Greg Hodge Event is there to support his candidacy for District 5 Alameda County at Kinfolx
Two community members bring the constituents to voice their support for the candidacy of Greg Hodge.
On Feb. 3rd Selena Wilson, CEO of East Oakland Youth Development Center, and Xenia St. Charles, CEO of Brash Wellness Brands, hosted a campaign event for candidate Greg Hodge, who is running for Alameda County Supervisor in District 5. Attendees gathered at Kinfolx, a black-owned business, in downtown Oakland.
“It's a safe place for people of color, primarily black folks, to come, to be amongst each other, get on our Wi-Fi, drink our coffee, but also a lot of important community events take place here,” said Wilson.
The campaign event was an opportunity for the community to hear what Hodge had to say, and it also gave community members a chance to volunteer for his campaign by canvassing and phone banking. Selena believes Hodge is a great candidate because he is someone, “who has been deeply embedded in the community, doing the work on the ground with and for some of the most marginalized community members.”
Alameda County District 5 is encompassed by Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, Piedmont, namely the West Oakland, North Oakland, Rockridge, and Montclair neighborhoods, as well as portions of the Dimond, Bella Vista, and San Antonio districts. The last politician to hold the position is Keith Carson, who has held it since 1992. Carson announced at the last minute, before campaigning for another run, that he was retiring.
This was a full-circle moment for St. Charles, who was a mentee of Hodge during her time at McClymonds High School, which is in West Oakland.
“I've just watched him support the community, work in the community, and exhaust himself in the community for a couple of decades now, " said St. Charles. “I think it would be an amazing person to be in politics,... working on the front lines for our community.”
She now works to help children achieve their dreams.“I really love supporting young people because I have so many folks that supported me and that helped shape the person that I am today.”
Hodge expresses the need for creative ideas. During the early years of the pandemic, he worked with an organization called African-American Response Circle. “We had more than 90 individual organizations come together to create a plan for recovery, not just responding to the pandemic, but for recovery,” said Hodge.
This idea comes from his vast experience working in the community.
“I've been a member of the (Oakland) school board, and Workforce Investment Board,” he explained. “I've been a nonprofit community leader with Urban Strategies Council, what's now called Safe Passages, and the Brotherhood of Elders Network. I've been a minister at The Rose Community and a founding parent at Ile Omode Day School.”
Hodge is a strong believer in communal wisdom and not just the ideas that come from individual politicians, a kind of top down approach. “I have a strong belief in consensus building,” said Hodge.
He also supports the idea that Black people should receive reparations, harking back to the early days of the 80s with Queen Mother Moore, prominent civil rights leader and founder of the Republic of New Afrika. Hodge believes that reparations will help the Black community in Alameda County.
“I think that the repair associated with our education system, housing, economic opportunity, all those things matter,” said Hodge.
Wilson has been working with candidate Hodge on the Rise East project, a 10-year project designed to build a thriving, equitable ecosystem for Black people in East Oakland.
For example, Wilson said: “(If) we had a community fund, and we knew that there were two ‘cats’ that were beefing because one of them owes them $100 and we could say, ‘Hey, we're going to do some conflict mediation, and we're going to handle the $100.’”
This is why Hodge, if elected, wants to support people who are struggling.
“It's a moment where we cannot allow our public systems that serve our most vulnerable people not to be the most effective systems,” he said.
Xenia said Hodge is needed in our community. “He cares about our concerns; he cares about our needs; and he's here to have a conversation with us about it,” said St. Charles. “(He also wants to) work together, versus him coming up with the solutions and telling us that that's what they are.”