News & Views
An open letter to presidential candidates on voting rights
When Brianna Ross was 19, she was convicted of a felony for stealing diapers for her son. At her sentencing hearing, a judge told Ross that she’d face a lifelong punishment for her mistake: She would never be allowed to vote.
‘It’s not the drug, it’s the structure’: Mixing Black, gay, HIV+...
“People use drugs, and are at the risk for the harms related to drug use, oftentimes because of a severe lack of access to resources."
National Lawyers Guild echoes smear campaign against Julian Assange
Assange was a hero to the Guild when he exposed Bush’s war crimes but is now vilified because he’s seen as hurting Clinton. The Guild is subordinating its principles for partisan electoral considerations, which means political differences.
Assange is not a journalist (if journalists are shameless propagandists for...
Prosecuting and convicting Assange for the crime of possessing and publishing classified material would establish a precedent for convicting any journalist, media outlet, or citizen who publishes, republishes, cites, quotes, or even tweets classified material.
Community speaks on Kevin Epps being denied bail for the second...
The Peoples Minister of Information JR speaks with the community at the May 20, 2019, bail hearing for Kevin Epps in San Francisco Superior Court, the second hearing thus far.
Mumia: Wars against Assange
The intrepid journalist and author Glenn Grenwald, in his 2014 work, “No Place to Hide” (Metropolitan Books: NY), offers a damning portrait of the U.S. media, so long trained to worship at the altars of power, as agents of first attack against those journalists who dare to question or expose imperial edicts or escapades.
The debts we owe Haitians
Even though Haitians shed blood for American independence, the United States in its foreign policy has always held a deep-seated hostility towards Haiti, despite statements to the contrary.
Behind Enemy Lines
Veronza Bowers again denied parole
Veronza Bowers, now 73, a former Black Panther who has proclaimed his innocence during 46 years of incarceration, has just learned that once again he has been denied parole.
Comrade Malik in Texas forges strong solidarity with the POW Movement...
A major goal of prison activists in North Carolina in recent years is to stop the funneling of youth under 18...
How can I satisfy the Parole Board I’m no longer a...
I am hoping someone out there will help sponsor me. I need funds for my art supplies, which are not cheap, as well as my other needs. I discovered my talent for painting while in prison. Now it is my new passion! I paint in watercolor, acrylic and colored pencil. I am looking to find a way to sell my artwork. Please, if it speaks to your heart, help me to help myself!
Allowing prisoners to vote would reform America’s outdated prison policies
Felony disenfranchisement is a symptom left behind from Jim Crow. The rights of formerly enslaved Africans were tweaked, trimmed and stripped throughout the Jim Crow era.
The criminal justice system is not broken – it is ruthlessly...
It is daunting to acknowledge, but this country’s competitive criminal justice system offers sad testimony not to a broken American criminal justice system, but to one that is ruthlessly effective. The criminal justice system, as it stands now, based on winners and losers, is working – wrongful convictions and all.
Culture Currents
‘The United States of Paranoia’
The 15-minute political satirical comedy, “The United States of Paranoia,” by writer and director Rashan Castro is one of the crown jewels of the San Francisco Black Film Festival this year. Halfway through and thousands of police shootings and racial attacks into the Trump presidency, this film could not have picked a more relevant time to debut.
Live music, dancing nuns, singing bandits in ‘Sister Act, the Musical’...
Theatre Rhinoceros, the longest running LGBT theatre anywhere, has a winner on its hands with “Sister Act, the Musical,” directed by Aejay Mitchell, who also choreographed the work, musical direction by Tammy Hall. The run is a short three weeks, Wednesday-Saturday, 8 p.m., Saturday, also 3 p.m., through June 1, 2019, at the Gateway Theatre, 215 Jackson St., San Francisco.
Diane Barnes’ ‘My Stroke of Luck’ back at the Marsh through...
