As the San Francisco Bayview Newspaper shares news of the Oakland International Film Festival and its enlightening moments, the newspaper also points out some "inconvenient truth" affecting San Francisco and the Bay Area. The death of Alex Nieto, racism in construction, Rainbow P.U.S.H. & digital divide, and other stories demonstrate the San Francisco Bay Area should take a serious look at itself…As the old word on the street saying goes…."You better check yourself before you wreck yourself."
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April 6, 2014
See ‘Til Infinity’ and more at tonight’s finale: Oakland International Film Festival at Black Repertory Theater
The final day of the Oakland International Film Festival is jam packed with films from noon to midnight.
Here’s the lineup for 6:30-9 p.m. tonight:
· “Joke Thief,” directed and produced by Tony “Phruishun” Spires
· “Savage Dance,” directed by Shaka Jamal and produced by Cheo Tyehimba Taylor
· “Agent 6,” directed by DESCIPLE and produced by The Collective
· “The Michael Lange Story,” directed by Beau Spinks
And the grand finale, 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. tonight:
· “They Die by Dawn,” directed by Jeymes Samuel of “The Bullets.” It stars Erykah Badu and Isiah Washington and tells the story of four outlaws with a bounty on each head, set a date for a shootout in Langston, Oklahoma. The last man takes the collective bounty. Violence and mayhem ensue.
· “’Til Infinity: Souls of Mischief,” directed by Shomari Smith, highlights the story of the Souls of Mischief and the key events leading up to the release of their debut album “93 ‘til Infinity.” See JR’s interviews with Shomari and with Phesto Dee of Souls of Mischief.
· “From Fruitvale to Florida – Strange Fruit No More,” directed by Karen Seneferu, is a tribute to Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin and countless Black and Brown youth murdered by police, security guards and vigilantes.
LATEST STORIES on sfbayview.com
News & Views
We’re sick and tired of being locked out
In San Francisco, whose Black population has dropped from a high of over 12 percent to under 5 percent in three decades, the population in its 3,300 public housing units being transferred to private control is nearly 80 percent Black. But major developers had already made decisions, and the two predominately Black teams were denied any future consideration. “No mo’ Fillmo” and “We are sick and tired of being locked out!” were the protest cries in subsequent SFHA board meetings. This re-envisioning of public housing is the latest strategy to advance the out-migration of Black people in particular and the poor in general from the city by the Bay.
On Sept. 26, 2013, an article with the title “Disabled and riding a wheelbarrow: a father’s love” explained how Eunice Atim and Sarah Atiano of Uganda, Africa, lacked wheelchairs that could enable them to get around and go back to school. Though the article indicated that Eunice Atim greatly doubted that she’d receive a wheelchair, this happened opposite to what she thought.
Joe Debro on racism in construction, Part 3
Here we attempt to trace some of the historical antecedents and current socioeconomic processes that have served to prevent Black and Mexican American entrepreneurs from being assimilated into the mainstream of national business activities. In so doing, we must examine the evolution of Negro and Mexican American labor in the United States and its relationship to white-controlled labor unions, business and government.
Lawsuit challenges explosive crude-by-rail shipments to Richmond, Calif.
Environmental justice and conservation groups filed a lawsuit March 27 against Kinder Morgan and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) to halt the shipment of highly explosive and toxic crude oil into the City of Richmond, a community already burdened by intense pollution caused by the fossil fuel industry. “This dirty and dangerous project does not belong in Richmond.”
SFPD-enforced gentrification killed Alex Nieto
The standing-room-only town hall was yelling above the police as they spoke about the murder on March 21 of young Raza organizer, City College of San Francisco student and beloved son de la mision (of the Mission), Alejandro Nieto, 28, by police in Bernal Heights Park. Join the march on Saturday, March 29, for Alex Nieto at 2 p.m. from Mission Cultural Center, 2868 Mission St., to Bernal Heights Park, San Francisco.
Richmond to have highest minimum wage in California
Last week, the Richmond City Council voted in favor of a city ordinance that will increase the local minimum wage from $8 to $12.30 an hour by 2017. The increase will be phased in over three years and positions Richmond to have the highest minimum wage of any city in California. “I wish it could be more, but it showcases that Richmond has the political will to move forward,” said Mayor McLaughlin.
Take our Obamacare survey – after you sign up by Monday
The current state of recycling
Will Navy’s radiological survey of homes on Treasure Island mean evicting 2,600 residents?
