by JR Valrey, the People’s Minister of Information

When many people think of resistance, they think of guns. Some think of organizing. But outside of the organizing community, very few would consider using culture as a weapon, in the spirit of artists like Gil Scott-Heron, The Watts Prophets, The Last Poets, Miriam Makeba, Bob Marley, Fela Kuti, 2Pac, the Coup, Dead Prez and Lauryn Hill. The great Guinea-Bissau revolutionary Amilcar Cabral once said that you can see how ripe a people are for revolution by comparing how similar their culture is to that of the oppressor.

Obi Egbuna Jr. of the Zimbabwe-Cuban Friendship Association has been organizing internationally in support of resistance movements and revolutionary governments for decades. The most recent project that he organized is called “Kotelemela Bolingo,” which means “Resistance and Love” in the Lingala Congolese language. It is a music project — given away for free — dedicated to the late freedom fighter and political exile Assata Shakur of the Black Liberation Army and Black Panther Party, and Pauline Lumumba, the wife of the assassinated first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the late great Patrice Lumumba. The album features legendary artists like Oakland’s Numskull of the Luniz, L.A.’s Ras Kass, and the DMV’s Mumu Fresh, as well as many talented up-and-coming artists from around the world. 

You can hear part of the compilation here: Kotelemela Bolingo (Full Album; Vol. 1)

JR Valrey: Who is the Zimbabwe-Cuban Friendship Association? What is its history? What is your relationship with the organization?

Obi Egbuna Jr.: ZICUFA is an organizational vehicle whose aim is to maintain the solidarity and camaraderie between Zimbabweans and Cubans on a people-to-people level.

Traditionally speaking, revolutions start from the bottom to the top. Therefore, while the ruling parties and leadership of both nations have a strong and unbreakable bond, these friendship associations are the reason Cuba’s people and revolution are truly revered throughout Mother Africa. This dynamic is on full display, especially in Mother Africa’s southern region. 

In 1985, Cuba bestowed the late Zimbabwean president and Pan-African revolutionary icon Robert Gabriel Mugabe with the Jose Marti Award, Cuba’s highest honor, one year after the youthful, dynamic Pan-African phenom and president of Burkina Faso, Thomas Sankara, was a recipient. When I learned this, it became abundantly clear that certain elements who have written about Cuba’s ties to Africa have allowed subjectivity to affect their better judgment. Too often, they reduce Cuba-African relations to Madiba Nelson Mandela receiving the Marti Award and Cuba’s heroic guerilla mission in Angola. Those who choose to peddle this narrative, historically speaking, leave a lot of meat on the bone.

In 1986, Comandante Fidel Castro visited Zimbabwe for the Non-Aligned Movement conference. I remember the twinkle in the eyes of the late Dr. Nathan Shamuyarira, Zimbabwe’s first foreign minister and national hero, fondly reflecting on this moment in history. Dr. Shamuyarira said Comandante Fidel Castro was going back and forth from the NAM conference to the Cuban Embassy because he was sending instructions to Cuba’s fighting forces in Angola. Somehow, between this rigorous schedule, the Comandante took the opportunity to visit schools in Zimbabwe, which resulted in an agreement with President Mugabe that Zimbabwean teachers could come to Cuba for training. From 1986 to 1996, 3,000 Zimbabwean teachers went to Cuba and became the backbone of their nation’s educational system, which today has a 97% literacy rate.

As this year marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Mozambique’s president, the revolutionary giant Samora Machel, his two personal physicians were Cuban doctors whose lives were claimed in that awful plane crash. When the civil and human rights icon Bayard Rustin broke our hearts and supported the CIA-trained mercenaries UNITA in Angola, whose sole purpose for existence was to overthrow the socialist revolutionary party MPLA, his justification was to prevent the rise of Cuban influence in southern Africa. During Cuba’s guerilla operation in Angola in Cuito Cuanavale, we often forget that the revolutionary party of Namibia, SWAPO, was part of that fight, which represented, at the time, the largest military conflict on African soil since World War II. Our role in this process is a raindrop in a full-fledged thunderstorm.

In 2003, Cuba’s deputy ambassador to their interests section in Washington, D.C., Ambassador Cosme Torres Espinoza, was deported under false charges of espionage. Not too long after this, the U.S. State Department denied Cuban diplomats the opportunity to travel outside the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia beltway. The goal was to curtail the outpouring of invitations Cuban diplomats always receive from educators, clergy, local elected officials, business people, artists, and, of course, grassroots organizers who feel the cowardly and racist blockade is outdated. His next detail was to serve as Cuba’s ambassador to the Republic of Zimbabwe. I met with him in Zimbabwe 20 years ago, and he asked me to join the organization. At the time, I was growing increasingly frustrated with Cuban solidarity efforts in North America, in particular with paternalism and racism. I am eternally grateful to Ambassador Torres for that lifeline.

About 10 years ago, ZICUFA’s secretary general, Comrade Pesanai, who was the first teacher to complete the training in Cuba, asked me to become the organization’s first external relations officer in ZICUFA’s history. This was on par with serving as the U.S. correspondent to The Herald, Zimbabwe’s national newspaper, or perhaps an even greater responsibility and honor.

JR Valrey: Why did the organization organize its fourth musical compilation in honor of Assata Shakur and Pauline Lumumba? What is the importance of these women?

Obi Egbuna Jr.: This is our first compilation honoring Assata Shakur and Pauline Lumumba. However, 12 years ago, we had the honor of collaborating with Mutulu Olugbala, affectionately known as M1 of the internationally acclaimed hip-hop group Dead Prez, for a project entitled BattleCry for Cuba and Zimbabwe. It ended up being a three-album set, with artists the world over lending their voices to the fight to have the U.S. blockade on Cuba and U.S.-E.U. sanctions on Zimbabwe lifted. It was an honor and privilege to collaborate with an artist of M1’s caliber, especially during this time period, when he had many organizers pulling him in a multitude of directions. The first album took two and a half years to complete, but after that, we were running downhill.

The highlight of that time period was when the Cuban diplomat Alexander Rodriguez contacted us and said that the International Committee to Free the Cuban Five wanted us to perform for a concert they were organizing in Washington, D.C. The venue ended up being my old junior high school, Abraham Lincoln. That entire process prepared us for the current effort. The Assata Shakur-Pauline Lumumba Project emanated from the Assata Shakur Cuba Defense Campaign, which was launched two and a half years ago. The campaign had three goals: 1. To get Sister Assata off the terrorist list. 2. To get the $2 million bounty on Sister Assata’s head lifted. 3. To have Cuba removed from the U.S. State Department’s list of nations they accuse of being involved with state-sponsored terrorism.

We had the late Black Panther pioneer Bilal Sunni-Ali as our strategic and tactical advisor on that project. We had an unbelievable press conference that had elected officials like Charles Barron, the councilman and assemblyman in New York; Calvin Hawkins, who was the councilmember at large in PG County; and Hank Sanders, the longest-serving state senator in Alabama’s history, who represented the 23rd District, an area plagued with abject poverty. Senator Sanders was also involved in the negotiations that led to the Port of Mobile being opened to Havana. We had the Grammy-nominated artist Mumu Fresh as well. To top everything off, we had the children in the Thomas Sankara Center in Burkina Faso weigh in on the situation, carrying Hands Off Assata signs through the streets of Ouagadougou.

Last year, we held another press conference turning attention to the medical dimension of Cuban revolutionary expression. We had the former president of the National Medical Association, Dr. Lucy Norville Perez, who was the first NMA president to visit Cuba back in 2002. Dr. Abeeku Dada, who graduated from the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba and co-founded the International Medical Society of ELAM Graduates, organizes brigades of graduates from ELAM to go and assist Cuba’s Henry Reeve Medical Brigade in nations where they have a physical presence. We had Dr. Mabel Montego, who heads the brigade in Burkina Faso, also weigh in. We had Dr. Mardia Stone, a Liberian physician who was working in Liberia when the Cuban doctors were there a few years back to eradicate Ebola. We worked in partnership with the Friends of the Congo to pull off that press conference. The Cuban embassies in Burkina Faso and Congo-Brazzaville were in attendance. This album is a follow-up to those events. It is a double album with 30 songs featuring reggae, spoken word, R&B, hip-hop, blues poetry, jazz and opera. Through this, we can identify practical ways to support the 4,000 Cuban doctors in Mother Africa.

JR Valrey: Who are the artists that contributed?

Obi Egbuna Jr.: You have Numskull of the Luniz, thanks to you. You have Ras Kass, thanks to Minister Pyeface X, who also brought in the brother Timmy Staxx, whose producing and engineering elevated the project. You have Mumu Fresh, who closed Assata’s tribute with Common and was recently on The Tonight Show with Nas and AZ. You have Grammy Award-winner MediSun, a reggae singer whose voice reminds people of David Hinds from the legendary group Steel Pulse. The genres represented are the highlight. We gave the usual suspects — Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli, KRS-One, Chuck D — the day off. The production by Timmy Staxx, whose mixes, mastering and engineering are absolutely breathtaking.

I also have to point out that JPhin and Tongo are willing to assist with the logistics of the project, which echoes the sentiment of the Pan-African giant Ahmed Sekou Toure when he said, “To be part of the African revolution, it is not enough to write a revolutionary song. You must fashion the song with the people, and the songs will come of themselves and by themselves.”

JR Valrey: What does the compilation sound like?

Obi Egbuna Jr.: I don’t think I can be objective, so we will let the people be the judge. I’ll say this, my brother: We studied the George Harrison Bangladesh album, the Live Aid concert, and the documentary that showed how the We Are the World project came together. When it comes to African protest music, we have an endless library, but too often there is a vast disparity between the content and musicianship. The quality was an utmost priority, and we can’t wait to see how our people worldwide receive the project. You have material in five languages, reaffirming the sentiment that music is the universal language of the planet. We creatively tested the waters.

JR Valrey: Politically, how do these compilations help the cause of ending the blockades against Cuba and the genocide against the Congo currently going on?

Obi Egbuna Jr.: When done organically, these projects represent cultural warfare. If U.S. imperialism can use films like “Scarface” and “The Godfather” to demonize the Cuban revolution, then double down by using athletes like Alexis Arguello, who turned his back on the Sandinistas and had the Gusanos in Miami reward him by organizing his fight against Aaron Pryor in the Orange Bowl, then we have to counter with projects like this.

I remember speaking with Kwame Ture immediately after he left the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s residence after The Notorious B.I.G. was gunned down in Los Angeles. He asked me how long I thought it would take before hip-hop artists, in particular, would make protest music. My answer was between 1988 and 1990, we were doing it. That’s how he ended up on the BDP Edutainment album. He meant protest issues that represented our political efforts. I stated that the artists were a microcosm of our community, and they had, using Malcolm’s terminology, chosen the ballot over the bullet.

Around that same period, Sister Assata and Comrade Nehanda Abiodun had charged the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement with educating artists about political prisoner work. The Cuban expert James Early stated that he and Harry Belafonte had held talks with Comandante Fidel Castro about hip-hop. The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement spearheaded the Black August effort. Common’s Assata song, in the opinion of many, is the highlight.

A few years later, Omowale Adewale of the Grassroots Artists Movement introduced us to M1 from Dead Prez, and we had a press conference calling for Cuban doctors to address the public health crisis in New York City, which ended up being in conjunction with our efforts to keep the doors of D.C. General Hospital open. We had 100 clergy pray for Cuban doctors to come save D.C. General Hospital because the poorest part of D.C. was left without a Level 1 trauma center or prenatal care unit. You also had the head of the Nursing Department at Bowie State University, Dr. Eleanor Walker, appeal to Cuba to start offering nursing scholarships because, in North America, Africans had an all-time shortage of nurses. Unbeknownst to many, this predates Cuba’s offer to send 1,500 environmental disaster specialists to the Gulf region after Hurricane Katrina.

With George W. Bush reinventing himself as a born-again humanitarian in Africa, the collapse of the imperialist masking agent USAID, along with not one African head of state yielding to U.S. imperialist pressure by terminating their agreement with Cuba to have the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade function in their respective nations. Unlike the seven nations in this hemisphere who showed the Cuban doctors the door, Africa stood firm, thanks to the people. This is the political advantage and a reminder that our liberation struggle is also for our human dignity.

I am a product of an ideological leaning that when Nigeria, because of its population; Azania/South Africa, because of its strategic location; and the Congo, because of its vast wealth, fall under revolutionary control, the decolonization process will have officially come full circle. We are thankful that even though the artists are more familiar with Sister Assata, they embraced incorporating the journey of Pauline Lumumba, which demonstrates what Pan-Africanism looks like when executed in this manner.

JR Valrey: How did the compilation projects originally begin?

Obi Egbuna Jr.: We started preparing for the album at the end of March. Based on the attacks on Cuba, we worked diligently around the clock. I brainstormed with the co-executive producer, Russell Shoatz III, whom I contacted because the artists we chose to spearhead this, Richard Raw in Delaware and Foluke Bady in Baltimore, informed us that scheduling prohibited them from spearheading a project of this magnitude. Because of Russell’s experience with CurbFest and my previous connection to the BattleCry project, we were humbled to assume this responsibility.

JR Valrey: How can people hear the project?

Obi Egbuna Jr.: The main source at the moment is YouTube. We thank you for your involvement and support. By the time we speak to you, it should be available fully on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok. We are not monetizing, therefore we cannot and will not use streaming platforms. Thanks for the support in numerous capacities. Long live Assata Shakur, long live Pauline Lumumba, long live Cuba, long live the African fighting spirit!!!!

SF Bay View Editor-in-Chief JR Valrey is a veteran journalist who can be heard weekly on Wednesdays on 89.5FM KPOO or KPOO.com from noon to 3 p.m. His work can also be heard on www.blockreportradioworld.com. You can reach him at JR@sfbayview.com.

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by Obi Egbuna Jr., Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association

Solidarity and Camaraderie Statement for the Family of Comrade Assata Olugbala Shakur

On behalf of the Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association, I begin by humbly expressing what an honor it truly is to be deemed worthy enough for the challenging task of drafting a statement that captures and contextualizes our fallen comrade’s strength, resolve and, most of all, her immeasurable value moving forward.

For all Mother Africa’s children worldwide who find her special journey inspiring — which we can safely affirm is in the millions — it is difficult to identify a single word that describes what this standout woman warrior means to us collectively.

