The Life and Times of
Kevin Weston Commemorative Edition Saturday June 28, 2014
Obituary
K
evin O’Neal Weston
passed away on Sunday June 15, 2014 at his home in Oakland, California, due to complications from a rare form of leukemia. Kevin was born on August 30,1968, to the union of Wilbert and Geraldine Weston at Kaiser Hospital in the Fillmore neighborhood of San Francisco. He was a loving father, husband and son. A widely known Bay Area journalist, activist and thought-leader, he also was a powerful friend, mentor and inspiration to many. In 1992, Kevin was a community college student working for United Parcel Service when he and a fellow student and friend, Malcolm Marshall, started writing for a media enterprise called Pacific News Service. There, he discovered a gift for mentoring and empowering young people to find their strength and their voice. Over the next two decades, Kevin raised a generation of young writers and activists—some from East Oakland, Bay View Hunter’s Point and the Mission who were otherwise ignored or viewed as potential “predators,” others from suburbs like Pittsburg and Union City, where he cofounded a monthly publication for youth called Sprawl. Before meeting Kevin, most of the young people whose lives he changed would not have conceived of themselves as writers whose voices could be widely heard, let alone help shape public opinion. Kevin’s ability to work with young people from all cultural and economic backgrounds was further honed when he left PNS for four years to work as a youth counselor with East Bay Asian Youth Center. He had a profound impact on Pacific News Service and its offshoot New America Media (NAM), where he was an associate editor who helped found YO! Youth Outlook as a raw voice of inner city youth. Insisting on video production as a core part of YO! training, Kevin’s staff began producing video for all of NAM. He also worked with the San Francisco District Attorney’s office to fund a computer lab for youth diverted from jail. YO! then trained youth from that program in expressive arts. The program, “Changing the Odds,” was cited by now California Attorney General Kamala Harris as a signature juvenile justice initiative while she ran the DA’s office in San Francisco.
As a journalist, Kevin’s greatest skill was in discovering the wider context in the anecdote and creating connections that otherwise went unnoticed. Why did Oakland school kids laugh at a showing of Schindler’s List? Having never been taught about the Holocaust, they thought they were watching fiction. Why was the summer intern from West Oakland limping? He had a bullet in his leg from being shot. Kevin created “Got Shot,” profiling a new generation of street survivors who benefitted from an approach in surgery used in the first Gulf War—to leave bullets and shrapnel in rather than dislodge them. When Occupy Wall Street set up its tents in Oakland, Kevin—a Bay Area native, who loved the city he called home—was quick to note the distinction between the protestors and the “other Oakland”, where Black parents were staging their own protests against the shutdown of charter schools. Over a lifetime spent writing about the Black experience, Kevin’s journalism garnered many accolades. Two years ago, he received Stanford’s prestigious Knight Journalism Fellowship. There, he planned to pursue a new challenge, an ambitious plan to train a cadre of young people versed in the digital domain to redefine the Black press, transforming it from serving a market defined by race to one defined by geography. Just a few days before the fellowship began, Kevin was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia called T-PLL. He spent most of the last 20 months fighting the cancer and living each day fully with his loving wife and daughters by his side. This, too, was a chance for Kevin to help others. Together with his wife, Lateefah, Kevin helped launch a successful effort to get over 1,500 African Americans registered as bone marrow donors. His life consisted of specific eras: young firebrand; youth activist; respected mentor; community prophet; and finally, in his last and most precious incarnation, loving husband and father. Kevin was preceded in death by his foster grandparents C.W. Lewis and Viola Blue Lewis, paternal grandparents Wilbert and Sydney Mae Weston, and father Wilbert Weston Jr. He is survived by his wife Lateefah Simon; daughters Lelah and Aminah; mother Geraldine Singleton; brothers Kharon Weston and Joseph Evans; sister Aariane Hopkins; and Aunt Lisa Paschal, as well as a host of other aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. To honor Kevin’s life, donations to support Kevin’s wife and daughters can be made at: http://www.gofundme.com/1t8q58.
Celebration of Life for Kevin Weston 11:30AM-2:00PM
Drumming Processional Baba Greg Hodge El Fatiha: The Opening Sadat Ahmad Welcome & Blessing of the Remains Pastor Michael McBride Opening Prayer Pastor Donna Battle Opening Prayer in Song Jennifer Johns Reading of the Obituary Slideshow & Song Reflections: Kevin’s Early Years Reflections: High School Remembering Kevin Weston video by Barbara Allen Reflections: Becoming a Writer Reflections: Professional Career as a Newsman Reflections: Fatherhood & Becoming a Family Man Musical Offering from the Youth Legacy Talk Lateefah Simon, Kevin’s wife Words from Kevin’s Doctor Dr. Jed Katzel Acknowledgements & Thank You from the Family Geraldine Singleton, Kevin’s Mother & Aminah Ortiz Simon, Kevin’s Daughter The Send Off: Kevin & Hip Hop The official program will be followed by a repast on site and an opportunity to join the Be The Match marrow registry hosted by the Asian American Donor Program.