Calendar
Say NO to the CPUC! The California Public Utilities Commission has scheduled a surprise emergency hearing to allow PG&E to pursue debtor-in-possession financing.
Please come to the CPUC Auditorium at 505 Van Ness to speak against giving PG&E a $6 billion bailout and allowing it to duck its debts from last year’s Camp Fire.
The first item is to determine an emergency situation under which the normal 10-day agenda notice can be waived according to Gov’t Code 11125.5(b). The second and third items grant exemptions from PUC Code sections to allow PG&E to do this.
Videocast is at http://www.adminmonitor.com/ca/cpuc/
The Oakland School Board has just scheduled a special meeting (less than 72 hours notice) for 6pm on Monday with only one item on the agenda, a final vote in the closure of ROOTS Middle School. The school board can not be allowed to displace our students and families from their neighborhood school. We are asking everyone to help, even if you don’t live in Oakland.
1. Please email the Oakland School Board and ask them to keep ROOTS open and demand that any “redesign” of the school can not displace any of the current students.
Aimee.eng [at] ousd.org
Jody.london [at] ousd.org
Jumoke.hintonhodge [at] ousd.org
Gary.yee [at] ousd.org
Shanthi.gonzales [at] ousd.org
Roseann.torres [at] ousd.org
James.harris [at] ousd.org
2. Please sign and share the community petition. We want people outside of Oakland to also sign. There are already over 2700 signatures and we want to show maximum support when it’s submitted to the school board on Monday.
https://www.change.org/p/keeppublicschoolsopen-gmail-com-keep-our-neighborhood-public-schools-open-f805c663-e4b0-49d6-8837-bc1863c4a0ee?recruiter=926411481&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition
3. Attend Monday’s 6pm school board meeting at La Escuelita 1050 2nd Ave. The ROOTS closure is the only item on the agenda. You can also submit an Ecomment on the school board website: https://ousd.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx
4. We need legal help and advice. If the school board votes to close ROOTS we will be filing an injunction and we’ll need some help and guidance.
Please help us save ROOTS and send a message to the school board that we will not accept the continued closure and displacement of our neighborhood public schools. Thanks.
#NoCutsNoClosures
#EraseTheBoard
#FailureByDesign
#WeChoose
Here’s the link to the presentation: https://ousd.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=6991988&GUID=580873AF-48BE-4507-BF01-6E0C7CDBEF1D
And the resolution: https://ousd.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=6991989&GUID=EF8774C2-43AA-418C-B2C7-3AAE5B440C7A
Required Readings
See the readings that we’ll be discussing after a brief introduction from our members.
The encampment at E 12th & 23rd Ave got eviction notice, happening over a week:
Thursday 1/31
Friday 2/1
Thurs 2/7
Fri 2/8.We’re asking for folks to come for eviction support at 8 am each day – bringing coffee, breakfast, and doing copwatch/documentation.
— The Village, Oakland (@VillageOakland) January 29, 2019
The encampment at E 12th & 23rd Ave got eviction notice, happening over a week:
Thursday 1/31
Friday 2/1
Thurs 2/7
Fri 2/8.We’re asking for folks to come for eviction support at 8 am each day – bringing coffee, breakfast, and doing copwatch/documentation.
— The Village, Oakland (@VillageOakland) January 29, 2019
The Policy Working Group is excited to invite you to our upcoming, SURJ Bay Area Lobby Visit Workshop, part two of our legislative workshop series!
Workshop participants can expect to…
-Learn about lobby visits and how they fit into SURJ’s larger framework
-Practice speaking about policy to a legislative staffer
-Hear about new opportunities to engage in the legislative process with SURJ
-Hear from Essie Justice Group on their 2019 policy priorities
Tickets are sliding scale, $0 – $10. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. This workshop is a fundraiser for Essie Justice Group. Please bring a cash donation that is meaningful for you.
****This is the second workshop of a two part series. Attendance at the first workshop on 1/13/19 is not necessary but may be helpful. All are welcome.
The encampment at E 12th & 23rd Ave got eviction notice, happening over a week:
Thursday 1/31
Friday 2/1
Thurs 2/7
Fri 2/8.We’re asking for folks to come for eviction support at 8 am each day – bringing coffee, breakfast, and doing copwatch/documentation.
