2020 December
Monthly Archives: December 2020
This generation of people who love liberation and humanity
Michael Dorrough praises the beauty and power of language to infuse new life into the ongoing struggle for our humanity and liberation against the oppression of white male patriarchy.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett is a sterling example for all incarcerated journalists
We know her name – Ida B. Wells-Barnett – but do we know how her very essence laid the groundwork for, and is woven deeply into the fabric of, today’s struggles? Uhuru B. Rowe, with elegance and expertise draws a powerful picture for our enlightenment about this profound human icon.
States say they’re decarcerating, yet 1 in 5 prisoners has had COVID
Trapped behind the walls she said, “In the beginning, I used to flippantly say that when the COVID finally comes here, the prison will just let us all get sick and die. I thought that I was just being dramatic, but it might have been more prescient than I know.”
State selects Black LA firm to disburse $500 million in COVID relief funds
The COVID-19 pandemic has killed hundreds of thousands of people and perhaps as many small businesses. A California Black-led-and-operated financial firm charged with disbursing $500 million in COVID-19 grants to California small businesses and non-profits and may be the godsend for some of those still managing to hold on.
Liberate the Caged Voices
No one is coming to save us or our loved ones. Soon we move from the terror and inequities of 2020 into undeniably more of the same in 2021, and we are reminded that change is upon us, and up to us to drive our unstoppable force of We the People to use the truth we hold in our gut to join our incarcerated brothers and sisters to end the oppression of control and modern day slavery.
Beyond medical racism: Medical malpractice and lack of professional courtesy are central to the...
Deep grief mingles with pure pain and rage at the preventable death of beloved Dr. Susan Moore as the hospital allowing the death of Dr. Moore released a statement that only acknowledged lapses in courtesy and their plan to address such with “trainings” – what we correctly know as code for ‘business as usual’ – dismissed.
Considering America’s racism, should I accept the COVID-19 immunization?
Now that two COVID-19 vaccines are available, some people are conflicted about being immunized creating muddy waters for the most vulnerable about safety, racism, conspiracies and efficacy. Retired physician Marc Sapir strives to bring clarity to the decision process many of us are experiencing.
Don’t Let Them Die in Vain
Nube Brown reads aloud the poem 'Don't Let The Die in Vain' by Corey J. Elder, Folsom State Prison.
Amerikkka
Nube Brown reads aloud the poem 'Amerikka' by Michael Philpot, CCI-FL.
The United Council for Human Services and the Curtis Family: Serving BVHP in a...
Light, hope, COVID-19 testing and new winter coats to warm cold community members are the Christmas version during a brutal pandemic of the ongoing love shared by Gwendolyn Westbrook, Mother Brown’s, the Curtis Family C-Notes and so many others from both in and outside the Bayview neighborhood.
Interview with Tina Collins of Code Tenderloin
Tenderloin, San Francisco – Bay View Editor Malik Washington stops by homelessness and workforce development organization Code Tenderloin to interview case manager Tina Collins.
Racist practices at the SF Health Service System will no longer be tolerated: Remove...
The Black Employee Alliance has been calling on our sisters and brothers to report this ongoing racism, but City employees of color are afraid of losing their jobs. This is an exceptionally dangerous time in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and I think racist supervisors like Mitchell Griggs know this and use it to their advantage.
Lifelong fighter for prisoners’ rights: Hugh Ray Lyons Jr., presente!
Victor Wallis remembers his friend, Hugh Lyons, incarcerated numerous times in IDOC’s Pendleton Correctional Facility. Lyons’ humanity, buoyant spirit, sensitive, compassionate and gifted aspects, seen also in so many other prisoners, are today even more systematically discounted and disregarded by the Indiana Department of Corrections.
City’s dynamic ‘First Family of Song’ brings tunes to COVID-19 testing site
Today at 1:30 p.m. at 49 Kiska Road in San Francisco’s Bayview Hunter Point, the acclaimed Curtis Family Cnotes will team up with Mother Brown’s Dining Room in a unique partnership providing free food and song to support the city’s COVID-19 testing and prevention efforts.
Gov. Whitmer hosts COVID-19 super-spreader events in Michigan prisons
With seemingly intentional disregard by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and abettors, MDOC Director Heidi Washington and Warden John Christiansen, for the safety and well-being of prisoners and communities, finally ice the state cake by coercing prisoners to sign “waivers of liability,” should they contract COVID-19 while in the care of their oppressors.
The belly of the beast is orange
Discovered well after the unlawful practice of sterilization without consent, legislated in 1979 and enhanced in 2014 by SB1135, which specifically includes prisons in the eugenics ban, CDCR and BOP continue their practices of eugenics on unknowing, coerced and lied to incarcerated women and mothers – to this present day, in fact.
‘Higher Power’ CD project raises funds for struggling musicians, Part II
Creative must create. The Covid-19 has hurt many people’s ability to remain employed, but Paul Tillman Smith leaped right over that drum set and, with a vibrant team of musicians, created joy and profits from the Bay Area Jazz Society Presents the ‘Higher Power Project’ CD, which will go into a special fund to help musicians and artists of all ages.
Herman Wallace: Friend, artist and member of the Angola 3
What is it like to correspond with an incarcerated person? End Solitary Confinement advocate Willow Katz’s interview with Sharon Willis reveals an unintended, deeply human 26-year relationship created between Sharon and revered ancestor Herman Wallace of the Angola 3.
FAM launches #30-Day Economic Blackout
Demands are made. Willing to submit their very lives to continue to expose, and hopefully change, the deadly conditions prisoners endure in ADOC’s prisons, a 30-day work strike and boycott of prison service providers is planned statewide.