California Gold: The Remember Them Monument, Oakland

Text and photos by Jason McKenney.

I was watching a Michael Che stand-up comedy special the other day and he made comment about the Black Lives Matter movement I felt was smartly insightful. Saying "Black Lives Matter is a controversial statement," said Che. "Not 'matters more than you,' just . . . matters."

I felt it was a poignant way to phrase the argument. There are black people in this country who feel their lives don't mean much to the larger population, and whether or not you or I agree that's a fair feeling to have, it is important to figure out where those feelings come from. What causes this frustration? What are easy ways to quickly begin resolving the issues? Are there ways to make a difference in our everyday lives that don't require the petitioning of slow-moving governments?

While blacks have had a ragged relationship with American mainstream culture going back prior to the US founding, they have still produced a number of the most prominent spokespeople for defining and defending exactly what freedom and equality of races should be.

The Remember Them monument in Oakland, CA, profiles many such voices. While not every person honored with this monument is black, those who are give evidence of a strong tradition of thought in this country that has helped the world face-up to racial hypocrisy, articulate rational grievances, and move in a direction where people do not have to feel their lives matter less than others simply due to pigment levels.

The black voices that have been so full-throated in the Civil Rights and racial equality movements over the years are a jewel in the cultural crown of American and should be embraced by all Americans of all backgrounds. Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. These are people who shouldn't just be thought of as black heroes but as American heroes.

During a recent visit to Oakland, I spent an hour slowly walking around the Henry J. Kaiser Memorial Park while I waited for my wife to attend a business lunch in a nearby restaurant. The park is located on Rashida Muhammad Street in the Uptown entertainment district. It was briefly occupied by Occupy Oakland and is home to the Remember Them: Champions For Humanity Monument.

Across Rashida Muhammad Street sits a theater for plays and live performances. Auditions were being held while I walked through the park. A line of teenage trialists stood along the sidewalk. Slowly, throughout the hour I was there, the line dwindled to just a few strays. The art scene
is rich in this area.

The Remember Them: Champions For Humanity Monument was designed by Oakland sculptor Mario Chiodo. The bronze with cast stone base sculpture measures 25 feet high and 52 feet wide and covers a thousand square feet. With four sections, this is the largest bronze monument on the west
coast. It highlights the accomplishments of 25 global humanitarians:

•  The Rev. Ralph David Abernathy (1926-1990): Partner with Martin Luther King Jr. in civil rights activism
•  Maya Angelou (1928-2014): Poet, playwright, civil rights activist
•  Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906): Human rights activist who fought for women’s suffrage and the abolition of slavery
•  Ruby Bridges (1954-present): At age 6 braved an angry mob to become first black student in all-white school in the South
•  Cesar Chavez (1927-1993): Civil rights activist and agricultural workers labor leader
•  Chief Joseph (1846-1904): Head of the Nez Perce Nation and human rights activist
•  Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965): British prime minister during WWII, alone at first against Nazi fascism
•  Frederick Douglass (1817-1895): A former slave who became a foremost leader in the abolitionist movement
•  Shirin Ebadi (1947-present): Human rights activist for Middle East issues and Nobel Peace Prize winner
•  Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948): Pacifist who lead India to independence from Great Britain
•  Helen Keller (1880-1968): Fought for rights for those with disabilities
•  Coretta Scott King (1927-2006): Civil rights activist
•  The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968): Civil rights leader
•  Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865): American president who abolished slavery
•  Nelson Mandela (1918-2013): Human rights activist and first democratically elected president of South Africa
•  Harvey Milk (1930-1978): A leader of the gay rights movement
•  Mother Teresa (1910-1997): Leader of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, won 1979 Nobel Peace Prize
•  Rosa Parks (1913-2005): Civil rights activist
•  Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945): United States president during WWII, who also established the United Nations
•  Oskar Schindler (1908-1974): German business man who outwitted Nazis to save more than 1,200 Jewish lives
•  Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-present): Pacifist Vietnamese Buddhist monk who is a human rights and anti-war activist
•  Rigoberta Menchu Tum (1959-present): Human rights activist for indigenous people in Latin America
•  The Unknown Rebel of Tiananmen Square (1989): Stood in front of tanks during student human rights uprising in China
•  Elie Wiesel (1928-present): Holocaust survivor dedicated to preventing genocide
•  Malcolm X (1925-1965): Black nationalist, civil rights leader

The monument includes a visually impaired feature, allowing the visually impaired to touch and feel the faces of 25 world figures in one place, with humanitarian quotes also in braille. One section of the monument is designed on a spiraling axis emulating the helix of the common DNA of all humans. The base includes sculptures of books to illustrate the importance of education in the lives and work of all of the honorees. It features seven sets of interlocking men and women, symbolizing the seven continents of earth.

The monument goes a long way to pulling together a variety of defenders of human freedom from around the world, but I would argue that many of the most effective voices on the list are black Americans. These are Americans who have risen up from a society where human freedom is given great lip service, but where they were still treated unfairly and expected to submit to the whims of a de facto ruling class that loomed over them. Their words and deeds have influenced countless others including some who share monument space with them.

Leaving the park, I felt a new appreciation for the importance of minority voices in the ongoing struggle for racial equality. Easy for me to say being a lanky white guy. Easy for me to nod and agree and then forget it all. But I don't want to forget it. I want to learn more. Their words are out there. They just need to be found.

