Sabirah's Latest Articles
Former Drug-Dealing ‘Street Star’ Becomes Youth Mentor
Like Sankofa - the mythical bird in West African culture that symbolizes going back to retrieve things lost in order to move forward - Michael Gibson also had to go back and reconnect, while he was incarcerated, with his own history. He regularly draws on his past struggles to help him improve his life, and those of others.
Health of the Hood: Merritt/Cleveland Heights
By Sabirah Mustafa - I began my journey through my family’s neighborhood in the Lake Merritt area of East Oakland. My starting point was on Lester Avenue. This diverse, working-to-middle class, ethnically mixed neighborhood, is what I’d like to call the “Oakland Riviera”. The name might seem misleading, because depending on which direction you walk, you might also find blight as well. Located within a three-block area of Lake Merritt, there is plenty of contrast - so much so that at times my journey felt like I crossed city limits into an entirely different town.