Monthly Archives: September 2017

Starvation is the danger Victoire Ingabire is facing now in her seventh year in prison. Starvation! She requires a special diet which has been provided by our staff since her arrest. Two people have been authorized to see her, but they have both been arrested. No one else is allowed to see her. Kagame is facing growing dissent within his own party, his relations with neighbors are souring and his plan to oust Burundi’s leadership has failed. He fears retaliation.

How much longer can Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Benjamin Netanyahu, AIPAC and associated Zionist organizations cover for Rwandan President Paul Kagame? How much longer can they claim that he was Rwanda’s savior, that he stopped a genocide recalling the Holocaust, then helped Rwanda rise from the ashes? This week another woman who dared to challenge him for the presidency says he has taken vengeance on her and her family.

Saturday morning, Aug. 19, the day dawned bright and sunny, not a hint of the rain that drenched us the evening before. At 10:30 a.m. when I arrived at Freedom Plaza, there were people with posters and event T-shirts and a brother with a bullhorn. Robert King and Albert Woodfox were there in Amend the 13th T-shirts. King was passing out information about the law – the constitutional amendment – that legalizes slavery. Later on, at the rally, he would conclude the event, which lasted about five hours.

Aug. 19 at 11:00 a.m., courageous and loving folks in San Jose, Calif., joined with sister marches and rallies throughout the country in support of prisoners’ human rights and amending the 13th. Their courage is found in the rejection of an institution so prevalent and insidious that any criticism can bring a mountain of ridicule and judgment. It is an institution shielded by a centuries old narrative that tells people, “They are not like us,” and consequently, “they” are undeserving of our humanity.

Demonstrators will amass outside the Federal Building in downtown San Francisco to protest the repeal of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals at 5 p.m. tonight. DACA gave hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants arriving in the U.S. as minors the right to enroll in college, among other privileges typically reserved for citizens. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the repeal of the Obama-era executive order this morning in Washington, D.C.

Lori Nairne, women’s, queer rights and anti-racist campaigner, nurse and homeopath, died of natural causes on Saturday, Aug. 19, aged 65. She was a founding member of Wages Due Lesbians (now Queer Strike) and the Wages for Housework Campaign/SF (WFH) and joint coordinator of the Global Women’s Strike (GWS) Bay Area and a member of the California Nurses Association.

Dr. Richard Claxton “Dick” Gregory, 84, joined the ancestors Aug. 19, the same day as the Millions for Prisoners Human Rights March in Washington, D.C. A longtime advocate for human rights, Gregory ran for president of the United States, went to Iran to negotiate the release of Americans held hostage, is also known for his Bohemian diet and extensive fasts for human rights. Ten years ago he visited Oakland to honor the lives of the 918 adults and 305 children – including 40 infants – who lost their lives along with U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan and a United Press International film crew.

I have chosen to use a piece of poetry as my editorial for this month. I had not written poetry in years but was inspired after reading an article written in the Bay View by Chinyere Egu, listening to the music of Grand Opus, and spending the weekend with my daughter and grandchildren. Spoken word, whether it came in the form of old Negro spirituals or old school hip-hop, has always inspired our people to move beyond the limitations of our current situation.

The North American African’s visceral response to the Lone Star State, Texas, is complex, yet not complicated. If ever a geography was seeped in policies that inhibit the freedoms of Black and, more recently, Brown people, Texas is that state or should we say country? Like California, another country with a GNP reach beyond these shores means that what happens in Houston impacts the nation, whether citizens realize this or not. Hurricanes are not unusual to the region, yet Hurricane Harvey dumped more water on the region than expected and caused much displacement and damage.

SFUSD in collaboration with the San Francisco Alliance of Black School Educators will host the Fifth Annual Historical Black College and University (HBCU) Fair on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017, at Mission High School from 4:00-7:30 p.m. U-CAN President Alan H. Rowe says about last year’s fair that it drew a large number of students and parents districtwide. “The College Fair was an overwhelming success with many students receiving on-the-spot admissions and scholarship offers.”

