Fighting the Mis-Education in Special Education

“No parent wants their child to be mislabeled. I refused to accept that and they learned the hard way that I was not that parent they could play with.” – Joy Elan.

Joy Elan is an Oakland based writer with a daughter who was misdiagnosed in her previous school as autistic. Elan describes why it was important for her to challenge that label while describing the years long effort to change take the label off her daughters school record.

Read More

Moms 4 Housing Are Not Taking Your Homes

I’ve been standing in the middle of a homeless crisis, watching how everyone is responding to it. On one side are the politicians talking, taking too long to do anything about it. On the other side, we have groups of activists and organizations taking care of homeless encampments helping them relocate, spilling onto the city hall steps near the line where the politicians stand.

Read More

White Privilege Used to Fight Racially Charged Harassment at Lake Merritt

“She was saying things like, ‘We weren’t welcome in the area of the lake.’ She told me and Deacon that she owned Lake Merritt. Also, she said we were not welcomed to be there. I felt like she was saying Blacks weren’t welcome,” Smith said.

Read More