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*** Please spread far and wide ***SFBayView: No justice, no peace! Nadra Foster, Oscar Grant
If you hurry – and if you’re in the Bay Area – you can still make the Nadra Foster benefit tonight, beginning at 7 p.m., at La Peña, 3150 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. Great speakers, performers and fellowship. Nadra Foster is the KPFA programmer – an apprentice and then a volunteer for a dozen years, known and loved by all – who was brutally arrested Aug. 20 inside the station after KPFA and Pacifica management called the police to kick her out for xeroxing some worksheets for her young daughters and using the phone to call for a ride home. The police over-reacted, to put it mildly, as they always do when their target is young and Black. Come out and lend Nadra your love and support.
And tomorrow is the next major gathering of forces warning “No justice, no peace” until justice is won for Oscar Grant, the young Black father executed by police on a BART platform on his way home from celebrating the New Year. The ‘Town Bizness’ Town Hall Meeting on Oscar Grant, 6 p.m. at the legendary Black Dot Cafe, 1195 Pine St. in West Oakland, is hosted by POCC Minister of Information JR and Marcel Diallo, proprietor of the Black Dot. This is the meeting where the streets come together with the community to discuss police terrorism in the Bay Area and in the case of Oscar Grant.
“No justice, no peace” – now’s the time to turn up the volume. Presiding over federal policy is a man who, in his first two days in the Oval Office, has announced no tolerance for torture and wrongful detention. We need to bring that message home to every mayor, police chief, district attorney and warden here at home: NO MORE POLICE, PROSECUTORIAL OR PRISON TERROR! One of the latest victims of the latter is revered political prisoner Leonard Peltier, now an old man in terrible health who was severely beaten this week. I’ll post a story shortly.
Here’s some good reading and watching to spur you on as you organize to make the progress that’s been thwarted for decades – to win the freedom for which Martin and Malcolm and our political prisoners sacrificed their lives. Please don’t keep your favorite stories to yourself; email and comment on them, digg ‘em, buzz ‘em up and post them on your blog. And whenever you stop by www.sfbayview.com, check the Calendar of Events, meet a Pen Pal (both on the left side of your screen), check the Classifieds (top right on your screen) and use the search engine to find any stories you’ve missed. Searching for “Nadra Foster” and “Oscar Grant” will bring you a wealth of info and motivation.
The next monthly Bay View in print will hit the streets Jan. 30. Email your ads and stories by the 25th. Have a question or concern? Call (415) 671-0789 any time.
Here are the stories and videos posted to www.sfbayview.com since the last alert on Jan. 13:
There’s a riot going on
Rev. Al Sharpton’s Keepin’ it Real show today had JR of the Block Report on talking about the murder of Oscar Grant by Oakland’s Bay Area Rapid Transit police and the rebellious aftermath.
Authorities and corporate media grossly exaggerate Oakland ‘riot’ reports
The report that went around the world was that over 300 businesses were destroyed; the actual damage was 40-45 windows smashed and a couple of dozen garbage cans thrown into the streets.
Lawyers Guild applauds arrest of Officer Mehserle, Oscar Grant’s executioner, and calls for protection of protesters’ rights
The National Lawyers Guild calls upon BART, Oakland and Alameda County officials to recognize that their shameful response to Oscar Grant’s murder fueled the street protests.
Police accountability law might have prevented execution of Oscar Grant
Political remedies to hold police more accountable for outrageous acts such as the shooting death of an African-American youth here on New Year’s Day have been blocked by even supposedly “sympathetic” Democratic Party politicians.
Legal lynching: The blatant, boastful murder of Oscar Grant
The execution of Oscar Grant was a painful reminder of the “legal lynchings” that have been taking place for centuries.
The smothering of the Oscar Grant movement
Young people risked their freedom to rebel in the streets. Let me remind you that it was the rebellion and threat of another one that got the cop arrested.
March for Justice for Oscar Grant III
Mayor Dellums decided to look to law enforcement as a model for healing the community in 2007. Today, we are still at war, our youth the casualties of this war.
‘The Other America’
“The Other America” by Martin Luther King Jr. “is a chilling, troubled speech made with the background of urban riots, pleas for Black Power and the Vietnam War.” - Ishmael Reed
State of the Dream 2009: The Silent Depression
The current economic crisis requires more than a color-blind stimulus. It demands a complete economic restructuring that addresses the racial wealth divide.
Dr. King shows us the way to end poverty in America
The Gulf Coast Civic Works Act to fund “green” resident-led recovery projects is inspired by Dr. King’s proposal for ending poverty: a public works New Deal-like program assuring full employment.
Newly released NYPD data shows shocking disparity in stop-and-frisks
From 2005 to 2008, approximately 80 percent of NYPD’s total stops made were of Blacks and Latinos, who are more likely to have physical force used against them than Whites.
‘What I want for you — and every child in America’
I am grateful every day for your patience, poise, grace and humor as we prepare to start our new life together in the White House.
U.S. police could get ‘pain beam’ weapons
The research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice is working on two portable non-lethal weapons that inflict pain from a distance using beams of laser light or microwaves, with the intention of putting them into the hands of police to subdue suspects.
Wanda’s Picks for Jan. 16
Theme for the week: “Martin King to Barack Obama, from ‘I Have a Dream’ to ‘Yes, We Can.’”
Israel’s attack on an entrapped population: A 21st century war crime?
The use of the internationally banned substance white phosphorus in highly densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip gives new meaning to the phrase “white power.”
On the 48th anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Emery Lumumba
The Congolese people continue to suffer staggering casualties in the ongoing African holocaust, which has cost between 5 and 6 million Congolese lives since 1996, and which continues to cost 45,000 lives a month.
Why we have to look back
This week, Congressman John Conyers released “Reining in the Imperial Presidency,” a 486-page report detailing the abuses and excesses of the Bush administration and recommending steps to address them.
A new storm against imperialism
‘On behalf of the Chinese people, I hereby express resolute support for the just struggle of the Black people in the United States,’ said Mao, as rebellions following the assassination of Martin Luther King set 100 U.S. cities on fire.
President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address
President Barack Obama delivers his Inaugural Address on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2009 - see the videos, photos and transcript.
No more excuses
Who among us - especially those of my generation - ever dared believe that an American of African heritage would ascend to the highest office in the land in our lifetime?
Obama’s cross to bear
We arrived in Palestine on Jan. 2, the fourth day of the attacks on Gaza and the day after the murder of Oscar Grant III by the subway police in Oakland.
A ‘police state’ celebrates
The Israeli government is stepping up efforts to suppress dissent and crush resistance in the streets.
Rev. Joseph Lowery’s inaugural benediction – video and transcript
Lord, help us work for that day when Black will not be asked to get in back, when Brown can stick around, when Yellow will be mellow, when the Red man can get ahead, man; and when White will embrace what is right.
Everyday people witness an extraordinary inauguration
“This historic occasion is merely the tip of the iceberg. Yet unseen but soon to surface is the debunking of a global culture of supremacy that assumes or guarantees the authority of European principles, practices, preferences and privilege,” said Dr. Tascoe.
Mary Ratcliff, editor@sfbayview.com
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