Feature Archives

On September 3, several hundred students gathered in front of the entrance to Mission High School for a "Defund the San Francisco Police" action. They showed up to demand that resources currently allocated to police be distributed back to the community for better schools and better mental health care services. Speakers honored survivors of police violence by calling for a recitation of names and said that that the Board of Supervisors needs to make more drastic cuts to the police budget than the relatively small measures currently proposed.

Despite limited concessions by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy following public outcry against mail delaying tactics, community members and postal workers rallied to demand that Congress save the US Postal Service in protests across the US. Naturally the San Francisco Bay Area was no exception. Many here have long been concerned about privatization schemes. A national day of action on August 22 drew protests throughout the Bay Area.

On August 21, protesters met at Crissy field for a march across the Golden Gate Bridge. The march was to honor those who have died from coronavirus and police brutality, to fight for the living, and to demand Trump's resignation in solidarity with marches across the Brooklyn Bridge and other bridges in U.S. cities on the same day. In San Francisco, shield training readied protesters for police confrontation when they were not allowed to cross the iconic bridge's pedestrian walkway. Organizers called it a taste of what is to come.

Protests against ICE detention centers are continuing. On August 8, a large crowd of demonstrators held a rally in San Francisco's Justin Herman Plaza and then marched to the ICE building at 630 Sansome Street. They demanded that Gov. Newsom and AG Becerra immediately end all California cooperation with ICE. While speakers addressed the crowd, “bloody” red hands were imprinted on the building’s entrance and walls.

July 4 is a U.S. holiday marking the country's independence from England, but anti-racism activists used the occasion to declare, "No one is free until we are all free.” Being that the holiday traditionally is a painful reminder of this country's history of colonization, genocide, and enslavement, alternate Independence Day events in Northern Californian cities from Oakland to San Francisco to Santa Cruz issued demands to end racism, war, and climate devastation.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day when the Union army pronounced in Texas that all enslaved peoples in the United States were finally free. Among the many Bay Area protests this year was a thousand-strong march in San Francisco. In Oakland, the ILWU shut down the port before thousands marched through downtown. Santa Cruz marched in large numbers as well. In Palo Alto and Fresno, protesters painted "BLM" and "Black Lives Matter" in huge letters in the street.

Demonstrations continue around the Bay Area in the name of George Floyd, who was murdered by Minneapolis police on May 25, with tens of thousands taking to the streets. Police force has met protests in every corner of the Bay Area. Demonstrators say they won’t be stopping despite the risks posed by police attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic. Check out the full feature with coverage from across Northern California.