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City, State Candidates & Elected Officials MIA From Bayview Rally
The issues of crime, gentrification and school closures, key concerns to voters this campaign season, were addressed at a community rally outside San Francisco City Hall Monday organized by a coalition of community organizations who fear that increasing crime, redevelopment and poor school will force more African American out of San Francisco. Cameras from most of the major TV stations were there, and in an election year, candidates are usually drawn to a news camera the way paparazzi are attracted to the latest Hollywood stars. However at Monday's rally, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and Public Defender Jeff Adachi were the only recognizable elected officials on the scene, with no sign of any candidates or their representatives. While the governor was in New York, his challenger Phil Angeledes was in San Francisco on a campaign stop but steered clear of the City Hall rally, as did most every other candidate on the November San Francisco ballot, including District 10 incumbent Supervisor Sophie Maxwell.
The key organizers of the rally were San Francisco Bay View publisher Willie Ratcliff and local Nation of Islam leader Christopher Muhammand. Both Ratcliff and Muhammand believe elected officials, longtime political insiders and traditional religious leaders in The City have done little to stop the exodus of African Americans from San Francisco, and that aggressive redevelopment plans supported by most of The City's political leadership, and a lackluster crime fighting effort will push out the remaining African Americans not only in San Francisco, but from Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond, all cities that have experienced as much as a 20 percent drop in African American population.
Monday's rally was held on the 11th anniversary of the Million Man March. Eleven years ago Minister Muhammad, with the help of the Bay View newspaper, organized an impression coalition of San Francisco African American ministers, including Rev. Amos Brown, to recruit participants for the 1995 march. Rev. Brown, now a paid consultant for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign, was not at Monday's rally. Other Black San Francisco ministers who enthusiastically endorsed Minister Christopher's local organizing efforts around the Million Man March were not standing behind Minister Christopher Monday. Black Ministers who just a few years ago led daily protests outside City Hall against Mayor Gavin Newsom's endorsement of same sex marriage could not be found anywhere near Monday's City Hall protest.
As the Black population of San Francisco continues to drop, have Minister Christopher and Ratcliff issued a "declaration of independence" from The City's usual suspects who have been ineffective in preventing Blacks from moving out The City or stopping the crime and violence in the City's African American communities?
More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=3806#more
Monday's rally was held on the 11th anniversary of the Million Man March. Eleven years ago Minister Muhammad, with the help of the Bay View newspaper, organized an impression coalition of San Francisco African American ministers, including Rev. Amos Brown, to recruit participants for the 1995 march. Rev. Brown, now a paid consultant for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign, was not at Monday's rally. Other Black San Francisco ministers who enthusiastically endorsed Minister Christopher's local organizing efforts around the Million Man March were not standing behind Minister Christopher Monday. Black Ministers who just a few years ago led daily protests outside City Hall against Mayor Gavin Newsom's endorsement of same sex marriage could not be found anywhere near Monday's City Hall protest.
As the Black population of San Francisco continues to drop, have Minister Christopher and Ratcliff issued a "declaration of independence" from The City's usual suspects who have been ineffective in preventing Blacks from moving out The City or stopping the crime and violence in the City's African American communities?
More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=3806#more
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