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The San Francisco Black Film Festival is back!
June 9, 2012
Summertime in the Bay Area is nothing without all of the music, food and film festivals. If you missed the Oakland International Film Festival, there is still time for you to catch the Bay’s biggest Black film festival, the San Francisco Black Film Festival, which runs June 15-17 at a number of theaters around San Francisco. This year Leo Sullivan will be in attendance. He is one of the cartoon visionaries who created Fat Albert and Looney Tunes. Digital Underground will also be a part of this year’s festivities, as well as Black Panther Party co-founder and chairman Bobby Seale.
‘Merritt College: Home of the Black Panther Party,’ an interview wit’ filmmaker James Calhoun
June 9, 2012
Most people do not know enough about the Black Panther Party, which was founded at Merritt College in Oakland in October of 1966 by Minister of Defense Huey P. Newton and Chairman Bobby Seale. This happening is important to Black history nationally and worldwide because the Panthers were and are an example of Black people fighting for self-determination no matter the cost.
Memories of Maroon
May 17, 2012
His name is almost legendary: Russell “Maroon” Shoatz, an affiliate of the Black Panther Party, activist and Black revolutionary.
Wanda’s Picks for May 2012
May 5, 2012
We give honor to Mother Earth, her birthday celebrated the weekend of April 22 with many great events in the Bay Area, “Love Yo Mama” in East Oakland hosted by Nehanda Imara of Citizens for a Better Environment, one of my favorite community events. My granddaughter and I enjoyed visiting the Tassafaronga Farm.
Big Brother ‘legal’ in US: Mumia Abu-Jamal interviewed by RT
April 19, 2012
After spending almost 30 years on death row, Abu-Jamal told RT’s Anastasia Churkina: “The truth is I’ve spent most of my living years in my lifetime on death row. So in many ways, even to this day, in my own mind, if not in fact, I’m still on death row.”
Sundiata Acoli, political prisoner for 39 years, wins appeal and is up for parole again
April 13, 2012
Sundiata Acoli is preparing to go before the parole board again for his newly won 2012 parole hearing. He is now the longest held prisoner in New Jersey’s history of similar convictions. He sends his warmest shout out of solidarity and strength to all those participating in or supporting the California Prisoners’ Hunger Strike.
Wanda’s Picks for April 2012
April 4, 2012
The Oakland International Film Festival is Friday-Sunday, April 6-8, at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Street, Oakland. Visit http://www.oiff.org/2012schedule.pdf. This year’s headliner is one of the most controversial independent films ever made, “The Spook Who Sat by the Door.” Watch it again here.
Imam Jamil Al-Amin on El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X) – Rally Monday to bring him home
March 17, 2012
Imam Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown) is one of the most revered Black revolutionary leaders from the ‘60s who is alive today. He was a legendary organizer with SNCC and briefly with the Black Panther Party, then later in an Islamic community in the West End of Atlanta, Georgia. This is one of the true fathers of rap music. Atlanta will rally Monday, March 19, 3-5 p.m., at the Georgia Capitol, 206 Washington St., to bring Imam Jamil back to Georgia from federal prison in Florence, Colo.
1,500 strong march against slavery
March 8, 2012
Shouting “Inside, outside, we’re all on the same side” and “Here comes Oakland,” five full buses and two vans left Oakland to meet up with marchers from as far away as Portland and Seattle who had already arrived at plantation San Quentin for one of the largest anti-slavery rallies in California history.
Wanda’s Picks for March 2012
March 7, 2012
When the Occupy San Quentin rally ended, San Rafael police followed us to the Richmond Bridge. I don’t know if it was Jabari Shaw’s orange CDCR jumpsuit that kept them wondering – Is he an escapee, one of ours? – or if it was the sheer magnitude of fearlessness represented by women like Kelly, a former prisoner who would not let her traumatic experience silence her. One brother got so full looking at the guards on the other side of the gate watching that he looked like he was going to leap the gate and hurt someone as he recalled the violations of his person over and over again. Members of All of Us or None dropped everything to embrace him when he left the stage.
Corcoran ASU hunger strike petitioner: This ain’t the soft KAGE
February 26, 2012
We are saddened by the news of the loss of our frontline immortal freedom fighter, Christian Alexander Gomez. Tragically, it’s believed to be fact that on Feb. 2, 2012, he died because of an infection he developed during the phases of our hunger strike here in CSP Corcoran ASU-1. It happened because of the medical staff and prison officials’ negligence.
‘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.
Picking up the pieces: Kenneth Harding’s mother calls on community to march for justice this Sunday
January 19, 2012
“It’s time for the killing, brutality, terrorizing and occupation of our communities by the police to stop,” writes Denika Chatman, mother of Kenneth Harding Jr., murdered by SFPD last July. Since then police attacks on the community, especially his supporters, have intensified. Denika is calling everyone to make a dramatic demand for justice by surrounding Candlestick Stadium during the NFC championship game Sunday, Jan. 22. Gather at noon at Third & Palou, Bayview Hunters Point, San Francisco.
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.”
Oakland Work Investment Board fails to allocate federal funds
December 21, 2011
The Scotlan Center, located in historical Defremery Park, aka Bobby Hutton Park, has not received their $175, 000 contract to continue drastically needed services in West Oakland. “They are withholding funds from youth, yet they sit quietly as kids get gunned down in the streets,” said Linda Handy.
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.”
The 40th anniversary of the assassination of George Jackson
October 17, 2011
Comrade was an exceptional individual and driven by his passion for revolution. The immense amount of knowledge he had acquired prior to our meeting he had honed to be as sharp as a samurai sword. While in prison, he studied economics, history and philosophy, transforming himself into a political theoretician and strategist.
Soledad Brother: Memories of Comrade George
October 16, 2011
“Most people realize that crime is simply the result of a grossly disproportionate distribution of wealth and privilege … an aspect of class struggle from the outset. Throughout its history, the United States has used its prisons to suppress any organized efforts to challenge its legitimacy,” wrote George Jackson in “Blood in My Eye.”
Retaliation at Pelican Bay: Letters from the SHU
October 14, 2011
The fact that men are willing to starve themselves to death ought to speak volumes to these primitive practices that require a man to be some sort of snitch in order to have any chance at all. This says a lot about the judgment society passes on the lives of those it imprisons.
Oakland Freedom School encourages literacy in Black youth
September 29, 2011
Students learned many things about African and African American history, ranging from the classical African civilizations of Kemet (ancient Egypt), Songhai and Mali to the Black Arts Movement and the Harlem Renaissance. The African-centered curriculum is designed to encourage youth to read during the summer while building self-esteem and a strong cultural identity.