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 Liberal Friendly Place: Oakland, CA
These are comments on Oakland, submitted by other Turn Left visitors. They do not necessarily represent the opinion of the webmaster. You may add a comment on Oakland if you want.
 How could one have a list of liberal cities without including Oakland,
CA? It has been called -- justly, I think -- the most integrated city in
the U.S. Yes, it has its problems, but the political system has
withstood some recent challenges from the right. Liberalism is alive and
well here.
...and another comment...
I've lived in two dozen cities and towns and Oakland is where I will
stay. I live in an incredibly diverse low to middle class neighborhood,
and if the town is cool for a multi-racial queer leftist activist,
please! this IS the PLACE !
...and another comment...
While I would certainly count Oakland as a liberal-friendly city (after
all, Jerry Brown just got elected Mayor by a landslide), I must say that it
is quite segregated in very disgusting ways.
Walk down Broadway (around 35th-40th Street), and you're in an
all-black, poor neighborhood with liquor stores on almost every street
corner. But then walk five blocks away, and you have Piedmont Avenue,
which is all-white, rich, and yuppified. The contrast is rather shocking!!
While Oakland has some very devastated neighborhoods, go up to the
Oakland Hills (which is still technically part of the city), and you'd
think you were in a different world, with multi-million dollar homes, BMWs
in the driveways, and registered Republicans. It makes you wonder if
people in these two Oaklands ever talk to each other!!
...and another comment...
I live in Oakland, right next to the Oakland-Berkeley line. I moved
here in 1978 because of its cultural diversity and because it is truly a
melting pot, and also because you can have leftist politics here and not
feel like you are an alien who should return to the planet you came from
(like my poor relatives who live in Wichita, Kansas). It is a great
place for political and social activism -- in whatever areas your heart
and spirit move you to work and fight for change, you can do it here.
Also, many street demonstrations, i.e., Free Mumia, Free Leonard
Peltier, against police brutality, against bombing Afghanistan, Iraq,
you name it! Also lots of good speakers come here, i.e., Michael
Parenti (who lives in Berkeley), Noam Chomsky, Gary Webb, Helen
Caldicott, Howard Zinn, Studs Terkel, Ken Kesey -- and of course, our
newly elected Mayor Jerry Brown -- come immediately to mind of whom I
have heard speak one or more times here. As well as great live music!
Eli's Mile High Club, a real blues club with a real history (a tragic
one -- Eli, the first owner, was shot dead in the club by his woman
because he fooled around). And jazz and reggae! Best place I have ever
lived! My main complaint is that it is on the Hayward fault, so I try
as much as possible to stay in denial about that.
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