Reporting on Violence

Residents rally for city officials to help end violence

kdunlap — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:51:08 -0700

Residents and faith leaders gathered in front of City Hall on Tuesday evening to demand that city officials live up to their promise to support a comprehensive approach to end gun violence.

Youth ride for peace

kdunlap — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:31:46 -0700

I recently had a chance to interview Tyrone Stevenson Jr., aka the "Scraperbike King.'' He and his crew of young men ages 11-24 are participating in the Bike for Life, Riding for Peace event at Lake Merritt on Sunday 7/13.

Govenor to sign sexual exploitation bill

kdunlap — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:00:42 -0700

I just wanted to post a quick update from the teen prostitution series in the Oakland Tribune. Assembly bill 499, which would identify minors caught in the sex trade as victims, rather than criminals has reached Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk to be signed into law.

Camp keeps Tupac's legacy alive

kdunlap — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:25:58 -0700

While I was out reporting on the Silence the Violence event, I met Deelah a young female performing arts activists who told me about the first Tupac summer camp being held Oakland. I was so excited to hear about it especially because I love Tupac's music (California Love is one of my favorite songs) and I also was curious to learn about what kinds of activities went on at the camp.

Police arrest 12 in child sex sting

kdunlap — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:35:52 -0700

I recently completed a series in the Tribune on Oakland's "dirty secret"of teen prostitution. Since then, Oakland police involved with an FBI sting rescued four child victims of human trafficking and arrested 12 people in connection with child prostitution charges. The arrests were part of larger federal sweep that lasted five days and targeted 16 cities across the country. Called "Operation Cross Country,"

Community Host Vigils to Silence Violence

kdunlap — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:20:35 -0700

I recently attended Silence the Violence Day at Defremery Park in West Oakland. The goal was to address problems of crime by lowering the homicide rate and empowering young people to get involved with social activism.

Residents and Faith Leaders to Talk about Violence

kdunlap — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:03:56 -0700

About 3,000 residents and faith leaders are expected to attend a citywide forum at the Oakland Convention Center Thursday May 22, at 6:30 p.m.

Residents will talk about how they have been affected by homicide and propose a coordinate violence prevention and intervention strategy to city officials. The them of ethe meeting is "Save Lives Now!"

All Oaklanders are invited to attend.

Child Prostitution Meeting on KPFA Site

jstevens — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:14:55 -0700

For those of you who couldn't attend the meeting (mentioned in Kamika Dunlap's previous blog posting) at Youth Uprising last Thursday, you can listen to it on KPFA, which aired and recorded the live broadcast of a town hall meeting on the commercial abuse of children titled "No Longer Invisible." The meeting was sponsored by the Alameda County Interagency Policy Council. The broadcast was moderated by Weyland Southon.

-- Jane Stevens, UC Berkeley

Oakland faces its Prostitution Problems

kdunlap — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:31:16 -0700

For some time now, I have been reporting about the epidemic of the commercial and sexual abuse of hundreds children in Oakland.

Councilwoman Jean Quan says "Teen and child prostitution is a dirty secret."

Bikers Give Back

kdunlap — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:07:58 -0700

The biker community is doing its part to help support Christopher Rodriguez, who is paralyzed from the waist down after being hit by a stray bullet on January 10, 2008, while taking a piano lesson at Harmony Road Music School. About 250 bikers gathered at Arroyo Viejo Park in East Oakland last month to organize an Easter Egg hunt for children.