When Director Hutchinson informed me that the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education would be voting to permanently close several schools in the city, with one being West Oakland’s longest standing public schools on the proposed list, I was livid.

What is being said with these potential closures is that these kids, their education, their neighborhoods, and their futures don’t matter. With $20+ billion dollars in California budget surplus, this issue could be remedied today. We have the power to make thriving Black futures real, but it takes investment in our youth and the institutions that serve them. As elected officials whose governments have been complicit in creating and perpetuating harm, particularly in Black communities, it is our responsibility to course correct for the failures and crimes of the past.

This is why I call on the Governor to work with OUSD as well as the school districts in Inglewood, Vallejo, and South Monterey Union to stop the closures. Robust resources in communities that have been historically under-resourced is the only way we will achieve true peace in our streets.

свернуть