2012 June
Monthly Archives: June 2012
Child care dilemma: What would you do?
The governor’s budget proposal would cut funding for child care by over 20 percent, or $452 million. That would mean a cut of over 40 percent since 2008, or nearly $1 billion. Already over 100,000 child care slots for low‐income parents have been lost since 2008, and the governor’s proposal for 2012‐13 proposes nearly 30,000 more child care slots be eliminated.
Keeping our kids engaged over the summer break
Summer vacation is considered a golden opportunity for children to catch up with their studies, make new friends through mind-stimulated engagement, read more books, advance their academic achievement, and get more physical training via sports and outdoor activities. However, but where to find those summer activities that are affordable!
Jungleland? New Orleans community activist rejects NY Times depiction of 9th Ward
The New York Times Magazine recently ran a story on my home, the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, a place one of the most powerful newspapers in the world insensitively dubbed a “Jungleland.” Contrary to the article, residents don’t live in an untamed mess of overgrowth or in a forgotten wasteland. We are not resigned to anything; we are fighting to revive our community.
Family and friends demand justice at memorial for Derrick Gaines
On June 12, family members held a memorial for Derrick Gaines, a 15-year-old who was shot and killed by an officer with the South San Francisco Police Department on the evening of June 5. Police claim that Gaines, who was walking with a friend near an Arco gas station, was engaging in “suspicious behavior.”
Tribute to my brother, David Keys
David Keys departed this plane of existence on May 21, just two weeks shy of his 49th birthday. Thank you, little brother, for your friendship, love and your need to protect your big brother. I miss you every minute of every day.
Rally against gangland style assassinations by Stockton PD
On Thursday, May 31, the Stockton, Calif., families of James Earl Rivera and Luther (Champ) Brown hosted a rally co-sponsored by Occupy Stockton and Oakland. The purpose of the Stockton rally was to protest the police murders of James Rivera, age 16, and of Luther Brown, age 32.
Gang validation images needed for July 1 hunger strike commemoration
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity (PHSS) will be organizing community actions to commemorate the one year anniversary of the California prisoners’ hunger strike, which began on July 1, 2011. As a part of these community actions, we plan to have some visual images that express aspects of what it means to be in solitary confinement.
Capt. Reggie Schell: Black Panther (1941-2012)
He was born Richard Reginald Schell, but most people knew him as Reggie, and those who worked with him called him “Cap” – short for Captain, the rank he held in the Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther Party. He was a patient and wise teacher and looked out for younger Panthers, including this writer.
Cynthia McKinney: The ‘N’ word, from the Champs Elysée to Avenue of the Americas
The latest Hollywood brouhaha over Gwyneth Paltrow’s decision to tweet the caption “ni**as in Paris for real” to accompany a picture of her with friends Jay-Z and Beyoncé while in Paris doesn’t compare to the new evidence of “fraud upon the court” that has emerged in a largely unnoticed civil rights case that very well should be reopened after being unfairly dismissed six years ago.
‘We must sustain hunger strike solidarity,’ says leading prisoner rights campaigner
On May 14, nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners ended their historic mass hunger strike in Israeli jails, as prisoner representatives entered into an Egyptian-mediated agreement with Israeli prison officials. Israel agreed to limit the use of administrative detention indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial and said it would ease harsh restrictions on visiting.
The Three Strikes Reform Act of 2012 has qualified for the November ballot
The Three Strikes Reform Act of 2012, written and prepared by a coalition based at Stanford University, has qualified for inclusion on the November 2012 ballot. Although many would like a more encompassing initiative, we at FACTS are prepared to support the passage of this step forward in the 2012 election.
Champion Karim Mayfield and director Robert Townsend bring knockout power and star power to...
San Francisco Bayview’s own, the undefeated Welterweight Champion of the World, Karim “Hard Hitta” Mayfield (16-0-1), brings his knockout power to the San Francisco Black Film Festival. “In the Hive” director Robert Townsend is coming a day early, on Thursday, to promote his film, which opens the festival. It stars Michael Clarke Duncan, Loretta Devine, Vivica A. Fox and newcomer Jonathan McDaniel.
Senate Committee on Public Safety votes to lift the media access ban on California...
Today, residents throughout the state celebrate as AB1270, a bill to lift the media access ban in California prisons, passed the Senate Committee on Public Safety in a 4-2 vote. Since 1996, media have been prohibited from choosing their interview subjects inside prisons, and nine versions of this bill have been vetoed by three different governors.
Solidarity of Calipatria ASU
I would like to extend our utmost love and respect to all who remain strong and positive against CDCR’s death grip of long-term segregation. It has been eight months since the last Pelican Bay-California Statewide Hunger Strike and there have been some “material changes” here at Calipatria ASU. Our objective as a whole is to see an end to all wrongful validations and long-term segregation/isolation.
Stop the swiftboating of KPFA board member Tracy Rosenberg!
There’s more mischief underway at community radio station KPFA. KPFA subscribers will soon be receiving ballots in the mail asking them to vote on whether media activist Tracy Rosenberg should be recalled from her seat on the KPFA board. This swiftboat-style attack on the station’s hardest working board member must be defeated!
Congress pushes to deregulate public housing authorities across the nation
With corruption running rampant on Wall Street and in the nation’s lending institutions and housing industry, millions of homeowners are facing foreclosure as a direct result. Matters are only getting worse as members of Congress and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are pushing to deregulate the nation’s more than 3,000 public housing authorities.
Black pilots sue United Airlines for race discrimination
“From the Tuskegee Airmen who shed blood to defend a segregated nation in World War II to Capt. Marlon Green’s (Continental Airlines) Supreme Court decision (March 28, 1963), to Capt. Jim Edwards (United Airlines, 1967), determined individuals broke the color barrier in the commercial airline industry,” said Capt. Terry Haynie.
Jackie Lacey – first Black, first woman – in run-off for LA DA, as...
The David who upset Goliath to take the lead in the run-off to become the next Los Angeles district attorney is actually an African American woman, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who came out 8 points ahead of second place finisher Alan Jackson and 10 points ahead of perceived frontrunner LA City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, despite being outspent 3 to 1 by the Trutanich campaign.
Fear of an intelligent Black man: Does Hip Hop hate the educated rapper?
Although Ice T is mostly known for his pimp and gun talk, his most threatening lyric was “my lethal weapon is my mind.” That still holds true today, as, although white mainstream Americans profess to hate violent, misogynist rap music, the reason why they back it financially and give it a platform is because of their fear of the alternative: music that will inspire Black people to challenge the status quo.
Without the federal overseer, deaths caused by inadequate medical care will soar
As a prisoner at Pelican Bay’s Short Corridor, I had to laugh in disgust at the audacity of the Department of Corruption’s motion to rescind the medical receiver appointed by the federal court after decades of inadequate medical care. Here at Pelican Bay’s SHU, it is common knowledge that the Institutional Gang Investigation (IGI) Unit actually make the medical decisions by way of the chief medical officer.