Capital B News: Meet the Reluctant Politician Fighting to Save Black Families’ Homes
OAKLAND, Calif. – Carroll Fife would be the first person to tell you that she is a reluctant politician. One year after she was voted onto the Oakland City Council the community organizer says, “I was cynical before about our systems and conditions. My fears and concerns have been validated.”
“That just makes me want to organize and fight harder,” she adds. “They got the wrong one.”
Fife, co-founder of advocacy group Moms 4 Housing, made national headlines in early 2020, when Oakland police officers showed up in SWAT gear and armored cars to evict her and a group of mothers from an investor-owned home. Fife and her fellow organizers had occupied the empty house in a symbolic act: A large real estate company had bought the home as an investment, leaving it empty and appreciating in value while a growing number of Black families suffered from housing insecurity and homelessness. The year that the women decided to take over the house, roughly 40% of all homeless families were Black, despite making up just 13% of the population.
