Unions and Grassroots Groups to Unite for 2016 Oakland Elections
Oakland Justice Coalition to Support Three Key Ballot Measures on Housing, Police and Workers’ Rights
Oakland — This Thursday the Oakland Justice Coalition will launch their effort to support progressive ballot initiatives and candidates in 2016, uniting a diverse coalition of groups around shared priorities. The Coalition will outline their plan to achieve huge wins for three key 2016 ballot measures through collaboration and solidarity across struggles.
WHO: The Oakland Justice Coalition includes the National Union of Healthcare Workers, the Oakland Education Association, the Anti Police-Terror Project, Block by Block Organizing Network, the Coalition for Police Accountability, the Community Democracy Project, the Oakland Green Party, the Oakland Alliance, the Oakland Livable Wage Assembly, the Oakland Tenants Union and Socialist Alternative.
WHAT: A rally and press conference to launch the Oakland Justice Coalition, with visuals of diverse and unexpected groups waving signs and coming together
Farm workers and allies from Familias Unidas por la Justicia union in the state of Washington have launched a west coast tour to share their stories about Injustice in the Sakuma Berry’s strawberry fields, and the important role we can all play in advancing the struggle by boycotting Driscolls. Join them at PLACE for Sustainable Living this Thursday at 12 to learn how to support the boycott of Driscolls berries.
* Join the Boycott *
Here are some resources from Familias Unidas por la Justicia: http://
* Other tour stops in the East Bay *
https://www.facebook.com/
5-7pm Monday March 28, 2016 at the Center for Latino Policy and Research, 2420 Bowditch Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94720
tentatively, 2-330 pm Tuesday, March 29, 2016 at the Multicultural Community Center, on the UC Berkeley campus.
TBD, April 13th at UC Gill Tract Community Farm
On December 2nd, 26-year-old Mario Woods was murdered execution style by 5 police officers who discharged 40 rounds, hitting Mario 20+ times. Chief Suhr stnds by this racist murder and refuses to hold his officers accountable.
Justice 4 Mario Woods Coalition will be holding a Townhall meeting at Joseph Lee Gym in the Bayview.
Our purpose is to show the community the original footage of the murder of Our Brother Our Son Mario Woods.
We will share with the community our demands:
*Fire Chief Suhr or he resigns
*The cops who murdered Mario Woods be charged with murder
*Independent investigation that is defined by us.
We will also be giving updates on the Coalition and you will have an opportunity to meet coalition members and better yet also have the opportunity to join the movement for Justice.
We can’t Stop We won’t Stop
Until Justice reigns down on our community.
If you believe in Justice or if you are willing to fight for Justice then we will see you there.
Can’t wait to meet you.
Power to the People
Refreshments served.
Justice4MarioWoods Coalition
Local Premier: One Night Only! Reserve tickets before March 13th to make this screening happen.
Calling for people to put down their guns and pick up shovels, these “gangster gardeners” are creating an oasis in one of the most notorious places in America.
Online only, no tickets available at the theater.
Facebook.com/CanYouDigThisFilm
@CanYouDigThisFilm #plantsomeshit
We recognize that crucifixion is not a thing of the past–that God’s children all over the world are still being brutalized and killed because they draw attention to an unjust status quo, sometimes by their actions and often simply because of who they are. From Oakland to Ferguson to Honduras, the crucifixion continues. (And Christianity has been complicit in much of it.)
The cross is not first and foremost a religious symbol; it is a symbol of state-sponsored and state-sanctioned terror.
In the New Jim Crow America, the Body of Christ is Black. In the past year alone, seven Black people have been killed by police in Oakland, and scores of Black families have been forced to leave the city through skyrocketing rents and rapid influx of wealth and whiteness. Join us for a powerful Good Friday public liturgy and action to call on our local officials to end the crucifixion of Black life in our city.
We will gather Friday, March 25, at noon in front of Oakland City Hall.
Our demands are as follows:
1) Lay down your weapons! Take immediate steps to demilitarize the Oakland Police Department.
2) Adopt the proposal from the Coalition on Police Accountability for an elected community police review board to hold the OPD accountable to the people.
3) Work with Alameda County to find ways to decouple the District Attorney from OPD so that officers will be held legally accountabie for their actions.
4) Immediately cut OPD funding and reallocate those funds to affordable housing and health care for low income people.
We humbly welcome all people, regardless of faith tradition, to stand in solidarity at this event.
