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Hunger strikers protest perpetual solitary confinement
June 29, 2011
On July 1, 2011, I and my fellow prisoners – on their own free will – will be commencing a hunger strike to protest the denial of our human rights and equality via the use of perpetual solitary confinement. The Supreme Court has referred to “solitary confinement” as one of the techniques of “physical and mental torture.”
Is the increase in baby deaths in the northwest U.S. due to Fukushima fallout? How can we find out?
June 9, 2011
U.S. babies are dying at an increased rate. While the United States spends billions on medical care, as of 2006, the U.S. ranked 28th in the world in infant mortality, more than twice that of the lowest ranked countries. The recent CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report indicates that in eight cities in the northwest U.S., infant mortality increased 35 percent in the 10 weeks after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster.
Mass arrests at Capitol rotunda
June 9, 2011
Led by students and teachers noisily chanting, “Tax, tax, tax the rich!” a crowd took over the state Capitol rotunda on May 9 to kick off a week of protest against looming draconian cuts to the California education budget.
Wanda’s Picks for May 2011
May 4, 2011
Happy Mother’s Day to Yuri Kochiyama! I’d like to also wish the women who haven’t seen their children in a long time, some since birth, a special Happy Mother’s Day. Our prayers are with you even if you feel alone at a time when in America prisons systematically separate mothers from their children, often permanently.
Wanda’s Picks for April 2011
April 10, 2011
When Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis, he was about to join the sanitation workers in their protest for a union and more decent wages. The movement for civil rights was taking hold in the North and America didn’t like it – so off with King’s head.
Massive health clinics set for Sacramento and Oakland
April 2, 2011
Free medical, dental and vision care will be offered at a massive health clinic to be held by Remote Area Medical (RAM) April 1-4 at Cal Expo in Sacramento and April 9-12 at the Oakland Coliseum. Healthcare professionals are expected to provide care for an anticipated 1,000 people per day.
Assemblymember Swanson calls cuts to child care ill-advised and wasteful
March 16, 2011
As the Legislature approaches an imminent vote on a budget that proposes to cut child care and developmental services by $716 million, Assemblymember Sandre Swanson, chair of the Labor and Employment Committee, discusses his strong objections.
‘I Heard That’: Black Media Roundtable with Mayor Lee; The State of Black San Francisco …
March 1, 2011
The Black population in San Francisco drastically declined when urban renewal, Redevelopment and the gentrification of the Fillmore/Western Addition started in the ‘60s, bulldozed the hearts of African Americans, many forced to move out of the City.
WBA champion Andre Ward defeats power punching Sakio Bika in old school Battle of the Bay
December 6, 2010
On fight night, Nov. 27, World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight champion Andre “Son of God” Ward defended that title for the third time by fighting a grueling and aggressive war against the very dangerous, power punching Sakio “The Scorpion” Bika and coming out the victor in a 12-round unanimous decision fight.
Hustlin in the City: an interview wit Frisco rapper Sellassie
November 13, 2010
The Frisco native and conscious rapper Sellassie has to be one of the hardest working men in independent Bay Area rap music. He has been a big promoter of unifying the Bay Area’s rappers and he has started a campaign against “house nigga” rap. He also hosts a regional up and coming artists’ showcase called “We All We Got.”
Taking back homes from the banks: Exercising the human right to housing
June 5, 2010
Foreclosures are soaring. Some housing experts say 4 million foreclosures are possible in 2010. To fight back, organizations across the U.S. are engaging in “housing liberation” and “housing defense” to exercise their human rights to housing. Here are a few examples.
Bayview residents offer to sell one quarter of Mark Leno’s office for private condo development
October 14, 2009
Outraged Bayview residents armed with signs that read “Bayview Not for Sale,” “Parks for the People,” and “Governor, Veto SB 792 – Save Candlestick Park” entered Sen. Mark Leno’s San Francisco district office on Friday, Oct. 9, and erected a cardboard condominium tower topped with a sign that read “Leno: Do you miss your office? We’ll sure miss our park.”
The Ghetto to Gaza Speaking Tour featuring Mutulu Olugbala aka M1 of dead prez
October 4, 2009
The first stop on the Ghetto to Gaza Speaking Tour was in Sacramento with the Hip Hop Congress at Capital Garage. The usual Wednesday event is their weekly open mic, but it was altered to feature M1’s experience in Cairo and Gaza. Then we went to East Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley, West Oakland, San Jose, Santa Cruz and Sonoma.
Can Gavin Newsom’s ‘United Nations’ Center turn the Hunters Point Shipyard green?
October 3, 2009
The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) predicts a 16-inch mid-century sea level rise, covering Bay Area coastal lands and eventually swamping downtown San Francisco up to Market Street. The primary global warming gas is carbon dioxide. Methane gas, heavily implicated in global warming, has been emitted for years from the Bayview Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Sea level rise will release methane gas from wetlands and landfill, of which much of Hunters Point is composed.
The power of vigilance
September 11, 2009
On Thursday, Sept. 3, at their weekly town hall meeting, the leaders of SLAM (Stop Lennar Action Movement) reminded the audience of the kind of power they have in the battle to save Bayview Hunters Point. Minister Christopher Muhammad, Archbishop Franzo King and Francisco Da Costa shared the latest news of SLAM’s progress and urged the audience to understand that by staying focused and vigilant and not letting anything turn them around, they will win the war.
Democrats sell out California’s poor, elderly and disabled in budget deal
July 28, 2009
California’s phony bleeding heart liberal Democrats have just helped to pass a Republican budget deal that shreds California’s safety net by cutting $15.5 billion from the state’s service sector to partially close a $26.3 billion funding shortfall in state revenues. The Democrats supported a $1.3 billion cut to MediCal, a $2.8 billion cut to the statewide university system, and a $6 billion cut to California’s K-12 schools. The Democratic leadership also supported the Republicans’ push to slash the children’s health insurance program known as Healthy Families, as well as In-Home Supportive Services and the CalWORKs program by cutting $878 million or more in coming months.
Unfair trade! Sen. Leno aims to give our clean parkland to Lennar, toxic land to the people
May 30, 2009
Sen. Mark Leno’s Senate Bill 792 would give clean parkland at Candlestick Point to Lennar and replace it with toxic land. Lennar, the “toxic dust developer,” plans to build 10,000 luxury condos at the Hunters Point Shipyard. This toxic trade bill is now in the California Assembly, so calls opposing SB 792 should be made immediately to Fiona Ma, (916) 319-2012, and Tom Ammiano, (916) 319-2013.
Support Three Strikes reform
May 29, 2009
Sadly, March 7, 2009, marked the 15th anniversary for California’s draconian Three Strikes and You’re Out law. Fifteen years is one and a half decades, 180 months or 5,475 days. No matter how you calculate it, 15 years is too long for non-violent humans to be “incapacitated” for petty, non-serious and victimless crimes.
Caravan for Justice III brings the heat to the lawmakers
May 28, 2009
Signs reading “Justice for Oscar Grant,” “Abolish the Three Strikes Law” and “Demandamos Justicia Ya!” floated above a sea of ralliers of different ages, religious beliefs, genders and ethnicities. From Bakersfield up to Sacramento, activists, teachers and family members came together to rally against laws that have failed to serve the betterment of their communities.