Monthly Archives: August 2016

Many activists may not know we were supposed to rise up in national “Day of Rage” actions on July 15, but that is because the call was not really directed toward us. I believe we should look at the “Day of Rage” call, supposedly from “Anonymous,” as a COINTELPRO operation intended to damage growing support for Black Lives Matter (BLM) and to help the state evaluate how much panic could be induced from a completely manufactured threat.

Typically, people make mistakes about Andre “Son of God” Ward all of the time. People say he’s light (in terms of weight), but no one can push him around. They say he cannot punch, but no one can just walk right through him. The lesson is that it is always different on the outside, and until you get into a ring with him, you won’t know how hard he can punch. Once you find out, the same mistake isn’t repeated – at least not by the same people.

BlockReportRadio.com interviews author and professor Dr. Gerald Horne about his new book, "Confronting Black Jacobins". We discussed the Haitian Revolution, the origins of the Dominican Republic, and the doubling in size of the United States. We talk about Haiti's role in abolishing slavery in the western world. We talked about the role that Washington, London, Paris, and Madrid played in warring with the abolitionist nation. We talked about how Haiti and the U.S. both had plans to relocate U.S. Negroes to the Dominican Republic, at different times for different reason.

East Oakland bred welterweight pro boxer Bilal Mahasin is shaping up to be one of East Oakland’s most recognizable hometown heroes on the boxing and social front. I caught up with Bilal after his recent fight at the Oracle Arena, where he fought on the undercard of the Andre Ward vs. Alexander Brand fight. We talked about his most recent fight, training while behind enemy lines, his life mission and more.

Four brave Treasure Islanders who've spoken out about the radiation and other toxins sickening residents have learned they face swift retaliation engineered by the powers-that-be. Mitchell Herrington lived on Treasure Island from 1999 to 2013, when he was harassed off the island by eviction. During his tenancy, Mitchell lived with a roommate who worked for Shaw Environmental. The fact that this Shaw employee had to be protected by a hooded hazmat suit suggested the serious danger of contamination present in his cleanup zone work.

She came and she showed us all how it’s done. Her fans came out to support her in waves. And Raquel “Pretty Beast” Miller did not disappoint. When it was time for Raquel “Pretty Beast” Miller to enter the ring on Aug. 6, 2016, she came flanked by nine women who entered the Oracle Arena rocking to the strains of Beyonce’s “Formation” and doing Formation Walk moves of their own design and execution.

Opesanwo Ifakorede is a local herbalist that was originally taught about the world of herbs by his grandmother a generation ago. He recently did an “Urban Practical Herbalism Workshop” at Deep Roots Urban Refuge in East Oakland. For those that did not get a chance to make it, I really want to whet your appetite for the subject. Check out Opesanwo Ifakorede in his own words.

Relations between the OPD and the community are and have been tense for a long time. The fact that the OPD is still, after 13 years, being monitored by the federal government, with the sad reality of the current sex scandal and the slaughter of the police in Dallas and Baton Rouge – this translates into a climate of low morale, paranoia and dysfunction. All this is made clear by the overreaction of the OPD in its unjustified arrest of Omar Shakir Sunday morning.

Block Report Radio interviews author Julianna Barbassa about Brazil and her new book, "Dancing with the Devil in the City of God". We discuss the...

Legendary California Prison Movement activist and former deathrow prisoner, Shujaa Graham speaks on the inspiration and lessons that he received from brothers like the...

Kevin Epps is a legendary Bay Area filmmaker from Hunters Point, who is one of the few godfathers of the hood self-made dvd revolution. This year 2016 marks the 10th anniversary of the completion of his film “Rap Dreams” which highlighted the careers of Hectic, Kev Kelly and Mistah F.A.B. Mistah F.A.B. will be accompanying filmmaker Kevin Epps at the screening of Rap Dreams on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 7 p.m., at the New Parkway in Oakland.

With police terrorism hitting the screens of televisions around the world on a weekly and sometimes daily basis due to cellphone cameras, it is obvious why a strong Black media is needed to counteract the nationwide police psychological operation, aka public relations campaign, now being employed to make the police likable and to justify police-imposed torture and genocide on the Black community.

The Block Report interviews former political prisoner and current All of Us or None organizer Arthur League about his comrades, political prisoners Chip Fitzgerald and Ruchell Magee. We also discussed the history and assassination of political prisoner Hugo Yogi Pinell, last August 12, '15 in New Folsom. Tune in for more of the Block Report at BlockReportRadio.com.

Lucasville Rebellion Survivor Greg Curry speaks with BlockReportRadio.com about the Sept. 9 National Prison Strike, his comrade Imam Saddique Hasan being placed in the hole by the Ohio prison authorities to disrupt his part in organizing the national prison strike, and the personal plight of prisoner Greg Curry. Tune in for more at BlockReportRadio.com. Free'Em All!

Last week I was alerted to an inflammatory story from Bay Area ABC news reporter Dan Noyes that basically sought to disparage the Black August commemorations. The story noted that “police sources” had leaked an FBI bulletin to him stating that prison guards and police were going to be attacked by members of the Black Guerilla Family in commemoration of Black August. Many found the allegations to be outlandish. Black August is a month that is held to high esteem by many in the Black community who celebrate the resistance movements that have long been a part of our history for the past 300 years.

My thoughts are the reflections of my life experiences. As to whether that is a life lived well or poorly, I will leave those questions and answers up to historians, critics, the general public and you, the reader. In that respect, while time permits, I will express some of my opinions. I think that 78 years in the game we call “life” grants me that privilege. Current events and conditions demand this of me. To jump right in, take “Black Lives Matter.”

The owners are pressing forward with their eviction of Iris Canada, the 99-year-old African American woman in the Fillmore who just turned 100, by asking Superior Court at 400 McAllister on Wednesday, Aug. 10, to grant them an order to throw her out of her home of over 50 years. Come to the courthouse at 400 McAllister at 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 10, to applaud Iris as she arrives and wish her luck

Cheers and chants filled the room at the Green Party Convention at the University of Houston, where physician and activist Jill Stein was named as the Green Party’s presidential candidate with human rights activist Ajamu Baraka as her running mate. Stein said that too much is at stake this election for people to be voting out of fear. Stein said that if people had the courage to vote for the greater good rather than the lesser of two evils, it would be numerically possible for the Green Party to win.

On Oct. 22, 2013, in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, Sheriff’s Deputy Erick Gelhaus shot and killed unarmed, 13-year-old Andy Lopez without cause. Gelhaus, a trained weapons instructor and firearms expert, fired eight shots at Andy, hitting him seven times. So here we are, almost three years later and now the news that Deputy Gelhaus has been promoted to sergeant. This is outrageous.

We are pleased to announce an event on Aug. 16, 2016, to celebrate the union of Marcus Books and the African American Arts and Culture Complex (AAACC) in the Fillmore District of San Francisco. Over the past few months, Marcus Books and the AAACC have been collaborating on the details of their new partnership which will manifest as a bookstore within the first floor lobby of the complex. The event, to be held Tuesday, Aug. 16, 6-9 p.m., on the first floor of the AAACC, is meant to share the exciting plans with the community.