The Oakland A’s are considering building their new ballpark next to Laney Community College and Chinatown. While we’re glad the Oakland A’s are Rooted in Oakland, we believe that community college public land should be used for public good like affordable education and protecting cultural, historic neighborhoods.

Facilitated by Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza, our Lead East Bay cohort of social justice leaders took a deep dive into how to both interrupt and build power as needed to advance an agenda for racial justice.

What would you do with an extra $9 billion per year for California? It’s time we ask ourselves that since Californian voters may soon have the chance to close a loophole that allows large corporations like Chevron and Wells Fargo to get out of paying their fair share of taxes.

For too long, corporate interests have been prioritized above those of our communities. We can’t pass up this chance to reinvest in our schools, healthcare, affordable housing, services for youth and seniors, parks, and other programs from which we all – especially our most vulnerable community members – benefit.

Our dreams for a better community can come true. Learn how you can help build the pressure we need to close the commercial property tax loophole in Prop 13 and recover over $9 billion every year for essential services in California.

Our friends at Bay Resistance compiled resources to this weekend’s actions to lift up unity and justice, and to push back against the hate and racism of the planned white supremacists events:

The future of political change rests in the hands of millennials. Their choice to engage — or not engage — in traditional civic avenues can tip the scales for the progressive movement.

Let’s be clear: white supremacy is nothing new and People of Color have been battling white supremacy in its many forms since the time white supremacists decided to steal people’s land and bodies. Nevertheless, the sight of a mob of white supremacists holding torches lit with flames high above their heads, marching through the streets of Charlottesville was scary to watch. What is even scarier is that this mob killed Heather Heyer who was peacefully standing up to racism and fascism in this country and the police did nothing to stop this. They also did nothing to protect a Black man, Deandre Harris, from being brutally beaten with metal poles until bloody. So, who are the police really here to serve and protect?

To build a more socially just Bay Area, we recruited this amazing cohort of leaders from base-building organizations across Alameda County to our new leadership development program. By recruiting from the base, we are lifting up leaders into appointed and elected roles who have ties to a community to which they are accountable.

Oakland’s budget is a moral document and an expression of the core values of our city. Tomorrow our City Council will finalize the 2017-19 budget, so NOW is the time to take action and let them know we expect better.