{"id":471931,"date":"2026-09-22T12:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T12:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/471931\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T12:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T12:58:13","slug":"oakland-post-week-of-september-16-22-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/471931\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland Post: Week of September 16 \u2013 22, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jana Lang Propel Youth Reporter<\/p>\n

Youth-Led Black August Event Brings Past to Present at East Oakland Boxing Association<\/p>\n

The East Oakland Boxing Association (EOBA) and Youth Alive! came together on Aug. 21 to share with their community all that Black August means to them.\n<\/p>\n

Held on EOBA\u2019s patio at 816 98th Ave. in Deep East Oakland, the two organizations hosted their second annual Black August Experience, featuring a food tasting, financial literacy and mindfulness workshops, and voter registration with the League of Women Voters Oakland (LWV).\n<\/p>\n

Black August is known as a time to uphold the legacy of prisoners who protested their conditions by fasting, fighting, and educating themselves on the economic and political circumstances that contributed to their incarceration.\n<\/p>\n

According to its website, \u201cEOBA is a multi-service youth and community development hub that goes far beyond the ring. While rooted in the discipline of boxing, for nearly 40 years EOBA has also integrated robust programs in workforce development, food justice, afterschool enrichment, financial literacy, mentorship, and wellness.\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

The mission of Youth Alive! Is to \u201cbreak the cycle of violence, heal trauma, and uplift a thriving community of leaders, to save lives in Oakland and beyond\u201d by serving \u201cas mentors, youth leaders, counselors, case managers, intervention specialists and violence interrupters,\u201d working \u201cto help violently wounded people heal themselves and their community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through Coro California, another leadership organization serving young people across the state for 80 years, they gained a broader understanding of Black August.<\/p>\n

\"California<\/a>TrendingCalifornia Unemployment System Backlogged With Over 200,000 Claims<\/a>EOBA Executive Director Dawna Williams spoke about how much she learned about Black August from the youth who created it. \u201cI let them educate me,\u201d she said. Instead of talking about prison reform and mass incarceration, Williams and youth interns found that Black August meant so much more. \u201cWe would have done a disservice if we had just focused on who the people were and what their situation was\u2026We tried to take their message from back in the day and make it relevant to the young people today. What do they need to know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Youth interns created and placed posters around the patio to help participants understand how traditional Black foodways, civic engagement, financial literacy, and the power of education are relevant to Black resistance today.\n<\/p>\n

An EOBA member described Black August with Youth ALIVE! as \u201ca whole vibe. \u201cThis year we added the Fun Zone for the kids, because you really cannot go wrong with a Fun Zone. I also loved seeing everyone chillin\u2019 in the outdoor lounge, catching some Vitamin D and just enjoying a Friday evening together.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The food tasting, a popular event from last year, featured traditional Black foods such as black-eyed peas, johnny cakes, and fried chicken. Led by Williams, the tasting included a talk about how these traditional foods were made and why they are forms of Black resilience.\n<\/p>\n

The \u201c\u2018Plate of History\u2019 was a favorite of the online writers. \u201cFun, educational, and did I mention delicious? Our Taste of History cook, Angela Southall, served up some good eats while connecting food to history and culture.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The writer also commended the \u201cLeague of Women Voters Oakland for their civic leadership and for getting our young people informed, ready, and registered to vote.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Overall, it was a \u201cgood Friday event in East Oakland,\u201d the writer said.\n<\/p>\n

Upcoming Black August events: Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS), will host \u201cBlack August: The Arc of Liberation\u201d at Oakland City Hall on Sat. Aug. 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.\n<\/p>\n

The websites for East Oakland Boxing Association, Youth Alive! and CORO are sources for this report.\n<\/p>\n

Jana Lang is an Oakland resident, teacher, gardener and poet participating in the Propel News Initiative.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jana Lang Propel Youth Reporter Youth-Led Black August Event Brings Past to Present at East Oakland Boxing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[959,960,184,961,647,387,962,963,964,179,723,956,965,966,967,968,584,93,405,969,970,971,972,973,974,100,143,145,144,957,975,13,958,976],"class_list":["post-471931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-activism","tag-antonio-ray-harvey","tag-bay-area","tag-black-history","tag-books","tag-business","tag-california-black-media","tag-city-government","tag-commentary","tag-community","tag-crime","tag-digital-issues","tag-economics","tag-emil-guillermo","tag-entertainment","tag-equity","tag-events","tag-featured","tag-government","tag-homeless","tag-ken-epstein","tag-lifestyle","tag-local","tag-media","tag-national","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-oakland-post","tag-opinion","tag-politics","tag-post-news-group","tag-richmond"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}