How Did We Get Here? Richmond, CA

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JENNIFER BAIRES, AUTHOR JONATHAN HERZOG, ILLUSTRATOR LETTERED BY ANGELA TANNEHILL-CALDWELL

Valencia Sanchez

East Bay Center for the Performing Arts Artistic Director, Jordan Simmons

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Welcome to East Bay Center, a second home for many families and generations of students. We’re happy to also welcome our hardworking partner from RYSE, Kimberly Aceves-Iñiguez. Kimberly is part of a growing movement to build a youth-centered community in Richmond —a movement the center has committed to these past 50 years. Hello, Kim!

Thank you. It’s so good to be here. The RYSE Center is a testament to the power of young people of color organizing to address community trauma and violence.

Tonight, we’ll showcase your work, about how you define home, what it means to each of us and how that vision will shape our reality.

Donté Clark, former poet laureate of Richmond

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By Way: Donté Clark we got here by way of crack wombs of the ‘80s. pushed through birth canal of single mothers at Brookside. flung over Kaiser’s hospital gates landed across the street on dead grass in an iron triangle on 5th and Barrett real Richmond’s matriarch kingdoms redlined on Section 8 beneath project buildings off Carlson ruined for those who breast fed us, ‘90s babies a bastard tongue of Olde English wrapped our smiling faces in blankets of Congo fabric onesies drooling our youth on grandma’s couch. tickled and coddled by chewed fingernails caked with cocaine residue and maple syrup

raised by way of heavy hands in granny’s kitchen. cool-aid grinning and back whippings. the mixing of cigarette smoke and fried chicken while records spinning of Anita Baker’s compositions: lonely girl. Richmond low-paid and raised a lonely girl unincorporated from all the ways of an iron triangle of two parent household. she’s with child but no trinity. just 3 strikes laws and handcuffs on our masculinity years and dollars spent on cotton candy sweet as us caramel apples fence hopping roof climbing riding the back of ice cream trucks by way of goal line on Richmond Steelers to cheerleaders at sideshows and shoot-outs who doubt that young Richmond fearless? prison routes from Kennedy to San Quentin only a hops distance drop outs wait the roll of the dice from slumber nights to candlelight murals patrolled by gang units emptied hacienda for ferry rides. war ties to Rosie the Riveter rarely enter corner-store fables where times tables applies summer time inside salty splashes at Keller’s beach after march madness left blood on the streets spoken word musicals of fairy tales at Annabelle’s a Richmond Renaissance a Pulse of pride and purpose in this east bay center where beauty ryse and our littles keep swerving pass all doubt, above poverty and old fears head up by way of black fist upon black panthers back dancing that trail of tears

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Valencia, are you OK? You seem sad or something.

Uh, hey.

I’m fine.

The first film was deep. I loved the poem and how it touched on our history. It’s so empowering, you know? Our history.

Have you been to a RYSE event before?

I have to help at home a lot. I just came for extra credit in English class. It was cool, though.

I better go. My essay is due tomorrow, and my mom is picking me up.

Time is kind of tight.

Sure, no problem. Time can be tricky.

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Hi! I’m Stephanie Sequiera.

Do you have a second to talk about getting involved in your school

Mamá!

Mi’ja, how was it?

It was good.

Sorry, I’m looking for my mom.

Hi, are you a parent of a student in West Contra Costa Unified School District?

Yes, my three children are in the district.

Great! I’m part of an active group of parents and youth who work with Healthy Richmond. We advocate for things like improved services for students in the flatland schools that lack funds to help them thrive academically. We also help families understand how money is spent in the district and what the Local Control Funding Formula and Local Control Accountability Plan are — because it can be really confusing.

I’ve heard a little about the funding issues, but I’m sorry, we have to get going. I never seem to have enough time.

I understand. This brochure explains a bit more. We’d love to have you at our next Schools & Neighborhoods meeting!

Thank you

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Love you, mi’ja.

You’re not coming in?

No, I need to get to my next shift.

You’re working tonight?

Weren’t you at the warehouse all day?

I guess you really don’t have time for any parentinvolvement groups then.

Si, pero, we need the money.

Our rent just went up again.

Yeah, maybe. Bye.

Maybe one day.

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Richmond, 1850

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Hi, Valencia!

How do you know who I am? Who are you?

Where am I?

What?

How? I want to go home.

You’re still in Richmond, just in a different time. I’m here to help. You can call me Mona.

