote in person or drop off your ballot at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters: 1225 Fallon Street, Room G1, Oakland, or put it into one of the official, free 24-hour drop boxes anytime by November 3rd 8pm. If you use a USPS mailbox, postage is free, and it’s critical to vote early!
You can also sign up to track your ballot.
October 19th is the last day for regular online voter registration.
October 20th – November 3rd, you can do same day voter registration.
On November 3rd, you can vote in person or drop your ballot off at your polling place by 8pm.
With many measures on the ballot, my go-to guides are Oakland Rising’s Voter Guide and the CA AAPI Voting Guide in seven AAPI languages.
With Oakland Love,
Nikki Fortunato Bas
Councilmember, City of Oakland, District 2
Oakland – Today, the Oakland City Council, CPAB, SSOC, and the Police Commission will discuss the concept, introduced by Council President Rebecca Kaplan, to make guns the top law enforcement priority in the City of Oakland. If Oakland can deter illegal guns and gun violence by increasing gun tracing, improving response time to shooting notifications, and prioritizing response to gun crime, the city will be a safer place to live.
The Oakland City Council has previously adopted policies to set law enforcement priorities in the direction of “low priority” issues — designating which topics it would be the policy for OPD not to prioritize, such as cannabis.
“I am calling for the City of Oakland to Declare Gun Violence as the Top Law Enforcement Priority for the City of Oakland, to decrease the number of illegal guns and gun violence in the city. By increasing gun tracing and prioritizing action to respond to gun crime,” states Council President Rebecca Kaplan. “We must recognize the easy availability of illegal guns increases violence and harm, and in order to reduce gun violence, we need to crack down on illegal guns, and have a timely and effective response to shooting notifications.”
The City of Oakland is experiencing an increase in the amount of guns shots fired. According to the Oakland Police Department’s ShotSpotter Activations Report, the Oakland Police Crime Analysis Division reported approximately 2,807 ShotSpottter Activations from gunshots fired in 2019. As of September 20, 2020, there have been approximately 4,104 ShotSpotter activations from guns fired. This number is a forty-six percent (46%) increase from the year prior, and that many gunshots don’t show up in 911 call statistics.
As of August 23, 2020, the Oakland Police Department Crime Analysis reported thirty-four (34%) percent increase in reported gunfire in Oakland. In 2019, there were 953 occurrences of gunfire. This year, 1,281 occurrences of gunfire were reported, with a quarter of the year still to be determined. In a single weekend from August 6th-9th, 2020, ten shootings were reported across the city, which resulted in five fatalities, many of the cases are unsolved, with the assailants remaining at-large.
Currently, there is also a grave need for an effective and robust gun tracing program to curb the amount of gun violence and reduce the number of illegal guns on the streets. Kaplan has been a consistent advocate for increased efforts around gun and shell tracing. She fought for the funding to acquire the gun and shell tracing equipment. She understands that gun tracing is essential to shutting down sources of illegal guns on Oakland’s streets.
In order to ensure that illegal guns can be tracked down and to deter gun crime, it will be important to have timely response on notifications of shootings, and more consistent tracing of guns and shell casings. Kaplan has requested information from OPD about the frequency of providing an immediate deployment in response to notifications of shootings, and about how often there is the ability to collect shell casings or other materials to help identify and shut down sources of illegal guns.
The goal is to make smart and effective choices about deployments, and timely response to urgent situations like armed robberies in progress. The recent choice by the Oakland Police Chief to order hundreds of Police Officers to stay downtown watching peaceful protesters was not the most effective and efficient use of law enforcement resources, while urgent needs for response and follow up on armed robberies was lacking. A better use of sworn personnel would have been to ensure presence in community and commercial corridors facing armed robberies throughout the city. A discussion about making gun violence a top law enforcement priority for the City of Oakland will help ensure that resources are distributed in a more effective and just manner.
Oakland – Four weeks into the new year, and several schools across Oakland Unified School District are in mourning because they have recently lost valued members of their communities. The OUSD District has lost a total of five young people who were getting ready to graduate or had recently graduated. Some had come back to the schools to support the students of today.
Zakiya Thomas attended Oakland Tech and was currently studying at Dewey Academy when she was killed in a car crash. Her cousin Terri’Nae Williams was killed in the same crash. She graduated from Castlemont High School last spring. 19 year old Zavier Patton was a graduate of Skyline High School, who also attended Claremont Middle School. He was a victim of gun violence. Former Oakland High, Fremont High and Skyline High student, Quinton Williams also fell victim to gun violence, as did Skyline graduate, Sampson Luu. Luu also worked in the after school program at Roosevelt Middle School.
Zakiya Thomas. Zakiya Thomas
Zakiya Thomas and Terri’Nae Williams were in a car on the night of August 25 heading north on Highway 680 in Walnut Creek when the car exited the freeway at a high rate of speed and crashed into a tree. KTVU News reported there is evidence that one of the girls may have been driving even though neither one of them was an experienced driver. A 47 year old family friend who owned the car also died in the crash. “It’s something that could have been prevented. They didn’t have a license and the person’s car they were in, it was his car. He had a license, so why did he let her drive,” said Adrienne Semien, Zakiya’s mother, to KTVU. Zakiya lost her brother three years ago to gun violence, and Zakiya was her mother’s only remaining child. She was set to graduate from Dewey Academy in December.
