APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY
___________________________
CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL
RESOLUTION NO. ______________ C.M.S.
INTRODUCED BY COUNCILMEMBER CARROLL FIFE
RESOLUTION TO (1) COMMEMORATIVELY RENAME BROADWAY
BETWEEN 14
TH STREET AND 17TH STREET AS “BLACK PANTHER
PARTY BOULEVARD” IN HONOR OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
AND (2) AUTHORIZE THE INSTALLATION OF PLAQUES HONORING
THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY ON 14TH STREET AND BROADWAY,
15TH STREET AND BROADWAY, AND 17TH STREET AND
BROADWAY, PURSUANT TO THE POLICY AND CRITERIA
ESTABLISHED BY RESOLUTION NO. 77967 C.M.S.
WHEREAS, California Government Code Section 34091.1 allows a jurisdiction by resolution to name a new public street or to rename an existing public street; and WHEREAS, the naming of a new public street or the renaming of an existing public street is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act of 1970; and WHEREAS, the City Council in 2003 established procedures for commemorative street naming through Resolution No. 77967 C.M.S. under which the City Council may, by its own motion, consider the renaming of a public street; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has previously approved commemorative street names such as with Joe Morgan Way, Herbert Guice Way, Peter Van Kleef Way, Dr. Huey P. Newton Way, Deontae Bush Way, Dorothy King Way, Tupac Shakur Way, and OSA Way; and WHEREAS, the City Council finds that the Black Panther Party’s contributions to the City of Oakland, the Bay Area, Nation, and Global communities eminently merit commemoration; and WHEREAS, in 1966, the Black Panther Party was born in Oakland out of necessity to fight against police violence, economic exploitation, and the systemic neglect shaping the daily realities of Black life; and
WHEREAS, the Panthers named these conditions for what they were and moved to change them. They studied, they organized, and they built—not to be included in a system that oppressed them, but to transform it; and
2 WHEREAS, at the core of the Black Panther Party was the Ten-Point Program that stated their basic desires for Black and (ultimately) all Oppressed peoples:
1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community.
2. We want full employment for our people.
3. We want an end to the robbery by the white man of our Black Community.
4. We want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings.
5. We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society.
6. We want all black men to be exempt from military service.
7. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people.
8. We want freedom for all black men held in federal, state, county, and city prisons and jails.
9. We want all black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their black communities, as defined by the Constitution of the United States.
10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace. And as our major political objective, a United Nations– supervised plebiscite to be held throughout the black colony in which only black colonial subjects will be allowed to participate for the purpose of determining the will of black people as to their national destiny.
WHEREAS, the Black Panther Party changed what people believed was possible and that legacy reaches far beyond resistance alone; and
WHEREAS, the Panthers developed 65 survival programs that fed children before school, opened community health clinics, organized around sickle cell anemia, created schools that reimagined education, supported prisoners and their families, and advanced self-defense as both a political principle and a practical response to terror, insisting that Black people had the right not only to survive, but to live with dignity, political clarity, and collective power; and WHEREAS, the Party also understood that Black struggle in the United States was connected to liberation movements around the world; from anti-colonial struggles in Africa to revolutionary movements in Asia, Latin America, and beyond, the Panthers located Black freedom within a larger fight against imperialism, capitalism, and racial domination; and WHEREAS, that global analysis remains part of the Party’s enduring legacy, as does its insistence that political education, community care, and organized resistance must move together; and
WHEREAS, through the selfless and driven actions of the thousands of youths and volunteers who made up the Black Panther Party, Oakland’s communities were lifted in its time, while current and future leaders are inspired to keep its legacy alive; and WHEREAS, sites in Oakland bearing the name of the Black Panther Party or of its leaders draw thousands of residents and visitors each week to learn about the Party, to step back in time, and to take pride in the work of the Black Panther Party, to learn from the work of the Black 3 Panther Party, and to see that the fight for liberation and equality continue locally, regionally, nationally, and globally; and
WHEREAS, by preserving and sharing this history, Oakland is not only honoring one of the city's most significant contributions to American history but also investing in a legacy that continues to educate, inspire, and strengthen our community; and WHEREAS, the City Council intends to honor the Black Panther Party’s contributions to the City of Oakland, the Bay Area, Nation, and Global communities by retaining the existing street name, adding an additional honorary street name and installing commemorative plaques or signs and intends that the costs associated with such a commemorative act will be borne by the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED: That the Council of the City of Oakland hereby approves the commemorative renaming of Broadway between 14
th Street and 17th Street as “Black Panther Party
Boulevard”; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED: That the City Council directs the City Administrator to proceed with the commemorative designation of “Black Panther Party Boulevard” and placement of signs or plaques to that effect at or near the intersections of 14th Street and Broadway, 15th Street and Broadway; and 17th Street and Broadway, upon payment of costs.
IN COUNCIL, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA,
PASSED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES - BROWN, FIFE, GALLO, HOUSTON, RAMACHANDRAN, UNGER, WANG, AND
PRESIDENT JENKINS
NOES –
ABSENT –
ABSTENTION –
ATTEST:
ASHA REED
City Clerk and Clerk of the Council of the
City of Oakland, California
3485278 / KKQ