Injustice in the City: The SF-8, Gang Injunctions, and Matrix Redux

Injustice in the City
The SF-8, Gang Injunctions, and Matrix Redux
Kiilu Nyasha, Damone Hale, and Jenny Friedenbach

SF Gray Panthers General Meeting
Tuesday, November 20, 1 PM
Unitarian-Universalist Center, Fireside Room
1187 Franklin St., (between Geary and O’Farrell)

Kiilu Nyasha, a long-time anti-racist radio and video commentator, will tell about the San Francisco 8, eight former Black Panthers on trial around the killing of a SF Police officer 36 years ago. The case is based on confessions extracted under torture by New Orleans Police soon afterward. Charges were dismissed decades ago because the confessions, the main evidence, were made under torture, but now the charges are reinstated, even though there is no new substantial evidence.

Activist lawyer Damone Hale will talk about the anti-gang injunctions against 94 men requested by City Attorney Dennis Herrera over the last two years. Among other things, the men are barred from associating with each other in certain areas of the city designated “safety zones.” A recent report by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) found injunctions don’t work to reduce violence. As Damone Hale has said, “You're going to have young men who are going to have to prove that they have a legitimate reason to be in a particular area in San Francisco … comparable to South Africa's pass laws.”

Jennifer Friedenbach, Executive Director for the Coalition on Homelessness, will describe new City moves to criminalize homelessness. Since Newsom took office, the City has spent $7.8 million issuing 46,000 citations for homelessness offenses. Now Newsom and the District Attorney's office are promoting a new Community Justice Center, a full-scale court, which they say would force those judged guilty of homelessness crimes into housing and treatment services. But 54,000 households are already on a wait list for housing, and thousands are waiting for the meager array of mental health and substance abuse services that still exist after years of cuts.

More info at http://graypantherssf.igc.org/07-11-newsletter/07-11-gpnl-november_meeting.htm