Tag: coronavirus

The prison industrial complex will continue to operate in its slave plantation manner until the We the People say NO MORE! We Are Our Own Liberators! – Jalil Muntaqim

Eric Martin, another partner with SF Bay View in keeping the conversation open inside and outside.

The US government’s designated threat honorably shines light on the path for when we decide it’s our turn.

Another look at the U.S. government’s imperialist relentless crush of genocide against the Navaho Nation, and all First Nations, illuminates the extreme challenges set before the Navaho people to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in the face of the government’s deliberate denial of resources and criminal neglect of the people.

It is notable that prisoner Steve McCain is caged in a prison still owning the name of the plantation it was built on, Eastham Plantation, meting out the same cruelty, disrespect and dehumanizing atrocities on prisoners as was perpetrated on the slaves before them, who originally cleared the land before the Civil War.

Discovered well after the unlawful practice of sterilization without consent, legislated in 1979 and enhanced in 2014 by SB1135, which specifically includes prisons in the eugenics ban, CDCR and BOP continue their practices of eugenics on unknowing, coerced and lied to incarcerated women and mothers – to this present day, in fact.

UCSF White Coats for Black Lives leaves no uncertainty how Gov. Gavin Newsom and his appointee, Kathleen Allison, are playing the shell game, toying with the lives of our elderly and infirmed caged community members, and all Californians. CDCr is exposing all of us to ravaging and likely death by COVID-19. Equally troubling is the mental torture of all prisoners, their families and loved ones.

Racism reaches its ugly tentacles into any crack available to it, as proven on multiple levels by the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the U.S. Forced to resort to technology with apps like Zoom to communicate with each other and enable some form of education for our children, it is increasingly evident that racism via “Zoombombing” against Black people has emerged nationwide.

We await release of imprisoned political leader Baba Jalil Muntaqim, hold honor for new ancestors, explore the road to reparations, bestow condemnations and congratulations on those who have earned such, reminder to Register and Vote, and wish for everyone safety and healing in the midst of capitalistic health rationing.

Kevin Cooper, still caged in San Quentin after 37 years, 35 years on Death Row, speaks with KPFA’s Flashpoints Dennis Bernstein in an exclusive in-depth interview. Cooper talks about simultaneously surviving Death Row and the COVID-19 pandemic, the blues and highlights the opportunity for Governor Gavin Newsom to order an Innocence Investigation, which will shine direct light on prosecutorial wrongdoings and new DNA evidence to support his innocence.

When we least expect it, trouble comes. “I came in contact with a door handle, now I got COVID-19. It’s bad enough my immune system is compromised. I have emphysema and I might not make it out of this.”

Mandatory quarantine is a requirement for all the prisoners who arrive here at USP Pollock and all prisoners who are preparing to leave – and that means me. I am soon to be released and on my way to San Francisco and transition into accepting the baton of editor of the San Francisco Bay View newspaper.

Before Warden Craig Koenig ordered a 3 a.m. raid on peaceful Black prisoners at Soledad State Prison, there were no active cases of COVID-19 in the entire facility. Koenig has bragged about his prison being coronavirus-free, which is probably part of the reason that he allowed a transfer of new prisoners into the facility on Aug. 6.

Just released by Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Shamann Walton is a report from the Human Rights Commission (HRC) quantifying the intention to redirect funding from the police department into the African-American community, with recommendations heard directly from community members, particularly those most impacted by systemic racism, through a process facilitated by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.

Open Letter to: Killer Mike, Cardi B, Kanye, Jay-Z, P-Diddy, Ludacris, 50 Cent and others: Greetings and solidarity to each of you. In recognition of your individual voice, influence and cultural following among current generations of Black people – Africans in the Diaspora and on the continent – we salute you.

The COVID-19 pandemic summer has changed society in ways that would not have been imaginable a year ago. One of the big adjustments that the Black community has to deal with is education, now that “distance learning” and “social distancing” has become the norm.

This pandemic should finally show us all that women deserve equal pay, as they are the main ones on the front lines. This pandemic should show us that our elderly should have better protection, not just from the government, but from the community and especially families. Our children deserve better protection. We are all paying a price for not valuing ALL human life.

Rebellions, protests and racial tension have consumed the COVID-19 summer of 2020 following the police executions of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. The San Francisco Black Film Festival (SFBFF.org) film selection “American Dream” presents a relevant 19-minute short by French born filmmakers Nicolas Polixene and Sylvain Loubet dit Gajol.

A group of Black Soledad prisoners document and denounce the violent and racist attacks by white guards against them and issue various calls to action!

200+ exclusively Black prisoners were brutally assaulted under Soledad State Prison Warden Craig Koenig’s command at 3 a.m. Monday – Tuesday Koenig reacted with a massive excuse binge after receiving numerous emails from the angry wives about their brutalized loved ones.