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Murdered by police for being Black and poor
November 29, 2012
From the Mission District in San Francisco, to West, North and now East Oakland, several neighborhoods in LA, young Black and Brown men, convening, talking, laughing, being young, are viewed as “dangerous,” “suspect” or criminal. Laws like the gang injunction are instituted and applied, and eventually we are completely wiped away like we were never there.
Decriminalizing our lives – one family at a time
November 28, 2012
Unseen scars are what so many of our single parents in poverty are struggling with, living with, pushing through. Add the requisite criminalization of poor parents through welfare systems, child protective services, landlords and school systems and, for immigrant parents, the anti-immigrant hate and racism; it is a constant battlefield.
From skid row to your overpriced condo: Po’ folks resisting removal
November 26, 2012
It had been over 20 years since me and my mama were houseless on the streets of LA, sleeping in our car and facing police harassment for the sole act of being poor and without a roof in the U.S. The only place we could go to get a break was skid row because it was the one place the police seemed to leave us alone. Now I was back, but something was bizarrely wrong.
From foreclosure to homelessness
November 25, 2012
The story of the violent crime of foreclosure and its roots in capitalist greed has been covered, albeit rarely, in mainstream and independent media. But the never heard voices are those of the thousands of families and disabled elders – majority people of color, like Ms. Galves – who have been literally thrown into the streets post-foreclosure and are now homeless.
Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. resigns amidst health and legal problems
November 21, 2012
For 17 years I have given 100 percent of my time, energy and life to public service. However, over the past several months, as my health has deteriorated, my ability to serve the constituents of my district has continued to diminish. The constituents of the Second District deserve a full-time legislator in Washington.
Vote ‘United for Community Radio’ for the KPFA Local Station Board
November 18, 2012
It is time for all the staff and listeners to embrace the democratic victory that was won for us in legal and street battles of 1999-2001 and by the people who formed the original “Save KPFA” in the mid-1990s. KPFA was not sold from under us, and thanks to their efforts, it never will be. It is time to bring peace to KPFA and Pacifica and help strengthen this priceless resource.
Occupy Sandy, from relief to resistance
November 15, 2012
Welcome to the climate crisis. There’s nothing abstract about it. It isn’t some apocalypse decades away or an event that comes down like one big hurricane to wipe us all out. It’s Hurricane Sandy. It’s all the economic, political and social conditions that were already in place. And it’s the opportunity for forces of profit and repression to push their agenda forward in the aftermath. But guess what: The climate justice movement isn’t so abstract either. This is it. It’s dedicated organizers recognizing how their work can be aligned across issues. It’s relief providers and hard-working volunteers transforming into activists and community leaders.
Sandy aftermath: Humanitarian crisis in Coney Island projects
November 13, 2012
The situation in public housing projects in Coney Island, Brooklyn remains a “humanitarian crisis” in which the government and the Red Cross have been nearly completely absent, according to Eric Moed, a volunteer aid worker with Occupy Sandy. The projects in Coney Island remain without power and often without water and necessities in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
For public housing residents after Sandy, ‘a slow-motion Katrina’
November 10, 2012
Ask anyone living in Cobble Hill or Carroll Gardens or Park Slope earlier this week, and they would tell you that they have power, hot water and wi-fi. In fact, most of the $1 million-plus townhouses and local businesses in Brooklyn’s wealthier neighborhoods never lost any basic necessities, even during the worst of the storm. But the Gowanus Houses, a low-income public housing complex owned and operated by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), which falls almost at the intersection of those three neighborhoods, is an exception.
Mr. President, three wishes of a Black American
November 7, 2012
First, be more forceful about appointing federal judges. As a former constitutional law professor, you know better than most the importance of the federal bench. Second, please listen to Paul Krugman on economic policy. He was right early on in the economic crisis when he was adamant about the need to create jobs. Finally, do not abandon the needs of Black people because you will be seen as playing favorites. Black folks are out here on our own. We need you to stand up for us and to advance policies that will help us move upward, “lifting as we climb.”
Corporate millions, deceptive ads only narrowly shut down Prop 37, GE food labeling
November 7, 2012
In the face of unrelenting deceptive advertising funded by giant chemical and processed food corporations to the tune of nearly $50 million, California’s Proposition 37, calling for a simple label on genetically engineered food, narrowly lost with 47 percent of the vote. We will continue to build a robust national grassroots campaign to push for mandatory labeling across the country.
Voters lighten Three Strikes while increasing revenues for education
November 7, 2012
Yesterday’s election results show Californians calling for additional cuts to the prison population and corrections budget while approving new taxes to save programs like education, welfare, childcare and healthcare. Voters resoundingly passed Proposition 36 by a 69 percent to 31 percent margin. Proposition 30 was passed by voters 54 percent to 46 percent.
Proposition 36 on the Three Strikes Law: a poverty skolar’s report
November 5, 2012
The reform of the Three Strikes Law with Proposition 36 will take a tool away from the police and DAs that has been used to oppress low-income and people of color communities. Any respite from the oppression of racism and capitalism on poor folks is worth voting for. So I say yes on Proposition 36.
California’s Prop 34: Yes or no, the death penalty remains
November 2, 2012
Voting against Proposition 34 means I want the state to continue to actively kill people by shooting poison in their veins. Voting for it means I want the state to sentence more people to the slow, excruciating, grinding form of the death penalty that is life without parole. In the end, I really have no choice but to abstain.
Hurricane Survival
October 31, 2012
From Philly to New Jersey, from the South Bronx to Haiti, us po’ folks don’t need Hurricane Sandy to have a crisis, ‘cause we already in Hurricane Survival. Between gentriFUKation, removal, violence, poverty and struggle just to be housed and clothed and fed and safe, the crisis called Sandy is just one more thing to deal with in an already impossible situation.
Gov. Jerry Brown at NAACP State Convention
October 29, 2012
“All politics is local,” said Tip O’Neil, the great former speaker of the House. Gov. Jerry Brown brought it home as he addressed the state convention of the NAACP at the San Mateo Marriott Hotel in the presence of delegates and the mayor of San Mateo, Brandt Grotte.
Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Be man enough to say ‘I’m sorry’
October 29, 2012
Raising awareness about domestic violence must be a continuing effort all year long, because it’s the only way to break the cycle that has become a part of this society’s collective psyche over the centuries. Today, I promise that I will continue to be my best toward all women. I hope to lead by example for others to emulate.
Cynthia McKinney on leadership
October 26, 2012
Recently, I had an opportunity to speak with Cynthia McKinney, and I asked her about leadership. She replied that at the local level in the Black communities, there is leadership. It no longer gets media coverage, but it is there. Real leaders are those with the courage to dissent and to resist. It is the act of resistance that transforms an elected person into a leader.
Help U.S. graduates of medical school in Cuba prepare to serve needy communities at home
October 24, 2012
Graduation is only the first step! When graduates of the Latin America School of Medicine in Cuba (ELAM) come home to the U.S., they need help finding jobs, financial support while they study for their required exams and help finding training opportunities in the medical field. IFCO announces a new partnership to help graduates on the next steps of their journey.
On anniversary of hunger strike, Pelican Bay prisoners in solitary confinement see no change, request governor’s intervention
October 16, 2012
On the one year anniversary of the end of their hunger strikes and the agreements struck with CDCR, prisoners in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) of Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, California, sent an open letter to Gov. Jerry Brown expressing frustration at changes that have failed to materialize.