OAKLAND’S BLACK LIVES MATTER (INCLUDING THOSE LIVING IN HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS) by Kheven LaGrone

West Oakland’s homeless encampments are communities of some of the city’s most vulnerable and abandoned citizens.  They are predominately African-Americans raised—and some even born—in Oakland.  Gentrification displaced them and left them homeless in their own hometown.  

The West Oakland Business Alert group is an association between the City of Oakland and the West Oakland Commerce Association (WOCA).  Its main goal is to create a better environment for West Oakland residents and to help retain businesses as well as to attract new businesses to the area.  However, they dehumanized the people in the West Oakland encampments in writing.  They created a list titled “Barriers to Economic Development and Business Retention in Oakland.”  The official City of Oakland logo was at the top of the page.  They placed people in the homeless encampments, along with illegal dumping, excessive blight, graffiti and hazardous material on public streets and sidewalks.

The City of Oakland’s Economic and Workforce Development Department held three Business Alert meetings in West Oakland from April to June 2016.  The meetings focused on “homeless encampments mitigation strategies for neighboring businesses.”  The meetings included other departments of the City of Oakland (including the Port department of the City of Oakland) and the Coast Guard. The Economic and Workforce Development Department did not include whether or not any Oakland citizens living in the encampments had a voice in the meetings. 

What were the “homeless encampment mitigation strategies”?  Can any “mitigation” be done without input from citizens living in those encampments?  How was Oakland, along with WOCA, really working to protect and serve its most vulnerable citizens living in the encampments?  One of the people living in the encampment, an Oakland native, told me that he and others in the encampment were told they had to move. He said they were offered no relocation support.  They were not told where else they could go. Ironically, the City of Oakland had declared a shelter crisis earlier this year and knew the displaced people had nowhere to go.

The staff person at the City who coordinated the meetings has retired. On September 27, 2016, the City of Oakland’s Community and Economic Development Committee, a subgroup of the City Council, met.  Several members of the West Oakland Commerce Association came and asked the city to assign another staff member to help with the Business Alert. 

George Burtt, speaking for the West Oakland Commerce Association, told the Committee that he had given them the list of barriers. He pointed out that he felt that “homeless, dumping, . . .” made it hard to attract new businesses to West Oakland.  According to Burtt, it also made it hard to attract workers because people drove pass a business and never came in. But the homeless are neighbors, not trash.  Perhaps West Oakland Commerce Association should focus on employing neighbors living in or the area around the encampments. Then they could attract businesses that serve these neighbors as well, like dollar stores.

For years, Oakland official led us to believe that gentrification was to include Oakland’s African-American communities; however, watching that meeting highlighted the reality of gentrification’s racial inequality.  Most of the people in the encampments are native African Americans displaced by gentrification; the members of the West Oakland Commerce Association who spoke at the meeting were white.  They wanted to further gentrify West Oakland and labeled the people living in the encampments as barriers to their goal. In effect, that gentrification would further hurt, not benefit, African-Americans citizens living in the encampments. The racism of West Oakland gentrification had been implicit and systemic; however, the racial makeup of the encampments made it visible and obvious.  The West Oakland Commerce Association asked the City to continue to support this racism.

Contrary to the requests made by the West Oakland Commerce Association, the City should not attract or retain businesses that dehumanize, disrespect or ignore a community of West Oakland native African Americans.  The City of Oakland must not support derogatory labeling of anyone, including West Oakland citizens living in the homeless encampments.  They are full citizens of Oakland. If the City of Oakland is involved with the economic development, it must benefit the people in the encampments not dehumanize them in order to attract people and business and workers from outside West Oakland. 

Any “mitigation” of homeless encampments must benefit the encampments.  They must be fully vocal and visible in order to be served.  Oakland should support entrepreneurs in the encampments.  Businesses can come to the encampments for day workers.  People living in the encampment can be a source of labor for contractors working on City of Oakland construction projects.  Oakland can support people collecting cans, bottles and other recyclables that help keep the neighborhood clean. In fact, WOBA should use its business acumen to raise money to provide shelter.  WOBA can also help produce a positive atmosphere by serving breakfasts, providing water and interacting directly with the people in the encampments.