Funeral for Chauncey Bailey, murdered Oakland Post editor set for tomorrow

(August 7, 2007) It was in 1973 when Chauncey Bailey asked his journalism teacher at Merritt College for some career advice that would change the coverage of African-American issues in Oakland and make Mr. Bailey a noted and constant presence in print, radio and television there for the past 15 years.

At the time, Mr. Bailey had recently earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from San Jose State University but, he wasn't quite sure what to do next.

"He asked me, ‘Should I join the Black Panther Party or go into the newspaper business?" said Bailey's former journalism instructor Charles Aikens.

"I said, ‘It would be better to get that daily newspaper experience and bring the skills you learn out there back to your community."

And so it began.

A reporting career that lasted more than three decades ended last Thursday morning when Mr. Bailey, editor of the Oakland Post and a former reporter at the Oakland Tribune for 12 years, was ambushed and shot to death while walking to the Post newsroom.

He will be laid to rest on Wednesday.

"He loved anything about journalism," said his sister Lorelei Waqia, 58, of Lithonia, Ga.

After college graduation, Mr. Bailey simultaneously wrote for the Oakland Post and was an on-air reporter for San Jose-based KNTV television in 1970 and 1971 before working for three years at the Sun Reporter newspaper in San Francisco.

From there, he went to a three-year stint at the Hartford (Conn.)

Courant and then spent a year on the rewrite desk at United Press International in Chicago.
He wrote news and features for the Oakland-based California Voice from late 1978 to late 1980 before returning to Chicago as a publicist for a nonprofit research and advocacy group focused on education and health care for urban residents. He spent a year in Washington, D.C. as press secretary to Rep. Gus Savage, D-Ill.

Then began his decade-long stint as a reporter and columnist for the Detroit News, covering city government, special projects and features.

One day, while riding a public transit bus in Detroit, Mr. Bailey noticed none of the passengers was reading a newspaper, but rather staring blankly out the windows, his sister recalled.

The next morning, Mr. Bailey boarded the bus with five different newspapers, handing out a section each to every passenger.

In 1993, Mr. Bailey began his 12-year run covering African-American community affairs for the Oakland Tribune.

Mr. Bailey didn't focus on City Hall meetings or crime in the black community, but wrote about new African-American owned businesses and restaurants, social programs for blacks, teen scholars and other positive and uplifting news.

"(African-American) voices would've never been heard. Never, " said Donna Ayo, a founder of Brave Academic Rise of N'Powered Students.

Bailey was released by the Tribune in June 2005 due to conflict-of-interest issues, and was named editor of the Oakland Post this summer.

While at the Tribune, Mr. Bailey also worked as news director at the East Bay's black-oriented KSBT Soul Beat Television.

After trying unsuccessfully to buy Soul Beat in 2003, Bailey quit the program, which was canceled a year later. In late 2004, he founded OUR-TV _ Opportunities in Urban Renaissance Television.

Friend and colleague Derrick Nesbitt who worked at Soul Beat as sports director recalled a news conference following the 1997 choking incident between former Golden State Warriors head coach P.J. Carlesimo and former Warriors player Latrell Sprewell.

Nesbitt was chosen to ask the first question of Billy Hunter, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, but he said he blanked out and forgot his question.

Mr. Bailey piped up and jokingly asked Hunter why there were no blacks in the National Hockey League, drawing laughter and deflecting attention away from Nesbitt's gaff.

Mr. Bailey was quick to encourage young journalists, especially African Americans, to follow his passion for covering the news.

The family asks that donations, in lieu of flowers, be sent to the Chauncey Bailey Memorial Fund, c/o Bank of America Creekside Branch, 1188 Galleria Blvd. Roseville, CA 95678. Account No. 2350941279.

In addition to Waqia and Cooley, Mr. Bailey is survived by his son, his father, Chauncey Bailey Sr., of Des Moines, Iowa; brother Mark Cooley of Modesto; brother Errol Cooley of Lincoln, Ca. and dozens of cousins and other relatives. His mother Brigette King preceded him in death in 2003.

A funeral Mass is at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Benedict's Catholic Church, 2245 82nd Ave. in East Oakland. Catholic Diocese of Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron will participate in the funeral service.

Martin G. Reynolds, Josh Richman and Douglas Fischer contributed to this report.

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