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berkeley
Remembering Gus Newport, A Progressive Titan
The former Berkeley mayor's record of accomplishments from civil rights activism to groundbreaking political initiatives to far-sighted community economic development programs to global solidarity and elder statesman leadership could fill volumes.
Jun 20, 2023
Former Berkeley, California Mayor Gus Newport, a titan of progressive politics in the late 20th Century, social justice champion who worked with Malcolm X, and a lifelong humanitarian and internationalist, died June 17 in San Francisco. He was 88.
Gus was the embodiment of the adage of a life well lived. His record of accomplishments from civil rights activism to groundbreaking political initiatives to far-sighted community economic development programs to global solidarity and elder statesman leadership could fill volumes.
“The beauty of Gus,” said actor Danny Glover in an interview, “is that I trust him to elevate our story. When you spend time with someone with Gus’s history and character and listen to his stories, you are changed. I hope that a little of my story could resonate with others the way Gus’s stories have resonated with me and so many around the world.”
As a young activist in 1962, leading the Monroe County Nonpartisan League, the largest civil rights group in his hometown of Rochester, NY, Gus shepherded the first successful police brutality case in federal court after the beating of a Black gas station attendant Rufus Fairwell who would win a financial settlement from the city.
Daisy Bates, who led the NAACP campaign to integrate Little Rock’s Central High School in the late 1950s and now organizing in Rochester for the NAACP, introduced him to Malcolm X by phone. Gus and Malcolm worked to defend nine Black Muslims assaulted and arrested in a police raid on a Black Muslim Mosque in Rochester during a worship service.
When Malcolm flew into Rochester, and landed on the tarmac on a cold February day, Gus was waiting in the airport surrounded “by a lot of white men in felt hats and white shirts and ties. When Malcolm walked in and asked, ‘who is Gus Newport.’ I raised my hand and said, “I am.” He said, “Young blood, you got the best-tapped telephone in America. This is all FBI around you.”
He would go on to count Malcolm and Harlem Congress member Adam Clayton Powell as mentors. He assisted Malcolm in founding his Organization of Afro American Unity (OAAU).
In February 1965, after Malcolm’s house was firebombed, Malcolm asked him to join him for a speech in Rochester about his situation. Returning to New York, “when we landed at LaGuardia, we were met by the chief of police of New York and the fire marshal. They accused him of firebombing his own home.” Four days later Malcolm was assassinated. Later Gus would help Malcolm’s widow Betty Shabazz with burial and financial support, including with a fundraiser for the family headlined by Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Max Roach at the home of Sidney Poitier.
Malcolm, Gus would later say, was “the greatest person I think I ever knew,” a “great teacher” and “one of the dearest friends I ever had.”
Gus would move west after leaving a Department of Labor stint assigned to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, due to a distaste for the politics of President Nixon. A cousin helped him get work for the city of Berkeley, developing youth employment service programs and as a senior analyst in the City Manager’s office and Parks and Recreation department.
In 1979, Gus was elected Berkeley Mayor, with the backing of the progressive Berkeley Citizens Action coalition on a platform of community economic control, serving two terms until 1986. “I never aspired to run for mayor,” he would relate. “I was talked into it by John George, the first African American elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, and Congressman Ron Dellums. Danny Glover (who met Gus while interning with the city of Berkeley) and Harry Belafonte (who he had known in New York) helped with my campaigns.”
As Mayor, Gus would lead Berkeley to become the first city in the U.S. to divest from apartheid South Africa, the first city to create a domestic partner benefits program for LGBTQ+ families, a child care initiative to help working women, and innovative programs on affordable housing, rent control, policing reforms, environmental protections, and community development. Berkeley landlords sued to block limits on rent increases the city had enacted. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court where Berkeley was represented pro bono by famed Constitutional attorney Lawrence Tribe, “and we won.”
He was one of the first mayors in the country to ride in a Gay Freedom Day parade, in San Francisco in 1979. He also challenged U.S. immigration policy. “The wars in Central America were creating thousands of refugees,” he says, “and I gave orders to our police not to arrest immigrants because of their status.”
As a result of Berkeley and Gus’ prominent role in the broad anti-apartheid movement, he was made an honorary member of Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress and served on the advisory board of the US Conference on Apartheid.
When Mandela first toured the U.S. after his release from prison, Gus was invited to help host Mandela on his visit to Boston, and Glover and Belafonte “introduced me to Mandela.” Gus had worked in Boston after leaving Berkeley as the first senior fellow at the newly founded William Monroe Trotter Institute at the University of Massachusetts.
Gus spent years helping other municipalities on community development projects including in Boston, Seattle, Palm Beach FL, New Hampshire. The Boston area Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, in Roxbury, was a particular success, the only non-profit organization in the U.S. to receive the powers of eminent domain which became a national model for empowering a diverse community and sustainable change profiled in two award-winning films: Holding Ground and Gaining Ground.
He would also serve on the five-person advisory body to oversee the planning to rebuild New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and teach at Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 2009, he gave the commencement speech at Heidelberg University at his alma mater in Tiffin, OH and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters.
