Calendar

“Oakland is being touted as a #1 tourist destination spot. Under the Mayorship of Libby Schaaf, a mandate has been issued to make the City pretty for tourists and developers. This has meant an upsurge in police terror and murders in Oakland. In what we have dubbed Libby’s Bloody Era, string of Black men were murdered in Oakland in 2015. All of them declared “justifiable”.

As part of the 96 Hours of Direct Action, Join APTP at Terminal One of Oakland Airport where we will welcome people to Oakland – the nations third leading city it police murders – by reading a list of names of Black, Brown and Indigenous Peoples murdered at the hands of law enforcement in Oakland – and across the country.

Meet inside Terminal One.

Ride Sharing is highly encouraged. Please see the Facebook page.

More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1958174034406838/

Our Oakland airport action was very successful! The police were a no show and we had the run of the airport, and there were no arrests. Saturday is a light travel day and Oakland is a smaller airport….

So we’re going to try it again at SFO on a very busy travel day! Please bring signs this time! Lets make this even bigger.
We’ll meet at the International terminal, at the BART fare gates. Try to be on time, we may move around the airport.

BART goes right to the international terminal of the airport, but is relatively expensive. and there is parking if you want to carpool, and also other transit options: http://www.flysfo.com/to-from/public-transit.

Announcement for SFO #SayTheirNames tomorrow at 6pm, on day set for SF actions. Stay tuned to @APTPaction for exact location and details.

— Dave Id (@DaveId) January 17, 2016

#SayTheirNames #ReclaimMLK #96Hours @APTPaction tomorrow at #SFO is at 6pm Check Facebook for updates

— Terri Kay (@TKOakWWP) January 17, 2016

Pre-march protest in solidarity with the fighting people of Haiti:

Black Lives Matter from Haiti to the Bay

· Drummers

· Report from Haiti – By Pierre Labossiere

A part of the 96 Hours of Direct Action to Reclaim the Radical Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere!” We will march to join the 11AM rally and march at Oscar Grant Plaza

Haiti is in the streets almost every day – as tens of thousands turn out to demand that the stolen 2015 election be thrown out. The mass movement is telling the U.S./U.N. occupiers: “Don’t Steal Our Votes!” It is demanding “Reclaim Haiti’s sovereignty!” from foreign occupation.

Haiti’s struggle is our struggle. It’s now 50 years since the U.S. Voting Rights Act, but it’s been rolled back to systematically deny Black people the right to vote – again. In Haiti the 2015 elections were plagued by endless and well-documented ballot stuffing, vote buying, armed coercion, naked vote rigging – yet the U.S. ambassador gave his “OK” to the faked election results. In effect, whether it’s here or in Haiti, the U.S. rulers are deliberately interfering with the people’s right to freely choose the representatives that they want.

Haiti’s fight is our fight. Just as we in the Bay Area are fighting against police murder of Black people, so it is in Haiti. The State Dept wants to suppress the surging popular movement – using police terror against the people. During the 2015 elections, special US-financed police units sprayed machine gun fire into working-class neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince and Arcahaie to suppress the vote, killing scores of people.

The U.S. State Department is the main actor trying to push through the fraudulent elections – maneuvering to exclude Haiti’s most popular political party – Fanmi Lavalas – from any role in the next government. The U.S. wants to keep in power corrupt puppets who are willing to give away Haiti’s abundant mineral resources … privatize the mines and the electric company … and keep factory wages at US$3/day – continuing a long tradition of the U.S. and France stealing the wealth and the labor of the Haitian people.

Lighting the fires of struggle – Many have commented that the Haitian people, in their vast majority, are very aware of their history – proud inheritors of the Revolution of 1791-1804, when Haiti defeated the army of Napoleon, ended plantation slavery and declared independence from France. “It’s on every lip,” said one Lavalas activist. “People are saying that in rejecting this stolen election, we are lighting the fires of struggle, continuing the fight for equality and sovereignty that our ancestors fought for 200 years ago.”
****After the protest we will walk 2 blocks to join the 11:00 AM rally and march at Oscar Grant Plaza (14th & Broadway) to Reclaim the Radical Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. ****

For more information, connect with the Haiti Action Committee: www.haitisolidarity.net @HaitiAction1 and on Facebook

Reclaiming King’s Legacy

“Equality demands dignity. And dignity demands a job and a paycheck that lasts through the week.”

