"Our organization has reached out to schools, churches and neighborhood groups. A lot of young people in Oakland don't see horses and certainly not black cowboys," said Henry Linzie, director of the Oakland Black Cowboys Association.

"The parade is a day for families and a time for us to celebrate the legacy of the black cowboys. No other city in the country does what we do to honor the black cowboys."

Linzie said the parade has encountered no problems in its 30-year history, "because people respect what we are doing and our mission."

The parade begins at 11 a.m. from 14th and Adeline streets at deFremery Park in West Oakland. The route will run along 14th Street to Broadway, past a reviewing stand in front of City Hall. Marchers will head down 12th Street to the park, where there will be entertainment, information booths and food vendors until 6 p.m.

A presentation of trophies is slated for 3 p.m. for some community organizations that are among the dozens in the parade.

Throughout the year, the organization sponsors numerous community events to raise money for a planned children's camp and scholarships.

This year, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and City Councilmember Larry Reid (Elmhurst-East Oakland) will be grand marshals. City Councilmembers Ignacio De La Fuente (Glenview-Fruitvale) and Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland) will be honored.

The council has again paid for police overtime because parade organizers have had a difficult time raising enough funds from corporate sponsors and private donors.

"It really takes $50,000 to do this parade, but we only raised $25,000 this year," said Linzie. "But despite the money problem, and it always has been an issue, this parade keeps growing in terms of the turnout from the community."

Next year, organizers want to host a rodeo at the Network Associates
  Coliseum.

The Black Cowboys Association was founded by the late West Oakland activist Booker T. Emery, who often expressed his concerns that the contributions of African Americans who helped settle the Old West had gone unrecognized by historians, even though one in four cowboys was black. Many worked as cooks or in the stables.

In the early 1900s, Bill Pickett, an African-American cowboy in Oklahoma, started a black rodeo to showcase skills, and each year a black rodeo is held in Hayward.

The Oakland Tribune: Cityside
Leanne McLaughlin, Managing Editor
(510) 208-6447
(510) 208-6477 Fax##
lmclaughlin@angnewspapers.com Email