The Bay View’s got your back: Fighting for justice for 13 years this week

It was 13 years ago – Feb. 3, 1992 – that I picked up the baton as publisher of what was then the New Bayview, pledging on page 2 of that first paper “to continue the tradition (begun in 1976 by Muhammad al-Kareem) of courageous journalism by serving the community, giving a true perspective of Black folk, and reflecting our views on critical issues.”

I believed then as I do now that a newspaper delivered to every door in our home neighborhood of Bay View Hunters Point, to hundreds of gathering places in other hoods around the Bay and now to everyone with internet access around the world is a good way to achieve the goal Malcolm X spelled out 40 years ago in “The Ballot or the Bullet.” He said: “We should own and operate and control the economy of our community.”

I’m looking at one of those Feb. 3, 1992, papers, and while it’s smaller and less colorful than this one, the content isn’t that different. The front page headlines are “Rev. Jesse Jackson kicks off Speaker Willie Brown’s campaign,” “New Bayview photographer detained by Geneva Towers guards” and “Muni Metro (aka Third Street light rail) on track to Bayview.” Sound familiar? We were then, as we are now, “reporting stories others ignore,” as Geneva Towers Tenants Association President Louise Vaughn used to say.

The goal of owning and controlling our economy is still a beacon glowing in the distance, but now we know how to get there. We have the will, and we’ll make a way.

In these 13 years, we’ve learned to fight not only economic, but environmental racism, recognizing that wealth without good health is worthless. That’s why we’re adamant about enforcing Proposition P: No development of the Hunters Point Shipyard until it’s really clean.

Does that mean no jobs? No way! The Navy admits it’s already spent $300 million on cleanup in the past 13 years and will spend at least another $200 million. Imagine how prosperous Hunters Point would be today if we’d successfully demanded those cleanup jobs. We need to demand them starting right now.

And we need to find a legal team to stop Lennar from stealing OUR Shipyard. When it’s clean, it must be ours to develop as we decide.

Yes, it’s time to hit the courts … and it’s time to hit the streets. Dr. Martin Luther King told us: “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.”

With unprecedented pressure to push us out of Bay View Hunters Point and every other hood in the world, Black people must stand and fight, not break and run. Wherever we run, we’re still Black, and somebody will try to take whatever we have.

Think what we can have if we fight: a good living for every family – not just good jobs, but owning enterprises that create good jobs; a bank of our own that doesn’t just suck our money in but loans it out; clean air and water and food to restore our health and let our children look forward to long, loving lives; housing we own, including public housing we turn into co-ops; the kind of education we’re hungry for, inspiring the pride and unity and courage to march together right through all the barriers placed in our way; self-determination that puts public services and police largely under our control; our fair share of all public benefits … You finish the list.

One fight we can win right now – one that will put our people to work, especially our youth and our prisoners returning home – is the fight to build the Metro East maintenance barn for the Third Street light rail project. For three and a half years, we’ve been demanding an on-the-job training program to enable our contractors, workers and trainees to build it. Black people built the White House; Black people can build that maintenance barn!

As a contractor myself for decades, who had a major hand in building the Alaska pipeline and the San Francisco International Airport Expansion, I know that Black people can build anything. And I know that San Francisco, which spends billions every year on construction, and all cities can use their construction budgets to put their unemployed people to work. They simply need to stop bringing in out-of-towners and hire from their own inner city neighborhoods.

In this week’s newsletter from the National Black Chamber of Commerce, my old friend NBCC President Harry Alford makes these two announcements, showing us how to fight for our fair share of public-funded construction:

“Affirmative action returns to NYC: After a decade of no program at all, the drought is about to end. The City of New York has just completed a very thorough disparity study and is set to implement the findings. This, in accordance with Supreme Court rulings, allows a viable and specific program whose mission is to include representative businesses of all entities within America’s largest city. The New York City Council has asked the NBCC to get involved with the implementation, and we are more than willing to add our expertise. This is totally in contrast to Philadelphia, which has had its disparity study completed years ago and wishes to suppress it at the expense of locally owned Black businesses. This cowardly approach begs the question, ‘What good is a Black mayor if he chooses to deny opportunity to Black owned businesses?’ Of course, Chicago has another problem – the MBE programs are basically a ruse for old style corruption, and no one benefits but the gangsters. We applaud the City of New York, its City Council, its Mayor and its members of Congress especially the Honorable Charles Rangel, Gregory Meeks and Nydia Velazquez. Hopefully, NYC will follow the state of Maryland, from a business perspective, as a good government looking out for all of the people and ensuring local economic development.”

Secondly, saying, “Let’s enforce Section 3 of the HUD Act,” Harry advises, “We need to enforce the job creation and business development tool known as Section 3,” which gives priority on any project with any HUD money in it to low-income people in low-income neighborhoods and the businesses owned by or employing them. HUD money is everywhere: in Redevelopment projects and housing sponsored by churches and nonprofits, for example.

Harry continues: “Just about every entity that receives HUD money and is in compliance with Section 3 has done so through a local Black Chamber or the (NBCC) National Office. For the next four years, let’s go for a clean sweep. If you know of a housing authority, city, county or any significant recipient of HUD money that does not have a living Section 3 officer and viable program, file a Section 3 complaint. All Section 3 complaints should be mailed (hard copy with original signature) to: Rafiq Munir, Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th St. SW, Rm. 5234, Washington, DC 20410. Please be sure to send a copy to the NBCC at halford [at] nationalbcc.org for oversight.”

Let’s take Harry’s advice. Let’s fight for our fair share, for a future our children will want to live for. Our young people, in fact, are best suited to lead the fight, just as they did in the Hunters Point uprising of 1966, just as they do every day in Haiti, laying down their lives for freedom.

As we prepare to fight for our lives, our community, our future, remember: The Bay View’s got your back, and for 13 years, you’ve had ours. It’s true: When you support the Bay View, you support yourself. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for your support. God willing, I’ll keep fighting right alongside you, and, as Dr. King said, “we as a people will get to the promised land.”

http://www.sfbayview.com/020205/gotyourback020205.shtml