“When you have mass unemployment in the Negro community it’s called a social problem. When you have mass unemployment in the white community it’s called a depression”

“We refuse to believe the bank of justice is bankrupt”

– Martin Luther King, Jr

Last year, during MLK weekend, The Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP) answered a national call by initiating #96Hours of Direct Action that culminated in an historic march from Fruitvale Station to Coliseum City on Martin Luther King Day. Over 7,000 people took to the streets and reclaimed the radical spirit of King and celebrated his legacy of resistance! Since then, APTP has steadfastly been organizing to build a replicable and sustainable model for eradicating police-terror in communities of color.

In the months following that powerful weekend, the police and the state have taken more lives than ever before and our communities are facing accelerated displacement due to rapid gentrification that is supported and encouraged by our new Mayor and City Council members.

This year our MLK day march will be even bigger.

This is a family-friendly event and a celebration of King’s legacy, Black Lives and the struggle for social justice.

Last year we marched through areas in Oakland that are currently in development or are proposing development and we made clear demands to stem the tide of gentrification, end the displacement of Black and Brown residents, replace high-rise plans with affordable housing, and implement local-hiring practices all while demanding an immediate end to police terror in our communities.

Thank you for coming out to the movie showing and flyering party last week to UNwelcome Sprouts to Oakland. Join Occupy The Farm, Boycott Sprouts, and our Bay Area friends and allies again this week to let them know “no business as usual until you pull out of paving over the Gill Tract farm.”

Help us to let all the new shoppers know that Sprouts Farmers Market is planning to pave over the Gill Tract farm, where the local community has been proposing a community center for regenerative agriculture, education, and ecological demonstration; and where the Gill Tract Community Farm currently farms on an acre and a half of the total 20 acre tract that the development land is a part of.

We’ll have banners and leaflets to pass out. Join us as you can for any of the listed time. There will be a coordinator on site!

Tues 1/19 1-9pm
Wed 1/20 2-5:30pm
Thurs 1/21 tbd**
Fri 1/22 tbd**

Thank you for coming out to the movie showing and flyering party last week to UNwelcome Sprouts to Oakland. Join Occupy The Farm, Boycott Sprouts, and our Bay Area friends and allies again this week to let them know “no business as usual until you pull out of paving over the Gill Tract farm.”

Help us to let all the new shoppers know that Sprouts Farmers Market is planning to pave over the Gill Tract farm, where the local community has been proposing a community center for regenerative agriculture, education, and ecological demonstration; and where the Gill Tract Community Farm currently farms on an acre and a half of the total 20 acre tract that the development land is a part of.

We’ll have banners and leaflets to pass out. Join us as you can for any of the listed time. There will be a coordinator on site!

Tues 1/19 1-9pm
Wed 1/20 2-5:30pm
Thurs 1/21 tbd**
Fri 1/22 tbd**

Black Lives Matter Sacramento joins the Occupation for the Right to Rest on Tuesday January 26th for a Die-In & Protest followed by flooding our City Council meeting for public comments.

WITHOUT SLEEP, YOU WILL DIE

Police continue to raid and harass the homeless in Sacramento:
https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/welcome-to-the-occupation-sacramento/content?oid=19599427

The city of Sacramento has made it a crime to sleep.
So the homeless are being arrested if they close their eyes too long, and that is disgustingly inhumane.

Reference: https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/anonymous-no-more/content?oid=19663564

Our city has gentrified the hell out of Oak Park and Midtown, making it hard to live and creating more homelessness in the Sacramento area. This has dramatically effected people of color.

Then once you become homeless, where can you sleep?
Where can you sit? Is this all for the new arena?

The City of Sacramento, City Council, and Mayor Johson have made it CRIMINAL to be POOR and/or HOMELESS.

There have been activists on the ground for weeks.
One evening 9 homeless activists were attacked by 53 police officers, resulting in excessive force and unnecessary arrests.

This is where are tax dollars are going.

Join Us at City Hall!

SUNRISE PICKET!

“As a housekeeper, I work very hard so that Homewood guests can have clean rooms and a good experience at the hotel, but the pressure of having to clean so many checkouts in one day gives me so much stress that I don’t have any energy for my kids when I come home at the end of the day. That’s why I am fighting for the same workload protections, fair raises and affordable health insurance for my family, that other union hotel housekeepers in Oakland have.” – Consuelo Andrade, Homewood Suites Room Attendant

Housekeeping staff at the Homewood Suites are paid at Oakland’s minimum wage. The health insurance offered to employees is unaffordable for the majority of Homewood workers, so that some have to depend on public benefits. And many housekeepers complain of chronic body pain from cleaning too many rooms under time pressure. Homewood Suites workers are standing up for living wages, safe workloads, and affordable health care!

