Chris Lee

In 2015, Emeryville police shot and killed 38-year-old Yuvette Henderson in broad daylight with an AR-15. Her alleged charge was shoplifting from Home Depot. She was killed by Emeryville police officers Warren Williams and Michelle Sheppard in 2015 on the west Oakland border. She was shot dead within 7 seconds of police arriving on the scene. Her murder sparked massive protests, including the activist lockdown of Home Depot amidst the national Say Her Name protests.

She left behind four children, one granddaughter, and her brother, Jamison Robinson, also known as Cydewayz in the hip-hop scene. I spoke with Robinson at Bobby Hutton Park in Oakland, four blocks from where he and his sister Yuvette grew up.

This piece was edited by Lucy Kang.

The following is excerpted from a longer interview with Jamison Robinson.

This aired on KPFA’s UpFront, on July 2, 2020.

The Trump Administration issued sweeping asylum rules in December which strips what remains of existing protections for refugees seeking asylum in the United States. Immigrant defense advocates say they intend to challenge the Trump Administration's latest attempt to gut asylum protections with litigation before President-elect Joe Biden assumes Presidential office.

This aired on KPFA's Pacifica Evening News December 15th, 2020.

Behind a corrugated metal fence painted powder purple near 10th and Wood Street in West Oakland, the residents of a small unsanctioned solar-powered RV eco-park housed themselves cheaply for years. But soon, the city could shut them down. This is one of a handful of RV communities that the City of Oakland has recently targeted as “blight,” a term that can be broadly interpreted as the aesthetic of poverty or urban decay. According to the city, these laws are meant to prevent a “fire hazard or a condition considered dangerous to public health, safety, and general welfare.” But the other important purpose of these laws is to protect property values.

This was published in the Street Spirit on June 1 2021.