Friends from the Beginning by Stacey Johnson-Batiste

Author:Stacey Johnson-Batiste [JOHNSON-BATISTE, STACEY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2021-11-09T00:00:00+00:00

Though all kinds of activity was swirling around the city, our neighborhood was rather calm and inclusive, in the best possible way. It was very culturally diverse, with tons of kids around with whom we played outside nearly every day. All the families knew one another and chatted as we ran around—there was the Louie family next door (Chinese); the Perez family across the street (with a German mom and a Mexican dad); the Poseys (Black); the Haradas (Japanese), and our beloved friends Gladys and Mary, sisters who bought houses across the street from each other on the corner of Stannage Avenue. Such variety was among the gifts of growing up in Berkeley—and is a testament to the town. It helped that my parents, especially Dad, knew and had solid relationships with seemingly everyone in the neighborhood (and the city).

One character who was good friends with Dad was Johnny Apperson. Johnny came to our house often, and I would listen to him and my parents talking about the political climate of the city and beyond. Johnny eventually went to DC to work for Ron Dellums when he became Congressman Dellums. Dellums was a vocally antiwar, openly socialist Democrat who was persuaded by the community to run for city council. Within a few years, he was elected to Congress, and he served there for almost three decades.

Whenever Johnny came home, he would make sure to stop by our house to check in with my dad and keep him abreast of what was going on in DC. Those conversations would spill into our family meals, as—to their credit—my parents were eager for me and Ronny to understand not just Berkeley but the country at large.

Also connected to Dellums was a woman named Maudelle Shirek, who worked at the credit union of the Co-op when my dad was also working there. Like Daddy, she was from Arkansas, and she was always friendly and outgoing, full of life and genuinely concerned about the well-being of the community, particularly its elders. She was also enormously influential in Berkeley politics and had been among those who actively, relentlessly encouraged Dellums to run for Berkeley city council. Years later, she herself ran, at the age of seventy-one. More than two decades later, at the ripe age of ninety-two, she decided to retire as city councilwoman, as the oldest publicly elected official in the United States at the time.

Back when people like Maudelle and Johnny had finally convinced Dellums to run, my mom’s friend Hynethia—a very colorful, articulate, Afrocentric woman—had worked as an active member of his campaign committee. I was friends with Hynethia’s daughter, Anita, who attended Berkwood and was in the same class as me and Kamala. My mom volunteered to help Hynethia with local canvassing and making sure that people were getting out to vote.

I always loved to accompany my mom to Hynethia’s vibrant home, where they discussed the campaign and rallies and got very animated about how best to get people registered and spread the word.

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