It’s been a long, loud election season; let’s end it right by VOTING 100% as the oldtimers used to say. If you can’t vote the top of the ticket, elect these bright, young Black candidates. For the Nov. 8 election, weekend voting at City Hall began Oct. 29, and on Election Day, polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. You can take this guide into the voting booth. To learn more, visit sfgov.org/elections or call 415- 554-4375.
On Labor Day here at the William P. Clements Unit, a prison in remote Amarillo, Texas, the prisoners awoke to a late breakfast: a single PBJ sandwich, a small bowl of dry cereal and no beverage. This grossly inadequate meal, which is our common fare during institution-wide lockdowns, signaled that a weeks- or months-long lockdown was in effect. Hunger pangs set in almost immediately.
Sept. 9, 2016, was the start of the largest prison strike in U.S. history. Over 72,000 incarcerated workers in 22 states refused to provide their labor to profit the prison industrial complex. California forces 5,588 incarcerated workers to labor in exchange for little or no compensation. Another 4,000 earn $2 a day fighting Californian wildfires with inadequate training and equipment. The prison system in California reaped $207 million in revenue and $58 million in profit from forced labor in 2014-15.
My journey began in the mid-1980s, when folks in my community began to hear about a “supermax” prison that would be built in nearby Crescent City, California. At that time, my colleague Tom Cairns and Mike Da Bronx, my husband, and me were busy at KHSU producing a weekly radio show called Alternative Review. In 1990, I would get one of the first letters from that place, Pelican Bay State Prison. It came from a young man named Troy Williams. He liked my radio show.
Nearly a thousand subscribers to the Bay View newspaper were denied their September papers – and we suspect their October papers as well – because of its coverage of the nationwide strikes to end prison slavery that began Sept. 9. Prison officials censoring the paper claim it will incite disruption. Like claims that someone being beaten by a gang of cops is “resisting,” the Bay View is “disrupting” prison operations.
In a number of prisons around the country, the September Bay View was banned, and we suspect the October paper will be too. If your paper was denied, the prison is required to give you and the Bay View a notice saying why banning the Bay View is constitutional, allowing you and us to appeal that decision. So the first step is to insist on a notice and then appeal it; so will we. Here is George Rahsaan Brooks’ appeal. We think he’ll win, just as he did before.
Multiple Bay Area cities have been slapped with multi-million dollar claims for the abuse that took place in their back yards. Jasmine Abuslin, formerly known as Celeste Guap, has come back swinging with a fusillade of abuse, neglect and modern day sex slavery claims against Bay Area police officers. Officers from several Bay Area cities have been charged with sexual misconduct, but most are retired. What about those still actively patrolling the streets and victimizing young girls?
Video footage from the police cruiser where Black Lives Matter protester Tynan Krakoff was taken into custody is raising questions about Columbus police tactics and why he was targeted for arrest. Krakoff is a lead organizer in the Columbus chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice, a national organization of white people who fight against racial injustice. He returned to Columbus, Ohio, his home town, last year after years of activism in the Bay Area.
With Covered California’s three-month open-enrollment period beginning Nov.1, it’s a great time to shop for the best fit for your health coverage. During open enrollment, which runs through Jan. 31, consumers can choose among 11 name-brand health insurance plans that offer high-quality and affordable coverage. Here are some helpful tips.
Booms and bangs shatter eardrums, and the shuffling of many feet sparks fear among neighbors. A young mother, Paula Clarke, and her two daughters, are rudely awakened by these early morning sounds and noises. “I thought that [it was] terrorism, nothing else,” Clarke later told a reporter. In a way, it was. But it was state terrorism, where dozens of cops invaded public housing projects – as if it was a foreign country. Why? They were searching for members of gangs, they said.
“Due to the multitude of lies and stereotypes that permeate our capitalist society about poor people and people of color, we all have collectively bought into the idea that we need to call 911 to be safe,” said Jeremy Miller, organizer and revolutionary family member of POOR Magazine and Idriss Stelley Foundation and co-organizer of the recent How to Not Call the Police EVER workshop.
The 50th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party Conference, Oct. 20-23, held at the Oakland Museum of California and in Bobby Hutton Grove at deFremery Park, was a huge success. To see the Vanguards of the Revolution saluted in such elegant surroundings at the banquet Saturday evening was certainly a fitting tribute to the legacy their lives concretely represent. Hats off to the committee that organized the conference.
In a recent article entitled “We don’t heel, we kneel,” I wrote about the importance of supporting Colin Kaepernick as he endeavors to draw attention to the systemic racism, oppression and police terror that Black folks in this country are subjected to. It took a little time for people to engage in the act of “taking a knee,” but one by one they got on board. Now that people are following Kap’s lead, the objective is to get them to put their money where their knee is.
Ranger Rik Penn and historian John William Templeton led a tour of the Buffalo Soldier Historical Trail on Oct. 22 with Los Banos as the destination for the dedication of a mural by the Los Banos Chamber of Commerce marking where the 9th Cavalry and 24th Infantry camped on their way to duty protecting Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.
Overcoming the foster care system is a lifelong struggle. After emancipating from the system, many youth are left to live on the streets. Zimbabwe Davis understands the struggles foster and former foster youth experience. He went from having all these challenges to becoming a champion, all while fighting to overcome the foster care system. I sat down with Zimbabwe to understand why he decided to create this dynamic film, and this is what he had to say …
Looking back at the Black Panther Party is like looking at a large landscape of people, locations and events in time and space. For me, that time was between the years 1966 and 1974. As memory fades increasingly with age, I won’t try to document in detail specifics such as the names of people and the exact dates of events. However, I do remember working with some of the most dynamic, resourceful and dedicated community organizers on the planet.
