Black Think Tank Director Calls On “Millions of Combat Divas” in New Book

Dr. Julia Hare, National Executive Director of The Black Think Tank, is calling on “millions of combat divas” in her much anticipated new book, The Sexual and Political Anorexia of the Black Woman. The author of numerous titles, including the bestseller “How to Find and Keep a BMW (Black Man Working)” raises an eleventh-hour reveille for all black women (“sistas”) in a massive quest for unity aimed to avenge “The Pain Guts and Glory of the Black Woman” (the book’s subtitle).
“The Pain Guts and Glory of the Black Woman” took hold when Dr. Hare was speaking at the University of Washington in Seattle, and saw a wall high portrait of a solitary black woman hanging in the black student center.
Beneath it lay the caption “Bearer of Pain,” illuminated by slivers of sunlight. Beneath it lay the caption “Bearer of Pain,” illuminated by slivers of sunlight shining through the window pointing the way to that painting and this book,” the author writes. [Read more]

Michael Ferguson’s Secret is Out

His product puts Spice in your life

Michael Ferguson is best known as a successful CPA, providing tax and accounting services to Bay Area small businesses and taxpayers for over 30 years. Today, though, you’re just as likely to find him pitching a seasoning spice to local grocery stores and specialty shops. If you shop at Farmer Joe’s, Galvin’s Market or several other neighborhood stores, you may even get to sample delectable grilled chicken morsels or vegetables, prepared with his increasingly popular Secret Spice.
It all started when Ferguson was a newlywed, and had begun experimenting with his brand new barbecue cooker. He was pretty proud of his first attempts, and became even better when a new neighbor offered to show him a few tips to improve his grilling. He taught him the basics of proper fire intensity, cooking with woods, and introduced him to various sauces. Although he became pretty proficient in his grilling and barbecue techniques, he noticed he never could attain the taste and quality of his friend’s cooking. Whenever he asked him why his was so much better, his friend always answered “it’s a secret”. [Read more]

Khiari Swift Accepted Into Sports Ambassadors Program

By Graig Brooks

While many young men dream of performing awesome dunks, like Kobe Bryant or flying down a basketball court like Lebron James, some actually reach that goal. Being able to razzle and dazzle a crowd can take them to stardom, high acclaim and around the world. Such is the case, for Khiari Swift.
Swift has been selected for the Alameda County area, People to People Sports Ambassadors Program Delegation. As a member of the delegation, he will travel to Holland, where he will participate as a member of a USA basketball team, composed of athletes from all over the world.
“I feel great about it,” said the 14-year-old Swift. “I get to travel, get exposure and experience life in different countries.”
He will also take part in a basketball skills training camp and work with other athletes to promote peace through understanding.
Swift was selected while playing in an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball tournament in Las Vegas in which his team placed first. [Read more]

Revisiting 7th Street: The Blues Capitol of The West

By Terry Jones

Part 1

Just the other day I was on my way to visit a cousin in West Oakland and missed my turn and wound up on 7th Street. Amidst the urban renewal, the U. S. Post Office, the Bart station, and modern apartments still stand some of the old reminders of a grander time for Black businesses and the Black community in West Oakland during the 1940s and 50s.. While I am too young to remember its glory days, my cousin tells me that 7th street was a real “happening place” back in the day. Given what I see now, I wonder how this could have ever been true. What brought Black people to 7th Street and what changed this “happening place?”
The story of Black people in West Oakland and on 7th Street is tied to the Transcontinental Railroad terminal, navel shipyards, industrial development and a war. These factors pulled Blacks from the south, but they were also pushed by the brutalities of racism and economic oppression. [Read more]

DeLauer’s Keeps Its 24/7 Hours

Landmark Newsstand Gets Reprieve

Thanks to an overwhelming outpouring of citizen concern, phone calls and last-minute purchases, Oakland is still the home to the only 24 hour newsstand, bookstore in the country.
Yes, you can say it isn’t so to the news that the DeLauer’s Newsstand doors would close Thursday morning.
David Glover, executive director for Oakland Citizens Committee on Urban Renewal, with the help of the Oakland Post, helped to organize some last-minute negotiations that resulted in a reprieve for the beleaguered 101 year-old landmark. He and Post publisher Paul Cobb made media appeals for assistance and “Glover reported “an overwhelming outpouring of customer support, curiosity and demand, has made it necessary to postpone indefinitely.
Glover said city officials and private individuals will meet Thursday to present a business plan outlining a business model that can be sustained by the Bay Area’s diverse population. [Read more]

7th Street As A Video Game

Slim Jenkins’ the hallmark club on the Landmark seventh street strip. Right, Pullman Porters often patronized businesses on 7th Street during their stay-overs from cross-country trips. The video project, initiated by Paul Grabowicz at UC Berkeley, is co-sponsored by the Oakland Post. Chauncey Bailey, the Late Editor of the Post worked with Grabowicz at the Oakland Tribune and wrote articles about the project.

