News & Views
ICE won’t stop taking our brothers! Free Leo!
Colin Logan describes the detention of Afro-Brazilian drummer and cultural educator Leo Oliveira Xavier after a routine ICE check-in in San Francisco. The interview calls for his release and directs readers to support the campaign led by immigrant-rights organizers.
Cuba and the United States: We both have an ocean
The Cuban Embassy's First Secretary, Sulia Paez and Second Secretary, Gabriela Castillo, spent four days in the San Francisco Bay Area building solidarity, meeting activists and exploring the region’s revolutionary art. The San Francisco Bayview's Leah Harmony shares her experience and its impact.
Leaked SFPD drone feeds expose a widening surveillance dragnet
An unsecured SFPD drone link exposed livestreams, thermal video and location data, offering an unplanned view of how aerial surveillance reaches into daily life. Tabari Morris examines the data-security breach and the unanswered questions about oversight, civil liberties and police drone expansion.
Two Cuban diplomats visited the Bay during Black August
Black August was especially impactful this year supercharged by First Secretary Sulia Paez and Second Secretary Gabriela Castillo of the Cuban Embassy visiting Oakland and San Francisco , speaking about the impact of U.S. blockades on Cuba. The Bay Area tour included events with local activists, artists and community organizations.
Haiti – cruelty is the point: Haiti TPS and the politics...
Dr. Julianne Malveaux condemns the threatened end of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians as a policy of punishment rooted in Haiti’s long history of exploitation and contempt. She calls for solidarity, an extension of TPS and a path to permanence for Haitian families who have built their lives in the United States.
Our children deserve more than our good intentions
Drawing on the Black Panther Party’s legacy of responding to children’s needs, Ty-Licia Hooker calls for deeper investment in Oakland and Bay Area students. She urges families, educators, funders and leaders to listen directly to young people and build support around what they need to thrive.
‘A lot of this stuff brings up emotions inside of me’
Willie Sundiata Tate reflects on the racism, incarceration and political education that shaped his path from the California Youth Authority to the San Quentin Six era. In an unfinished phone conversation, he recalls George Jackson, Black August and the lasting emotional weight of prison movement history.
Behind Enemy Lines
Welcome Home Aaron Patterson!
Aaron Patterson pre-homecoming, reflects on his imprisonment, anti-death-penalty organizing and community work as he prepares for his Sept. 15 release. He outlines plans for political organizing, food cultivation and mutual support after returning home.
Black August Artist Donald ‘C-Note’ Hooker wins release after 30 years...
After more than 30 years behind bars, acclaimed prison artist Donald "C-Note" Hooker has won parole after a California Parole Board acknowledged that his claim of innocence was "highly plausible." In this Black August feature, C-Note reflects on his fight for freedom, the legacy of Black August, and how art became both his resistance and his voice.
Incarcerated rapper William Lollis fights back against blatantly racist, foul-mouthed officials...
I am pleading a California Racial Justice Act violation against court-appointed counsel Beth Lee, who accused me of committing the crimes I was being prosecuted for. As I made the attempt to set the record straight and assert my innocence, she interrupted me and blurted out, "Stupid Black son-of-a-bitch prick motherfucker!"
Who are the real experts on prisons?
After spending nearly 31 years behind prison walls, including time in solitary confinement, Uhuru Rowe argues that the people best equipped to explain the realities of incarceration are not academics or policy experts, but those who survived it firsthand. In this powerful reflection, Rowe challenges readers to reconsider who gets recognized as an authority on the prison industrial complex, drawing on decades of lived experience to expose the violence, isolation and dehumanization that statistics alone can never fully capture. His message is simple: if society is serious about prison abolition and justice, it must center the voices of those who have endured the system from the inside.
The 20-year battle to free Jeff ‘Ace’ Walker from wrongful conviction
Jeffery “Ace” Walker is representing himself in court, during this phase of his 20 year battle. Navigating the legal system while being captive within the legal system, is a daunting and complex task. Ace is grateful for the continued support of community members being present during the many phases of his journey.
Culture Currents
The Party for the People Block Party
The Griot Party Experience will bring spoken word, hip hop, storytelling, comedy and theater to the Poetry for the People Block Party in West Oakland. In this Q&A, Logic Amen discusses the collective’s roots, its healing-centered mission and the role of spoken word in Black liberation.
Best Move – Black Men’s Chess League
Black Men’s Chess League organizers discuss building a Bay Area movement around chess, fellowship and youth instruction. The group’s events bring together players, families and supporters across the region.
The monsters we know: Black horror names the systems that harm...
At a Sistah SciFi conversation in San Francisco, Black horror writers Tamika Thompson and Justin C. Key examine public housing, medicine and gun violence as systems of fear. Their discussion considers how horror can make institutional harm visible while preserving Black joy, humanity and authorship.
Reflectacles review doubles as a privacy PSA for readers navigating biometric...
Tabari Morris of SF Bay View reviews Reflectacles privacy eyewear and issues a PSA on how Black communities can confront facial recognition and biometric tracking on their own terms.
Bay View Archives
Welcome to the Bay View Archives! With a $20,000 grant from The San Francisco Foundation, we can finally formalize and publicize our trove of Black journalism from 1976 to 2008.
July 2019 marks 11 years from the date of the final weekly print edition of the Bay View News July 2, 2008. For our first archival series, we will be pulling articles focused on historical examples of Bay Area communities’ activism toward self-preservation and against the inaction of a rapidly gentrifying city. July 2008 was a perfect example of such movements. From the Quesada Kids Community Fruit Stand to the protests against the illegal eviction from Oakland’s California Hotel, Black activist communities in the Bay worked to create alternative modes of living and acting, forming environments centered around mutual empowerment and advocacy.
Air district votes to fine Lennar
“How can you trust a criminal to preside over their own trial? We already know that the people who are supposed to be watching out for the health and safety of the community are paid contractors with the Lennar Corp."
‘Master Developer’ is plantation mentality
We won’t stir up toxic dust as Lennar has that measurably poisons our children. We know the Shipyard is still not fit for human habitation. We’re not stupid.
Big victory for California Hotel tenants
“The tenants prevailed. There was no one from Oakland Community Housing appearing in court today to oppose the tenants’ needs or Judge Richard Keller’s ruling. This is a big victory for the people.”