Join them on the picket line – and experience a gorgeous sunrise and good coffee while you fight for justice!

In solidarity,

UNITE HERE Local 2850

UNITE HERE Local 2850, 1440 Broadway, Suite 208, Oakland, CA 94612 | www.unitehere2850.org

Saturday January 30, 2016 is the grand opening of Mayor Lee’s Super Bowl City. He has spent all of his energy pushing out the homeless, disabling bus lines and creating traffic jams so that his precious Super Bowl City can inconvenience the city of San Francisco for two weeks.
This is energy he could have spent apologizing to Mario Woods’ family, seeking justice and acting like he actually cares about the black and brown community in San Francisco.
We have promised him no peace until we get justice.
We will bring it to his precious Super Bowl City at it’s Grand Opening this Saturday.
We will meet at Union Square and march to the main entrance on Market at Main.
Please wear black and bring a sign .
Please help spread the word and remember as you spread it through social media to use these hashtags:
#justice4mariowoods
#mariowoods
#firechiefsuhr
#nojusticenosuperbowl
#blacklivesmatter

Justice 4 Mario Woods Coalition
Twitter: @Justice4MWNow
Instagram: @Justice4MarioWoodsNow

–COME SUPPORT OUR TENANT PICKET! —

Bring music and noisemakers!

–ALSO–
Please call and/or email Happy Homes and ask them to relocate the Morales family NOW!!
-info.hhpartners@gmail.com
-510.655.3253 (Bing Udinsky, owner)
-510.204.9922, and/or 510.599.2015 (office lines)
Don’t worry–they won’t answer the phone, so just leave a voicemail

–HAPPY HOMES AND 475 ALCATRAZ—-
The living conditions at 475 Alcatraz Avenue in Oakland—a property owned & managed by Happy Homes Partners, also known as Bing & Jerald Udinsky—are both dangerous and appalling. Multiple units have MOLD, WATER LEAKS, EXPOSED WALLS AND CONCRETE FLOORS, CARBON MONOXIDE/GAS LEAKS, and more. Happy Homes has consistently ignored tenant requests to repair units and clean common areas, knowingly exposing their tenants to unsafe conditions.

Despite this state of ill-repair, Happy Homes has continued to HIKE RENTS annually, as well as EVICT existing tenants and replace them with higher-income individuals who are willing to pay exorbitantly high rents—until the problems in their units start, after which they are essentially “forced out” of the unit by the bad conditions. Happy Homes then comes in and performs purely cosmetic interior repairs, and re-rents the apartment at new (even higher) “market rates.” The next tenant comes in, and the cycle starts all over again. This is Happy Homes’ business model!

–MORALES FAMILY STORY–
The Morales family, tenants of 475 Alcatraz since 2011, have faced particularly deplorable conditions; there is peeling paint, WATER LEAKS & MOLD throughout their apartment, they currently have NO WORKING HEATER, and they are UNABLE TO USE THEIR BEDROOMS because the flooring & wall was stripped down due to water flooding, so they sleep in their living room. They recently discovered that their oven was leaking massive amounts of CARBON MONOXIDE. They have been THREATENED WITH EVICTION for standing up for fair housing!

Two months ago, Happy Homes agreed to pay the Morales family a small sum for their suffering over the last 4 years if they move out of their apartment by February 15th. The Morales family plans to use the settlement money to relocate to a safe, clean apartment; however, Happy Homes’ insurance company says it may take up to another 6 weeks to pay the settlement. In the meantime, the Morales family are TRAPPED IN SUB-STANDARD & HAZARDOUS HOUSING, FACING if they don’t leave on February 15th, despite the fact that they have not received their compensation!!

As concerned members of the community, we must demand that Happy Homes IMMEDIATELY take the following actions:
• Completely repair ALL the units at 475 Alcatraz, and authentically repair the underlying structural problems
• Stop all evictions, and until the building is repaired, put a moratorium on the annual increases allowed by the city
• Provide the promised payment to the Morales family and return their deposit so that they are able to relocate!

–FOR QUESTIONS & MORE INFO CALL: CAMPAIGN FOR RENTERS RIGHTS (510.457.1846–Leave a VM)–

Mayor Ed Lee told the homeless they “have to leave” for the Super Bowl.

