New Year Comes to Wood Street!

January 14, 2018
Curbside Community Members Looking Forward on the New Year!
By Wanda Sabir

With the New Year comes new perspectives and perhaps change for the better for all of

us.  One of our friends on Wood Street told us this morning that the words "homeless" and “encampment” were negative. Instead Mavin proposed "curbside community."

After she and her friends grabbed their coffee and meal, they all sat on the curb to eat.

Mavin

Ms. Mavin, chic and sharp is always full of ideas and surprises. She is also always positive and forward thinking.  This morning, I found out that she and my elder daughter share a birthday, if not age (smile).

What made the first breakfast of the year so refreshing and wonderful was the camaraderie and energy exchange between friends. I saw a few new faces and everyone was really pleasant. Mr. Lee got up today and I was able to give him his Christmas card.  I’d had it in my car for a few weeks, so today I gave him a combined holiday greeting: “Happy New Year” and “Merry Christmas.”

Another brother who rides a bike, came back for more food. He always makes me laugh, especially when we are negotiating around candy. He picked up the bowl and pretended to pour it into his pocket. He is so funny. The gentleman that he is, he took items to his friends who didn’t come out: toiletries and other nonperishable items.

Walking to see Mavin's Design

Mavin shares her plan for the space

Construction Zone

However, he didn’t take them breakfast and well. . . .

He says the women ate it all.  Unfortunately, all the coffee was gone, so I suggested he get some more chocolate, since it had caffeine too.

We both smiled.

I always try to get candy for the holidays, which means Valentine’s Day candy and cards for next time. Sometimes Kwalin designs cards for us with the Auset Movement signature.

Auset Movement: Wanda R., Tobaji, Irv (Azikiwe), Lubia
photo credit:W. Sabir

The morning was warm and clear and pretty. I miss Denise's tables and chairs. They were cute. People could pause and sit and enjoy a hot meal before riding off or going back to an isolated room. We would sit and eat and talk. This was back when we were at 35th and Peralta. We will have to invest in a few such tables. The tables seated 2 people each and we had two of them. It would be nice to have enough tables for 4-8 people to sit and eat as opposed to sitting on the curb.

I really missed the conversations I’d have with people as they ate, the rain coming down on the freeway overpass overhead-- a soothing sound despite the chill. I remember getting wet and running to get in the car and turning on the heater.  Sometimes we'd have to go find people to give the extra meals too. More often than not, this is when I'd get wet-- jumping in and out of the car at Jefferson Park or on Brush or Castro.  Then and now, Wood Street doesn't have cover so when it rains we can’t visit because there is no cover.

Back then, before the City of Oakland Compassionate Communities Project, the folks on 35^th and Peralta would tell us they didn’t need certain items, when they realized we were headed from there to Wood Street because those without protection from the elements needed the blankets and tarps and gloves, shoes and hats more. I worry about Curbside communities, specifically this one, when we have rainstorms and high winds.[1]

Mavin looked really elegant, I believe there was lace on her dress bodice and her jacket went below her waist the cut like a tuxedo. She always looks classy.

Wanda and Tobaji were back with their steaming pots of pinto beans, rice and home-fries. The potatoes were sprinkled with cumin and there were also cinnamon rolls, boiled eggs, dark roasted coffee (which most folks took black). We also had Kwalin's breakfast sausage.

The crew was made up of a couple new folks: Irv was back from last month. I think he travels farthest, all the way from Vallejo. He brought hot chocolate and soup which went over well. We were also joined by a wonderful couple: Anthony and Lubia. Friends of Wanda's, they brought 50 boiled eggs and gave a helpful monetary donation. Lubia handled the store: water, toilet tissue, Compassion Bags (Karen Oyekanmi made which had feminine hygiene products, water, socks, snacks like granola bars), more socks, long underwear and flashlights. I’d made bags for the women which had battery operated lights for inside the tent. Shaped like stars, you push them on and off. I hope with get the solar lights soon. They can light an entire tent. You blow them up. I use them when camping.

Kwalin and Anthony

Kwalin and Anthony went and woke folks up. Next month we’re going to see if folks like the songs "Wake Up Everybody" and "We're a Winner."  If so, we have an Auset Movement theme song (smile).  Kwalin is also going to bring his talking drum to play.  In the past, Hassaun has played his guitar and sang. On one occasion someone said he thought he was listening to the radio.

