Kinetik speaks: ‘In segregation or on the yard, the message is the same – SLAVERY MUST END’

In conjunction with our formal introduction of Free Alabama Movement to the world, I spoke of “a flicker becoming a flame.” And, the threat of that flame blazing into a wildfire for change. To be in balance with the Universal Order, myself and hundreds of men confined within the Alabama DOC decided to become the change we wanted to see. From ‘14 throughout ‘15 and ‘16 we worked, tirelessly, fanning that flicker – networking, mobilizing, organizing and educating – into a flame.

MOVE member Debbie Africa released

In the early morning of June 16, after nearly 40 years of unjust imprisonment by the state of Pennsylvania, political prisoner and MOVE 9 member Debbie Sims Africa was granted parole and released from the State Correctional Institution-Cambridge Springs. Messaging on Instagram, the MOVE Organization wrote: “Our sister Debbie Africa is FREE! What a beautiful day to find freedom! Let’s keep fighting for our bros and sisters still behind bars — Mike [Sr.], Eddie, Chuck, Janet, Janine and Delbert! The struggle is underway!” This important victory comes exactly two years after Debbie, Janet and Janine Africa were last denied parole in 2016.

Alabama’s mistreatment of prisoners with mental illness has led to a dramatic increase in suicides

Since the beginning of 2018, four people in ADOC custody – three in solitary confinement and one on death row – have died by suicide. The suicide rate in Alabama prisons is one of the highest in the country. In June 2017, U.S. District Judge Myron H. Thompson declared the mental health system in Alabama prisons “horrendously inadequate,” an unconstitutional failure that led to what Thompson called a “skyrocketing suicide rate” among prisoners.

The rich go free and the poor get LWOP

I am speaking to how I personally feel about the disparity in justice for the rich and the poor, the people who have friends and family that are willing to fight and those who don’t and who are left with no voice. I have been all alone in my fight for freedom some 30 or so years. I have no family who speaks out, I was too young to have friends and the few that I do have now are ones that I have met since my incarceration.

SHU-shifting redux: Plaintiffs in Ashker v. Brown seek relief from ongoing isolation

As the San Francisco BayView goes to press, a critical ruling is soon expected in Ashker v. Brown (aka Ashker v. Governor, Docket No. 4:09-cv-09-5796 CW (N.D. Cal.)), the federal class-action lawsuit challenging indefinite solitary confinement in California. The anticipated ruling concerns Plaintiffs’ motion challenging the ongoing conditions of extreme isolation endured by many class members.

From CPS to ICE, the Separation Nation didn’t begin with these incarcerated babies

The violent Separation Nation didn’t begin with this generation — with these babies — or their incarceration — The Separation Nation began with the theft of Turtle Island — and the humans who lived here and thrived on it. As we grieve, show up, demand and scream for the freedom of these incarcerated babies, please don’t get confused by the blur of this present genocidal history. Take a refresher course with me through the violent herstories that built this stolen land – and continue to assist in the realization and manifestation of the most important aspects of what I call the Separation Nation.

Part Two: The making of a Treasure Island whistleblower

I was born on July 11, 1954. My brother Charles was born on July 17. We’re cancers. We’re tough. He’s older than I am. He’s an Irish twin. We’re the same age for six days. I was born in a Kansas City hospital – County Hospital Number Two – a segregated hospital. Hospital Number One was for white people. Hospital Two was for Black people. Kansas was a border state. They didn’t have slaves, but they didn’t like Black people.

Stop the heartless racism on the border: Make justice and decency prevail in our nation

As both the political left and right decry the heartless immigration policy that is separating children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border, the white evangelical community is proving once again to be the taillight instead of the headline on issues of basic morality and justice. This is not the first time in U.S. history when those among us who most loudly cite from the Bible outright ignore or deny humanitarian crises.

Truth tribunal for the poisoned and exploited residents of Treasure Island today, 5:30, before Tetra Tech RAB meeting

Join us today, June 19, at Building One, Treasure Island, at 5:30 to speak at a Tribunal holding bad actors Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Nancy Pelosi to account for their RICO crimes. The Tribunal is being held just before the 7:00 p.m. RAB meeting, where speakers will talk to the Navy and the RAB members. Looking forward to seeing you today.

The organized poor: Poor People’s March on Washington and HUD in honor of Dr. King’s March on Washington

“We are surrounded by Black cops,” said Leroy Moore, with POOR Magazine and Krip Hop Nation, about the 15 Black cops who surrounded us houseless and formerly houseless mamas, uncles, children and elders from the Poor People’s March when we walked humbly into the Washington, D.C., office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to demand our housing back. “We are here to meet with Ben Carson,” we all said.

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Amerikkka was built on busting up families …

Bottom of the boat — rocking, rolling, thrashing — Violently – the quaking black — hole now her life. She had — No idea where she was — on the awful ocean, — Traveling shackled for — thousands of miles; — belly beginning to bulge —
with the baby of her rum-reeking rapist and his — “Zero Tolerance” policy — for — tears… — She would bear four more for — a ‘Master,’ who’d sell her — to the West Virginian wanting — her in the worst way –

The joys, and CRIMES, of Juneteenth

As WE commemorate Juneteenth Freedom Day(s) again this year, it is always necessary to OVERstand the real Lessons in the Blessings (as my beloved God-Mother ELIZABETH ELIZANN OAKS-ARMSTRONG would often say). While Juneteenth is possibly the oldest and largest commemoration of the “official” ending of the murderous war of enslavement, many of our people have never grasped its true origins and significance.

Sickle cell disease hits young Californians hard

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited blood disorder that can cause pain, anemia, infection and other serious health problems. As young people living with sickle cell disease (SCD) age, their health care needs change. This World Sickle Cell Day, observed each year on June 19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are providing special support to young adults living with SCD.

Wolfpack Gunshot Response Team: Out of the projects come the saviors of their hood

It was a historic day in April when a team of young people completed their training to take on the job of saving their hood in Cleveland, Ohio. Four young adults ranging from 19-29 became the first civilian gunshot response team in Ohio history. Not to mention they are African American and from the projects. Breniesha Lightfoot, DeAndre “Boss Hog” Glover and Belton Sanders, along with local activist and Washington, D.C., native Suncere Ali Shakur, make up the Wolfpack Gunshot Response Team of Cleveland. Our job is to stop the bleeding from wounds for the first 5-10 minutes until EMS arrives.

Dorris Vincent presents SFHDC Power of Words award to Ratcliffs

The most elegant event we’ve ever attended was the San Francisco Housing Development Corp.’s 30th Anniversary Gala at the wondrous California Academy of Sciences – yes, guests could see the exhibits! – on Friday, May 11. We, Dr. Willlie and Mary Ratcliff, were invited to accept the Power of Words award, and we were thrilled to be presented it by SFHDC Board Member Dorris Vincent, an old friend and a pillar of the Bayview Hunters Point community. These are her remarks: