Meeting Time: March 24, 2021 at 4:00pm PDT
The online Comment window has expired

Agenda Item

L.-1 21-0623 Public Comments on All Agenda Items - March 24, 2021.

  • 139299197738081
    Kurt Kuhwald over 3 years ago

    My name is Rev. Kurt A. Kuhwald. I am a District 3 resident. I am here as a member of both Faith Alliance for a Moral Economy, and Economic Justice 4 Black Oakland.

    I strongly support The Reparations for Black Students resolution.

    Reparations for Black Students in OUSD is a moral imperative for each of us. As a faith leader, I am praying for a resolution that embodies our values and finds creative ways to invest in Black students who’ve been hurt most.

    Stand now and partner with Black students, parents, educators and community leaders who've spent years crafting this plan. Follow the West Contra Costa and Los Angeles Unified School Districts that have already taken this courageous step. It is the right thing to do and the fiscally sound thing to do. Please act to support an OUS District that compassionately supports Black families. Support a district that has as a core value “Black Lives Matter.”

    Vote “yes” on the Reparations for Black Students Resolution as is.

    Blessings.

  • Default_avatar
    Jesse Turner over 3 years ago

    Hello there! My name is Jesse Turner, and I am the warehouse manager for the food ministry of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist in District 3, as well as a resident and resident assistant with unhoused youth at the Tiny House Empowerment Village in District 7.

    I would ask for your full support of our students and advocates’ resolution for Reparations for Black Students. It is imperative that School Board directors recognize the grave harm done in the gentrification and school privatization crisis that is disproportionate for our Black students. This is but a first step of recognizing the tangible systemic racism evident through our current trajectory in our educational system here in Oakland.

    Let’s be honest. This will require a reworking and reconfiguration of how we’re presently conducting our school district, but I firmly believe, as a person of deep faith, that supporting this effort AS IS will be crucial to affect real change for our Black students.
    Respectfully, Jesse Turner

  • 10158326200259021
    Nichola Torbett over 3 years ago

    Dear Board Members,

    On Wednesday, March 24, you will hear a resolution to dedicate funding toward reparations for Black students. I am writing to you as a faith leader to ask you to support this move.

    The scriptures in my tradition say that whatever we do for the least of these, we do for Jesus himself. By nearly every measure available, Black students in OUSD are "the least of these." They have the least resources, the least support, the least opportunity, and as a result, the least positive outcomes. It is an urgent matter to remedy this situation!

    You see, Jesus' words above are not just poetic. They indicate a very real fact, which is that those who have been most disenfranchised are the key to universal salvation: "The cornerstone the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone." We need these students--their good minds, their hearts, their wisdom.

    Thank you for voting yes on reparations for Black students!