Ella Baker Center Op-Eds
This is the Ella Baker Center Op-Eds page. Here you can find opinion pieces that we have written about our work.
San Jose Mercury News (August 5, 2008) — The closings of DeWitt Nelson Youth Correctional Facility and El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility - two notorious youth prisons - are welcome news for the youths and their families who have been permanently scarred by California's abusive youth prison system. A youth prison system that has crippled California's Budget and darkened California's future.
Oakland Tribune (April 21, 2008) — The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights was acknowledged in a recent Oakland Tribune op-ed written by Unites States Congresswoman Barbara Lee this Earth Day 2008.
Oakland Tribune (February 22, 2008) — The statistics in Oakland are grim: 21 homicides in the first 42 days of 2008 (almost double the number from this time last year). In a single weekend earlier this month, 13 reported shootings in five days claimed eight lives.
In the face of this senseless violence, it's easy for a lot of us to pretend that we're removed from it all, that it has nothing to do with us as individuals. We shake our heads at the problem while keeping it at arm's length. But now more than ever, we must turn toward our young men and women caught in the crossfire, not away from them.
Huffington Post (May 17, 2007) — "Green" is taking off. In business. In culture. In politics. But it's not all clear sailing for the green movement. In fact, it's in danger of setting up a catastrophic — but wholly preventable — populist backlash if it does not work hard to end the enduring perception that it is solely the playground of a white, affluent "eco-elite." Sound crazy? In California, it has already begun.
Conscious Choice Magazine (April 30, 2007) — Is the Green Movement too White? Van Jones proposes a solution.
YES! Magazine (December 1, 2006) — With some unlikely allies, Oakland's progressive movement is prompting economic and social recovery by stimulating environment-friendly products and services.
Mother Jones (June 28, 2006) — Arnold Schwarzenegger calls himself the "Action Governor" when it comes to reforming juvenile justice. So what has he done since taking office? Next to nothing.
Oakland Tribune (June 1, 2006) — Oakland's problems are too big to be solved with small ideas. We need powerful initiatives and bold vision — such as "Oakland as a Model City" — to move the needle. Fortunately, the expanding green economy makes a "model city" initiative viable here.
Forbes (April 24, 2006) — For too long, the incarceration industry has gotten away with high costs and low performance. It is time to introduce accountability, competition and rational incentives into the nation’s prison systems—both public and private.
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