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Feeling death at our heels: An update from the frontlines of the struggle

January 25, 2012

Since the last hunger strike ended, we have weathered wave after wave of retaliation from the state’s prison administrators that continues unabated to this day. None of us want to die, but all of us are prepared to do so to realize our five core demands. History dictates no less. The ultimate arbiter of our fate – and this society’s fate – is the people. YOU. Our love, loyalty and solidarity to all those who cherish freedom, justice and human rights and fear only failure.

Behind Enemy Lines

Jan 30, 2012

Ripple effects of Corcoran ASU hunger strike

January 30, 2012

We here at Corcoran State Prison, prisoners in ASU (Administrative Segregation Unit), went on a united hunger strike, aimed straight at the beast: injustice and negligence. As a named petitioner, I was targeted for being a litigant and a spokesman for myself and the other Afrikans who are seeking justice and equal protection.

Jan 30, 2012

‘People Power’ pries Abu-Jamal from punitive administrative custody

January 30, 2012

The release of Abu-Jamal from administrative custody into general population followed a protest campaign by his supporters worldwide that included flooding Pennsylvania prison authorities with phone calls, collecting petitions containing over 5,000 signatures and a complaint filed with United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture.

Jan 29, 2012

Political persecution at Pelikkkan Bay State Prison

January 29, 2012

In 2007, after serving 24 years in the Security Housing Unit (SHU), I became eligible for release, but the Office of Correctional Safety (OCS) and the Institutional Gang Investigation Unit (IGI) denied my release solely based on my political writings and activities. I am now going on my 30th year in solitary confinement.

Jan 29, 2012

From bad to worse

January 29, 2012

On Jan. 20, I was transferred from Virginia’s Red Onion to Wallens Ridge State Prison. This transfer came on the heels of a Dec. 12 incident where a large portion of my hair was ripped out by a Red Onion guard. I’m now being faced with a series of threats by a staff known to abuse and even kill prisoners.

Jan 28, 2012

Notorious prison gang investigator under investigation

January 28, 2012

Calipatria State Prison Institutional Gang Investigator (IGI) E. Duarte is currently under investigation by the United States District Court due to a complaint of excessive force on an inmate and complaints of falsifying legal documentation and planting evidence on inmates.

Update on Neli Latson and his mom: I’m home and soon my son will be free!
Justice makes a nation great
Georgia prison strike, one year later: Activists outside the walls have failed those inside the walls
How easily we forget
Sadism in the cell
Financing our own incarceration
The Prison
Riot at North Fork: Private prison exchanges security for profits
Struggling inch by inch to prove my innocence
Reducing prison population in black and white
Lack of local services limits prison mom release program
‘Suicide of participant’ after historic California prison hunger strike?
Pelican Bay Short Corridor update: We can no longer accept state sanctioned torture
New hunger strike: Petition for improved conditions in Administrative Segregation Unit at Corcoran State Prison
Prisons: California’s concrete empire

News & Views

Jan 31, 2012

‘Skin deep’ in more ways than one

January 31, 2012

“Take the kinks out of your mind, instead of out of your hair,” said Marcus Garvey. Black women today who strive to take his admonition to heart are in a better position than their sisters of the past. Research focusing on the products used in African-American beauty salons – and homes – is increasing.

Jan 28, 2012

Community benefits win big: Construction contracts and jobs for Oaklanders

January 28, 2012

We finally have legislation that benefits the taxpayers of Oakland. Desley Brooks took a giant step to bring economic parity to the community of the poor. What she has done will slow down the Oakland process of importing labor and exporting capital. Pack the Oakland City Council meeting Tuesday, Feb. 7, regarding local hire and a Jobs Center.

Jan 25, 2012

Standing up for Survivors Village and housing justice

January 25, 2012

Protestors chanted: This auction is illegal and immoral. It is a way to steal homes, redistribute wealth and prevent the right to return. The sale of blighted property is the city’s attempt to remove poor homeowners who have already suffered tremendously from economic and natural disaster.s.

Jan 24, 2012

Why all the robo-signing?

January 24, 2012

The Wall Street Journal reported on Jan. 19 that the Obama administration was pushing heavily to get the 50 state attorneys general to agree to a settlement with five major banks in the “robo-signing” scandal. The settlement would let Wall Street bankers off the hook for crimes that would land the rest of us in jail.

