Monday, March 18, 2024
Advertisement
2009 October

Monthly Archives: October 2009

Jabree needs your help

I’m in desperate need for someone in the community to donate a reliable car to my family. I’m a single mother with three children. My 3-year-old son, Jabree, has acute lymphoblastic leukemia and I need transportation to go back and forth from the hospital. Jabree can't ride the bus because of his fragile immune system.

The power of the word: an interview wit’ spoken word artist and founder of...

Scorpio Blues will be performing at Yoshi's, 510 Embarcadero West in Oakland, on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The woman who goes by the name of Scorpio Blues and I have known each other for over half our lives, and throughout that time, she has always been very intelligent, driven and never one to hold her tongue. Her artistry is definitely an extension of her persona.

Wanda’s Picks for November

Maafa 2009 was chillier than usual, but our hearts were certainly no less warmed by the ancestors’ tight embrace as supplicants made their way through the Middle Passage to the Wolosodon rhythms, the slave march through the Doors of No Return to the beach where each person held a piece of string – symbolic of a connection … a philosophical connection to the homeland, family and history.

‘Operation Small Axe’ highlights resistance in Oakland’s occupied territories

The new short film, “Operation Small Axe,” by Prisoners of Conscience Committee Minister of Information JR Valrey, debuted in October at the Eighth Oakland International Film Festival with screenings at Merritt College, Jack London Cinema and the Uptown. The short has been shown at other venues as close as the Rock Paper Scissors Gallery in Oakland to as far away as Cape Town, South Africa.

Haiti and Honduras: End military coups and occupations

The universal condemnation of the military coup in Honduras by Latin American governments is unprecedented. If this dictatorship is allowed to stay in power, no democratically elected government is safe. Just as President Obama promised a more respectful relationship between the U.S. and the rest of America – we are faced with another coup with U.S. military complicity.

Greed fuels demand for project based vouchers by nonprofit developers

The Oakland Housing Authority recently released a “Public Notice of Project Selection for Participation in the Project-Based Voucher Program” that may have set in motion a frenzy of greed by nonprofit housing developers wanting to maximize their profits.

Bridge builder Audrey Hudson

Audrey Hudson stands out among Flyaway Productions’ 10 Women Campaign honorees as the only literal bridge builder, and the Bay View wanted you to meet this outstanding woman who’s blazing the trail for other women to follow her into the male-dominated field of construction work. A journeyman with Pile Drivers Local 34, Audrey first joined the union in 1999. She's won many accolades, even from her male co-workers, serving as pile driver steward for the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge Self Anchored Suspension Project. She also won a commendation from Congress.

‘Welcome to the NeighborHOOD’

A glimpse is a short look, a glance. How do you take a glimpse of an entire neighborhood? It would be hard to take in the whole aspect of a community in a short look. In a glimpse we sometime miss the things that matter. People take glimpses of Bayview and form their own opinion of our community. Without looking at the real Bayview, our community is written off as just another low-income community of color taken over by gang violence and drugs.

Justice and injustice in California: A comparison between rich and poor communities

In 2006, using this poster, Bayview Hunters Point activists gathered over 33,000 signatures in 90 days on our refendum petition. But City Hall tossed it. Now that the California Supreme Court has reinstated a similar Pleasanton referendum petition, can BVHP find lawyers to take ours back to court ... and win back our community?

The Village Bottoms Open House: an interview Duane Deterville of the Village Bottoms Cultural...

Duane Deterville is a dedicated organizer in the Village Bottoms Cultural District in West Oakland and is the host of their Oct. 29 open house. The SF Bay View thinks that this open house is important because the Village Bottoms is a collective of Black business owners and homeowners who are working together to protect their property and institutions and to generate business. Listen to Duane in his own words ...

Black Opera: an interview with opera singer Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu

The thing that most threw me off about this East Oakland native is that she loves opera. She has been singing longer in her life than she hasn’t been, and seems to be able to hit notes that makes glass break. She has recently been cast in a Black opera called “Dark River,” which tells the story of legendary Civil Rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer. It opens at the Oakland Metro Opera House on Nov. 12 and runs until the 22nd.

