Monthly Archives: June 2014

As gentrification increases in the Bay Area, low- and moderate-income renters are finding it increasingly difficult to find housing at affordable rents. Renters, including young professionals who can no longer afford to live in San Francisco, are steadily moving to the East Bay. The inevitable result is, of course, increased demand for rental units and increased rents to renters.

GOOD NEWS! Especially for VISITACION VALLEY and SUNNYDALE residents - the opening of GROCERY OUTLET Supermarket, located at old Bayshore and Sunnydale, across from the car wash. The T-Third Street Muni line ends at Sunnydale platform. May 1, the bargain market opened to much enthusiasm. Heard nothing but RAVE reviews. The store is independently owned by DEREK AND GINA NAVARRO, who live in Visitacion Valley.

The Menard High Security Unit hunger strikers send a message of solidarity to the brothers of the struggle who refuse to bow down to state torture and systemic degradation up in these concentration kamps across Amerikkka. We also send mad love and respect to Bay View for creating a holy space for the most down-pressed voices in society to be expressed and heard.

Whistleblowers at the Hunters Point Shipyard told a reporter, “I wouldn’t feel comfortable living there having a yard where I could grow a garden. Absolutely not." “I wouldn’t go there, I wouldn’t take my grandchildren there, I wouldn’t walk my dog there.” A Treasure Island whistleblower said, “My job is to protect people and the environment, and it’s just not getting done.”

Africa’s elite and the elite internationally have concluded the African Development Bank’s 50th anniversary celebrations and annual meeting under the theme: “The Next 50 Years: The Africa We Want.” Over 3,500 delegates, seven African heads of state, the governor of the Central Bank of China and the U.S. deputy secretary of treasury were among the dignitaries. Beneath the confident calm, Africa is on edge, and the participants in Kigali were aware.

Like all residents on Treasure Island, a man-made landform drenched in water, heat and humidity, wherever Damian Ochoa moves in John Stewart's market rate “Villages,” mold spores float stealthily in the air behind him. Three years ago these spores “mushroomed” into spotty patches in his immaculate home. But Damian is winning. He shows ways that renters can get what they want from a realtor or manager.

Stand-up comedian Rain Pryor is the daughter of undeniably the most famous comedian in American history, Richard Pryor. And nine years after he passed away, she is the one on stage telling jokes. She is the star of the new documentary, “That Daughter’s Crazy,” which is about her life and being the biracial daughter of Richard Pryor. It will be screening at the San Francisco Black Film Festival on Friday, June 13, 4 p.m., at the Jazz Heritage Center.

First it was being a rapper, then an author. Now the Bay Area-based renaissance man known as Fleetwood, aka Robert Bowden, has taken it to the next level with his new documentary, “I Just Wanna Ball,” which has been selected to play at the San Francisco Black Film Festival on Saturday, June 14, 4 p.m., at the Lush Life Gallery, 1320 Fillmore St. in the Jazz Heritage Center, San Francisco.

This year at the SF Indiefest’s 13th Anual Docfest, June 5-19, at multiple venues on both sides of the Bay, quite a number of films look at sexual exploitation of youth, crimes of poverty and profiles of superheroes – ordinary citizens with tenacity and inner fortitude and great love for their community, like the Honorable Michael Tubbs, central character in Kevin Gordon’s “True Son.”

Who is this white lawyer posing as a left wing candidate in the Oakland mayoral race, a man with a long history of collaborating with and representing police and backing legislation, as a public servant, that has gotten people killed? Dan “the opportunist” Siegel.

Oscar Micheaux is a name that every Black person who likes cinema, television and webisodes should know because he is one of the earliest Black filmmakers in the United States. His work even pre-dates the Harlem Renaissance. At this year’s San Francisco Black Film Festival, locally based filmmaker Jamie Walker will be presenting her film, “The Young Oscar Micheaux.”

Under the guise of “obscenity” regulations, CDCr has proposed sweeping new political censorship rules for mail going both into and out of the prisons. If these changes are approved, CDCr will permanently ban any documents it defines as “contraband,” including political publications and correspondence that should be protected by First Amendment constitutional rights.

On June 2, a federal judge allowed hundreds of California prisoners to join a lawsuit challenging prolonged solitary confinement in California prisons when she granted the case class action status. Class certification allows the case to include all prisoners who are serving indefinite SHU terms as a result of gang validation who have not been placed in a new step-down program.

Anti-prison expansion activists across California have had a busy spring pushing back against controversial expansion plans. Members of Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) acted swiftly last month to defeat two legislative bills which would have rammed forward over $4 billion in prison and jail construction money [AB 2356 (Gorell) and SB 1377 (Nielson)].

“‘Fingerprints,’ by LA-based filmmaker Robyn Charles, is one of the official selections in this year’s San Francisco Black Film Festival. Robyn outlines the plot: Gregory Marks is a comedian on the rise who does not realize his comedy is a defense mechanism that masks a dark side he unleashes when pursuing an Oscar-worthy performance in a dramatic role that sends him spiraling into madness. ‘Fingerprints’ blurs the line between comedy and tragedy.”

Comeaux, along with Finley and several other prisoners, anticipated that Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) officials would ultimately kill him, so Finley promised Comeaux that in the event that he died suspiciously, Finley would inform his wife and the courts of the circumstances surrounding his death. Now, Finley is being targeted for honoring his word to his deceased neighbor.

By the late 1940s, after the war, virtually every young Black youth in San Francisco had a chance to attend City College, for free. We now need another generation of K-12 Black students to gain that chance. Now, the challenge for an entire community of Black people is how to ignite the interest of young Blacks to compete for the education they need – as Malcolm X once stated, “by any means necessary.”

“I’m going to win my fight over sickle cell anemia,” declares little Nicholas Hinkins. Having a bone marrow transplant is the only hope for saving this little boy’s life. Nick’s twin brother Christopher is a perfect 100 percent match! Chris’s bone marrow can possibly save Nick’s life. But we must go to Atlanta, Georgia, for the treatment. Readers can visit HealNickHinkins.com or GoFundMe to learn more about Nicholas and donate for this lifesaving procedure. His entire family is profoundly grateful for donations in any and all amounts.