Monthly Archives: November 2016

While much attention has rightly been paid to those who are courageously protecting water resources and sacred land on North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, few mainstream commentators have situated Standing Rock as part of a larger political struggle for self-determination and survival. Linking the politics surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline project to Flint, Michigan’s lead-poisoning crisis is critical for understanding how race and class informs presumed social risk, vulnerability to premature death and access to democratic decision-making.

Thursday, Nov. 10, Nate Parker visited historic McClymonds High School for a screening of his film, “Birth of a Nation” (2016). His visit and the screening were a part of Supervisor Keith Carsen’s Community Empowerment Forums which, hosted that evening by Elaine Brown, former Black Panther Party chair, are to create spaces for public discourse and problem solving. In this case, the topic was the importance of knowing one’s history.

While Barack Obama speaks without blushing about the virtues of the North American “democracy” and lectures us on human rights, an innocent man languishes in his cell, totally isolated, awaiting only death or for what the U.S. president alone can, but does not, do. Leonard Peltier, Anishinabe-Lakota, a leader of the American Indian Movement, AIM, writer and poet, has just completed 40 years in prison, and is one of the political prisoners jailed for the longest time in the whole planet.

You say / she killed him. / Not because / he’d put his hands up / or because / he’d turned / and walked away / or because / his car broke down. / She killed him / after / we’d trained her / in lethal violence / after / we’d given her / a gun and a badge / both loaded / with expectation / after / we’d trained her / to see him / not / as a stranded motorist / but / as a Black man / aka a threat.

Siebert Cisneros Shank & Co., LLC, one of the nation’s top-ranked investment bond firms and the largest African-American, Latino and woman-owned investment bank, announced its newest equity partner, Gary Hall, who serves as the firm’s head of investment banking. Mr. Hall, based in the firm’s West Coast headquarters in Oakland, becomes the sixth equity partner.

In a Friday interview with The Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump repeated his campaign criticism of U.S. wars in the Middle East and said that he would focus on defeating the Islamic State in Syria and finding common ground with the Syrians and their Russian backers. Both the politics and the material interests of Trump’s top national security advisor, James Woolsey, however, seem counter to Trump’s anti-interventionist stance regarding Syria.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera declared that the state’s current bail system is unconstitutional, and, in a court filing, Herrera said he will not defend the bail system in a federal class-action lawsuit brought by a national civil rights group against San Francisco’s sheriff. “This two-tiered system of pretrial justice does not serve the interests of the government or the public and unfairly discriminates against the poor,” Herrera told the court.

City leaders announced the “New Oakland” as if to say it was no longer a “Black city.” As Oakland became more attractive to outsiders, housing costs rose and more African Americans were displaced. Oakland was voted one of the country’s “coolest cities,” but today, Oakland’s homeless people have been displaced into visible encampments located throughout the gentrified areas. They are mainly African Americans displaced by the city’s gentrification.

Yolanda’s Construction Administration and Traffic Control, Inc., was given a proclamation honoring YCAT-C as “Small Business of the Year” at a special ceremony, Thursday, Oct. 27, at YCAT-C’s Bayview Hunters Point headquarters in San Francisco’s Industrial Park. Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, honored YCAT-C’s CEO Yolanda Jones with a special proclamation, in recognition of her achievements and commitment to hiring locally.

I didn’t see this coming. The words I never thought I’d say, “President Trump,” have become reality. In a remarkable campaign, full of bile, hatred, fear and loathing, guess what? Fear won. Today, a new, dark day dawns in America, as a curtain falls over the Obama presidency, and with it, the last vestiges of Clintonism.

This country was stolen by hate-filled, manipulative wealth-hoarding colonizers like Trump who raped, abused and murdered first peoples of this land and bought, sold, raped and killed other humans for free labor. Trump is already here. He has been here for 525 years. So realize the work we are all doing is that much more serious now and we all need to stay strong and continue the badass organizing work we are already doing.

We DEMAND that San Francisco District Attorney Gascón perform the duties of his office and charge the San Francisco police officers in the shooting death of Mario Woods, Jessica Nelson-Williams and other victims of deadly police violence. We DEMAND that San Francisco District Attorney Gascón bring forth murder charges against the San Francisco police officers who were involved in the shooting death of Black and Brown citizens of San Francisco. We DEMAND a response from the DA – to whom we have recently reiterated our position in a formal letter – by Nov. 15, 2016.

by Ann Garrison Ann Garrison: Earlier this year, you told me that you differ with Noam Chomsky, your co-author of “Manufacturing Consent” and other books,...

Multiple Bay Area cities have been slapped with multi-million dollar claims for the abuse that took place in their back yards. Jasmine Abuslin, formerly known as Celeste Guap, has come back swinging with a fusillade of abuse, neglect and modern day sex slavery claims against Bay Area police officers. Officers from several Bay Area cities have been charged with sexual misconduct, but most are retired. What about those still actively patrolling the streets and victimizing young girls?

Video footage from the police cruiser where Black Lives Matter protester Tynan Krakoff was taken into custody is raising questions about Columbus police tactics and why he was targeted for arrest. Krakoff is a lead organizer in the Columbus chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice, a national organization of white people who fight against racial injustice. He returned to Columbus, Ohio, his home town, last year after years of activism in the Bay Area.

The 50th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party Conference, Oct. 20-23, held at the Oakland Museum of California and in Bobby Hutton Grove at deFremery Park, was a huge success. To see the Vanguards of the Revolution saluted in such elegant surroundings at the banquet Saturday evening was certainly a fitting tribute to the legacy their lives concretely represent. Hats off to the committee that organized the conference.

On Labor Day here at the William P. Clements Unit, a prison in remote Amarillo, Texas, the prisoners awoke to a late breakfast: a single PBJ sandwich, a small bowl of dry cereal and no beverage. This grossly inadequate meal, which is our common fare during institution-wide lockdowns, signaled that a weeks- or months-long lockdown was in effect. Hunger pangs set in almost immediately.

In a recent article entitled “We don’t heel, we kneel,” I wrote about the importance of supporting Colin Kaepernick as he endeavors to draw attention to the systemic racism, oppression and police terror that Black folks in this country are subjected to. It took a little time for people to engage in the act of “taking a knee,” but one by one they got on board. Now that people are following Kap’s lead, the objective is to get them to put their money where their knee is.

With Covered California’s three-month open-enrollment period beginning Nov.1, it’s a great time to shop for the best fit for your health coverage. During open enrollment, which runs through Jan. 31, consumers can choose among 11 name-brand health insurance plans that offer high-quality and affordable coverage. Here are some helpful tips.

It’s been a long, loud election season; let’s end it right by VOTING 100% as the oldtimers used to say. If you can’t vote the top of the ticket, elect these bright, young Black candidates. For the Nov. 8 election, weekend voting at City Hall began Oct. 29, and on Election Day, polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. You can take this guide into the voting booth. To learn more, visit sfgov.org/elections or call 415- 554-4375.