Remembering Dirk

When the fight is hot, there’s not a better person to have by your side than Dirk Tillotson.

Dirk, who was taken from us by a murderer a couple of weeks ago, was essential, vital, irreplaceable. I first met him five years ago, as we were planting the seeds that became The Oakland REACH. As our little founding team came together, it quickly became clear that he was one of the handful of people we absolutely needed to talk with, and we did, over and over. He gave his time generously and helped us shape our ideas and our plans. Whatever influence and power we’ve achieved, it’s in a meaningful part thanks to his wisdom and encouragement in those early days.

I’ve been waking up often at night with Dirk on my mind. One of the things that keeps coming back to me is the way he listened and responded, as we tested our early ideas with him. Maybe today, the REACH seems like it was inevitable. But it sure didn’t then. Launching an advocacy group for parents in a city where too little had changed for too long — if anything, it seemed crazy.“

You need to be here,” he said. “You need to be in this space. This work needs you. This moment needs you.”

Those words were pivotal. But what happened after that mattered even more, and drew him into an even deeper bond with our families.

What Dirk saw in us, I think, was a realization of one of the things that motivated him most — real power for real parents against a system that has often dismissed them. That’s why Dirk’s connection with the REACH burst into full flower as our Opportunity Ticket campaign took shape.

The Opportunity Ticket demanded that the Oakland school district do something it had never done — create a priority in all schools for students whose schools were closing. Mostly, those were schools with terrible performance that families had fled, and now they would have an “in” even at the strongest and most in-demand schools, the schools in neighborhoods where homes cost $2 million or more. It was an answer to the educational redlining that Dirk taught and ranted about. It was real power for folks who hadn’t had much of it before. He helped at every step.

But that’s still not the part I treasure most.

The best part was about having a true ally in the fight.

Make no mistake, when we fight for chances for our kids, we fight, and we have enemies. There are people all too willing to deny, shout down, exclude, intimidate and threaten our families. The possibility and reality of actual violence hangs like a cloud over the moments where regular people are supposed to be able to use their voices.

Dirk was always there. And if he was afraid, we never saw it.

No matter who was on the other side, what the tension and the stress, how loud and crazy things got, he was there. Solid, strong, and courageous. He was the one I wanted behind us.

For so many of us fighting this fight, Dirk was our brother and our friend. He knew who he served, and he didn’t back down, and that made it just a little more possible for us to stand tall. 

Dirk was essential.

Dirk taught us a lot about how to fight, and we’ll keep that fight going, in his name and in his memory. But we’ll never replace him.

Lakisha Young,

Co-Founder, CEO

The Oakland REACH