Dear Stanford, what about MLK?

      “Action expresses priorities.”  This quote comes from nonviolent leader, Mohandas Gandhi.  This past Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, as I read a “San Jose Mercury News” article entitled: “At Stanford, King’s legacy lives in what was supposed to be its temporary home,” by Lisa M. Krieger (https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/01/20/at-stanford-kings-legacy-lives-in-what-was-supposed-to-be-its-temporary-home/), I realized that Gandhi’s words still ring true.  Dr. Clayborne Carson, History Professor at Stanford University and Director of The Martin Luther King Jr., Research and Education Institute and The Martin Luther King Papers Project (since 1985), is interviewed in the article.

  

Photo credit: kinginstitute.stanford.edu

The mission of “The Papers Project” is this: “To publish the definitive fourteen-volume edition of The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., a comprehensive collection of King's most significant correspondence, sermons, speeches, published writings, and unpublished manuscripts.”  As I did a little more research, I learned that “The Papers Project” is not only an arm of the The King Center, in Atlanta, Georgia, but that the late Coretta Scott King, personally invited Dr. Carson to lead the initiative (https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/about-papers-project)!  In short, the Mercury news article documents the anxiety that Dr. Carson feels (with his own retirement on the horizon) in wondering what will become of the Project.  Simply stated, “The Papers Project” has been “temporarily” housed in a portable on Stanford University’s campus, for the past 34 years.  I am in agreement with Dr. Carson, that “King’s legacy deserves better.”

Photo credit: SCOPE2035 (Student protest signs, February 2018)

Photo credit: Google.com

As I began to process this reality, I came to realize that the current state of affairs regarding “The Papers Project” perpetuates racial inequality as it pertains to access of university resources. Therefore, it is undoubtedly a looming example of both structural and institutional racism, in the United States, no matter how subtle.  I find it hard to believe that I would be writing this article if a white male were the subject of conversation.  And yet, just two months earlier, Stanford withdrew its application for a 17-year expansion plan, the largest proposed development in the history of Santa Clara County.  I submit that if a university has the financial means to expand its campus at this magnitude, it certainly has the resources to properly house The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project.  In fact, “The Papers Project” has been in existence double the amount of years that it would have taken Stanford to expand their campus, had the university not withdrawn its development application this past November.  This fact alone is most certainly appalling, to say the least! 

In summary, Stanford proposed to build 550 units of on-campus housing with an estimated 9,500 person increase in its student population.  However, student advocacy groups such as Stanford Coalition for Planning an Equitable (SCOPE) 2035 (https://scope2035.weebly.com/), aimed to push the university to not only increase the number of student housing units within its development application, but to also contribute their “fair share” of housing to largely overlooked populations in the housing discussion such as Stanford’s service workers and some of the most vulnerable populations in surrounding cities in the region (such as East Palo Alto residents) – who would no doubt be displaced, had this 3.5 million square foot project received a green light from the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.  

Photo credit: SCOPE2035 (Student activist speaking to Palo Alto City Council January 2019, about Stanford's proposed expansion and its housing impacts)

As I expanded my research on “The Papers Project” being “temporarily” housed in a portable on Stanford’s campus, I realized that there was a link between this situation and the university withdrawing its application for a 17-year expansion plan.  I realized that at the crux of both of these issues was/is Stanford’s unwillingness to build sufficient housing, much less its unwillingness to prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable populations within their reach.  

Photo credit: SCOPE2035 (Student protester)

For this reason, I submit that perhaps Stanford can currently ignore the needs of the marginalized people which King fought for (like service workers and historically disenfranchised communities), because for decades, they have ignored the legacy of Dr. King, himself. If one does not honor a leader of marginalized people, he or she will not honor marginalized communities—for they are one and the same.  The reason that the building where “The Papers Project” is located can sit neglected for 34 years, is because it is indicative of the university’s priorities.  Dear Stanford, Dr. King needs adequate and dignified housing, now. And so do the communities for which he fought.