Richmond Vice Mayor Jovanka Beckles: Victories we can be excited about
Rainbow PUSH Coalition launches new Digital Inclusion initiative in Silicon Valley
Papa Bear’s final report: ‘A lot of people are dying’ on Frisco streets
Rwanda’s ambassador to bring legally enforced history to Sonoma State University
Marikana Land Occupation wins important victory in Cape Town High Court
Behind Enemy Lines
Step Down Program: Orwell’s story come true
George Orwell’s book titled “1984” was about a police state that controlled every aspect of life, including thinking, enforced by the “Thought Police.” This book comes to mind when I hear of the new Step Down Program CDCR is implementing. Its components are not new. California has had and still has programs like this in juvenile facilities as an attempt – which is often successful – to reprogram the youth’s mind to become controlled and subservient to the police state.
Security Threat Group policy is sugarcoated racial profiling aimed at torture
The experimental Security Threat Group (STG) gang identification policy is not what CDC is making it out to be. It’s a sugarcoated form of racial discrimination and racial profiling to cover their ass in torturing human beings in California’s isolation units.
Petition for Black Victims’ Restitution
The New Afrikan Prison Rights Movement is presently promoting the concept of a Black Community Victims Foundation. The BCVF will be responsible for serving our victims of violent crimes. The BCVF will be community-based and independent from government and/or law-enforcement influences. This is a health and safety issue. We hope to establish a chapter in every New Afrikan community.
An end to ‘the hole’? 6 signs that solitary confinement reform is coming
Roughly 80,000 people are held in solitary in the United States on any given day, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in many cases for minor violations of prison rules (or no violation at all – ed.). Much of the momentum in the movement to reform the use of solitary confinement in the United States comes from the work of prisoners themselves.
We human beings are a political, social, cultural and economic force trapped within the colonial powers of our oppressors’ system, in and out of prison. Our struggle is for absolute self-determination and liberation on a national and international level, by way of changing from scientific capitalism into a scientific socialist system, which is crucial for changing and ending human suffering.
Demand a special review into the death of Shadae ‘Dae Dae’ Schmidt
Proven innocent: The case of Bobby McClelland
Pelican Bay earthquake prompts double locking of cells, reveals need for united front
Culture Currents
Digital undivide: Say goodbye to Windows XP
By the time you read this, April Fool’s Day will have come and gone; but a week later, April 8, could be the day of reckoning for people using computers running Microsoft XP software. That’s the day Microsoft will end support of its XP operating system.
‘Set Me Free’: an interview wit’ screenwriter and director Big Spence
This is the second film by local director Big Spence to be selected to the film fest in as many years, but his directorial debut will be with his newest creation, “Set Me Free,” which is set to screen Friday, April 4, 6:30 p.m., at the Bal Theater in San Leandro. Support local and positive themed filmmaking and support the Oakland International Film Festival, which starts this Thursday. You can get more info at oiff.org.
Souls of Mischief’s Phesto Dee speaks
Phesto Dee, a quarter of the membership of Souls of Mischief, is arguably the most vicious and complex lyricist in the whole Hiero camp. Phesto’s respect in the game has recently been documented and highlighted on the new documentary, “’Til Infinity,” which is set to premiere on April 6 at 9 p.m. at the Black Repertory Theatre, as a part of the Oakland International Film Fest.
Evangelist Sabarah Israel – an extraordinary life
Sabarah Israel was born Nada Marleane Swanson on Feb. 13, 1933, in Oakland, California. Also known as Nada Hall and Nada Tillman, her passing came on June 10, 2013, at age 80. She was a retired missionary and evangelist. An alumna of Berkeley High School, class of 1951, she later graduated from College of Alameda and attended U.C. Berkeley briefly in the School of Social Welfare.
TheatreWorks’ ‘Once on This Island’ – redemption song for Haiti
TheatreWorks’ production of “Once on This Island” is a beautifully choreographed story about love and loss, faith and selflessness. A musical based on the Caribbean writer and Black arts movement pioneer Rosa Guy’s adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s “Little Mermaid” set in a mysterious tropical island, when Napoleon appears defeated, we know it is Ayiti (Haiti).
Health is wealth: an interview wit’ Soca dance teacher Nakeya Murray
‘Til Infinity’: filmmaker of Souls of Mischief doc speaks on Oakland International Film Fest
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