Court: No proof Black August incites prison violence

I’m writing to update you on the continuing attempt to deny us Afrikan descendants here at Pelican Bay solitary confinement SHU control units the exercise of the human birthright to read, write, study, learn and celebrate our African heritage, history and culture.

Demand work for Black contractors and their crews

My sorrow is for what’s happening to the Black contractors and their crews in the Bay Area trying to get bonding but being rejected by the bonding companies. The Black and Brown vote is too large for us to keep on being set aside and ignored.

Finally a step in the right direction

Walking clean and sober can be very lonely for a parolee whose comfort zone is hanging out with addicts and traveling the road of drugs and criminality. I for one will admit that I perhaps know less about free society than I do about prison life.

Solidarity in the fight against Arizona immigration law

I’m a powerful Black conscious man, so I yell out Black Power and I fully support my Latino comrades in struggle and solidarity. And we demand justice or there will be no peace!

California prisons silencing SF Bay View

Today, free speech inside the penitentiary is increasingly becoming a scant luxury, not the universally recognized right abstracted by federal judges. As early as March 2008, the San Francisco Bay View began receiving dispatches from California prisoners alerting the newspaper that prisoners in possession of the newspaper were being charged with gang affiliation and having their subscriptions withheld.

Kagame sworn in after U.N. report of guilt in Congo genocide

Rwandan President Paul Kagame was sworn in to serve another seven-year term on Sept. 6, 2010, 11 days after the explosive Aug. 26 leak of a U.N. report documenting genocide committed by his army in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Willie Brown Academy, BVHP’s only middle school, to close

SFUSD announced, “Willie Brown Jr. Academic College Preparatory School is closing by the end of school year 2010-2011 in order to rebuild a state of the art facility.” Parent Daphina Marshall commented, “I don’t see where they are going to get the funds to rebuild.”

Republican candidates ignore the Black vote while the Democrats continue to take it for granted

Very little if any advertising has been done in Black newspapers or with Black radio stations in an attempt to reach Black voters via the Black media. The Black press connects Blacks around the world. Their power and influence is unmatched, unchallenged and unquestioned.

Good Americans: The dark side of the Pullman Porters Union

As we celebrate the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, America’s first African America labor union, let us not forget that African American rail workers were instrumental in organizing not only the sleeping and chair car porters, but the dining car workers as well.

On the fifth anniversary of Katrina, displacement continues

Just as Hurricane Katrina revealed racial inequalities, the recovery has also been shaped by systemic racism. According to a recent survey of New Orleanians by the Kaiser Foundation, 42 percent of African Americans – versus just 16 percent of whites – said they still have not recovered from Katrina. Thirty-one percent of African-American residents – versus 8 percent of white respondents – said they had trouble paying for food or housing in the last year.

Upcoming Events

The death of Sister Soul

From the first time I ever heard of Abbey Lincoln she was associated with the struggle for the freedom and dignity of Black folks. She could have found commercial success, but Abbey was committed to the liberation and elevation of her oppressed people; once you experience that freedom high, nothing can compare with it.

Lil' D and his new book 'Weight': an interview wit' Concrete Jungle publisher Dennis Haywood

Lil’ D aka Darryl Reed is one of the biggest hustlers ever born on the streets of Oakland. In Oakland, his name is right up there with other local legends like Ricky Henderson, Huey P. Newton, Felix Mitchell, Micky Moe, Mark Curry, Gary Payton, Hook Mitchell, Reggie Jackson, Tony Toni Tone, Too Short, Askari X and the likes.

Wearing your politics: an interview wit’ jewelry-maker Mercedes Martin

Mercedes Martin is one of the new young emerging political artists out of the Bay with a whole lot to say. The thing is that she does not rock a mic or joust with her pen; she is a political jewelry maker who tends to hover around personalities like Oscar Grant, Malcolm X and political musicians.

Movin’ on up: an interview with fashion designer Engla Murphy of PSundays

Over the years Engla Murphy’s PSundays Fashion House has been one of the most talked about local fashion houses in the Bay Area. Now this independent entrepreneur has opened up a store in Bay Fair Mall, which is one of the main clothes shopping hubs in the East Bay.

On the subject of ‘jive’

The 16th of June 2010 saw Andre Ward, WBA super middleweight champion of the world, and Oklahoman-born Allan “Sweetness” Green at a pre-fight press conference in Oakland’s Oracle Arena. On June 19, they fought. Andre Ward won all 12 rounds. Green was hospitalized after the fight.