Tuesday, March 19, 2024
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Tag: Harlem of the West

Don’t just survive, but thrive: The legacy of Fred Jordan

Writer Lin Robertson extols an iconic jewell from the Black community of the Bay Area. As a proponent of Affirmative Action, Fred Jordan is a man of principle, heart and humanity providing service, guidance and ultimately, his own brand of artistic gift giving to the people, standing tall, humble and driven to build on the roots of the Black community.

29 years ago today, we took the Bay View torch, and...

With courage and gratitude, this tribute to what was, transitioning to what is, brings celebration, tears of joy and sadness, inspiration, hope, hard work, and renewed raised-fist commitment to everyone connected in myriad ways to the icon that is the SF Bay View newspaper, serving so many, inside and outside.

YES on Prop 16: ‘All I ask of our brethren is...

In 1996 Eva Patterson, then executive director of Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, and Fred Jordan, President of the African American Chamber of Commerce, with Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Senator Diane Feinstein, opposed Prop 209. Today they are fervently supporting Prop 16 on the Nov. 3, 2020 ballot to repeal the 1996 Prop 209 with an amendment to the California Constitution.

Could San Francisco, capital of anti-Blackness, become a sanctuary city for...

I write to you as your Black daughter, one who is three generations rooted in this city, and one who had all but given up on you. Today, however, in the spirit of Juneteenth, I am thinking I can feel the fresh breath of something new in the air. Is it hope? Should I trust it? I want to.

Strategies to reverse the out-migration of African Americans from San Francisco

Since the onslaught of the urban removal of African Americans from the Fillmore District by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, the estimated 18 percent population of African Americans in the City has dropped to 3.5 percent. There are significant and shocking reasons why this has taken place. Below are strategies to correct some of the injustices and reverse this tragic out-migration.

Earthquake at the Fillmore Heritage Center

There was a whole lot of shaking going on Saturday, Feb. 16. The Fillmore Heritage Center Equity Partners are causing the ground to shake with the ongoing success of the events they are giving. This last event shook the entire Bay Area with the soulful sounds of Tony! Toni! Tone! during two packed shows.

Fillmore Heritage Center reopens with focus on community equity

Dedicated to ensuring the historic Fillmore neighborhood has an economic and cultural anchor to call its own, District Five Supervisor Vallie Brown and a group of nonprofit and African American community leaders have initiated a collaborative campaign to reactivate the Fillmore Heritage Center. Beginning Nov. 5, the collaborative is offering live music, community events, and housing and financial empowerment workshops at the former Yoshi’s site.

‘Harlem of the West – The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era’:...

From May through August, three floors of black and white jazz photographs are on display at the African American Art & Culture Complex. They depict Harlem of the West, the San Francisco Fillmore jazz era that was bustling from the 1930s through the 1950s. Jazz was “king” and the Fillmore music scene was alive and flowing from end to end in the African American community.

Bay View turns 40! Part 2

Now, as the San Francisco Bay View newspaper’s 40th birthday year comes to a close, is the time to bring up to date the historical sketch of our paper that I began with Part 1 in the January paper. Piles of old papers rest on my desk, waiting to be read once again – a banquet of stories and pictures of our lives, our hopes, our goals. Let me let you taste the flavor of the freedom we continue to fight for in the age of Trump.

Fillmore Heritage Center up for sale

The Fillmore Heritage Center, considered to be the last vestige of Black culture in the Fillmore District, once known as the “Harlem of the West,” has been put up for sale. The Request for Proposals (RFP) by the City and County of San Francisco was issued on Feb. 10, 2017. The property, located at Fillmore and Eddy Streets, previously housed Yoshi’s San Francisco restaurant, Yoshi’s Jazz Club, the 1300 Restaurant, a jazz art gallery and a theater. The minimum bid is $6.5 million.

