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2009 April
Monthly Archives: April 2009
The Black Hole at KPFA
Is the Black community supposed to be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of KPFA when our community is not deemed important enough to be given a public affairs show? "Shut up and keep dancing" is what KPFA's management team is telling the Black community.
K’naan talks with Davey D about Somali pirates
Somalian-born rapper K'naan tells the real story about Somalia's pirates in this must-see interview with Davey D.
Somalis speak out: Why we don’t condemn our pirates
If you ask any Somali, if getting rid of the pirates only means the continuous rape of our coast by unmonitored Western vessels and the producing of a new cancerous generation, we would all fly our pirate flags high. One man's pirate is another man's coast guard.
Wanda’s Picks for April 10
I can't say enough about "Mrs. Streeter" at Black Rep in Berkeley. Did you catch my interview Friday, April 10, with playwright Merrill D. Jones and cast members? If not, listen on-line at Wanda's Picks Radio.
Pack the Nevada Prison Board meeting April 14
On Tuesday, April 14, in Las Vegas (by video) and in Carson City (live) the Nevada Board of Prison Commissioners will meet to allow the public to put on record its complaints against the Nevada prison system and make suggestions for improvement. Prisoners are asking other prisoners to urge their supporters, friends and loved ones to attend.
The Town in chaos: an interview wit’ rapper Beeda Weeda
While the world was watching downtown Oakland burn up in the aftermath of the police murder of Oscar Grant III, rappers Beeda Weeda and J-Stalin put their social commentary into 16 rhyming bars and came out with the Town masterpiece "We Ain't Listening," the remix. Listen at www.blockreportradio.com.
Finally, in El Salvador
On March 15, Salvadorans headed en masse to the polls and by 9:30 that night Mauricio Funes, presidential candidate of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), had been elected the very first leftist head of state in the country's history.
Assembly Member Carter introduces anti-noose legislation
"Passage of this anti-noose law will be a sign that our state is prepared to confront a visual symbol of America's racist and violent history," said California Assembly Member Wilmer Amina Carter after she introduced a measure that would make it a crime to display a noose in a threatening manner.
Newsom ignores voters: $2.7 million poverty court opens on Polk Street
Notwithstanding a blistering defeat at the polls and strong opposition from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Mayor Gavin Newsom has opened his Community Justice Center, diverting several million dollars from essential City services to incarcerate poor people for the sole act of being poor.
Pens and pistols: an interview wit’ Ebony Sparks, author of ‘Lessons Learned …’
Ebony Colbert Sparks is one of the most talented writers that I've met. She is the personification of "you can do anything you put your mind to."
Karmic justice
Most people of color know that the cops, and police departments as institutions, historically represent the street enforcement arm of white American racism. Indeed, the police were born out of the white slave patrols.
‘Dr. King died for me’: the dreams of Mychal Bell of the Jena 6
My name is Mychal Bell and I was one of the Jena 6 that was charged with attempted murder down in Jena, Louisiana, in 2006.
Beating back Batson
The U.S. Supreme Court's 1986 Batson v. Kentucky decision prohibited the state from removing Black jurors for racial reasons. Still, courts have been loathe to grant relief.
U.S. Supreme Court rejects Mumia Abu-Jamal’s appeal for a new trial
The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that they have rejected death-row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new guilt phase trial. Readers are urged to contact the White House to protest this unjust ruling. Call (202) 456-1111 or visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/.
Shooting at OPD officers’ funeral goes unreported
The Oakland Police Department suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the foot when it further racialized the March 21 shootings by rescinding Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums' invitation to speak at the public funeral of the four officers who were gunned down.
‘Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. The U.S.A.’ by Mumia Abu-Jamal
Don't miss this review of Mumia's new book by one of his closest friends, Kiilu Nyasha. Kiilu fell April 2 and broke her hip. She's recovering from surgery at CPMC Davies Campus, Castro at Duboce St.,
North Tower, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94114. Send this great warrior (armed only with love and a laser-keen intellect) some love and early birthday greetings; she turns 70 in May!
Singing in the rain: Hunters Point Shipyard enriches SF’s most powerful families
In an email to the San Francisco Bay View, Laurence Pelosi verified that he was a Lennar senior executive in March of 2004 at the time San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, his cousin for whom he had served as mayoral campaign treasurer, had signed the Hunters Point Shipyard Conveyance Agreement at the behest of Laurence's Aunt Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The chicken or the egg?
"Biomonitoring is the next logical, critical step for us to take in addressing threats to public health." - Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, author of the California Biomonitoring Program, SB689
Digging the dirt on Lennar
Lennar, when will you stop stirring up all that radioactive asbestos in the Hunters Point Shipyard into the air that all the fine people of color in Bayview Hunters Point are obliged to breathe in order to live?
Wanda’s Picks for April 2009
Dressed in black leotards, Jetaun Maxwell, dancer-choreographer, has a red ribbon, a strip of cloth representing the blood, the noose and rein society places on girls who seek freedom. - from Wanda's review of "Invisible Womb"