Why We Can't Breathe

The Black Lives Matter Movement brought the issue of police killings to the forefront and refused to let it die. When Eric Garner was basically strangled to death before nationwide TV and his killers alllowed to walk away scott free, the movement took people from every segment America to the streets to protest. I participated in a number of those protests. The vast majority of those decrying black death were young, college age white people.

Do you really believe black lives matter? I hope so. For we need our allies more than ever. Gentrification has become the angel of death that walks at midnight through America's inner city neighborhoods bent on driving the poor and the marginalized into homelessness.

In the San Francisco Bay area, Yahoo, Twitter, Apple, Pandora and a slew of other tech companies have opened bases. Housing here was already expensive and limited. Where would these well heeled, new money folks move to? The answer is the hood. This has driven up rental costs to astronomical levels. An apartment that might have cost $1,000 a month ten years ago, now goes for $4,000 a month. A foreclosure whirlwind stole home ownership from many, many familes at the height of the Great Recession. Those houses are now going for a small mint. The truth is that many people who have lived here for generations have been driven out. The question is: where will they go?

In this photo, we are standing next to Defremery Park, also known as Bobby Hutton Park (after the slain Black Panther Party member). Here, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and the Party rank and file used to meet to strategize survival programs. The Panthers are gone now but if we are going to survive gentrification, we are going to strategize and plan. There's no time to waste.

#BlackLivesMatter #BlackPantherParty #Oakland #Gentrification