UpFront

Meet three of the young Black organizers behind Oakland anti-police brutality marches. Plus, Black athletes raise their voices on equity & racism

0:08 – NFL commissioner Roger Goodell published an “apology” video recognizing that athletes have the right to protest, and didn’t mention Colin Kaepernick’s name once. Dr. Harry Edwards, professor emeritus of sociology at UC Berkeley, and one of the lead organizers calling for a black athletes’ boycott of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, joins us to talk about racism in pro sports. Plus, Amira Rose Davis (@mirarose88) is an Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies at Penn State, where she focuses on race, sports, and politics. She co-hosts the feminist sports podcast, Burn it All Down, and in her latest episode, she highlights 11 black women athletes who are speaking out on the moment of mass uprisings we’re in.

0:34 – The Sustainable Economies Law Center says businesses which are transforming into worker-owned cooperatives are “weathering the storm” of Covid-19 better than privately-owned shops. We take listener calls on cooperative ownership of businesses, and how racism affects private financing and capital, with Ricardo Nunez and Gregory Jackson. Nunez is director of economic democracy at SELC. Jackson is the director of Repaired Nations, a project that focuses on building wealth in Black communities through cooperative models, and works with cooperatives underway in East and West Oakland.

1:08 – SF Supervisor Dean Preston is proposing making the city’s Covid-19 eviction ban permanent. What does this mean for tenants?

1:20 – Oakland civil rights attorneys are suing the city over its use of tear gas and rubber bullets on June 1 to attack a group of protesters, that included members of a 15,000-person-strong peaceful youth march. We talk with longtime activist Walter Riley.

1:34 – Who are the young black leaders calling for anti-police brutality actions in the East Bay right now? Meet Akil Riley, Luna, and Jadyn Polk.