Monthly Archives: April 2016

He was a star in so many ways that the word “star” seems too small. He was a singer, guitarist, band leader, writer – and, well, genius. Prince Rogers Nelson was known and adored by millions who knew him by one name: Prince. He was a superstar. And, he was a mystery – both major musical performer as well as a man of privacy. He entered the world of music like a stick of sexual dynamite. As he aged, a spiritual side seemed to emerge. Through it all, the genius of the man shined through. He was born named Prince, yes; but at 57 years young, he became a Prince – a Prince of the heart.

A 1968 book-length report, titled “A Study of the Manpower Implications of Small Business Financing: A Survey of 149 Minority and 202 Anglo-Owned Small Businesses in Oakland, California,” was sent to the Bay View by its author, Joseph Debro, prior to his death in November 2013, and his family has kindly permitted the Bay View to publish it. This is Part 14 of the report.

For the second consecutive year, the ILWU Local 10 will be withholding its labor for eight hours to commemorate May Day. This May Day, Local 10 is calling for a “National Day of Mourning” for Black and Brown unarmed victims of police killings across the country. Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders has been invited to speak May Day. Danny Glover will appear at one of the rallies.

As I write these words with tears in my eyes, my chest is so heavy and it aches like I’m living those days again. I relive the nightmare every day of being told my boys were shot. I live this every day. A mother should never have to hear those words or, even worse, be told that their child has died. My heart goes out to the families that have lost a loved one to this madness. I want justice for my sons Bryson and André.

Tyrone Trapper was born in Los Angeles and raised in West Oakland. After being traumatized by the murder of a close friend in the streets of Los Angeles, he decided to turn the pain into something constructive, and he started work on his adult cartoon series, “Cadlac Tom.” I salute Tyrone Trapper on his entrepreneurial spirit, on immortalizing his loved one and for turning his pain into gain. Check him out; a lot of us can learn a thing or two from him.

The African Hebrew Israelite community has launched a protest movement in recent weeks seeking to learn the truth about the untimely demise of community member Toveet Radcliffe, the first African American to die while serving in the Israel Defense Forces. Rejecting the Israeli army’s ruling that no one other than the 19-year-old Radcliffe was involved in her own death, members of the community have launched a campaign to pressure the IDF to reopen the case.

SFPD has done it again … murdered another man in cold blood … in his own community … in broad daylight. Again, officers say that they were forced to fire their weapons. Again, cowardly officers kill a man whom they claim was wielding a knife. Again, this person suffered from mental disabilities. And sadly, again, the SFPD and Chief Greg Suhr have failed our communities.

On Aug. 12, 2015, within the walls of New Folsom Prison, freedom fighter and political prisoner Hugo “Yogi” Pinell of the San Quentin 6 was assassinated on the prison yard by members of the Aryan Brotherhood, with the assistance of the guards. Seven months later, the community who loves him is coming together to remember his life and contribution to the Black struggle for self-determination and human rights. We will be celebrating his life on Saturday, April 23, 1-5 p.m., at the African American Art and Culture Complex, 762 Fulton St. in San Francisco. Any and everybody from the community is invited.

This is how bad things are getting: Iris Canada could lose her home of more than 60 years, despite a lifetime lease. CALL TO ACTION: Rally for Iris Canada, a 99-year-old African American woman in the Fillmore threatened with eviction. At a hearing Tuesday, April 19, 8:30 a.m., in the Courthouse, 400 McAllister, San Francisco, her lawyers will argue to make her temporary stay permanent. Join the two-to-three-hour rally outside.

Since April 4, prisoners in at least four Texas prisons have been on strike for better conditions and an end to slavery and human rights abuses. This strike is but the latest in a nationwide mass movement inside prisons for dignity and freedom. “Go outside the nearest prison and make enough noise that those inside know the free world is with them. The history of slavery in the United States is at stake,” says Brianna Peril of IWOC.

Why is it necessary in America’s richest major City, one that is booming with development and tourism, to grab the last Black-owned cultural development in San Francisco? Gentrification, the denial of jobs and contracting opportunities, and just plain benign neglect contribute to the out-migration and destruction of San Francisco’s once proud and thriving African American community – including Harlem of the West, then a major destination for tourists from around the world.

At David Wade Correctional Center in Homer, Louisiana, at David Wade Correctional Center, several prisoners began a hunger strike on April 9. They are in full restraints, shackles and handcuffs attached to a waist chain, for days at a time, dressed only in a paper gown. Just now, they sprayed a prisoner while he was on his knees and struck him several times. They also sprayed and beat another prisoner who is mentally ill and has been on strip cell for over a year. He has also been on food loaf for a long time. Please call – just a phone call will spook them.

Over a century ago, Pope Leo XIII highlighted economic issues and challenges in Rerum Novarum that continue to haunt us today, such as what he called “the enormous wealth of a few as opposed to the poverty of the many.” That situation is worse today. In the year 2016, the top 1 percent of the people on this planet own more wealth than the bottom 99 percent, while the wealthiest 60 people – 60 people – own more than the bottom half – 3 1/2 billion people.

On April 7, 2016, the U.S. Federal Parole Board continued its blatant violation of the human rights of Dr. Mutulu Shakur by refusing to release him from federal captivity after 30 years of time served, even though he is up for “mandatory parole release” based on the guidelines under which he was sentenced. We must stand and defend our political prisoners and POWs and declare them to the world without submitting to the state’s intimidation!

Longtime MC and current author Professor A.L.I. has created a book of essays that describes the politics and feelings of a Sri Lankan Muslim convert in the U.S. who has to cope with the Islamaphobia that is created by the international corporate media and the government sponsoring Islamic extremist groups to covertly carry out foreign policy objectives worldwide. His newest album “Tamilmatic” was released today, April 14, to honor Tamil New Year.

In Honduras, one month since the assassination of Berta Caceres on the 3rd of March, tens of thousands of African and Indigenous Hondurans and those in solidarity have taken to the streets throughout the country with deep sadness and in resistance to the neo-colonial forces at fault for her murder. Impunity is rampant since the 2009 coup d’état, supported by then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“I am worried about our drum teacher at Deecolonize Academy, Uncle Val, who, like Master Frohm and so many more, should not have been forced to leave our neighborhood,” said Tiburcio Garcia and Kimo Umu from Deecolonize Academy, who spoke at a recent Oakland City Council meeting which dealt with a proclamation for the powerful Love Life movement and an eviction moratorium.

“If this act goes through, it will not just mean the privatization of Oak Flat but of all federal open land all across the U.S.,” said Duke Romero, Indigenous land warrior and member of the Apache Stronghold occupation at the sacred site of Oak Flat, Arizona. The bill will enable a foreign mining company, Resolution Copper, to take over Oak Flat and build the largest copper mine in North America – and it would effectively open up all federal land to corporate desecration.

As momentum continues to grow against the colossal U.S. imprisonment system, the need for strategic targets is crucial, yet we are seeing an overbearing focus on private prisons. We are in a moment when reforms that appear to be “progressive” can actually entrench the violence of policing, imprisonment and surveillance even further.

The Rwandan Genocide is commemorated in Rwanda and at the United Nations as “the genocide against the Tutsi.” However, it was preceded by the assassination of three Hutu presidents and by the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Hutu civilians in Burundi. There is also ample evidence that hundreds of thousands of Hutus, as well as Tutsis, died in the Rwandan massacres.