As people joined us and socialized, DJ Kwalin hooked us up with Martin King's classic speeches which played audibly in the background. I was so busy wishing everyone Happy Martin King Weekend, a weekend we deliberate freedom, that I forgot this was the first time I'd seen them in the New Year 2018.  When I remembered, I added Happy New Year!

We had shoes for men and women. It was gratifying to see most of them taken.  We need more men's shoes. The size 10 or 11 went quickly. The women who needed shoes were able to find shoes that fit. No one seemed to need blankets. I noticed that the burned out area was still filled with debris. (Janie was not around).  The fire was in November. I think the day after Thanksgiving.  We can get a dumpster for the rest of the items after we check-in with the Curbside Community on Wood Street to see if they would like to do a clean-up day.

This is through City of Oakland: Public Works.  Citizens can adopt an area and do a clean-up. The PW drops off the dumpster and then comes back to pick it up.

Darlene asked for a tent again. I don’t know where it will go, she already has a tent; but she must really need it. This is the third time in three months she has asked. We need to get one to her. Her mother is now back on the curb. She is in a wheelchair.

We always make 50 meals.  I wasn’t counting, but we had leftovers Anthony and Lubia[2] volunteered to take to others whom they'd seen driving to the Wood Street address. Kwalin and I were happy to release this task to them (smile). After clean-up,[3] all of us went over to Mavin's home to see what she'd been working on. Her creative vision is really lovely. As we stood around inside her space, which is under construction, we could see the various rooms as she envisioned, as well as the gorgeous patio in front where the field is. Paved, the vista was really beautiful.

There is a lot more art up at the Wood Street encampment now. Taggers have been busy, along with graf artists. This strip of homes juxtaposed to the housing development about 7 blocks up advertised as luxury.

When I got off the freeway that morning and drove up Seventh Street to Wood
I noticed a small boat with the word "ANKH" painted in its side. I drove back that way to take photos and look more closely at the changes in a community I hadn’t seen in a few weeks.  

I thought about Noah's Ark" and the sculpture: “Ark of Return”[4] in New York to honor African Ancestors of the Middle Passage. Given the recent rain storm, some people might have sought refuge in this Ankh (Ark). Further up the block I saw the tag: ANKH again.

Someone is signifying. Calling names. Marking territory. The Kemetic symbol of life, Ankh signifies everlasting life. It is a cross with a loop in the handle and one sees the deities with the Ankh held near their hearts.

Is the artist calling folks out, especially those disappeared and disappearing?

The images say: Here we are and here we stay.  We were here before the invasion. Yet the immigrants speak with forked tongues and bear gifts that bite.  Remember the smallpox infested blankets? How is this translated into 21^st century vernacular?
The indigenous people remain in the air, the water, the earth – all carry the spirit of the Bottoms—Dogtown, West Oaktown.

We saw two police RV near the field where Negro League teams played. I saw restaurants on Wood and also on Mandela Parkway. There was even a line at the one eatery on Mandela, similar to what a person sees on Lakeshore or Piedmont Avenue. The new condos and townhouses look like Emeryville and West Berkeley developments. There are also nouveau-Victorian homes. One that stood out had an impressive palm tree in front of it.

It is a tale of two cities: new buildings on one side of the street, (some) restored housing on the other side of the street. I hoped the older homes were still in the families of indigenous Oaklanders. Change the people, lose the character of the homeland. Near the Ankh Ark, there was a community farm I'd never heard of. The youth grow flowers there. It is on land in front of the old 16th Street Train Station.

It is so funny, I remember taking the train from 16th Street to Los Angeles with my daughters to visit my mother and sister in LA. The train got stuck in Nevada and we couldn’t move on until the snow was cleared. It took hours to get unstuck. I don't believe we ever traveled that way again (smile).

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[1] We are still looking for a truck to pick up sandbags for the Wood Street residents. The bags help with the flooding. Each Oakland resident gets 10 bags from Public Works on Hegenberger. Sometimes we can get more.

[2] The couple reported back that the deliveries went well.

[3] Kwalin takes away our trash. We do not leave anything behind.

[4] Listen to an interview with the architect: Rodney Leon on Wanda’s Picks Radio.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZm-lFAYGus