The Advocate

I am pleased to share the recent presentation from the San Leandro White Antiracism Initiative! (SWAI) This month we look into the racist history of San Leandro, how it affected us then, and how it still impacts us today. Even more importantly, it serves as a step towards how we can repair the harm that was done, honor the history that has been ignored, and move forward towards a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive future. For more background, you can watch:  The Suburban Wall (1971)  and  The Invisible Wall (1981) Please reach out to SWAI@googlegroups.com to get involved! Take note and take care.

If you haven’t heard yet, the city is preparing to review our tobacco ordinance later this month. We are one of the few cities in Alameda County that has yet to ban the sale of menthol-flavored cigarettes, which disproportionately targets and kills Black people. Now, the obvious question is: why should we bother banning menthol? People know the dangers of smoking, right? Let people make their own choices, right? I wish it were that simple... Start with the sad fact that smoking-related illnesses kill more Black people than AIDS, car crashes, and murder combined! In fact, the combination of vaping and menthol use among Black youth is renewing the cycle of addiction and death for future generations. How is this happening? Well, the tobacco industry has gone to great lengths to push menthol tobacco products into Black communities, despite knowing how deadly they can be. They’ve actually been doing this for decades. Meanwhile, they’re simultaneously spreading misinformation and fear about...

(Credit: Banksy) It's a new dawn and a new day in San Leandro as our City Council voted for a slew of progressive initiatives that will bring truth, justice, and support  to our community! To start with, April 18 of every year will now be known as Steven Taylor Day in San Leandro, in recognition "that the City of San Leandro City Council recognizes April 18 as a day to honor the Sanctity of Steven Taylor’s Life and other lives lost to violence ... that the City of San Leandro does not tolerate the use of deadly force by a police officer." Next up was the approval of a Steven Taylor park in the Marina area to honor his life and those of others lost to racism, bigotry, and violence. This park will feature monuments to key ideals such as healing, justice, and learning, as well as the power of nonviolent resistance. There will even be an informational kiosk that can help direct visitors and others to critical community support services! After that, there was an ordinance to...

If your kids like to take naps in the car as much as mine do, maybe while driving around town you've noticed an American flag with muted colors and a thin blue line highlighted in the middle. To many this flag represents a commitment to law and order To many it represents solidarity with fallen police officers. To many it represents respect, honor, and courage. To many it represents their support for law enforcement as part of the fabric of American society. However, the reality is far less prosaic. Because this flag is actually a symbol of White Supremacy. Let's start with a history lesson. (See original reporting at https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/06/08/the-short-fraught-history-of-the-thin-blue-line-american-flag .) The flag made one of its most famous appearances at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville in 2017. The same rally with Confederate flags and tiki torch wielding terrorists chanting "Jews will not replace us." (Full disclosure:...

(Image credit: Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle .) The image above is of some random White goyishe dude spraying "Free Palestine" in graffiti, defacing a synagogue during Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The number of alleged progressives I've seen talking about this and missing the point about why defacing a synagogue is wrong is just fucking wild. But the number of my fellow Jews defending it!? Like, goyishe antisemitism is kinda expected, but the internalized antisemitism from antizionist Jews? Whew... Hard to tell if the perfect misunderstandings are intentional or genuinely ignorant. Like, there's disagreement about Israel's and Palestine's rights to exist - which are real problems! - and then there's a hate crime. Done by some random White dude gentile. We saw this same shit in May at Beth Israel in Los Angeles, where there were no flags. Indeed, that's exactly how we know its never been about the flags. Defacing synagogues for the ac...

Some of you may have noticed today in San Leandro that along Parrot Street, between E. 14th and Hays, are some giant letters spelling out an important message: Black Lives Matter. This effort was undertaken by local residents, activists, and organizers in order to highlight the need for racial justice in our community. Indeed, many of our elected officials were spotted participating, glad-handing, taking photos, and canvassing. Whether for themselves or because they truly believe that Black lives matter is unclear. Because, see, in the days and weeks prior to this, they have seemed more interested in delaying, obfuscating, and actively preventing justice from being carried out in the murder of Steven Taylor. (And the assault of Emerald Black, and previous acts of murder and brutality against BIPOC residents by SLPD, and regular abuse against our homeless population, and local animals mistreated by our officers rather saved by trained animal control agents, but I digress). True, the cit...

Subtitle: fighting back against the fascist, ego-maniacal, corrupt, lying, bigoted, fecal-fueled dumpster-fire that is, unfortunately   regrettably   depressingly   confusingly   infuriatingly  disgustingly our new President of these United (for how long, who knows?) States of America. As such, here's my starter's guide *PART ONE* to fighting back against this shitstorm with all the paper-towels at your disposal. 1. Follow and support organizations doing the front-line work of exposing the destruction being wrought and who are actively fighting back. Start  with local organizations in your communities FIRST! In my locale of the Bay Area, for instance, we've got...  Jobs with Justice SF , East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy and Bay Rising , 350 Bay Area , Alliance of South Asians Taking Action , Arab Resource and Organizing Center , Asian Pacific Environmental Network , AFT 2121 , CAIR SF Bay Area , California Faculty Association , Caus...