Greetings John!
As the former Chairman of the Black Panther Party, I remain committed after all these years to the struggle for the liberation of Black people, as our oppressed condition remains essentially the same as when I joined the Party in 1968, Black people have the highest poverty rate, the highest homelessness rate, the highest incarceration rate, the highest cancer death rate. To paraphrase Dr. King, Black people today have
"half of what is good and double of what is bad."
As the CEO of the nonprofit Oakland and the World Enterprises (OAW), I am presently building a 100% affordable housing complex in the depressed, Black community of West Oakland, California, called The Black Panther. Simultaneously, at the same site at 7th and Campbell Streets, OAW is launching five businesses for cooperative ownership by formerly incarcerated and other socioeconomically marginalized people:
a fitness center, a tech business center, an urban farm, a neighborhood market, and a restaurant.
See our website for more information:
www.oaklandandtheworld.org.
Our primary goal is not only to develop a pathway for economic survival for the least of these but also to create a base and a model for developing Black community wealth and self-determination.
As you may have heard, recently, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation contributed $1 million to support our work in West Oakland.
The $1 million grant from Black Lives Matter underscores a collective commitment to nurturing an agenda for building Black wealth and power, toward true Black liberation.
It is my hope that you will follow the lead of the Black Lives Matter Foundation and make a contribution to Oakland and the World Enterprises, which we will split with the Foundation.
With Revolutionary Love,
Elaine Brown
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