Mr. Rodney Brooks
Chief of Staff for
Supervisor Keith Carson
Alameda County Board of Supervisors
I apologize if I have offended you in some way—possibly my calling? I assure you it was unintended and as of now it is unknown to me. My request of you was merely to get onto the agenda of the Bay Area Black Elected Officials meeting to discuss what I and others think is a viable way to develop financially significant and much needed foundations in the black community. Since these elected officials represent the people of the Bay Area, especially black people, I thought it quite appropriate to present the idea to them and ask their political leadership to possibly implement that idea.
From the offset of this philanthropic effort, Supervisor Carson was invited, but after going to his office and inviting him, we were told that he was out of town at the time of our forum. We also invited Larry Reid of Oakland City council, and he did not care to respond to our invitation or attend after several attempts to contact him, even after going to his office as well.
Although I have no idea what has caused such a negative response to this call, I assure you that this effort is not to grow Gibbs Community Foundation or to increase Frank Jones in any way. This concept is to create a new institution that elected officials and large black church pastors would appoint board members to.
Mr. Brooks, since I have no idea what has caused the negative response to my efforts to engage others in this philanthropic endeavor, I must assume it is something that I have unwittingly done and not the concept itself. What black persons could or would fight against building Black Foundations?
If anyone thinks my efforts are self-motivated, I assure you they are not. I live an upper middle class life, with a home in the Oakland hills—in Larry Reid’s district; I have been and am a professor of English and a respected PhD academic for the last 30 years in the San Mateo Community College District, as well as doing other things that have allowed my existence to be as it is. I have never been accused of any dishonesty, and I have no criminal record. Even as a black man, I have never even been arrested. Furthermore, all my children are doctors, lawyers, bankers, police officers, and current college students in good standing. I have worked productively in the Oakland community, administering group homes for boys, heading Juvenile Court for six-years, and hosting yearly community forums dealing with the grave conditions of young black males. In short, my history and contributions in and to the black community have been honorable and productive, NEVER self-serving. So if the problem is me in some way, I am quite ready to move aside and give this effort to others—indeed, that is exactly what I was hoping to do by coming to your political organization. But that has failed.
Finally, I and those with me—Dr. Edward Valeau, President of Hartnell College and a resident of Hayward, Dr. Tony Jackson, resident of Oakland, and others like those who attended our forum in June--see a gap in our community development and know that the present system of Bay Area Black philanthropy as if is presently constituted will not address that gap. So we have attempted to call attention to it and offer a viable way to fill it; a way that could be a model for the nation. That is all this effort is about! And so I have called you, left messages on your answering machine, and I am unable to secure an audience with your group. I must, therefore, conclude that you do not want to give voice to this idea.
Thank you; I will not pester you further.
