2020
Yearly Archives: 2020
‘The most shocking and inhumane’
A killer like healthcare denial or scarcity is still free to claim lives and roam our neighborhoods in spite of all kinds of laws passed in the name of justice and equality.
The sports strikes against racism have not been coopted
The story of the 2020 sports-strike-wave-against-racism is already one of both inspiration and cooptation. To have any sense of where this story might go, we need to understand why it detonated in the first place.
Register, vote (y)our interests and continue organizing for power!
Vote and register (y)our interests for changes and recovery from this ongoing deadly coronavirus pandemic; deepening imperialist monopoly capitalist economic depression; worsening corporate abuse of Mama Nature; European and american “white” terrorist wars against The People.
They came for us in the morning: What prison officials don’t want you to...
Emmett Till, the Scottsboro Boys, the Central Park 5, and the list goes on. The ramifications of being falsely accused of a crime in America can be, and often have been, deadly for Black people.
Former Treasure Island resident announces hospitalization for coronavirus, implicating radioactive island dust
When we least expect it, trouble comes. “I came in contact with a door handle, now I got COVID-19. It’s bad enough my immune system is compromised. I have emphysema and I might not make it out of this.”
Urgent call to action: Rashid says, ‘They are trying to kill me’
From Pendleton Correctional Facility in Indiana, Kevin ‘Rashid’ Johnson is pleading for help after being attacked by another prisoner, his personal property being confiscated by prison staff and finally receiving disciplinary charges against him.
The Black Guerrilla Family is not a prison gang but an educational organization
BGF (Black Guerrilla Family) is not a prison gang, as some would have us believe. We dishonor ourselves and our society to forgo discernment and believe blindly what we are told. People are harmed by our complicit agreement with false narratives.
August is Joe Capers’ Month in Oakland: Joe Capers’ film is done!
Oakland in the ‘80s and ‘90s blessed us with the likes of Tony, Toni, Tone, young MC Hammer, Digital Underground, Too Short and Dawn Robinson of En Vogue, just to name a few, at a time when there were only a few home studios. Joe Capers, aka Blind Joe, a blind musician and producer, was one of the creators of the sounds of the Oakland music scene in the 1980s and early 1990s.
America needs a revolution
Racial violence against Black America is a regular part of America’s history; hiding and denying this racial violence is also a part of America’s history. For decades, African Americans have complained about police brutality. White America dismissed them or paid little attention and this denial allowed White America to feel innocent.
If words are as dangerous as bullets
Eric G. King, a 33-year-old vegan anarchist political prisoner and poet, was arrested and charged with an attempted firebombing of a congressperson’s office in Kansas City, Missouri, in September 2014. As part of his plea and sentencing, Eric publicly and proudly acknowledged that his intent was to take direct political action in solidarity with the community of Ferguson, Missouri, following the August 2014 police killing of Michael Brown Jr.
PROTEST FOR SEP 1 CANCELLED – AND
PROTEST FOR SEP 1 CANCELLED – BUT....WE WILL HAVE A short but important PRESS CONFERENCE AT 11:30 am TUESDAY at MLK/Bay View Park to deliver our message and demands! PLEASE JOIN US IF YOU ARE ABLE TO!
The Black census counts too
Getting counted in the census might seem trivial, especially when faced with systemic obstacles, financial instability and the lack of essential resources. In the Black community, there is more to getting counted than it seems: the question of why Black people should get counted travels deep through generations dating back to the 1700s.
‘The man who heals women’ calls for an International Criminal Tribunal for Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Dr. Denis Mukwege is receiving death threats, and not for the first time. Dr. Mukwege has won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Sakharov Prize and a long list of other human rights awards for treating women victims of sexual violence used as a weapon in the resource wars that plague eastern Congo. He founded Panzi Hospital in Congo’s South Kivu Province for surgical and post-surgical treatment of victims.
Ronnie Goodman 1960-2020
Another star shines in the night sky. Ronnie Goodman passed away in early August this year. He died on the street, just after his 60th birthday, on the same corner where he’d been living for more than a year. We stood around waiting for the medical examiner to come and take him. The cops had put a sheet over him.
Professional athletes are showing America just how powerful labor really is
The wave of strikes by athletes against racist police violence is not ebbing. On Thursday night, the New York Mets and Miami Marlins took the field, held a 42-second moment of silence (in honor of Jackie Robinson), and then walked off. They left behind a shirt that read “Black Lives Matter” on home plate.
We honor you, Ms. Verlie Mae Pickens
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to Ms. Verlie Mae Pickens, who is well known and a leader in the Bayview community, celebrated her 104th birthday on June 11, 2020. The COVID-19 forced postponement of the yearly celebration of her birthday, normally a large festive party and dinner to honor Ms. Pickens.
The future is speaking – listen up
The 2020 census has inspired more and more youth to step up to get their families counted. Talking with a few young Frisco natives, new perspectives are gained on the dynamics of growing up in hard-to-count communities.
From uncertainty to sturdier financial footing, during the pandemic
Are we aware the economy is in free-fall? During the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine, health has been a central topic, but what about financial health? With the stock market being stunted and the government doling out trillions of dollars to individual citizens, small businesses and corporations, we need to know what is happening with our finances.
Jalil Muntaqim: Future focused in Black August 2020
By 2023, the U.S. will be 40 percent “minority,” and 50 percent of the entire population will be under 40 years old. These are the demographics that cannot be ignored as progressives move forward building opposition to institutional racism and plutocratic governing.
Hunters Point demands a voice on shipyard cleanup: Reinstate the RAB now!
Called the most contaminated site in the United States and despite a moratorium on further condo construction on Parcel A, the only part of the shipyard approved for development, the massive excavation project pictured here is currently occurring at the perimeter of the Parcel E-2 landfill. Reinstating the Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) would require the Navy and EPA to explain why they are allowing this dangerous project to occur.