The Advocate

CRT "is an academic concept that is more than 40 years old. The core idea is that race is a social construct, and that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies." "The basic tenets of critical race theory, or CRT, emerged out of a framework for legal analysis in the late 1970s and early 1980s created by legal scholars Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Richard Delgado, among others." "A good example is when, in the 1930s, government officials literally drew lines around areas deemed poor financial risks, often explicitly due to the racial composition of inhabitants. Banks subsequently refused to offer mortgages to Black people in those areas." In San Leandro, we saw that in its choice to be a segregated sundown town with virulently racist redlining practices whose effects exist even today. "Today, those same patterns of discrimination live on through facially race-blin...

(Credit:  Boise Regional Realtors® ) California’s AB-1466 finally provides a systemic solution to remove racist covenants, conditions, and restrictions from property deeds and it is on Governor Newsom’s desk! Even though these CC&Rs were found to be unconstitutional and unenforceable since 1948, the offensive language persists. Seeing such blatant bigotry in escrow documents is painful, particularly for people of color. While we cannot and should not forget the history of racial exclusion in housing, there is no purpose in keeping this language in people’s property deeds other than causing further harm. It is past time they were removed for good. If you’re wondering about whether all of this is necessary, there are many examples of such covenants on social media local news that highlight exactly why. Here is just one example : "We hear a lot about racially restrictive [covenants] and systemic racism, but have you ever seen an example of it? Well, here’s a snapshot of propert...

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.

"Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the action of human beings." — Nelson Mandela in 2005 at the Make Poverty History rally in London’s Trafalgar Square. Average rent for a 1 bedroom apartment in San Leandro in 2020 is approximately $1,845 per month . For a single year of occupancy, that total rent is $22,140. The minimum wage as of July 1, 2020 is $15 per hour . For a single full-time worker that equals a gross annual income of $31,200. After taxes, that comes to approximately $26,425 annual net income . That leaves you with approximately $4,285 for the entire year, or about $357 monthly, to pay for groceries, water, electricity, transportation, healthcare, and internet. This assumes you don't get sick or injured, lose your job or access to reliable transpiration, are evicted or foreclosed on, experience any kind of financial emergency, and that you aren't saving for retirement. In one of the m...

(Image credit: Banksy) In the midst of all the discussions taking place about the problems facing San Leandro in the here and now regarding racism and policing, I think it's important we take a step back to look at part of how that happened. Well, it was on purpose. See, San Leandro was, as far back as the early 1900's, a sundown town. Look through the entry for our city by Bay Area historian, James W. Loewen. His holistic work is available here . What is a sundown town, you ask? Sundown towns, occasionally known as sunset towns or gray towns, is an all-White municipality or neighborhood in the United States that practices a form of racial segregation by excluding non-Whites. This is usually accomplished via some combination of discriminatory laws, intimidation, and violence. As a result, entire sundown counties and sundown suburbs were also created by the same process. The term originally came from signs posted that demanded Black people, and sometimes other racial minority g...