Our response: “Hey Mayor Ed Lee, No Penalties for Poverty”
We, the people of San Francisco, demand that Super Bowl City and Ed Lee pay and invest $5 million right now in housing – we could house 500 people immediately with that money.

We also demand the use of publicly-owned assets, such as the empty Pier 29 or 80, or the land under the Freeway at 101/Cesar Chavez, and create monitored programs that support secure sleep, hygienic toileting, and access to transition/healing services.

Come out in your red & gold Niners colors to #TackleHomelessness. Join the Coalition on Homelessness as we protest the mayor’s unjust plan and demand immediate housing for our city’s unhoused residents.

Meet up is at 4:30 in front of Sinbads on Embacadero next to the Ferry Building. We are going to set up a tent city, with plenty of visuals next to the superbowl city. Bring signs and banners and cardboard cut-outs of houses. And bring tents if you don’t mind them getting confiscated.

In the meantime invite EVERYONE you know. Let’s show Mayor Lee how San Francisco stands up for our neighbors.

Homeless Statistics:
– There’s 1 shelter bed for every 6 homeless
– There’s an 8,000 person long wait for housing
– 3,300 Children make up SF’s homeless
– 61% have disabilities
– 11,000 citations were given to homeless for resting in SF last year

Superbowl-Related Statistics:
– 25% of the costs for Superbowl ads would be enough to end homelessness in SF (Each 30-second Superbowl ad costs 5 million.)
– The $5 million cost to SF to host the Superbowl would house 500 homeless people.
– SFPD is responsible for clearing out homeless people for the Super Bowl by giving them citations which are already up 30% from last year.

Citations are on the increase for sleeping on the streets of San Francisco even though there are not currently viable alternatives for the thousands of unhoused residents in that situation. The Department of Justice released a memo in mid and late 2015 stating that it is ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ for cities to criminalize sleeping on the street when no viable alternatives are available. Currently, we have 1 shelter bed for every 6 people on the street.

We are uniting together to demand the end of criminalization of homelessness and increased investment in real housing solutions to “Tackle Homelessness”.

On Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015 Oakland Resident and mother of two, Yuvette Henderson was killed by Emeryville Police Department in West Oakland. She was 38 years old when her life was stolen. Yuvette leaves behind a 15 year old son and an 11 year old daughter.

Please join us as we memorialize Yuvette’s murder. We will first gather at Home Depot at 7pm for a short rally, then move to a silent, candlelit march to the corner across the street from where she was killed, where we will stop to listen to close friends and family members speak and commemorate her life.

#Justice4YuvetteHenderson
#SayHerName

Please bring candles and signs for Justice for Yuvette Henderson

Stop (racist) displacement of 139 Fillmore Families
Action/Rally Wednesday, February 10th 4 – 5pm

Come stand with us to protect SF’s remaining (3%) Black population and to bring the Black Community back to our city.

#blackhomesmatter
#savemidtown

Chinatown Community & Workers Hold Lunar New Year Rally Against New Project by Lawbreaking Employer

Balaji Enterprises, owner/operator of the Holiday Inn Express Oakland Airport, violated the Oakland minimum wage ordinance, manipulated time-card records, and withheld evidence from City investigators, according to a new report from the City of Oakland.

Meanwhile, the City is poised to give Balaji Enterprises a permit to build a new Hampton Inn on a valuable downtown Oakland parcel – with no public process or community input. On Thursday, Chinatown high school students and hotel workers will hold a Lunar New Year rally at the site of the proposed hotel, calling on the City to deny the permit and ensure transparency and community involvement in planning for the site.

“The City of Oakland is on the verge of making a back-room deal with a hotel company that breaks the law and exploits workers – according to the City’s own report. We should have a voice in deciding what gets built in our community, so we can make sure this project benefits our families and our future.” said Joshua Fisher Lee, Executive Director of AYPAL, a Chinatown-based community organization comprised of students from Asian Pacific Islander immigrant and refugee families living in Oakland.

The City’s report details several violations of Oakland’s minimum wage ordinance affecting 37 workers. Investigators found that Balaji rounded off time-clock records to avoid paying workers for all hours worked; imposed unreasonable rules to prevent workers from using sick leave; reduced workers’ hours, blaming the passage of the minimum wage ordinance; and withheld a notebook tracking employee work hours from investigators.

Chinatown worker and community groups expressed dismay the report’s findings – and at the possibility of the same employer opening a new hotel in their neighborhood.