Global peace and social justice was a life long focus for Gus. He was co-chair of the U.S. Peace Council and vice president of the World Peace Council and worked in solidarity with people’s movements, in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.
He was outspoken in opposition to U.S. policies in Haiti, Cuba, and Central America. In 1985, as mayor, he visited El Salvador, along with a Jesuit priest, with representatives of New El Salvador Today, a group he helped found. “The priest drove us to Chalatenango, and we were told we would walk for an hour, but it took us six hours! When we arrived, the village had no electricity and many roofs were torn off from bombing, but they managed to create a huge sign: ‘Welcome to the Mayor of Berkeley’.”
He was also a prominent supporter of Palestinian rights, as a long time board member of the Berkeley-based Middle East Children’s Alliance. In 2019 Gus was awarded the Khalil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Award by the Arab American Institute.
During the 2016 election, Gus and Danny Glover traveled across the U.S. as national surrogates for the Presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Gus had developed a friendship with Sanders after Bernie was elected mayor of Burlington, VT in 1981. They also collaborated with the few other progressive mayors, including Chicago’s Harold Washington, at U.S. Conference of Mayors meetings. “We’d compare notes on public policy, community planning, and organizing.”
In his later years, Gus served on the leadership committee of the National Council of Elders, an organization of people over 65 dedicated to advancing civil, women’s, environmental, farm workers, and LGBTQ+ rights.
Gus maintained a connection to Oakland and the East Bay, from the early 1990s living on and off in Oakland with his longtime wife and partner Kathryn Kasch. He was on the board of the Urban Studies Council, a Bay Area regional policy and research organization, focused on addressing inequities. In one of his last roles, Gus served on Oakland’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, formed after the police murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
Asked what kept him working for a better world in the face of so many threats from white supremacy and assaults on democracy, Gus would say he was guided by Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision of a Beloved Community of inclusion, cooperation and justice for all which he had first imbued from his parents and grandmother. “We need to come back to what Martin called Building the Beloved Community — helping communities address education, incarceration, mental and physical health in an integrated and systematic way. If we want a better future for the next generation, we need to build a movement that is strategic and constant!”
In interviews he frequently talked about the inspiration of his grandmother who took him to concerts with Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson when he was five. “My grandmother grew up in the Jim Crow South,” he noted. “One day, after picking cotton, she came to school late and the teacher slapped her. She walked out and never went back.”
“I’m lucky enough for what my grandmother instilled in me: Don’t think you know it all, learn something new every day. I learned it by engaging with people and having an analysis and understanding the integrated role that can be played by communities, universities, government, all kinds of people. We don’t live in a community that has reached its limit as to what’s best.”
To hear Gus in his own words, watch a 2021 interview with the Berkeley Historical Society and Museum.
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Barbara Lee Officially Announces Senate Run, Vowing to 'Stand on the Side of Justice'
"We have to ease the burden on the middle class. We have to find a solution to poverty and homelessness. We have to take on the climate crisis. And we have to stop these MAGA extremists who think they can control people's bodies and dismantle our democracy."
Feb 21, 2023
Declaring that "Californians deserve a strong, progressive leader who has delivered real change," Democratic California Congresswoman Barbara Lee on Tuesday officially announced her entry into the race for Dianne Feinstein's U.S. Senate seat, a contest that's expected to be one of the most closely watched—and expensive—of 2024.
"For those who say my time has passed, well, when does making change go out of style?" the 76-year-old former Black Panther said in a three-minute video announcing her run. "I don't quit. I don't give up. Come on. That's not in my DNA."
Lee said she "didn't quit" when, despite "countless death threats," she was the only member of Congress—the vote was 518-1—to vote against giving then-President George W. Bush "completely unlimited war powers" after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
\u201cToday I am proud to announce my candidacy for U.S. Senate. I\u2019ve never backed down from doing what\u2019s right. And I never will. Californians deserve a strong, progressive leader who has delivered real change.\n#BarbaraLeeSpeaksForMe\u201d— Barbara Lee (@Barbara Lee) 1676990601
Lee—who was first elected to represent the heavily Democratic congressional district containing cities including Oakland, Berkeley, and Alameda in 1998—recounted some of her life's challenges and achievements.
"I was the girl they didn't allow in, who couldn't drink from the water fountain, who had an abortion in a back alley when they all were illegal," the Texas native said.
"I escaped a violent marriage, became a single mom, a homeless mom, a mom who couldn't afford childcare, and brought her kids to class with her," she added.
"When there weren't protections for survivors of domestic violence, I wrote California's first Violence Against Women Act," the former California state legislator said.
"When it was legal to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community, I wrote the Hate Crimes Reduction Act and got a Republican governor to sign it into law," the co-founder of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus added. "When no one wanted to talk about global AIDS funding, I got President George W. Bush to make it a priority."
Lee also chaired both the Congressional Black and Progressive caucuses.