Home. That’s what I want to help you find. It’s something you’ve been searching for, right? To know how you fit in where you live, and to feel like you belong? To have a place that is truly home.

Yeah, I was just writing about that. I moved to Richmond from Mexico when I was 8. I’ve always felt different. Is this a dream or something?

It is something but not a dream. To help you find your place, I’ll show you Richmond’s past. Once you understand the history of this place and its people, you’ll understand how you are a part of it too.

It’s 1850.

Richmond won’t be a city for another 55 years.

I have a lot to show you, so try to blend in.

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Elsu, how are the horses today?

I am showing the new girl around. She wanted to hear about this place, and I figured you’re the best guide.

San Pablo? Is that where we are?

I didn’t know.

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Well, what do you want to know about the great Rancho San Pablo?

This is Rancho San Pablo, yes. It’s owned by Victor Castro. His father, Don Castro, was given all the land you can see by the king of Spain. It was split apart and divided amongst his children when he died in 1831. I’ve worked here most of my life — but my people were on this land first.

Your people? Who are your people?

Don’t you know? My ancestors, like so many of us who work these ranches, walked these hills and this land long before men from Spain arrived. Now, we are trapped in missions to learn their religion, enslaved on ranches to serve their purposes. Our rights, our humanity desecrated.

Hey! What are you doing back here?

You’re going to get us in trouble.

Mona, where is this girl from? How does she not know our history?

She’s learning, Elsu.

It takes time.

I’ve heard about Don Castro and how the Spanish settled this area before it became part of the United States. And we learned about the missions and Native Americans. But I never knew that Native American people like Elsu were enslaved or kept as workers.

History books leave out a lot. Next year, in 1851, Gov. John McDougall will empower a “war of extermination” against California Indians. The state will even pay bounties for their scalps and heads.

Elsu’s ancestors lived, fished and hunted in this area of Northern California, from the Pacific coast to the west slope of the Sierra Nevada.

In your time, they’re known as the “Bay Miwoks.” When Europeans came over, his people were decimated by diseases and state-sponsored genocide.

I don’t even know what to say. This was their home first. The other people invaded it. They had no right.

It’s true. There are many Miwok people still with us in your time. They are still a part of the land and claim it as theirs.

The survival of their culture and ways shows us what it means to claim a place and make it home, no matter what.

I think it’s time we jump to the year 1942.

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Richmond, 1942 Mona?

Mona? Where are you?

You do not time-travel well.

You’ve been asleep for hours! Oh, and here, I go by Rose!

Mona, I mean, Rose. Is this a shipyard?I think I went on a field trip here.

Yes! This is Shipyard #3, the only yard still in operation in your time.

About 20 years before now, in the 1920s, the harbor was dredged and the tidelands filled in for the Ford Motor Assembly Plant and the Felice and Perelli Cannery.

When Richmond became a city, there were already massive shifts propelling it from agricultural to industry.

The Santa Fe Railroad ended its western route in Point Richmond in 1899 and Standard Oil Company — which you know as Chevron — built its refinery in 1901. The landscape was irrevocably changed.

So, we’re in 1942? That must mean World War II.

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Yes! Let’s go

Hi, I’m Valencia. This is Rose.

We, um, just started. What do you two do here?

Like a lot of folks, I came for opportunity and because even though it’s not easy here, it still seemed better than Mississippi. A friend who works as a porter on the Santa Fe Railroad kept writing to me to come out. He said the pay was good.

Nice to meet y’all. Name’s Doris, and this is Esther.

I’m a welder, haven’t been here long either. I arrived a few months ago from Jackson, Mississippi.

Mhmm. I’ve lived here all my life, and the living has never been easy. With so many new people arriving in the last few years, there’ve been some good changes but more struggle too.

What do you mean?

Well, for starters — there is nowhere for all these people to live. Housing can’t go up fast enough and, well, we aren’t allowed to live just anywhere. Growing up, there were maybe a few hundred black people in the city, and now there are thousands. We’re all squeezed into the same area, North Richmond, where we’ve always had to live. A mile from the refinery, our streets are unpaved and mostly unlit. Some of the men arriving for work are living in tents, shacks or even just out in a field.

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If they’re not arrested first.

Why would they be arrested?

They don’t want us here unless we’re working. My cousin came out recently and was stopped on the street by a police officer who wanted to know where he worked. He couldn’t prove he was employed, so they arrested and jailed him.

