Tag: pandemic

As the ugly truth about US suppression of, especially, Black people’s resistance to white supremacist slavery oppression increasingly educates the People, Ruchell Cinque Magee’s brilliant fight to free himself from decades-long wrongful incarceration as a US political prisoner highlights the compelling need for the People’s support for release.

The election is over – the work is not. What’s not working for Black and Brown people, and what’s killing them, is one long familiar list. And there’s the other list that continues to demand our devoted attention to change and build the world we deserve by loving and uplifting our ravaged communities through relentless action.

What is Section 3? Lin Robertson makes sure we know in detail about Section 3 because the HUD Section 3 New Hiring Requirements on public and affordable housing are slated to be removed in 2021. That’s very bad news for our low- and very low-income community members, and our communities at large.

Gov. Gavin Newsom talked like he cared about all Californians having affordable quality healthcare in his 2018 campaign. Unfortunately, even the COVID-19 pandemic hasn't moved the needle in Newsom's rhetoric as we see the healthcare options statistics are even more shameful than we might have realized.

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.

At San Quentin Prison on Saturday, Oct. 10, a demonstration and vigil hosted by No Justice Under Capitalism, California Prison Focus and KAGE Universal (Kings & Queens Against Genocidal Environments) will take place to celebrate the eighth anniversary of the Agreement to End Hostilities and recognize the ongoing history of prison resistance.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates the U.S. capitalist oppressive impact of legal modern slavery on Black communities and shines an even brighter light on the disproportionate distribution of wealth, privilege and opportunity in society.

Incarcerated people are vulnerable to severe illness due to COVID-19, and the pandemic is spreading rapidly in prisons, jails and detention centers because of lack of health care and adequate access to basic necessities, such as soap and disinfectant.

Voting is critical in this November 3, 2020 election, whether it’s a vote for or against a candidate or issue. “Tens of millions of registered voters did not cast a ballot in the 2016 presidential election, and the share who cited a ‘dislike of the candidates or campaign issues’ as their main reason for not participating reached a new high of 25 percent,” according to a Pew Research Center analysis of new Census Bureau data.

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.

People Power works. SF Sentencing Commission’s Safety and Justice Challenge Subcommittee, with city leaders, including representatives of the SF District Attorney and the SF Public Defender, released the first draft of the subcommittee’s final report on the successful completion of the operational plan to close County Jail 4.

Cutting public transportation is a racial unjust act against particularly Black and Brown and low income communities. Working people, students, people with disabilities and elderly folks depend on the public bus system as part of their daily lives and would be further disenfranchised without it.

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.

Prisoners at California’s largest prison, Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (SATF), cry out their fear of a re-enactment of the recent deaths at San Quentin from the imposed COVID-19 outbreak. Transfers into SATF are being made with egregious disregard for health and safety practices, coupled with continued historical institutional abuse and neglect.

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.

"We need a healthcare system that treats all workers and patients equally, and we need the state of California to make sure that all healthcare workers and patients – especially those inside correctional facilities – can be immediately tested for COVID-19." - Sal Rosselli, president of the National Union of Healthcare Workers

A killer like healthcare denial or scarcity is still free to claim lives and roam our neighborhoods in spite of all kinds of laws passed in the name of justice and equality.

Emmett Till, the Scottsboro Boys, the Central Park 5, and the list goes on. The ramifications of being falsely accused of a crime in America can be, and often have been, deadly for Black people.

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.”

Another star shines in the night sky. Ronnie Goodman passed away in early August this year. He died on the street, just after his 60th birthday, on the same corner where he’d been living for more than a year. We stood around waiting for the medical examiner to come and take him. The cops had put a sheet over him.