#blackseed

Contact:
MJ Jones, Black.Seed

510-292-0602,[email protected]

Cayden Mak, Asians4BlackLives

248-229-9005,[email protected]

OAKLAND, CA—Activists from Black.Seed (formerly known as Black Brunch) and Asians4BlackLives are blocking the City Council meeting today to create space for community participation that was denied in the approval process for the sale of the E. 12^th Street Parcel and to hold a people’s council meeting. On the night the City Council planned a vote to approve the sale of the E. 12^th Street Parcel, activists blockaded the City Council chambers in an attempt to keep the council meeting from taking place, demanding the Council act to protect low-income residents in the Eastlake neighborhood from displacement and increased policing.

Xan West from Black.Seed and former resident of the Eastlake neighborhood said, “The inconvenience we’re causing is temporary. The real inconvenience will take place for Black and Asian Eastlake residents if the City sells the land to the luxury condo developer. These residents won’t be able to call the Eastlake neighborhood home anymore.”

Activists from Black.Seed are pressuring the Oakland City Council and Michael Johnson, the CEO of the Black-led development firm, UrbanCore LLC, to be accountable to Black residents in Oakland. “We are here to expose the limitations of identity politics. You can’t say that selling the land to a token Black developer is good for Black people. What’s good for the Black community in Oakland is a long-term plan for us to live healthy lives without police surveillance in Oakland. We want protection, not policing” said Katie Loncke, Black.Seed activist.

While the proposed sale of the E. 12^th Street Parcel would be the first to a Black-led developer in years, activists are stressing that this sale will do more harm than good to Oakland’s Black community. “Black business should not harm black people. Michael Johnson’s 100% market-rate development would increase surveillance and policing of Black communities and speed up the gentrification that is driving Black displacement from Oakland,” said Antoinette Chen See, Black.Seed activist.

Asians4BlackLives also joined the blockade, highlighting the need for Asian communities to act in solidarity with Black residents. Lynn Truong, an owner of multiple commercial properties and businesses in the area, recently deceived monolingual Asian immigrant seniors into supporting the proposed development at the Oakland Planning Commission, and Urbancore paid for transportation for the seniors to attend the Planning Commission meeting. “Lynn Truong lied about affordable housing to trick Asian immigrant seniors into supporting luxury condos that would displace them and their Black and Latino neighbors. We’re here to speak against greed that will harm our neighbors,” said Cayden Mak, Asians4BlackLives activist.

The Eastlake neighborhood in Oakland is one of the most diverse in the city—a majority people-of-color and working-class neighborhood. Activists additionally highlighted that the proposed project’s rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $3,150, a price inaccessible to the neighborhood’s current residents and a sign of rapid gentrification, which in turn will lead to increased policing.

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