Feature Archives

Four of the San Francisco 8, the former Black Panthers who were recently arrested on charges related to the 1971 killing of an SFPD officer, appeared in court on Wednesday. The February 14th arraignment and bail reduction hearing took place at 850 Bryant Street in San Francisco. Report Actions and video screenings in support of the men have been taking place around the US.

On February 9th, an Alameda County judge ruling against the City of Berkeley's Police Review Commission essentially banned open hearings about police officers and blocked public access to records of police misconduct. Berkeley Copwatch says, "The community must come together and take action against this blow to public safety and police accountability!" Copwatch will hold a meeting on Monday, February 19th at 8pm in the Grassroots House, 2022 Blake St. in Berkeley.

On Tuesday, February 6th, there was a noontime press conference in support of Josh Wolf on the steps of San Francisco City Hall. A benefit for Josh's legal defense was held on Tuesday night at 8:00pm at House of Shields in SF. The Free Josh Coalition says that Josh has become the longest-imprisoned journalist who has ever been held on contempt charges in the United States. Audio | Photos and Words from Josh | Video: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

The film "Legacy of Torture: The Ongoing War Against the Black Panthers" was screened at the Roxie Cinema in San Francisco on Sunday, January 28th. The screening was followed by a memorial tribute to John Bowman at the African American Cultural Center.

On January 23rd, New York Authorities in San Francisco announced the arrests and indictments of former Black Panthers in the 1971 killing of police officer Sgt. John V. Young-- despite the use of torture to obtain confessions. Constitutional Rights (CCR) Legal Director Bill Goodman said, "The case against these men was built on torture and serves to remind us that the U.S. government, which recently has engaged in such horrific forms of torture and abuse at places like Bagram, Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo, has a history of torture and abuse in this country as well, particularly against African Americans."

Resisting the Police State: A Free Skool Santa Cruz Workshop

Know your “rights” before you find yourself in hot water. Keep yourself safe from police repression. Take the Know Your Rights Quiz and see how much you know. Detentions, arrest, searches, interrogation, jail, warrants, and police infiltration.

Our system of laws exists to maintain the dominance of those in power, and the police are its armed enforcers. If you doubt this for a minute, look at who are the selective targets of local laws: The homeless, the young, the poor, dissenters. Globally, look at who dies and who gets rich from our wars and other disasters.

For 250 years in this country, the government and their enforcers have consistently fought against people working for liberation: Indigenous resistance, land reformers, slave revolts, abolitionists, labor organizers & workers, free-speech advocates, women and civil rights workers, anti-war and anti-globalization protesters, and recently, animal rights and environmental activists. Read more, download a poster and handbill

San Francisco's Police Commission held a hearing about government surveillance on Wednesday, January 17th. The Police Commission voted unanimously to approve the installation of cameras because it says that “the community wants them.” The ACLU of Northern California encouraged concerned community members to testify that "the community wants REAL solutions, not empty political gestures that put our civil liberties at risk."

Thursday January 11th, 2007 was the 5th anniversary of illegal detention at Guantánamo Naval Base. Anti-war activists marched on the US prison in Guantánamo Bay to demand its closure, and protests took place in many countries around the world. In San Francisco, a "participatory protest," with street theater, leafletting, music, a reading of the names of detainees, and other non-violent adventures, was held on Saturday, January 13th from 1-3 pm in Union Square. Photos