Hashtags for the event:
#TheCrucifixionContinues
#RememberingIsRevolutionary
#TheBodyofChristIsBlack
| … making caregiving central redirects economic and social policies towards survival, health and well-being – for every individual and for the planet which sustains us all. It puts caregiving at the center so that the economy is at the service of human beings, not human beings at the service of the economy. This would transform all social and political decisions – economic growth, the length of the working day, technology, war…. |
London-based Selma James is an internationally known speaker, author & organizer. Founder of the Wages for Housework Campaign, author Sex, Race and Class – The Perspective of Winning.
For the fourth year Kenneth Harding Jr Foundation will represent San Francisco for FTP weekend, this year Kiss My Black Arts collective will be co-hosting. More details to come please check the event website. KHJF will donate coats and is asking for community help to provide lunches, other food and hygiene products.
BE THERE THIS SATURDAY — TEAM ASSIGNMENTS, TRAINING!
WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS! Thousands of qualified voter signatures are required to put our Charter Amendment on the NOVEMBER BALLOT!
BRING A FRIEND.
TIME IS SHORT! We have only four weeks to gather thousands of VALID SIGNATURES.
PETITIONS are being printed.
We have petitions! Come to the Firemans Hall, 2027 Clement at 2:30 for training and start collecting signatures! #Stabilize Alameda!
— Alameda Renters (@Alameda_Renters) March 25, 2016
Militarization of Mental Health and the Berkeley Police
Case Study of the Death of Kayla Moore presented by Maria Moore (Sister to Kayla)
In February of 2013, BPD forcibly entered the home of Kayla Moore, an African American transgender woman with mental illness. In this all-too-familar story, a friend called police for help at 11:30pm when he thought Kayla was having a mental health crisis. Once police arrived, they attempted to forcibly take Kayla Moore into custody. Face down on a futon with five cops on top of her, Kayla died. Her case has amplified the calls for fundamental change in the way that we attend to the safety of our citizens who experience mental health crisis. Maria Moore will share her experience of what happened before and after Kayla’s passing and the lessons and reflections from her family’s struggle for justice and healing.
OccupyForum // We had a last-minute cancellation, but we will meet, program will be a surprise (to us all!)
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
Q&A and Announcements will follow. Donations to OccupyForum
to cover our costs are encouraged; no one turned away!
RightsCon is the world’s leading conference convened on the future of the internet. This year will see a bigger, brighter, and better RightsCon, more dynamic and outcome-oriented than ever before. Join us to shape the global conversation among human rights experts, business leaders, technologists, human rights experts, government representatives, investors, and advocates.
Why is fracking still allowed in our county? What can we do to ban it once and for all?
Join Alameda County Against Fracking for a free film screening of Dear Governor Brown, a game-changing new film about Californians living with extreme oil. Learn how you can play a crucial role in banning fracking and extreme oil extraction in Alameda county, and how a victory here will turn the tide on California’s toxic past, present, and future.
Film followed by discussion.
Val Rosenfeld and Flor Fortunati present their book: “Voices of the Undocumented”
Voices of the Undocumented brings to life the lives of people who have been forced to live in the shadows of this society because they have no legal status. These stories give a glimpse into the reality of the lives of the 11 million people who work and struggle to live in the U.S. who are subjected to deportation and exploitation. Nine immigrants tell their stories about their lives in Mexico, Peru, and Guatemala before coming here and about their lives once they arrive. Some tell of arduous journeys, walking through the desert to cross the border while hiding from the U.S. Border Patrol. Some came with visas and overstayed their time limits. Some left their children behind in their countries – children they have not seen for years. Their stories are based on interviews done by Val Rosenfeld, an English as a Second Language teacher and Flor Fortunati, a volunteer at the Day Worker Center of Mountain View, California.
From the heartbreaking story of Salvador (an illiterate Mexican farm worker who entered the U.S. illegally four times), to Ernesto (an educated Peruvian womanizer), to the amazing accomplishments of Rocío (a graduate of a prestigious university), Voices of the Undocumented relates poignant accounts of the undocumented workers’ lives.
Support Anti-Gentrification Activists Facing Political Repression & Trumped-Up Charges!
The DA is aggressively prosecuting four Land Action organizers for their involvement in a recent adverse possession project. There are seven criminal charges, including three felony counts. Contrary to established precedent in Oakland in recent years, the DA has deliberately, and in violation of the law, pushed this civil dispute into criminal court. The case was brought to the DA’s attention because the property owner was personally connected to the DA’s office!
