The pandemic and looming budget cuts threaten the future of public transit in the East Bay. Jovanka Beckles is running for AC Transit Board on a platform of free, safe, and environmentally sustainable public bus service.

The Oakland school district is threatening to reopen on Aug. 10 without adequate provisions for student safety and technology needs. Now teachers in OEA are bargaining for the lives of students, families, and teachers.

Oakland has one of the only school police forces in the country. The Black Organizing Project is leading the charge to abolish cops in OUSD.

On Juneteenth, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union organized a shutdown of all West Coast ports. The action is of a piece with the union’s radical history.

Oakland’s scandal-ridden police department has long sucked up money that could be going to public services. Community members are demanding that the city gets its priorities straight.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has publicly supported Black Lives Matter and pledged money to support Oakland schools. But Dorsey’s wealth has come from displacing Black and working-class residents and undermining public services.

While the Richmond police take 40% of the city budget, libraries that were once vibrant community centers endure cut after cut. A budget vote this week could save the libraries.

The cost of policing is exacted first and foremost in the damage to Black lives—and second in an enormous drain on public resources. Every dollar spent on police is a dollar not spent on schools and city services.

On June 1, student organizers drew thousands of people in Oakland to protest the murder of George Floyd by police. Youth took the stage and sent a powerful message to the world: they demand justice and they aren’t backing down.

Efforts at “reform” eat up money while failing to stop racist police violence. We need to defund the Oakland Police Department.