Oakland’s famed 7th Street blues and jazz club scene from the 1940s and 1950s is being brought back to life by UC Berkeley students as a virtual world and video game scheduled for public release in July.
“Remembering 7th Street,” a project of the UC Berkeley Schools of Journalism and Architecture, will be accessible for free over the Internet and let people experience this amazing part of the city’s history, especially the musical heritage of Oakland’s African American community.
Seventh Street was once a vibrant stretch of blues and jazz clubs, a cultural Mecca that drew musicians and music lovers from all over the country. Musicians like Lowell Fulson, Saunders King, Sugar Pie DeSanto, Jimmy McCracklin and many others played at hotspots like Slim Jenkins Place, Esther’s Orbit Room, John Singer’s and Harvey’s Rex Club.
Railroad workers, especially members of the International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the nation’s first black union that had its west coast office on 7th Street, distributed records cut by black musicians across the country. The porters union was co-founded by C. L. Dellums, uncle of current Oakland Mayor Ronald V. Dellums. [Read more]

Edgerly Retires

Mayor Ron Dellums listens as City Administrator Deborah Edgerly re-announced her retirement effective July 31. Photo by Gene Hazzard

Jerry Brown Appointed Her in 2003

By Post Staff

Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly, with Mayor Ron Dellums by her side announced that she had sent a letter to the Mayor on January 28 to inform him that she would retire July 31.
Edgerly, an appointee of former Mayor Jerry Brown said the announcement’s not a reaction to anything. This is progression from a decision that was made many months ago.”
She said she will be allowed to stay at her post until July 31, even as she faces increasing criticism for possibly interfering with a police investigation.
Dellums and Edgerly said that under a months-old agreement, Edgerly’s retirement has nothing to do with recent allegations that she intervened on behalf of a nephew, William Lovan, 27, in the police department’s ongoing investigation of the Acorn gang of West Oakland.
Edgerly said, “I just want to make it clear hat the understanding the mayor and I have, so that there’s no misconceptions, I am the city administrator with all the duties and responsibilities that come with being the city administrator.”
However, the police department will report directly to Dellums to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest as the allegations against Edgerly are investigated. [Read more]

Faces Around The Bay: Agatha Sharpe

Agatha Sharpe left her home in Trinidad 34 years ago and moved to Concord. She had heard the reputation of Concord was good and the crime rate was low. She says, “People are so friendly; I go to the grocery store and the bank, and they call me by my name.” Sharpe has one daughter who lives in England. She worked for 10 years at Highland Hospital as an LVN. She quit because of health issues and later had two bouts with cancer. “By the time I had the second occurrence, I was much more positive. I prayed a lot and that really helped me.” She attended a class, Reach to Recovery. in Walnut Creek. “Many people helped me during my recovery.”
Sharpe is now a volunteer for the American Cancer Society in Pleasant Hill who does follow-up with cancer patients. She loves to cook and prepares and serves meals to the sick in her neighborhood and cooks for men training for the ministry at her church, The Community Bible Church in Vallejo.
Gospel music is her great source of pleasure.

Ashland and Cherryland Communities Receive Philanthropic Funding

Barbara Lee’s support helps deliver important funding

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-09) announced that the Koshland Committee of The San Francisco Foundation has selected 10 community leaders from Ashland and Cherryland communities of incorporated Alameda County as recipients of the prestigious 2008 Daniel E. Koshland Civic Unity Awards program.
The fellowship awards are part of a $300,000 five-year initiative in the Ashland and Cherryland communities that is designed to enhance civic unity and improve the quality of life for residents in those communities, which is achieved by promoting collaboration and increasing understanding among different types of people in those communities and by promoting the concept that nurturing these differences is a crucial element in solving neighborhood problems.
Congresswoman Lee played a critical role in advocating for this vital funding. This is the second year a community in the Congresswoman’s 9th Congressional District will receive this philanthropic support. Last year, eight civic leaders from Berkeley were selected for the fellowship. [Read more]

Faces Around The Bay: Patricia Taylor

Patricia Taylor of Richmond, Virginia, was at the Diahann Carroll performance at Hotel Nikko on last Friday, the 13th.  Her son, Dr. Derek D. Taylor, a surgeon in Redwood City, took her to hear Carroll because the two had been childhood friends.  They grew up in N.Y. City and went to school in Manhattan at PS 46 in Elementary and PS 164 after that..
She remembers, “Then Diahann went to a special school and I got married.” Taylor sat in the front row at the performance and only spoke when Carroll asked how old the audience thought she was.  It was Taylor who said, “You’re my age.” Carroll asked, “What is that?”  Taylor answered, “73”. Then Carroll said she would be 73 this year.
Taylor has three children and was out here to see her grandson Tahara Taylor graduate from Bishop O’Dowd.  Her other 5 grandchildren go to Head Royce. The performance of her old friend was a bonus she hadn’t expected.

« Previous Page — Next Page »