We are truly in awe of those comrades who were chosen to say a few words at her upcoming tribute and celebration, primarily because of how they will have to navigate the whirlwind of natural emotions that come with the territory of bidding a comrade of Sister Assata’s caliber farewell.

They will face the uphill battle of hurdling over joy and sorrow to scientifically and accurately share with those in attendance how this once-in-a-generation servant and warrior confronted our enemies on the battlefield for most of her life.

When paying tribute and honor to our frontline fighters, who, in the eyes of the masses of our people, have earned historical space reserved for the illustrious, the plea not to be intimidated by Sister Assata’s legacy must exceed the vibrations of a volcanic eruption or, better yet, all the tornadoes and hurricanes Planet Earth has endured.

That only means the daughters of the African world must look themselves in the mirror and commit to matching and exceeding what she contributed to the culture of resistance.

Because, both on our Mother Continent and throughout the African diaspora, the matrilineal attributes of African culture will be the main weapon used in this aspect of the decolonization process, ensuring that no son of Africa stands in the way of any sister who decides to follow the trail of Comrade Assata. For this effort to prevail in our favor, our brothers will have to purge themselves of all sexist tendencies that, due to captivity, displacement and colonialism, have contaminated their hearts and minds.

It will be interesting to witness our fallen sister and comrade being given a farewell in the exact house of worship where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. publicly condemned the Vietnam War for the second time nearly 60 years ago and called U.S. imperialism the greatest purveyor of violence in the world at that historic moment.

Because our former captors and colonizers are completely devoted to the culture of rape, plunder and genocide and, from the shores of Mother Africa and Asia’s massive landscape to the borders of Palestine, have done so in the name of Jesus Christ and the Creator of the universe in general, by honoring the Mother of Urban Guerrilla Warfare in this sacred spiritual space, we are making a declaration that this monstrous cycle must be broken.

Dr. King, as courageous and selfless as he was, considered nonviolence a cardinal principle and received the cold shoulder from President Johnson for condemning the Vietnam War. Dr. King can watch from the African ancestral world as a revolutionary sister guerrilla fighter, who had a $2 million bounty placed on her head by President Obama, whom some have the audacity to compare to him, receives the ultimate send-off in the place where she first grabbed her torch for African liberation.

In conclusion, a common trend at many of these tributes is the component of regret, specifically expressed by some who feel that, during the lifetime of the fighter we are celebrating, they squandered opportunities to do more work directly around the issues of paramount importance.

The only way around self-criticism and guilt is through ingenuity and hard work, identifying and sustaining projects that are authentic representations of our fallen comrades and warriors.

In Comrade and Sister Assata’s case, we are proud to say a music project has been completed honoring not only her, but also the late wife of the revolutionary Pan-African champion Patrice Emery Lumumba, Pauline Lumumba. The music is a springboard to intensify our collective support for Cuba’s Henry Reeve Medical Brigade on African soil.

As we know, Cuba takes just as much pride in the work of its doctors as it has in keeping Sister Assata and Nehanda Abiodun safe and sound, or in fighting CIA-trained mercenaries in Angola. May the frontline fighters of the future not only acknowledge Comrade and Sister Assata’s revolutionary fervor, but also how humbly and unassumingly she approached struggle.

May the African women who were modern-day guerrilla fighters — from Josina Machel, Deolinda Rodrigues, Alganesh Kahsay, Djamila Bouhired and Fatima Bernawi, who are no longer with us — welcome Sister Assata home with a 21-gun salute.

Revolutionary greetings to her biological and ideological families.

Long Live Assata! Long Live Cuba! Long Live the African Fighting Spirit!

Obi Egbuna Jr. is External Relations Officer of the Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association. He can be reached at obiegbuna15@gmail.com. 

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May 28, 1992 – June 18, 2026

I was born the middle child of Curtis and Francine Stovall, between my sisters, Aisha and Rachel.

My mother homeschooled her children and raised us in a strict Christian household. My father taught us the value of entrepreneurship, waking up early, maximizing every hour of the day, eating healthy, and making family time a priority.

One of my earliest memories is from when I was four years old. I dreamed of ancient African medicine men and Buddhist monks working together in an African village. A light came to me and said, “Heal the women. Treat them well.” That dream stayed with me.

Growing up, I struggled to accept Christianity because I had so many unanswered questions. As a teenager, I developed a death wish. Yet even during that period, I found deep fulfillment in helping people through their pain. Compassion has always come naturally to me.

Studying music at Laney College gave me the confidence to leave the church. In music, I experienced a kind of perfection through scales and harmony that changed the way I understood God. I came to believe that God is a vibration rather than a judge.

From there, I immersed myself in dance, music, and martial arts, eventually performing in hundreds of shows.

I also studied biology and psychology because I believe that when you understand yourself, you begin to understand the universe. Along the way, I developed many skills—drumming, dancing, massage therapy, and cooking—but who I truly am is a light worker, reminding people that heaven is a grateful and blissful state of mind.

In 2016, I joined the Daktari Dance Medicine Collective, where I met Priestess Victorious Wanjiro. She had been building relationships with families in Ghana creating medicinal wellness and repatriation communities through an organization called Universal Family Network (UFN). I became the first person to repatriate, joined her team, serving as her assistant.

For many years, I dreamed of living in the forest, using my body to survive and coexist with nature. I believe modern life has caused humanity to become spiritually weaker because we’ve lost touch with the natural world. Whenever I reconnect with nature, I reconnect with myself.

While attending massage therapy school, I developed a practice I call “Sol Charge”. It combines physical, mental, and emotional activities designed to strengthen the whole person. Participants sing, exercise, meditate, solve brain teasers, overcome challenges, play games, and build genuine human connection through shared experiences.

Sol Charge grew out of many influences in my life: my father’s commitment to family time, church, summer camp, meditation seminars, and the moments when I felt most spiritually alive. I wanted to bring those experiences together into something I could share with people who simply needed authentic time together.

I began practicing Sol Charge in California during the COVID-19 pandemic. Coming to Ghana became another Sol Charge experience for me—a lesson in discipline, relationship-building, and personal growth that gave me even more to share with others.

Working with Universal Family Network has been a tremendous experience. Our work includes maternal care and home births; village tours; boutique and cultural experiences; visits to the slave dungeons; assistance with purchasing land; language classes; educational programs; sound healing; massage therapy; womb-care retreats; youth job training; homework support; youth talent showcases; performance ensembles; the promotion of African handmade arts and crafts; and nutritional wellness education.

At the heart of everything I do is a simple belief: healing begins with genuine human connection.

Ref Jamal spoke to Sol Charge before his untimely passing on June 18th 2026. He will be forever missed.

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by William Lollis

I, William Lollis, am pleading a California Racial Justice Act* violation against court-appointed counsel Beth Lee, who at the time was employed by the Fresno County Office of the Public Defender, for the racist comments and remarks she made to me in 2013 while she was interviewing me about the criminal charges I was facing. During the interview, she accused me of committing the crimes I was being prosecuted for. As I made the attempt to set the record straight and assert my innocence, Beth Lee interrupted me and blurted out, “Stupid Black son-of-a-bitch prick motherfucker!” 

Ten years later after the 5th District Appellate Court ordered the release of Marsden Hearing transcripts, I filed a habeas corpus, raising four Racial Justice Act violation claims, which was summarily denied by Judge Sanderson. However, in 2025, the Court of Appeal granted my appeal relief, by mandating the Fresno Superior Court redress my California Racial Justice Act violation claims under Cal. Penal Code § 745 (Racial Justice Act). 

At a Superior Court hearing, Beth Lee doubled-down on her racist statements. Beth Lee stated that she merely agreed to calling me a “stupid Black son-of-a-bitch” because she blamed me for bombarding her with several insults. After Beth Lee admitted that she was a racist, she directly stated to me, “He knows what he is. He knows what he is. He knows what he is, a dumb-ass is what he is!” “A straight-up dumb-ass!” (Please see the Marsden Hearing transcripts in Case No. F-13902514 in 2013.) 

At my original preliminary hearing, I handed Beth Lee a handwritten letter by the alleged victim, Ms. Flores, in which she recants her accusation against me. Beth Lee addressed the judge and stated, “Mr. Lollis thinks if I give the judge this letter with the victim recanting her statement, all the dark clouds will go away, and the sun will come out, and everyone will sing Kumbiyah.” On court transcripts, the court reporter, named Lupe Oftedal, edited what was really said. She instead transcribed that Beth Lee stated, “Mr. Lollis thinks if I give the judge this letter with the victim recanting her statement, the judge will jump from the stand and sing Halleluyah.” 

The prosecutor involved in my case was named Tim Galston. He wrote a letter to the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) 10 years later and stated, or documented, “Whoever decides Mr. Lollis’s fate, just know Mr. Lollis said, ‘Klu Klux Klan Court is back in session.’” 

As a result of my habeas corpus petition, the court appointed Lea Alverez to assist me in my Racial Justice Act (RJA) claims. After I acquired Lea Alverez’s law office telephone number, I called her to inquire about the updated status of my case and petition. At one point, Lea Alverez became frustrated at my inquiries and responded, “How in the hell did Mr. Lollis get my number?” As she continued, she informed me that the District Attorney needed more time to investigate the facts of my case because my case was more complex than the D.A. thought it was. 

When I asked her if Scott Baly was going to assist her as co-counsel, Lea Alverez stated, “I don’t think I want Scott Baly as co-counsel.” Then she reiterated her frustration, stating, “How in the hell did you get my number?” Lea Alverez acted as if she never spoke to me via a previous telephone conversation, whether it be through a three-way call or whether I called her via a collect call. At the end of our conversation, Lea Alverez asked me to “stop calling my phone” and to “stop blowing up my line.” 

Lea Alverez also threatened to contact the prison and get my phone privileges taken away if I didn’t stop calling her. At the end of the day, I believe all those involved in my case, from Judge Sanderson to the prosecutor Tim Galston, the court reporter Lupe Oftedal, and both court appointed counsels, Beth Lee and Lea Álverez, burned down a house to catch a fly. 

William Lollis is strongly supported by his family and community

Seven members of William Lollis’ family wrote to the Bay View, retelling his story, appealing for publicity and support and adding the following information:

“William Lollis received a 92-year sentence as a consequence of prosecutorial misconduct and questionable rulings. He has been incarcerated 11 years for a nonviolent crime, eight years past the release date he would have received had he not been excessively sentenced as a result of unwarranted charges. The events and information contained herein are on record and can be accessed by transcript at the Fresno County Court, Case No. F-13902514.”

In a separate letter, a supporter writes:

“William Lollis is a local Fresno area rapper who not only was an artist, but also did promotion. Around 2006 he started a group called Beat Riders with a few young men he mentored for a few years before he was incarcerated. Not only was he a mentor, but he influenced these young rappers into doing something different with their lives, and instead of being involved in the streets and partaking in illegal activities, this gave them hope, gave them something to do and distracted them from being in negative environments. So not only is he an artist, he is a very influential person who makes a big impact in the community. William Lollis has inspired many young talented people, bringing out gifts that will give them a chance of having a positive impact on the younger generation who are affected by negative influences that are leading young teens to death, murder, drug addiction and so many other things that are affecting Fresno County and California. We would like to see William Lollis released from prison to make a difference.”

*California Racial Justice Act

Following is a statement by the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office concerning the Racial Justice Act:

“California’s Racial Justice Act prohibits the state from convicting or sentencing a person based on a person’s race, ethnicity, or national origin. Unlike prior law, it does not require proof that police or prosecutors acted with intentional bias; evidence of racially biased charging, policing, or sentencing is enough to entitle a defendant to relief. To prevail on an RJA claim, a defendant must first petition the court for an evidentiary hearing, and if that is granted, they must present convincing evidence of bias. Prosecutors may present evidence that refutes defense claims at such hearings.” 

Send our brother some love and light: William Lollis, AR4538, SATF Corcoran C1208, P.O. Box 7100, Corcoran CA 93212.

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By Robert Roth, Haiti Action Committee

As the world reels from the devastating U.S.-Israel war on Iran and Lebanon, and as the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide continues in Gaza and the West Bank, the Trump administration’s plan to assert its dominance over the Americas is also moving forward at an unprecedented pace. Having kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and colleague, Cilia Flores, and taken control of Venezuela’s oil reserves, the U.S. is now salivating over the prospect of toppling the socialist government of Cuba. On March 16, Trump announced that he “could take Cuba whenever I want” and that Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel “would have to go” if Cuba wanted to negotiate its survival with the U.S. administration.

It could not be clearer. Old-fashioned U.S. imperialism, with no cover, is back in force. And it isn’t just words: The U.S. has ratcheted up its blockade of Cuban ports, strangling the island nation by attempting to eliminate its fuel supply. Over 15,000 U.S. troops are now stationed throughout the Caribbean, with a concentration in Puerto Rico. The infamous Roosevelt Roads Naval Base has been reactivated, threatening any Caribbean or Latin American nation that dares to defy the U.S. As of March, the long-standing supply of Venezuelan oil to the Cuban government has ceased. Even Cuba’s vaunted medical support for countries in the Americas has come under withering attack. One example: The government of Jamaica has canceled its decades-long medical collaboration with Cuba, despite that collaboration having saved countless Jamaican lives.

None of this is a slam dunk for the U.S. Despite proclamations of victory in the Iran war, it is clear that the U.S. and Israel are facing unforeseen consequences and were unprepared for the level of Iranian self-defense, which has rattled the world economy and sent shock waves throughout West Asia. And let’s not forget that the U.S. has been attempting to destroy Cuba ever since the Cuban Revolution in 1959, without success. But as history has shown, an empire in crisis can and will unleash terror around the world.

The Crisis in Haiti

For Haitians, this is an all-too-familiar scenario. The kidnapping of President Maduro and his wife followed the script of the 2004 U.S.-orchestrated coup against the democratically elected progressive government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. On Feb. 29, 2004, U.S. Marines kidnapped President Aristide and his wife and colleague, Mildred Aristide, and deposited them at a French military base in the Central African Republic, leading eventually to a seven-year forced exile in South Africa.

In the aftermath of the coup, thousands of Haitians were killed, raped, or terrorized into exile. Reinforced by a violent U.N. military occupation, the coup brought in a series of corrupt, drug-trafficking right-wing governments eager to sell the country’s land and resources to multinational corporations. These U.S.-imposed governments, and the tiny Haitian elite they serve, were responsible for empowering paramilitary death squads, called “gangs” in the U.S. media, to wipe out opposition and protect their assets, plunging Haiti into an ever-deepening crisis.

