Black Panther Earth Month

by Taqwaa Bonner, LSPC Housing Coordinator

We want Freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community. – Black Panther Party Ten-Point Program

While All of Us or None (AOUON), a project of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) fights for Black liberation as spelled out in the 10-point program of the Black Panther Party,  freedom from the long-term impacts of civic neglect on health and equity is being fought by Lifers Leaving A Legacy and Lulu House in deep East Oakland.

In Oakland, illegal dumping is an ecological problem identified by residents as a constant blight on life.

Dump sites often contain sharp objects, pestilence from deceased animals, food, and human waste, as well as rodents that can transmit diseases. Direct or indirect contact with that raw waste by inhaling toxins and dust can cause respiratory problems.

In East Oakland in February 2026, human remains were found at two separate dump sites four miles apart. The remains were in an advanced state of decomposition, dismembered from the same body. Though the body parts were removed, the trash that the body was decomposing in was left behind for the residents’ exposure. 

The East Oakland Flatlands are the site of overlapping environmental, economic, educational, and infrastructural burdens that to not exist in the wealthier Hills. These exposures create cumulative impacts affecting physical health, mental health, economic stability, and life expectancy. These patterns are rooted in centuries of racist policy decisions, zoning placements, and systemic inequities. 

The symptoms include: 

• Liquor store density: high concentrations of liquor stores increases exposure to violence, alcohol-related illness, and unhealthy foods.
• Price gouging: Price gouging on essential goods represents economic violence, extracting wealth from low-income residents.
• Gas stations: gas stations and traffic corridors increase exposures to benzene, diesel particulates, and harmful emissions linked to asthma, cardiovascular disease, and cancer risk
• Pay day lenders, check cashing and financial targeting: the proliferation of payday lenders and check cashing outlets forces residents to pay excessive fees to access their own income. High-interest loans trap families in cycles of debt, reinforcing economic violence and producing long-term cumulative impacts on credit, eviction risk and household stress.
• Educational inequities and workforce barriers: Flatland schools often face lower funding and fewer enrichment opportunities compared to those in affluent neighborhoods. Educational disparities limit access to stable employment, reinforcing generational poverty and cumulative impacts across income and health outcomes.

The Power of Policy Change

The difference between the flats and the hills is not culture, it is policy. Systems created concentrated burdens, so systemic changes must dismantle them. Coordinated reinvestment, community-led implementation, and zoning reform can restore balance. Community protection is achievable through structural change. 

Oh slaves of the system,
Who shall avenge you?
All of us or none.
Power to the people!