San Mateo top prosecutor guilty of stealth racial bias in jury selection

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a conviction obtained by San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe and published its reason – racially discriminatory jury selection – stating: “overwhelming evidence indicating that the prosecutor [Wagstaffe] ... acted with discriminatory intent when he struck M.C. [an African-American juror].”

I am unarmed! Don’t shoot!

October 22nd, National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, is much more than just a traditional, methodical way to combat police terrorism. We are demanding no more injustice to be served to us by a just-us system. No batons swung at us. No tear gas or water hoses sprayed on us. No dogs turned on us. No guns fired at us. Just like the ‘60s era, our struggle continues in the 21st century. Our once-silenced voices and visible stances are the exchange of fire that guns us down each day.

Tickling the keys: an interview wit’ pianist and rapper Kev Choice

Kev Choice is one of the the dopest young musicians I know in Oakland. And I would have to say that L-Boogie aka Lauryn Hill agrees with me, since she hired this dude to be her band leader. Kev Choice tickles the keys like Herbie, emcees like Posdonous and is a band leader like Duke Ellington. The Kev Choice Ensemble out at Yoshi’s in Oakland on Monday, Oct. 26, at 8 p.m.

The deconstruction of KPFA: Apartheid radio and tokenism

Recently, a white KPFA supporter asked me do I really think that KPFA as a station is racist and deserves to be categorized as apartheid radio? The answer was yes, because still in 2009 KPFA does not have a Black show that speaks to the issues of the Black community in the U.S. KPFA does have shows for the white community, like The Morning Show, Democracy Now and Against the Grain, and for other communities, like the Asians with APEX Express, the Latinos with La Onda and La Raza Chronicles, disabled people with Pushing Limits and so on, but Black people living in the United States are supposed to beg other programmers to air what is important to our community.

October 22nd, 2009: No more stolen lives!

Youth need to be inspired, encouraged, organized and unleashed to stand up against and resist the conditions they face, including degradation, dehumanization and outright murder they face at the hands of the police. October 22nd is the National Day of Protest to STOP Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. It is the day to begin to stand up and resist the outrage of police brutality and police murder. FIGHT BACK! WEAR BLACK!

The mind of Gil Scott Heron: an interview wit’ the legendary musician, Part 3

Gil Scott Heron is one of the greatest legends that Black music has breathing in this country. To many, his music is the soundtrack to different eras, the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. This piano player, songwriting and composing poet, has set the bar very high when it comes to passionately expressing a wide array of emotions. He is also a beast at getting a political message across through song, right next to people like Fela Kuti, Peter Tosh, Nina Simone and the likes. This is Part 3 of a four-part interview. Here’s Gil Scott Heron in his own words ...

‘Oakland Lockdown’

Using footage from local policing activity in Oakland, intimate interviews with marginalized residents who have been imprisoned or impacted by the imprisonment of close family members, "Oakland Lockdown" brings to light the trauma, destruction and frustration experienced by those who remain repetitively wreaked by the economic, psychological, social and moral stigmatization of criminalization.

Congo Week: an interview wit’ Kambale Musavuli, spokesman for Friends of the Congo

Coltan is a mineral necessary for making electronic things work – like cellphones, ipods, PS3s and laptops. Over 6 million Congolese have been murdered to assure that the corporations and governments involved have a corner on the market for the minerals that the Congo produces. This is "Break the Silence" Congo Week. Check out the events and get involved!

Relax and get ‘Good Hair’

In his new film, “Good Hair,” Chris Rock approaches the subject of Black women’s hair ... like a man. Love 'im or not, you gotta see this film that everybody's talking about. And the Bay View has some free tickets to a special screening Wednesday, Oct. 21, 7 p.m. Each ticket admits two. Call (415) 671-0789