Local News & Views

San Francisco may no longer be one of the nation’s top-ranked cities for income disparity, but a study released last week by the Brookings Institution painted a stark picture of the job landscape for Black San Franciscans, as compared to the city as a whole. While San Francisco has the ninth-highest general employment rate in the country (79 percent), it also has the highest employment disparity between Blacks and whites in the country.

It’s election time. Whether you vote by mail or go to the polls like I do on Election Day, June 5, be sure that you and your household, family and friends cast your votes. You’ll be upholding a proud tradition – Bayview Hunters Point oldtimers’ motto, VOTE 100%, once made Blacks a powerful political force in San Francisco. By voting – and by organizing, making demands and showing the way – we can regain and expand our power, stop the backsliding and get the boot off our neck. - Bay View publisher Willie Ratcliff

Early Tuesday morning, the 18th day of the Lakeview Elementary Sit-In and 12th day of the People’s School, the OUSD police and other police forces raided the encampment and school. The People's School will continue, and a community-labor alliance and picket sanctioned by the Alameda Labor Council will block the move-in of administrative offices at Lakeview.

It is a sad commentary when the management of KPFA Radio, a nonprofit dedicated to social justice in my hometown of Berkeley, Calif., calls the police on a staff member who volunteers her time, donating talent and skill to bring the mission of that organization to bear.

If you are HIV positive but do not yet have AIDS, you are probably eligible for Medi-Cal. California is under court order to provide it.

Ahmed Alkhatib is a long way from Gaza, where he lived for 15 of his 18 years. On Saturday, he stood among the hundreds of protesters in downtown San Francisco, the day Israeli ground troops invaded Gaza.

No Justice No BART announced that on Thursday, March 5, we will shut down the Fruitvale BART Station during the evening rush hours as part of a campaign of protest actions targeting BART in order to advance community demands in the wake of the police murder of Oscar Grant.

In response to the California state budget crisis and to global warming urgencies, California's 20th District Assemblymember Alberto Torrico has proposed Assembly Bill 656, a tax "for the privilege of severing oil or gas from the earth or water in this state," to fund higher education, especially renewable energy education, to train a generation capable of helping California make a transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy.

Privatizing parks is not popular in San Francisco. As opposition and media attention mount, state Sen. Mark Leno wants to rush his Senate Bill 792 through the legislature. We urge the Assembly and the Senate to hold the bill until the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has voted on a resolution opposing SB 792 that is currently one vote short of a majority.

On Thursday, Dec. 3, while President Obama holds a national summit on jobs and unemployment, unemployed workers will picket at 11:30 a.m. in front of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office in the SF Federal Building, 90 7th St., calling for Congress to take immediate action to put people back to work.

Aaron Peskin becomes the District 3 supervisor on Dec. 8 and will then join his colleagues in rejecting the planned new jail for San Francisco. There likely was a board majority against the current jail plan even without Peskin’s vote, since London Breed’s district is against it and she is up for re-election, but his replacement of Julie Christensen ensures the jail’s defeat.

Please join The National Day of Action to Exonerate and Free Imam Jamil Al-Amin on Friday, Sept. 16, 2016, hosted by the Oakland Islamic Community Center in association with Imam Jamil Action Network. The National Day of Action will comprise a series of nationwide initiatives designed to educate some and re-acquaint others on who Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin is, where he is, and how he got where he is.

For David Smith, restorer of grandfather clocks, time runs at various speeds: the stately historic time of the clocks, some from the 17th century; the efficient speed of his work as timepiece diagnostician; and the expansive pace of the raconteur who seems not to notice time’s passage.

The City of San Francisco has applied for a $14.6 million grant to fund the infrastructure for dirty developer Lennar to build 10,000 luxury condominiums and a stadium on the Superfund site of the Hunters Point Shipyard and Candlestick Point. Tell the state to just say NO!

The Afghanistan war is due for a recycling, but it may not go the way the U.S. has planned. Begun under dubious circumstances, more as a demonstration war to set the stage for the real drama of Iraq, Afghanistan has almost always been more useful as a proxy war fought by others, rather than a direct war fought by Americans.

In San Francisco this year, we’re blessed with great candidates for mayor: Jeff Adachi, John Avalos and Terry Baum. If we unite behind them in this city that endows the mayor with an amazing amount of power, we’ll make San Francisco the land of opportunity that lives up to its reputation. And if we VOTE 100% like we used to, Black San Franciscans can once again be a force to be reckoned with. We can even elect leaders who love us!

Sexually abused children have to live with the pain and trauma of the abuse forever! With so many new cases of Bay Area police officers involved with the current underage sex scandal, it is important to educate the community on the effects sexual abuse has on the psyche of a minor. We need to protect our children from predators like these officers and any monster who believes it is OK to have sexual relations with a minor.

One of the ways City College is dealing with the cuts is a hiring freeze. No new instructors were hired to replace retirees, so nobody is available to teach the class. Griffin said the college is trying to shore up a $ 20,000,000 hole in City College’s budget.

Calling all families: Come out for ‘A Fair Chance to Advance’ on Saturday, Aug. 1, 11-2, at At Thy Word Church, 8915 International Blvd, Oakland, to see how Prop 47, reducing many felonies to misdemeanors, can free your family – presented by Bay Area Black Workers Center, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, East Bay Community Law Center, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Assemblyman Rob Bonta.

The owners are pressing forward with their eviction of Iris Canada, the 99-year-old African American woman in the Fillmore who just turned 100, by asking Superior Court at 400 McAllister on Wednesday, Aug. 10, to grant them an order to throw her out of her home of over 50 years. Come to the courthouse at 400 McAllister at 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 10, to applaud Iris as she arrives and wish her luck