Written and performed by Charlie Hinton, Directed by Mark Kenward, Music by Fred Johnson

Charlie created Solitary Man based on letters and visits with people in Pelican Bay SHU/solitary confinement. The show is set in November 2014, a year after the largest prisoner hunger strike in history. Charlie says, “I want this show to gain an audience and become one more voice calling for the end of mass incarceration and solitary confinement.”

After the performance, we will have an update and discuss how and why the men in Pelican Bay SHU have been continuously deprived of sleep since Aug 2, 2015.

Antwon Cloird, Chief Operations Officer of the Richmond-based pre-release program Men and Women of Purpose, will join our panel discussion to talk about the work of his organization that is focused on addressing social and economic barriers to reduce recidivism through opportunities for rehabilitation.

STOP SLEEP DEPRIVATION TORTURE
No more torture in our name!

One day – Seven Hours – 145 Writers – 70 Events

Inside City Hall, more than 100 novelists, poets, historians, philosophers, journalists, and activists will engage event-goers in panels, interviews, and open debate. This year’s Festival will feature (among many others) Dave Eggers, Mary Roach, Frank Chin, Elaine Brown, Fred Moten, Ellen Pao, Emily Raboteau, Victor LaValle, Larissa MacFarquhar, Pico Iyer, Arlie Hochschild, and Greil Marcus. Join us for conversations about labor movements, immigration, drug trafficking, altruism, censorship, prisons, restorative justice, labors of love, the dignity of work, and the future of the family. A full list of activities and speakers can be found at oaklandbookfestival.org.

Children’s Area – Music – Booksellers – Food

The outdoor portion of the festival, on Frank Ogawa Plaza, includes a dedicated children’s area with performances from Children’s Fairyland, “favorite-stories” read by librarians from the Oakland Public Library, and book-making projects courtesy of the Museum of Children’s Arts. There will be live music and readings on the amphitheater all day. Booksellers, magazine publishers, and local literary organizations will have booths on the plaza; food trucks will provide nourishment.

Oakland Book Festival

Free and open to the public
Read. Debate. Celebrate.

One day – Seven Hours – 90 Writers – 40 Events

Oakland Post Salon on Police Commission Ballot Initiative: the Oakland City Council could put the measure directly onto the ballot – but some members have used procedural delays to block our efforts. Come out to the Post Salon this Sunday to continue the discussion and learn how you can get involved.

For the past few months, 68 grassroots organization in Haiti have joined together and have taken to the streets in massive numbers. They have stopped fraudulent presidential and legislative elections from taking place and have forced President Michel Martelly out of office. The teach-in will give us the latest information about where this struggle stands, how the United States is subverting democracy, and how we can show our solidarity.

This is the main event of “Black Love Beyond Borders: A Week of International Solidarity”, May 21-28, 2016. For more information about the other events, go to:

https://www.facebook.com/events/488625644659946/

Organizational Sponsors: Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Haiti Action Committee, Black Lives Matter Bay Area Chapter, All African People’s Revolutionary Party, Priority Africa Network, EastSide Arts Alliance and Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

Sing for an hour on Solano Avenue at the old Oaks Theater, Berkeley.

May 23rd will be the 2 year anniversary of James “Nate” Greer’s death at the hands of Hayward rogue police.

His grieving Family will be holding a rally with their attorneys, and have a candle light vigil immediately following.

Other coalitions, families and activists will be there to support.
as well as memorialize the loss of their loved ones, who were killed by police.

For more info on the beating death of Nate Greer, please see :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1760883287473600/

AR-15 assault rifles and other military equipment have no place in Emeryville, let alone in the hands of the police department that claims to protect and serve this community.

On Monday, Chief Tejada will be meeting with our comrades at Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (R.U.L.E.) in an attempt to divide and conquer community organizations working together on this issue. APTP and SURJ will be outside holding a rally to oppose this tactic.

An Emeryville police officer used an AR-15 in the killing of beloved community member Yuvette Henderson near Home Depot in February 2015. That preventable incident alone should signal to Chief Tejada that our police do not need military weapons, but she hasn’t moved to discontinue their use.

Come out with your signs, banners and voices to let Chief Tejada know that we will not stand for the use of this weaponry in Emeryville.

Please join us for a student-led initiative to examine closely the need to address police violence and racism as public health issues directly affecting the safety of communities in the US and particularly here in San Francisco.

The committee will decide to either send the proposed ordinance to the full City Council to vote on putting it on the November, 2016 ballot (polls show that it would pass by more than 80%) or kill it altogether.

With this much at stake, count on the real estate industry to be there in force with sharpened knives unsheathed. We need to be there to make sure our proposal moves forward.

Agenda Item with Link to Proposed Ballot Initiative.

Come and demand that the City Council put this initiative on the ballot for November.

Protect Oakland Renters Act Ballot Measure
Report and Recommendation
Subject: Protect Oakland Renters Act Ballot Measure

From: Members Of The Public

Recommendation: Receive An Informational Report And Give Staff Direction On Next Steps About A Proposed Ordinance (The “Protect Oakland Renters Act”) That Would Establish The Composition And Functions Of The Rent Board; Establish Rent Adjustments For Certain Units; And Establish Procedures For Governance Of Rental Units In The City Of Oakland

Please join us to celebrate the delivery of more than 8,000 pre-screened petition signatures for the ballot measure we have been promoting. We needed only 6,240 verified signatures; so we are confident we will qualify for the November ballot! Please come and join the celebration. We can all be enormously proud of our role in making this historic moment possible. Celebrate loudly. Then let’s get busy getting voters to the polls in November!

