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Wanda’s Picks for May 2013
May 9, 2013
Congratulations to my nephew Wilfred Batin, 9 years old, who was one of two honor roll students from Rosa Parks Elementary School honored this year at City Hall. Happy Mother’s Day to all the women who deserve more than a day to honor them. Congratulations to all the college graduates!
Ninth Circuit upholds Caltrans equal opportunity program to counter discrimination in construction
April 17, 2013
Caltrans has a duty under federal law to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not funneled into an exclusionary contracting system. “The program is much more cautious than it could be given the extent of discrimination in the transportation contracting industry,” said Oren Sellstrom, legal director at the Lawyers’ Committee.
Enough already with tasers for San Francisco police!
April 13, 2013
San Franciscans working from 2004 to 2013 to keep tasers out of SFPD officers’ hands as they “talk down” people in public crisis are today celebrating SFPD Chief Greg Suhr’s Wednesday, April 10, decision to drop his “less lethal” taser proposal for San Francisco cops. Idriss Stelley Foundation Program Director Jeremy Miller affirmed: “The Police Commission should be commended for engaging this issue seriously in a manner that befits their political responsibility. Tasers torture and kill. They are unaccountable weapons for unaccountable officers. But it was the people of San Francisco who forced Suhr’s hand.”
San Francisco launches Free Muni for Youth Pilot Program
February 28, 2013
Low and moderate income youth in San Francisco age 5 to 17 will be able to ride Muni for free as of March 1, when the SFMTA will begin a 16-month pilot program. Thousands of youth, parents and community members have organized for more than two years to secure the free transit passes, which enable young people to get to school, jobs and after-school activities.
Justice for Kevin Clark! Stop racist police brutality!
February 18, 2013
With a banner reading “From the Mission District to the whole Bay Area – Stop Racist Police Brutality,” over 300 community members rallied against the most recent case of police violence in San Francisco. The event was prompted by a video that became widespread showing 18-year-old City College student Kevin Clark being brutalized by two San Francisco police officers.
Urban orchards pop up in San Francisco
February 15, 2013
The SF Dept. of the Environment, Friends of the Urban Forest and hundreds of volunteers have planted 200 fruit trees at 23 locations across San Francisco as part of the City’s Urban Orchards program. Fruit trees not only absorb and sequester greenhouse gasses but also improve the city’s built environment and bring together neighborhoods to help us be a more resilient and food-secure city.
The Underground SRO Railroad and other acts of dismantling the plantation called Amerikkka
February 2, 2013
This is but one example of many acts of interdependence, love and revolution achieved by our family of poor and indigenous peoples at POOR Magazine. It is how we walk, live, struggle, dream, activate and revolutionize. It is what launched Homefulness, it is what started POOR Magazine and it is what kept me and my po’ Black-Indian Mama Dee alive.
Supervisor Avalos calls for investigation of LIBOR fraud by big banks
January 31, 2013
Standing in front of a JPMorgan Chase bank branch on Tuesday afternoon, San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos announced he was launching an investigation into San Francisco’s potential losses from the LIBOR interest rate fraud scandal and to explore options to recoup that money as other cities and counties have recently done.
SFPD can’t stop and frisk, so they turn to ‘hunting’ and ‘wolf packing’
January 27, 2013
It’s a damn shame to see this sort of abuse of power, especially when you consider Mayor Lee, who was largely applauded for being the City’s first Asian-American mayor, was a long-time civil rights attorney. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, as many traditional civil rights organizations and leaders have turned the concept upside down.
HUD housing programs at risk locally and across the nation
January 26, 2013
Massive spending cuts to the nation’s federal housing programs are scheduled to go into effect on March 1, 2013, threatening thousands of low-income families in Oakland and other Bay Area cities with higher rent than they can pay. Additionally, several hundred thousand or more low-income families all across the nation could lose their vouchers.
No Bratton-style policing in Oakland: Unraveling the fraying edges of zero tolerance
January 22, 2013
Hundreds turned out for Oakland City Council’s Public Safety Committee meeting on Jan. 15, 2013, to oppose paying $250,000 to bring “supercop” William Bratton and his “stop and frisk” and other zero tolerance police policies to Oakland. The bid for Bratton’s consult seems to be simply Oakland throwing good money after bad.
ACLU opposes SFPD taser deployment
January 5, 2013
A Dec. 4, 2012, ACLU letter to SF Mayor Ed Lee urged rejecting any SFPD proposal “to deploy tasers or other conductive energy devices”. The letter emphasizes that costly tasers would generate heavy legal fees from officer overuse and abuse, posing serious injury and death risks, especially to SFPD’s targeted populations: people in public mental health crisis and people of color.
Wanda’s Picks for January 2013
January 5, 2013
This year, on the 150 anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, we all need to heed the words of Sister Jayne Cortez: “And if we don’t fight / if we don’t resist / if we don’t organize and unify and / get the power to control our own lives / Then we will wear / the exaggerated look of captivity …” And don’t miss Wanda’s excellent, no holds barred reviews of “Django Unchained,” “Lincoln and “Red Hook Summer,” plus Dr. King birthday events listing and much more
Fired up!
January 2, 2013
The Clean Lounge, a clean and sober space located in Bayview Hunters Point in San Francisco, was full of Fired Up! women and supporters, family and friends.There was so much collective healing wisdom in the room. Fired Up! is an insider-outsider grassroots network founded by CCWP former prisoners that meets weekly in the San Francisco County Jail.
Check ‘n Go borrowers eligible for $4.3 million in refunds
December 31, 2012
Check ‘n Go claimants may be qualified for restitution if they obtained a four-month installment loan online between November 2006 and June 2008 through the websites checkngo.com, ilp.fbdel.com and commandloans.com. To be eligible for repayment, borrowers must mail a claim form and a copy of the required form of identification to the settlement administrator, postmarked by March 28, 2013.
7th Annual San Francisco Kwanzaa Celebration
December 11, 2012
The Village Project and the Bayview Y present San Francisco’s seventh annual Kwanzaa, featuring a special celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. This year’s event will again highlight the seven principles of Kwanzaa (Nguzo Saba), with 14 free events taking place over seven days throughout San Francisco.
Wanda’s Picks for December 2012
December 7, 2012
Monday, Nov. 26, at the Bay Area Black Media Awards event hosted by Greg Bridges and sponsored by the San Francisco Bay View and Block Report Radio, it was so wonderful to see all the media friends and family for an evening of celebration. KPOO, KPFA, New California Media/Pacific News Service, Wanda’s Picks Radio, Oakland Post, Globe, Poor News Network, Oakland International Film Festival, Black Panther newspaper alumni and others were in the house as “Best” this and “Best” that were saluted.
Jeff Adachi wins national award for defending the poor
December 4, 2012
The National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) has selected San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi as its 2012 Reginald Heber Smith Award winner. “The Reggie” celebrates the outstanding achievements and dedicated services of an attorney for contributions made while employed by an organization providing civil legal services or indigent defense services.
Black Businesses win a chance to work on the $68 billion California High Speed Rail Project
December 2, 2012
Associated Professionals and Contractors of California (APAC) is celebrating the historic inclusion of small, minority and disadvantaged business enterprise goals by the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) with a Small Business Opportunity Conference to be held Wednesday, Dec. 5 at the Empress of China, 838 Grant Ave., San Francisco, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sleeping on the street
November 29, 2012
Reporting and supporting as a revolutionary poverty journalist, I have done multiple stories on the increasing criminalization suffered by houseless peoples in the U.S. As a daughter raised in a houseless family, I was personally cited, arrested and eventually incarcerated for the act of being houseless and living in the car with my mama.