On Wednesday January 20, 2016 the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office issued arrest warrants for 4 organizers working with the non-profit Land Action. The organizers, now being called The Land Action 4, face 7 criminal charges-3 of which are felonies, up to 8.5 years imprisonment and $89,000 in fines . Among the allegations is that these organizers were involved in a “Conspiracy to Trespass,” a common charge used to target civil rights organizers.
Hundreds of abandoned/vacant properties have been occupied in the Bay Area in recent decades. Disputes over these properties generally remain in the civil realm. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the court rules in the title-holder’s favor and the occupiers are ordered to leave. Very rarely do they end with arrests, and never before have they resulted in felony charges. But this time, the DA has pushed what has historically been considered a civil matter into criminal court.
Please come pack the courthouse with us for our initial hearing! April 1st at 9m at the Wiley Manuel courthouse. There is plenty of 4-hour parking available, south of the 880 freeway on 4th, 3rd, and 2nd Streets, within walking distance of the Courthouse.
We ask for your support in the upcoming legal battle. Please come pack the courthouse with us for our initial hearing!
Also, please support our staff and volunteer activists by donating to cover the $3,500 in legal expenses currently accrued –https://www.gofundme.com/
A festive, mobile happening with art, giant projections, drumming and more!
Be on time cuz we’ll be moving!!!
Meet at 80 Grand Avenue (The plaza at the intersection of Broadway and Grand)
Details:
Oakland residents, community groups, organizations, arts groups and local small businesses facing the biggest housing and inequality crisis of our time are standing together in solidarity to block displacement. We are celebrating Oakland roots and collective power and raising our voices in rhythm and unison to demand a right to a roof and the city. Join us for this mobile happening featuring art, music and a series of powerful speakers highlighting how we can help each other hold onto home. This powerfully creative, family-friendly event will build momentum to push for a moratorium on evictions and rent hikes.
Multiple groups, fighting for equity and housing, aim to build a stronger, connected anti-displacement movement. We have to become a force to be reckoned with as our politicians continue to sell our land and city out from under us. With the influx of tech wealth and real estate speculation, we need a network that we can depend on showing up as we receive eviction notices and commercial spaces receive 100-200% rent increases. Join us April 1st to plug into the action, gather know-your-rights resources and tether together to hold onto our homes and community spaces.
Campaign Launch & our FIRST Signature Gathering mobilization
The “Protect Oakland Renters Act” & initiative campaign officially starts this Saturday and we want each and every one of you to be part this movement moment!
This is the official launch of our effort to qualify a measure on the November 2016 Ballot to protect renters being displaced in droves by skyrocketing rents, unfair evictions, and unlawful practices. We will have a brief program and training on why the time is NOW to protect renters and take on Oakland’s growing displacement crisis, a quick “signature gathering 101” followed by heading out to neighborhoods and high traffic areas to speak directly with Oakland voters and collect signatures to qualify this measure on the November Ballot! Can we count on you to join us this Saturday?!
We are calling on all allies of renters, working families and communities of color being pushed out of the city to turn out in large numbers to show both the breadth and strength of the coalition, as well as to ensure that we have a solid crew of folks to kick off our volunteer signature gathering program!
Please respond directly to this post or RSVP: becki@cjjc.org
Berkeley working families need your help. Join us in getting the few more signatures needed to qualify our initiative for the November ballot. The initiative will:
� Raise Berkeley’s minimum wage to $15 by October 2017
� Raise it further each year by 3% + inflation till it gets in sync with Berkeley’s official “Living Wage” currently $16.37
� Bring sick leave up to the standards set by Oakland, Emeryville and SF
� Prevent tip theft
Everyone has probably heard by now of the legislation speeding through the California Legislature with the governor ready to sign. It will make our state the first in the nation to adopt a path to a $15 minimum wage. Clearly this is a victory for the nationwide fight of fast food and other low paid workers to make $15 the floor under everyone’s wages.
This is a major victory for all of us but not the end of the fight. Working families in the bay area and many other very expensive areas need to get to $15 faster and move beyond it. It is a matter of survival. Berkeley activists have set the stage to do just that.
Join us. Make history. Lead the way to setting the new, higher standard for the very expensive Bay Area.
