Bay Area

GENERATION LOST: UC-BERKELEY’S MISSING BLACK GRADUATES

In the mid-1960s, the University of California, Berkeley started its Educational Opportunity Program to target underrepresented applicants and combat this history of discrimination. Unsurprisingly, this program was asuccess and the number of Black freshmen continued to rise until 1996. That year, Governor Pete Wilson and Black conservative Ward Connerly led an effort to repeal these education gains by passing Proposition 209.

Willie Brown, Jr., Is Not Dead

On the June 28 broadcast of the 2020 BET Awards, the network included Brown’s image and name in a video montage of famous African Americans who have died within the last year. The tribute included Diahann Carroll, Bill Withers, the Rev. Joseph Lowery, Pernell Whitaker and others.  

Seven Ways California’s New ‘Rent Cap’ Law Would Affect You

The film – with sentimental flashbacks of a bygone era – centers on the ongoing gentrification in California’s largest city and how it has sapped the blackness out of The Fillmore neighborhood in San Francisco, once a thriving African-American political and cultural hub in the Bay Area.

Dynamex Law Will Gut Black Newspapers in California

This is a direct appeal to Governor Newsom, Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez and our entire state legislature. I’m writing this on behalf of the more than 20 African American-owned newspapers that operate in cities and towns across California.

Gov. Says No More Tax on Diapers and Tampons, Period

Yes, it got a little Hollywood upstate in Sacramento Tuesday.  A stage decorated with props – jumbo boxes of pampers and tampons – helped Gov. Gavin Newsom tell the story of his plan to eliminate sales taxes on diapers and other menstrual products over the next two years; the policy would be subject to renewal by the legislature after that. 

Steph Curry practices with Harlem Globetrotters

Golden State Warriors Steph Curry and Quinn Cook spent the end of practice today learning new plays with Harlem Globetrotter stars Lili “Champ” Thompson, Zeus McClurkin and Hammer Harrison.  The two teams, whose style of basketball and winning ways are often compared, showcased Curry participating in a 3-man weave and Quinn making a 4-point shot.

Pan-African Studies at Cal State LA celebrates 50 years

More than 200 faculty, staff, students and supporters gathered in the Golden Eagle Ballroom on Oct. 29 for the Department of Pan-African Studies 5th Annual Black Community Honors Dinner, an evening that looked back on the department’s history and recognized the contributions of individuals who have committed their lives to the liberation and empowerment of the Black community.

Repealing Costa-Hawkins

California is in a massive housing crisis. Though housing prices vary across the state, housing affordability is a clear problem when resident income is compared to housing costs. In many cities, renters are paying over half of their income in housing costs, leaving very little to go towards anything else. Some 61 percent of renter households in California are lower-income, according to the California Department of housing and Community Development.