I believe in a bright future for our youth, but too many young people in Oakland don’t receive support to access that future — particularly young people of color.
As a longtime Fruitvale resident, I see young people pushed out of schools and into prison, and facing limited job and career opportunities. I know this first hand. Last summer, my daughter was arrested. Even though the charges were reduced to disturbing the peace and she had no prior record, her bail was set at $100,000, forcing our family into debt just to pay the 10 percent fee to a bail bond company.
When our children are marked by the criminal justice system at a young age, how are their futures forever changed? For my family, this unjust debt makes it harder to make ends meet and less possible to afford college for my daughter.
So many in our community have similar stories of mass incarceration and economic injustice shattering families. East Oakland has one of the highest incarceration rates in the Bay Area and unemployment rates are three times the county average.
While the work to stop policies and actions that perpetuate harmful systems is critical, it’s time we put resources and investment into building the world we want to live in. For my part, I teach at a school in East Oakland and run an arts business that hires local youth and reinvests in the community.
But I can only do so much on my own. That’s why I look forward to Restore Oakland — which broke ground this month — a training and community power-building center in the Fruitvale where residents can dream, organize and act together to end mass incarceration and establish real community safety and economic security.
Major social problems — from mass incarceration of people of color to segregation and unfair wages in the restaurant industry to cycles of violence and poverty — may seem unrelated. But these problems are closely interlinked.
Restore Oakland is unique because it will respond to multiple community needs in one place. A partnership between several organizations with deep community roots working in Oakland and across the Bay Area for many years, Restore Oakland is being founded by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United).
At Restore Oakland, residents will build power for themselves and their families. The center offers a range of opportunities that will make it possible to earn a better living, build toward a safe and secure East Oakland, and restore health and wholeness to our community.
Community members from across the Bay Area will be able to start new food businesses and receive training to get living-wage jobs in the fast-growing restaurant industry.
Through Restore Oakland’s organizing and advocacy campaigns, we will advocate for investment in people and away from prisons and punishment, so community members can secure good jobs and affordable housing and live in safer, more vibrant neighborhoods.
Restore Oakland will offer restorative justice — a method for diverting youth from the criminal justice system and a proven community healing model. Key partners Community Works West and Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth will lead efforts to hold youth and residents who cause harm accountable while keeping them in the community through mediation and conflict resolution.
We need to restore real community safety and justice, not more policing and punishment, for all young people in Oakland. We need to restore economic opportunity and real democracy. We must restore hope and the brighter future for our youth that they deserve.
I urge community leaders, elected officials and Oakland residents to join us to act together and lift up communities of color and working people so everyone belongs and thrives.
Tracey Bell-Borden is co-founder of the Kiss My Black Arts Collective, a group of artists who advocate for social justice equity through art.
