I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I feel that if I do, I’ll end up with a reverse pressure to break them. If I commit to reading more, I would end up not picking up a book, or if I commit to eating healthier, I would end up having a… Read more
Hopes for the New Year
by Rhina Ramos on Jan 5, 2012
Run for Health. Run for the Movement.
by Meredith Fenton on Jan 2, 2012
I was the kind of kid that adults liked to call non-athletic. I wasn’t uncoordinated or weird enough to be the last one picked for recess games. But I also was a better cheerleader and fun teammate than I was an actual athletic asset.
Enough years of people telling you… Read more
The Ella Baker Center in 2011. And in 2012.
We Remember the Massacre at Wounded Knee
by Meredith Fenton on Dec 29, 2011
On this date in 1890, between 150 and 300 Lakota Sioux people were killed at the massacre near Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
Earlier that fall, native folks began hosting ritual Ghost Dances to celebrate and bring back the native way of… Read more
Year in Review 2011- Part Two
by Abel Habtegeorgis & Meredith Fenton on Dec 29, 2011
PART TWO
As 2011 draws to a close, we look back in a two-part series at some of the movements, organizations, and moments that made up the year.
Occupy Oakland General Strike
Okay Okay, you may think we have #occupy on here twice but the Oakland General Strike… Read more
Year in Review 2011- Part One
by Abel Habtegeorgis & Meredith Fenton on Dec 28, 2011
As 2011 draws to a close, we look back in a two-part series at some of the movements, organizations, and moments that made up the year.
Occupy
We know we could have easily dedicated this entire year in review to #occupy (and in spirit we actually… Read more
The cry of a mother. Dedicated to my son.
by Lourdes Duarte on Dec 26, 2011
The following Poem was written by Ella Baker Center Books Not Bars organizer and parent Lourdes Duarte. This heartfelt piece was written by Lourdes in dedication to her son who spent several years in California’s abusive Youth Prison System.
If I had the power of the entire universe, I would cut the jail cell… Read more
How Safe Is Pepper Spray?
by Guest Authors on Dec 23, 2011
When police officers pepper sprayed non-violent student protestors on the campus of University of California, Davis, the whole country reacted. Many of us were outraged, and some were in support of the action. However, few of us can truly understand the physical effects of police-grade pepper spray. On the Scoville… Read more
Use Your Money – Planting Justice
by Denise Fan on Dec 23, 2011
Planting Justice is a nonprofit organization based in Oakland dedicated to food justice, economic justice, and sustainable local food systems. Planting Justice brings people together to transform empty lots, paved backyards, and grass lawns into productive organic gardens. Through edible gardening, the organization empowers and uplifts those most oppressed… Read more
Use Your Money-State of the Arts
by Josh Bloom on Dec 21, 2011
I’m a Bay Area native. I’ve lived and/ or worked in Frisco, Berkeley and Oakland pretty much my entire life. I’m also a hip-hop head-artist-rapper-fighter-preserver of culture with a super critical lens for all music coming from the Bay. I grew up on artists like Coughnut, 11-5, Cold World Hustlas,… Read more