Jan 23, 2012

Congolese say South Africa’s Congolese immigrant sweep targeted anti-Kabila refugees

January 23, 2012

Two hundred Congolese immigrants, especially activists opposed to the Kabila regime, were, they said, “hounded out of their shops and homes by scores of South African police, then summarily arrested on ludicrous, trumped up charges of ‘public violence.’”

Jailhouse snitch used against Aiyana’s dad
Cynthia McKinney: U.S. war machine pervades Africa
Restoring hope for Black farmers and a healthy Black community
The way to occupy a bank is to own one
Picking up the pieces: Kenneth Harding’s mother calls on community to march for justice this Sunday
Lumumba is an idea
MLK: Amerikkka’s Most Wanted
Rwanda will never be the same, after Victoire Ingabire’s return
Let us honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Cynthia McKinney: 12,000 U.S. troops bound for Libya
Urgent message from South Africa: Free Ayanda Kota
Haiti: Seven places where the earthquake money did and did not go
Nonprofit housers mourn demise of redevelopment agencies
Aid as a Trojan horse: On the anniversary of the Haitian earthquake
Santa Rosa: Protesting Wells Fargo profit in private prisons and predatory lending

Culture Currents

Upcoming Events

 » Full event list and descriptions
  • Free Dental Screenings for Children Throughout February

    Feb 1 - 10:00 AM

  • Introduction to Aerial Dance for Youth (8-11yrs)

    Feb 4 - 11:00 AM

  • African American Book Club every Saturday for children 12 and under

    Feb 4 - 11:00 AM

  • NATIONAL DAY OF MASS ACTION TO STOP A US WAR ON IRAN

    Feb 4 - 12:00 PM

  • Richard Pryor film: Which Way Is Up?

    Feb 4 - 2:00 PM

  • 'Between Me & the Other World' Work-in-Progress

    Feb 4 - 2:00 PM

  • Mandela Foods Co-op Diet and Disease Prevention Workshop

    Feb 4 - 2:00 PM

  • Filmmaker Kevin Epps Hosts Black History Month at the de Young with films featuring Marvin Gaye and Richard Pryor

    Feb 4 - 3:30 PM

  • PUNANY POETS' NATIONAL VALENTINE'S TOUR: "BLACK LOVE AMERICAN STYLE"

    Feb 4 - 6:00 PM

  • Justice Denied: Kevin Cooper, the Death Penalty, and the Failure of US Criminal Justice System

    Feb 5 - 12:00 AM

Jan 27, 2012

Etta James: Two tributes

January 27, 2012

Beyonce performed Etta’s signature song, “At Last” at President Obama’s inauguration in 2009, laying claim to the tune James relied on to make a living. James told an audience shortly after that that Obama “is not my president” and “that woman he had singing for him, singing my song … she’s going to get her ass whipped.”

Jan 23, 2012

Revolutionary stories: The POOR Press 2012 collection

January 23, 2012

To write with laughter, heart, fire and humility – to get those words down and draw the reader in – to make the reader warm with the fire of poetry, wet with the tears of memory, full with the soup of experience – leaving the reader satisfied and inspired to change the world – that is what the writer does.

Jan 22, 2012

A sourcebook for the media revolution

January 22, 2012

According to Mickey Huff, the corporate media are serving up a diet of “junk-food news to avoid telling the public what is really going on at home and abroad”; for example, Ann Garrison discloses that pilotless drones are fast becoming the dominant means of delivering explosives from the air.

Jan 21, 2012

The 49ers are back with playoff win

January 21, 2012

“The Grab” was a moment San Francisco 49er tight end Vernon Davis will remember for the rest of his life. With his team down 32-29 to the New Orleans Saints, Davis ran up the left side of the field, cut across the middle and caught the pass quarterback Alex Smith heaved. It sailed into Davis’ hands as he crossed the end zone to give the 49ers a 36-32 lead.

Jan 21, 2012

Hollywood, ‘Red Tails,’ Tuskegee Airmen and MLK Jr.

January 21, 2012

I think George Lucas is a good guy in a notoriously unscrupulous business, trying to do the right thing. Hiring a Black director and writer was the right thing. However, the bottom line is we must build our own studios, networks and social media companies and bring our own money back to our communities now.

YoYo teaching hip-hop with love to inner-city youth
‘Our Media Matters’ Theater Night celebrates Lorraine Hansberry Theatre and SF Bay View newspaper
Mistah F.A.B. gives back to his community
Wanda’s Picks for January 2012
Carl Ray’s HBCU tours motivate students to succeed
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