Red lining
Voter suppression
Mass incarceration
The War on Drugs
Over-policing communities of color and the lower-resourced
Police brutality and excessive force
Inequalities in healthcare and education
Environmental racism.
Currently, many people are being intentional in their efforts to educate themselves on how to acknowledge, address, and deconstruct racism and what it means to be anti-racist. The time has come where we can no longer stand idly and be neutral on this matter. Given that racism has been intentionally produced by society, one must do their due diligence in attempting to eradicate racism, racist ideology and white supremacy. Simply perpetuating covert socially acceptable forms of white supremacy, and assuming that good intentions are enough, is a fallacy. Thinking about racism, its history, and its context in society are simply insufficient and inadequate. WE must take action!
Experience and Parallels
As a club we cannot deny the lived experiences and reality of many of our players, families and community members; many of whom we work alongside. We stand sympathetically, empathically, and in solidarity with our most vulnerable marginalized group in America, currently and historically, our black and brown community members and families.
Over-policing, excessive use of force, police brutality, and mass incarceration has had a detrimental intergenerational impact on many communities of color across the country oftentimes destabilizing and debilitating a sense of community.
I share my own experience to draw parallels to how living in an over-policed community while being a BIPOC can shape one’s interactions with law enforcement. My story is not intended to take away from what has been going on to Black people in this country but rather to lend an understanding of the shared trauma that both Black and Brown people experience.
Having family members be victims of police brutality, mass incarceration and personally experiencing police abuse of their power is simply traumatizing. At 18, the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) aimed an AR-16 rifle at my friends and I, without any explanation or reason.
At 20, California Highway Patrol pulled me over, claiming that I was speeding and swerving lanes and attempted to book me and arrest me on DUI charge, which was false.
At 21, while hanging out with my childhood friends, SFPD illegally searched my car with my friends present and called for backup attempting to arrest us, assuming we had drugs in the car.
I have heard of other family members being beaten by police, had their lives threatened by police, and have witnessed police beat neighbors of mine. None stand out more than one time when I was driving down the street in my old neighborhood of Hunters Point and witnessing SFPD round up and detain 10-12 black youth for no apparent reason. These are experiences that have stuck with me and they continue to fuel my passion for the work that I do, and we do as a club for the youth of East Oakland.
George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland, Dominique Wells, Riah Milton, Tamir Rice, Erik Salgado, Oscar Grant, Mario Woods, Steven Taylor, Sean Monterosa, Nia Wilson, and Jace Young are just a few names that have lost their lives As a result to racist policing, racism, and white supremacy.
We feel that not just these lives that have been taken are not the only injustice of racism, but a by-product of systemic institutional and socially acceptable forms of racism and white supremacy. There are many other aspects that continue to have long term effects in our community and many like it, such as mass incarceration, predatory lending, racial profiling, cultural appropriation, anti-immigration policies/practices, tokenism, colorblindness and white savior complex. These are all interlinked and examples in which white supremacy and racism continue to evolve and exist, unless we address it.
Once we acknowledge inequities, we need to admit and accept privilege. In order to assess privilege I leave you with this:
“But privilege isn’t about what you’ve gone through; it’s about what you haven’t had to go through.”
- Janaya Future Khan
Organizational Structure as an Anti-Racist Organization
Through the writing of Ibram X. Kendi, How to be an Antiracist, introduces the idea of what it means to be an antiracist and challenges readers to reflect, analyze, wonder, question, and critique every aspect of your life and what parts have been shaped, influenced, and have been impacted by white supremacy and racism.
As he puts it,
“The opposite of racist isn't 'not racist.' It is 'anti-racist.' What's the difference? One endorses either the idea of a racial hierarchy as a racist, or racial equality as an anti-racist. One either believes problems are rooted in groups of people, as a racist, or locates the roots of problems in power and policies, as an anti-racist. One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an anti-racist. There is no in-between safe space of 'not racist.”
― Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist
Therefore, the first step is acknowledging that we all are suffering and subscribing to racism unconsciously regardless of race and in order to dismantle these ideals, WE must be intentional in combating racism, internally, socially, and structurally.
As an antiracist organization, OAKTOWN FC has been intentional in the community we work in and the coaches we work with in order to create an empowering environment that does not lend itself to perpetuate some of the detrimental values noted above. We find that not addressing these issues lends itself to further traumatizing, retraumatizing and, ultimately, can be problematic given the lived experience and the reality of many members of our community.
In East Oakland lies beauty, beauty that must be curated, maintained, and created by the community members. We can all benefit from the beauty of East Oakland and it should be enjoyed, respected, and acknowledged by all. OTFC wishes to continue to provide opportunities for members of the East Oakland community. OAKTOWN FC will continue its pursuit to be for the community, by the community and from the community.
Going Forward
OTFC will continue to reflect and challenge racism and anti-black sentiments that have permeated our conscious and unconscious way of thinking. We will not stop in addressing these realities for everyone we work with and we will always be an organization that strives to create an environment where everyone feels welcomed, honored, respected, and treated with dignity. We understand that the first step of being an antiracist is acknowledging that we are influenced by racist ideology, and as a result, OAKTOWN FC will constantly strive to reflect and continue to be intentional in dismantling racism and disrupting this pattern of thinking.
Actionable steps OAKTOWN FC has taken and will continue to take in becoming an antiracist Futbol Club:
Challenge our own patterns of thought to disrupt racist ideology
Address staff, players, families, and communities members that create a hostile and unwelcoming environment for players
We will continue to give coaching opportunities to Black Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC)
We will continue to sponsor coaches of color to attain their coaching licenses
We will continue to work in our community of East Oakland to structurally make our trainings accessible to the families and communities we serve
We will continue to support families and players any way that we can and see fit to ensure their commitment to training
We will always strive to create a practice environment that is empowering to mitigate ‘otherizing’ any group of people
We will work with organizations that are aligned in our values to address these inequities
We will continue to hold high standards for coaches and players to meet the demands of rigor of our futbol training
We will ensure that our coaching staff is at least 75% BIPOC at all times
We will continue to look for opportunities to serve the Black youth players, families, and community members of East Oakland
We will continue our work by onboarding Black coaches, and expanding our programs to work closely with schools that serve predominantly Black youth in East Oakland
We will continue to have a coaching staff that reflects the players they coach to ensure that there is an empowering practice environment for all stakeholders involved
Coaches will continue to conduct their coaching through a culturally sensitive lens to address the unique needs for youth that need extra support to address social inequities that exist in the current club soccer landscape both locally and nationally
We will ensure that each goal as a club is addressing one of the needs of diversity, equity, and inclusion