Here, we work together, building ships for our country, but the public housing I live in is segregated. We can work together but not live together. Our housing is near the railroad tracks and the shipyards, and it doesn’t look anything like the homes white people get built for them. We don’t have parks or community centers or even proper roads in some areas.

It’s true, but be careful talking about it here. I have a friend, Betty, who works as a clerk for the local Black Boilermakers Union. She used to work as a file clerk in San Francisco at the Civil Service Commission and said there are cards on everyone who applies for a job at the shipyards, and people are flagged for any possible association with an organization that might in any way oppose the government or its actions. Best to be careful what you say.

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Betty Reid Soskin Best known now as the nation’s oldest park ranger, at 98 years old, Betty Reid Soskin works in Richmond at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Park giving talks and tours about the city’s home front during the 1940s.

Soskin worked as a clerk in Richmond around 1942 for the Auxiliary Lodge Number 36 of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders and Helpers of America. Though she was part of the wartime effort, Soskin never saw a ship under construction or launching. Yet, throughout her life, much of her experiences have touched on key points in history.

Soskin was born Sept. 22, 1921, in Detroit and moved with her family to New Orleans where she lived until her family moved again, this time to Oakland when she was 6 years old.

Growing up in the Bay Area, Soskin recalls that the African American population was a small but tight-knit group in the East Bay. “We didn’t have the sense of being separated out,” she writes in her memoir Sign My Name to Freedom: A Memoir of a Pioneering Life. “Black people were together because they wanted to be. When the black baseball teams, the black leagues came to town, we were all in the stands because we wanted to be, because black baseball was great.”

The comfort Soskin felt in her community would change dramatically when she and her first husband, Mel Reid, tried to buy a home. Following the war, the two had great success with a record shop they opened, Reid's Records, but were unable to build their first home in Berkeley due to redlining, an exclusionary practice from 1934-68 in which the Federal Housing Administration explicitly refused to back loans to Black people or, in some cases, even people who lived near Black people, and the mortgage industry followed suit.

In 1952, they turned their sights on building a dream home in an unincorporated area between Walnut Creek and Lafayette. But they ran into the same racist policy, so they had a good friend, who was white, purchase it for them. The hatred Soskin and her young family experienced as the first people of color in the community shook her.

Later, and in part as a result of this experience, Soskin began to speak out about the mistreatment and injustice. “As we got pushed against the wall, what came out was a feisty, proud Betty in what apparently was the birth of this woman who later became a political activist,” she writes.

That “proud Betty” would go on to — among other roles — act as a “bag lady,” delivering cash for the Black Panthers, serve as a delegate for Walnut Creek at the Democratic National Convention in support of George McGovern and work as a staffer for state Assemblywoman Dion Aroner.

In 2015, President Barack Obama recognized Soskin’s work and presented her with a coin with the presidential seal. That year, she was also awarded the Silver Service Medallion by the National WWII Museum. In 2018, Glamour magazine named her its Woman of the Year.

Despite the accolades, Soskin maintains she is “an absolutely ordinary extraordinary person.”

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What do you do when you’re not at work?

Well, that’s one of the positives. Downtown is killer-diller.

Head down Macdonald Avenue and you’ll see theatres, jazz clubs, restaurants, hotels and every kind of shop. But if you like the blues, you need to visit where I live, North Richmond.

Oh, yes. The Savoy Club. It reminds me of home with the southern food I grew up on. Willie Mae “Granny” Johnson runs it. She books the bands and she cooks the best greens, ribs, and chicken. The house band gets the joint jumping.

Don’t forget Jimmy McCracklin! He performs there all the time. There’s Tappers Inn too. it just opened last year, but it’s already the place to be — it’s lavish. I went last month, and there must’ve been more than 500 people.

Wow!

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Thanks for your help, ladies. We have to go now, though, clock’s ticking.

I want to go see those clubs. And North Richmond and downtown.

I want to see all of it!

It’s nice to see you coming around. But I want to take you somewhere else. We need to stop and smell the roses, if you will.

Can you tell where we are?

It’s Richmond, but I don’t know for sure where.

These are two of the oldest and largest nurseries in Richmond. At their peak, they each grew the most beautiful roses. Over there is the Sakai Nursery.

The Tokaro Sakai family started it in 1906. There is the Oishi Nursery. People from both families were recently taken and imprisoned because of their connection to Japan as immigrants or family members of immigrants.

Oh, was this after the bombing of Pearl Harbor?

