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2014 June

Monthly Archives: June 2014

At Sista’s Place, Troy Williams finds the liberty and justice he was denied for...

This is a story about music, radio and the connection to the human spirit. The date is Jan. 10, 1992, and Troy Williams and his cellmate at Pelican Bay Prison are using wire to make an antenna for a radio. Williams was looking for something on the radio he was familiar with, but as usual he was greeted by a flurry of country music. This particular night however, Williams and his cellmate were fortunate.

Kevin Weston, maker of media-makers

Kev seemed almost immortal to me. Two weeks before he passed, I went to hang out with him at his house. I could see the sickness visibly eating at him, but when he opened the door, his eyes lit up, and he smiled like in the old days. I believe wholeheartedly that Lateefah’s love kept his immune system intact as long as it was. I had to write this so his family could know the giant that Kevin Weston was to me. Salute to one of the greatest editors that I know. Salute also to Lateefah for giving Kev a love he’d never seen before and for showing that there is still such a thing as Black love.

Who gets to choose? Coerced sterilization in California prisons

In California, policy-driven sterilization programs have reared their ugly head once again. Women prisoners in the care of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) have been confronted with coerced sterilization, according to a report released last July by the Center for Investigative Reporting. Nearly 150 women prisoners were sterilized between 2005 and 2013 without the necessary state approvals.

Don’t let Ohio execute Keith LaMar (Bomani Shakur), framed and innocent on death row

Keith LaMar, also known as Bomani Shakur, is a prisoner in Ohio, condemned to death on false charges following the 1993 Lucasville Prison Uprising. Bomani is one of five men condemned to death after being railroaded through forced snitch testimony. They are known as the Lucasville Five. The following is an interview with Bomani from death row, recorded on March 7, 2014.

Free Imam Jamil Al-Amin! His wife, attorney Karima Al-Amin, tells of the US’ 47-year...

The fiery H. Rap Brown, chairperson of SNCC, minister of justice for the Black Panther Party and one of the original four targets of the FBI’s infamous COINTELPRO to neutralize Black power, is presently entombed in the federal prison at Florence, Colorado, one of the world’s 10 worst prisons. Pursued relentlessly since the ‘60s, he was wrongfully convicted in 2002 – the prosecutor bragging that they finally got him after trying for 24 years. His wife, attorney Karima Al-Amin, tells his story on the Block Report.

Berkeley parents rally for equity for Black students

Parents and Children of African Descent (PCAD), which advocates for equity and results in education, and other organizations sponsored a march and rally on Malcolm X Day, which is a school holiday in Berkeley, in support of accountable results by BUSD to close the achievement gap between Black students and their peers. “I have had zero Black teachers,” says ninth grader Nya Sandeford. “If you definitely believe that something needs to be changed, then fight for it. Don’t just sit back and let things happen.”

Court rules Human Rights Coalition’s prison censorship lawsuit can move forward

The suit details a series of confiscations of Robert Saleem Holbrook’s mail since January 2012 that includes academic correspondence with a college professor, scholarly essays from the anthology “If They Come in the Morning,” a Black history book, and a newsletter published by HRC, The Movement, which focuses on prison abuse, solitary confinement, and ways that prisoners’ family members can come together to challenge human rights abuses and injustice in the criminal legal system.

From Palestine to Pelican Bay, prisoners and their loved ones fight for justice and...

We know that repression in the U.S. and in Israel are deeply connected and use one another to attempt to legitimize and justify repressive actions and policies. Both Israel and the United States use policing, imprisonment, and especially solitary confinement, and surveillance as tools to keep people and movement down – often sharing weapons, technology and training. Israel plays a large role in the training of repressive police forces in the United States and elsewhere.

Brazil: Who is the World Cup for?

The World Cup used to be a news item solely for the sports pages. Times have definitely changed! More than 30 billion Brazilian Reals ($13.5 billion) have been taken from the state budget to fund the Cup! In response, Juventude Marxista (Marxist Youth) are promoting the campaign “Public, Free and for Everyone! Transport, Health, and Education! Down with Repression!”

