Monthly Archives: April 2018

One of author Dr. Gerald Horne’s latest volumes is “Paul Robeson: The Artist as Revolutionary.” I recently walked into the Parkdale Library in Toronto and saw a huge poster celebrating the great Robeson. Robeson, actor, athlete, political activist and one of the greatest singers of all time, would have been 120 years old today, April 9. Thousands of words have been written about Robeson’s interpretation of Jerome Kern’s song, “Old Man River,” but little has been mentioned about his participation in a unique musical collaboration.

I was recently able to view a documentary titled “The Cooler Bandits.” It’s the story of four young men who were sentenced to hundreds of years in prison for robbing Akron, Ohio, area restaurants in the early ‘90s. The film tells the story of the four men, all in their teens and early 20s when the crimes were committed. What type of justice is this? Five hundred years for a crime where no one was injured is a gross miscarriage of justice, especially when the offender was only 18 years old.

The International Network in Defense of Humanity, Caribbean Chapter, and the Caribbean Peace Movement are disgusted and outraged by the latest episode in the orchestrated illicit right-wing oligarchical campaign to target and “bring down” by foul means one of the most outstanding and respected leaders of South America’s 21st century Socialist Movement: namely, the conviction by a powerful right-wing judge of Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, former president of Brazil, on trumped up corruption charges, and Lula’s incarceration on a 12-year prison sentence.

On March 27, the San Francisco Bay Area’s Stop Urban Shield Coalition claimed victory in its four-year battle to stop Urban Shield, a war games and weapons convention for cops held in Alameda County every year since 2007. I spoke to Tracy Rosenberg, executive director of Media Alliance and co-facilitator of Oakland Privacy, a citizen’s coalition that works regionally to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight regarding the use of surveillance techniques and equipment. She has worked with the Stop Urban Shield Coalition since 2014.

Join 10,000 Black men for a mass march and rally in Lafayette Park, in front of the White House, on Saturday, April 21, 10 a.m.; rally starts 1 p.m. The march is a part of the five-day 10,000 Black Men’s Convention set to take place in Washington from April 18-22, which promises to draw thousands. Topping the gathering’s agenda is a call for an immediate end to police brutality as well as the firing and charging of officers who have been involved in the unjust killings of Black people.

The vision board is the oldest success tool in the world – perhaps a million years old. Cave men, before they learned to invent language, had vision boards, made drawings on their cave walls to remind themselves to stay focused on what they wanted to eat and meet, on their goals and dreams. Try using a vision board at work for your team of coworkers, at home for your children. Have fun putting your favorite things, your goals and dreams on your vision board.

Last month, community members, local environmental justice activists, human rights organizers, housing activists and neighbors got together and had a meeting. We shared a lot of information: falsified soil samplings at the Shipyard, the personal histories of environmental cancers, continual denial of resources allocated to District 10, HUD deficiencies, disparaging life expectancy rates, alternatives to policing, the obstacles to shelter beds, solidarity vs. charity and so much more.

Our movement is fighting hard to amend the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to strike its “slavery clause” that forces prisoners to work for free or for pennies in the prisons, in the fields like slaves of old and in sweatshops manufacturing goods. We are calling for your help in raising the public’s awareness of the existence and the urgent need to end prison slavery inside the state of Texas and across the nation. Let’s dedicate Juneteenth 2018 to abolishing slavery once and for all!

On the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination, Wednesday, April 4, we need to stop and reflect on the many landmark movements which began 50 years ago … like hip-hop. For the Oakland Museum of California to showcase this culture in an exhibit entitled “RESPECT: Hip Hop Style and Wisdom” now through August 2018 is to elevate this conversation and its creators to a level unprecedented.

When I last checked, the “Black Panther” movie had grossed over a billion dollars and was approaching the elite top 10 most profitable blockbusters of all time, worldwide! And as a result of its wide appeal in the Black community, Afrakan fashion is back in the mix and Black handmade clothing is flying off the shelves like at no other time since the ‘70s. Fortunately, we are blessed here in the Bay Area with dozens of Afrakan clothing stores!

It was September of 2016. I was currently under CPS supervision from an unfortunate case that had been opened due to domestic violence (I was the victim) and substance abuse. Initially, CPS was going to award me full custody but chose to place my son in foster care after I allowed my domestically-abusive husband to see our son on my birthday. After Maryela Padilla was assigned to our case, things changed for the worst.

Three testimonies from behind enemy lines: When I read your newspaper, it gives me life and sends revolutionary fervor running through my veins... --- Bay View gives me journalism regarding African Americans and the state of racist “lock ‘em up” laws that are laser focused on us... --- I’ve been getting your newspaper for almost a year now and yours is, bar none, the baddest paper on the planet. I’m so glad it found its way to me...

I watched two Black Panther movies today: “Panther,” the one put out by Mario and Melvin Van Pebbles in 1995 and, in my opinion, prematurely discarded from theaters, and the new one by Marvel, “Black Panther.” Angela Bassett stars in both films and the span of 23 years has not cracked her beautiful Black! if you liked “Black Panther,” I encourage you to revisit “Panther,” which has a lot of strong on-point performances.

For years, tenants in cities throughout California have charged that the California Apartment Association’s signature gatherers used fraud, lies and deceit to collect signatures for petitions meant to defeat efforts to protect renters from greedy landlords. Reportedly, a Utah couple is expected to appear soon in the San Mateo County Superior Court for arraignment on charges of election fraud for faking signatures for a petition meant to block renter protections from taking effect in Pacifica during 2017.

A federal judge in a March 28 ruling declined to order the CDCR to move prisoners previously held in SHUs into legitimate general population conditions. Under a landmark class action settlement that was intended to effectively end indefinite solitary confinement in California prisons, nearly 1,500 prisoners were released into the general prison population, many to Level IV prisons, which is the highest security level in general population.

I’m writing this editorial because I want to brag on my husband, Bay View publisher Dr. Willie Ratcliff, and tell you why he and I have faith that a benefactor, someone with deep pockets who cares, will step forward in time to save the Bay View and keep it in print – an angel who understands how much the Bay View means to a prisoner being tortured and a youngster in the hood being framed. Dr. Ratcliff was that angel, that benefactor, to Gladys Knight in 1975, when she ran out of money in the midst of producing a major film in Valdez, Alaska called “Pipe Dreams.”

We all love to spend money, but how many of us have learned how to effectivily save for a rainy day, college, a business or retirement? Many of us have spent more time watching TV in our lives than planning for our family’s financial future. Many of us don’t like to talk about these things because we’re embarrassed we don’t know much about financial literacy, investing and saving money properly. Check out financial advisor Kendra Willis in her own words.

It has been years since large numbers of people marched to protest wars at home and abroad. I think people stopped coming out when they saw that our marches had little impact on spending priorities in Washington. Massive military spending and unchecked sales of arms to other countries have not produced peace. Instead, violence and terrorism increase around the world. March with us. More than 100 Bay Area organizations have endorsed the April 15 rally and march in Oakland.

Supporters of Black liberation fighter and political prisoner Herman Bell held a packed news conference at the Center for Constitutional Rights March 23. They came out to show support for a recent New York State Parole Board decision to free Bell after more than 40 years – much of it spent in torturous solitary confinement. The board’s decision has come under attack from police groups, the corporate media and elected officials, including “liberal” Democrats Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio.