Feature Archives

On Saturday, April 11th, family, friends, and former Black Panthers celebrated Lil' Bobby Hutton Day in honor of the 17-year-old Black Panther murdered by Oakland police in 1968. Bobby Hutton was the first member to join the Black Panther Party after its founding by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland in the Fall of 1966. The group Family and Friends of Lil' Bobby Hutton are working on a erecting a statue in DeFremery Park in West Oakland.

On Thursday, April 16th, community rights defense organizer and filmmaker, Simon Sedillo, was at AK Press to offer perspectives on global implications of the Oaxacan peoples' struggle for communities in the United States. Through his multimedia presentation, Sedillo created a dialogue on the effects of neoliberalism on indigenous communities, immigrant communities, and communities of color in the US and Mexico. Sedillo will also give his presentation on Monday, April 20th at the Watsonville Cabrillo Center.

David Santos is being charged with felonies after having been arrested during the January 7th demonstrations in downtown Oakland that followed the murder of Oscar Grant. On Friday, April 10th, friends and supporters came to his pretrial hearing to demand that the charges be dropped. JR Valrey, of the Prisoners of Conscience Committee and Block Report Radio, was also arrested and charged with a felony on the night of January 7th. Drew Louis was also arrested on felony charges that night. All three are asking for public support to fight their charges.

Will & Darwin write: Our intention... is to generate a greater level of critical reflection and discussion concerning the dominant role of the politics of “greening”... that characterize campus-based environmental organizations.... We can think of few more timely priorities for those who would use university campuses as organizing bases [than] to challenge the system of authoritarian power that is in the process of destroying the ecological basis for the existence of life on earth.

On April 9th, No Justice No BART assumed control of the BART Board meeting. Demonstrators took turns voicing their objections to the lack of accountability and the apparent cover-up attempts at BART regarding the murder of Oscar Grant. One demonstrator independently threw red paint onto BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger and was subsequently arrested. On April 2nd at the MacArthur BART station, No Justice No BART distributed fliers with campaign demands to over 1000 commuters.

The Women’s Choice Clinic of Oakland, the venerated feminist health clinic that has provided non-judgmental, culturally sensitive abortion and reproductive health care services to Bay Area women for 36 years, is closing its doors. The clinic is the oldest feminist health center providing abortions in the nation. However, it is not anti-abortion protests that are forcing the clinic to close, nor is it a decline in demand for services. It is California’s chronic low and slow reimbursements for MediCal services, and budget cuts. On Wed. April 8, a press conference will be held at the Oakland City Hall, at 1pm.

Kiilu Nyasha, former member of the Black Panther Party in Oakland, was recently interviewed on a wide variety of topics. Kiilu Nyasha quotes George Jackson from a passage in his book Blood In My Eye: “Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people are dying who could be saved, that generations more will live poor butchered half-lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution.”