News & Views

Lynch Black Libyans and be hailed a rebel by the United Kingdom. Set up on your own path of destruction on the homeland, however, and be hailed a mindless, criminal, opportunist rioter. What’s wrong with this picture?

Haiti Action Committee is honored to circulate this statement from Fanmi Lavalas, the people’s party in Haiti, at a moment when the coronavirus has made its deadly march into Haiti. Faced with government inaction, repression and corruption, Haitians have turned to each other and to the popular movement to meet the challenge. We urge you to distribute this statement widely.

“I AM,” shouted the speaker at the Oakland protest of the verdict in the trial of ex-BART cop Johannes Mehserle; “OSCAR GRANT!” roared back the crowd at 14th and Broadway. The cold-blooded killer of Oscar Grant had just gotten off with an involuntary manslaughter conviction in a trial in LA. After less than two days deliberation, a jury with no Black members cleared Johannes Mehserle of second degree murder.

The girl perceived as “a danger to society” has in fact been working hard, successfully and with great promise. Rather than her being a danger to society, the juvenile justice system is a danger to her. Our children and young people are clearly in pain. They do not need to be punished in institutionalized settings that kill their spirits. Come to a meeting to organize an action to advocate for our youth in the racist juvenile justice system this Saturday, May 8, 2 p.m., at 4 Marina Bay Parkway, Richmond.

The Obama administration is pushing hard to privatize our nation’s 1.2 million public housing units, which would put public housing residents at risk of displacement and homelessness.

“We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values … when machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” – Martin Luther King Jr., April 4, 1967

It is a measure of how powerful the U.S. military is – and how poor the media is – that the nation wages war against peoples and countries it knows nothing about. How many of us know that many of the rebels in Libya don’t want democracy but the old kingdom restored?

The empirical tentacles of the U.S. and UN continue their strangle-hold on the Haitian people’s grassroots movement to create “a new vision of the republic rooted in justice, transparency and participation.” 

In shared humanity with our Haitian Brothers and Sisters, please donate to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund.

The SF Bay View newspaper is in dire financial straits, and former presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney is bailing us out with her stimulus plan that comes by way of the Triumph Tour through Northern California that is being organized as a series of fundraisers for a very essential media outlet that amplifies the people’s voices in times of need and in times of triumph.

Multilingual town hall sessions by UFUSD and UCSF CARES Taskforce planned to inform and answer questions from community members about returning to in-person education this fall.

Every day on the news we see reports of young people being killed by police and other members of society, senseless murders that snuff out the lives of our youth before they have had the chance to truly live. So much potential lost, so many hopes and dreams gone down the grave, so many lives shattered. We get angry and organize protests and marches in the cities and towns where these murders occur but what are we doing to prevent them?

A million people are still homeless or needing shelter in Haiti. A million have been given food by the U.N. World Food Program in Port au Prince – another million in Port au Prince still need help.

Abu Ghraib has its antecedents right here in the United States. The violence sponsored by the United States abroad has its origins inside the United States. As the United States and NATO drop bombs on unsubmitting African people in Libya, the United States kills an innocent Black man in Georgia.

The national referendum determining Britain’s exit from the 28-nation body called the European Union – dubbed “Brexit” by the hip British press – has sent shock waves around the world. That it has done so is a reflection of how narrow the national – and global – media is and how little they see of the world they purport to cover. It is also a window into the world of rising right-wing nationalism – and a walk away from the very notion of globalism.

The California Universal Health Care Organizing Project wants President Obama to support congressional legislation authored by Rep. John Conyers that will stop the private health care insurance industry from denying claims, neglecting the sick and wasting 31 cents of every health care dollar.

Welcome to my first newsletter! There are so many good things happening in Richmond, and although we have our share of challenges, I’d like to focus here on some of the many things we have to be excited about. For example, when we work together, we have made significant positive changes. I am absolutely confident that we can build on and continue to make wonderful changes to our city.

On April 19, a Youth Summit organized by the mayor brought young people together to talk about forming a “Youth Council” to advise the City Council. Richmond native Asani Shakur is well aware of the need young people have for guidance, education, compassion and mentoring. He seems to understand that everyone in the community, including policy makers, is responsible for creating a healthy, supportive environment that’s conducive to their healthy development.

Davey D from Hard Knock Radio, Breakdown FM and daveyd.com breaks down WikiLeaks, net neutrality and what is happening to this democratic library called the internet, formed by the U.S. government.

On Thursday, May 31, the Stockton, Calif., families of James Earl Rivera and Luther (Champ) Brown hosted a rally co-sponsored by Occupy Stockton and Oakland. The purpose of the Stockton rally was to protest the police murders of James Rivera, age 16, and of Luther Brown, age 32.