Haitian Civilians: Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

In the last year alone, approximately 8,100 people have been killed in Haiti, primarily by paramilitary violence. Armed groups operate with near-total impunity, wreaking havoc on civil society. For example, in late March, the Gran Grif death squad, part of the Viv Ansanm paramilitary federation, massacred more than 80 people in the Artibonite region, which has long been Haiti’s agricultural center. Roads throughout the country remain blocked, people cannot access markets, and close to 1.4 million people (out of a population of 12 million) have become internally displaced. Hospitals have been forced to close after being targeted by paramilitaries. A cholera epidemic struck in 2025. Sexual violence against women and children has become the norm. According to United Nations statistics, some 5.7 million Haitians are facing what is euphemistically called “high levels of acute food insecurity,” including more than 1.2 million children under age 5. This is why Fanmi Lavalas, the people’s party founded by former President Aristide, has labeled this a “slow-motion genocide.”

In the name of fighting the paramilitaries, the current Haitian government recently signed a 10-year, multimillion-dollar contract with Erik Prince’s infamous mercenary group, Vectus Global. Formerly known as Blackwater, it was responsible for the Nisour Square massacre in 2007 during the Iraq War, in which 17 Iraqi civilians, including a 9-year-old boy, were killed and more than 20 others were injured. True to form, Vectus Global is now carrying out “anti-gang operations” with Haitian police that have resulted in the killing of more than 1,100 people, many of them civilians, in densely populated sections of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Haiti’s government has also signed an $85.4 million contract with foreign private, for-profit prison firms to build three new prisons, an ominous sign of even more repression to follow in a country that needs money for health care and education, not more prisons.

So now, Haitians stand between a rock and a hard place: on the one hand, emboldened and well-connected paramilitary death squads determined to have their share of power; and on the other, a government dominated by the business elite that is ratcheting up its repressive apparatus and using its police powers and foreign mercenaries to wreak havoc on civilians.

As of Feb. 7, 2026, a temporary presidential council has been dissolved, leaving only a U.S.-backed prime minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, in charge of the nation. When widespread opposition to Fils-Aimé surfaced within Haiti, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Haitians that there would be “grave consequences” if Fils-Aimé were removed from power. With a U.S. warship off the coast of Haiti and a U.N.-organized multinational force of 5,500 troops gearing up to deepen the occupation of Haiti and oversee new elections, we can expect a fraudulent selection aimed at installing a more permanent regime beholden once again to the United States. This fits snugly into the Trump administration’s strategy to dominate all of Latin America and the Caribbean and is a stark reminder of what is at stake throughout the Americas as the U.S. asserts its hegemony.

Envisioning a New Haiti

Haitians have always resisted tyranny, from the time they overthrew slavery, defeated Napoleon’s army, and declared the world’s first Black republic in 1804. Today, communities have risen to defend themselves from paramilitary attacks, despite the high-powered weapons in the hands of the death squads. Women’s groups have mobilized to provide support for survivors of gang rape. The University of the Dr. Aristide Foundation (UNIFA), taken over by the U.S. military after the 2004 coup and reopened when the Aristides returned to Haiti in 2011, continues to graduate doctors, nurses, lawyers, agronomists, dentists, engineers, and physical therapists amid daunting challenges. UNIFA has now opened a teaching hospital at a time when many hospitals in Haiti have been shuttered due to death squad violence. Throughout the country, activists are operating at the local level, building capacity and resistance. A new Haiti can be envisioned through the prism of these grassroots efforts.

Defend Haitian Refugees

Haitians living within U.S. borders are also in the crosshairs. Throughout their 2024 election campaign, Trump and Vance demonized Haitians, going so far as to falsely accuse Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, of eating their neighbors’ pets. This outrageous, racist lie fueled anti-Haitian attacks throughout Ohio. Shortly after Trump’s 2025 inauguration, the Department of Homeland Security attempted to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 350,000 Haitians in the United States. This despite the State Department issuing travel warnings telling Americans not to travel to Haiti due to dangerous conditions there.

On March 6, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a ruling that the termination of TPS for Haiti was unlawful and based on “racial animus.” This ruling allows beneficiaries to maintain their status and keep their work permits for the moment. But the Trump administration has already filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, which has ruled against migrants over and over again. In response, supporters of Haitian migrants in Congress have put forward an initiative aimed at extending TPS for Haitians for another three years.

This is a moment when activism in support of Haitian migrants and the grassroots movement in Haiti is critical. We hope you will join us in this fight.

From Haiti to Venezuela to Cuba and Puerto Rico — One Struggle, One Fight

For more information, please visit Haiti Action Committee’s website at www.haitisolidarity.net and our Facebook page.

To contact us, email: action.haiti@gmail.com

To support grassroots projects in Haiti, donate to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund at www.haitiemergencyrelief.org.

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Venues and Schedule 

Sat., July 4^th  (Hybrid: In-person and Virtual)

9:00-11:00 AM EDT – Interfaith Event, Atlanta Mennonite Church, 1088 Bouldercrest Drive SE, Atlanta, GA

12 noon – 9:00 PM EDT – National Convergence, West End Park, 464 Dargan Place SW, Atlanta, GA

Tentative speakers list: https://spiritofmandela.org/july4-updates/confirmed-speakers

Sun., July 5^th (In-person only) 

9:00 AM – 4:00 PM EDT – Conference and Workshops, at Project South Atlanta, 9 Gammon Ave. SE, Atlanta GA 30315

Includes Natl. Youth and Student Power Convergence; Natl. Leadership Strategic Planning Meeting (invite-only for natl. org reps); and six open workshops on planning for a People’s Senate and on the five counts of human rights abuses for which the U.S. was convicted at the 2021 International Tribunal.

Detailed schedule: https://spiritofmandela.org/july4-updates

Convergence will be Livestreamed – For link, go to https://spiritofmandela.org/july4-updates

Watch Parties will be held in several cities. List (list growing – check back): https://spiritofmandela.org/july4-updates

Register for in-person or livestream events here: tinyurl.com/July4-form

ATLANTA, GA:  While Donald Trump and MAGA unfold a white supremacist spectacle celebrating 250 years of “U.S. independence,” a broad-based coalition of national organizations will converge on Atlanta on July 4-5 for a National Mobilization celebrating 250-plus years of resistance against genocide. The multi-racial, Black-led, nationwide Spirit of Mandela Coalition is organizing the weekend along with its alternative governance-building project, the Peoples’ Senate. The mobilization is cosponsored by Community Movement Builders and Cooperation Jackson, and includes partnering groups such as the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Democratic Socialists of America, the Indigenous Environmental Network, and the Fellowship of Reconciliation-USA.

Ashaki Binta, July 4 National Mobilization Co-coordinator and National Organizer of the National Black Liberation Movement’s National Unity Initiative, said, “The need for the people to respond to the ever-increasing attacks on all facets of national and global human rights rings loud and clear: the rollback of the 1965 Voting Rights Act; dismantling of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs; threats to cut Social Security and Medicare; higher and higher medical costs; skyrocketing food prices; international kidnapping; national and international state sponsored killings; pop-up wars of aggression; bankrolling Israeli genocide — and the list goes on.”

Leonard Peltier, American Indian Movement former prisoner of war of the Turtle Mt. Chippewa Nation, North Dakota, who will speak on July 4^th via video, said, “We as Native American, Black, Brown, and poor white people are under attack. So we have to continue to build unity amongst ourselves.”

The Saturday, July 4th event will start with an interfaith gathering, followed by a daylong outdoor speak-out and cultural performances from a wide range of organizations and artists. Community vendors, food trucks, and tables of activist information will also be available. The Saturday event will be livestreamed worldwide. Similar anti-genocide events will also be held that day by Puerto Rican community groups in Chicago; Latinx freedom groups in Washington, DC; and activists commemorating John Brown’s July 4, 1859 anti-slavery Declaration of Liberty in California, Connecticut, and upstate New York.

On Sunday, July 5th, activists, organizers, community leaders and representatives will come together for a series of strategy discussions and workshops. This is the next phase of the Spirit of Mandela Coalition’s intensive organizing across all regions of the U.S. to build a genuine People’s Senate. “The day after the Convergence will perhaps be one of the most focused efforts in recent times to further develop a new vision of peoples’ representation, unity, and governance,” said Jihad Abdulmumit, Honorary Chairperson of the Spirit of Mandela Coalition. “There, with focus and intention, we will roll up our sleeves and tap into our experiences, intelligence, and wisdom to build out a peoples’ strategy.” 

The National Mobilization builds on the Mandela Coalition’s important 2021 International Tribunal that charged and found the United States government guilty of the crime of genocide against Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples. The verdict was delivered by an independent nine-member Panel of Jurists, the majority women and Global South-rooted. The verdict outlined genocide in the areas of police killings, mass incarceration, political imprisonment, health inequities, and environmental racism.

“The July 4th and 5^th mass convergence and mobilization will bring more attention and energy to the crucial initiative of building the Peoples’ Senate,” said Ashaki Binta. “We will be able to bond, network, and prepare for the days to come.”

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The Spirit of Mandela Coalition is a multiracial group of organizers, academics, clergy, attorneys, and organizations committed to working together against the systemic, historic, and ongoing human rights violations and abuses committed by the USA against Black, Brown, and Indigenous People. The coalition recognizes and affirms the rich history of diverse global activists in the resistance traditions of those peoples. 

The Peoples’ Senate is an historic initiative to put decision-making in the hands of the people through coordinated, strategic action. The Peoples’ Senate will be a national cohesive network reflective of poor and working-class communities across the United States, its colonies and territories.

More Information:

• Peoples’ Senate Newsletter, Spring-Summer, 2026  https://spiritofmandela.org/s/PS-Newsletter-10-11_Spring-Summer-2026.pdf
• More on the Spirit of Mandela Coalition and the Peoples’ Senate: spiritofmandela.org
• To support, participate in, and/or endorse the July 4^th Mobilization, fill out the form at tinyurl.com/july4-form
• For more information about the Mobilization, email peoplessenate@spiritofmandela.org
•  More about the 2021 International Tribunal is available at https://spiritofmandela.org/international-tribunal.
• A new book by Africa World Press, Guilty of Genocide, includes the testimonies, verdict, and commentaries on the 2021 Tribunal. More information: https://africaworldpressbooks.com/guilty-of-genocide/

Social media sites:

Informational Videos: 

About The People (ATP) are revolutionary content makers, a subgroup of the Spirit of Mandela Coalition. For more, go tohttps://linktr.ee/aboutthepeople

Also see https://www.youtube.com/@spiritofmandela9139

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PHOTO & CAPTION 5: Landon Willis

by Landon Willis

“Be yourself, belong in community and become your best.” is the motto that the YMCA follows. The Y encourages people to recognize their value as individuals, have a sense of belonging and to become the best version of themselves. Although this saying is quite inwardly focused, the Y creates an environment for personal development to be done in a collaborative way, a place where physical, emotional, financial and spiritual growth can be accomplished as one big family. The YMCA of Bayview Hunters Point is no exception to this motto of growth. But how do they accomplish this? 

A brief history of the Y 

The YMCA was originally founded during 1844 in London by a man named George Williams. When Williams worked as a draper, he saw the terrible working conditions for young men during the time and decided to create the Young Men’s Christian Association. Williams original intention for the Y was to create a place where young men wouldn’t be tempted by sin. However, since its inception, the Y has evolved immensely to become the oldest but also the largest youth charity in the world. 

The Y emphasizes youth development and provides programs for youth to grow in many different areas. Some of these resources include: 

• Sports and physical wellness: swimming, flag football, basketball etc. 
• Career development: workshops, employment opportunities
• Mental health and physical health: groupwork, guest speakers, one on one therapy

and many more. The YMCA also takes advantage of their global presence to provide services at each location that are tailored to fit the needs of the people around them, creating a place for everyone that truly feels like home. 

Y the Bayview? 

So, what’s unique about the Bayview Y? There is no better place for answers than from the people who work in the community every day. The YMCA in the Bayview is also a recipient of the Kaiser Permanente’s Voices for Mental Health and Wellness Campaign grant that allows them to expand on critical programs that help the community.

First, I spoke with Associate Executive Director Drew Kodelja to get more information about the Bayview YMCA. When I asked him, “Why Bayview Hunters Point?” He told me a number of things that stood out to me, one of which being truancy. He says: “In Bayview Hunters Point, we know truancy is an issue in our communities and we run alternative education and truancy prevention programs. Not every YMCA does that.” 

Truancy has to do with kids having unexcused absences at school. This prevention is done through their C.A.R.E. (Center for Academic Re-entry and Empowerment) program, which utilizes case management and opportunities to earn credits for truant students. This is all with the intention of eventually getting kids to re enroll in traditional schooling.

Along with this, since the Bayview Y’s opening in 1996, it has been a place of safety for all of those who wanted to access their services. Although crime fluctuates in the area and is on a downward slope since 2025, assault and battery still represent the majority of crime incidents that happen in the area, accounting for 30.8% of all incidents. Even when violent crime isn’t a factor, people still need a place to get away from the drama and fear and the YMCA provides that for the community. 

I also talked to two former recipients of the YMCA’s services, now workers, Desiree Isles and Ashlee Garvin. Desiree works in the African American Holistic Wellness Department as the Active Older Adult Coordinator, while Ashlee is a Prenatal Family Advocate. They both had positive experiences growing up with the Y. 

Desiree grew up in the Bayview, and after attending the Y’s summer camp during the 5th grade decided later to become a youth camp counselor when she was a teenager. Her experience at the YMCA really made a lasting impression on her and after she came back from college, she started looking for job opportunities there and eventually was employed. Ashlee received case management services from the Y and her mother used to work there. Similarly, after graduating to become a community health worker, she found an opportunity with the organization. 

Both Desiree and Ashley expressed how the Y of the Bayview is important for not only benefitting them but also all of those in the community. 

If you are looking for a positive community or even a career as Drew, Desiree and Ashley were, consider the Y. The YMCA is truly paving the way for the next generation! 

Landon Willis is a writing and media intern with the San Francisco Bay View newspaper. He is a second-year marketing student at San Francisco State University and a special reporter on the San Francisco Kaiser Permanente’s Voices for Mental Health and Wellness Campaign. In addition to school, Landon enjoys exercise, music, and hanging out with friends. He is very passionate about film and acting and is currently working on creating his own feature film.

