California prisons ignore anti-trans fat law

Toxins that were declared by the California Legislature to “have a detrimental impact on a person’s health” and cannot be used in school food service or food facility businesses are contained in food consumed by inmates in California prisons. The bodies of many – if not most – so-called strikers, lifers and other long-term prisoners are too toxic to pass an artery inspection.

Leonard Peltier: Statement of solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal

Whether or not you approve of capital punishment is irrelevant as long as minorities are executed with alarming disparities. Whether you approve or not is of secondary concern when people like Mumia Abu Jamal, myself and many others are convicted and sentenced to die with evidence that would exonerate ‘most any white man. As such, every single progressive organization should oppose the death penalty as we now know it.

The Bay View’s First Amendment Campaign: an update

As reported in previous issues of the Bay View, the Bay View, its readers, the community and those of us behind enemy lines had been working with attorney Anthony D. Prince to develop a litigation strategy that would address the state’s suppression of legitimate historical and cultural expressions by relegating those expressions and beliefs to the realms of gang activity.

SF 8: Paying the costs

Pack the courtroom Thursday, Feb. 18, 9 a.m., in Dept. 22, 850 Bryant St., San Francisco, to support the only remaining SF 8 defendant, Francisco Torres, who will be in the courtroom! Dismiss Cisco’s case, a 36-year-old case based on torture!

Riot at Ely State Prison: It was a battle!

This is not my first riot but it was definitely the best. It’s so good to see solidarity in action, to see prisoners of different races and factions coming together like this. We need more of this before we can really start making positive changes in this system!

China chides U.S. on rights record

The Chinese government responded March 12 to the release of a U.S. human rights report critical of China by issuing its own report criticizing the U.S. human rights record. The report covered issues relating to crime, racial discrimination and poverty and accused the U.S. of using its hegemonic power to continue “trampling” on the sovereignty of other countries while “posing as the world judge of human rights.”

Haiti: ‘Disaster capitalism on steroids’

“Two months after the devastating earthquake, the situation in Haiti is downright criminal,” says Robert Roth. According to the spokesperson for the activist network Haiti Action Committee, major Western players such as the U.S. are more interested in defending their own geopolitical interests in Haiti than truly helping the hard hit Caribbean country.

Only Congolese will initiate and bring change to D.R. Congo

Considering local challenges and harmful international interference in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the past 400 years, it takes the greatest courage to overcome fear of oppression and to act for change. The courage demonstrated by grassroots Congolese women to resist and overcome fear of their local and international oppressors is extraordinary in the history of Africa.

The big lies against Cuba

Cuba’s policies of internationalism have arguably been the most politically advanced in the world – from the direct military intervention to help in the defeat of Apartheid in southern Africa in 1988 to direct medical aid and solidarity with Haiti – before the earthquake. Since the earthquake, Western media has been suspiciously silent on the exceptional role Cuba has played in support of Haiti with more than 900 health care providers on the ground, the largest and most organized contingent on the island.

Just what Haiti doesn't need: Rwandan police

In case anyone needed further evidence that President Paul Kagame’s Rwanda is the Pentagon’s proxy, 140 Rwandan police are about to undertake special training before heading to Haiti, as reported in the Rwanda New Times, because, according to Rwandan Police Chief Edmund Kayiranga, “Rwanda wants to be involved in promoting peace in other countries” and, if need be, they would send more peacekeepers to other countries.

Upcoming Events

• Fri Mar 19 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM: VIOLENCE IN THE CONGO: WESTERN EXPLOITATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES ( California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), 1453 Mission St., San Francisco)
• Sat Mar 20 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM: San Francisco March & Rally: Stop the Wars! (Civic Center, San Francisco)
• Sat Mar 20 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM: Mandela Foods Co-op Diet and Disease Prevention Workshop (Mandela Foods Cooperative, 1430 Seventh St., West Oakland)
• Sun Mar 21: Lovelle Mixon, One Year Later: Police Containment and Resistance in the African Community (Uhuru House community center, 7911 Mac Arthur Blvd, Oakland)
• Sun Mar 21 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM: Wosé Community House of Amen Ra Spring Equinox Ritual Celebration (Joaquin Miller Park - Fernwood Area Sanborn Drive & Joaquin Miller Road, 3590 Sanborn Dr., Oakland)

‘Mirrors in Every Corner’ by Chinaka Hodge, directed by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, at Intersection for the Arts through March 28

The characters’ stories in Chinaka Hodge’s debut as a playwright, “Mirrors in Every Corner,” capture a sense of tragedy lurking near all of us. From Rodney King to Oscar Grant, Loma Pieta to urban removal, one sits on the edge of her seat waiting for the wrecking ball to fall.

‘John Brown’s Truth: A Musically Improvised Opera’ by William Crossman

Harper’s Ferry … freeing slaves … Virginia … hanging … white man – this is the extent of my knowledge of John Brown. I wasn’t aware that it was 150 years ago, on Oct. 14-15, 1859, that this happened, an event which many say forecast the Civil War and the emancipation of enslaved Africans. See the opera Sunday afternoon, March 14, 3 p.m., at the East Side Cultural Center.

Balancing act: an interview with the Bay Area rap artist Balance

I’ve known the man that the music world calls Balance for many years. Ever since I can remember he has been on his music grind, whether it was recording, performing or learning the game from his 9 to 5 job at Rasputin’s in Berkeley, where he is the rap buyer.

Medea Project presents ‘Dancing with the Clown of Love’

Multi-layered with healing at its center, the large cast of “Dancing with the Clown of Love,” some infected, everyone affected, shared stories written over the past two years at the Women’s HIV Program at the University of California San Francisco – documented in a short film that opens the show. Hurry! The run closes this weekend.

For Akua Njeri (Deborah Johnson)*

Akua Njeri (fna Deborah Johnson) is a former member of the Illinois Chapter Black Panther Party. She is a survivor of the Dec. 4, 1969, assassination of Chairman Fred Hampton and Defense Captain Mark Clark. She is the widow of Chairman Fred and the mother of Chairman Fred Jr.