By Diana Wear and Daniel Barth

Streets Team leader Tshombe Perkins, with Buddy Bennett, Cyntha Simpson, and  Deborah Young cleaning along S Collins in Parchester Village, by Maurice Tierney

Our unhoused neighbors don’t have sturdy structures to protect them from the elements and the colder-than-usual climate has been hard. The city and its local organizations are pressed to address this crisis. In our county, 2 of 5 unhoused people are Black/African American, four times the county’s black population. In Richmond, African Americans are 54% of the homeless population.

By Amy Spencer

Wisdom Lap, by Tiffany Conway

Art of the African Diaspora, in partnership with Richmond Art Center (RAC), supports artists of African descent in the Bay Area through representation, professional development, and building a creative community.

I knew Mike Parker when I was a student at the University of Chicago in the early 1960s. Mike was a brilliant advocate for workers and unions then, and he remained so for the rest of his life.  Mike fought tirelessly for human solidarity and a more just and humane world.  His life's work and dedication should serve as an example for all of us.
         -Bernie Sanders

By Ken Paff and Martha Gruelle

Martha, Ken, Margaret, and Mike

I lost my best friend of over 50 years last Saturday evening. 

Mike was my guide and sometimes my patient critic, as he has been to so many other activists. He followed the work of the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), the insurgent reform movement of Teamsters), and was always ready with generous solidarity and helpful ideas for me and other TDU leaders.

Thank you for listening to the Listening Project Podcast.

By Marilyn Langlois

“He left us at night on January 15, perhaps as the volcanic tsunami from Tonga was still moving in and out of our San Francisco Bay, just feet from his home. Mike’s influence was and is as strong as that and it is up to us to keep it moving.”

–Tarnel Abbott, RPA co-founder

Mike Parker made us all better activists. He could motivate RPA members to dig deeper and do more.  We did so gladly, knowing he respected, appreciated and listened to us. Above all, he set a good example of incisive analysis, hard work and fidelity to our collective efforts.

Whenever my caller ID announced an incoming phone call from Mike, for a split second I would hesitate to answer, thinking he was going to ask me to do something or challenge me on a political question. Yet I was always drawn to conversations with him, each time coming away the wiser for talking with him.

By Eduardo Martinez

Eduardo, Jovanka, and Mike on the Richmond Greenway for the MLK Day cleanup

A giant has fallen,
Greater than the sequoia towering above others
Roots embedded in the past
Rings encircling every year of endeavors
Reminding us that “the circle will be unbroken,”
This circle of community formed by his force
His vision, his words, his compassion.

Thank you for listening to the Listening Project Podcast. This week's episode is Silent Killer

By Jeremy Gong

East Bay Democratic Socialists of America (EBDSA) member Mike Parker passed away late on Saturday night at 81 years old after a year-long fight with cancer. He was not only a warm friend and mentor to me and so many others, but a brilliant and one-of-a-kind movement builder. An activist and socialist since the age of 19, Mike’s work spanned over 62 years of movement history. He made unique contributions to the labor movement, the fight against racism, and the fight for an egalitarian, peaceful, and ecologically sustainable world. His wisdom and endless generosity has been invaluable for us since DSA’s 2016 rebirth. Mike’s death leaves the socialist movement greatly impoverished, but his life enriched it beyond measure.