CURB responds to Legislature’s compromise Corrections budget deal

In the face of community and court pressure for sweeping criminal justice reform, Gov. Brown and the Legislature have made only small changes to their ongoing commitment to mass incarceration. The budget deal continues to send billions of dollars down the ‘rat hole’ of incarceration while including no significant restorations to anti-poverty and social safety net programs that have suffered years of cuts.

Intensified mail censorship a failed attempt to put new twist on Death Row SHU...

What appears to have caused the mail delays is the proposal that Death Row prisoners would no longer be housed exclusively in the San Quentin and Chowchilla but would be placed among the general population. They almost had a window of opportunity to “justify” building more control units within existing prisons.

Opposition to new prison censorship rules comes from The Netherlands

CDCR has proposed regulations that could permanently ban any documents it defines as “contraband,” including political publications and correspondence that should be protected by First Amendment constitutional rights. Why are prison officials attempting to increase the political, mental and emotional isolation of people in solitary confinement struggling to resist an already crushing physical isolation?

Major law firm opposes new rules that could ban the Bay View from all...

This letter, from attorney Leila Knox of Bryan Cave LLP, one of the world’s largest law firms, has been submitted to the California Department of Corrections. “Under this regulatory scheme,” she writes, “publications such as the Bay View could be impermissibly banned from within state prisons.” Readers are encouraged to submit their own comments from their own perspective. Comments are being accepted until Tuesday, June 17, at 5 p.m., and can be easily submitted until that time at http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/.

CDCr counterpunch: New rules designed to silence prison protest

When prisoners write to publications in order to tell our stories to the outside world, why would that be a threat now to the penological interests of the CDCr when it never has been for over 40 years? The policy [new proposed censorship rules, officially called “Obscene Material” regulations] is in retaliation for prisoners telling our personal horror stories, while carrying out hunger strikes in protest of such cruel and unusual punishment inside solitary confinement.

Treasure Island’s mold monster, Part 2: Damian shows how renters can get what they want...

Damian is clear that people should feel their home is a safe, healthy place. If parents’ and their children’s health is compromised or damaged, they should not be retaliated against for going to management and asking them to fix unsafe conditions. “Do not let fear keep you trapped where you’re not happy and not getting your issues addressed,” advised Damian. “You have your children to keep in mind.”

2Pac Birthday Tribute June 14

Steve Long was in his teens when he joined the Black Panther Party in New York City in ‘69. Today Long is the communications director of the National Alumni Association of the Black Panther Party and is gearing up for the annual Tupac Shakur Birthday Tribute/NAABPP fundraiser, which will be held on June 14 at Yoshi’s in San Francisco.

At SF Black Film Festival, new doc sheds light on race in Cuba

An enthusiastic crowd is anticipated at the San Francisco premiere of the documentary film “Black and Cuba” this Friday, June 13. Directed by Robin J. Hayes, PhD, a professor and human rights advocate, the documentary follows diverse Ivy League students as they band together and take a field trip to the enigmatic island of Cuba. The controversial Caribbean nation’s population is approximately 60 percent Black.

The people fight the lies of e-RAD-ication and No HOPE

Us poor folks are tired of being spoken for, spoken about, criminalized and removed! We walk and talk self-determination and we are seeking a conscious law firm to help public housing tenants bring a precedent-setting law suit to establish our equity.

Digital undivide: Losing customers to the web? Find your niche

In addition to cultivating local demand for products and services, it is critical that brick and mortar businesses have some type of interactive internet presence, from a full blown e-commerce site to a simple but attractive website or Facebook page. These critical changes will help improve local businesses’ chance for survival in this progressively digital age. Technological advances increase convenience and customer satisfaction, and brick and mortar businesses must adapt to maintain their presence in this “digital undivide.”

A Quest for Democracy in Sacramento

More than 200 people came to the Capitol in Sacramento as part of a lobby day for justice-involved and formerly incarcerated individuals, with participants travelling from around the state. The second annual Formerly Incarcerated People’s Quest for Democracy focused on 16 bills, including policies on reentry, sentencing reform and sealing of juvenile records.