Monday, March 18, 2024
Advertisement
2013 March

Monthly Archives: March 2013

Through the looking glass: ‘The Mountaintop,’ ‘Black Power, Flower Power’ and ‘The Black Woman...

The award winning play, “The Mountaintop,” looks at the everyday divinity of ordinary folks and places Martin King right there with them. His greatness is not a greatness which is inaccessible or isolated. In the Lorraine Motel that night, King listens and even agrees at some point with the young maid, Camae, a Malcolm X radical in an apron.

Pelikkkan Bay censorship reveals thought control agenda

Here in Pelikkkan Bay SHU, we undergo extreme forms of social control that include the censorship of all forms of mail. From letters and books to periodicals, everything is heavily scrutinized by our captors, who censor anything that does not fit their agenda; anything that empowers the people, speaks truth to power or challenges white supremacy is quickly denied those of us held in these torture chambers.

Leo L. Robinson, ILWU Local 10: Guerrilla fighter for the people

Leo L. Robinson believed in the power of the union, and in the power of the people. He fought to change the conditions of women within the ILWU just as fiercely as he fought against the apartheid regime of South Africa. “Inhale the spirit of Leo Robinson. Embody the spirit and go into struggle and battle for victory. Victory is ours only if we struggle,” said one of several who spoke at the memorial service.

Taser community forums raise unanswered questions

Police Chief Greg Suhr and the SF Police Commission finally scheduled and held the required community forums, where Suhr and Comdrs. Richard Corriea and Mikail Ali described the Electronic Control Weapon (ECW) proposal and invited community input. This updated story includes a report on the Tenderloin community forum, organized by residents. All testimony was anti-taser.

Oregon prisoners driven to suicide by torture in solitary confinement units

I am not one prone to fits of temper. But a few days ago I almost lost it. My outrage was prompted by witnessing the steady deterioration of another prisoner, resulting from particularly acute mental torture inflicted in Oregon’s Disciplinary Segregation Units, which duplicate almost exactly conditions of torture practiced at Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary that were outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1800s.

Medical neglect and pepper spray bring death to mentally ill man in SCI Albion’s...

Amid rumors that SCI (State Correctional Institution) Albion has been authorized to establish a brutal and bloody regime in its solitary confinement hole, prison guards murdered Stony Schaeffer (DW8560) in his cell using chemical munitions – Oleoresin Capsicum (O.C. or pepper) spray – and electro-shock weapons. Stony, 44, had been in the hole for the past eight years straight.

Women of the Congo decry U.S. neocolonialism

This letter, signed by Diaspora Congolese women in the U.S., U.K., Belgium, France and South Africa, was delivered to Ambassador Carson on March 20. We are writing to you with regard to the current U.S. policy position on “Lasting Solution to Instability” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which you presented on Feb. 11, 2013, at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

Big-box hardware store supplies discrimination

The Bayview District Lowe’s is in the spotlight, but not for its stellar deals or quality customer service. Six plaintiffs have filed suit against the big-box hardware store, claiming racial and gender discrimination, prejudice, differential treatment and unlawful termination. Among the complaints, plaintiffs say that the Bayview Lowe’s store repeatedly under-trained, fired and under-paid workers of color.

Bosco Ntaganda surrenders in Rwanda, but will global powers hold the real culprits of...

Congolese people are seeking peace and justice. Trying Bosco Ntaganda at the ICC may lead to some measure of justice for the crimes perpetrated at his behest; however, it appears that his backers in Rwanda may very well be let off the hook yet again and allowed to continue their military aggression against the DRC.

Belize Territorial Volunteers demarcate border lines

On March 2, the Belize Territorial Volunteers (BTV), spearheaded by Wil Maheia of PG TV and the People’s National Party (PNP) – a legendary Belizean social activist – met at Belize’s border with Guatemala to carry out a cleanup campaign to clear vegetation on Belize’s side of the border. The group, consisting of 150 volunteers, began the work at Container Hill from sunrise to late afternoon.

