Monthly Archives: February 2020

There were several interesting and exciting Black History Month and Afrocentric Bay Area events, some of which I personally attended and was involved with last month.

“I feel sad for the poor culinary workers in Nevada who are being betrayed by their union leaders who are not supporting Medicare for All. Remember, M4A is not about health care; it is about health care financing. The culinary workers are not giving up anything; they are replacing what they have with something far better. They keep their doctors and nurses and hospitals, they get long term care, and they lose their co-pays and deductibles. Yes, they have fought hard for what they have, but M4A means their fighting is at an end.”

On Feb. 27, 2020, in front of a crowd of over 300 people at Brava Theater, San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju took his oath of office and pledged his service to the community as part of the annual Black History Month Celebration of the Public Defender’s Office.

Initiatives like Measure C help level the playing field, addressing the inequality that exists when some children have access to critical resources while others do not.

Sunday afternoon, Feb. 23, at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco was an opportunity to see what Black Joy looks like. While Africans in Oakland were celebrating what makes us a people, in San Francisco, artists, curators and scholars were discussing Kwame Brathwaite’s work in the “Black is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite” exhibit up through March 1. More than a tangible aesthetic enumerated, Brathwaite’s “Beautiful” is an opportunity to reflect on the many ways through the ages Blackness – while commodified – transgressed and transcended, even morphed into something completely incomprehensible (in that moment) like Charlie Parker’s “Koko“ or Dizzy Gillespie’s “Shaw ‘Nuff” or John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.”

Councilwoman McElhaney urges everyone who might be affected or wants to support a solution to come to a town hall meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 6:30-8:00 p.m., at the West Oakland Senior Center, 1724 Adeline St. RSVP at https://west-oakland-environmental-town-hall.eventbrite.com.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR PROJECT INITIATION REPORT FOR THE PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE EXTENSION STUDY (RFP 19/20-07) Notice is hereby given that the San Francisco County Transportation Authority is...

Since the onslaught of the urban removal of African Americans from the Fillmore District by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, the estimated 18 percent population of African Americans in the City has dropped to 3.5 percent. There are significant and shocking reasons why this has taken place. Below are strategies to correct some of the injustices and reverse this tragic out-migration.

Our best chance at a bright future is Bernie Sanders​. We need the courage to vote​ for the best world possible, for the biggest dreams, for the biggest potential shift in government and politics.

San Francisco – Open Door Legal (ODL), a San Francisco non-profit committed to building the nation’s first system of universal access to legal help, has opened two new offices in the Excelsior and Fillmore-Western Addition neighborhoods. ODL was able to open the new legal aid centers thanks to a surge in funding by the City of San Francisco and is now halfway to achieving its vision in the city.

New Jersey, the last Northern state to completely abolish slavery, became the first in America to approve a statewide anti-discrimination law.

If you live in San Francisco, you’ve probably seen her smiling face on billboards, the side of buildings, the back of buses, transit stations, and lining Van Ness and other major thoroughfares. Bayview resident Susie Tyner is one of five seniors who exemplify a new generation of older adults: accepting of the inevitable aging process but making a conscious decision to live full lives.

Indiana is the fifth state in which I’ve been imprisoned since 2012. Over this eight year period, I’ve been bounced from Virginia to Oregon, then Texas to Florida, back to Virginia, and now to Indiana. All in response and efforts to repress my involvement in exposing and resisting the routine abuses that pervade US prisons.

A diverse coalition of progressive advocacy groups has launched what it is billing as “the largest independent mobilizing commitment for any candidate” in order to turn out an additional 1.4 million voters in a slate of key primary states on behalf of Sen. Bernie Sanders and the working class movement his campaign has built.

Intensifying protests led by popular movements in Haiti, calling for the resignation of corrupt, US-supported President Jovenal Moise have persisted for over a year in spite of violent repression and killings of demonstrators by government death squads, bringing day-to-day business to a standstill.

This poem is water It is palm wine to the ancestors Ones with heads up, lips parted Utterance stuck in throat It is fresh water with peppermint It is nommo Words into flesh Blackness Melanin A magic hue Sun kissed by time

One of the Bay Area’s most entertaining new Black convention offerings is AfroComicCon, which injects a healthy dose of Black culture into the family-friendly comic book convention. Comic book conventions are places where you can go to buy comic books and related gear, but they are not stuffy and academic. They are fun, all-ages enticing, and feature family fun entertainment that makes them especially attractive to teens, the young at heart, and people with young children.

In February, Poor Press will be releasing eight powerful and beautiful books, including “Black Disabled Ancestors” by Leroy Moore, “Unwritten Law” by Dee Allen, “When Mama and Me Lived Outside” by Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia, “Disturbance Within Myself” by Audrey Candycorn, “Chimalli” by Muteado Silencio, “Horse Tuuxi: My Name is Kai!” by Angela Taylor, “Everybody’s Jesus” by Katana Barnes – the most diverse Poor book-making program in the history of Poor Press

During these monumental moments, WE come together to highlight some of the past, present and evolving methods of survival, accomplishments and future developments of our Alkebulan-African and New Afrikan nations and achievers. In February, and throughout the year, WE continue our studies, dialogues and learning of important lessons from our powerful Ancients and Ancestors from yesteryears and yesterday.

“Maybe the best measure of the contribution of fellow freedom fighters is the ferocity of the state’s pursuit and prosecution of those dissidents – and nobody has been pursued with more ferocity by the US national security state than Julian Assange.” – Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report