— The Village, Oakland (@VillageOakland) January 29, 2019
The encampment at E 12th & 23rd Ave got eviction notice, happening over a week:
Thursday 1/31
Friday 2/1
Thurs 2/7
Fri 2/8.We’re asking for folks to come for eviction support at 8 am each day – bringing coffee, breakfast, and doing copwatch/documentation.
— The Village, Oakland (@VillageOakland) January 29, 2019
On January 22nd, supporters of People’s Park marched down Telegraph Avenue to Sproul Plaza to protest the University’s overwhelming police response to the protest defending the trees. This peaceful protest was interrupted by a reckless driver who pushed up on the protesters and struck a sleeping homeless man as he fled the scene. Police have refused to release the identity of the driver or respond to this blatant attack on the poor people of Berkeley.
We need your help! The Cambodian American community is under attack by ICE. ICE is scheduling check-ins for Cambodian Americans with deportation orders on March 13th at the San Francisco ICE building. WE NEED TO PROTECT OUR COMMUNITY FROM DEPORTATION. We are hosting a rally in support of impacted folks and their families who have check-ins that day. We need folks to:
– Support folks with check-ins by showing up and letting them know there is a community that supports, loves, and will fight for them
– Support impacted folks’ families the day of check-ins to let them know we are there for them
– Show up in numbers to let ICE know they cannot tear our families apart
This event is in conjunction, and in solidarity with the Stand up to Trump in court, in the streets, and beyond happening on the same day. Link provided below.
https://www.facebook.com/events/290015418339666/
EVICTION SUPPORT NEEDED Thu & Fri starting 8am
All Lake Merritt camps getting booted. Bring coffee, bkfst, trashbags, lunch. Starting at columns @Lakeshore— Anti Police-Terror (@APTPaction) February 13, 2019
Join us this Thursday at the BART Board mtg and next week to celebrate the people that made #ReclaimMLKOak possible .
Last month the Oakland City Council unanimously approved a resolution to name an unnamed street near Fruitvale Station as Oscar Grant Way. Join us and Oscar Grant’s family this Thursday at the BART Board of Directors meeting to make sure they approve the motion!
Huge THANK YOU to everyone that came out last month to support the 5th Annual People’s March to Reclaim King’s Legacy!
It was a beautiful day with about 3,000 people marching in the streets, an amazing people’s concert and a deep healing ritual lead by Lead to Life to close in the evening.
Check out more photos by the talented Amir Saadiq of that day.
We lifted up the demands of the people’s platform, held People’s Assemblies on housing, education, inter-communal violence, development, use of force, and sanctuary for all.
This Valentine’s Day, we’re turning up the pressure on Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase in San Francisco. Will you join us? Click here to RSVP.
- What: Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase: Break up with private prisons or we’ll break up with you (Rally and petition delivery)
Sixty percent of the immigrants the Trump administration locked up are being held in private prisons built by companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group. Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase finance billions of dollars of their debt. All these banks need to do is stop providing loans to these companies and the private prisons they run would not be able to function.
Now is the time to use our power as customers and consumers to force these banks to act. Join us to make our demands clear to Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase on Valentine’s Day.
If Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase don’t take action to help end the criminalization and detainment of Black and Brown communities, we will by pledging and encouraging others to break up with them and switch to banks that actually respect our communities.
Click the link below to RSVP for the action in San Francisco this Thursday.
https://www.facebook.com/events/395765747898393/
On Valentine’s Day, join Mujeres Unidas y Activas, La Colectiva de Mujeres, MomsRising, Bay Resistance, Candide Group, Hand in Hand, the national FamiliesBelongTogether Coalition and others to ask WellsFargo and JPMorgan Chase To Break Up with Private Prisons and Immigration Detention Centers!
While professing respect for human rights, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase continue to fund GEO Group and CoreCivic; the biggest operators of private prisons and immigrant detention centers. Let’s tell Jamie Dimon (Chase) and Timothy Sloan (Wells) that we’re not afraid to align our money with our values. If Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase don’t take action, we will — by pledging to, and/or encouraging others to, break up with Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase and switch to banks that actually respect our communities instead!
