Community Rising

Community safety starts with us.

OACC invites you to join a mini-concert and conversation with artists, activists, and community organizers to re-imagine what safety can look like for our communities. We’ll open with an exclusive performance featuring jason chu and Alan Z, lead artists of the Face Value album. Full guest speaker lineup TBA.

The recent attacks on Asian Americans are not new – they’re rooted in a long history of white supremacy and xenophobia that pits Asian Americans against other people of color, and scapegoats us in times of crisis. For generations, Asian immigrants and refugees built cultural communities alongside other working class communities of color in Oakland. Neighborhoods like Chinatown and Eastlake became landing places for new immigrants, havens for families to raise kids and grow old. But over the past few decades, our communities have been destabilized by the growing gap between rich and poor, skyrocketing housing costs, and deep budget cuts to our schools and public services.

This month, the Oakland City Council is set to vote on whether to throw even more money into policing that further destabilizes our communities or whether to pass a People’s Budget that puts our tax dollars where we need it most – into housing, critical public services, mental health, arts, and youth services. Community safety starts with us: building trust and connection, repairing past harms, and having each other’s backs.

Narrative Credit: Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)

This event is supported in part by APEN, OCA-Asian American Advocates’ East Bay Chapter, and AYPAL. It is FREE with suggested donations greatly appreciated to support our programs and partners. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.