The post Why the Y? Being at the YMCA feels like home appeared first on San Francisco Bay View.

by Asé Mora

Bounce Back Generation (BBG) is an organization making an impact in the lives of youth based in the Potrero Hill and Bayview Hunters Point communities. A third time grant recipient of Kaiser Permanente’s Voices for Mental Health and Wellness Campaign, grant recipient organization BBG works to give agency to youth experiencing adverse childhood trauma. 

According to Jennifer Dhillon, founder and CEO of Bounce Back Generation, in 2011, some of the initial programs started by BBG were food programs for children in the neighborhood, student escorts to school, and collaborations with entities such as the local police department to help residents organize their own neighborhood watch. There was also Bridge Housing, a housing developer and manager that preserves existing affordable housing properties in the West Coast. 

Today, the organization’s main work happens over social media, educating youth on overcoming adverse childhood trauma and giving them and their families the coping skills and education necessary to do so. Dhillon shares: “I think in the last few years, and particularly what we see on social media, there’s a lot of using trauma as a way to feel constantly victimized. I think that’s really unhealthy for kids in the long run.” 

The six main principles of BBG used to empower youth growing up in adversity and building resilience to it include physical safety, meaningful relationships, healthy coping skills, confidence and storytelling. These principles are based on the scientific findings and research of Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, award-winning physician and founder of Bayview Child Health Center and Center for Youth Wellness in San Francisco. Dr. Harris pioneered the study and treatment of adverse childhood trauma (ACE) amongst youth based in San Francisco’s Southeastern neighborhoods. she went on to serve as the surgeon general of california between 2019 and 2022.

According to Dhillon, the award from Kaiser Permanente’s Voices for Mental Health and Wellness Campaign, derived from the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Mentoring for Health and Wellness Initiative, goes toward funding podcast courses for students. The podcast course initiative was established in partnership with Success Center, a nonprofit organization that offers job readiness training in construction, art and podcast creation as well as GED prep and is designed to teach youth to turn their own experience with ACE into narratives and stories that teach resilience and help with the process of working through those traumas. Dhillon affirms, “It’s basically giving the microphone to young people and saying, talk about your mental health, from your perspective.”

The content that BBG produces is designed to equip underserved communities with the tools to overcome ACE and build resilience towards it. According to Dhillon, the BBG’s biggest contribution has been establishing a foundation for a stronger community through empowering community members to play a more active role in protecting their neighborhood youth. 

Dhillon further explains: “There was almost a sense of panic for a lot of adults in the community that they could see where their kids were headed and didn’t know how to stop it. There are so many things that they had no control over. They couldn’t control their housing. They couldn’t control how they were treated. They couldn’t control discrimination, couldn’t control overpolicing in the neighborhood. What they could control was, can we build a more loving and protective environment for the children.” 

Dhillon stated that BBG’s work is centered around fueling youth to break those cycles and teaching youth not only how to process trauma from childhood, but also cultivate it into a productive motivation for positive change. Dhillon reminds us: “We need to acknowledge trauma, we need to heal from trauma, we need to know that it’s very painful and difficult. But we also need to know that you have a right to grow from it because you have a right to [a] good life. So that’s essentially what we’re trying to do is really help a whole generation to bounce back from trauma.”  

Asé Mora is a writing and media intern with the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper and a freelance journalist based in the Bay Area. She is a special reporter on the San Francisco Kaiser Permanente Voices for Mental Health and Wellness Campaign. Asé is a senior at San Francisco State University studying journalism with a minor in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts and Deaf Studies. She is also a staff reporter for Xpress Magazine, SF State’s student-run publication. 

The post Bouncing back from trauma  appeared first on San Francisco Bay View.

by Sen. Steven Glazer (Ret.) and American Community Media Co-Director Julian Travis Do

The collapse of local news in America poses a significant threat to our democracy, underscored by flashing headlines: a 70% loss of journalism jobs and the closure of one-third of newsrooms in California over the last two decades.

Last year, in response, a historic media coalition representing California’s voices across the racial and ethnic spectrum — including AAPI, Black, Latino, Middle Eastern, Native American, Eastern European, Indigenous and LGBTQ media — joined forces with mainstream outlets to advocate for a lifeline.

Led by a shared conviction that local reporting is a public good, this effort secured a $15 million state investment for the California Local News Fellowship — the nation’s largest publicly funded journalism initiative — and the Propel Initiative.

Today, we are calling on the state governor and legislature to double down on these programs’ successes with a $35 million budget investment to ensure every Californian has access to the news and information they need.

Accountability and return on investment

Administered by UC Berkeley Journalism, the California Local News Fellowship has placed more than 110 early-career journalists in newsrooms across 64% of California’s counties to help close news gaps in underserved urban and suburban communities and remote areas including Shasta, Trinity and Imperial counties. These fellows are active chroniclers of news and information, generating over 4,000 stories annually on critical issues like immigration, healthcare, language access, wildfires and housing insecurity.

This program has also proven to be a sustainable workforce pipeline: 39% of the first cohort alone were hired into permanent, full-time journalism roles immediately following their fellowship.

Parallel to the fellowship program, Propel — a collaboration between the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, American Community Media (ACoM), California Black Media (CBM) and the Latino Media Collaborative (LMC) — provides the business “engine” support for these statewide newsrooms. By helping leaders develop sustainable revenue strategies and deepen audience engagement, Propel ensures that our trusted messengers remain financially viable to continue serving their local communities.

Solving California’s challenges through information

The state’s investment in journalism is not a subsidy; it’s a high-yield investment in the civic framework undergirding democracy and an informed citizenry. By ensuring local communities have accurate information on issues crucial to their lives, like health care and housing, we reduce the long-term costs of government inefficiency and enhance on-the-ground accessibility. 

Beyond fiscal efficiency, this investment supports good governance. In our information ecosystem, local media outlets are the first responders for working families and small businesses, ensuring they have a voice in the labor and employment landscape. Our advocacy extends to those historically left out of this conversation, including veterans and Native Americans.

But visibility is only the first step. True empowerment requires a watchdog. These reporters hold officials accountable on the local impact of state housing policies and health care accessibility.

Whether the challenge is systemic or individual, involving the explaining of the impact of federal immigration enforcement or ensuring a non-English speaking family can navigate the healthcare system, community and multicultural newsrooms bridge the gap.

This role as a civic bridge also has a profound economic dimension, connecting all of California’s communities to the state’s $71 billion export economy, where global trade growth translates directly into local jobs. Local newsrooms help local communities navigate these consequential systems and policies.

The next phase: Funding our civic infrastructure

To expand on the initial success and meet the scale of the current journalism crisis, our $35 million request includes a vital $20 million allocation for the Civic Media Fund that will trigger a 1-to-2 private match: a $10 million match from Google, driving a total of $30 million into local news outlets serving every corner of the state.

This fund will provide direct resources to newsrooms big and small — digital and broadcast, for-profit and nonprofit, English and multilingual — to reconcile the verification gap caused by social media and AI-generated content. By fueling trusted, fact-based reporting, this investment will strengthen our information infrastructure against the growing tide of misinformation.

By authorizing this $35 million request, the California legislature and governor would position the state to lead the nation towards a future where a solid information infrastructure is not just a necessity but a fundamental right for all.

Sen. Steven Glazer served from mid-2015 through 2024 in the California State Senate, representing nearly one million residents in Northern California’s Contra Costa and Alameda counties. He won the 2016 election with 67% of the vote and the 2020 election with 66% of the vote. American Community Media (ACoM) delivers reporting that reflects America’s diverse communities from the inside out, while fostering grassroots engagement, multilingual messaging, and advocacy that amplifies authentic voices—connecting advertisers with trusted community media partners nationwide.  

The post Investing in journalism: Why civic infrastructure is key to California’s future appeared first on San Francisco Bay View.

by Minister of Information JR Valrey

If there is one place that is the cultural heart of Bay View Hunter’s Point, it is the Ruth Williams Opera House. Within the last quarter of a century that i have been frequenting 3rd Street, the Ruth Williams Opera House had been a sleepy relic from the great days when Black people were just moving to the Point from the south, to take advantage of the all of the factory and shipyard WWII jobs. Black people would socialize and congregate often, because the Ruth Williams was one of the few places were could celebrate ourselves in the Jim Crow north.  

Recently, under the leadership of the new executive director, Theo Ellington, numerous donation-based concerts from a myriad of genres with international and phenomenal local artists have taken place, among other events, resuscitating positive cultural life on Third Street. With so many people struggling with food insecurity, keeping a roof over their family’s head, and other issues that scratch at the poverty line, the Ruth Williams Opera House is turning into the place where the community, for a few hours every month, can do as Bob Marley instructed, “Forget your troubles, and dance.”

I sat down with Ruth Williams Opera House Executive Director Theo Ellington to discuss this cultural renaissance taking place in the heart of Hunters Point. 

JR Valrey: What is the history behind when and how the Opera House came to be?

Theo Ellington: The Ruth Williams Bayview Opera House was built in 1888, making it the historic theater in San Francisco. Over time, it evolved from a neighborhood community center into a cultural anchor for Bayview Hunters Point and the southeast side of San Francisco. It’s now both a City Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. More importantly, it’s sacred ground, a place where generations of Black artists, organizers and community members have gathered, created, and told our stories.

JR Valrey: How long have you been the executive director, and what have you accomplished?

Theo Ellington: I’ve served as executive director for the past two years, in a period where the focus has been stabilization and growth. We’ve expanded programming, deepened partnerships, and worked to secure critical funding during a time when arts organizations are facing real challenges. We’ve elevated initiatives like our Artist in Residence program and Tools of Trade, where we train and upskill individuals on event management and production.

We’ve also doubled down on live productions and reestablished the Opera House as a convening space for performing arts, culture, and civic dialogue. Over the past two years, we’ve hosted over 100 events, issued $350k in grants directly to artists, provided over 2,000 hours in training, and upgraded our facility with state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems.

JR Valrey: Who is the Opera House’s target audience and what kinds of events are organized there?

Theo Ellington: Our primary audience is the Bayview Hunters Point community, but we serve the entire city. We center Black and Brown artists, youth and families. Programming ranges from live music, theater and cultural festivals to workforce development, artist residencies, film screenings and community forums. It’s intentionally multi-use — art, culture and civic engagement all under one roof.

JR Valrey: Why is an institution like the Opera House important to the Black community in San Francisco?

Theo Ellington: Because space matters! In a city where Black residents have been displaced, institutions like the Opera House are about preservation and power. It’s where culture is protected, where stories are told on our terms, and where the next generation can see themselves reflected. Yes, we’re a venue, but we also provide infrastructure for identity, creativity, and community resilience.

JR Valrey: What is planned for the Opera House this summer, May through August?

Theo Ellington: We’ve got a strong lineup that reflects both culture and community. All event info can be found at RWOH.ORG. Here are a few examples.

So You Think You Funny Comedy Show: May 11, 7 p.m. – Comedy show and birthday celebration for Shunise Criswell

Palm & Sole: Sabor Bahia: May 21. 7-11 p.m. – Carnaval SF weekend kickoff party

Junior Toots Live: A Tribute to Toots and the Maytals: June 27, 7 p.m. – Junior Toots, son of Reggae Legend Toots Hibbert, will be performing timeless classics and original music,

JR Valrey: How can people stay connected or rent the Opera House?

Theo Ellington: The best way to stay connected is by following us on social media and signing up for newsletter updates through our website. For rentals, the Opera House is available for performances, private events, community gatherings and corporate functions. Please note, we are a performing arts venue first, and prioritize arts-related events.  You can submit an inquiry directly through our website, and our team will walk you through availability, pricing, and production capabilities.

JR Valrey is a veteran journalist who can be heard weekly on Wednesdays on 89.5FM KPOO or KPOO.com from noon to 3 p.m. His work can also be heard on www.blockreportradioworld.com. 

The post The cultural renaissance of Black SF is underway at Ruth Williams Opera House appeared first on San Francisco Bay View.

by JR Valrey, the People’s Minister of Information

In a society that promotes for people to think about their health once something goes wrong, we are introducing people to preventative healthy lifestyle choices, like the science and art of drinking tea, which actually is the science of knowing what herbs to ingest to remedy certain ailments and moods. Before there were corporate pharmaceutical drugs, for eons people all over the planet prevented sickness and healed themselves using their knowledge of plants, specifically herbs. 

I sat down with the Bay Area’s Tea Man, Gibran McDonald, to talk tea, herbs and Ayurvedic Medicine. Although I have drunk tea throughout my life, this brotha’s knowledge of teas and his use of herbal elixirs for good health and preventative medicine was astounding. It gave a Dr. Sebi vibe, and made me want to learn more to take better control of my own health. I hope this story inspires others in the same way. 

JR Valrey:  What is Ayurvedic Medicine? Can you tell us a few things about its history and where it is from?

Gibran McDonald: Ayurveda means the Science of Life (Ayus = life, Veda = knowledge/science). It is an ancient indigenous way of living and healing from India and it is the sister science of yoga. It is considered sacred knowledge in India, transmitted from the Creator to the people through the sages. The foundational texts of Ayurveda were written in the form of poetry so the knowledge would be easier for people to remember.  

The purpose of Ayurveda is to give health to the sick and strength to the strong. It does this by empowering people to make choices about diet, lifestyle and environment that are best for them based on the understanding that every body is different. Because every body is different, one person’s poison can be the next person’s poison. What is best for a person also depends on time and circumstance. Ayurveda provides a framework for understanding ourselves and how to make choices that promote balance based on that understanding.  

Ayurveda is based on a worldview that sees all of reality as one and is similar to Traditional Chinese Medicine, which also describes food, medicine and life through the lens of elements that have attributes. It is a way of knowing oneself and making choices about diet, lifestyle and environment based on that knowledge. According to the Ayurvedic worldview, the physical universe is made up of five elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether. These correspond to the solid, liquid, radiant, gaseous and ethereal states of matter, respectively. They each have attributes such as hot, cold, warming, drying, heavy, light etc. Everything and everyone is composed of different proportions of those elements, and aspects of our bodies and minds can be described by those elements.  

By understanding the elemental nature of oneself and one’s food, one can make choices that are likely to promote balance, which is the ideal state for growth and the best expression of one’s self.  

