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‘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.
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.
Jailhouse snitch used against Aiyana’s dad
January 23, 2012
Mertilla Jones, grandmother of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, the 7-year-old killed by Detroit police last year in a SWAT-style assault on her home, held Aiyana’s mother Dominika Stanley tightly in her arms as both wept uncontrollably in an elevator at 36th District Court in downtown Detroit.
The way to occupy a bank is to own one
January 19, 2012
The campaign to “move your money” has gotten a groundswell of support. Having greater impact would be to “move our money” — move our local government revenues out of Wall Street banks into our own publicly-owned banks. The San Francisco bank proposal is sponsored by city Supervisor John Avalos.
MLK: Amerikkka’s Most Wanted
January 16, 2012
He was considered by some the most dangerous man in America. He spent many nights locked up in jail cells. There were constant attempts made on his life. During his last years, he was constantly harassed by law enforcement. The real reason for his untimely demise before the age of 40 still remains a mystery.
Let us honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
January 15, 2012
As we celebrate the commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 83rd birthday, let us remember that he not only fought for racial justice and equality, but also called on us to end poverty and eliminate war. In his Nobel lecture, Dr. King said: “(T)he poor in America know that they live in the richest nation in the world, and that even though they are perishing on a lonely island of poverty they are surrounded by a vast ocean of material prosperity. … (T)he infection and sickness of poverty (must) be exposed and healed – not only its symptoms but its basic causes. … (W)e must not be afraid to pursue the remedy no matter how formidable the task.”
Race and Occupy Cal
December 30, 2011
God could not have sent us a more fitting setting for Occupy Cal at the University of California, Berkeley – the sun rising, yellow and warm. I was going devote today to observing and reporting on the social movement.
‘What do they want?’
December 30, 2011
With few exceptions, major corporate outlets, networks, national newspapers and the like have treated the protests such as Occupy Wall Street as something akin to a UFO: odd, alien and inscrutable.
From state pens to Penn State
December 26, 2011
The shocking child sex scandal rocking Penn State University in State College, Pa., is an explosion of almost nuclear proportions. The scandal has shown how great wealth, fame and the business of college sports corrupted everything and everyone to keep the gravy train rolling.
Malik Rhasaan: Expanding occupation to the hood
December 23, 2011
When Malik Rhasaan first visited the Occupy Wall Street park at Liberty Square, he noticed that there was a lack of people of color. “Something needed to be done and I started the hash tag #occupythehood and from there it kind of swelled,” said Rhasaan, getting support from everyone from “professors down to cats who just got out of prison.”
Medical journal article: 14,000 U.S. deaths tied to Fukushima reactor disaster fallout
December 22, 2011
An estimated 14,000 excess deaths in the United States are linked to the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan, according to a major new article in the December 2011 edition of the International Journal of Health Services by Joseph Mangano and Dr. Janette Sherman.
Mumia’s first week of freedom … from Death Row
December 16, 2011
After nearly three decades on Pennsylvania’s death row, former Black Panther Party member and world-renowned journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal was moved off Death Row on Dec. 11, following an announcement by Philadelphia DA Seth Williams that he would no longer seek Abu-Jamal’s execution. “On Thursday, Dec. 8, I attended the Fraternal Order of Police rally, a shocking display of naked calls for harm to Mumia,” said Noelle Hanrahan. “What a dramatic contrast to the defense rally the next night at the Constitution Center. One was all about love, the other all about hate.”
An open letter from America’s port truck drivers on Occupy the Ports
December 16, 2011
We are the frontline workers who haul container rigs full of imported and exported goods to and from the docks and warehouses every day. We have accepted the honor to speak up for our brothers and sisters about our working conditions despite the risk of retaliation we face.
Occupy strikes back! Shut down Wall Street on the waterfront!
December 11, 2011
Battle lines have formed as the West Coast Occupy movements, from San Diego to Alaska, organize for blockades of West Coast ports to support the struggle of the ILWU in Longview, Wash. against EGT of the grain cartel, of port truckers fighting for the right to organize and of Long Beach against SSA, owned by Goldman Sachs.
Martina Correia, 1967-2011, champion of Troy Davis and justice for all
December 1, 2011
Martina Correia, the sister of Troy Davis, who was his strongest advocate, has succumbed to breast cancer. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer 11 years ago and given six months to live at that time, but she fought to stay alive so that she could fight for her brother, Troy, to stay alive.
Occupy the Hood’s national effort coordinated by Ife Johari Uhuru, Detroit single mom
November 22, 2011
“I think that we’ve decided that the twinkling fingers and all of that may not be for us,” said Uhuru. “We remain in solidarity. But we want to be able to speak and then act autonomously and really get involved in grassroots causes.”
On state violence, white male privilege and ‘Occupy’
November 13, 2011
I am not about to trust a “movement” that offers no critique of the role of state violence in upholding capitalist economic interests. I am not about to get arrested with some “white” guys whose interests are just their own, who only noticed injustice when they were the ones who got laid off, arrested, beat down or tased.
Death threat against Cynthia McKinney: Why is the FBI calling me?
November 10, 2011
The FBI called to say that four men named in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story today had listed me as a target for assassination. Please post this message everywhere so that people will know that I will not be deterred from opening communication with other members of the 99 percent and I will not stop my activities for truth, justice, peace and dignity.
Tea parties and Occupy protests
November 9, 2011
The Boston Tea Party was a great event not only of rebellion, but law-breaking. Imagine the worth of crates of imported tea, broken into and tossed into the Boston harbor. Were they un-American? They destroyed private property. They reacted to the rich getting richer by looting their warehouses.
The plight of Mumia Abu Jamal: 30 years and counting
November 7, 2011
California was the spark of many radical movements of the ‘60s. It was the spark of the old prison rights movement during the time of George Jackson. This new movement is occasioned by the mass incarceration that people did not know of back in the ‘70s and the growth of control units, or SHUs, as they call them in California.