Yes. About 10 weeks after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the removal of anyone in military areas as was “necessary or desirable.” The military then defined the entire West Coast as a military area. These families were taken to internment farther inland. The order affected over a hundred thousand Japanese Americans in the U.S. Most of them American-born citizens.

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Yes, Japanese and Japanese Americans have a long history in the Bay Area. There were about 20 nurseries here before the war. It was a stable industry for the Japanese families who were able to buy land before 1913 when California passed the Alien Land Law. Were there many Japanese Americans in Richmond?

It limited property ownership to people eligible for citizenship. This effectively excluded Japanese immigrants who weren’t able to apply for citizenship at that time.

The Alien Land Law? What did that do?

That’s awful. What happened after they were released?

After the executive order was passed, some growers only had a few days to find someone to take care of their flowers. Some like the Sakais leased to a family friend who took care of the nursery and returned it to the family when they were released. Others, like the Oishis, came home to find their nursery had become a popular place to camp out or sleep for shipyard workers.

The story of oppression, inequality, and abuse of the land continues, I guess.

Not to mention hatred of immigrants.

My family experiences that daily.

I’m sorry to say it does continue. But don’t forget the people we met who continue to push for progress and make homes for themselves here despite it all.

Which brings us to the next time period.

We’re heading to the 1990s.

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1998, July 26 • Shields Reid Park 5th anniversary of General Chemical spill Valencia!

Come meet some friends. Oh, and you can call me Jenny.

Hope that’s who I think it is.

I must be in the ‘90s.

Ugh. I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to that. Rose, where are we now?

Jenny. I’ll try and remember that, but it’d be nice if you didn’t keep changing your name and appearance!

Juan, Sheila — sorry to interrupt. This is my friend, Valencia, I was telling you about.

Yeah, but it’s way more fun this way.

Hi, nice day!

It sure is, sweetie.

Much different day than five years ago.

Can you believe it’s been five years since the spill?

No! It feels like it was just yesterday this park was filled with evacuees wondering what they’d been exposed to and if their loved ones were OK.

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What happened five years ago?

You were probably pretty young.

A General Chemical railroad car ruptured in the rail yard, spewing sulfuric acid thousands of feet into the air for over three hours.

It was awful. It looked like a really thick fog. I could hardly see the other side of the street. And the smell and burning feeling I had in my throat and eyes was terrifying.

I was out, jogging around the shoreline, and had trouble breathing. I had an asthma attack and my inhaler wasn’t helping, so I went to the hospital. There were thousands of people there. One of the women I talked with said she’d come from a first aid station nearby that paramedics had set up at a firehouse. They were hosing victims down in the parking lot and giving them hospital gowns to wear before sending them to the ER.

Juan, I was only 10, but I remember it too. Growing up in Richmond, it seemed like there was always a spill or an environmental accident. But that one stands out.

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I’m sure it does, Sandy, and you’re right — with Chevron’s refinery here too, the dates of those accidents can start to blend together.

Yes! When I was at Peres Elementary School, we used to actually be happy when Chevron would have a fire. I remember thinking, ‘I wish they blew up more,’ because each time it happened, I’d get a couple of hundred dollars in a bank account for when I turned 18.

Why would you get money?

You were young.

What is APEN?

Because of past lawsuits. I used to think Chevron was a good “community partner” because they’d pay for things we got at school. I didn’t know what the refinery was constantly spewing into the air and water.

Yeah, I still am — but I know better now. I joined APEN’s young women’s outreach program last year and learned so much about leadership and the importance of a healthy environment. Now, I’m part of the fight for change.

The Asian Pacific Environmental Network. It’s a nonprofit that works to protect the health and safety of Richmond residents and the environment, against threats like Chevron.

There’s so much that needs to be done to stop these kinds of incidents.

There sure is, and it’ll take you girls getting involved too.

I’m not sure what I’d be able to do.

Sandy is a great example of how to start. And this is the city to learn in, Valencia. Whatever cause you’re passionate about, you’ll find groups here organizing around it.

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Lio meng (Sandy) Saeteurn Local Political Coordinator, APEN Sandy Saeteurn has been with APEN on and off since she joined the organization’s youth program at 14 years old. Her early exposure to environmental issues was through firsthand experiences like rushing to Brookside Hospital’s emergency room because of an explosion at the Chevron refinery.

