Black Lives Matter Sacramento Buys Land to Use as Safe Space for Black People - THE ROOT #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKHISTORYMONTH

Black Lives Matter Sacramento Buys Land to Use as Safe Space for Black People

No More 'Performative Gestures':BLM Sacramento Purchases Land to Build Community and Resource Center for Black people

The Black Lives Matter movement can’t only be about protests. Anti-racism demonstrations that have erupted across the nation have done a fine job of raising awareness about systemic racism in America and have sent a clear message that there will be no peace without justice, but building a community that supports the betterment of Black people also means—for lack of a more sophisticated way of putting this—having our own shit.

BLM Sacramento has taken its first step towards true Black community building by taking unsolicited donations that it received after the wave of protests that began last summer and using them to purchase a plot of land that it plans to use to build its first-ever home in Sacramento’s Oak Park.

The BLM chapter’s founder, Tanya Faison, spoke to ABC 10 about the organization’s plans and what prompted the move.

From ABC 10:

“We see a lot of performative gestures from the city and the county to where we’re not seeing actual change, it just looks like change, and I’m just sick of seeing that, I’m sick of experiencing that, I want to see actual change,” Faison said.

After the Minnesota police killing of George Floyd, which led to nationwide protests, her chapter received an outpouring of unsolicited donations from across the community. After that, as the year went on, Sacramento homicide numbers started to surge.

“There started being a string of killings throughout Sacramento, intracommunity violence,” Faison said. “So at that point, we want wanted to start impacting the community in a way that provides resources to the community.”

That’s when they came up with the idea to use the donations to buy land and, soon, build a home meant to serve as a bit of a ‘one-stop shop’ resource center and safe space for the black community in the heart of Oak Park.

“Because it’s Oak Park, it’s heavily gentrified, we wanted to bring blackness back into the area,” Faison said. CONTINUE READING: Black Lives Matter Sacramento Buys Land to Use as Safe Space for Black People

Parents want to be more involved in SCUSD decisions | abc10 com

Parents want to be more involved in SCUSD decisions | abc10.com

Sacramento Unified School District parents say they want to be more involved in district decisions

SCUSD Parents came together today to voice their frustrations with the school district’s lack of support when it comes disadvantage students

SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — Elvia Vasquez has three children that attended Sacramento City Unified School district schools and says she feels the district is not doing enough to include parents in the daily decisions made about their students.

“I wanted to be involved at McClatchy and they didn’t know what to do with me they said they didn’t have anything to do for me. I know there are many things to do there, but I guess it’s a culture where parents are not involved,” Vasquez said.

This is why Vasquez says she joined Parents Advocating for Student Success also known as The PASS Program

“I’m hoping a lot of parents, especially in low-income communities, get involved because we assume the school is doing everything, we trust the administrators are doing what they are supposed to, and a lot of times they are not,” Vasquez said.

Chett Hewit is the President of the Sierra Health Foundation which developed The Pass Program. Hewit says students from low-income families were not given the resources needed from the district to help their students succeed during the pandemic. Hewit blames the district's inability to come to a distance learning plan with the teacher's union.

“Those agreements are what stands up the rules of engagement for teachers as it relates to how they engage students those things are important," Hewit said.

According to a report by Capital of School Suspensions. Black boys are five times more likely to be suspended from SCUSD. That is the highest suspension rate in California.

Hewit says parents are also demanding more be done to help Black children who have fallen victim to suspensions.

“Making sure kids have the tools that they need to fully participate, to better understand the rules of engagement, and to make sure as we think about reentering school that the behavioral health issues that we know are going to present themselves aren’t going to make the disaster around expulsions even worse,” Hewit said.

In response to The PASS Programs concern, Sacramento City Unified says in a statement: 

 “We are grateful for the work of these community leaders and community-based organizations for helping to empower and engage our families through the PASS Project. We welcome this advocacy effort on behalf of our families, especially those who may not have an understanding of how to navigate our K-12 system. These families deserve a strong voice when it comes to the future of their students and our district."

Parents want to be more involved in SCUSD decisions | abc10.com