Dis Gov. Newsom: California Now Ranks 4th Largest Economy in the World... see page 2
Nedra Williams’ Art at AAMLO Showcases African Diaspora Cultures and Feminism ... see page 2
COMMENTARY: Let’s Go to the Doctor: The Dangers of Deep Vein Thrombosis, or Blood Clots ... see page 4
Rent vs. Own in Today’s Economy: Is Now the Best Time to Buy? ... see page 6
Oakland Post “Where there is no vision, the people perish...” Proverbs 29:18
postnewsgroup.com
62nd Year, No. 18
Weekly Edition April 30 - May 6, 2025
Former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, 77
Teachers Union Settles Contract with School District, Avoids Strike Set for Thursday Union thanks departing superintendent for years of service to community
Rep. Lateefah Simon. File photo.
Alexis Herman, U.S. Secretary of Labor, toured the Oakland Private Industry Council’s (PIC) Career Center where she congratulated CEO Gay Plair Cobb for their pace-setting career training programs which included the Cypress Mandela Pre-Apprenticeship Training Center and the Women in Skilled Trades training program. Herman had previously served as director of the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau, where Cobb led the regional offices in San Francisco and Atlanta. Photo courtesy Oakland Private Industry Council. By Post Staff Alexis Herman, appointed by former President Bill Clinton to serve as Secretary of Labor in his second term, passed away on April 25 in Washington after a brief illness. She was 77. She had been the chief executive of the 1992 Democratic National Convention; deputy director of Mr.
Clinton’s transition team after he won the 1992 presidential election; and the White House’s public liaison director during his first term, the New York Times wrote. In her Cabinet role, Herman flawlessly mediated a 15-day strike by 187,000 U.P.S. workers in 1997 and helped curb sweatshop conditions by American companies with
Rep. Simon Opposes GOP Budget Bill in Oversight Committee, Offers Amendment to Protect Access to SNAP
Alexis Herman. Wikipedia photo. manufacturing interests abroad. During her tenure, The New York Times reported, unemployment dropped to a 30-year low. Born in Mobile, Alabama, in 1947 to a schoolteacher mother and insurance salesman father, who also owned the Chattanooga White Sox, a Negro League team, Alexis witnessed the terror of racism up Continued on page 8
Fremont High Schoolers Build Playhouse Village for Prescott Elementary School Kids
Alimeida Pablo, Brenda Perez, Angelica Pablo, Sebastian Lorenzo Mateo, and teacher Andrew Prober hold up a sign for Prescott Village, a collection of playhouses that they and other Fremont High Students made for Prescott Elementary Students. Photo at Prescott Elementary on April 19. Photo by Zack Haber. By Zack Haber On a sunny Saturday morning on April 19, seven students from the East Oakland-based Fremont High, install and celebrate five large colorful wooden playhouses they and their classmates had designed and built for Prescott Elementary School students in West Oakland. The playhouses are emblematic of Oakland’s rich history and include a ‘Black Panther’ house, and replicas of the Tribune Tower, a BART car and a firetruck. The project was the culmination of three months of collaborative work by about 50 students in Fremont High teacher Andrew Prober’s design and build class. At the event, Fremont student Se-
bastian Lorenzo Mateo said that in installing the playhouses he was satisfied with the hard work he and his classmates had done. “It was a long process,” said Mateo. “And this is the proudest moment. I feel proud of my team and everything we did. It was an honor to make these playhouses for the kids.” Another Fremont student, Alimeida Pablo, said in Spanish that she was proud of the project as well, because she thinks the playhouses will “help children in their personal development.” Prober said the playhouses were part of an effort that started at the beginning of the school year. The goal was to create more opportunities for young children to play
and learn outdoors by improving a yard that the school’s transitional kindergarten through first grade students use. Last fall, Fremont’s students created planter boxes for gardening in the yard and small tables and chairs that are durable for outdoor use and comfortable for young children. Prober, who’s taught design, building, and wood technology classes at Fremont for more than 15 years, said he thinks spending time outdoors is beneficial for students. “I think being outdoors elicits a different kind of thinking, stimulates creativity, and it’s just healthy too,” Prober said. “I think Continued on page 8
Special to The Post
