Feature Archives

New data analyses conducted by the Drug Policy Alliance and ACLU of California find that racial disparities in marijuana policing have persisted, following the reduction of low-level marijuana possession from a misdemeanor to an infraction in 2011. In November 2016, Californians will have the chance to vote for the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA). Voting for the AUMA will not only regulate the marijuana industry in the state but will also remove marijuana possession penalties both prospectively and retroactively for adults.

On the morning of May 19, Jessica Williams — a twenty-nine-year-old Black woman who might have been pregnant — was shot and killed by San Francisco police in the Bayview District. She was unarmed. Within a few hours of the killing, Mayor Ed Lee, announced that he was firing Suhr. Community pressure had been building to fire Suhr in response to his record as Chief. Later in the day, protesters rallied at City Hall before a large vigil was held at the site of her murder. On Friday, May 27, a rally and march will be held for Jessica Williams.

UPDATE: The Nazis were prevented from holding their rally, although there are numerous serious injuries. Nine comrades were hospitalized, six with stab wounds and three with blunt-force trauma to the head. The anti-fascist bail fund has been converted into a medical fund.

On June 26, members of the Traditionalist Workers Party, Golden State Skinheads, Blood & Honor, National Socialist Movement and Ku Klux Klan are holding a rally at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. Although it is shaping up to be the largest white power rally on the west coast in some time, antifascists are determined to shut them down.

Identity Europa, formerly known as the National Youth Front, is the youth wing of the Neo-Nazi American Freedom Party. The group, along with members of the National Policy Institute, held a rally on May 6 at the UC Berkeley campus with the full protection and cooperation of campus police. It was the largest open white power gathering in the Bay Area in some time and shows the degree in which the far-right is growing in the wake of Trump's campaign.

At 5am on April 12, US Postal Police and Inspectors, with support from the Berkeley Police Dept., arrived at the Main Berkeley Post Office and literally dragged protesters out of their tents, seized all their belongings, and tore down the information tent, the shelter for a 17-month occupation. Two groups of activists – First They Came for the Homeless and Berkeley Post Office Defenders – had occupied the grounds of the Main Berkeley Post Office continuously since late November, 2014.

On April 22, the Frisco Five set up camp in front of the Mission District police station and stopped eating solid foods to raise awareness of San Francisco police violence and racism. The sacrifice of the Frisco Five provided inspiration for numerous community actions since to press the single demand that Suhr be fired. All five are now hospitalized due to deteriorating health and the hunger strike has been officially suspended. A General Strike has been called in honor of the Frisco Five for Monday, May 9.

On April 23, celebrating Earth Day and the fourth anniversary of the original occupation, about 30 farm defenders occupied two acres on the south side of the Gill Tract. The group made three demands: 1) stop the development, 2) preserve the land for sustainable agriculture, and 3) create a community process for design & stewardship of gill tract. Not reaching the numbers they had hoped for, the occupation was abandoned the following night.