Dear Friends:
It is up to you what the future of Oakland will be. Oakland is no longer a village. It is a city, a growing one. It is your duty to keep it growing, to keep it prosperous.
Oakland, with its wealth, beauty and brilliant future, is an ideal attained by pioneers who struggled for years over inumerable hardships. The cement, the steel, the mortar and glass and the thousand and one things which go into Oakland, was not conceived overnight.
I realize the future of Oakland is far beyond human imagination. I thank you for your wonderful work. So partake of her hospitality and prosperity, invest, build, prosper and live happy in Oakland.
Your well wisher,
Oakland's Guardian Angel
These are the words written and compiled by Florence B. Crocker in 1925 and re-introduced to us by Oaklander Justin Kanalakis in 2011 via the website Who Made Oakland.
I'm struck by how this Oakland pride from so long ago resonates with many of us living in Oakland today. But what makes people proud to live where they do? One might like the city they live in because it's got great restaurants, access to nature, manicured lawns, or whatever, but liking or even loving where you live is different from being proud of living there.
We have Oakland pride. There is an aspect of ownership in feeling proud. Pride is what moves us to volunteer our time to help our neighbors. Pride spurs a civic passion and the belief that we can make a difference; it's our obligation to make a difference.
Oakland pride is a shared sense of place. There is a oneness about it. With all of our different backgrounds and stories, the one thing that we can all agree on is that we are proud of HERE. Who Made Oakland is a reminder that those that came before us felt exactly as we do about this place - proud.
So let's do it Oakland People... "Invest, build, prosper, and live happy in Oakland."
Next up... The Lake Merritt Monster!
