Marvin X, Organizer, BAMBD Black Vendors Association, at his Academy of 
Da Corner,14th and Broadway, Downtown Oakland CA
photo Adam Turner

Board of Directors: Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, James Vorett Copes, Delores Nochi Cooper, 

Adama Oshuntoki Mosley, Ramal Lamar, Tony B. Conscious

I first called for Black vendors on the streets of Oakland during the regime of our first Black 
Mayor Lionel Wilson. That was in the 80s. The situation of Black vendors at Lake Merritt  
is fluid unless a Black Vendors Association is organized to demand economic equity in the city 
North American Africans have made Oakland known throughout the world as The City of 
Resistance with the Pullman Porters Union and the Black Panther Party. Marcus Garvey 
told us long ago the world is moving against all unorganized people. So vendors get organized 
or suffer the consequences of economic strangulation.

In a conversation with brother James Copes, organizer of the Lake Merritt Black Vendors, 
we agreed that Black vendors should ready themselves to take advantage of the 
community benefit agreements the BAMBD CDC has worked out with developers for 
below market rate retail spaces in developments along the 14th Street BAMBD, 
downtown Oakland. If you are a vendor and would like more information about 
the BAMBD Black Vendors Association, please call me: 510-575-7148; email: 
jmarvinx@yahoo.com

James Copes, Lake Merritt Black Vendor organizer, and Oakland City Council member 
Nikki Fortunato Bas address a group of street vendors during a recent town hall meeting.  
James Copes is on the BAMBD Black Vendors Association Board of Directors. He and 
Marvin X agreed the Black Vendors Association must be a first class organization 
with a politically conscious membership able to advocate for economic equity 
as part of the City of Oakland's Downtown Plan for the next 25 to 50 years. 
Photo Credit: Darwin BondGraham