Saeteurn was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and moved to Richmond with her mother and four sisters when she was 3 months old. Her family is Laotian, and like millions of people in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, they were forced to flee from their home country due to the ravages of the Vietnam War, exposure to Agent Orange and bombings during the 1970s and ‘80s. Many of these refugees, like Saeteurn, were resettled in Richmond. They are part of a growing and vibrant immigrant community in the city.

Upon arriving in Richmond, her family existed largely on government assistance and lived in housing projects in North Richmond. She says that the assistance many refugee families received made it hard for APEN’s environmental justice efforts to gain traction in the Laotian community. Many were grateful for the help they’d been given and hesitant to question the government they saw as bringing them to the U.S. But with time, and through programs like the one Saeteurn participated in as a youth, APEN grew a robust and active network of leaders in Richmond. Through its organizing and partnership with like-minded groups, Communities for a Better Environment and West County Toxic Coalition, it pushed for and got the county to create a multilingual warning system for residents. Saeteurn says that was a turning point for APEN, especially in the Laotian community, because many realized that organizing could be effective and empowering.

Today, APEN has a multi-ethnic youth program and works with a diverse group of communities within Richmond. But the mission for environmental justice remains unchanged. It’s currently working on installing air quality monitors in less studied but extremely affected parts of town, including on homes. This will provide data about air quality that hasn’t been available in Richmond.

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Take Monica over there. Her son was one of 30 people killed last year in Richmond. He was on his way home from Kennedy High when he was shot. They still haven’t arrested any suspects.

That’s awful.

Thirty people last year?

They say homicides are decreasing, but it’s not fast enough. Monica is out there working every day to try and ensure no other mom loses her child the same way.

Just seven years ago, in 1991, there were 61 people killed here. The experts talk a lot about the drug- and gang-related violence. Sure, that plays its part but so do controversial police practices like stop-and-frisk, corrupt officers and the ongoing and historic lack of investment in our neighborhoods. And the easy access to guns. It’s all tied together in a complicated, bloody web.

True. But there’s hope. Don’t forget there’s a long history of activism here you can take part in. I’m meeting some activist friends at Casper’s Hot Dogs.

Would you two like to come?

Yes!

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Valencia and Jenny, I’d like to introduce you to George and Vernon.

Hi!

Gentlemen, these young ladies are interested in learning about activism in Richmond, and I figured you two would be happy to talk through some of the highlights.

Please, sit. Vernon and I can talk for days about that.

We sure could. My family has been here, and involved, since WWII. We were among the first to buy a home in Parchester Village in 1950.

I didn’t know that, Vern. It was such a special place back in the day. I heard it was the first neighborhood in the state where Black people could buy new homes.

It was a great place to grow up, near the marsh and in a real neighborhood. Only downside was the trains on either side.

Anyway, I wonder where we should start.

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Well, if you don’t mind...I’m...um, really curious about what the ‘60s were like in Richmond.

I was in my 20s and fired up to fight for equality and the rights denied to me and my ancestors. I soon found a church that supported and even led that movement here.

Really?

What church?

He wasn’t the only civil rights leader who did. Shortly after Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, from Oakland, formed the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, a 22- year-old Black man, Denzil Dowell, was shot and killed by police in North Richmond.

The police said they ordered Dowell to stop, but he didn’t, so they fired one shot in the back of his head. But the coroner’s report said he’d actually been shot six times, and there was evidence he’d been killed with his hands in the air.

Easter Hill United Methodist Church on 39th and Cutting. Rev. Booker Anderson had recently been appointed pastor. He invited civil rights leaders. Dr. Martin Luther King came to our church on one of his first visits to California. Easter Hill also held rallies and meetings throughout town.

I didn’t know Martin Luther King Jr. visited Richmond.

Later, the two men planned a rally in town to protest police violence. They came armed and in uniform and closed off the street. I was there with hundreds of others from North Richmond. Contra Costa County sent a helicopter, but we weren’t breaking any laws.

Yes, and Bobby and Huey heard about the killing and came to meet with Dowell’s family.

Dowell’s death and their response put the Panthers in the spotlight. After their open carry display in North Richmond, and then later on the steps of the California statehouse, the Legislature passed the Mulford Act, which banned the carrying of loaded weapons in public.

Yeah, at that time the National Rifle Association supported gun control laws, you know — as long as the aim of those laws was to keep guns out of our hands.

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Were either of you a part of the Black Panthers?