In addition to being a worldview and way of life, Ayurveda is also a medical system that includes deep knowledge of plant medicine and has been refined by the observations and advances of many generations of Ayurvedic doctors in many branches of medicine. It deals with all stages of life and there are Ayurvedic treatments for many types of imbalances that people face in life. Ayurveda uses many forms of diagnosis including tongue, eye, pulse, and examination of eliminations. Treatments include but are not limited to medicated oil treatments, sometimes with massage, purgation therapy, herbal medicine, yoga and meditation techniques, mineral medicine, and prescriptions for daily routine and diet based on one’s elemental nature and current situation. One can engage with Ayurveda on many levels. My areas of interest are herbs, yoga and meditation.  

During the British colonial times Ayurveda was suppressed in India but the knowledge was still applied in homes and villages primarily. Since India broke free from colonization, there has been a resurgence of interest in Ayurveda worldwide because its knowledge helps empower people to live healthier, happier lives.  

JR Valrey: Why and how did you get into Ayurvedic medicine? 

Gibran McDonald: I got into Ayurveda college as a byproduct of my love of yoga and tea.  I spent 1999 and 2000 studying abroad in Seville, Spain. There I met a friend from Morocco who introduced me to tea. Eventually he invited a group of friends to see his country. That trip changed my life because it was there that I really fell in love with tea. I had no idea that there was a tea tradition in Africa, and I really loved the mint tea they drink there and many other teas that I tried. When I came home I was thirsty. I could not find anything close to what I had in Morocco, and I kept it in the back of my mind that one day I would make tea like that, share it with people and maybe change the way we kick it from being alcohol based to being tea based. 

Five years passed before I met my first yoga teacher, who taught classes in his basement beginning with and followed by tea. One day I asked him where he got his herbs from and he told me about this herb shop called Smile in College Park, Maryland, close to where I stayed at the time. When I stopped by there, the owner, a Quaker yogi named Tom, recommended that I pick up a book called “The Yoga of Herbs” by Dr. Vasant Lad and Dr. David Frawley. That was my introduction to Ayurveda and herbalism in general. What I read in it blew my mind. I realized that the plants that we use to season our foods and make our drinks are also medicine. The fact that I never learned about this in school was not lost on me.  

I became fascinated by plants and I became a regular at the herb shop, always trying things and asking questions. I bought books on herbs and watched documentaries and presentations about Ayurveda. As all of this was going on I was working on my own tea blends, starting with my own version of the Moroccan Mint tea that I love so much. From there I started experimenting with blending my own teas for medicinal benefits and general enjoyment.  I first visited Smile around 2006 or so. Sip to Live is the result of the love for tea that I got in Morocco and the information that came from reading about Ayurveda and working with herbs since that time. My intention is to inspire peoples’ curiosity about herbs by providing them with positive experiences with the herbs.  

 JR Valrey: Why is it important for us to take control over our health instead of depending on doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies?

Gibran McDonald: Most of human history we have relied on plants for medicine. We developed this practice from our own nature and the observation of animals using plants for medicine long ago. Plants have helped people cultivate balance, breathe, digest, and heal from sickness, injury and trauma since the dawn of our existence. Some of my ancestors who relied on plant medicine lived to over 100 years out in the country. The food was different then as well, direct from the Earth and more nutritive than what we find in stores today.  

As corporations came to control more of the food system, preservatives were increasingly used to increase shelf life. TV dinners and processed foods were sold as modern and sophisticated but they had the result of making food more difficult to digest. According to Ayurveda, disease comes from the accumulation of toxins, undigested food, and other biological byproducts, which are called amma (blockage).  Preservatives and processes used to increase shelf life end up as amma, which accumulates in imbalanced areas of the body where energy is not flowing properly. For this reason, a mindful diet as free as possible from processed foods is a big part of taking control over one’s health. If bacteria can’t digest your food, how can you?   

The most important thing to understand about our current healthcare system is that it does not exist to heal people. It exists to make money. There is more money in managing disease than there is in preventing it. When you get sick, they give you expensive medicine with extensive side effects because it generates profit for the pharmaceutical companies. Then they give you more expensive medicine to address the side effects. When there is a profit motive in healthcare, it does not end well for the people.  

It is important that we have doctors and hospitals, especially for acute injuries. However, many of the diseases that our people suffer from, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and some forms of cancer are related to diet. Ayurveda is about the choices, especially dietary, that can keep us balanced and out of the hospital in the first place.  

JR Valrey: Can you introduce the audience to a tea that will give them more energy throughout the day? And also please talk about the properties of the herbs involved?

Gibran McDonald: Hibiscus Mint is one of my more popular tea blends. Its foundation is oolong tea, which has caffeine and helps the body metabolize fat more efficiently.  It also has hibiscus, a cleansing flower that contains vitamin C and lemongrass, which is also rich in antioxidants. Damiana, an aphrodisiac herb that makes water taste wetter, complements the hibiscus. The blend also includes herbs that are beneficial to digestion such as cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and clove. To support breath, this blend includes mint and thyme. For the brain, this blend has gingko; and it also includes orange peel, an appetite suppressant.  

All of my teas are beneficial to the processes of digestion and breath, which are how we receive energy from the world around us. Breath feeds the fire of life and is both a reflection and a controller of one’s state of mind. The more efficiently we breathe, the more energy we receive. This tea energizes by providing caffeine and opening airways.  It also tastes great and goes nice on ice.  

JR Valrey: Can you introduce the audience to a tea that will help them to calm down and get better rest? Also please talk about the properties of the herbs involved?

Gibran McDonald: The Cool Out is my go-to blend when I get stressed or need help sleeping. Its foundation is chamomile, a calming flower that is bitter, sweet and cooling in its energy and is good for digestion as well. Lemon balm, a relative of mint which has similar properties to chamomile, assists the chamomile in supporting digestion and calm. Tulsi, a sacred herb from India, is an adaptogen (helps the body adapt to stress) and heart opener that also supports immune function.  This blend also includes sage, a cooling herb that supports digestion, calms the nerves and is beneficial for women’s lunar cycles and hot flashes. To support clear airways, this blend also includes peppermint. The Cool Out is a sweet, earthy blend that is good for turning the stress dial down so one can rest.  

JR Valrey: What is a good tea for people who smoke to clean out their respiratory system as well as kidneys?  

Gibran McDonald: Truth be told, all of my teas are good for smokers, as they all support opening the airways in different ways. The Fight from Within is the best one for the lungs. It is an immune support blend that also supports digestive and respiratory function in robust ways. This tea is built on a foundation of echinacea and astragalus root, both of which support immune function. It has a healthy amount of hibiscus, which is a blood cleanser that also provides gentle cleansing to the kidneys, and rosehips, which are packed with vitamin C. For the lungs this blend has mullein, which helps the lungs convert impurities into mucous. Fenugreek is a bitter expectorant that breaks this mucus up, and elecampane root is a rejuvenative for the lungs. Wild cherry bark soothes the throat while peppermint opens the airways. This blend also incorporates cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and fennel seed to support digestion. People tell me that this tea has shortened the length of colds and respiratory problems for them.  

JR Valrey: What kinds of things do you teach in your class? When is the class? How long is the class? What’s the cost?

Gibran McDonald: In Herban Yoga I teach basic Ayurvedic concepts through experience with herbs, focusing on one herb per class. The classes happen first and third Tuesdays from 6-7:30 p.m. at Obsidian Healing Camp in West Oakland, and they are donation based.  

In class we sip the herb of the day and examine it in the context of Ayurveda – what are the tastes and elements that are predominant in the herb? According to Ayurveda, there are six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. Each one of these tastes is composed of two elements, and each taste has generally predictable effects on the body that correspond with the qualities of its elements. Pepper, for example, is a pungent herb. Pungent taste is fire and air, and it generally promotes digestion, reduces mucus, can cause sweating, and is antibacterial and antiparasitic. There are also three basic types of people, each of which have two dominant elements. By understanding your own elemental composition and the energy of the food and herbs you consume, you can make choices that promote balance. In Herban Yoga we explore these dynamics, practice yoga and then enjoy a Sip to Live blend that includes the herb of the day as an ingredient.  

JR Valrey: How do people get more information on your classes? 

Gibran McDonald: The best place to get information about Herban Yoga is on my Instagram:  @Sip.To.Live.  

To find out more about Sip to Live and the teas, you can visit the Sip to Live website at www.SipToLive.com.

JR Valrey is a veteran journalist who can be heard weekly on Wednesdays on 89.5FM KPOO or KPOO.com from noon to 3 p.m. His work can also be heard on www.blockreportradioworld.com. 

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Half a century of Black liberation journalism, is a huge feat for the San Francisco Bay View to be engaged in, in a world where the police kill Black babies over diapers, the government is trying to make it illegal to speak against big tech and data survelliance centers, all while the government commits genocide on the people of Haiti and Cuba, for refusing to be willing slaves to their capitalist and imperialist fantasies. 

The determination and discipline of the San Francisco Bay View newspaper founder Abdul Karriem and current stewards, the Ratcliffs, has to be acknowledged, because it is still monthly, a financial challenge to publish a free to the public – Black newspaper. 

As the current Editor in Chief of the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper, it is a high honor to lead an institution in the Black community, that internationally has played and continues to play integral part in our liberation movements around the planet. As we continue the fight to liberate political prisoners like Mumia Abu Jamal, Kamau Sadiki, Aaron Patterson, and others – it is important that we continue to have our own media institutions, where we can speak to each other, uncensored, and without a filter. We are asking our community to provide sustainable support, for an institution that we have always needed, but never needed it as much as we do now – as we live in an era where Obama made it legal for the government to spread lies and propaganda. As Trump and his Epstein-class buddies takes lying, stealing, kidnapping, raping, killing, polluting, and cannabalism to new levels, it is the Bay View’s job to keep people informed, so that we can organize to collectively defend our lives, love ones, community, people, resources, and land; locally and around the planet from these survelliance, economic, and ecological terrorists. 

The San Francisco Bay View is a serious weapon used against ignorance, that the ruling class wishes would wilt away and die. Over the years, we had been threatened for our reporting like what happened in the Chauncy Bailey murder case, we have been banned from radio stations like KPFA because of our coverage of the unjustified police beating of Nadra Foster inside of the “progressive” Berkeley station, we have fought legal cases because of our exclusive frontline coverage of the police murders of Gary King, Oscar Grant, Lovell Mixon, and so many others. As we turn this corner of fighting for over 50 years, with our pens or i should say nowadays our cell phones, we need our community’s support more than ever. We have begun the 50 x 50 fundraising campaign to continue the work of the newspaper in the streets, as well as to raise money for the 50th anniversary celebration that is scheduled for later in the year. If you would like to play an active part in financially supporting this revolutionary platform for Black and oppressed people, we can utilize your assistance. Thank you. 

JR Valrey, Editor in Chief, San Francisco BayView

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by Leah Harmony 

There is a moment when a family legacy stops being a story and becomes a responsibility.

For Cree Ray, that moment arrived this year.

It wasn’t when she first volunteered or when she first joined the San Francisco Black Film Festival. It wasn’t even when she officially became its director.

“This year,” she told me plainly when I asked when she first felt the weight of inheriting it. “I feel it this year more than ever.”

The answer hit differently than I expected. Because the San Francisco Black Film Festival is not just another annual event. It is one of those rare Black institutions that has survived long enough to become intergenerational. 

As the third-generation director of the San Francisco Black Film Festival, Cree carries a legacy that reaches back from her father, Kali O’Ray, to her grandmother, Ave Maria Montague, the both of whom carried their presence in Bay Area Black arts and culture and helped lay the foundation for the community-centered spirit the festival still carries today. Since 2020, Cree Ray has committed the festival to the generational plan of healing the world, one film at a time, in the vision of Bay Area Black Culture, in a Bay Area that sometimes seems committed to disappearing that very aspect. 

And perhaps that’s why the interview felt less like a conversation about film and more like a conversation about preservation.

Preserving stories. Preserving institutions. Preserving community. Preserving Black San Francisco itself.

Cree’s earliest memories of the festival aren’t glamorous. They aren’t red carpets or celebrity appearances. She remembers shopping for festival clothes with Ave. She remembers following her through screenings. She remembers running through the Museum of the African Diaspora as a little girl, not fully understanding the scope of what was being built around her.

“At that age – I literally think I might have been 6 or 7,” she recalled. “I remember not fully understanding the scope of the film festival.” The understanding came later. It arrived when she was a teenager and her grandmother sent her into the Fillmore carrying stacks of festival tickets. Back when tickets were still printed on paper and you had to physically walk them into neighborhood businesses. This felt important because it was back when communities were built face-to-face. As she delivered tickets, she introduced herself as Ave Montague’s granddaughter. The response surprised her.

“Oh yeah, you’re SFBFF.” People immediately knew. Not just the festival. Her grandmother. That was the moment she realized what the festival meant to the community, and what the community meant to the festival.

Today, that community looks very different. “The number one challenge,” Cree told me, “is there’s not a lot of us there anymore.” Every Black person from the Bay knows exactly what she means. The Fillmore. Hayes Valley. West Oakland. Neighborhoods that once felt unquestionably Black now often feel like historical exhibits of themselves.

The story of the San Francisco Black Film Festival is becoming the story of Black San Francisco: trying to maintain cultural continuity while the physical community shrinks around it. That reality affects everything. Funding. Attendance. Partnerships. Staffing. Even something as simple as finding Black creatives who still live in the city.

“We truly try to keep everything within our community,” Cree explained. Black first. POC second. Not out of exclusion, but out of intention and the understanding that if Black institutions don’t intentionally invest in Black people, nobody else is going to do it for us. But maintaining that commitment gets harder every year. Especially now.

Like many arts organizations across the country, the festival has seen promised funding disappear. Grants awarded one month are rescinded the next. Resources are shrinking across the nonprofit world. Yet what stood out most wasn’t frustration. It was community.

When I asked what the community could do to support the festival, I expected a discussion about fundraising. Instead, Cree talked about showing up. Sharing posts. Attending events.

Connecting resources. Putting someone else’s event in your newsletter. Introducing one organization to another. Helping filmmakers find mentors. Helping creatives find jobs. Helping one another.

“We should all be supporting each other,” she said. Simple. Meaningful and necessary. Because the future she imagines for the festival is surprisingly uncomplicated.

