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2009 November

Monthly Archives: November 2009

The changing tide: AIDS is a Black disease

The 2009 U.S. Conference on AIDS opened in San Francisco at the Hilton Hotel on Oct. 29. The three-day event drew leadership from around the country, highlighting the “changing tide” of leadership in the forefront of the battle against HIV. The lobby of the downtown Hilton was a sea of energy and vibrant color as African American, Latino, Asian Pacific Islander and women policymakers mingled in excited conversation.

IHSS Earthquake: Seniors fight for In-Home Supportive Services

On Thursday, Oct. 22, the noise pitched and rolled as the crowd cheered and stomped on the sunny San Francisco City Hall steps in a budget cut “Earthquake Shout-Out to the Schwarzenegger Administration.” Such high energy was surprising from 200 low income elders, disabled San Franciscans, people with mental health needs, In-Home Supportive Service workers, advocacy groups and families.

Unexplained disappearance of 24-year-old has family puzzled

The family of a 24-year-old missing Black woman has made an appeal to federal law enforcement officials for help to bring her home safely and soon. Mitrice Richardson went missing after deputies at the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station released her into a remote canyon area in the middle of the night, without her car, any money, a cell phone or other assistance.

Mumia Abu-Jamal could face death any day now

“Resistance is growing – preparations are in progress,” Dr. Suzanne Ross, a clinical psychologist and co-chairperson of the Free Mumia/NY Coalition explained to The Final Call. Ms. Ross said she attended the emergency meeting at the Abiding Truth Ministries church in Philadelphia on Oct. 17, where plans were laid out for the upcoming campaign to get Mr. Abu-Jamal freed.

Dr. Luther Castillo, voice of the voiceless in Honduras, gets rousing reception in San...

“Doctor Luther! Doctor Luther, give it to the Honduras oligarchy hard!” Dr. Luther Castillo, who represents the National Resistance Front against the Military Coup in Honduras, brought to San Francisco the echoes of Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro on Thursday night at the Centro del Pueblo. He spoke for almost two hours with passion, conviction and a keen understanding of the savage rule of the minority oligarchic coup government in Honduras.

Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. Speaking Tour: ‘You Can Kill a Revolutionary But You Can’t...

Prisoners of Conscience Committee Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. will be hitting Northern Cali Nov. 7-13 to talk about the 40th anniversary of the assassination of his father, Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton of the Illinois Black Panther Party, and Defense Captain Mark Clark. Come out to support Chairman Fred, Block Report Radio and the SF Bay View!

Lebanon rebuilds, New Orleans still waits

In the U.S, the richest country in the world, Washington is coordinating the recovery effort. In Lebanon, a tiny poor and war-torn nation, Hezbollah, a grassroots resistance movement that Washington called “terrorist,” organizes most of the reconstruction. Hezbollah receives substantial aid in this effort from Syria and especially Iran, countries Washington also calls “terrorist.”

Perpetrators and enablers of torture in the U.S.

During the past 25 years I’ve spent a lot of time with survivors of torture, men and women enduring long term solitary confinement in California’s prisons. The single way offered to earn their way out is to tell departmental gang investigators everything they know about gang membership and activities. The prisoners call it “snitch, parole or die.”

ACLU report says guidelines needed for police in schools

“When arresting kids for misbehaving becomes the primary mode of discipline, some of our most vulnerable populations end up being unnecessarily criminalized at very young ages before alternatives that could lead to academic success are exhausted,” said I. India Geronimo of the ACLU Racial Justice Program and co-author of the report.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters expresses ongoing concerns about New Orleans housing

More than four years after Hurricane Katrina, I am concerned about the availability and sufficiency of affordable housing in New Orleans, where rents have risen 52 percent since the storm and 41 percent of families pay more than 50 percent of their income in rent. More than 35,000 families recently applied for 3,500 Section 8 vouchers, indicating the overwhelming demand for affordable housing.

The Afghanistan trap

The Afghanistan war is due for a recycling, but it may not go the way the U.S. has planned. Begun under dubious circumstances, more as a demonstration war to set the stage for the real drama of Iraq, Afghanistan has almost always been more useful as a proxy war fought by others, rather than a direct war fought by Americans.

The frat house death of Gregory Johnson Jr. remains unsolved

The family of Gregory Johnson Jr. is still actively searching for answers concerning his death in the basement of Sigma Chi Fraternity House on the San Jose State University campus on Nov. 22, 2008. Pictures of a jagged scar on the back of Gregory’s scull that indicate a blunt force injury and the fact that a paramedic pronounced Gregory dead rather than taking him to the hospital are just some of the revelations Denise and Gregory Johnson Sr. are questioning.