Hey kids! Are you looking to be the next Al Sharpton, or perhaps a leader in the next Occupy-type movement, or even just one of those guys who stands around at protests wearing a Guy Fawkes mask?
If so, The Daily Caller has found the program for you: The community change studies program at Laney College.
Laney is a state-funded, open-enrollment community college located in beautiful Oakland, Calif., America’s seventh-deadliest city (just behind Newark).
The community change studies program – which is accepting applications through August 5 – “combines classroom and on-the-job training to prepare students” for exciting careers in community activism, protesting and general mau-mauing.
The one-year program offers participants paid internships in addition to college credit. The 18 hours of coursework includes “Civic Engagement in Urban Communities,” “Grassroots Knowledge: Community Based Research in Action” and, of course, “Introduction to Ethnic Studies.” There are six classes total; each course is worth three credits.
Every class in the community change studies program qualifies for transfer into the prestigious University of California system as well the Cal State system.
Laney promises that completion of the program will give students “strong backgrounds” for work at nonprofits and in union organizing.
“Our program is committed to fostering the leadership and employment of local residents who want to create social and economic change in their communities,” touts the program’s webpage.
Oakland is nothing if not a storied city when it comes to activism.
In 2011, community activists calling themselves “Occupy Oakland” set up long-term protest encampments, most notably in a plaza in front of Oakland City Hall. There was also an attempt to take over a vacant convention center. City officials said the cost of dealing with protesters and removing the protest sites reached an estimated $2.4 million.
In late 1973, an ultra-radical, left-wing group of community activists called the Symbionese Liberation Army assassinated Oakland’s superintendent of schools, Marcus Foster, and severely wounded his deputy, Robert Blackburn.
In 1966, Oakland City College students Huey Newton and Bobby Seale formed revolutionary socialist community activist group called the Black Panther Party.
Laney College opened in 1953 as a different branch of Oakland City College.
Seale was imprisoned for his role in the 1968 Democratic Convention riots. While in prison, he was also charged with murdering fellow Black Panther (and possible police informant) Alex Rackley. The trial ended in a hung jury.
Newton also had a checkered criminal history. In 1968, he was convicted of manslaughter for the killing of an Oakland police officer Frey. In 1970, however, an appeals court ordered a new trial. Two mistrials later, the charges were dropped. In the 1980s, Newton was accused of embezzling $600,000 in state aid. He ended up serving six months in jail.
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