“I want it to feel new and fresh and fun,” she said. Not intimidating. Not exclusive. Not burdensome. Just open, accessible and easy to participate in and easy to enjoy. At the same time, she remains fiercely protective of the festival’s mission. The integrity of the San Francisco Black Film Festival, she says, is non-negotiable.

That commitment comes directly from her grandmother’s vision. The evolution comes from her father’s influence. The future is her own. Part of that future includes reaching younger filmmakers and helping them navigate an industry that is changing faster than ever. 

Throughout our conversation, Cree repeatedly returned to a topic that often gets overlooked in creative spaces: ownership. Not simply creating films. Owning them. Understanding contracts. Protecting rights. Learning how to pitch projects. Learning how to build sustainable careers. Learning how not to sell away tomorrow for a check today.

“These are our stories,” she said. “This is part of our culture, and we don’t want that to keep getting lost throughout the years.”

That philosophy may ultimately be what separates the San Francisco Black Film Festival from countless online platforms competing for attention.The festival is not merely a screening venue. It is a gathering place, a teaching space and an important bridge between generations.

SFBFF is a place where filmmakers can learn from people who have already made the mistakes they’re about to make. That human connection became especially apparent when our conversation turned to artificial intelligence.

While Cree sees AI as a useful tool, she remains cautious about losing the human element.

“There is something missing,” she said of fully AI-generated work. The technology may become more sophisticated, but humanity and the human connection still matters. The human struggle matters; it’s part of the culture. The lesson felt larger than filmmaking. It felt like a lesson about community itself.

Today she’s excited about the submissions this year and welcoming her community on June 18th. It feels transformative, futuristic and grounded in legacy. Maybe even revolutionary. 

For the festivals in the future, she would love to see more animation and films created for Black children in general. She’s also reanimating the Pitch Fest, where young filmmakers find their film pitch voice. Once they get in the door, it’s up to them of course. She feels pride in preparing them for that moment. 

Toward the end of our conversation, Cree spoke excitedly about future plans to connect more deeply with Oakland, San Francisco and the broader Black Bay Area. Outdoor film events. Community partnerships. New collaborations.Not because Oakland and San Francisco are the same but because they need each other.

“Black Bay Area is still Black Bay Area,” she said. Facts. Now more than any other, the Black Bay Area is deeply valued and urgently important, even if it’s just to the Black Bay Area.

This year’s San Francisco Black Film Festival runs June 18-21 at the African American Art & Culture Complex alongside a week of Juneteenth celebrations, community programming and cultural events. And after speaking with Cree Ray, I’m convinced the festival is about something bigger than films.

It’s about what happens when one generation decides that the work of the last generation is worth carrying forward.

And what happens when a community decides to carry it together.

Learn more at https://www.sfbff.org/.

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by Leah Harmony 

Dear Karmelo,

I’m sorry you were misled. As captain of the track team, you probably thought you could get out of the rain at a track meet and sit under a tent, where a friend of yours greeted you, and offered you a seat.  And I’m sorry you lost that friend when he lied on the stand and said you weren’t close, despite having family photos together over the years. I have no hope that he’ll come clean one day, and you shouldn’t either.  

I’m sorry there was a photoshopped, darkened version of your mugshot used for Fox News, as well what was showed to the jury. I hate that they also erased the worry lines, and your inherent look of innocence in the process.  It’s unfair, and it’s an old and dirty way to push the perception of the angry Black male, the “YN,” the murderer. They knew the impact it would have on those who believe there’s such a thing as anti-white racism, those who believe the darker you are, the more deadly; especially where you lived, in the suburb outside of the former sundown town, Dallas. How unnerving it must have felt, and confusing, when you saw the jury before you, and not one looked like you or anyone who’s ever cared about you. You must have wondered how anyone thought these strangers were your peers. Or maybe it was then, you understood the implication, and therefore the future outcome. 

I’m sorry for the memes being circulated in the court of public opinion. That they’re yelling outside of the courthouse that you should be hung from a tree. I’m sorry for all the words towards you and your supporters. Not just the people saying Black people are “chimping out,” every time the verdict prompts a public outcry. Those are the same people who think we want George Floyd and OJ as our eternal heroes when not one of us asked for that. They grit their teeth sputtering per-capita murder stats sorted for convenience.  Because it’s only murder if it’s not state-sanctioned. They won’t mention the cold-blooded reign of murder their leaders deliver in our streets and overseas with impunity. No, they’re not worth it. Even more than Austin’s Dad, after the gag order was lifted, publicly branding you “Watermelon Felon” and absurdly claiming his people were here first while yours “were just brought over on a boat.”  No. I’m more sorry for those calling you a cold-blooded murderer while stating the verdict is “not about race” in a country where everything is about race, and the only way to get past it, is to face it and repair what was broken. Those people. They are the worst. I’m sorry. 

I’m sorry Black people fighting for your justice often appear aggressive and irrational. It gives more anti-black ammunition to the prosecutors and journalists, I believe. But you should know, the reason they do what they do, how they do it, is part emotion and part exhaustion, in equal measure. They care about you. They are fed up with the system. That is how they show their refusal to accept outcomes born of bias or, as it appears in this case, sabotage. While others will say “He knows how America is, he should have never gone into that tent,” or “he should have retreated,” these aren’t those people. These are the ones who believe no solution is born of conformity. These, though you may not see it initially, are the revolutionaries. The ones who will change the world. 

How scared you must have been when jury selection began on the same day a South Carolina jury found convenience store owner, Rick Chow, not guilty of murder for fatally shooting 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton. This after he chased the child the length of a football field, and shot him in the back after he’d fallen out of his shoes onto the ground. Or maybe Chow’s successful self- defense plea gave you hope. It was so like the murder of Latasha Harlins where her killer never saw the inside of a jail cell. Surely if you can combat a running child with a gun, you can combat a group of aggressive football players with a pocket knife. Maybe you reviewed many recent court cases while on house arrest, while your family was threatened and you had to move. Perhaps Daniel Penny’s successful self-defense plea, his freedom, and being hailed as a hero, after choking an unarmed, mentally ill man to death on a New York subway also gave you hope. George Zimmerman also successfully pled self- defense when Trayvon had only a bag of skittles on his person. You defended yourself, to the letter of the law, under the stand-your-ground law, in a stand-your-ground state.

But no, I don’t think you had the kind of hope that comes with privilege and the power of whiteness.You were probably filled with the never ending pull of the “what ifs” and the “if onlys” 

Karmelo, If you can help it, don’t go down that path. Nothing can change what has happened. We can only get ahead of, and mold that which hasn’t yet been formed against us. You may not be ok right now, but that’s alright. You will be. And you are embedded into the history of this country. Your sacrifice will bring about change. If it gets worse before it gets better, understand that these things must go through loss and gain, up and down, down and up again. Whereas a flat line symbolizes death.

Austin lost his life, and that’s always a tragedy, for no one knows what could have been. And you defended yours; Your life is still and always will be a gift. Live and love. Laugh when you can. Fight if you must. 

We will too. We love you.

Leah Harmony is a tv and music video producer who is currently working on several screen projects. She is a journalist and Production Manager for The San Francisco Bay View. She can be reached at: leah@sfbayview.com

The post Dear Karmelo appeared first on San Francisco Bay View.

by Leah Harmony

Let me show you how the game is rigged. A few years ago, I discovered a popular brand of ginger ale was being sold without actually having ginger in it. That may not sound like much, but their promotion was entirely built on being made with real ginger. For me, it was one of those crack-in-the matrix moments. The ad featured a healthy young mother preparing a picnic in an abundant field of ginger. The words: made with real ginger were splashed on the screen and instantly the subconscious mind connects the sugar-filled, artificially flavored ginger ale with nature and care. Tricky. Later, after a lab discovery brought a class action suit, the brand quietly settled out of court. This is usually done to avoid media attention and having to admit wrongdoing. They simply reached into their allocated legal fund and paid $11 million in damages. The people rejoiced. 

What they didn’t realize was that $11 million was built into the brand’s marketing budget and already charged to the game. The brand knew out of the gate that the lie would make them more money than the truth would cost them. The two attorneys from Harvard and Yale who brought the case to the judge took home $2.1 million. The people who were deceived cashed out at 50 cents each. Today, the brand does well enough to pay $848 million a year in dividends to its largest shareholder and they reported their latest annual revenue as $48 billion. 

American politics is like that ginger lawsuit.

Ready players

It’s Primary season in politics, which means it’s time to wrangle the Black vote. Voter suppression and redistricting dominate the headlines. Suddenly, we’re inundated with headlines about Republicans scrambling to redistrict the Black coalition right off the map, starting with Louisiana and Tennessee and moving North from there. Though representatives put out a statement saying any seats gained could be filled with Black Republican lawmakers, the left isn’t buying it. Gov. Gavin Newsom says we’re living through “Jim Crow 2.0.” 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led a rally from behind a bulletproof stage pod, where from a bullhorn she told us we are under attack and we need to “pull up” on the Southern states. Over and over we hear the Voting Rights Act is being gutted by a Supreme Court intent on ushering in a new era of “American apartheid.” The redistricting in Tennessee is being called a “declaration of war.” The NAACP has even called for all Black college athletes to boycott college sports in response to the new maps. 

It’s right on time, and it’s all very on-brand. Care and concern for Black folks is what they’re selling. 

Same game

Beyond the headlines and rhetoric, many Black Americans are wondering: What has electoral representation changed in our daily lives? Republicans are doing exactly what they said they’d do. We’re witnessing the crescendo of a grand campaign. Of course the Republican Party in the South, under Donald Trump, is dangerous. Southern Republican lawmakers have always used redistricting to lessen Black voting power. Especially in states where Black district voting could threaten embedded, old money power like in Louisiana. 

Season after season, the seats revolve, colors change, the public in-fighting persists, all funded by our tax dollars or donations that would rather be a great help to our communities. If we base the progress of our representation on our real-life statistics, we’d have to be honest and admit we, the Black people, are perpetually losing. Our representatives seem to want us content to just exist in a country most of us can’t afford to enjoy or even have a roof over our head in. 

For the past 20 years Black Americans have experienced poverty at rates roughly double those of white Americans. Currently 18% of Black people are at or below the poverty line where white people are holding steady at 7%. The Black homeownership rate stands at roughly 43.6% to 44.7% nationally, leaving a significant gap between Black and white homeownership rate, which is holding steady at 72% to 74%. The Black homeownership rate in California sits at approximately 36.5%, representing the lowest rate among all major ethnic groups in the state. 

I’m constantly wondering where all this equity is that everyone’s talking about. I cannot recall a single candidate or widely accessible policy in my voting timeline that tackled the reality of historical mortgage denials, neighborhood devaluations, gentrification or generational wealth barriers. This is with the exception of the Black Homeownership Initiative through CalHFA that provided educational materials and a referral to the Dream For All down payment assistance program. The successful program provided loan assistance in the following percentages: White 34%, Hispanic 34%, Asian 18%, Black 4%. When held against the stated goal, or against current voter awareness campaigns, those numbers don’t reflect initiative, by traditional or governmental definition. Yet, everyone I know has an ID and can vote but not a single friend in my circle owns their own home. That’s a mislabeled initiative if I ever saw one. Big Ginger ale would be proud. 

Seeing the play 

This is not an argument against voting rights protections. It is an argument that the public care and concern may actually just be electoral symbolism for your vote, and not tangible progress. The right to vote matters. It always has. But personally, I’m not comfortable pretending like it’s doing so is what frees us from our state of being. A ballot has yet to produce housing. A district map does not create generational wealth, stability or longevity. Representation has never stopped the gentrification of our stomping grounds. 

The Civil Rights Act was fought so Black Americans could finally access the protections other citizens had enjoyed since the country’s inception. It’s sold as a set of laws aimed to repair historical harms. When we bought it, they didn’t explain that race-based legislation is unconstitutional, making targeted repair near impossible. Broken down further, that means harms caused by racism cannot be repaired if the remedy targets the race that was harmed. Or further: race-based harms cannot be remedied through race-based remedies. Tricky, tricky. 

The act might as well be labeled: “made with real civil rights.”

Flipping the board 

More and more, there seems to be an overlay of clarity on political antics. I’m not sure if it’s the young Black youth fearlessly yelling to Mayor Mamdani on crowded NYC streets about those tangibles we’ve been asking for, with their won’t back down chants of “I thought I told you that we won’t vote; I thought I told you that we won’t vote!” or if it’s that more people are speaking out from the trenches, that neither party seems to care at all where Black people rest their heads at night until someone starts drawing on the maps that threaten their seats. 

These moments of understanding come in waves, then there’s a tidal wave, revealing chaos as king. Right behind the wars, aliens and pedophile politicians, there’s a gut punch of trauma pulling us into old battles already fought and won. 

I’ve come to realize chaos isn’t a state of being, it’s a place called America. America, the beautiful, where the people are strong and what’s on the screen is not always what it appears to be. 

I agree with the words of NOLA’s citizen activist, Marshan Camese, that the MAGA party is the last breath of the confederacy and the children they created are not on board with their racist politics. But none of that means we have to pretend that while Democrats held the seats they’ve lost, they even came close to solving that which continues to ail Black America. 

So here we are, and how do we change our world from behind this muddy windshield? Voting is a gift inherited from ancestors who cherished it. That gift has transmuted and is now a larger lesson. To ignore it would be to our detriment. 

The lesson is that voting alone can’t carry the entire weight of a thing so important as liberation. There are elected officials, organizers and legal advocates in Southern states, and the North, who are doing real work to stop racial vote dilution, often at personal and political cost. Their efforts deserve recognition. We should absolutely resist the erasure of Black political power from the map. 

But it’s high time we stop seeing symbolism during election season as commitment to our communities when it has yet to be proven as such. Victories that benefit the parties instead of the people are not wins. They are confirmations. We know that politicians can mobilize overnight to save districts, redraw maps, fund legal battles and protect seats. We understand the same urgency could be applied to housing, wealth opportunities, failing schools, environmental hazards, poisonous food systems, and the criminal justice pipeline that keeps swallowing our future leaders.

The system has proven it can move. We must watch when and for whom it chooses to, and our energies should be distributed as such. 

I say vote when it protects your interests. Challenge every power when that exploits our trauma and loyalty. Lift leaders that show up when it’s raining, not just when the sun shines on election season. Build within our own communities regardless of who wins. Draw our own maps. Redistrict within.

We must remember things are not always what they’re sold as. Not in America. Not in politics. And, not in soft drinks.

