Client News
On Monday, more than 100 people gathered at Fremont High School to grieve and remember David Sakurai, an OUSD carpenter shot on campus in September. The day was just as much about hope and honor as sorrow. Organized by Urban Peace Movement, the vigil took place around the new pergola built by Sakurai’s fellow carpenters and included African and Native American rituals to honor him and all ancestors. According to his wife, Anne Okamura, Sakurai wasn’t concerned with vengeance. He believed in preventative measures and racial justice, not punishment and incarceration. His murder inspired Okamura to get more involved in Urban Peace Movement’s work to promote community healing and alternatives to punitive criminal justice policies. More about the vigil, and David Sakurai, in the San Francisco Chronicle, Oaklandside, and KTVU.
“There is kind of this mythology about people leaving and running off to some country or something when they’re facing charges…what is happening is that low-income folks, and particularly Black people, Brown people, low-income folks, are being caged pretrial.” Black mothers, sisters, aunts, girlfriends, wives, daughters, and partners serve as the lynchpin in their communities and bear the emotional, financial, and often physical burdens of incarceration. Essie Justice Group, an organization that works with women who have incarcerated loved ones, recently led the California action as part of the National Bail Out effort’s annual Mama’s Day Bail Out action, bailing out three Black mothers so they could spend Mother’s day with their families, not behind bars.
Listen to Essie Founder and Executive Director Gina Clayton-Johnson’s conversation with Marc Lamont Hill for the Grio, and read her piece for Yes! Magazine. More information about Essie’s 6th annual Black Mama’s Bail Out Day, and the National Bail Out campaign, at the 19th, KTVU, Yahoo! News, the Davis Vanguard, the San Francisco Chronicle, KCBS Radio, San Diego Voice, Sacramento Observer, Free Speech TV, and Rising Up With Sonali.
Change Learning Hub
The Change Consulting team shares tips, tricks, wisdom, and lessons learned from working with changemakers to advance racial justice.
This week, the Change Consulting team came together to process, discuss, and begin to unpack Angela Glover Blackwell’s piece for SSIR, “How We Achieve a Multiracial Democracy.” Our work to make a just democracy and economy possible is grounded in the framework she offers for understanding our nation’s true history and the need to shape a new story for the United States, one that recognizes the roots of anti-Black racism, how it has evolved to impact all of us, and how it shows up today. And we are inspired by the path forward that she paves with multiracial solidarity and extensive examples of the equity-focused work happening across the country towards a multiracial democracy that serves all of us. We would love to hear your thoughts on the article; join our conversation by tagging us on social media: on Twitter @changeco_; on Facebook @ChangeConsultingLLC; on Instagram @ChangeConsulting; on LinkedIn @meetchange.