Feature Archives

UPDATE 6/7/11: Bay Trail and Association of Bay Area Governments Suspends $200,000 Grant to GVRD!
On May 31st, supporters of the Glen Cove native encampment converged outside the offices of the Bay Trail project in downtown Oakland to demand that Bay Trail divest from desecration of the Sogorea Te sacred burial ground in Vallejo. Over 65 people gathered in front of the Bay Trail offices and vowed to pursue further action if the $200,000 is not immediately pulled from plans to bulldoze the burial grounds and build on top of it.

4/24 updates: Committee to Protect Sogorea Te Responds to Vallejo Times Herald Op-Ed | Day 10: Hundreds attend community gathering at Glen Cove

Despite efforts by Sacred Sites Protection and Rights of Indigenous Tribes (SSP&RIT) to negotiate a preservation agreement, the Greater Vallejo Recreation District has so far refused to abandon efforts to develop Glen Cove, a sacred Native American burial site also known as Sogorea Te in the Ohlone language. With bulldozing slated to get under way as soon as Friday, April 15th, SSP&RIT has called for an assembly to gather on April 14th at Glen Cove, in preparation for a ceremony to honor the ancestors buried at the site the following morning.

On February 24th, indigenous activist John Trudell stopped by the studios of Free Radio Santa Cruz for a chat with AC Sandino II. Trudell, a poet, musician, and actor, was a spokesperson for the "Indians of All Tribes" occupation of Alcatraz Island from 1969 to 1971. He then worked with the American Indian Movement (AIM), serving as Chairman of AIM from 1973 to 1979.

A lawsuit, filed in Fresno Superior Court on February 24, says that Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer's ringtone for Cynthia Sterling, an African-American former counsel member, is a slave song: "Mammy's little baby loves short'nin' bread." The lawsuit also alleges that Dyer mimics stereotypical slave dialect, making comments including "yessa massa, I is yo pet" and "Um hum, I'm the mayor's boy, I'm the mayor's boy, yes'um, I'm the mayor's boy."

On February 12th, a benefit is being held for the Red Vic Movie House on Haight Street in San Francisco. Organizers state that "San Francisco is dangerously close to losing this 30-year old worker-owned community establishment. All the filmmakers and speakers in this series are donating 100% the box office revenue to the keep the Red Vic's doors open so they can continue to give voice to films like these that [the] mainstream does NOT want you you to see!" Lovers + Liberators is a fund-raising event for the Red Vic that brings together three films with the themes of liberation and domestic "terrorism".

About 650 people marched to honor Martin Luther King in downtown Fresno on Monday, January 17, 2011. When the march stopped at Fresno City Hall, elected officials and a couple of community activists spoke. Newly elected Fresno City Council member Clint Olivier spoke out strongly against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Olivier’s speech was followed by Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer, who described himself as “God’s Minister of Justice as described in the bible.”

A vigil for Oscar Grant was held on New Year’s Day 2011 at Fruitvale BART, two years after he was shot and killed by former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle. Meanwhile, documents recently obtained by KALW's The Informant reveal the significant involvement of state and federal law enforcement in monitoring the various Oscar Grant protests in Oakland over the past two years. Logs obtained indicate OPD monitored websites, including Indybay.org, public demonstrations, flyers and meetings to gather information about potential protests. Other documents indicate FBI involvement in monitoring the Oscar Grant protests as early as January 2009.