Yes. The way they flipped the Second Amendment to view it as a way for the public to protect itself from a corrupt government. It made a lot of sense to me as a young Black man.

Thank you for talking with us. We have to get going, but I hope we’ll see you another time.

We have great, homegrown leaders too, like Fred Jackson.

He’s a legend in North Richmond for his community organizing, constant pushing for equality and his ability to intervene in gun violence to get people to stop the shootings.

No problem, Jenny. We’re here most Saturdays. It’s a popular spot, been a great gathering place since it opened in 1947.

I didn’t know that.

I feel like I say that a lot.

There’s a street named after Fred Jackson in North Richmond, Fred Jackson Way.

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There’s so much I didn’t know, and it all continues today. Homicides are down, but they’re still too high. Kids are still shot on their way home from school. The refinery is still flaring. But black, indigenous, and people of color still face constant discrimination. The LGBTQ community still lacks recognition and basic rights.

And people are still fighting for better. Hold on to your truth, Valencia, but don’t lose hope. It’s time.

Fred Jackson

Remembered by Shantina Jackson When I think about my uncle, I think about a man who thought globally but acted locally. He was fiercely committed to activism in North Richmond in a very place-based way that is hard to find nowadays.

The fact that a street is named after him is a constant reminder of how important his life is and was to North Richmond. The street that he walked on, played on, sang on and served the community on now has his name indelibly etched into it and it makes me tremendously proud.

He was hell-bent on making sure the plight of folks in North Richmond was visible and literally putting Richmond on the map. It was so clear to him that Richmond, and North Richmond, in particular, was a place that needed to be seen and heard. And it often wasn’t seen and heard. He spent most of his life on the front lines of that fight.

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Thank you, Valencia.

Did you enjoy the films?

Yes, I’d love to go to more events like that and be more involved. Richmond has such a long history of activism.

Here. Have you read the most recent issue of the Richmond Pulse? This edition is dedicated to showcasing activists who’ve helped shape Richmond.

I haven’t heard of this paper.

But my family loves the festival. We go each year.

Keep it. It’s a community news outlet that’s youth-led with a focus on issues that affect the health of the overall community in Richmond.

A few of my students have been published in it.

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Yes, it does! Are you going to the Cinco de Mayo Festival this weekend? Along with the great music and food, there will be lots of people from local groups for you to meet.

Thanks, Ms. Thomas.

Dedicated to Richmond: The People Working Towards a Better Future While San Francisco and Berkeley may get the most attention in the Bay Area for social activism, organizations in Richmond are constantly on the cutting edge of change, pushing for social justice on a number of fronts.

Activism here often inspires national conversation and can lead to big changes.

Many of these changes are a result of people and

Fatima Alleyne

organizations working together to develop solutions to long-standing challenges.

Leaders here have been at the forefront of the struggle for civil rights, environmental justice and ending mass incarceration. These fights continue today, as do some significant wins.

In 2018, young people and adults organized to pass the Richmond Kids First

Rebecca Brown

Area of Activism: Education

Area of Activism: Juvenile Justice

Alleyne was a PTA mom before winning election as a trustee for the Contra Costa County Board of Education. She was the first Black president of the board.

As director of reentry solutions group, a support and advocacy organization aimed at transforming incarceration and reentry in Richmond, Brown helped fight to have county supervisors suspend “cost-of-care” fees for juvenile inmates. (The fees were charged to families or legal guardians and ranged from $3 to $30 per month.)

“Parents should be involved because it’s important for the schools — meaning teachers, principals, the board members, the superintendent — to know that there is someone that is an advocate for children and that they will hold them accountable.

And when I say children, I mean not just for our own, but on behalf of all children because we are one community.”

“When my family and I moved to Richmond back into 2003, I didn’t know how fortunate I would be to find so many amazing people and great organizations deeply committed to challenging and changing our culture’s approach to equity, injustice and the criminal justice system. But in the years since, our community of partners — including all of us who are part of the Healthy Richmond initiative — have created huge changes.”

Initiative, making Richmond the third city in California to have a department and funding stream dedicated to serving children and youth. Working under the banner of Healthy Richmond, youth and adult residents are united to improve their neighborhoods and schools and expand access to health care, housing and economic opportunity.

Tania Pulido

Area of Activism: Food Justice & Housing Pulido is a founding youth reporter for Richmond Pulse. She is the assistant project manager in the real estate department at Community Housing Development Corporation of North Richmond, where she secures funding to build affordable housing.

