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2013 November
Monthly Archives: November 2013
Serving the people despite the retaliation of the oppressors
Comrades, today is the 8th of November 2013, and I must tell you that no sooner had the ink dried on the October San Francisco Bay View newspaper and the October-December issue of Turning the Tide than the Texas Department of Criminal Injustice waged an all-out attack on Comrade Kevin “Rashid” Johnson and myself.
Confronting California’s abuse of solitary
Solitary confinement can eat away at someone’s mind, making mental illness worse and leaving many people depressed, suicidal, hopeless or hallucinating. It’s no place for individuals with mental illness. In 1995, a federal court in California agreed. After a trial exposing the appalling conditions at Pelican Bay, a federal judge ordered all mentally ill prisoners out of the prison’s security housing unit (SHU) in a case called Madrid v. Gomez.
Meet Black Girls Rock! Award winner Ty-Licia Hooker
Ty-Licia Hooker was a recent winner at the Black Girls Rock! awards ceremony, which aired on BET, for her work with the Stockton based non-profit that she co-founded for under-achieving students, called the Summer Success and Leadership Academy. Still in her early 20s, this dynamic young leader is on the rise and getting ready to take her project national.
The deadly ‘integrated yard policy’: Commentary on ‘The Pelikkkan Bay factor: An indictable offense’
I am compelled to share with your readers the evidence I have uncovered while doing research into my own case after I was framed by corrupt guards and convicted of murder at Folsom Prison in 1984. I have uncovered the real intentions behind the implementation of the deadly “integrated yard policy” and its bloody history at Folsom Prison.
Kennedy died, but the haters did not win
Fifty years ago, on a cold day in Dallas, Nov. 22, 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated. To my mind, what is extraordinary about the Kennedy assassination is that the haters did not win. Instead, crucifixion led to resurrection. As a result, for decades, African-American homes across the nation featured pictures of three people: Jesus Christ, Dr. Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy.
Joe Debro passes: National leader of Black contractors championed jobsite justice
Oakland resident Joseph R. Debro Jr. was born in Jackson, Mississippi, on Nov. 27, 1928, and passed away on Nov. 5, 2013, at a VA facility in Martinez, California. Joe Debro was the eldest of three children born to Joseph Debro and Seleana Gaylor Debro. Mr. Debro’s two younger siblings, Julius Cesar and Gloria Etta, were born in 1931 and 1935.
Amnesty International asks the world to demand justice for Albert Woodfox
Amnesty International has announced that, for the first time, it has put a U.S. prisoner on the list of 10 cases that it will ask people around the world to advocate for in their Write for Rights Global Write-a-thon on International Human Rights Day, Dec. 10. The U.S. prisoner is 68-year-old Albert Woodfox, the final member of the Angola 3 still in solitary confinement in a Louisiana state prison.
10 steps to dictatorship: Why the grassroots movement in Haiti is taking to the...
At great personal risk, Haitians demonstrated massively in cities throughout the country on Sept. 30 and Oct. 17, calling for President Michel Martelly to step down. By choosing historically significant dates marking past coups, the Haitian grassroots majority is clearly saying they want an end to 10 years of military occupation. Martelly’s police force brutally broke up some demonstrations with tear gas and beatings.
Prison hunger strikers face reprisals as papers that back them are censored
Since some 30,000 California prisoners launched a hunger strike July 8 against the practice of long-term solitary confinement and other abuses, participants have faced punitive retaliation and censorship of newspapers and other media that backed their fight. Abuses continued after prisoners suspended the strike Sept. 5.
Missouri prisoners in solitary confinement follow California’s lead, begin hunger strike
Potosi Correctional Center prisoners are in desperate need of assistance from any and all outside organizations, politicians, agencies, state representatives, officials, media, investigative agencies etc. Please assist us to make prison officials cease their transgressions and malicious violations of our federally and state-protected rights and cease continuing restrictions of confinement.
Cholera spreads beyond Haiti as Mexico suffers devastating floods
The strain of cholera brought to Haiti by Nepalese U.N. soldiers in 2010 has spread to the Dominican Republic, Cuba and now Mexico. In the past few months, Mexico has reported 176 confirmed cases of the disease, with one death. The Pan American Health Organization reported that the genetic profile of the strain in Mexico presents a greater than 95 percent match with the Haitian strain.
Death by pepper spray: Just another day in the Texas prison system
Another Texas prisoner is dead due to a combination of guard brutality and medical neglect. For three consecutive nights, medical staff were summoned to the cell of Christopher Woolverton because he was lying on the floor barely responsive. After a criminally long delay of three days, during which time he was in clear distress, he should have finally received medical attention. But that’s not what happened.
Rock on, Raquel! From Bayview to Rio, Raquel ‘The Rock’ Miller on the 2016...
Dynamic, brilliant and an elite athlete extraordinaire, Raquel “The Rock” Miller believes that boxing is more than boxing – that it is a lifestyle. She is proving this on a daily basis. Through her disciplined work ethic and her commitment to the “sweet science,” through diligence and perseverance, The Rock won several national boxing tournaments and qualified for the world championships in Beijing. She won a silver medal there.
Equal Opportunity Council seeks low-income board candidates
PUBLIC NOTICE
The Economic Opportunity Council (EOC) is a private nonprofit agency, which provides a range of services to low-income San Franciscans. As the Community...
‘Hip Hop: The New World Order’: an interview wit filmmaker Muhammida El Muhajir
If viewers use a critical eye, they will see that Hip Hop is in fact an aspect of cultural globalization that has infiltrated the barrios, favelas, neighborhoods, board rooms, billboards, closets, hearts, minds, and psyche of young people in diverse locations around the world. Pick a location anywhere on the globe and I will bet that the young people there have been influenced by Hip Hop. For better or worse.
Hunger striker who suspects poisoning attempt still denied medical attention
This is just a quick missive in regard to the enclosed letter that the warden is sending to people who inquire about my wellbeing. He is telling them a flat out lie. I have yet, as of this date, Nov. 3, 2013, to see a doctor for my heart or for ingesting ink. The warden also refuses to disclose the result of their investigation. I want people to read the warden’s letter and see how he is lying to the public.
I have a pen and I could probably kill you with it: Official absurdities...
Students Against Police Brutality, an SFSU student activist group, will be hosting a General Assembly for students to discuss the issue of Taser deployment on campus, on Thursday, Nov. 14, 6-8 p.m., at Malcolm X Plaza, SFSU main campus. “I don’t understand how introducing another weapon is going to diminish violent crimes on this campus,” asks one student. Official figures show violence is low and declining.
Hunger striker: We’ve all come a long way to settle for less
CDCR tried their hardest to deceive the public by defaming our peaceful movement. They labeled us and attacked our character as a collective. Our peaceful protests have nothing to do with furthering “gangs” or “prison politics,” which CDCR loosely reported. They have ALL to do with amplifying our voices to let the world know that the bodies this nation holds captive in its isolation chambers are human beings too.
Select Committee to hold hearing on diversion and sentencing to reduce prison crowding
The Assembly Select Committee on Justice Reinvestment will hold a hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 13, to listen to experts speaking on existing programs in California and beyond. The committee is looking for practices that could be adopted or expanded to improve justice practices and reduce the California prison population to allow constitutional levels of health care.
M23’s creators and commanders are in Rwanda and Uganda
The Congolese army, with the help of the UN Force Intervention Brigade, decisively defeated the M23 militia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern Kivu Provinces this week, but many Congolese, Rwandans, and Ugandans, are asking why the Democratic Republic of the Congo is now engaged in peace talks with the M23, and not with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.