Leah Harmony is a producer and journalist. she manages production at the SF Bayview and can be reached at leah@sfbayview.com.

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by Landon Willis

Devoted to celebrating and honoring the culture of the African Diaspora, Rafiki Coalition is known throughout the Bay Area by the Ghanaian Adinkra symbol Gye Nyame. The symbol means supremacy and omnipotency of God. The long history of Rafiki Coalition, 40 years to be exact, displays service to black and marginalized people that includes accessible health care, food banks support, community education opportunities, and various policy work.  One would say they are absolutely moved by a higher power.  Rafiki is a culturally relevant organization, never losing its connection to the mother land by empowering African descended people. 

 Rafiki’s mission statement is, “To eliminate health inequities in San Francisco’s Black and marginalized communities through education, advocacy, and the provision of holistic health and wellness services in a culturally affirming environment.” One way Rafiki displays its mission is by providing group activities like boxing, Afro Caribbean dance, and other strength and mobility training to help with health disparities. The group classes offer opportunities for connection along with self-improvement in a community setting. You are not alone, support is at the core of Rafiki. The organization encourages social wellness through all their services because it is beneficial for mental health. They encourage their recipients to share about other services – ultimately helping people who are struggling get connected to needed resources. 

Rafiki is not limited to traditional forms of promoting health and wellness. They also have unique activities like meditation, acupuncture, and massage therapy. These experiences allow participants to look inward and discover spiritual connection with others. The recipient becomes intune with their own mind, body and spirit. These methods of holistic wellness allow for people to explore different angles within a healthy lifestyle. 

Past Works & Future Plans 

I sat down with some workers at Rafiki asking, “Why is Rafiki important to you?” Pia Odom, Rafiki’s Associate Marriage and Family Therapist shared, “We’ve been serving Bayview Hunters Point for the last 40 years. Originally we started out as an organization that served the HIV positive and AIDS population, but have since evolved.”

 During the 80s, HIV and AIDS prevention was slow to mobilize.  In San Francisco, this was no exception. According to the National Library of Medicine, “Prior to the widespread availability of sterile syringes in the late 1980s, HIV incidence among IDUs in San Francisco peaked in 1987 at a rate of 2.7%.” Rafiki was established in order to cover low income black folks who did not have access to culturally concording care. On their website, it states, “Founded in 1986, Rafiki Coalition has grown from a grassroots response to the HIV/AIDS crisis into a trusted leader in Black health and wellness, providing culturally rooted services and advancing health equity across San Francisco.”

I also inquired about the grant from Kaiser Permanente’s Voices For Mental Health campaign wondering about the benefits of the additional resources. I was informed that Rafiki plans on starting a project where kids can talk about mental health through art. Sian Yongyuth, another Associate Marriage and Family Therapist at Rafiki mentioned, “Art therapy is a huge way for people to express things they have a hard time vocalizing. So, I think using art specifically with kids gives them the opportunity to express things that they might still be in the process of finding the words for.” 

More Than A Disney Character, But Still Magical

Rafiki is also a Swahili word that means friend. Yes, Rafiki has been a friend to the Bay Area community, an organization that we can depend on without a doubt. 

However, my first introduction to the name of Rafiki was the Lion King. I remember the character affirming, “Oh yes the past can hurt. But the way I see you can either run from it or learn from it. So what are you going to do?” This quote is from the Disney animated movie, and has a profound inner message. The protagonist Simba realizes in order to move forward and remember who he truly is, he must confront his past head on. Despite knowing this, he does not know if he has the strength to do so. Rafiki tells him again, he must learn from his past instead of running from it. 

When I interviewed the team from the Rafiki Coalition, it reminded me also of the character Rafiki. Not necessarily the character’s personality, but instead what he represented. The character Rafiki was a symbol of spiritual healing for the main character Simba. The Rafiki organization is also a symbol of healing and courage for the Bay Area community. Rafiki also serves as a guide to people in need, just like Simba was led by a wise and eccentric mandrill.

Rafiki Coalition positively changes how people view wellness and they strive to instill this change in the youth of Bayview as well. They are truly a unique organization that continues to adapt to the community’s needs. I believe Simba would agree too!

What’s Next 

Rafiki Coalition has two upcoming events that you are more than welcome to join.  The 40th Anniversary Soirée on Wednesday June 10 from 5:00pm to 9:00pm at Pier 27. The event is described as a “fundraising event bringing together donors, partners, and community leaders who believe in health equity that lasts.” The second event is the 15th Annual Black Healing Summit. It is a two-day free event from June 12-June 13 developed as a “community-centered experience designed to uplift, educate, and restore.” You can find more information about these wonderful events on the Rafiki Coalition website at rafikicoalition.org. Again, there are many opportunities for you to participate with Rafiki Coalition. 

Landon Willis is a writing and media intern with the San Francisco Bay View newspaper. He is a second-year marketing student at San Francisco State University and a special reporter on the San Francisco Kaiser Permanente’s Voices for Mental Health and Wellness Campaign. In addition to school, Landon enjoys exercise, music, and hanging out with friends. He is very passionate about film and acting and is currently working on creating his own feature film.

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by Robert Roth, Haiti Action Committee

As the world reels from the devastating U.S.-Israel war on Iran and Lebanon, and as the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide rages on in Gaza and the West Bank, the Trump Administration’s plan to assert its dominance over the Americas is also moving forward at an unprecedented pace. Having kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and colleague, Cilia Flores, and taken control over Venezuela’s oil reserves, the U.S. is now salivating over the prospect of toppling the socialist government of Cuba.  On March 16, Trump announced that he “could take Cuba whenever I want” and that Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel “would have to go” if Cuba wanted to negotiate its survival with the U.S. administration. 

It could not be clearer. Old-fashioned U.S. imperialism, with no cover, is back in force. And it isn’t just words: the U.S. has ratcheted up its blockade of Cuban ports, strangling the island nation by attempting to eliminate its fuel supply. Over 15,000 U.S. troops are now stationed throughout the Caribbean, with a concentration in Puerto Rico. The infamous Roosevelt Roads Naval Base has been reactivated, threatening any Caribbean or Latin American nation that dares to defy the U.S. 

As of March, the long-standing supply of Venezuelan oil to the Cuban government has ceased. Even Cuba’s vaunted medical support for countries in the Americas has come under withering attack. One example: the government of Jamaica has canceled its decades-long medical collaboration with Cuba, despite that collaboration having saved countless Jamaican lives.

None of this is a slam-dunk for the U.S. Despite proclamations of victory in the Iran war, it is clear that the U.S. and Israel are facing unforeseen consequences, and were unprepared for the level of Iranian self-defense, which has rattled the world economy and sent shock waves throughout West Asia.  And let’s not forget that the U.S. has been attempting to destroy Cuba ever since the Cuban Revolution in 1959, without success. But as history has shown, an empire in crisis can and will unleash terror around the world.  

The crisis in Haiti

For Haitians, this is an all-too-familiar scenario. The kidnapping of President Maduro and his wife followed the script of the 2004 U.S.-orchestrated coup against the democratically elected progressive government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. On Feb. 29, 2004, U.S. Marines kidnapped President Aristide and his wife and colleague, Mildred Aristide, and deposited them at a French military base in the Central African Republic, leading eventually to a seven-year forced exile in South Africa. 

In the aftermath of the coup, thousands of Haitians were killed, raped, or terrorized into exile. Reinforced by a violent UN military occupation, the coup brought in a series of corrupt, drug trafficking right-wing governments eager to sell the country’s land and resources to multinational corporations. These U.S.-imposed governments, and the tiny Haitian elite they serve, were responsible for empowering paramilitary death squads, called “gangs” in the U.S. media, to wipe out opposition and protect their assets, plunging Haiti into an ever-deepening crisis.

Haitian civilians: Caught between a rock and a hard place

In the last year alone, approximately 8,100 people have been killed in Haiti – primarily by paramilitary violence. Armed groups operate with near-total impunity, wreaking havoc on civil society. For example, in late March, the “Gran Griff” death squad, part of the Viv Ansamn paramilitary federation, massacred over 80 people in the Artibonite region, which has long been Haiti’s agricultural center. 

Roads throughout the country remain blocked, people cannot access markets, and close to 1.4 million people (out of a population of 12 million) have become internal refugees. Hospitals have been forced to close after being targeted by paramilitaries. A cholera epidemic hit in 2025. Sexual violence against women and children has become the norm. According to United Nations statistics, some 5.7 million Haitians are facing what is euphemistically called “high levels of acute food insecurity,” including more than 1.2 million children under age 5. This is why Fanmi Lavalas, the people’s party founded by former President Aristide, has labeled this a “slow-motion genocide.”

In the name of fighting the paramilitaries, the current Haitian government recently signed a 10-year multi-million dollar contract with Erik Prince’s infamous mercenary group, Vectus Global. Formerly known as Blackwater, it was responsible for the Nisour Square Massacre in 2007 during the Iraq War, in which 17 Iraqi civilians, including a 9-year-old boy, were killed and over 20 others were injured. True to form, Vectus Global is now carrying out “anti-gang operations” with Haitian police that have resulted in the killing of over 1,100 people, many of them civilians, in densely populated sections of the capital, ​Port-au-Prince.  Haiti’s government has also signed an $85.4 million contract with foreign private for-profit prison firms to build three new prisons, an ominous sign of even more repression to follow, in a country that needs money for health care and education, not more prisons.  

So now, Haitians stand between a rock and a hard place: On the one hand, emboldened and well-connected paramilitary death squads determined to have their share of power, and on the other, a government dominated by the business elite that is ratcheting up its repressive apparatus and using its police powers and foreign mercenaries to wreak havoc on civilians.

As of Feb. 7, 2026, a temporary presidential council has been dissolved, leaving only a U.S.-backed prime minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aime, in charge of the nation. When widespread opposition to Fils-Aime surfaced within Haiti, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Haitians that there would be “grave consequences” if Fils-Aime were removed from power. With a U.S. warship off the coast of Haiti and a U.N.- organized multinational force of 5,500 troops gearing up to deepen the occupation of Haiti and oversee new elections, we can expect a fraudulent selection aimed at installing a more permanent regime beholden once again to the United States. This fits snugly into the Trump Administration’s strategy to dominate all of Latin America and the Caribbean, and is a stark reminder of what is at stake throughout the Americas as the U.S. asserts its hegemony.

Envisioning a new Haiti

Haitians have always resisted tyranny, from the time they overthrew slavery, defeated Napoleon’s army, and declared the world’s first Black republic in 1804. Today, communities have risen to defend themselves from paramilitary attacks, despite the high-powered weapons in the hands of the death squads. Women’s groups have mobilized to provide support for the survivors of gang rapes. The University of the Dr. Aristide Foundation (UNIFA), taken over by the U.S. military after the 2004 coup and reopened when the Aristides returned to Haiti in 2011, continues to graduate doctors, nurses, lawyers, agronomists, dentists, engineers, and physical therapists amid daunting challenges. 

UNIFA has now opened a teaching hospital at a time when many hospitals in Haiti have been shuttered due to death squad violence. Throughout the country, activists are operating at the local level, building capacity and resistance. A new Haiti can be envisioned through the prism of these grassroots efforts.

Defend Haitian refugees

Haitians living within US borders are also in the crosshairs. Throughout their 2024 election campaign, Trump and Vance demonized Haitians, going so far as to falsely accuse Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, of eating their neighbors’ pets. This outrageous, racist lie fueled anti-Haitian attacks throughout Ohio. Shortly after Trump’s 2025 inauguration, the Department of Homeland Security attempted to end Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for over 350,000 Haitians now in the United States.  This, despite the State Department issuing travel warnings telling Americans not to travel to Haiti due to dangerous conditions there. 

On March 6, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Ccuit upheld a ruling that the termination of TPS for Haiti was unlawful and based on “racial animus.” This ruling allows beneficiaries to maintain their status and keep their work permits for the moment. But the Trump Administration has already filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, which has ruled against migrants over and over again. In response, supporters of Haitian migrants in Congress have put forward an initiative aimed at extending TPS for Haitians for another three years.

This is a moment when activism in support of Haitian migrants and the grassroots movement in Haiti is critical. We hope you will join us in this fight.

From Haiti to Venezuela to Cuba and Puerto Rico: One struggle, one fight

For more information, please check out Haiti Action Committee’s website: www.haitisolidarity.net and our Facebook page.

To contact us, please email us: action.haiti@gmail.com

To support grassroots projects in Haiti, please donate to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund: www.haitiemergencyrelief.org

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Statement from National Bar Association President Ashley Upkins on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana V. Callais

The National Bar Association expresses outrage regarding the April 29 United States Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais, a ruling that significantly narrows protections long relied upon to challenge racial vote dilution under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Read the full Supreme Court opinion here.

For generations, Section 2 has served as one of the nation’s most important legal safeguards against schemes designed to weaken the voting strength of Black communities and other historically marginalized voters. It has been a critical tool in ensuring that representation in our democracy reflects fairness rather than manipulation.

The April 29 ruling raises the bar for proving discrimination, diminishes the weight of historical realities, and makes it more difficult to challenge district maps that dilute minority voting power. In practical terms, this decision threatens to reduce opportunities for Black voters to elect candidates of their choice and further erodes federal protections that have already been weakened over the last decade.

Let me be clear: this moment is bigger than Louisiana. This is a civil rights inflection point.

This decision has implications for communities across the country, particularly in states where demographic growth has outpaced political representation and where district lines have too often been used as barriers instead of bridges.

The National Bar Association was founded in 1925 because Black lawyers were excluded from institutions that claimed to represent justice. This decision reminds us that rights once won are never permanently secured. Every generation must defend democracy anew.

That responsibility now calls on us again.

Our call to action

We urge our members, chapters, affiliates, judges, law students and community partners to mobilize immediately in the following ways:

1. Litigation readiness

Support and engage in strategic litigation efforts to challenge discriminatory practices wherever lawful avenues remain.

2. Legislative advocacy

Push for federal voting rights legislation that restores and strengthens protections gutted by recent court decisions.

3. Voter education and protection

Expand voter education, election protection and turnout efforts in every jurisdiction, especially in underserved communities.

4. Local power building

Remember that prosecutors, judges, school boards, sheriffs, mayors and state legislators shape daily life. Local elections matter deeply.

5. Membership mobilization

Every National Bar Association chapter should convene immediate discussions on the impact of this decision and develop local action plans.

