Stay in the Light Co.

So much fun to watch these Sea Lions have a totally tubular time at Santa Barbara Island last week! The big swell off the California coast has turned even the Sea Lions into surfers.

This picture showed up on my timeline the other day. I figured it was some small town in the Mediterranean. And my first thought was: Wow I’d love to take my f...amily there for a vacation. But then I looked a little closer. And I realized that I actually live where this picture was taken. This is a picture of Oakland. It was taken by KTVU photographer Randee Deason. This has to be one of the BEST pictures I’ve ever seen of Oakland. I seriously thought this was Spain or Italy. I'd like to show this to some of my friends back east. The ones who always say: Why would you want to live in Oakland? I’m going to tell them: This is why!!! #ProudOaklandResident

The Black Panther Party, founded by me and Huey Newton in Oakland-California in 1966 grew quickly into a national organization. While Huey P. Newton sat in jail..., a political prisoner, I organized five thousand people into the Black Panther Party in forty-nine chapters and branches across the USA. This is the history of one of those chapters. All Power To All The People! Bobby Seale http://www.bobbyseale.com/ === By 1970, now at the center of a revolutionary movement, the original Black Panther Party had Chapters in cities across the country from Seattle to Winston-Salem. When the Party founded a Chapter in the city Winston-Salem, it was not the Winston-Salem of today. Facing persecution, harassment and often, imprisonment, just for being Black Panther Party members, the Winston-Salem Black Panthers worked fought for better conditions, services and treatment for the people in their community and for all the people. The Winston-Salem Black Panther Party Chapter will always be remember for the challenges it posed to police brutality, hunger, disease, ignorance, and the oppression of not only Black people, but for all the people. However, many members of the Winston-Salem Black Panther Party Chapter as they served the people, would have never thought that they would see a day in which the would be applauded and thanked for their service to the community. But that day happen in October 2013 when the Forsyth County Historic Resources Commission unveiled a historic marker in honor of the Black Panther Party’s contributions before an enthusiastic crowd of supporters. Winston-Salem Black Panther Party chapter held free-food rallies. The Joseph Waddell Free Food Program, named in honor of a beloved comrade who had died under suspicious circumstances in a state prison. At the rally held at the Kimberly Park Housing Project over two thousand people came to receive free food and shoes for children given out by the Winston-Salem chapter of the Black Panther Party. There was not a satisfactory ambulance service available in Winston-Salem for the Black community. Black Panther Party members study emergency medical technician (EMT) and first-aid classes at Surry Community College, and got their ENT’s certification. The Winston-Salem Black Panther Part chapter operating its own ambulance, named the Joseph Waddell People’s Free Ambulance Service. Joseph Waddell left his life insurance death benefit ($7,000) to the Winston-Salem Black Panther Party chapter and the money to subsidize their free ambulance program. The ambulance offered twenty-four-hour service and had twenty certified EMTs who were Party members. It was granted the chapter a franchise to operate by the Forsyth County commissioners. Winston-Salem has now honored the work of the Winston-Salem Black Panther Party chapter with a historical marker. On corner of Fifth Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, not far from where the Winston-Salem Black Panther Party chapter’s first headquarters was established, stands a historic marked honoring the Black Panther s commitment and work done to improving the lives of the people of Winston-Salem through providing Survival Programs such as the Free Food Distribution Program, the Free Clothing Program, Free Shoe Program, Free Ambulance Service and Free Breakfast for Children Program. The plaque reads: In 1969, the city of Winston-Salem, NC became the first southern city with a chapter of the Black Panther Party. Nationally and locally, the Black Panthers sought to protect African-American neighborhood from police brutality: the volatility of the times often lead to confrontation with the police. Later the chapter offered community service programs; including free breakfasts for children, sickle-cell anemia testing, and the Joseph Waddell People’s Free Ambulance Service, which received national attention. These programs brought meaningful change to Winston-Salem during a time of social and political upheaval and lent validation to the Chapter’s slogan, Power to the people right on. Members of the Winston-Salem Chapter would later serve the community as ministers, teachers, politicians, and community organizers. The unveiling of the historic maker began with a symbolic march from the site of the organization’s original Winston-Salem Black Panther Party chapter’s headquarters, just a few blocks away. Their fists held high in the air, marchers where led by African drummers. Joining a crowed that had already assembled, marchers hear reflections from city leaders and some of the Party’s original members. In the words of Winston-Salem City Council Member Derwin Montgomery The Black Panthers did great work in our community and deserve the recognition and so today, we salute the Black PanthersThey paved the way and left a tradition and a rich history and heritage that we continue today with this dedication. On the Winston-Salem Black Panther Party’s most active members, Former City Council Member Nelson Malloy, was one of the speakers who regaled the audience with insight into the history of the Winston-Salem Black Panther Party’s. Malloy said, We had a lot of support in this community. They may not have been a part of the Black Panther Party, but they played an integral role in the success of community. Praising Winston-Salem Black Panther Party’s members for refusing to accept the status quo, State Rep. Earline Parmon, the Democratic candidate for North Carolina Senate District 32, also spoke at the unveiling of the historic marker: They dared to stand up and say, ‘We’re fed up and we’re not taking it anymore. Because they had courage, today I stand as the first African American ever to represent Forsyth County in the state Senate. It didn’t start in 2012; it started (with the Panthers’ founding) 43 years ago. I’m grateful for this day and I’m grateful to all of you. Power to the people. Director of Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Triad Region, attorney Hazel Mack address the issues of passing the torch on to the next generation: Really, I want to talk to the young people, said Mack. We were nothing but children. We were 16, 17, 18 years old, but, like many of you, we had a desire to see things be different than what they were. I want the young people to understand that that was our time and this is your time. There is nothing you see that cannot be changed. Whatever it is that you think you can do to make yours lf better, to make your community better, you can do it. Forsyth County Historic Resources Commission putting up this historic marker honoring the contributions of the Winston-Salem Black Panther Party. It is important to preserve and convey the true history and value of the Party, providing current and future generations an awareness of the original Black Panther Party true history, as an example of how one should never give up the struggle for true liberation and freedom. Instilling and inspiring in them the realization that one should never give up the struggle for true liberation and freedom and that it is up to the People to protect and preserve their constitutional rights. ======= #blackpantherparty #bobbyseale #winstonsalem

skate date post-pandemic, the venue needs our help to stay alive Sunrise Rollerland