Today, the historical significance behind a special creek in East Oakland. Then, we hear a father in prison sends a love letter to his daughter. Plus, Oakland poet James Cagney draws from Zen Buddhism for his latest collection.

Just last week the Oakland City Council approved the transfer of funds to purchase 16-acres of undeveloped land which includes Sausal Creek. It will be held by the Indigenous women-led Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and its ancestral caretakers, the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation. 

Derrell “Sadiq” Davis doesn’t get to see his daughter that often. He’s incarcerated at San Quentin where visits and phone calls are monitored and brief. But one day last year, the prison held a prom for fathers and their daughters. 

A koan is a Japanese word for a paradox or riddle that can’t be solved. Koans are used to train Zen Buddhists to release dependence on reason, and gain spiritual enlightenment. The word inspired Oakland poet James Cagney’s latest book “Ghetto Koans: A Personal Archive.” 

The San Francisco Unified School District tells a school it has to close. What will happen to its students and its campus? Then, a lesson in embodying Black identity.

This fall, SFUSD announced it would close a small alternative high school, called The Academy. KALW’s Education reporter, Julia Haney, wanted to find out why there was such a big reaction to the closing of this small school. And in the process, she uncovered a different story. One about how the district’s decision to close this school is making room for another school’s expansion and resurfacing a decades-old tension.

Judith Wilson’s family lived in a predominantly white neighborhood in Oakland, and her high school was also largely white. But during her senior year, one conversation helped her give a perspective that she wasn't getting in school. She told her story to StoryCorps’s Griot project that documented the stories of African Americans in 2008.

The Federal Government is shutting down San Francisco’s main Immigration court. Today, we hear what it means for immigrants when a court is closed. Then, a new Documentary explores how the Birth of Black Studies in the Bay Area. And a reading from the next generation of poets.

Following the firing of 17 of the 21 judges assigned to San Francisco’s immigration courts, the federal administration recently ended its lease at the immigration court at 100 Montgomery street in the City. Jesse Alejandro Cottrell has been covering the story for the San Francisco Standard. He spoke to KALW News editor Sunni Khalid.

Black Studies originated right here in the Bay Area in the mid 1960s. Crosscurrents host Hana Baba speaks with East Bay filmmaker Doug Harris - he grew up during this period and tells that story in his documentary, "Epicenter."