Marcus Books is coming back to San Francisco

We are pleased to announce an event on Aug. 16, 2016, to celebrate the union of Marcus Books and the African American Arts and Culture Complex (AAACC) in the Fillmore District of San Francisco. Over the past few months, Marcus Books and the AAACC have been collaborating on the details of their new partnership which will manifest as a bookstore within the first floor lobby of the complex. The event, to be held Tuesday, Aug. 16, 6-9 p.m., on the first floor of the AAACC, is meant to share the exciting plans with the community.

3 days away: Eviction fighter Iris Canada marches toward her 100th...

In three days, Iris Canada turns 100. Did you expect to live this long? Did you imagine bearing witness to the Black community’s dwindling to 3 percent of the population of San Francisco? In your dreams, did you think that your building would be sold and that you would have to endure an Ellis Act eviction whose sole aim was to extricate you from your home? Iris, with a voice so soft – tell me.

San Francisco continues destroying its Black community

Why is it necessary in America’s richest major City, one that is booming with development and tourism, to grab the last Black-owned cultural development in San Francisco? Gentrification, the denial of jobs and contracting opportunities, and just plain benign neglect contribute to the out-migration and destruction of San Francisco’s once proud and thriving African American community – including Harlem of the West, then a major destination for tourists from around the world.

Dr. Raymond Tompkins: How and why does pollution poison Bayview Hunters...

Although Bayview Hunters Point is one of the most beautiful Black communities in California, it is also one of the most toxic places in the country due to the radiation experiments that took place on the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in the ‘40s and many other generators of deadly toxins, most of them government owned. Dr. Ray Tompkins, a historian and a scientific expert on the pollution in Bayview Hunters Point, gives an in-depth interview. Check him out in his own words.

Hands off Coltrane Church! Eviction imminent – sign the petition

The featured front page story in the Feb. 18 San Francisco Chronicle begins, “The St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church, a uniquely San Franciscan storefront ministry dedicated to the music and preachings of the soulful sax man, is facing eviction and may be gone as soon as Sunday’s sermon ends. Let your voice be heard by signing the petition in full support of the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church remaining in the West Bay Conference Center.”

Fighting for justice: It’s a unity thing

On Friday night, Jan. 15, many young people gathered outside of the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church for the start of the “Reclaim MLK” weekend, a 96-hour action dedicated to non-violent protest against police terrorism and gentrification. During rush hour, “Reclaim MLK” protesters shut down the major intersection of Geary at Webster in the Fillmore, once San Francisco’s Black heartland.

Black homes matter: San Francisco’s vanishing Black population

Among the crowd of 150 activists were four young people holding a sign that simply read, “Last 3 Percent.” The words refer not directly to police violence but to the broader problem of the mass exodus of African Americans from San Francisco. Thousands have left their city of birth not because of any personal preference but because of political decisions and economic policies, many set into motion several decades ago.

‘I Am San Francisco: (Re)Collecting the Home of Native Black San...

You are invited to the opening reception on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2-4 p.m., in the African American Center of the San Francisco Main Library of “I Am San Francisco,” a major exhibit that tells the personal stories of Black San Franciscans at a time when the Black population has been almost entirely forced out and includes a display of historic copies of the San Francisco Bay View, back to 1994, with the headline “We Shall Not Be Moved.”

Largest rent control petition in San Francisco history denied, Midtown residents...

On a cold Tuesday evening, Sept. 15, Midtown residents along with their allies from labor unions, UC Berkeley, Boalt School of Law, The Plaza 16 Coalition, Calle 24 and tenants’ rights advocates gathered outside of the San Francisco Rent Board eagerly awaiting the appeal hearing. The decision was to be made on the rent control status of 65 long-term Fillmore District families who face immediate rent increases ranging from 30 percent to 300 percent.

KPOO interview: Kiilu Nyasha and Terry Collins remember Hugo ‘Yogi’ Pinell

This interview was broadcast live on Aug. 18, 2015, on Terry Collins’ show, The Spirit of Joe Rudolph. Terry Collins: A lot of people around here are definitely in deep mourning for the murder of Hugo Pinell on the 12th of August, this month. From my correspondence with him over the past three or four years, I know he was a person full of love. Kiilu Nyasha: If there was one word that could describe Yogi Bear, it would be love.