“Activism has always been at the heart of Richmond; from the workers’ strikes at the shipyards, the Black Panthers, the shutdown of the proposed incinerator in North Richmond, the marches to the refinery, and the food justice movement. Young leaders play a pivotal role in changing the narrative and finding solutions to displacement, climate disruption, and other community problems.”

Doria Robinson

Area of Activism: Environmental & Food Justice Growing up in the Iron Triangle, Robinson wasn’t taught the history of Richmond or about the nearby refinery and its impacts on health and the environment.

But through her work with the Watershed Project and now as director of Urban Tilth, she helps educate and empower the next generation on those issues.

“For 100 years, the oil refinery has operated in Richmond. For 100 years, they have burned and released noxious chemicals into Richmond’s air and water, and mostly Black and Latino lowincome Richmond residents pay the cost with their health.

Urban Tilth is our attempt at saying no one owns the sky. That industry should be responsible for every impact it has. Growing food is like our declaration of sovereignty over our bodies and dedication of service to care for and repair this land.”

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Tamisha Walker Area of Activism: Formerly Incarcerated

Walker is director and founder of the Safe Return Project.

She was incarcerated and now organizes and advocates on issues related to mass incarceration and racial disparity in the criminal justice system.

“The Safe Return Project is driven by those who have been impacted by the criminal justice system and inequity. The goal of Safe Return is to identify strategies that respond to community needs while developing the capacity for the formerly incarcerated to take the lead on the issues that impact their communities as well as building a sense of agency.

Our work not only transforms the lives of many individuals but it also has an impact on the culture of the broader community and shapes the national narrative around incarceration, reentry and who is returning home from jails and prisons.”

Isabella Zizi

Area of Activism: Environmental Justice and Indigenous Rights Zizi is a climate campaign organizer with Stand.earth, an environmental advocacy organization. Her family brought the first Native American Health Center and powwow to Richmond.

“My whole life I’ve grown up in the Iron Triangle of Richmond. Since my teenage years, my family has worked effortlessly on projects that bring attention to the Native American community in Richmond.

From the Native American Health Center, the annual Richmond Powwow to celebrating Native American Heritage month every November. There’s a lot to appreciate about the support.

Not only has the awareness of Indigenous people been a priority on my list, but environmental issues are right up that same alley. My passion for saving the environment only grows stronger,

and you’re welcome to join me!”

Vamos, tengo hambre. I think I see elote over there.

Mamá, want to go see the dancers?

Of course!

Que? The Latina Center.

I want to know what they do.

Hola! Have you heard about our center? We have programs to empower mujeres like us to take greater leadership roles at home and in our communities.

Actually, a friend of mine went through the leadership training and loved it. She’s even starting her own business now. It’s something I’d like to do too.

That’s great! Here, let me get you a program.

We have an information session coming up.

Would you like to hear about our Young Latinas, Future Leaders mentoring program?

Yes! We can do this together, Mamá.

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Richard J. Boyd 6/30/1955 – 1/15/2018

This book is dedicated to the memory of Richard J. Boyd.

Richard served on the inaugural steering committee of the Healthy Richmond initiative. A resident of the Iron Triangle neighborhood, Richard was nominated to serve in that role through the Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization, where he worked as a community organizer.

Richard didn’t have a lot of patience for the long planning meetings where abstract ideas of community, equity and impact were debated. Rather, Richard lived and breathed these ideas on a daily basis with his interactions on the streets or in the centers where he would often take young people under his wing and disarm them with his sly humor, boundless generosity, and willingness to give a stern lecture if that was required. An irreproachable moral leader, Richard was a mentor to both young people and adults alike. He represented the best of Richmond and is deeply missed.

—Diane Aranda, The California Endowment

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How Can you take action to make positive change in richmond?

1. Ask your family members about their personal story. How did they get here? Learning about our history helps understand what is currently going on around us.

2. Talk to your family and neighbors about the changes in your community. Are there things that are happening to many people? If so, start documenting what is happening. The more people that get together and start sharing stories, the more power you will build to make changes.

3. Attend city, county, school board, and community meetings. These are spaces where important decisions are made that shape our neighborhoods, our schools, and what kinds of services are available.

You and your neighbors have the right to be heard.

4. Join a local organization and/or volunteer with neighborhood groups. Healthy Richmond is a network of many different types of organizations and the staff there can help connect you to opportunities to get involved. Check out www.HealthyRichmond.net for more information.