Single mother doing all the right things for her boys, Dr. Diane Barnes has a stroke. She does not realize how it has affected her sons. Mom is just back, but she is not the mom her boys know.
Gritty City Youth Theatre presents Shakespeare’s ‘Taming of the Shrew’ May...
The genius in this marvelous production is the way, despite its theology, alternative spiritual systems have their creative way evident in the dance – tango – in culture – Yoruba – and creative soundtrack. Gritty City trains as an ensemble, developing relationships among each other that make it possible for the deep dives and swims along chilly terrain.
‘Far, Far Better Things’ playing through May 19 at Live Oak...
It is easy to become what you know, so easy. What’s difficult is resisting. Unresolved trauma haunts the gene pool. A son, Josh (actor Yohana Ansari-Thomas) witnesses his mother’s murder or its aftermath – Dad’s bloody shirt and subsequent kidnapping of the children until he is captured. This same boy, now man, still has unresolved memories of that day when his mom was shot and the housekeeper “stood there and did nothing.”
Recent
Veronza Bowers, now 73, a former Black Panther who has proclaimed his innocence during 46 years of incarceration, has just learned that once again he has been denied parole.
A major goal of prison activists in North Carolina in recent years is to stop the funneling of youth under 18 into adult prisons, where they are more likely to be raped and to commit suicide.
Time for all Amerika’s
prisoners to rise...
I am hoping someone out there will help sponsor me. I need funds for my art supplies, which are not cheap, as well as my other needs. I discovered my talent for painting while in prison. Now it is my new passion! I paint in watercolor, acrylic and colored pencil. I am looking to find a way to sell my artwork. Please, if it speaks to your heart, help me to help myself!
When Brianna Ross was 19, she was convicted of a felony for stealing diapers for her son. At her sentencing hearing, a judge told Ross that she’d face a lifelong punishment for her mistake: She would never be allowed to vote.
Felony disenfranchisement is a symptom left behind from Jim Crow. The rights of formerly enslaved Africans were tweaked, trimmed and stripped throughout the Jim Crow era.
It is daunting to acknowledge, but this country’s competitive criminal justice system offers sad testimony not to a broken American criminal justice system, but to one that is ruthlessly effective. The criminal justice system, as it stands now, based on winners and losers, is working – wrongful convictions and all.
“People use drugs, and are at the risk for the harms related to drug use, oftentimes because of a severe lack of access to resources."
Assange was a hero to the Guild when he exposed Bush’s war crimes but is now vilified because he’s seen as hurting Clinton. The Guild is subordinating its principles for partisan electoral considerations, which means political differences.
Prosecuting and convicting Assange for the crime of possessing and publishing classified material would establish a precedent for convicting any journalist, media outlet, or citizen who publishes, republishes, cites, quotes, or even tweets classified material.
My revolution begins by supporting the Bay View with a paid subscription, spreading the word about the Bay View newspaper and reading the Bay View!
The 15-minute political satirical comedy, “The United States of Paranoia,” by writer and director Rashan Castro is one of the crown jewels of the San Francisco Black Film Festival this year. Halfway through and thousands of police shootings and racial attacks into the Trump presidency, this film could not have picked a more relevant time to debut.
The Peoples Minister of Information JR speaks with the community at the May 20, 2019, bail hearing for Kevin Epps in San Francisco Superior Court, the second hearing thus far.
The intrepid journalist and author Glenn Grenwald, in his 2014 work, “No Place to Hide” (Metropolitan Books: NY), offers a damning portrait of the U.S. media, so long trained to worship at the altars of power, as agents of first attack against those journalists who dare to question or expose imperial edicts or escapades.
We’re gonna fight back against these fascist pigs! Wherever there is oppression, racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia or hatred of women, we are going to collectively confront that!
Even though Haitians shed blood for American independence, the United States in its foreign policy has always held a deep-seated hostility towards Haiti, despite statements to the contrary.
SAN FRANCISCO BLACK FILM FESTIVAL