Terri’Nae Williams. Terri’Nae Williams
Terri’Nae Williams had just turned 18 years old in June. On a GoFundMe page, her sister, ShayNesha George said she “was an excellent student who was continuously on the honor roll. She was such a caring gentle free spirit. My baby sister had a whole future ahead of her, she loved school and looked forward to going to college and becoming a nurse. She loves fashion and beauty. She was an advocate against violence for Teens on Target in Oakland throughout her four years in high school and after. She was so beautiful, loving, funny, ambitious and strong. She inspired me.” Additionally, Castlemont staff said Terri’Nae was an honor roll student, and on both the Volleyball team and the Cheer team. She was also a student organizer with her 2020 graduating class. Here is a GoFundMe page created in her honor.
Zavier Patton. Zavier Patton
Zavier Patton was a 2019 graduate of Skyline High School where he took part in activities such as African American Male Achievement and played on the varsity boys basketball team. “Zavier was a very good, wise and beautiful soul. He was senselessly taken from this earth on August 15 in a drive by shooting. He is now on the list of innocent victims of crimes. Zavier was 19 years old and about to start his second year at California State University, Northridge. This young man had overcome and accomplished quite a bit at this point in his young life,” said Zavier’s brother, Bryan Bassette, and the rest of the family. Bassette is an assistant principal at Elmhurst United Middle School. “Zavier was an example of exemplary character and inspiration.”
Quinton Williams. Quinton Williams
Also recently lost to gun violence was Quinton Williams who attended Oakland High School, Fremont High and Skyline High. He was another beloved student who had a profound impact on those around him. He spent two years at Fremont High School, where Co-Principal Tom Skjervheim got to know him well. “Quinton was always one of our brightest stars; smart, hard-working and full of promise. In addition to being a star football player, he was also a nearly 4.0 GPA student.” He finished up his education at Gateway to College. His life was cut short on the first weekend of August. Here is a GoFundMe page set up in his honor.
Sampson Luu. Sampson Luu
Lastly, Sampson Luu lost his life to gun violence on August 6. He was a 2015 Skyline High School graduate, and had attended Roosevelt Middle School where he came back to work for EBAYC, the East Bay Asian Youth Center, as a teacher supporting students in the after school program. “Sampson stood for positivity and respect, he wanted to make his community a better place for all and make his family proud. Pray for his parents & his sister in this time of mourning,” said his friend, Erik Ortega on Twitter. Here’s Sampson speaking about his work at Roosevelt and what he felt people need to do in these challenging times.
“Each of these young people leave deep holes in the lives of those they left behind,” said Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell. “As a parent, I can only imagine the anguish their families must be experiencing. I implore anyone who gets behind the wheel of a car to exercise extreme caution, because one small mistake can lead to tragic consequences. My heart goes out to the families of Zakiya and Terri’Nae and their family friend. Likewise, I am always heartbroken when I hear that one of our young people was lost to gun violence. And here we have lost three bright young lives. Zavier, Quinton and Sampson all had profound impacts on their communities and I send my love to their family and friends. To people who think that violence is the answer, I remind you, it never is. You solve nothing when you use a gun, and only leave misery in your wake. I implore everyone to find ways to solve problems peacefully, and to teach our children to do the same.”
OUSD sends its deepest condolences to the families and friends of these five remarkable young people.
About the Oakland Unified School District
In California’s most diverse city, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) is dedicated to creating a learning environment where “Every Student Thrives!” More than half of our students speak a non-English language at home. And each of our 81 schools is staffed with talented individuals uniting around a common set of values: Students First, Equity, Excellence, Integrity, Cultural Responsiveness and Joy. We are committed to preparing all students for college, career and community success.
To learn more about OUSD’s Full Service Community District focused on academic achievement while serving the whole child in safe schools, please visit OUSD.org and follow us @OUSDnews.
Post based on press release to Zennie62Media from Oakland Unified School District (OUSD)
Milwaukee – Tonight, in a new video featured at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Emma Gonzalez — activist and survivor of the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida — spoke on behalf of those Americans who have lost loved ones to senseless gun violence, and demanded that we join them in their … Read more
Wednesday Night’s Theme is “A More Perfect Union” MILWAUKEE—The Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) today previewed the official program for night three of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, happening Wednesday, August 19 from 9:00-11:00 PM Eastern. The theme of Wednesday’s program is “A More Perfect Union.” America is not going back to normal, because normal wasn’t good enough. … Read more
Everyday Americans set the stage in a new video produced by HardPin Media MILWAUKEE—Tonight, the 2020 Democratic National Convention was officially called to order with some of America’s most impactful community leaders reading the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, in a new video titled “We the People.” From Khizr Khan to Megan Rapinoe to Dolores Huerta, the voices in the video … Read more
The Democratic National Convention to feature individuals from all walks of life, political affiliations and every corner of the country who support Joe Biden’s vision to lead us out of Trump’s chaos and crises. Natasha Taylor of Atlanta is one of the many speakers, here’s the news on others, with a full list to come. … Read more
Oakland Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick Fired By Mayor Libby Schaaf, Police Commission, Livestream ONN – Oakland Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick Fired By Mayor Libby Schaaf, Police Commission, Livestream Zennie62Media’s Oakland News Now was the first to release the rumor that this action was going to be taken, and was done last night. 26 hours later, … Read more
Sacramento, Calif. — Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday he will triple gun violence prevention funding in a major win for California Assemblymember Buffy Wicks as well as activists’ push to strengthen the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) programs. In conjunction with the budget ask, Wicks authored Assembly Bill 1603 to establish the California … Read more
