Jerry Browns Crusade Against Oakland Artists

Jerry Browns Crusade Against Oakland Artists

Local Artists Under Attack Are Fighting Back

By Lynda Carson June 21, 2003

Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown displaced a small number of Oakland artists from the loft he moved into when first moving into town a few years back and his crusade against local artists continues to fuel community anger and distrust.

The artists and residents of the Alice Arts Center charge that; last year alone, Mayor Jerry Brown spent $1.5 million of taxpayer dollars to renovate the basement of the Alice Arts Center to create a home for his private charter school known as the School for the Arts at the expense of the artists and residents already occupying the same location.

The Mayor is the chair person of the School for the Arts, and had many different locations to choose from in Oakland to set up his charter school in. After years of hard work by local artists making a huge success out of the Alice Arts Center, the Mayor decided to flex his muscle and he placed his own school into the heart of all the existing programs now being disrupted at the center.

During a meeting with Mayor Jerry Brown in April of 2003, the Arts Center organizations and residents were informed that he plans to move them out of their location with in the next 6-9 months in favor of expanding his year old charter School for the Arts.

Outraged by the Mayors hostile take-over of the Alice Arts Center and it's budget, the arts organizations & residents have decided to stay and fight this proposed displacement that is attacking the foundation of artistic freedom in Oakland.

The residents and artists at the Alice Arts Center quickly formed the Artists Coalition to take their battle directly back to the Mayor and they have galvinized community support to get the Mayor off of their backs. The Artists Coalition came to life in 2003 as a united front of artists and residents attempting to save the Alice Arts Community Center from the greedy ambitions of Mayor Jerry Brown.

On Tuesday May 27, during a hot afternoon blistering heat wave, hundreds of artists marched from the Alice Arts Center along the14th street corridor to descend upon City Hall in an effort to confront the Mayor and his underhanded policies that continue to undermine the local community of artists, dancers and musicians.

Led by a throng of Congolese drummers and others mastering fine percussion instruments that were filling the air-waves with sounds of wonderful rythmic harmonies, the crowd of nearly 300 artists, dancers, activists and supporters marveled the local on-lookers running out of the community small businesses to see what all the commotion was about.

The moment was electric, as the excitement of the crowd built more momentum into their mission to bring this struggle to the Mayors front door outside of City Hall. The joy in the glistening faces of the crowd was a sight to see, as the colorful mass of determined people disrupted the auto traffic along the way, and brought their message like a throng of thundering angels from on-high to the den of politicians that have been selling Oakland down the river to the highest bidder these many past years.

The crowd barely skipped a beat as it reached City Hall to completely fill the circle in front of the entranceway used by the deal makers and their corporate friends looking for angles to exploit this city by any means necessary.

Speaker after speaker denounced the policies of Mayor Jerry Brown, and charge that he has left the Alice Arts Center and it's residents in shambles due to the neglect of not maintaining the property and the negative impact due to the funding of the Arts Center being siphoned off to support the Mayors own Charter School.

The speakers went on to denounce the Mayor for his policies that have displaced the poor renters and artists from the city of Oakland since he came into office, and vowed to fight him all the way on this one.

Councilwoman Nancy Nadel came out of City Hall to speak up in support of the demonstrators, and then told them to keep the noise down because they were trying to conduct business inside of City Hall.

The moment she left, the stunned crowd came back to life and ignored the ridiculous request of the Councilwoman. One of the maestros of the crowd declared that they have a sound permit, and that no one had the right to keep them quiet at a time like this!

Despite the serious nature of the event, it was like being at a festival of the arts with colorful dancers keeping pace with all of the rythem makers, where much of the crowd seemed to know one another or was quickly introduced to others in the community.

In another blow to this colorful world of artists, on Sunday June 15, 2003 an e-mail of great sadness was rapidly spreading across the planet that said; Hi everybody, I have some sad news to report today. Our dear Malonga passed away last night in a tragic car accident. A drunk driver was going the wrong way and collided with his car at great speed. He died instantly. So
sorry to have to bring the sad news to you. Prayers, prayers, prayers...Frederique

Famed Congolese dancer Malonga Casquelourd, created his own dance troupe, Fua Dia Congo, which practices in the Alice Arts Center, was struck and killed on Father's Day by a suspected drunken driver not far from the Alice Arts Center in Oakland.

In memory of Casquelourd, age 55, on Thursday June 19 2003, about 600 people showed up at the Alice Arts Center to honor the achievements of the man who turned Congolese dancing into an art form across the United States. Malonga Casquelourd was also an accomplished choreographer and drummer that will be missed by many around the globe.

Thousands of people have utilized the existing programs at the Alice Arts Center, compared to the 100 students being stuffed into the Mayors charter school down in the basement which is totally seperate from all of the other programs being offered at the center. The resident artists charge that the Mayors charter school disrupts the rest of the Alice Arts Center on a daily basis.

With 50 residents and 22 organizations operating from within, the Alice Arts Center has been home to the multicultural arts community of Oakland for more than 20 years, and has grown ever since a charter was drawn by Mayor Lionel Wilson in 1987, allocating the Alice Arts Center to the people of Oakland and the Arts Community. There are 74 residential units available for the artists to reside in, many of which need work due to the negligence of city officials, the artists and residents said.

The residents and artists charge that the policies of Mayor Jerry Brown have put them all at risk of being displaced if there is not a serious challenge to the Mayors plan to enlarge the charter school that took over the basement space at the Alice Arts Center a year ago.

A recent June 12, 2003 Press Release from the Mayors Office declared that the expansion of the Mayors charter school at the Alice Arts Center is no longer being considered, and that Mayor Brown is considering moving the charter school to another location inside the old Fox Theater on Telegraph Avenue. Estimates are that it would cost nearly $80 million to restore the Fox Theater during Oaklands current fiscal budget crisis, and observers believe that the Mayor is not being serious and is only stalling for time in hopes that the demonstrators go away.

According to Theo Williams of the Artists Coalition at the Alice Arts Center; "We still have a fight with the Mayor, and theres no reason to stop fighting for the poor renters and artists of Oakland". Theres no guarentees or nothing in writing to save the Alice Arts Center, Williams said. The Mayor claims to be leaving, but, hidden in the city budget for the new fiscal year theres enough money being designated to the Mayors charter school to show otherwise. Williams says, theres half a million dollars hidden in what is called non-departmental funds slated for the Mayors charter school, with none of that money to be allocated for the Alice Arts Center. The new fiscal year in Oakland starts on July 1, 2003.

We are all still at risk of being evicted, and having the Alice Arts Center being mismanaged due to the greedy ambitions of Mayor Jerry Brown makes matters all the worse, Williams said.

A June 24th rally has been scheduled to appear at Oakland City Hall from 4pm-6pm, where the supporters of the evictees plan to unite the cause of the Artists of the Alice Arts Center with the Pacific Renaissance Plaza renters who also face evictions because of back-room deals the City of Oakland has been caught up into. The planned rally is scheduled to head into a committee hearing room of the City Council to seek a resolution to stop the evictions.

For more information, contact Just Cause at;
510-763-5877

For more information about the Alice Arts Center fight, call;
510-839-4301

For more information about the Pacific Renaissance fight, call APEN at;
834-8920