Catherine Pauling and the Steering Committee thank the 100 or more volunteer who spent countless hours gathering signatures. With no experience and little training, you courageously braved the elements (and more than a few rude comments from the opposition) and sacrificed time away from friends and family. You are Alameda Renters Coalition. We could not have done this without the help of: Filipino Advocates for Justice, Tenants Together, East Bay Young Democrats, Wellstone Democrats, St. Joseph Basilica, St. Barnabas Church and Firefighter’s Local 689 for the generous use of their space. We are immensely grateful also to those who contributed funding.

We can be proud of how far we have come. But our real goal is next November 8, 2016. We need to get the word out to all Alamedans that our community’s future is at stake and we need to vote for Rent Control Now!!

See you at City Hall Tomorrow, 2:00!

Join the Ella Baker Center and the Justice Reinvestment Coalition of Alameda County for the kickoff of the Jobs for Freedom campaign tonight! Together let’s win 1,400 jobs.

We’re urging Alameda County leadership to provide good jobs for people affected by the criminal justice system and for youth to prevent their interaction with the criminal justice system.

Locking people up and then locking them out of quality jobs hurts us all.

Come out tonight to Imani Community Church and learn more about the campaign and how you can plug in!

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights | | 510.428.3939
1970 Broadway, Suite 1125, Oakland, CA 94612, USA

Alameda County’s Community Choice energy program is moving forward.  Now is a crucial time to join the East Bay Clean Power Alliance in advocating for community representation on the board and development of local energy resources to benefit our community.

Clean Power to the People is a happy-hour mixer with a campaign update and community organizing strategy session. We need to organize ourselves to take action at an upcoming late June or early July Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting. We must come together to demand an Alameda County Community Choice energy program that will meet our communities’ needs. Without our voices at the table, the program is moving forward without local clean energy, equitable economic development, or family-sustaining union jobs to benefit our communities.

Before you come, it would be helpful if you:

1. Read the Proposal by the East Bay Clean Power Alliance, April 2016 which calls for program goals to be included in the Joint Powers Authority Agreement (which sets up the governance of the community choice energy agency) and for five community members to be on the JPA board along with elected officials.
2. Read and circulate our organizational sign-on letter: Put Our Communities in Community Choice, within your organization in advance of the meeting. On May 25, we are asking organizations to sign on, that have not already done so.

Vigil for #AmilcarPerezLopez at Mission Police station 6 pm every Wed til @GeorgeGascon announces if #sfpd charged pic.twitter.com/TiyAAbsH6F

— Steve Rhodes (@tigerbeat) May 19, 2016

Calling all Social Change Agents Who Want to Get Support in Achieving Their Life Enhancing Goals

Join us for an evening ofInteractive activities and intentional conversations during a potluck meal designed to help you connect in meaningful ways based on Open Space Technology. They include:

• Revitalize your passion for creating a better world

• Share your knowledge and gifts

• Find co-collaborators and kindred spirits

• Nourish established connections

Workshop and Conversation Topics include:

Mutual Aid Networks: Redesign your own work life and build a more equitable sustainable and enjoyable

Transition Town: Making changes locally in ways that profoundly affect your neighborhood and local influence.

Timebanking: Decreasing dependence on using traditional money and enhancing  a sense of community

Tiny Home Villages: Building self-governing communities that meet the needs of homeless and marginalized people

The Recession Generation: Creatively and courageously meeting the unique challenges facing millennials of all ages

Aging in Community: Living a rich life in the golden years among people who joyfully can support you until death.

Cooperative Living: Living together harmoniously and sustainably in all types of intentional communities

Simplifying & Organizing: Sorting out and then keeping only that which gives you joy and finding a place for everything

Plus Your Topic/Presentation: Anyone who wants to facilitate a 1 hour workshop or a 1/2 hour conversation that relates to enhancing the lives of Social Change Agents is welcome to do so. Just show up and we will support you!

MAY COPWATCH DAYS AND TIMES

– FRIDAY 5/6 – 8pm
– FRIDAY 5/13 – 8pm
– SATURDAY 5/21 – 8pm
– FRIDAY 5/27 – 8pm

You’re invited to join Berkeley Copwatch on one of our weekly copwatch shifts. We’ll be out in the streets witnessing and documenting police activity and doing outreach. No experience is required – we’ll train you in the essentials for documenting police activity and staying safe in the process.

DETAILS:
* Please RSVP (no deadline) by calling/texting 510-224-5950 or emailing CRivka@sonic.net to let us know which day(s) you plan to come. That way we can update you if we make any changes to the schedule.

* If you are able to bring a car and be a shift driver, that would be GREAT! Please let us know when you RSVP.

* Dress prepared for being outdoors

Malcolm X said, “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman, the most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.”

On Thursday May 19, 2016 SFPD proved his statement right, when a Sergeant assassinated Jessica with a single shot.

She was murdered on National Say Her Name Day, a day created to uplift the names of Black Women, Girls and Femmes who are murdered by State Sanctioned Violence.

“It is apparent that the lives of ALL Black people are under attack, however, the stories, experiences, and needs of Black women, girls, and femmes are left out all too often. And it is imperative that we work intentionally to bring them to the center.” -BYP100

We are calling the community out to help us honor our sister JESSICA WILLIAMS’ life. We are asking the community to come together collectively and lift up her name. We will say her name!

We are going to meet at 3rd and Palou for a rally and march to the Bayview police station to hold a healing circle honoring Jessica!

please bring candles, and items for her altar.