Tag: COVID-19 crisis

Wealth and Disparities in the Black Community founder Phelicia Jones and Sistahs4JustUs have been, and will continue to be, a lifeline with focused effort to the community of Bayview Hunters Point providing crucial aid and necessities during the COVID-19 crises and beyond in dedicated humanity to care for those disproportionately left out.

Todd Ashker honors the prisoner class on the inside and supporters on the outside as the unstoppable force, standing strong and speaking truth to power in the work for human rights and dignity, and brings forward the collective committed voices of the three massive Hunger Strikes, the Ashker, et al., Class Action Settlement Agreement, and the Agreement to End Hostilities, all of which lead to the next steps in the ongoing struggle.

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.

Like asking prisoners to shovel the dirt for their own graves, Gov. Newsom and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s moral and criminal neglect, Eighth Amendment violations, incompetence and malfeasance has now inspired the Governor and CDCR to coerce prisoner victims into accepting blame for the inhumanity of their oppressors.

Fourteen years ago, the Bill and Melinda Gates and Rockefeller Foundations launched the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) with the stated goal of doubling productivity and incomes by 2020 for 30 million small-scale farming households while reducing food insecurity by half in 20 countries. Just published, “False Promises: The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA),” concludes that the number of Africans suffering extreme hunger has increased by 30 percent in the 13 countries that AGRA eventually focused on.

Some minority-owned small businesses applied for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) by the initial March 31, 2020, deadline and again thereafter. The EIDL program was intended to provide working capital to small businesses – apparently not exclusively – with funding of up to $2 million, including an immediate $10,000 advance within a few days after applications were submitted to the Small Business Administration (SBA).

For those in positions of power in this state who, for whatever reasons, choose to ignore public calls and demands for change, know that united grassroot forces will seize every opportunity to SHOUT OUT LOUD that reforms are a dire necessity.

Since my last column, more resources have become available for families who need medical care, including telehealth visits with their doctor or mental health care. In addition, there are more places you can turn to if you need help with education, food, healthcare, housing, loans, rental or mortgage assistance, immigration and other issues during the pandemic. Here’s a short-list of resources to check out:

Sacramento – The Opportunity for All Coalition supporting ACA 5, Assemblymember Dr. Shirley Weber’s bill to allow voters an opportunity to restore affirmative action and equal opportunity in California, applauds the bipartisan approval of the bill by the Assembly’s Public Employment and Retirement Committee. ACA 5 will now be referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Does California have a “legacy of unequal treatment” of minorities and women? That’s language from Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5 (ACA-5) introduced by Assemblymember Dr. Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, and Assemblymember Mike Gipson, D-Carson.