The Oakland Justice Coalition is a coalition of organizations and individuals that grew out of a series of public forums hosted by theOakland Alliance, and now includes the National Union of Healthcare Workers, the Oakland Education Association, the Anti Police-Terror Project, Block by Block Organizing Network, the Coalition for Police Accountability, the The Community Democracy Project (Oakland), the Oakland Green Party, the Oakland Livable Wage Assembly, the Oakland Tenants Union and Socialist Alternative Bay Area .
This is the kickoff event for our plan to turn out hundreds of volunteers to canvass disenfranchised communities across Oakland, registering voters and building a people’s campaign for our three endorsed ballot measures:
From the Coalition for Police Accountability: Measure X, an amendment to the Oakland City Charter that turns the current Citizens’ Police Review Board into a Police Commission that has power to approve police policies and discipline officers who are found guilty of misconduct.
From the Oakland Tenants Union: Oakland’s “Renters Upgrade” would expand Oakland’s current “Just Cause for Eviction” law and provide greater ability for the city to enforce existing laws amidst a wave of unfair evictions and widespread harassment as demand for housing in Oakland grows.
From Oakland Livable Wage Assembly: A Minimum Wage/Fair Scheduling ordinance that will raise Oakland’s minimum wage to $14/hr in 2016 and $20/hr by 2020, as well as implement fair scheduling similar to San Francisco’s recent ordinance and mandate enforcement of both.
These three measures represent a people’s legislative agenda, enacted through direct democracy at the ballot box. The Oakland Justice Coalition invites anyone who is concerned about Oakland’s housing crisis, police repression of communities of color and rampant income inequality to join us in building a grassroots movement for social, racial, economic and environmental justice.
North Oakland and other East Bay folks, come on out tomorrow for a very special culture and art event and show support for some ally org efforts!
“With the help of folks from Ohlone Nation, we will be welcoming the finished creation of Oakland’s first intersection mural. After sharing lunch, we will convene talking circles on the themes of anti-gentrification, restorative justice and indigenous rights. We’ll finish with youth performances by Bay- Peace and hip hip show with Red Star and Anthony Sul. See you at noon tomorrow!”
SCHEDULE
IN the Intersection:
12:00pm – 12:20pm–Welcoming Flute/Drum with Ernesto Olmos and Gerardo Marin & Introductions
12:20pm – 12:50pm–Ohlone led Dedication Ceremony with Wicahpiluta Candelaria, Anthony Sul, Carla Munoz & Kanyon Sayers-Roods
12:50pm – 1:10pm–Community Share – “Share your Piece on Peace” – 10 persons from the community will share in the circle
1:10pm–Close this segment with a song
1:13-1:55pm- FOOD!! (Potluck, please RSVP if you can bring a dish to this community event!! info@aplaceforsustainablel
INSIDE:
2:00-2:45pm—TALKING CIRCLES
• Gentrification – Led by Susan Park
• Restorative Justice – Led by Malachi & Tatiana Chaterji; healing, trauma, impact in communities
• Indigenous Rights – Led by Rafael Jesús González
YOUTH FROM BAY PEACE & MUSIC
3:00-3:20pm—Bay Peace*; Led by Willanona Perry & Tatiana Chaterji – Improvisational group poem on the themes of gentrification and displacement, with a presentation featuring Augusto Boal’s method of Image Theater
3:30-4:30pm—Hip Hop with Red Star & Anthony Sul
4:30-5:00pm—Close
This ceremony and celebration is brought to you by Economic Development Without Displacement Coalition’s (EDWDC) Art and Culture working group, PLACE, and North Oakland Restorative Justice Council.
A neighborhood based mural project: “Declaring Peace Through All Our Relations” was approved last May, 2015 by the city of Oakland, and was painted by community for community. We are excited to share this day with you to honor Art & Culture in the commons we share!
Through the lens of the arts and deep culture, we will celebrate community at the mural site while delving thoughtfully into issues of Indigenous rights, Restorative Justice and Anti-Gentrification.
Please join us at the intersection of 64th and Marshall Street where we will begin with a dedication ceremony led by a member of the Ohlone Nation – the first people of this land. Afterwards enjoy music, performances and story-telling inside.
*”Frozen Image Activity” on gentrification by youth from Bay Peace:http://www.baypeace.org/
Food will be locally sourced
DONATIONS • DONATIONS • DONATIONS
Your help is greatly appreciated. If you care to donate to this event it will go toward street permit, ceremonial needs, and food to begin with. A little goes a long way!
HOW TO DONATE: Please go to http://
IF THERE IS ANY DIFFICULTIES, please email us at: info@aplaceforsustainablel