The Constitution of the United States belongs to all the American people. What Bill and Hillary Clinton did to pervert constitutional law consists of all out treason against the Constitution in the 1990s. Trump has remained silent about the Clintons and Republicans taking away constitutional rights. A First Amendment right that belongs to the American peoples of all races, not something for the Clintons and Republicans to take, is ACCESS TO COURT.

“There’s no problem with public transportation in the Bayview if you’re able-bodied, but if you’re not …,” said Beverly Taylor, the facilitator of the recent Transit Fair for Elders at the Southeast Campus of SF City College. On Aug. 8, 2017, the Network for Elders, the Community Living Campaign and Bayview Moves sponsored The Bayview Transportation Fair, the first of its kind in the community. Taylor’s opening remarks expressed the feelings of many of those attending the event.

We take this opportunity to express our support for this historic event that supports prisoners’ human rights and to amend the 13th Amendment’s slavery exemption clause, so that legal slavery is finally abolished. When you consider the historic application of slavery in America, slavery in any form should not be tolerated in our society. For years we have struggled to defend the civil and human rights of prisoners both during our incarceration and upon our reentry back into our respective communities.

Oakland’s own Stanley Petey Cox – aka Mistah FAB (as well as Fabby Davis Jr.) – launched the world premiere of his autobiographical movie in August. Titled “My Ten Thousand Hours,” it is an inspirational and must-see rap-umentary for true fans of hip-hop and the rich O-Town scene. The film covers some of the highs of the rap industry, but it also, and most critically, deals honestly with the low periods and major lessons of his life. Thus far.

On Aug. 30, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick posted birthday wishes to Fred Hampton with Hampton’s picture and a quotation of something he said: “You can kill a revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution.” The 49ers played the Chicago Bears last year on Dec. 4, 2016, the anniversary of Hampton’s assassination by a tactical unit of state, city and federal officers. Kaepernick wore a Fred Hampton T-shirt to the postgame press conference.

This is a speech written for a prisoner organized rally against censorship on Aug. 11 outside the Indiana Department of Corrections headquarters in downtown Indianapolis: The New Afrikan Liberation Collective and the Black Guerrilla Army have organized this Prison Lives Matter campaign as a call to action on behalf of all political prisoners and prisoners of war being held captive across the country inside America’s concentration camps.

Shipyard Trust for the Arts (STAR) is excited to announce the selection of our 2017-2018 Artist in Residence at the Hunters Point Shipyard: Ira Watkins. Ira Watkins is a self-taught artist who has shown an amazing devotion to his passion. He has been painting for almost 30 years. Even a period of homelessness did not disrupt his art practice. During that time, he lived and painted in his van in the Tenderloin. He now lives in the Dr. George Davis Senior Center in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood.

How goddamn dumb do Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Al Franken, D-Mich., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., think we are? All three Democratic presidential hopefuls are “initial co-sponsors” of an Orwellian bill to “enhance” our government’s ability to “prevent genocide and mass atrocities” with military force: Senate Bill 1158, the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2017. Will anyone call to tell these senators that WAR IS NOT PEACE, THE U.S. DOES NOT PREVENT GENOCIDE and there’s no way they could honestly believe the BS in this bill?

Xtreme Giveback is a non-profit that reaches out to children, youth, families and community needs through educational, health and family events. Our goals are to build strong communities and families. What is important is family, friends and giving back to your community and finding meaning in life. And that’s exactly what it was on Saturday, Aug. 12, at our Second Annual Family Fun Day event held this year at MLK (Martin Luther King) Park and Swimming Pool.

For those who are trapped here, San Francisco’s Treasure island shares similarities with a death camp they can’t escape. Men, women and children are stricken with tumors and cancers from exposure to radiation, chemicals and lead the Navy dumped into island soil during 50 years training sailors for nuclear war, as well as lung disease from asbestos and mold in the walls of military housing.