CULTURE, COMMUNITY & RESISTANCE:
An oakland archive.
Oakland California is a city of nuance. An auspicious city as humble as it is boisterous with a long and colorful yet complex history.
The cultural headquarters of the Bay Area, Oakland is a historical landmark responsible for some of histories most influential contributions to Art/Music, Pop Culture and Activism.
This is just a glimpse into what makes Oakland, unapologetically Oakland.
#CULTURE
I saw [the game] living in Oakland, I saw it thriving in Oakland.
That was in no other city I lived in. So I give all my love to Oakland.
If I'ma claim somewhere, I'ma claim Oakland
- Tupac Shakur
Fashion, Music, Dance, Cars, Lingo... you name it.
Oaklanders will make the best out of anything and any situation in an effortless yet flamboyant way. True diamonds in the rough- even when times were tough. (And tough they were).
The culture of Oakland embodies the spirit of a braggadocious underdog who is not afraid to bogart their way into society while refusing to buy into the dominant narratives about them or their city.
Not afraid to have fun. Not afraid to stand out. Not afraid to fight back.
NOT. AFRAID.
" From his roots as a slave, the American Negro - sometimes sorrowing, sometimes jubilant but always hopeful - has touched, illuminated, and influenced the most remote preserves of world civilization".
– Alvin Ailey
#COMMUNITY
Thomas Bros Redlining Map of Oakland 1937
The great Black Southern Migration brought droves of Black Americans to the Bay Area, predominantly to the cities of Richmond, San Francisco, and Oakland.
Oakland's Black demographic grew from 8,462 to 47,562 in 10 years in 1940-1950.
This increase in Black residents sparked a mass exodus of white residents and , as a result, their capital and employment infrastructure– leaving a gaping void of employment for Oakland's newest residents.
Simultaneously, recent and extremely harsh policies like the National Housing Act of 1934 started gaining teeth and devastating Black and Brown communities and creating what we grew to learn as our "hoods and ghettos" of America.
Oakland was no exception.
Black Oaklander's saw a second wave of push out in the 1980's when the crack epidemic and subsequent War on Drugs and "tough on crime" administrations passed additional policies that disintegrated the Black demographic.
What was once more than 50% of the city is now just less than a 1/4 of the city.
Black Population of
Oakland in 1980
Black Population of
Oakland in 2023
Quote from "Gentrification" by Sherman Alexie
#RESISTANCE
1966
2011
2020
The Black Panther Party was founded in North Oakland.
Occupy Oakland protests begin.
Protests in response to the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbrey spark.
O is for Oakland.
In this case, O is also for Organizing.
Community Organizing that is, which can be defined as "a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest".
Community Organizing is the secret sauce to any liberatory movement since the earliest of time. That's because Community Organizing is more than sheer activism. It is individuals activating their autonomy, recognizing their power and acknowledging their own unique lived experiences that make them experts in and, therefore creators of their own destiny– unafraid of the consequences.
It is the beautiful life cycle of oppression to expression to liberation.
Oakland has long been hailed ground zero for organizers across the world and a place where folks who are eager to sing a freedom song flock to learn from the fertile history of social justice movements in Oakland.
To learn the "game".
In Solidarity,
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