On Wednesday, in the House Oversight Committee, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) strongly opposed House Republicans’ reconciliation bill, which would include $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid and $230 billion in cuts to food assistance, increase the costs of everyday essentials, and continue the Trump Administration’s attacks on the federal workforce. House Republican leadership have directed the House Oversight Committee to make $50 billion in cuts, which would largely threaten the take-home pay, benefits, and workforce protections for the federal workforce. Simon forcefully spoke against these cuts and the Republican reconciliation bill in committee. Simon also offered an amendment to the reconciliation bill that would cause Republican budget cuts to immediately expire if the Administration makes any cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). All Committee Republicans, except one, voted against Simon’s amendment to protect SNAP. During the Oversight Committee markup, Simon stated: “I have made a promise to my constituents and all Americans that I would do everything possible in my power to protect our social safety net. “My amendment today is about the belief that food is a basic, basic human right, and that all human rights cannot just be stripped away with the stroke of a pen. “This is a promise that no one will be hungry from losing their SNAP benefits, and any reduction in these benefits or services protected would be the difference in being able to buy groceries, pay for rent and utilities, and afford health care that so many vulnerable Americans and families face every single day, including the working people that we’re talking about today. “We don’t want to have a hungrier America. It’s plain and simple for the poorest among us. For the poorest among us, the ones who work with their bodies, and their children who are suffering, because we’re saying ‘Food Banks Go to Hell. Working people who have hungry children, we’re not going to worry about you.’ All I’m saying in this amendment is, please with all that we have – don’t touch the stomachs of poor children.”
OEA President Kampala TaizRancifer. Courtesy photo. By Post Staff The Oakland Education Association (OEA) has reached an agreement this week with the Oak-
land Unified School District to avert an authorized one-day strike previously scheduled for Thursday, May 1. The agreement restores budget cuts critical to retaining more than 120 experienced high school teachers at the District’s most difficult-to-staff school sites – including Castlemont, Fremont, and McClymonds – and restores sitebased substitute teachers who provide daily classroom coverage and support at school sites, according to a union press statement. “This outcome reflects the Continued on page 8
Berkeley City Council Passes Resolution on Gaza War, Sidesteps Community Calls to Support Ceasefire and U.S. Arms Embargo
Imam Sundiata Rashid of the Lighthouse Mosque in Berkeley speaks at a rally for ceasefire and U.S. arms embargo before the Berkeley City Council meeting, Monday, April 28. Photo by Ken Epstein.
By Ken Epstein Responding to community pressure to take a position on the U.S./Israeli war on Gaza, the Berkeley City Council passed a resolution this week sympathizing with everyone affected by the war but disregarded calls by hundreds of city residents who packed the overflowing special council meeting demanding the council take a stand for a permanent ceasefire and an embargo on U.S. arms to Israel. The council adopted the resolution at the end of a seven-
hour meeting Monday evening. Seven members of the council voted in favor a motion written by Councilmember Terry Taplin, which had the backing of pro-Israel speakers at the meeting. In addition to Taplin, councilmembers voting for the resolution were Rashi Kesarwani, Igor Tregub, Soshana O’Keefe, Brent Blackaby, Mark Humbert, as well as Mayor Adena Ishii. Councilmember Cecilia Lunaparra voted “no,” and Ben Bartlett abstained. Pro-Palestine and peace protesters have been pushing the council for 18 months to adopt a ceasefire resolution. They came to the meeting this week to support a resolution passed last year by Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission, which called for a ceasefire and an end of U.S. military aid to Israel. Taplin’s resolution did not mention Israel’s attacks on Gaza or the deaths and purposeful starvation of tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children. The resolution said that the City Council and mayor “grieve the terrible loss of life and empaContinued on page 8
African American Women on Quarters Thanks to Former Congresswoman Barbara Lee
Clockwise from top left: Maya Angelou, 2022; Bessie Coleman, 2023; Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray 2024; Ida B. Wells, 2025. Photos: U.S. By Conway Jones For the last four years, the U.S. Mint issued five new quarters each year with an American woman on the reverse side. Representative Barbara Lee, (CA-12), introduced the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 (Public Law 116-330), which passed in January 2021, and ultimately paved the way for the creation of these new coins under The American Women Quarters Program™. The American Women Quar-
ters Program™ celebrates the accomplishments and contributions made by women to the development and history of our country. Beginning in 2022, and continuing through 2024, the U.S. Mint issued five new reverse designs each year. Five quarters will be issued in 2025 under this program. The American Women Quarters feature contributions from women in a variety of fields, including, but not limited to sufContinued on page 8