With urgency,

Kyra Brown, M.Div., East Palo Alto

#SCOPE2035 #EastPaloAlto #HousingCrisis #StanfordUniversity #MLKPapersProject #KingInstitute

Oakland's #510Day highlights displacement

Nita Bee and Leon Sykes are two community organizers from Oakland who planned #510Day in May. The goal of the gathering was three-fold: to stand up against displacement, to celebrate Oakland’s history and culture and to foster a sense of pride. We spoke about a week after the event. Here is what they had to say:

Flyer: Courtesy of @510Day

Q (uestion): What inspired you to start #510Day and what did you hope to achieve?

Leon: #415Day -- an event put on by people born and raised in San Francisco, meaning long-term residents. It was a celebration of a working-class community of color and its rich culture.

Nita: We started #510Day in 2016. I saw it as an opportunity to send a message. At one point, signs were being put up around Lake Merritt stating that groups of people (of 12 or more) could not assemble at the lake without a permit -- even though it was public space! The first year, 200 people showed up. This year, at least 1,500.

Q: I understand that an Anti-Displacement March was part of this event, can you tell me more about that?

Leon: The march was fully the youth's idea! We adults supported, but the youth brought out 150 young people and came up with the hashtag: #WeStillHere. Meaning, we still congregate and we are still a driving force in the culture of Oakland. The culture here is full of black folks, Latinx folks, Asian folks.

Nita: And Oakland has a huge population of Native American folks! My teenage daughter was involved in organizing the march. Four organizations were also involved: Urban Peace Movement, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, United Roots and an Asian and Pacific Islander grassroots organization: AYPAL.

Q: Did you have other hashtags for this event? Did you intend to make it go viral?

Leon: The other hashtags were: #OaklandAgainstGentrification and #TownBizness. A lot of media coverage that the event received was because of the whole #BBQBecky incident at Lake Merritt last summer. A white woman called the Oakland police (in tears) because two black men were simply having a barbecue (#BBQnWhileBlack). I would say that the incident proved why #510Day is necessary. At the end of the day, it was the youth who put on for their city!

Nita: The work that the youth did in organizing this Anti-displacement March is something that will be a driving force (politically) for the years to come [smile]!

Photo: @The.Root

Q: What are some of the housing struggles that residents are facing here in Oakland? Have you encountered housing policy issues at the city government level when trying to organize and address housing struggles? 

Nita: Illegal evictions happen, here. But many people don't realize that as tenants they have rights or either they lack the resources to fight eviction cases. There are also no regulations in place (rent control) to keep the rents affordable for working class people of color. Or to take it a step further, when developers come to town, they aren't mandated to have a certain percentage of low-income units in a given project -- or if they do, they can buy their way out of it. Also, many people that did buy their homes lost them due to predatory lending. So there are a lot of policy issues.  

Leon: Oakland has a Rent Board. I have gone to some of their meetings. But where they were receiving 2-3 cases a year regarding illegal evictions, they are now receiving 100 or more cases per year. This means that by the time many of these cases are able to addressed, families have already been displaced. Also, many jobs in Oakland don't provide a living wage which means that even with a full-time job, many people still can't afford to pay the high cost of rent. Gentrification is an attack on working-class people. This is why I say, gentrification is violence.

Q: What advice would you give to Bay Area communities, like East Palo Alto, daily facing the threat of displacement?

Nita: Don't move. Don't sell your land. Land is life. Take up space.

Leon: First, I want to clarify something. We are anti-gentrification, not anti-new-to-Oakland. There’s a difference. Advice? I’d say, there's strength in numbers. It’s the Warriors’ motto [smile], it’s very important to remember and it’s vital to our existence. Keep organizing. We from the Bay (Area) and the radical is in us! We have to remind folks that #WeStillHere in EPA! We have to remember who we are.

#SanFrancisco #Oakland #EastPaloAlto #HousingCrisis #AffordableHousing #StopDisplacement #DisplacedLane #DevelopmentWithoutDisplacement #SiliconValley #Gentrification #WeStillHere #StrengthInNumbers