Tag: Bayview Hunters Point

Malcolm X Day San Francisco is part of a national effort to declare May 19, the birthday of Malcolm X – El Hajj Malik El Shabazz – an official holiday. Malcolm X Day will be celebrated in San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters Point District on Sunday, May 17, with free outdoor music and guest speakers. Performers include local rappers and poets Selassie, Talia Monet, Jabari Shaw and Ras Ceylon.

Report after report reminds and warns the Black community that AIDS is not yet under control for the Black population. However, when I saw several new 6-foot-by-4-foot billboard ads in the Castro district of San Francisco this past week with the image of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. under the heading, “AIDS is a civil rights issue,” I first thought, “Well, that’s a stretch.”

This is a bigger giant that we all must come together and fight. There’s too many young men warring with each other and not with the real enemy. The true enemy is the one who’s telling your mothers, grandmothers, fathers, baby mothers, kids, friends to pack up their things and move, while the police ride around victimize us because of our skin colors. They even go as far as killing us just because of someone videoing them doing their job in a vicious way.

Leola King brought memorable class and dignity to every business she operated during a 50-year career in San Francisco. Most of the Black people here now know nothing positive of what it was like to walk and live amongst the greatness we had created there on Fillmore Street. Redevelopment viciously undermined and ripped Mrs. King’s fortune away. Her funeral is Friday, Feb. 13, 11 a.m., at Third Baptist Church, 1399 McAllister, the repast 4-7 p.m. at West Bay Conference Center, 1290 Fillmore St., San Francisco.

HELLO! BACK AT YOU in the year 2015; which promises to be busy – especially in Bayview Hunters Point, which will increase its population with opening of new housing, a phase of ALICE GRIFFITH, in the spring; later this year DR. GEORGE DAVIS SENIOR CAMPUS, on Third and Carroll; AND DEMOLITION of Candlestick Park Stadium, IN PROGRESS, to begin building a new community.

A cleanup worker at the decommissioned Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in southeast San Francisco is facing a rare life threatening cancer he believes is caused by his exposure to known toxins at the federal Superfund site. Diagnosed with a Peripheral T Cell Lymphoma, an aggressive high grade lymphoid malignancy with a five year survival rate of 32 percent, the worker has retained the high powered New York law firm Weitz & Luxenberg.

What has changed for the better for the Black community in and around the city? Does the City of San Francisco care about this group of disenchanted people who helped build this great city? Though the mayor heralded The City’s low unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, many Black men hearing the word “jobs” in San Francisco know better than to get too excited.

Civil law, intended to protect the vulnerable in our society, has been shown to be extremely effective at protecting the housing, property, family and employment rights of our neighbors when utilized. Sadly though, poor people in our society are almost never able to use the civil law to protect their rights. Simply put, this is because there aren’t enough trained lawyers available to help the poor, vulnerable and oppressed enforce their civil rights.

Politics at any level will never completely determine the faith of a community with enormous concerns regarding poor health service. San Francisco city government has known for too many years the need for funding breast cancer services and for more than seven years has failed to provide such services. Witnessing this service gap, a newly created group of women called Concerned Network of Women picked up the project.

OH, HAPPY DAY! It’s wonderful to receive one’s FLOWERS WHILE ONE CAN STILL SMELL THEM!!! Sister DOROTHY COOK, mesmerized by their fragrance, beautifully dressed in gold colored suit, matching hat, celebrated her 80th birthday in what was a magnificent BIRTHDAY musical in her honor at CORNERSTONE Missionary Baptist Church, located in the Bayview, corner Third and Paul, Saturday afternoon, Oct. 18.

On Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014, crowds in Clipper Cove bleachers cheered Chinese Dragon Boat races, completely unaware that, at that same moment, on the island’s far end, Treasure Island residents were suffering years of infrastructure collapse and being flooded out. While the Treasure Island Development Authority rakes in admission fees, it is taking no action to rebuild island infrastructure for current residents or protect them from the ravages on their health of flooding, mold and radiation.

From the moment the doors opened on the evening of Sept. 13, it was apparent that the honoring of our global African media would begin its night of empowerment with the tradition of honoring one of the community’s foremost elders. We celebrated the 82 years of life and struggle of Dr. Willie Ratcliff and Dr. Ratcliff’s 22 years of Black media ownership of the San Francisco Bay View newspaper. Black Media Appreciation Night 2014 was filled with wisdom, communication and the exchange of knowledge, as well as people receiving awards for life changing, revolutionary work.

Bayview Hunters Point Community Legal is hosting our first annual Summer Benefit Concert on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2-5 p.m., at 4100 Third St. Join us for a day of fun, music and community. We will have live performances from local musicians Alvin Jett and The Third Street Project, great food prepared by a neighborhood chef for sale and a silent auction with items donated by several local artisans and businesses, including Giants tickets!

In the summer of 1963, the KQED Film Unit invited author James Baldwin to investigate racism in San Francisco. Baldwin agreed to be filmed while he scrutinized the liberal, cosmopolitan image projected by the city. Before “Take This Hammer” was televised, KQED’s Board of Directors insisted that 15 minutes of footage had to be removed, which some felt portrayed race relations in an overly negative way.

In an effort to ensure every student starts school with the tools to succeed, the San Francisco Public Defender’s BMAGIC program will provide backpacks stuffed with school supplies to more than 3,000 youth in the Bayview on Saturday, Aug. 16. The BVHP Annual Back to School Celebration will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the recently renovated Youngblood Coleman Park, 1398 Hudson Ave.

After working vigilantly to protect her kids from asbestos by moving out of an asbestos-filled home in Bayview Hunters Point onto Treasure Island, Sandy Agee found she had literally jumped from the frying pan into the fire. At this writing, Sandy and two of her children are exhibiting worrisome physical symptoms they developed only after moving to the island. Sandy’s blood tests came back positive for “thyroid problems.”

Reclaiming Hilltop Park, better known as Sundial Park, as a neighborhood destination has been a long time coming. Through dedicated local advocacy, an active community of neighbors and productive partnerships, this park will finally be seeing a new life in Bayview Hunters Point. Come to the community meeting on Wednesday, July 30, 6-7:30 p.m., at the Joseph Lee Recreation Center, 1395 Mendell St.

Three years ago, on July 16, 2011, I awakened to the news that San Francisco police had killed my 19-year-old son, Kenneth Harding Jr., for allegedly evading a $2 bus fare. It’s hard when you’re trying to find out what happened to your child but no one will produce the facts that support the theory that he supposedly killed himself. The police put that message out and never backed it up, hoping to take away any sense of empathy. This month will be our 29th consecutive month of feeding the community at the very spot where Kenneth’s blood still stains the ground.

According to a recent report by the San Francisco Budget and Finance Committee, 76 percent of the funding from the City’s Grants for the Arts will go to arts organizations with primarily white audiences. In the fall of 2013 the Bayview Hunters Point Arts Council asked Bayview Hunters Point Community Legal to investigate grants made by the San Francisco Arts Commission that had been earmarked for local artists.

GOOD NEWS! Especially for VISITACION VALLEY and SUNNYDALE residents - the opening of GROCERY OUTLET Supermarket, located at old Bayshore and Sunnydale, across from the car wash. The T-Third Street Muni line ends at Sunnydale platform. May 1, the bargain market opened to much enthusiasm. Heard nothing but RAVE reviews. The store is independently owned by DEREK AND GINA NAVARRO, who live in Visitacion Valley.