I
AY 30-JUNE 5,1
4
THE CITIZE
P
GETHA£E
I
'OAKLA
D IS MISSISSIPPI I
I
I
�
1
lOr
•
•
ct
0
IZ
r
ro
Submitted by UIauu Howe
7622 I1hur Blvd.
Ollkllmd, C4 94605
OAKLAND, C - A city lth
�ority ��c population d city
council, d B c mayor, the city
recently lauded "most integrated"
m .. Ten thousand hornel
B peopl wander the streets or hole
up in one of the city-owned boarded
up hou , forced to' live like animals.
On Friday, 0 em 18, e bodi
of a 33 y old B c mother and her
9 year old IOD, Joyce and Jeffrey Wh I·
ere found in ch a building dead
om e po re and malnutrition. These
d are t 0 of many. City develop-
Dt p call for . ocating thousands
more, pushing Blae orker out and
loptna Oakland
d ter.
FrancISCO
Overtown residents
national TV: "The 0 y e can get
justice i if e go in th street and get
it over I ,.
The peop e of Oakland are building
movement ddressing the root ca
of the prob ems, and calling for Blac
community control. Since July 1983,
organizars from the Uhuru Ho (Free-
B
dom House) and the nounding Bl c
community have seized an abandoned
d fixed it up to ho a home-
Black mother and her children,
built a tent city in city park frequented
by home Black people ho then
organized a park council to get rid of
dru pushers, and rved over 10,QOO
m from tb Joyce and Jeffrey eler
Free Food Program in a two month
period.
This mo ement brought the i of
homel to national- attention lth
featur following the aban
takeo ere
Every on of the projects
pported by hundreds of peop , Blac
and bite, from throughout the San
Francisco Bay Area in the form of food,
equipment and cash donations, volun
teerin and particip tion in rallie,
marche 1 gal help, letters and phone
h
o
for
The Twin Citie Branch of the
.A.A.C:P. will be·ce ebrating the 75th
anniversary (1909-1984) of th national
iation ith special .A.A.C:P •
. Freedom Fund Banquet at 6:00 p.m. on
Friday, June 15 at the Ram da Inn in
Benton Harbor, ccording to the local
pre ident, ary R. DeFoe.
"This year' program promi to be
one of the be ever," id s. DeFoe.
TIl guest spe er for the event will be
Attorney rgaret Bush Ilson, former
ational .A.A.C.P. Bo rd Chairperson,
ho stirred m [or controversy within the
ranks hen I she uspended Executive
Director, Benjamin Hoo last year .
ilson, who re 'de in St. Loui ,
uri, rved nine term as Chair-
per n of th ..A.A.C�. ational Board T." •. .:" .... , •• '"
of Director . She . currently a nior
partner in the firm of iIson, ith
d cCullin in St. Lou' �
Ticket for the banquet are S 16.00 for
dult and 12.00 for tudents and nior
citizens. They can be purchased at any of
the following locations in Benton Harbor:
Twin Citie Area Chamber of Commerce;
Bunting House of Flo ers; Betty's
Cleaners; All-Time Pe Control; and
Pitt burgh Paints Service Cent r on
-139.
calls to the city government. Every
project viciou y attacked by the
police, causing iojurie and destroying
property. Over 50 arre have been
made. any charge have been later
dropped legally invalid.
The late development. of ,this move
merit' call for Oakland Summer
Project, . mode d af er the ... ppi
Summer Project organized by the Stu
dent on-Vic nt Coordinating Com
mi ttee to bring supporte from all 0 r
the U.s. to help build the Civil Righ
o ement in· 964.
Omo efing, Oakland Summer
Project orsanifer: "Oakland is like every
other city. But in Oakland, e are
building a mo ment hich will em
po er Black people and inspire Black
people everywhere to build programs in
our own interest. e all know something
. terribly ODg. H you want to do
mething about it, come to Oakland
and participate in the Oakland Summer
Project this June and July. Help create
the solutions and build the peop '5
movement. "
The Summer Project is ppealing to
BI ck organizer and cultural or ers
as well as white ctivists and students
to come to Oakland. Local planning
committees for volunteers have been t
up in Brooklyn, New York; St. Peter
burg, Florid; Seattle, Washington, well
as nearby communities such Santa
Cruz and Eugene. "Twenty years ago this
summer," Omali Yeshitela, one-time
S CC. leader from Florida and pte nt
leader of the struggle in Oakland and the
Black movement in the U.s., states,
"eight hundred volunteers poured into
Misstssi'ppi to help our people IJl e
critical dvances in the organizing wor
in the rural are and to take b ck ero
the land the realities they had learned
in ... ppi. ow our people are
mainly in the cities, often in the orth,
and still catching hell. The Oakland
Summer Project ill be an eye-opner,
will allow many progressive to go beyond
discussion, study, and intellectual en-
. de vor, to roll up their sleeves and
o
.f I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I �
I
I
I
I
arn the real wor of building rno -
ment at the community 1. e ha a
. strong Black community ·th a proud
history, and we have . solidarity mo
ment in th hite community hich
provides crucial resourc and political
pport." .
Projects will include helping to build
a Freed-om School, a free medical c
and building community involvement
with the current progr from the
Uhuru Hou ,the Burning Spear Com
munity Graphic School, and Afri
People's Free Childcare CoIuec:�tiYles
Participants will do community organi
zing for tenant' right and or to et
out the vote for Community Control
Housing Initia . e.
Volunteers will undergo training
ion in regional center befo e coming
to Oakland. A reunion and commemor
tion -of ississippi Freedom Summer .
planned for June .
c
QUET PLANNERS: Prep· for Twin City Area Bnne AACP'
. ersary of MCP committee mben. Seated, from eft, are: Dr. J ,p
e Rev. Ellis HuB Sr., public relatio ; ill B b, banquet chairman; Leonard Smit, p tro
.�- book; d Dr. Hanel Taylor, e plann.ina. quet will held J
ada Inn. Tic etl, S16 for adults S12 for entl and senior citize ,may be pure
of Commerce, Bunf Ho of Flo ft, Betty's a� ft, AII·T· Pe Control and Pittsb I
pictured· Branch President DeFoe. (H-P Photo)