BERKELEY NAACP
RACE, EQUITY & GENTRIFICATION
"The Politics and Control of Black Bodies"
SPEAKERS - COMMUNITY CONVERSATION - ACTION
**City of Oakland Councilmember Desley Brooks**
**Black Lives Matter Panel Discussion**
SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 2015
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
South Berkeley Senior Center - 2939 Ellis Street, Berkeley CA
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Brooks’ Victory for Oakland’s New Department of Race and Equity - Community support for historic measure garnered council’s unanimous vote
By Ashley ChambersPosted June 26, 2015 3:35 pm
After months of debate, the City Council unanimously voted this week to create a Department of Race and Equity to address systemic racism and inequality in the City of Oakland.
This victory for the Department of Race and Equity makes Oakland one of few cities around the country, along with Portland and Seattle, that have created departments to ensure equality and fairness for all residents.
Among other issues, the department will need to look at unequal enforcement of city zoning policies, said Brooks.
“It’s the planning and the zoning decisions that have allowed for auto body shops to be next door to somebody’s house, that allow for environmental issues to impact communities of color, that allow for West Oakland to have (a higher) asthma rate because of the bad conditions,” she said.
“We need a Department of Race and Equity because we have normalized the conversation of race,” Brooks said.