Tag: COVID

Keidra’s first trip to Ghana inspires her return this December to make the Oakland 2 Accra Connection with music, heart and humanity.

Stay enlightened with Baba Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at sharing new transitions, remembrances, congratulations, celebrations, victories and heads-up new and ongoing actions.

Double punch to the solar plexis – Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp. moves to evict, ignoring the SF eviction moratorium and denying supportive resources to Black family.

The beauty of Romaine 'Chip' Fitzgerald is the essence of his humanity, transitioned to the realm of the Ancestors while leaving a rich legacy and clear message with us to fight the good fight knowing that the oppressors can neither jail nor shackle the spirit of liberation. Every day is a victory.

As the penal systems continues to use all efforts to maintain its power over Black, Brown and poor people, weaponizing all available opportunities like the COVID-19 pandemic, civil rights attorney Yolanda Huang exposes the audacity of the San Francisco County Sheriff’s Department and the City and County of San Francisco to appeal a magistrate judge’s order to provide fresh air and sunlight to prisoners.

Under contract with San Francisco, the historic Compton’s Cafeteria, now signed as 111 Taylor St. Apartments, has been operating as a private prison aka halfway house run by the multi-billion-dollar multinational corporation GEO Group, which like the ICE detention centers GEO runs, has been infested with COVID-19 due to deliberate indifference to the wellbeing of those under their thumb.

When the system begins to crumble all sorts of unimaginable tactics are employed by the elite to stave off the inevitable. The capitalist patriarchy uses any and every weapon at their disposal to keep control of that which is wriggling out of its grasp. This is what change looks like.

Joey Villarreal survived the SHU, Pelican Bay’s “torture cell”, finally came home to his community and has been building a life which nurtures his talents and inspires his community. Unjustly arrested and incarcerated again, his community rallied, raised exorbitant bail and succeeded in bringing their beloved son, father, brother, grandfather and friend home, again.

This election has led to a crossroads and COVID-19 has highlighted that our choices can lead to suffering or liberation. By reflecting on the journeys of some of those who have gone before like Harriet Tubman, Dr. Martin and Coretta King, Elijah and Clara Muhammad and recently, Colin Kaepernick, we can take our own journey and vote because it matters.

Oakland in the ‘80s and ‘90s blessed us with the likes of Tony, Toni, Tone, young MC Hammer, Digital Underground, Too Short and Dawn Robinson of En Vogue, just to name a few, at a time when there were only a few home studios. Joe Capers, aka Blind Joe, a blind musician and producer, was one of the creators of the sounds of the Oakland music scene in the 1980s and early 1990s.

The silver lining is always part of a disaster or tragedy – even the COVID-19 pandemic. Many have experienced this phenomenon with the emergence of innovation, new Black businesses, and new business leaders popping up as the silver lining of the 2020 shelter in place.

I was startled momentarily while driving down International and 87th Ave as I noticed a mural being drawn on the opposite side of the block from the East Bay Dragons Motorcycle Clubhouse. The faces of Marcus Garvey, Huey P. Newton, Malcolm X and others were being painted back to life.

Homeless rights activist Nino Brown lives in a homeless encampment at Lake Merritt. He worries about a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic brewing in Oakland. Most scientists would agree that Brown describes a perfect condition for incubating a pandemic.

“Thanks to you guys, I got to eat today. I didn’t know where I was going to sleep tonight. The park is comfortable and quiet, and we don’t have no drama. It’s peaceful. This community right here, we’re great. I feel real safe.”