California Gold: Lake Merritt in Oakland

Frankie and the Lake

Oakland, CA, USA
Text and Photos by Jason McKenney

Oakland’s not so bad, is it? The sky is a bit cloudy today and there is a hint of mist in the air, but otherwise it’s very comfortable out here. Lake Merritt sits in the eastern part of the city and drains southward into a part of the bay that surrounds Alameda Island. We’re staying with friends in Marin County but my wife has a business meeting in Oakland this morning. So Francesca (or “Frankie” for short) and I are killing some time.

Being that she’s only six months old, there hasn’t been much time for father-daughter bonding between myself and Frankie outside of the house. I was looking forward to pushing the stroller around the lake, leisurely, lazily. But we forgot the stroller. I left it back at the house when we were in such a huff to get going this morning. It was a forty-five minute drive from Marin County across the Richmond Bridge, down past Berkeley and into Oakland. I dropped of the wife at her office and parked the car.

“Just you and me, kid, for two hours.”

No stroller. The car seat is way too heavy to lug around. Thankfully my daughter is light. I will carry this bundle of punkins around the lake and see what kinds of adventures we can find.

She is my first child. She appears to be a very happy baby. I often wonder what she will be like when she grows up. Will she be interested in traveling, in foreign cultures, in art, in science? Will she be curious about all those subjects that make life so beautiful? Will we have a good relationship as she grows up or will she rebel and run off? Will she find a good man who loves her and cares for her or will she spend weekend evenings at home alone, wondering what it would be like to be popular.

If you’re a good parent then your children will learn to be upstanding, productive members of society. So goes the typical idioms on such concerns. But what about those kids who have good parents and good homes and simply don’t turn out right? We all know people like that, don’t we? Or two siblings, one is an angel, the other a devil. How does that happen? Will Frankie be a little hellion? Will she be apathetic to others? Cold? Heartless? I try my best not to get too far ahead of myself. She’s six months old. Enjoy this moment.

Lake Merritt is actually a large tidal lagoon with a circumference of more than three miles. It’s surrounded by parkland and gardens and hosts a small boating center where sailboats, canoes, and rowboats can be rented by visitors. It was also the nation’s first official wildlife refuge going all the way back to 1870.

So my daughter is nestled in my arms like a football. All fourteen pounds of her. I zip up her pink sweatshirt and pull the hoodie tight. She has on jeans, but no socks or shoes. It’s not cold enough to freeze her toes but I keep one hand over her tiny empanadas anyway just to make sure they stay warm. She stares up at me with her big blue eyes then looks across the wide silvery surface of the lake. Even with a cloudy sky and the threat of rain, there are plenty of people walking along the same jogging path we are on. Business people taking a break from work, campers on a trip to the docks, runners flying past us with buzzing earbuds in, retirees ambling around the lake’s perimeter like visiting potentates.

Outside the Fairyland

We receive smiles from many of the women who walk past us…or at least Frankie does. “So cute,” says one lady, breaking off mid-conversation from her friend to take notice of punkins. I feel a little self-conscious for carrying her this way. Shouldn’t I have a stroller? Shouldn’t she at least have socks? It’s cold out here. Am I a bad dad? I wonder if anyone thinks I’ve stolen this child and am making a daring getaway.

Circling around the north edge of the lake we pass the small amusement park called Children’s Fairyland. It was apparently one of the inspirations for Disneyland, toured by Walt Disney himself several times in the 1950s. On this day Fairyland feels small and tired. More like a traveling carnival setup than a progenitor of theme parks. We don’t go inside, but I can hear children laughing (screaming? – for some reason I giggle at the thought) from the other side of the high fences.

Entering the Bonsai Garden

Continuing on we find the Bonsai Garden nestled amongst some of the picnic areas on the north side of the lake. The stucco walls around the garden are built up to look like the elegant structures of Feudal Japan. A red Torii gate stands near the entrance like a giant pi symbol. Entrance into the garden is free (but donations are welcome). They also sell bonsai t-shirts for twenty bucks, cash or credit.

“Have you been here before?” asks the caretaker at the gate. I say no, noticing a series of beautiful and intricate bonsai trees lining the walkways. Several older folks, probably retirees, are scattered about, trimming trees, handling garden tools, talking amongst themselves. “We started back in 1990,” the older man continues. “Folks bring their trees and work on them whenever they want. Feel free to look around.”

Beautiful sculpting in the

Bonsai Garden

The garden is very peaceful but I’m getting hungry and so is Frankie. She begins shifting in my arms, trying to be a good sport but her patience is wearing thin. She has been well behaved on our little walk which has now lasted nearly an hour. My arms are beginning to ache. The next day they will be sore as if I had spent the day at the gym doing presses. I decide to walk back to the car where her bottle is and give her lunch before mom’s meeting is finished.

On our return walk I reflect on my own childhood. I wonder if my father had the same worries and concerns for me that I am now having for Frankie. I’m sure he did. I’m sure most parents do. Having children is the best way to gain insight to what your parents went through during those early days: sleepless nights, feedings, cleanings, changings, sacrificing what had once been their “life” to now help nurture and create someone else’s. Without going through that experience yourself you can never truly understand what it took to get you where you are now.

I pause for a moment to watch a duck bobbing in the water. Frankie stares for a moment as well, reflecting on the bird. I wonder what she’s thinking. Her face is grave, fervent. I turn her towards me and make a cha-cha-cha sound and she beams with a giant grin. She’s a happy baby. Enjoying the moment.

Lake Merritt in Oakland, CA