Monthly Archives: September 2018

On Sept. 15, Rwandan political prisoners Victoire Ingabire and Kizito Mihigo walked out of Nyarugenge Prison in Rwanda’s capital, along with nearly 2,000 more Rwandan prisoners whom President Paul Kagame had granted “executive clemency.” Victoire Ingabire is a politician and member of Rwanda’s Hutu ethnic majority. Kizito Mihigo is a gospel singer and a member of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority. Charging these two Rwandan leaders with terrorism was ludicrous to say the least.

The number of K2-related deaths in Texas prisons is mounting, year after year. Due to this drug being undetectable by prison drug-testing kits, it has become a favorite drug of choice for prisoners and prison officials who profit handsomely from smuggling it in. This has caused other common prison drugs, like cocaine, marijuana and meth, to be discarded by prisoners who now have the ability to get high without worrying about failing drug tests.

Job Announcement: September 20, 2018   Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice Bayview Hunters Point Community Air Monitoring Project Coordinator/Environmental Justice Community Organizer **************************************************************** Greenaction for Health and...

On Feb. 14, 2017, I was shot with a rifle by a sniper named Jesse Enjaian, a white guy. I was a homeless man sleeping in my car. I had parked for the night on the street in front of his house on the 9500 block of Las Vegas Avenue near Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland. He shot out all four of my tires, all my windows, my dashboard got a bullet hole in it and my head was grazed by a bullet. I woke up to bullets flying, hit my horn, jumped out of my car and hollered for help.

Written Sept. 4, 2018 – Today the heat and humidity inside my cell has reached a level which has caused me to feel dizzy, and I have been experiencing migraine headaches. Senior U.S. District Judge Hilda Tagle denied my request for an emergency preliminary injunction. One of my main requests was that she order TDCJ to fix the inoperable and malfunctioning HVAC system here on the McConnell Ad-Seg Unit.

Perhaps no demonstration has been more effective in illustrating the states’ inhumane treatment of prisoners than officials’ decision not to safely relocate incarcerated people trapped in the red zone area of Hurricane Florence’s path after South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued an evacuation order to citizens on Sept. 10. The state’s refusal to safely move prisoners out of the hurricane’s path is a blatant disregard to the humanity of those residing there dependent solely on the state’s protection.

The National Prison Strike flooded the media and transformed the national narrative surrounding prisoners’ human rights. While the symbolic end date of the national prison strike passed on Sunday’s 45th anniversary of the Attica Uprising, prisoners take the lead in determining whether to continue striking depending on their individual circumstances at their institutions: some extending the call, others placing a new date on their call and even striking indefinitely.

Cal Shakes’ stunning production of “The War of the Roses” by Eric Ting and Philippa Kelly, directed by Eric Ting, continues through Sept. 15. It is an amazing adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Henry VI trilogy and Richard III. I was not intimidated when I learned that the show was about four hours long. However, I did approach my seat cautiously and, at intermission, when I looked at my watch, I could hardly believe two hours had passed. I loved it. The time literally flew by.

She is known by one name. Say the name, Ramona, and all know of whom you speak. Ramona Africa, of course. She is a revolutionary. A scarred veteran of May 13, 1985, when local, state and federal cops conspired to bomb and kill MOVE members in West Philadelphia. Ramona survived – but didn’t escape the flames, the smoke, the deadly fumes, the hatred, unscathed. Several weeks ago, we learned she was ill, fell into a coma, and was hospitalized. MOVE needs your help to support her in the rest and recuperation that she needs. Please donate on GoFundMe page: Help Save Ramona Africa.

On July 22 this year, nearly two years after Trump’s election and the rise of “The Resistance,” I tuned in to KPFA-Berkeley’s Sunday Show and heard host Philip Maldari speaking to The Nation’s national affairs correspondent John Nichols. Philip Maldari: John, just last Monday we had this fabulous press conference in Helsinki, Finland, where these two heads of state [Trump and Putin] had a chance to speak to the world. Do you want to decode what happened there? John Nichols: Do I want to what? PM: Decode – explain.

Prisoners have been staying strong throughout these weeks of the prison strike. Thank you all for your support in this movement to end mass incarceration and prison slavery as well as to bring livable conditions to the living and work spaces of incarcerated individuals in the United States. This has been a monumental effort and our success is being recorded as we speak. Don’t get tired; don’t allow prisoners to get tired. We must continue to fill them with energy as they strike. You all are doing amazing work and I’m incredibly thankful and honored to be among you.

  REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR COMPUTER NETWORK AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES (RFP 18/19-04) Notice is hereby given that the San Francisco County Transportation Authority is requesting proposals...

Poor is the word without the deeds ... poor the deeds without the WORD – ... During the time of Big Man his words were commitment to action ... his determination exposed the people’s cries we HEARD – ... Where the spectator merely shouts creates noise that static sound without rhythm or RHYME – ... Big Man stood front and center at the eye of the storm in the arena of struggle ... and intoned the poor and oppressed will rise time after time after TIME –

Decades ago, when cattle were driven north on Third Street to the area west of what is now Bayview Plaza, that neighborhood was called Butchertown. Like bygone Butchertown, the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood leads the city in ethnic and economic diversity. With Bayview’s small businesses, industries and its dedication to feeding the city, the spirit of Butchertown lives on. Today, a community group of local businesses calls itself the Merchants of Butchertown (MOB).

After gracing the planet for 76 years, Aretha Franklin joined the ancestors Thursday, Aug. 16, 2018. President Obama: “Aretha helped define the American experience. In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade – our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hard-won respect. May the Queen of Soul rest in eternal peace.”

The Healthy Retail SF Program, in collaboration with a host of community partners, celebrated its 10th store with the grand re-opening event of Sav-Mor Mart at its new location at 4522 Third St., between LaSalle and McKinnon. A community market that has been serving the Bayview since for over 20 years, Sav-Mor will now offer more fresh produce from local sources as well as a larger variety of healthful choices for its customers.