Can’t come on the 14th at noon, but want to take action- join a bank branch action near you on the 14, 15, or 15th by signing up here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/show-love-this-valentines-day
EVICTION SUPPORT NEEDED Thu & Fri starting 8am
All Lake Merritt camps getting booted. Bring coffee, bkfst, trashbags, lunch. Starting at columns @Lakeshore— Anti Police-Terror (@APTPaction) February 13, 2019
ALTERNATIVES TO POLICING WORKSHOP 2
Let’s talk about the “common sense” ideas about crime, morality, and safety that shape and limit how we think about policing and community safety. Many of these ideas are profoundly influenced by a particular brand of Christianity that has dominated in this country, a version of the faith that served to justify genocide and slavery and continues to uphold white supremacy in ways that are sometimes overt but more often subtle and even innocuous-seeming. How can we begin to call these “common sense” ideas into question so that we can have a different conversation?
In this interactive workshop, we will take a deep dive into both the actual history of policing and the narratives and ideologies that have shaped it. Content will include viewing and discussion of segments from two webinars, one offered by Andrea Ritchie on January 28, 2019 on the History of Policing, and one offered by SoulForce on January 8, 2018 on Christian Supremacy and Policing, both through SURJ-Faith.
Andrea Ritchie is a Black lesbian immigrant and police misconduct attorney and organizer who has engaged in extensive research, writing, and advocacy around criminalization of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of color over the past two decades. She recently published Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color now available from Beacon Press. Read more about her and her work here: http://andreajritchie.com/bio/
SoulForce is an LGBTQI organization that sabotages Christian Supremacy through radical analysis, spiritual healing and strategic direct action. Their website reads: “Christian Supremacy is not new; the project of empire has snatched Christianity and put it into service for hundreds of years, especially in the United States and its business partners. Calling out Christian Supremacy means recognizing that the struggles against white supremacy, capitalism, and (neo)colonization – to name a few – are intricately tied to how certain sectors and expressions of Christianity are driven by power over, not justice. We believe consciousness of how this kind of religion works in the United States – its language, its cultural plumb lines, its relationship to social and financial power, its stated and unstated values – tells a more honest story of how this country came to be.”
Facilitators will be Nichola Torbett and Marcia Lovelace.
We will also ground ourselves in our values and agreements, which are rooted in transformative justice, and in our commitment to caring for our hearts, minds, and spirits as we do this work.
By donation; no one turned away for lack of funds.
ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP SERIES
A growing coalition of organizations in the Bay Area is coming together to explore alternatives to calling the police to our campuses and into our neighborhoods. Over the coming year, we will be offering a series of workshops to explore alternatives to calling the police. Some of these workshops, like this one, will provide deepening analysis and a grounding in alternative ways of thinking about safety. Others will provide practical skills. All of them will lift up a transformative justice framework and emphasize the importance of self care.
The Coalition includes First Congregational Church of Oakland, Kehilla Community Synagogue, Agape Fellowship, Qal’bu Maryam, Jewish Voice for Peace, the East Bay Meditation Center, Skyline Community Church, Oakland Peace Center, Oakland LBGTQ Community Center, KinFolkz, the Omni Collective, and Black Organizing Project. We are eager to partner with additional organizations so please contact us if you are interested!
Oakland’s First** Human Banner: “NO WALL!”
This protest is planned in response to President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency. Join in to protect the rule of law and our Constitution. On this Presidents Day holiday, stand to demand that our president respect the separation of powers.
East Bay DSA’s Socialist Night School continues its 2019 Winter Session with a class examining strikes.
Over the last year there has been a wave of successful teacher strikes, and our local Oakland Education Association recently voted to authorize a strike. But how do strikes figure into the larger picture of class struggle and building working class power? And what lessons can we learn from historical strikes?
Please join us on Tuesday, February 19 to discuss these questions and more!
Details and readings coming soon!
Accessibility: Wheelchair-accessible entrance and restrooms
Required Readings
See the readings that we’ll be discussing after a brief introduction from our members.
Oakland teachers just set the date of their strike for this coming Thursday! Join us this Tuesday night for an emergency Oakland Is Strike Ready meeting and bring everyone you know! pic.twitter.com/XlnnSR15Ok
— East Bay DSA 🌹 (@DSAEastBay) February 16, 2019