News & Views

“Burlesque is the art of seduction, storytelling, confidence and performance. True burlesque is theater. It’s dance. It’s glamour. It’s comedy, sensuality, character work, music, fashion, and personal expression all living in the same space." - Jujuana Williams

Every summer, thousands gather to celebrate culture, community and resistance through music, dance, food and pageantry at Oakland Carnaval. More than a festival, organizers say Carnaval is a living expression of African cultural survival across the Americas, tracing its roots from ancient Africa to the Caribbean, Brazil and beyond. In this conversation, longtime Carnaval leader Theo Aytchan Williams reflects on the history of the celebration, Oakland’s unique contribution to the tradition, and why creating spaces for Black joy, wellness and cultural pride remains a revolutionary act in the Town.

Cuba has always defended the need for international relations based on sovereign equality, dialogue and cooperation, rather than hegemonic doctrines or threats of force. The peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean have the right to freely determine their own destiny, without external interference.

The Oakland Police Department has been receiving federal oversight since the conclusion of the Oakland Riders trial in 2003 because of its accountability issues and the fact that it has been run like a mafia that is above the law.

“Enough is enough. The Congressional Black Caucus will not stand by and allow this administration to continue this barbaric policy that generates unimaginable human suffering in Cuba. We are demanding that you end the oil blockade and lift the sanctions on Cuba.” - CBC Chair Yvette Clarke

As San Francisco leaders move to hand control of Ella Hill Hutch Community Center programming to Shakirah Simley through a 13-month lease pushed by Bilal Mahmood and Daniel Lurie, many longtime Fillmore residents say the process has ignored the very community the center was built to serve. Against the backdrop of youth violence, public corruption scandals and growing distrust of City Hall, residents and neighborhood leaders are calling not just for summer programming, but for transparency, accountability and a genuine community voice in deciding the future of one of the Fillmore’s most historic institutions.

For more than 60 years, the U.S. government has economically targeted Cuba while mainstream corporate media often repeats official narratives without fully examining the human cost of sanctions and blockades on everyday Cuban people. In this conversation, Havana-based journalist Liz Oliva Fernández offers a perspective rarely heard in U.S. media — one rooted not in politics from afar, but in the lived reality of surviving, reporting and resisting from inside Cuba itself.

The Y encourages people to recognize their value as individuals, have a sense of belonging, and to become the best version of themselves. The YMCA of Bayview Hunters Point is no exception to this motto of growth.

Bounce Back Generation (BBG) is an organization making an impact in the lives of youth based in the Potrero Hill and Bayview Hunters Point communities.

Although two previous universal healthcare bills (CalCare) had failed to advance out of the California State Assembly during the last four years, I had hopes that the 2026 version, AB 1900, would fare better.

"Voters have a right to choose between every candidate the Constitution makes eligible. The Secretary of State does not get to thin that field through arbitrary procedural traps." Dr. Butch Ware, Candidate for Governor

"California is home to one of the largest Black populations in the country, and yet cycle after cycle, Democrats spend millions on everything but Black-owned media, " - Rep. Lateefah Simon

Bayview Hunters Point is being asked to endure a bridge demolition and radiological shipyard teardown at the same time, in a toxic corridor where families have already carried the health costs for generations.

Reviewing his own conduct, Ferrall demonstrated just how untethered he has been all along. He equated the dissatisfaction of both defense and prosecution as proof of his fairness.

With the economic strangulation of Cuba by the United States, African progressive organizations and movements are calling for broader continental solidarity.

Standing with inside organizers and reentering workers, SF Bay View amplifies Minister King X’s call to turn California’s prison yards into centers of worker power, legal literacy and collective reentry.

To be against Cuba is to be against humanity. Time and time again Cuba has offered support wherever it is needed most. They have even offered medical aid to the United States because, for them, people and lives come before politics and ideologies.

by Danielle Smith Six thousand San Francisco educators won fully funded health care, sanctuary schools and an up to 8.5% raise over two years by...

We pray that Kevin be allowed to raise his children and do his vital work in the community pending appeal.  Kevin has been a model citizen during the 9-plus-year ordeal since the shooting and has proven he is neither a flight risk nor a threat to public safety.  I pray for grace and mercy for all of us. 

The media, the institution designed to hold our systems accountable, failed one of its own. Not by covering the verdict incorrectly, but by treating presence as optional when presence is everything.