By Cheo Tyehimba


Dear Mayor-elect Dellums:

Have you paid a visit to your childhood house, located at 1014 Wood Street in West Oakland lately? If so, then you've undoubtedly witnessed major construction of new residential development taking place in the neighborhood. However, as construction workers scurry about like soldier ants, soldiers of a different stripe stake their claim on nearby corners.

As a resident of this neighborhood, I've watched in horror at the spike of violence in recent weeks, noting the sad irony of drug deals and death only doors away from robust development and your old stomping grounds.

Of course, I am heartened with last week's release of your Dellums Commission, a federal report "detailing policy recommendations that can improve life options for young men of color who face social and institutional obstacles in American society." The report gives me hope that your first priority will be to address the hopelessness in the lives of many Black and Latino males currently living in your old neighborhood.

But the report, as good as it is, can't capture the level of desperation down here. You really should pay us a visit. However, before you do, you might consider a police escort and/or a bullet-proof jacket. Just last week only a few yards from your former home, at the corner of 10th and Wood, a young man reportedly armed with an assault rifle, was seen chasing and shooting at another man who was reportedly selling drugs on "his" corner. Ironically, according to police who patrol the area, many of the drug dealers that stalk the block don't even live in West Oakland.

The recent gun violence, which has included stray bullets piercing though the walls of our homes and shattering the windshields and doors of our parked cars, and has made a simple trip outside to dump the trash a potentially life-threatening experience.

As you know, poverty remains rampant throughout West Oakland; there are no major supermarkets or restaurants to speak of and very few services, unless you count the multitude of liquor stores on every corner. Yes, development has begun on the historic Central Station Project at 16th and Wood Streets, which will include hundreds of new homes. And work has begun to complete a major Black Cultural District here, community activist Marcel Diallo's "Village Bottoms" will include a health food co-op, bookstores, art studios and more. And yet, a nearby park that is fenced off because of lead contamination, speaks volumes. These days, contradictions like these are everywhere in West Oakland. It is truly a transitional community.

Of course, we know you are committed to community empowerment. As a former congressman, you fought on behalf of Oakland's citizenry for decades and we know you will be working to making a difference when you take office in January. But we can't wait until next year.

We've been to the neighborhood watch meetings, and have listened to the facile responses from over-worked police officers "showing face" at these meetings but unable to stem the violence. We know first-hand about leaving tips on the OPD "drug hotline" and being frustrated when they are never followed up. We know there are no easy answers to complex, deep-rooted social problems like generations of poverty, poor education, unemployment, drug addiction, drug dealing, and gun violence.

But we also know of social programs right here in West Oakland that have achieved great success supporting people in overcoming their circumstances. For example, Oakland's Measure Y-funded Violence Prevention Programs such as Leadership Excellence, The Mentoring Center, Youth Uprising, and other programs are all doing the work to make a difference with youth – before they are locked up for life or killed. These programs work but they need more funding.

As a writer and activist, I've been committed to this work for nearly two decades and have worked with our youth in assorted programs, both in Oakland and New York.
I am currently working with the 21st Century Foundation in New York to help launch a national campaign/agenda that unites community programs across the nation working on behalf of at-risk Black males. Still, I am clear that government programs won't solve our problems. It will take the right mix of compassion, concern, and counsel about personal responsibility to reach the current crop of "unreachable" corner boys in the community. I know they can be turned around, in time.

But time is not the problem. Being potential victims of random violence is the problem. I chose to live in West Oakland because I believed the sweat equity and community building I do now would result in a neighborhood we can all share, all love, and be proud of. However, the idea of being able to roll up one's sleeves and continue this work becomes less and less realistic when you have to dodge bullets on the daily.

So we're sending out an S-O-S to West Oakland's prodigal son. We want you to come on home. What can you do for us? For starters, a simple press conference, maybe from the stoop of 1014 Wood Street, to announce how we can all work together to reclaim and reenergize West Oakland, starting with its people.

But please don't wait until you take office in January. A few months ago, a young black male was shot and killed near 9th and Wood Streets. If the current escalation of violence continues in your old neighborhood, even you might not recognize it by next year.

Cheo Tyehimba is executive director of Forwardever Media Center, a non-profit media literacy program for at-risk youth in West Oakland.
Email: cheo@whatchusay.com.