Ode to the Bay View

Uhuru-Rowe-holding-two-2020-Bay-Views, Ode to the Bay View, Abolition Now!
“Dear Comrade Mary … It was during my first stint here at Buckingham CC when I sent you the first picture of me holding the Bay View in 2013. I took this picture upon my unexpected return on Nov. 8, 2021. No matter where the oppressor transfers me within the belly of the beast, I will always openly rep the Bay View with pride! All Power to the People!” Send our brother some love and light: Uhuru Rowe, 1131545, Buckingham CC, P.O. Box 430, Dillwyn, VA 23936. From California to Virginia, Eric Deshawn Holliday and Uhuru Rowe have at least one more thing in common besides being modern-day enslaved – love and pride for the Bay View which they openly express! We love you and thank you back! 

by writer and poet E.D.H.

The Bay View, where the ones that are a part of the struggle

Get their raw and uncut news

From the prisons and jails all around the world

And also straight out of our neighborhoods.

The Bay Bridge has plenty of water under it,

But these monthly issues are far from watered down.

Even when the heat is turnt up, and the pressure is rising,

You’re still going to get the real about Treasure Island,

When these living conditions and these correctional officers’ misconduct

Repeatedly gets swept under the rug, we still have the freedom to speak,

And the Bay View is an outlet for that,

A one of a kind, Black-owned newspaper.

Can’t find another quite like it

Plenty of resources for everyone, inside and out.

At least someone is trying to build the structure and unifying with us.

This newspaper has a purpose and a destiny

For what they are trying to accomplish.

So if you are a fraud or a fake, you will get noticed Asap.

The goal is to let caged voices be heard, to get our elders out, 

Who have done more than enough of their share of time,

To get these laws changed that were made in slavery days,

To help the youth, seniors, in under poverty communities

Fundraise for yearly giveaways for holidays.

It’s not about putting or trying to keep

someone in jail and prison and held captive.

That’s a 180 of the original blueprint.

The Bay Area should be the new chocolate city.

It’s the foundation of the Black Panthers

And the hub of the people fighting for prison reform.

This is not nothing new; this has been going on.

That’s why we have to stop Black on Black violence.

That is when we will have control,

Have a voice and say so,

Not just in our areas, but the whole world,

You want to hear real Black news?

Tap in and read the Bay View.

– Dedicated to Ms. Nube Brown

Send our brother some love and light: Eric Deshawn Holliday, BD-8473, Calipatria SP B2-221, P.O. Box 5005, Calipatria, CA 92233.