Our President Ray Colmenar spoke with Ella Baker Center’s Executive Director Marlene Sanchez about shifting resources from policing and toward solutions that build thriving communities.
Last year, we began spotlighting leaders from our All In for Oakland grantee partners, and this year, I am thrilled I had the opportunity to speak with Marlene Sanchez, Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. For over 25 years, the Ella Baker Center has been working to advance people-powered campaigns for racial and economic justice – and they are winning.
Read my interview with Marlene to learn more about her and Ella Baker Center’s work to shift resources away from prisons and punishment towards opportunities that make our communities safe, healthy, and strong.
— Ray Colmenar, President of Akonadi Foundation
We need healing and joy to counter the constant violence and injustices that we have to witness.“
A: It is the right’s strategy to create confusion, to put out narratives that further criminalize our communities and in particular Black and brown communities. We’re definitely seeing a lot of disinformation and misinformation that make it difficult for communities to discern what is actually rooted in truth. There is a false narrative right now around safety and crime. Despite Oakland seeing a drop in overall crime rates, there are still calls for increased policing, when we actually need to focus on longer-term approaches, such as mental health support and affordable housing.
A: For communities of color, in particular Black communities who have been through intergenerational trauma, the trauma gets compounded and it doesn’t just go away. We work with a lot of mamas involved with “Healing Through Action” who say their pain is what drives them to fight for justice, but we shouldn’t have to suffer in order to do this work.
Yes, our communities are resilient but it’s not fair that some communities have to be more resilient than others. The injustices people experience that launch them into racial justice work are important; however, people should never be solely defined by their traumas.
“Healing Through Action” offers retreats where we encourage participants to bring their families and support systems, and we know how powerful it is, even from the perspective of a child witnessing their parents in healing circles. We need healing and joy to counter the constant violence and injustices that we have to witness.
As part of this work, we share modalities for healing that have been lost as a result of white supremacy and slavery, including African and Indigenous practices. Our goal is to help repair harms to create long-term sustainability for the movement. I am tired of seeing comrades and allies lost because of mental health challenges and substance abuse. These are all symptoms of racial injustices, oppression, and economic disparities, and we are dedicated to offering resources and creating spaces for our communities to heal from these systemic issues.
A: The folks we are prioritizing are not reflective of the typical voter engagement list. We focus on reaching people who might not trust the process because they have been disenfranchised, including people in prison who are unable to vote – but we still want them to be informed.
We also civically engage people in jails who can vote. So we ensure they have access to vote, share voting information, and create dialogue around why the process has not always served our communities and why it’s important for us to engage. For the last two years, we have worked on creating an access bill, AB 544, which would increase voting access to folks in jails. We’ve also partnered with organizations like Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, Initiate Justice, and more to increase political power amongst formerly incarcerated people.
Our other civic engagement efforts have been particularly focused in deep East Oakland because it doesn’t have traditionally high voter turnout. We’re prioritizing deep engagement versus a one-touch approach, such as one text, one call, or one door knock. We return and follow up with voters and we reiterate the importance of electing people who can represent them and their values. And we let them know communities have the power to hold their elected officials accountable, since they were elected to meet the needs of their communities.
A: The youth are our present and they are the future. I got involved in organizing as a young person because I was tired of not having power and being criminalized. That really activated my political work. What we’re seeing with young people right now is that they’re bold truth tellers, and they’re unapologetic. And if we actually listen to young people, we can learn a lot.
Every generation has a shift and young people are changing the tide of what is happening. I’m inspired. They are just setting new grounds for how we do this work and approaching it through an intersectional lens.
What we’re seeing with young people right now is that they’re bold truth tellers, and they’re unapologetic. And if we actually listen to young people, we can learn a lot.”
A: The conversations around public safety are national, but there is a lot of attention on Oakland specifically. There is a ton of misinformation and focus on crime, when in actuality there has been an overall national decrease in crime, yet Governor Newsom deployed 120 California Highway Patrol officers to the East Bay in February.
Our approach to public safety is not a punitive one; it is instead rooted in community – we believe in building community, getting to know our neighbors, and recognizing that we have more similarities than differences to bring unity and solidarity to our movements and work.
We also believe in divesting from approaches that traditionally do not work, like policing, and investing in community solutions that have proved time and time again to be effective and keep us safe, like mental health services, affordable housing, and education. The Bay Area is one of the most expensive places to live, and we need to address issues that have always existed but were exacerbated by the pandemic like poverty and homelessness, if we want to increase public safety.
A: We have reduced the cost of incarceration for families, because we know that families and communities bear that financial burden. We helped to pass SB 474 – The BASICs Act, which reduces markups on canteen items sold in California state prisons and brings much-needed relief for incarcerated people and their families. This bill will save families and their incarcerated loved ones more than $16 million a year.
We also fought for the Racial Justice Act, which went into effect in January 2024. The act allows people serving time in California’s prisons and jails to retroactively challenge their conviction and sentencing on the grounds of systemic bias. Now, we are looking at 15,000 or more people who have a claim to return home under the act, even folks who are facing the death penalty or are sentenced to life without parole.
An uphill battle is also our work to challenge gang enhancement laws, which can double someone’s sentence if they are found to have committed their crime as part of a “gang.” It is racist and it disproportionately impacts Black and brown communities. I feel personally impacted by the system using enhancements to add on to sentences because of my own experience.
A: Yes, we are in our fourth cycle of the Inside/Outside Policy Fellowship. This year, we have one outside Fellow and two inside Fellows. This program amplifies the impact of inside/outside organizing, shares political education with systems-impacted organizers, and builds power with marginalized prison communities.
An example of the fellows’ work has been their advocacy in reducing commissary mark-ups and shedding light on the intersections of climate change and its impact on incarcerated people, who might be directly imprisoned in fire or flood zones.
There are barriers put in place by systems that make it more difficult to work closely with people in prisons, and so we adjust our work culture so they can continue in their work, whether that’s how and when we conduct meetings and to create deadlines around when fellows have access to computers. Their work to drive policy while being able to support their families has had a lasting impact on their communities.
A: Restore Oakland is a first-of-its-kind community hub and resource center that provides opportunities for BIPOC entrepreneurs and businesses, restaurant workers, queer, immigrant, and formerly incarcerated people to build staying power. Restore Oakland is a community-owned space that serves as an organizing hub and provides accessible community rooms, space for restorative justice and healing, and a kitchen and restaurant.
Restore Oakland is our vision of public safety and a model of alternatives we can invest in. It is our model of truth and reinvestment. It is a model of the tools we can build to invest in people power, movement building, and resources for our community.
We have celebrated anniversaries, hosted welcome home and coalition parties, and truly created a community asset that will be around for future generations. It is a permanent homeland, a place to reimagine what community support looks like.
A: Yes, you can visit ellabakercenter.org and sign up to receive updates from us. Join us in person or on Zoom on April 3 at 6:00 p.m. to ask questions and air grievances related to the Racial Justice Act, and attend our next virtual Prison Mail Night on May 9 from 5:30-7:30 pm (RSVP) to respond to letters we receive from people inside California prisons and jails.