In 2022, nearly a third of the missing people in Oakland were Black women and girls. Local artists and nonprofits are demanding action
By ONME News - Kristal Raheem/Oaklandside
This story was produced by Oakland Voices, a community program led by the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education that trains Oakland residents to tell the stories of their communities.
Oakland’s City Council recently voted to adopt a resolution supporting the federal Protect Black Women and Girls Act, (H.R. 7354), which would establish an interagency task force to examine the experiences of Black women in the United States, from education to health care to jobs to housing. Oakland’s District 7 Councilmember Treva Reid brought the resolution to support the bill to council.
The council vote on Oct. 15 was just the latest reflection of a blossoming movement in Oakland demanding greater protection for Black women and girls.
At a community assembly last June, Reid and other local leaders called for a “state of emergency” following multiple kidnappings and attempted abductions of Black women. And last month, the Betti Ono Foundation, in partnership with the Black Arts Movement District and Community Develop Corporation hosted their inaugural Black Tulip Cultural Week of Action.
Black Tulip brings together local artists and cultural institutions to call for the protection of Black women, girls, and gender-expansive people in Oakland and beyond. The initiative has made passing the federal Protect Black Women and Girls Act one of its priorities.
Black Tulip is emerging at a critical time. Nationally, Black women and girls continue to be targeted for kidnappings, sex trafficking, and other acts of violence. A 2020 study by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation reported that 40% of people being trafficked in the U.S. are Black women. In 2022, the FBI reported 97,000 Black women were missing. In Oakland, city officials have said that of the roughly 1,500 people reported actively missing in Oakland, 400 are Black women.
“Half the time you don’t even know we gone. We not on the news, there aren’t any posters, and there’s nobody looking for us,” said Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, Oakland’s Poet Laureate and the executive director of the Black Arts Movement District Community Development Corporation. “So I suggest we hold on real tight to each other.”
Opening night of Black Tulip Cultural Week of Action
On October 4, artists, organizers, and community members gathered at the Black Arts Movement House, or BAM House in downtown Oakland for a 5-hour Right-a-Thon and Write-In. Dr. Nzinga hosted the hybrid event. The evening featured writing prompts for in-person and Zoom audiences, and included performances by dynamic community organizers and poets, including Cat Brooks, gyzell garcia, Nicia De’Lovely and Asantewaa Boykin.
The next day, Black Tulip took to the streets to raise awareness about the safety of Black women. Partnering with Oakland First Fridays, organizers passed out healing kits and set up stations with supplies for artistic expression.
Anyka Howard, founder of the Betti Ono Foundation and visionary of Black Tulip, stood at the intersection of 23rd Street and Telegraph Avenue discussing the value of Black women.
“You want me to believe that I don’t have value, yet, you confiscate my being, my organs, my reproductive system,” Howard said. “We are the mothers, the womb of this earth. There is no America, no globalization, no capitalism, without us.”
“People are taught to see us in a particular way that does not honor who we are,” Howard told Oakland Voices. “Black Tulip is a reclamation of our sacredness. It’s an affirmation, a calling in, a demand.”
Everyone can and should support the mission of Black Tulip, she said, regardless of race and other social identities. She specifically called for men to show up more as allies.
Mike Nichols, creative director at the Betti Ono Foundation, designed Black Tulip’s logo and branding. He said Black men can better support Black women through humility and listening.
“Be humble. When you’re being humble there’s a way you have to be vulnerable,” Nichols said. “Don’t be so closed to listening. It may not be as bad as you think, to listen.”
Another Black man, West Oakland native and founder of Black Terminus AR, Damien McDuffie, said the Town’s “pimp culture” has warped how Black women are treated.
“Oakland has a complex history around sexual assault and pimp culture, so I think we have a warped sense of what safety might look like, especially for women and girls,” Damien said. “I think a real impact on how women are treated here in Oakland or in the Bay Area will come from a culture shift.”
Altars, adornments honoring stolen lives of Black women
Black Tulip’s week of action ended at the Lake Merritt Amphitheater on Saturday, October 5. Healers, poets, and musicians joined forces to amplify joy, remembrance, and hope. Artists such as 3Lise and Astu performed original songs and provided sound healing to the audience. Dr. Nzinga, Alie Jones, and others performed poetry throughout the afternoon.
Oakland educator and healer Venus Morris co-hosted the event alongside honorary guest speaker and singer Dawn Richard.
Richard, artist relations director with the Hip Hop Caucus, an organization that helps artists use their platform to advocate for important issues. She is also one of the 120 individuals being represented in a legal case against Sean “Diddy” Combs for alleged sexual assault and abuse.
Despite the media frenzy regarding that lawsuit, Dawn showed up in Oakland to stand in solidarity for the mission of Black Tulip. “I think our narrative has been stolen from us,” Richard said. “We’ve lost the narrative of what we represent in this culture and in this society. We are more and I think this event exemplifies that.”
Participants adorned the Lake with flowers, art installations, and altars honoring Black women who lost their lives in Oakland.
One altar honored the life of Nia Wilson, an 18-year-old murdered at MacArthur BART Station in 2018. Her sister Tomisha Wilson, president of the Nia Wilson Foundation, planted flowers in her honor and shared words about the memory of her beloved sister.
Jada Imani helped build another altar to honor the life of her best friend, Zoe Reidy Watts, who was killed this past March in an alleged domestic violence case.
“It’s important on a community level to make art that’s true and honest,” said Imani, an Oakland artist and community organizer.
“That’s different than the music industry making music that further perpetuates the same harmful ideas about misogyny or about violence,” Imani added. “That’s usually what we see, that’s why we have to build things for ourselves.”
When asked what city leaders and policymakers should know about what Black women and girls experience, Imani said, “It’s important for politicians to do their own inner work to resolve the racism, anti-Blackness, or anti-womaness that they have.”
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