Yearly Archives: 2019

“When he passed away, a powerful voice fell silent. Jeff exposed and attacked pervasive racial injustice. He has inspired legions of public defenders – a justice warriors – to fight, to speak out and speak up, and in the process he transformed our country.”

The Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar collective seeks 12 works of art and 12 articles for its 2020 calendar with the theme "Knitting Together the Struggles." Please forward to prison-based artists and writers.

At the hearing, the judge stated that the indictment was sealed and that she was refusing to grant Kevin Epps bail on the grounds that “he was a danger to the community” even though well over 60 letters of support flooded into the court from upstanding and important figures from here and all over the nation who defended Epps’ reputation and community track record.

Let there be no mistake. Shooting and killing an unarmed Black woman, who professed to be pregnant in Houston, Texas, or “bagging” a small in stature 12-year-old in Sacramento must be called out for what it is. These actions are more reflective of the practices of “slave catchers” and “Jim Crow” era law enforcers than of proper urban policing techniques focused on de-escalation and by governments truly committed to empower police officers to “protect and to serve” our entire community.

Remember the many years Marie Harrison owned the back page of the Bay View? She defined what “speaking truth to power” means. With headlines like “We’ve always survived your whip and your noose” and observations like “Voter education isn’t just somebody educating the voters; it’s the voters educating the people they elect,” as we carry on without her, we must infuse every fight with her courage.

May 22nd is a statewide day of action calling on the California state legislature to fully fund its public schools. In Sacramento, teachers, students and families will spend the day lobbying and gathering in and around the capitol to demand change. Solidarity actions will also take place throughout the state in numerous schools and public spaces. If you stand in solidarity with us, but cannot attend any of the actions, please sign my petition at http://chng.it/wwPR6mwBGn to support our publicly educated future leaders.

It is easy to become what you know, so easy. What’s difficult is resisting. Unresolved trauma haunts the gene pool. A son, Josh (actor Yohana Ansari-Thomas) witnesses his mother’s murder or its aftermath – Dad’s bloody shirt and subsequent kidnapping of the children until he is captured. This same boy, now man, still has unresolved memories of that day when his mom was shot and the housekeeper “stood there and did nothing.”

You’ve been an especially effective, strong, patient and articulate voice confronting forces that do not respect human rights or human life. You’ve told these opportunists firmly and politely that every human being on earth has the right to live and raise their children and see their grandchildren thrive in pollution-free places and to breathe clean air without toxins.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS - PARKS MAINTENANCE AND PROPERTY MANAGEMENT The Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure has released a Request for Proposals for parks maintenance,...

The Office of the Public Defender does not condone or support excessive police actions ever. We regularly see the fear, trauma and lasting damage to our indigent clients – largely Black and Brown people – when the police execute warrants by breaking down doors, flashing guns and handcuffing occupants. To the extent Mr. Carmody experienced such treatment, we support his efforts to seek redress.

Community-based doulas play an important role in helping decrease maternal and infant mortality rates and increase breastfeeding rates. These women are trained to provide peer support to other women in their communities throughout pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and early parenting.

Ruth Beckford, the legendary dancer, choreographer and Oakland community activist, died May 8 of natural causes. She was 93.

The legendary Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, belted out in her song: “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me!” Take a minute to consider what respect means to you. People from diverse cultures may differ in interpretation and perception. Dictionaries offer slight differences in their meaning and application.

The Embassy Protection Collective is calling on all peace and social justice organizations and people from all over the United States to join together next Saturday, May 18, for a massive mobilization in Washington, D.C., at the Venezuelan Embassy. San Francisco’s rally and march in solidarity is Saturday, May 18, 12 noon, at Powell and Market Streets.

Joseph Harris, MD, personal physician for world-renowned political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, makes the case for Mumia's release on medical grounds. Failing to treat his Hep C gave him cirrhosis of the liver, an eventual death sentence that fully justifies medical release.

“The Sun-Reporter is an example of the significance of the Black press in America,” Harris said. “There are issues that are unique to the Black community, and until we have true diversity in the press, we must rely on papers like the Sun-Reporter.”

“Jazz,” adapted by Nambi E. Kelley from Toni Morrison’s novel, is a tragic composition. Performed across a series of lyrically connected (woven) tapestries: colors, sounds, fractured memories … missing people, guns (bullets) falling tears, treetops, wild woods, sharecropped promises, fire terror, unclaimed bodies … too many bodies to count … love.

“In 99 percent of counties, if you are a minimum wage worker working full time, you cannot afford market rate for a one-bedroom apartment” and “Last year, 12 million Americans borrowed an average of $400 from the payday lender at up to a 300 percent interest rate.”

Amidst an overdose crisis of historic proportions, proponents of coercion are deftly adopting criminal justice reform rhetoric to market “alternatives” that simply cloak the mechanics of the criminal justice system in public health interventions. Register for a free conference, “Coercive Treatment – Moving Beyond ‘For Your Own Good,’” to be held May 16-17 at UC Hastings College of the Law, 198 McAllister St., San Francisco.

Marie Harrison was a fighter to the end. The final year of her life was spent in protests at San Francisco City Hall and atop the Hunters Point Shipyard at the Lennar development on Parcel A. The Bayview Hunters Point Community Air Monitoring Project will vote at its May 2019 meeting on a proposal to name itself the Marie Harrison Community Air Monitoring Network.