Monthly Archives: May 2016

Having been one of the many who have been let out of the control units (SHU), I can say that there is some victory in this development, but there is much work to be done outside the SHU and still a ways to go before victory is complete. This accomplishment of opening the gates of SHU for many simply means we face new forms of oppression; it changes in form but not in essence.

On May 19, 2016, the Rwandan government ordered Dutch lawyer Caroline Buisman to leave Rwanda immediately, without even meeting her new client, political prisoner Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza. Buisman had arrived in the country’s capital Kigali on May 14, 2016, to consult with Ingabire regarding the appeal of her conviction for terrorism, inciting popular revolt and minimizing the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.

Over the past few years, President Obama, former Attorney General Eric Holder, members of both houses of Congress and many other elected officials have expressed the need for criminal justice reform. Much concern has been raised regarding overly harsh penalties for low-level drug offenses and firearms violations. There is, however, one particularly egregious judicial injustice that has not made the headlines, perhaps because it primarily effects only poor African Americans.

Within the California Department of Corrections (CDCr), the name George Jackson evokes both fear and hate among prison guards. His very name represents resistance – the epitome of our Black manhood – and this explains in part why the CDCr has spent the last 44 years attempting to censor the name George L. Jackson from within its prisons.

May 19 was less than a month since the “Frisco 5” began their hunger strike with a single demand: that Police Chief Greg Suhr resign or be fired … this chief, who for five years has been crying crocodile tears while justifying every police killing of a Black or Latino person … this chief, who for five years has been vigilantly protected by the mayor, the media and the city’s Democratic political establishment. On May 19, the mayor forced him to resign.

This week the seventh annual Fist Up Film Festival will be wrapping up with a free screening of “Divided Time” on Wednesday at the Oakland Hot Plate at 7:30 p.m. and a screening of “Lamb” on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Red Bay Coffee House in Oakland. The Fist Up Film Festival is arguably the best film festival in Northern California, when it comes to documenting international youth culture.

I’m writing this on behalf of myself and the Goodfellas, which the Georgia Department of Corrections has validated as a security threat group. We are being held indefinitely in the very restrictive and oppressive Tier II: Behavior Modification Program, which is identical to the severe conditions of the SHU in California and any supermax long term program across the nation. We are being held based on affiliation alone or have been falsely validated because of association.

It’s personal because your actions against the oppressed were calculating, premeditated and strategically targeting New Afrikans and other oppressed, poor citizens of this nation. Not only did you wickedly abuse the trust of the people who believed in you, but you demonstrated what hatred looks like in policy. Yes! Your charisma, accompanied with your oiled up tongue, allowed you to work your charms on the people while all the time preying on them like a wild, mad predator.

One minute and 14 seconds into the first round, the professional boxing middleweight fight debut of Raquel “Pretty Beast” Miller and Sara “Mac Tire” Flores was over, and Raquel Miller had scored the win via TKO after the center referee stopped the bout. The fight was part of promoter Michael Bazan and Square Vision Entertainment’s “Night of Glory III – Battle for the Golden State” on a card of nine scheduled bouts, held at the Richmond Memorial Auditorium on May 21, 2016.

This is a public notice to all freedom fighters, activists and community leaders: SLAVERY IS NOT DEAD! Did the 13th Amendment abolish slavery? Ask anyone in the United States this question and they will answer most emphatically: Yes, of course it did. If you, the person reading this article and call to action, believe this as well, please allow me to inform you: You are wrong! Slavery is not dead! Rather than abolish slavery, the 13th Amendment LEGALIZED it!

The memorial for Hugo “Yogi” Lyon Antonio Pinell was a beautiful and monumental event that loved ones, comrades and the community came from far and wide to attend. The celebration was held at the African American Art and Culture Complex in San Francisco’s legendary Fillmore district on April 23. Many members of Yogi’s family spoke of their love for him. His daughter Allegra brought the house to tears with her message.

Khafre Jay and Hip Hop for Change, the non-profit he founded, are starting to make a name for themselves on the Bay Area’s Hip Hop, media and advocacy scene. Besides promoting dope independent shows, Hip Hop for Change is organizing the upcoming Environmental Equity Summit on Saturday, May 21, 1-6 p.m., located at the New Parish in Oakland, has a weekly radio show on the legendary San Francisco station 89.5FM KPOO, a school curriculum to teach youth inside the schools and is housed in the radical community center located in West Oakland, the Qilombo.

TODAY, MONDAY, MAY 23, is the LAST DAY TO REGISTER for the June 7 primary election. Rarely in my lifetime has the choice been so clear. As U.S. president, Bernie Sanders would definitely make Black lives better. He is “unbought and unbossed” in the tradition of Shirley Chisholm. A big win in the California primary June 7 could give him the leverage to win the nomination – and the presidency. To vote for Bernie, you must be registered either as a Democrat or No Party Preference, and the last day to register for the primary election is Monday, May 23.

The Bernie Sanders platform spoke to me, and at the delegate caucus in Oakland, I was one of nine selected to represent Congressional District 13 for Bernie Sanders and my community. The Bernie Sanders platform relates to people like me faced with rising costs of living, disenfranchisement, gentrification and systemic racism. People who feel this pressure know it is not a radical idea to have a candidate like Sanders defending our issues and speaking truth to power.

In 2009-10, there were a number of demonstrations and rebellions protesting police terrorism in the Black community of Oakland, after the televised execution of Oscar Grant. The mainstream corporate media started tagging them as “violent” although most of the rage was aimed at cars and buildings, not people.

The Qilombo Collective reclaimed a plot of land on San Pablo and West Grand that had been neglected for decades and put a community garden on it. Recently, they have been ordered to move the garden, and the people feel like there should be space in the city for people to learn, organize and work free of corporate pressure. So the fight is beginning to take shape, and on May 28, everyone is invited to the Anti-Eviction Block Party at the Afrikatown Garden.

We read with amazement Matier and Ross’ announcement in the Sunday, May 15, Chronicle that San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee is “in talks with George Lucas” about “housing his collection of illustrative art and Hollywood memorabilia” on “a site already approved for redevelopment on Treasure Island.” The genius who conceived the “Star Wars” saga must not yet know that the place is thoroughly saturated with weapons grade chemicals and radioisotopes with half-lives of never, like plutonium and cesium 137, and that the Navy is not doing a bang-up job of digging the poisonous stuff out.

Democracy has been sorely missing in Haiti ever since the 2004 coup d’état backed by the U.S., France and Canada, which ushered in a two-year reign of terror, followed by the unjust exclusion of Haiti’s largest and most popular political party, Fanmi Lavalas, from participating in any elections until August and October 2015.

The Rwandan Genocide was not an exceptional incident for the Clinton administration in reference to the expendability of human lives of color; it was just one example of a consistent foreign and military policy from his first day in office to his last. Clinton later claimed he regretted his lack of action, but he never admitted to obvious prejudice in the decision making process that led to his catastrophic decision not to act.

Right out of the musical lineage of Parliament Funkadellic, Georgia Ann Muldrow, Dudley Perkins and the Dungeon Family steps Bay Area bred producer Oji and his crew, the Ascension Team. Oji’s music is on some futuristic other level type of space vibe. He is like an Andre 3000, on a production level conjuring sound chemistries not ever heard before in widely known rap music. Check out Oji as he talks about his craft.