Feature Archives

Black Lives Matter Sacramento writes: The murder of Stephon Clark was unjustified. On March 18th at 9:13 pm, Stephon was murdered, and while the police interrogated his family, the family was not told that his body was in their backyard. Four hours later at 1:00 am, his grandmother looked into the backyard, and saw his body on the ground, shot up. Within 48 hours Sacramento Police Department changed their story four times: first, they said he was carrying a gun; then they said he was carrying a “toolbar;” then they stated he was carrying a wrench; lastly, they confirmed that he only had a cellphone.

Uncolonized is a short documentary film about a native family who decided they would never enroll their two daughters in the public school system, choosing instead to homeschool them from birth. Chris is Potawatomi and Chasity is Navajo. Their daughters carry both of their parents' lineages in their blood, but also in their way of being. The film takes a critical look at the historical experiences of native children inside of the U.S. public education system and brings clarity to the decisions of the family to keep their daughters out of the public school system.

On February 5, writer and scholar Adolph Reed, Jr. gave a public lecture on Black Politics in New Orleans and Beyond to close out Sites of Resistance: An Exhibit Exploring the Geographies + Histories of Social Change in New Orleans. Reed's work on American politics is notable for its critique of identity politics and antiracism, particularly of their role in Black politics. A native New Orleanian, his career has included more than seven books, countless articles and regular columns in magazines like the Nation, the Progressive, and the Village Voice.

Tsunami Huerta shares a personal account of the February 3, 2018, San Francisco Two-Spirit PowWow: I'm being whisked to a PowWow. We zip along San Francisco's waterfront. I inhale the fresh sea air and hear seagulls squawking. The Two-Spirit PowWow, to over simplify, is a LGBTQ PowWow. LGBTQ fluidity may be new in a sense for we modern inhabitants of the U.S. these last few centuries, but not at all, for most, very ancient Indigenous cultures here! They/we, were accepted as an important, integral and sacred part of the community at large.

In honor of Black Solidarity Week, and in light of the recently released FBI report on so-called “Black Identity Extremists,” Community Ready Corps will host a political education panel on the repression of Black dissidents. Leaders from the Anti Police-Terror Project and special guests Mama Akua Njeri and Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. will come together on Saturday, February 17 for an evening of radical truth telling, solidarity building, and self-defense. That morning, a march through East Oakland kicks off Black Solidarity Week, February 17-24.

At 5 a.m. on April 2, 1969, hundreds of FBI, CIA and NYC police agents armed with shotguns, bullet-proof vests and a shoot-to-kill attitude broke down the doors of dozens of houses, apartments and offices to serve arrest warrants on 21 key members of the New York City Black Panthers. According to the absurd accusations, based on information provided by three infiltrators, these men and women had conspired to blow up schools, department stores, police precincts and the New York Botanical Gardens. Two years later, on May 13, 1971, the Panther 21 were acquitted of all charges after only 45 minutes of jury deliberation.

Frances Moore, affectionately known by those around her as Aunti Frances, is a beloved Black disabled activist, elder, Black Panther and community leader who has lived in North Oakland/South Berkeley her entire life. She now faces a no-fault eviction at the hands of Natalia Morphy and Morphy’s parents, who are exploiting a notorious loophole in Oakland renter protections for their own personal gain. The attempts to evict Aunti Frances signal that Oakland’s redevelopment is moving forward without care and consideration for its longtime residents and community members. A court support breakfast rally will be held on Wednesday, February 21.