Feature Archives

Hubster writes: The Santa Cruz Hub for Sustainable Living is a constellation of community-based projects that has been building and celebrating community and offering crucial resources since 1994. Due to the Covid-19 crisis, many of the Hub’s projects are currently or will soon be struggling to pay the bills, particularly those projects which rely upon small cash donations from public-engaging programs. We are fundraising to account for rent / expenses at this unpredictable time.

On April 3, KPFA’s Terra Verde radio program interviewed community activists from Mendocino County. Host Gary Hughes spoke with Polly Girvin and Maria Gilardin about the threats posed by a wood pellet processing facility in Calpella, six miles north of Ukiah. Polly and Maria are members of Social, Environmental and Indigenous Justice (SEIJ), an affinity group waging a campaign to protect rural and indigenous communities from pollution emitted by Mendocino Forest Products and their wood pellet fuel plant.

Anti Police-Terror Project reports: The global pandemic is ravaging the mental health of Black communities as they experience sickness and death at an alarming rate. This situation is the dystopian backdrop to the killing of 33-year-old beloved community member Steven Taylor by police in a San Leandro Walmart on April 18. This officer who killed Mr. Taylor, the only person close to him at the time, had a number of choices in the moments leading to Taylor’s death.

On April 19, San Francisco's Refuse Fascism joined nationwide demonstrations that dumped body bags at Federal locations and Trump properties. People arrived in cars at the Federal building at one o'clock and then laid out "body bags" on the sidewalk. Activists read out their demands. "We recognize the Trump/Pence regime, with its opposition to science and its fascist program now poses an even greater danger to humanity due to the COVID-19 pandemic."

On April 16, the city of San Francisco barricaded the 16th Street/Mission and 24th Street/Mission BART plazas except for walkways into the stations. The walkway at the 24th Street plaza is exactly six feet wide, making it physically impossible for people passing each other to maintain proper physical distance. Neighborhood media reports that the Mission Station Police Captain demanded the closures, leading to a greater police presence and increased harassment of people in the areas adjacent to the shuttered plazas.

On April 11, a campesino appreciation caravan took place in Watsonville to recognize and thank all the farmworkers. Participants wrote, "I'm sure many of you have noticed the lack of acknowledgement of farmworkers, field workers, campesinos, our people, in the media. Specifically recognizing the work they do as essential to our society. Because of this, we mobilized to create a caravan of recognition and thankfulness."

On April 11, Oakland Black Housing Union mobilized a caravan of 100 cars for a mobile march demanding housing for unsheltered individuals during the COVID-19 emergency, protesting the lack of urgency from local governments to protect those who cannot shelter indoors. The action also highlighted the disproportionate number of COVID-19 cases in Black communities. Moms4Housing and ACCE joined to lead the car rally.