5. If you are eligible, vote! This is an important way to make your voice heard in a democracy. Got to www.CoCovote.org to register or check your voter registration status.

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The Healthy Richmond Hub brings youth and resident leaders, community-based organizations and systems leaders together to advocate for policy changes to increase health equity and racial justice in the community.

Healthy Richmond staff provides resources and opportunities for our partners to build their advocacy capacity and supports them in keeping resident power building at the center of our work. And it’s working.

Our steering committee, action teams and other partners are banding together to take action on our priority issues: economic revitalization, healthcare access for the most vulnerable populations, education equity, and community safety & criminal justice reform.

Our wins include: * The #OneContraCosta campaign resulted in the county adoption of CC Cares — a healthcare program for immigrant adults

* The Raise Up Richmond coalition mobilized residents to negotiate a community benefits agreement with UC Berkeley

* The People not Prisons campaign prevented two jail expansions and helped create the Re-Entry Success Center

* ACCE and Safe Return Project led efforts to increase justice-promoting investments in affordable housing by: • Supporting rent control & fair chance ordinances • Conducting community forums addressing displacement and gentrification

* The Services not Cells campaign led by the CCC Racial Justice Coalition: • Successfully advocated for the county Racial Justice Task Force • Supported efforts to reduce financial burdens on justice-impacted youth and families by eliminating the juvenile fines and fees and sealing fee * The city of Richmond’s Health in all Policies framework ensures city resources align with and advance health equity goals * The Invest in Youth Coalition launched the Kids First Richmond campaign • Resulted in the city Department of Children and Youth and a dedicated fund for youth

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* The North Richmond Resident Leadership Team and Leadership Circle designed the Quality of Life Plan • Will guide community development and youth/education efforts over the next 10 years * The Local Control campaign: • Prioritized removing barriers for education equity • Helped parents advocate for annual policy and funding recommendations • Resulted in more resources for African American parent engagement, foster care youth and a full-service community

The California Endowment When it comes to your health, your zip code is more important than your genetic code. Place matters for health because where you live determines how you live – whether you have access to healthy food, quality jobs, affordable housing, and high performing schools, and so forth. Place also shapes your sense of belonging, particularly for children. Neighborhood conditions can affirm one’s sense of selfworth or reinforce feelings of hopelessness and second-class citizenship. That is why The California Endowment launched Building Healthy Communities — our 10-year investment in 14 low income communities designed to begin undoing the root causes of poor health and build agency to change the odds for low income Californians. Every person and every place has a unique story. This graphic novel is a story of people in Richmond. A story of different histories coming together to form one community with multiple experiences and yet a linked destiny. As this graphic novel illustrates, unhealthy neighborhood conditions are the result of discriminatory policies by decision makers and long-term disinvestment of public and private dollars. But, the future is not yet written. Despite all of the challenges facing Richmond, this is a story of hope. As these illustrations so beautifully depict, residents are coming together to change the story, because everyone deserves to live in healthy neighborhoods. This story is part of a series profiling each of the places partnering in BHC. Together, they are the story of California’s future — a story of dignity and inclusion, where everyone belongs and has the opportunity to live to their full potential.

Urban Habitat The first How Did We Get Here? comic book was created by Urban Habitat in 2005.

Urban Habitat provided project support to Richmond Pulse in the creation of their How Did We Get Here? graphic novel. Urban Habitat brings race and class to the forefront of transportation, land use, and housing policies to create a Bay Area where low-income people and people of color can live in just and connected neighborhoods.

www.urbanhabitat.org

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Richmond Pulse Youth-Led Community Media

OUR MISSION Richmond Pulse supports and equips young people with the narrative and journalism skills they need to tell stories about topics and issues important to them and their communities. www.richmondpulse.org

Creative Team Jennifer Baires, Author Jonathan Herzog, Illustrator Contributors Diane Aranda Dónte Clark Roxanne Guzman Shantina Jackson Malcolm Marshall Danielle Parenteau-Decker Denis Perez-Bravo Ruthe Rhodes Lio Sandy Saeteurn Andres Soto Special thanks to the many community members who helped us in the telling of this story, to The California Endowment for believing in the importance of knowing the history of our communities, to Ellen Wu at Urban Habitat for making this comic come to fruition, to Ruthe Rhodes for her guidance, and to Angela Tannehill-Caldwell for bringing it all together.

— Richmond Pulse

printers place recycled paper and union bugs here