City auditor spanks Black council members for trying to bring jobs to Oakland

Like President Clinton in his first run for president, Oakland’s city auditor developed her creds in the conservative community by creating a Sista Souljah moment. She publicly spanked two Black City Council members. These council members, Desley Brooks and Larry Reid, were trying desperately to level the economic playing field in Oakland. They were trying to integrate the money.

‘California in Crisis’ details Wells Fargo’s damage to California’s communities of color

The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) is at the forefront of the resistance to the foreclosures and illegal taking of homes by the banks. ACCE, the Center for Popular Democracy and the Home Defenders League released a report March 12 entitled “California in Crisis: How Wells Fargo’s Foreclosure Pipeline is Damaging Local Communities.”

John Doyle: A giant passes

The revolution of militant Black theatre lost one of its giants last month on the 20th of February. John Henry Doyle passed into history. A group of John’s coworkers and friends are sponsoring a memorial celebration of his life with a reading of “Freedom Road,” poetry and song on Sunday, April 7, 2-5 p.m., at the original site of his theatre, the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, 953 DeHaro St., San Francisco.

Stop pre-emptive retaliation against hunger strikers!

Read J. Heshima Denham’s description of what happened to him and others in their SHU March 12, 2013. He believes this is pre-emptive retaliation for their plans to participate in the upcoming hunger strike to begin July 8. Please take a few minutes and either call the Warden’s Office or send an email to let them know we are watching and ready to back the prisoners up in their struggle.

‘Oakville’ filmmaker Lisbon Okafor speaks

“Oakville” is a look at the interactions between an Oakland-based Black couple and a white couple as Barack Obama is selected to be the first acknowledged Black U.S. president in the history of the country. Check out “Oakville” filmmaker Lisbon Okafor in his own words. You can see “Oakville” at the Oakland International Film Fest on Saturday, April 6, 1 p.m., at the New Parkway Theater, 474 24th St. in Oakland.

Rwandan police beat and arrest Victoire Ingabire’s supporters outside Rwanda’s Supreme Court

On Monday, March 26, 2013, within and outside the premises of the Supreme Court of Rwanda, Rwandan police assaulted opposition members walking to the appeal hearing of political prisoner Madame Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, chair of the main opposition coalition, FDU-Inkingi. She was its presidential candidate in August 2010 and has been imprisoned since Oct. 14 of that year.

The W.L. Nolen Mentorship Program

The W.L. Nolen Mentorship Program is a community-based pen pal service to provide the people of our communities with an opportunity to connect with and engage the current class and generation of New Afrikan Black Revolutionaries on several fronts. It will provide the people with a correct understanding of the New Afrikan Black Liberation Movement via the social principles of “Each One Teach One.”

Gen. Bosco Ntaganda’s ‘surprise surrender’? in the most heavily guarded area of Rwanda?

On Monday, March 18, major news outlets all over the world reported East African warlord Gen. Bosco Ntaganda had crossed the border from DR Congo into Rwanda and “surrendered” at the U.S. Embassy in Kigali. Rwandan American law professor Charles Kambanda spoke to KPFA about Ntaganda and why the story of his surrender is thoroughly implausible.

Generational incarceration

What a tragic image: A man and his son handcuffed and shackled together, yet musingly delighted about seeing a senior family member whom they are not going inside to visit. Rather, the two are to join in what is widely considered as America’s modern day form of slavery. The inhumanity represented in this artwork should be disturbing to anyone with a conscience – but few are moved.

Is Pacifica one foot in the grave?

Pacifica invented public radio; since the beginning, Pacifica stations have been sponsored by listeners, with no corporate sponsorship or underwriting and thus no censorship. But the network faces many dire issues that its listeners need to know and that WBAI programmer Don Debar can knowledgeably talk about. Check out what Pacifica has not been telling its listener supporters ...