"We have to ease the burden on the middle class. We have to find a solution to poverty and homelessness," Lee asserted in the video. "We have to take on the climate crisis. And we have to stop these MAGA extremists who think they can control people's bodies and dismantle our democracy."
Noting that "there are no African-American women in the United States Senate," Lee vowed that "we won't let that stop us either."
"Because when you stand on the side of justice, you don't quit if they don't give you a seat at the table," she said.
Lee's announcement had been expected for weeks. She joins Democratic House colleagues Katie Porter and Adam Schiff in vying for the Senate seat that will be vacated by Feinstein (D-Calif.), who at 89 is the oldest sitting senator and who recently said she will not seek another term in office.
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Lee brushed off concerns about replacing an octogenarian senator with a septuagenarian.
" Bernie Sanders is older than myself, and he won California," Lee said of the Independent senator from Vermont who twice ran for president. "It's about speaking to the voters. If Bernie Sanders can win a primary in California, then Barbara Lee certainly can win to be the next United States senator. Come on."
\u201cOn age, Lee points to Sanders' 2020 primary victory.\n\n"If Bernie Sanders can win a primary in California, then Barbara Lee certainly can win to be the next United States senator. Come on.\u201d\n\nShe also says she's not pledging to serve just one term.\n\nhttps://t.co/94u13JQYUr\u201d— bryan metzger (@bryan metzger) 1676993144
Because Porter and Schiff enjoy a tremendous fundraising advantage over a candidate who has not faced a competitive race in a quarter century, Lee will rely upon a super PAC, She Speaks for Me, that can accept unlimited campaign contributions—even though such organizations are anathema to many progressives.
"The idea is to help level the playing field for someone who hasn't had to raise huge amounts in the past for her races locally and doesn't have the war chest that her opponents have," adviser Brian Brokaw told the Los Angeles Times.
Lee is expected to draw the endorsement of prominent progressive politicians and groups. Meanwhile, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is supporting Schiff, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is backing Porter.
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April Fools — Lessons From Inside the Peace Movement
Apr 10, 2008
On April 1, I got a press release in my inbox that caught my attention immediately. The subject read, "Breaking News: Marine Recruiting Station Leaving Berkeley: Agreement Reached with Landlord, City, and Protesters." I instantly sent it around to staff, noting the surprising development.
In early February, the Berkeley City Council came under fire by national right-wing groups for labeling the Marine Recruiting office in downtown Berkeley "uninvited and unwelcome intruders." There was a heated face-off that got national news attention on February 12 between peace groups led by Code Pink, and pro-war group Move America Forward.
Everyone in the office got so excited about these developments that we decided to write a piece about it. Until I did a search on the closing's media coverage, to find out that the entire press release was - April Fools! - a hoax put out by Code Pink. While yes, the media pushes us to do outrageous things just to get even a glimmer of attention, this was not a useful tactic to draw people in, nor to counter militarism in our communities.
When I found that article exposing the situation, I felt duped. We spent our organizational resources for a good portion of the day thinking about what implications closing the office would have for the peace movement. It's one thing to play a joke on the media, but not such a good idea to play a joke on your fellow peace organizers and supporters.
I called up one of their national organizers and we met in person to dialogue about it. With all the wars and disagreements within the peace movement, direct conversation couldn't be more crucial to building a stronger movement. First of all, it was really important that she was available to hear my concerns. That meant a lot that she was taking me seriously. It was also important that we had an opportunity to challenge assumptions, and build bridges to form a deeper alliance.
I learned that the tactic around this particular April Fools joke was to illustrate a positive vision for the future, and then to provide some action steps about how to make that vision a reality. The challenge I experienced was that I never received the email with those next steps, so I didn't see the full picture of their strategy. There are many miscommunications in the peace movement, certain voices get highlighted, others are left out, and cultural, race and class differences hold us back from having full understanding of each other's strategies. Modeling a complete vision of the future isn't just about the results of a recruitment office closing, but also has a lot to do with the process of how we get there. By creating space to ally with organizations doing racial and economic justice work, we can only be stronger as a stand for peace.
We also tackled some questions about the direction of the peace movement in a larger sense. What if the Marine Recruiters had decided to pack up shop and move down the road? Would young low-income women and men stop enlisting if there were no office on Shattuck Avenue? Those who enlist are pushed into the recruiting centers by lack of options due to the depressed economy and over-militarized budget priorities. Our conversation began to point to what does the most effective national counter-recruitment movement look like? What does it look like to be an effective ally organization? What tactics can we take up to get there?
What tactics do we have as a peace movement? Mass marches in the streets? Nonviolent direct action? Educational campaigns? Speaking tours? Legislative pressure on representatives? All of these tactics are being knitted together to do the best we can. I think we need to push ourselves to do better.
That's part of why I'm writing this. Not to shame Code Pink, not to say that we are right, and they are wrong, but to offer a rounded perspective from inside the peace movement. I'm glad that they played this prank on all of us, because it got me thinking deeper about where we are as a peace movement and where we are going. It opened up a valuable dialogue between our organizations that I know will lead to further strength as we learn some tough lessons and move forward.
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