“I always felt like Oakland was a black city. I felt like it was a black city. I felt like it was about black people about black resistance, about like black creativity, you know? And so, so yeah. So for me, being an Oakland native, I feel like it’s about that. It’s about preserving that […]
“It’s always been about embracing difference, uniqueness, putting a little, of our own thing on it, coming up with unique words to describe something. That’s Oakland…” Your full name and age. My name is Wren Michelle Robb and I’m 31 years old. What neighborhood of Oakland are you from or would you say you grew […]
“Respect us. Don’t act like we came here, because I was born and raised here, so I feel I like have privileges to be here long as I pay my taxes, pay my insurance, pay my rent. I’m good to be here.” Your name and age. Annette Miller. 52. What neighborhood of Oakland are […]
“You literally could leave your door opened at that time because your neighbors was your neighbors. If you hear somebody opening the door, it’s your neighbor coming in to just come kick it with you like we normally do.” What’s your name and age? Charles Johnson. People call me Chuck, I’m 44 years old. What […]
“It’s small but it’s mighty like I said, it’s the people and the culture and the vibe of the Revolutionary ness that is in Oakland. It’s just innate. It’s something in the that makes people very active activists in some way, shape or form. “ What is your full name and age? My name […]
“I would hope, as I said before, that all of that pride that people feel in Oakland and all of the new people that are moving to this area, that they really start to put pressure on the political figures to make positive changes with a lot of the problems that I mentioned. So that […]
“I know that my grandfather, when my father, the oldest of, I think five total was born, they were still living in West Oakland on the rail yard. So for the first year of his life, my father lived in this little shack on the southern Pacific railroad yard. My grandfather was just saving up […]
“Oakland has always been a place for original thinkers. I definitely feel lucky to have come up in it and to have been able to soak up all that inspiration from the streets and from music, from everything. But to me being an Oakland Native is loving this town, understanding this town from how grimy […]
“My buddy, he has this good definition of gentrification and it’s where people come into a place and try to change it to what they want it to be or to something near. So some people they want to make West Oakland, San Francisco East, but it’s not San Francisco East, it’s West Oakland. So […]
“People have very short memories, especially as progress happens, they forget where things start and they’re just looking towards the horizon. I think sometimes we have to turn around and look back, even though that’s discouraged, you have to turn around and look back, especially when you’re building a community, especially when it’s urban development because a city is nothing without it’s legacy and without its lineage. I encourage the newcomers and the people who are seeing the precipice of this change and supporting the precipice of this change to turn around and look back at the people who started it, look back at what made them come here. Look back at what makes investments so exciting in Oakland right now.”
“I just feel I’m super grateful to have grown up here and you know, I think this place, Oakland, California is the place that I have more roots than probably anywhere else in the world. Even China. I know that sounds crazy, but I have four generations here and I think one of the things […]
“I wish people knew that Oakland was actually more of a community. It was more of a unity kind of thing back in the day. You don’t see much of that anymore. What I would tell my new neighbors just to do their best to stay as close knit as possible.” What is your […]
“I could speak on the Falcon boys for one, as a car club that originated in 1979 in Oakland, on 96th and Birch Street, East Oakland. And that was the first car that was customized for the African Americans. After the Falcons came the Mustangs, Cougars, like Granadas, you know, Mavericks. But yeah, that’s just […]
“Oakland has a sense of medicine. Like there is a sense of healing here all the way down in the roots of the soil, in the ground from the people you meet. It to me, you’ll meet somebody, a stranger and it will feel like you’ve known them for a long time and they’ll welcome […]