Our commitment

The courts may narrow pathways, but they cannot silence a people determined to be heard. We have faced literacy tests, poll taxes, intimidation, exclusion and obstruction. We have answered every challenge with courage and collective action. We will do so again.

The National Bar Association remains steadfast in its mission to protect civil rights, defend democracy and ensure that equal justice is a lived reality for all. I will see you at the annual convention. Bring your boots, there is much work to be done.

Ashley L. Upkins is the 83rd president of the National Bar Association and the first woman from Tennessee to hold this historic role. Recognized as a powerful voice for justice, equity and leadership, she is an award-winning attorney and advocate who inspires with her vision, faith and commitment to lifting the next generation of change-makers. She can be reached via info@nationalbar.org. 

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by Mark P. Fancher 

The conditions are ripe for growing Black political consciousness, but revolutionary movements must broaden their reach to all sectors and classes of the people.

As the world has grown weary of the morally bankrupt and criminally insane shenanigans of the Trump administration, Democratic Party leaders have struggled to contain their glee. They smell blood in the water, and they lick their chops in anticipation of a proverbial “blue wave” of victories in the upcoming mid-term elections.

While the Democrats have felt a sense of euphoria as they have watched millions of people pour into the streets during “No Kings” protests, Party leaders most certainly have been alarmed by the overwhelming whiteness of the crowds. During elections, their campaign playbook demands the mass mobilization of voters of the African persuasion, and the absence of this demographic from public demonstrations against Trump is a red flag.

When there are concerns about Black voter turnout, in my imagination, the Democrats’ playbook says: 

“Mobilize the Head Negroes in Charge. These include the Party sycophants, preachers who are parasites on the federal treasury, clueless podcasters and celebrities, and any others fitting the negroid profile who have the ear of their community. Next, direct these influencers to sound the alarm of an impending crisis in a way that will frighten Black people into running to the polls, where they will then cast their ballots for our beloved Democratic Party.”  

U.S. Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina has spent years studying the playbook, and he likely can recite its text verbatim. On cue and consistent with the book’s directive, he recently sounded the alarm when he said there should be less focus on the 2028 Presidential elections and more concern about Trump’s threat to voting rights during the midterm elections. “I’ve been saying to everybody, and I hope they take heed — 2028 is a very shiny object, 2026 is a necessary process. If we fail to conduct ourselves properly in these off-year elections, there ain’t gonna be a 2028 election,” Clyburn said.

Notwithstanding the dire warnings of an existential threat to democracy, the Democratic Party may find that increasingly, the Black community’s Pavlovian impulses have diminished and they are far less responsive to political alarm bells. A 2024 Pew Research Center study showed that “many Black Americans believe the racial bias in U.S. institutions is not merely a matter of passive negligence; it is the result of intentional design. Specifically, large majorities describe the prison (74%), political (67%) and economic (65%) systems in the U.S., among others, as having been designed to hold Black people back, either a great deal or a fair amount.”

These findings reflect an inevitable rise in consciousness that is the product of observation and lived experience over the course of decades. Having watched the machinations of both the Democratic and Republican Parties, the collective African mind has, in its brilliance, recognized that the political and other systems have “been designed to hold Black people back.” One consequence is that the people have withdrawn. Black people’s attempts to stop Trump in 2024 were a last-ditch effort to avoid the chaos we have experienced since Trump’s election, but their failure in the face of a tsunami of Make America White Again sentiments have led to a quiet abandonment of conventional political engagement.

These developments are of course disastrous for the Democratic Party. But given the dialectical relationship between the Democratic Party and the African World, what’s bad for the Democratic Party is good for Black people. A mass recognition of the antagonistic role of the political process represents a significant step forward for the Black community. It means they have been able to see through the symbolism of an Obama presidency and other propaganda, and to identify the system as hostile to their interests. 

But this development also means that the people have reached a crossroads where their selection of the wrong path can spell catastrophe. The hope is that they will choose to deepen their analysis and embark on a revolutionary course. But it is possible that in their efforts to rebuke the Democratic Party they will embrace destructive movements like Foundational Black Americans, or even worse, MAGA. They might also simply retreat into passive apathy with hopes that white folks’ ignorance and hatred will cause them to self-destruct.

There are conditions and circumstances that prompt an almost instinctive and intuitive revolutionary analysis. But such do not exist in the U.S. This country’s history is too complicated and the psyops that have been carefully designed to ensure mass ignorance and confusion have been too effective to presume that on their own, everyday people will gain an understanding of not only how capitalism uses white supremacy to oppress, but also why and how the system can be defeated. Consequently, there is the danger that even as Black people come to regard the political process as a dead end, that they will also become demoralized by the absence of a plan and vision for a liberating alternative.

Political education has long been a central programmatic feature of organizations on the Black Left. James Forman, an organizer with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), explained that the organization’s participation in a Voter Education Project in the early 1960s was actually a disguised strategy to raise the level of revolutionary consciousness of the people – not for purposes of increasing their participation in the electoral process, but to inspire them to destroy it. Forman explained:

“SNCC’s goal was to lay bare the injustices perpetrated upon Black people – among them denial of the vote – in the hope that this would lead to greater mass action. In other words, we were interested in trying to register voters so as to expose the dirt of the United States and thus alienate Black people from the whole system. And the United States, through the Kennedy administration, was interested in trying to register voters for the sake of the Democratic Party. By cooperating with the Voter Education Project, sponsored by the Southern Regional Council with the federal government’s blessing, we saw a way to finance what we wanted to do. We would be walking a thin line of contradiction in the American system, but we felt able to do it.”

If the Pew study is correct, the challenge is no longer how to alienate the people from the system, but instead how to help them to understand the true causes of the alienation they already feel. It is also necessary to provide them with a revolutionary vision that makes sense. Unfortunately, too many of us have strayed from the organizing approach pursued by SNCC and many other revolutionaries around the world. Instead of finding ways to live and work with the people, too many create avant garde political organizations that spout esoteric jargon and host poorly-attended teach-ins where they tell themselves that the politically unenlightened not in attendance have missed out on the privilege of learning the correct political line.

There aren’t many everyday people who respond well to strangers who use strange language to communicate strange concepts and who invite them to meetings and programs about topics they know nothing about. They listen to people who they know and trust. SNCC understood this, and in the rural South their organizers sometimes traded in designer clothes for denim overalls, slept without complaint on the floors of small ramshackle homes and routinely shared meals of pinto beans and cornbread with families. Consider Kwame Ture’s comments from his book, “Ready for Revolution,” about his experience in Mississippi with his host family:

“I became close to the Johnson family, the parents, the grandmother, and the children. In fact, I felt like a family member, and all the Johnsons became stalwarts of the movement in Greenwood. Over the next four years, Mrs. Johnson would take care of a great many SNCC people coming through Greenwood. She always called me her son.”

As for the Johnson family, one of the children commented:

“But in spite of what his vocal was in terms of this and that in public, there was a certain way that [Ture] carried himself amongst the people. Stokely had a mild demeanor that he could sit down and be very patient, calm and talk through with ministers and what have you. But he wouldn’t accept to be disrespected, and then he didn’t allow you to disrespect local folk. He didn’t allow that. No, he didn’t … He was very much for the people … always.”

In 2026 it may not be useful for everyone to take up residence with Southern sharecroppers, but if there is a genuine interest in providing people with a revolutionary political analysis, it still makes good sense to meet the people where they are and to become one with them. For the most part, people are not searching for revolutionary organizations to join. They are engaged in the work of traditional civil rights organizations, churches, Greek letter organizations, lodges, unions, neighborhood associations and social clubs. 

The suggestion that revolutionaries join and work with these groups is sometimes met with a sneer by those who feel it is unthinkable that politically pure individuals will dare to lower themselves by mingling with bourgeois reformists. But such snobbery kills opportunities to explain to sororities that donate to charities in Africa that imperialism is why the continent is so poor in the first place. If the revolutionary doesn’t go to church, there won’t be an opportunity to explain to churchgoers that Jesus himself was an anti-imperialist whose insistence on equitable distribution of community resources inspired his followers to establish what was in effect a small socialist government. If the revolutionary doesn’t join the neighborhood watch program, there won’t be a chance to challenge the other members to consider that the street crime they hope to prevent is a byproduct of a capitalist system that causes desperation among those who endure extreme economic distress and emotional instability.

Political education is most effective when it is organic, and the fact that certain organizations don’t currently have a revolutionary program doesn’t mean that they don’t have revolutionary potential. During the early 1960s, Robert F. Williams, who was a militant internationalist, gave the NAACP a whole new look in his hometown of Monroe, North Carolina, when he revived the local chapter. In his book, “Negroes with Guns,” he explained: 

“So one day I walked into a Negro poolroom in our town, interrupted a game by putting NAACP literature on the table and made a pitch. I recruited half of those present. This got our chapter off to a new start. We began a recruiting drive among laborers, farmers, domestic workers, the unemployed and any and all Negro people in the area. We ended up with a chapter that was unique in the whole NAACP because of working class composition and a leadership that was not middle class. Most important, we had a strong representation of returned veterans who were very militant and who didn’t scare easy.”

The conditions are ripe for explosive growth of the political consciousness of the Africans in this country. But if we decline to meet the people where they are because of fears of being identified as bourgeois reformists, then we risk missing an opportunity that may not become available again for quite some time.

Mark P. Fancher is an attorney and writer. He can be contacted at mfancher@comcast.net. This story first appeared in Black Agenda Report.

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Our co-op investigation has opened into a larger story about federal oversight, underused housing tools and why a city in crisis is still failing to house our people.

by Tabari Morris

Before the bulldozers came, the Fillmore was alive. Duke Ellington played there. Billie Holiday sang there. On any given night, you could walk down Fillmore Street and hear five different stars at five different clubs. Black people owned those blocks. They had built something.

Then the city called it blight.

What followed was one of the most extreme cases of government-mandated displacement in urban America. Blocks of the Fillmore were bulldozed. They tried to rename it the Western Addition to make people forget. People were relocated. Business establishments that formed the backbone of Black life were obliterated overnight. Photos and some people have survived — a bird’s-eye view of the cleared area, in the words of an eye-witness, looked like a war zone.

And out of the rubble came the promise of federal housing. Limited Equity Cooperatives. Policies that would ensure that Black families were not only able to rent their homes in the city but have some ownership interest as well. And Martin Luther King-Marcus Garvey Square (King-Garvey) represented one such promise. 

Decades later, the documentation shows an entirely different story. A REAC (HUD Real Estate Assessment Center that inspects and evaluates the financial and physical condition of HUD-assisted housing) rating of 37. An almost defaulted building. An amount in excess of $44 million spent over many years to save the building with the deteriorating conditions experienced by its residents Vouchers made available but never used. Oversight mechanisms in place that evaluated compliance but never provided safety or stability.

The people are still waiting. The question this series asks is simple: Who was this system actually built to serve?

The whole purpose of HUD was to serve poor people primarily. It did not turn out that way.

San Francisco’s current housing crisis did not start with today’s waitlists, inspections or voucher backlogs. For Black residents, it is part of a much older story: the destruction of the Fillmore, the promises of federally backed housing, the rise of limited-equity cooperatives, and the long experience of being told that relief is coming while displacement keeps moving forward.

When the Fillmore was Harlem of the West

The Fillmore became the center of culture and the economic heart of Black San Francisco in the 1940s and 1950s.This area of San Francisco was referred to as “Harlem of the West” due to its jazz bars, Black-owned businesses, Black churches, Black newspapers, and a strong social organization that led to a thriving Black community.

This quick expansion of the Black population was also due to the movement of Blacks during the World War II years in order to find work and other opportunities in San Francisco. The Black population peaked in San Francisco in 1970; and, at the same time, there were elements that would lead to the demise of the Black community.

Black people had the neighborhood that was the biggest tourist attraction in San Francisco — and the City destroyed that revenue source in order to get rid of Black people.

The redevelopment plan for San Francisco had identified the Western Addition area as blighted and conducted a large-scale demolition of the area under the name of “urban renewal.” This process has been widely acknowledged as Black removal, where houses, businesses and whole communities were torn apart, with the Black cultural capital being split up and made to look like progress..

The photographs from that era show so much destruction, the area really did look like a war zone. Thousands of families were dislocated, hundreds of Victorian homes torn down, and Black business strips destroyed by urban renewal policies.

HUD and a broken promise

When HUD was created in 1965, it carried hope for Black community. It was supposed to concentrate federal power on housing and urban problems and serve poor people in a way no other federal department had been built to do.

Ther history of federal housing has also full of contradictions. The same federal framework that expanded subsidies and public housing also inherited urban renewal machinery, and later generations of residents would watch HUD oversight, private development interests, and local housing politics collide in ways that did not protect the people that became the most at risk.

The whole purpose of HUD was to serve poor people primarily. HUD did not turn out to be poor people’s savior. It turned out to belong to the developers.

Out of the destruction came developments such as King-Garvey and other limited-equity cooperatives. They offered more than shelter. For many Black families, they represented a chance to get security in the City through shared ownership, community governance and the possibility of stability after urban renewal had already taken so much.

That is why deterioration at these properties cannot be treated as just a maintenance issue. When a co-op created as part of the response to Black displacement began to fail, the damage became historical as well as physical. The promise being weakened is not only about one building; it is about whether Black San Franciscans were ever truly allowed to hold on to the city they helped build.

Jobs, ownership and Section 3

Section 3 of the HUD Act of 1968 requires that, to the greatest extent feasible, HUD-funded projects direct training, employment and contracting opportunities to low-income people in the community.

This matters because housing was never supposed to be just a roof. The people living in subsidized housing were supposed to have a stake in repairing it, maintaining it and building economic stability through it. Housing, jobs and local control were supposed to reinforce each other.

Look up the jobs, the homes, talk about being able to own your own place with your neighbors.

A city still shrinking Black belonging

Black numbers peaked at 13.4 percent in the city of San Francisco in the census of 1970 and dropped to 5.4 percent in 2020. The drop in the number is not only due to market forces. It reflects a more extensive pattern of policies and practices that have increasingly constrained Black inclusion within the city.

When tenants talk about problems in today’s housing market such as delayed vouchers, rising prices, pending maintenance, proposed construction projects, or technologies that threaten their housing, they do not describe distinct events. Instead, they tell yet another episode in the same story.

SF Bay View Managing Editor Tabari Morris can be reached at tabari@sfbayview.com. 

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