At Thursday’s rally, youth groups will adorn the fenced-off lot with Lunar New Year decorations and play interactive games to celebrate the Chinatown community and create a positive vision for a project on the site that would benefit youth and low-wage workers.

Participants will include youth leaders from AYPAL; Marriott and Marriott Courtyard Hotel workers and members of UNITE HERE Local 2850; and community allies from East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), Asian Pacific Environmental Network, and Asians 4 Black Lives.

“I’ve watched classmates and even members of my family get pushed out of Oakland – because of rising rents and cost of living, my cousins who also grew up here had to move out of state. Youth in our community are dealing with a lot of problems, like gang violence. This land is empty – we have the chance to create something that would create safe spaces for youth to learn and have access to more opportunities, instead of a hotel that treats its workers poorly,” said Jason Le, a junior at Oakland High School and AYPAL youth leader.

BACKGROUND: For several months, the Oakland Planning Department has been considering approving Balaji Enterprises new Hampton Inn in downtown Oakland with no public hearing process. The decision on whether or not to approve the hotel is delegated solely to Planning Director Rachel Flynn, who came under criticism last fall for asserting that there is no affordable housing crisis in Oakland. Balaji already operates two local hotels, the Hampton Inn Alameda and Holiday Inn Express, where workers have reported low pay, no health benefits, shorting of workers’ pay, and humiliation from managers. The site of the new hotel is only blocks away from the Marriott Courtyard and Marriott Hotels, where union workers worry that the opening of a poverty-wage hotel nearby will make it difficult to maintain the standards and benefits they have fought to win and maintain over the years. Community activists believe the project will exacerbate the East Bay’s crises of inequality and displacement, and that workers at the new hotel will not be able to afford to live in Oakland. Last November, hundreds of hotel workers and community members marched from the lot of the proposed hotel into City Hall, where former workers of the Hampton Inn owners have testified to City Council about not being allowed lunch breaks, earning poverty wages with no benefits, and being fired for getting hurt on the job. The community protest of the proposed Hampton Inn comes on the heels of broad community opposition to the proposed development of market-rate housing at the nearby East 12th Street parcel.
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Be there at 5AM tomorrow (Friday) morning to help defend homeless people and their belongings:https://t.co/cy7zZBKJvM

— AntiDisplacementCoup (@AsterZephyrIsis) February 26, 2016

Early Morning Picket to Defend San Francisco’s Leeville Tent City! 4:30 AM @ division and 11th in SF. We just got confirmation from the homeless outreach team that riot police are going to be trying to arrest and throw out homeless folks possessions at early in the morning on tuesday at the division underpass.

We call on the entire working class to stand with the Leeville Tent City and together build a movement to build housing and community autonomy for working class, working poor, and homeless people. Please bring pickett signs and banners. We need to mobilize a mass of people to copwatch and defend the mostly black/brown and working class/poor. On Friday Morning 100 working class people stopped an eviction of a homeless encampment by getting in the way of the police to prevent eviction of the#leevilletencity. Tomorrow morning please meet at soma streat food at 11th and division today 4:30 AM tomorrow morning!

We demand:
1. Build Single Room Occupancy (SRO) Housing not Luxury Condominums.

2. Repeal The Ellis Act and stop evicting working class and poor people.

3. A Living wage and Union Jobs for all!

The Bay Area is an expensive place to live and Berkeley is even higher, yet a majority on
City Council are sitting on their hands, while families are forced to work and work and
work yet can’t make ends meet. People in Oakland, SF and Emeryville have successfully
pushed the wages higher. It is our turn now.
We are gathering signatures to get an initiative on the November Ballot that 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

At the meeting you will:

 Get filled in on the initiative and how you can help
 Brief training on the Signature gathering
 Join a team to go out and gather signatures
 Get additional petitions

For more information contact Steve Gilbert at stevegilbert510@gmail.com.

Meet at 14th and Broadway and take the streets in solidarity with the three anti-racists who were stabbed in Anaheim when confronting a KKK rally on February 27th.

The klansman that stabbed the three comrades is reportedly from San Francisco. He was later let go while counter protesters are still held in jail. This is unacceptable! Let’s take a stand against the KKK and white supremacy in the Bay and everywhere!

This is happening at the same time as riots and demonstrations in the streets of Salt Lake City, Utah and Raleigh, North Carolina in the wake of yet more police shootings of black youth.

This is not a coincidence. The cops and the klan go hand in hand. The whole damn system is guilty.

#blacklivesmatter
Solidarity with those who fight back!