Word: oaklanders
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Before Columbus, an organization devoted to the promotion and distribution of multicultural literature, has an office in the Ginn House, one of 16 renovated buildings in Oakland's showcase Preservation Park. From there, I can at times envision the grand design of a multicultural nation with its capital in Oakland, America's most integrated and multicultural city, where, in some districts, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans and European Americans live side by side. But at other times I wonder whether in 20 years, blacks, finding themselves faced with soaring yellow and brown racism, might miss the uncomplicated old days...
Here is a sample of things to come: in July, Oakland's black city manager, Henry L. Gardner, came under fire from a coalition of Latino groups because Latino Americans weren't sufficiently represented among the finalists for the position of Oakland fire chief. Though Gardner was not obligated under the city charter to find a candidate from every ethnic group, he was praised for a statesmanlike gesture when he extended the search for a period of 30 days. An additional Latino candidate was found, but the job went to an African American. Lewis Butler, who resurrected an organization called...
...every case of interethnic conflict one can cite a case of cooperation. Unlike school boards in San Francisco and Berkeley, the Oakland school board rejected Houghton Mifflin textbooks that it considered racist and sexist. Though the local press and the New York Times presented the textbook opponents as raving, politically correct Afrocentrics, one of the most eloquent speeches opposing the textbook adoption was made by a Chinese American...
...have examined the evidence will disagree that Oakland is losing investments because of its image as a black-run city. In addition to its city manager, its mayor (Elihu Harris), the publisher of its leading newspaper (Robert Maynard), even the director of its symphony orchestra (Michael Morgan) are all black. Investors also shy away from Oakland because of its underground crack economy. Though drive-by shootings continue, there is evidence that the crack problem is waning, a fact overlooked by the national media. News organizations blame blacks for the drug problem and ignore the participation in the drug trade...
Despite the fire that left 5,000 homeless in Oakland last month, I would rather live here than in any other city in the country because it remains a place of promise and culture. Besides its championship sports teams, it boasts an international cuisine, rap and blues sound, and at one time or another has been home to such literary luminaries as Gertrude Stein, Jack London, Joaquin Miller, Jack Foley, Floyd Salas and Ambrose Bierce...