SF Freedom School

bad history

2012-01-27T10:47:00.000-08:00

"I think people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South.”

[to be fair, he elaborated: “My point is, they’re trying to say the only way to deal with a civil rights issue is through legislation, and my point is that in a state like this, the fact of the matter is their own polling belies that position.”]

Equally bad history in response to Christie's comment:

" It look legislative action to bring justice to all Americans, just as legislative action is the right way to bring marriage equality to all New Jerseyans.”

Regarding civil rights, legislative, executive or judicial action is rarely sufficient on its own. Although, it can be used strategically.

For example

Brown v Board (Southern towns shut down public schools or refused to integrate)
Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 (it still took nonviolent direct action and tedious door-to-door organizing in the face of violence to integrate and register voters)

March to and Occupation of Sacramento - a good idea?

2012-01-25T11:40:00.000-08:00

MARCH 1ST - MARCH 5TH ...STATE-WIDE MASS MOBILIZATION TO SACRAMENTO FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE .....details below!!!

.....but first, a few thoughts re: marches from the perspective of the Southern Freedom Movement: A march is not a movement -- a march is strategic if it is part of a larger plan. For example:

Nashville 1960:
Februrary: lunch counter sit-ins lead to a successful boycott of downtown stores.
April: Local lawyer, C. Alexander Looby's house is bombed. Organizers leveraged the outrage of this bombing by staging a silent march of 4,000 to the steps of city hall where Diane Nash asks the mayor, Ben West, whether he thought segregation was moral and right. He said no, it is not right. This was the turning point in the Nashville movement, which continued to provide leadership in the subsequent Freedom Rides (1961-3), Freedom Summer (1964), and in Selma (1965).

Selma, AL 1965:
In 1962, SNCC came to Selma to help local activists register black voters but met heavy resistance from one of the most vicious sheriffs (Jim Clark) in all of the South. King brought his (SCLC) organization's people, money and media attention to Selma in Jan., 1965. Through a series of marches and other nonviolent actions, King was able to provoke a vicious backlash by the police that garnered national media attention (much to irritation of SNCC organizers). King continued to escalate the confrontations as more and more members of the community were inspired to join the marches to the courthouse to try to vote. To escalate (provoke the police) further, SCLC decided to have night marches with a deadly result. Jimmie Lee Jackson (16 yr old local black) was shot to death by a cop in a night demonstration/march in nearby Marion. This led to King calling upon the nation's clergy and other activists to come to Selma.......Rev. Reeb (northern white) was killed.....the march from Selma to Montgomery. The march was designed to allow people to let off steam (black anger and outrage over the double standard of national outrage over Reeb's death but not Jackson's) as well as to demonstrate for the need for the passage of a Voting Rights Act. SNCC opposed the march but went along with it in order to establish personal relationships with people in the counties through which the protesters marched. These personal connections led to the formation of the Lowndes County Freedom Party (the first use of the symbol of the black panther) by SNCC leaders -- including Stokely Carmichael.

Best source of Civil Rights History is the crmvet.org website!

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KICK-OFF MEETING TO PLAN SANFRANCISCO MARCH 1ST ACTION AND MORE

WHAT: Occupy San Francisco Action Council Meeting toKick-Off Planning for San Francisco Participation in the March 1 dayof Action followed by March 5th Mass Mobilization to Sacramento

(http://occupysf.org/2011/12/04/occupysf-action-council-intro,http://www.occupyeducationca.org)

WHEN: Sunday January 29th, 2:45 -- 4:00 p.m.

WHERE: Unite Here Local 2, 209 Golden Gate
@Leavenworth, Just North of 7th and Market (Near Civic Center Bart)

MARCH 1: SAN FRANCISCO PARTICIPATION IN A NATIONAL DAY OFACTION IN DEFENSE PUBLIC EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES
MARCH 2-5: 99 MILE MARCH FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION AND SOCIALJUSTICE
MARCH 5: OCCUPY THE STATE CAPITOL

** A Broad-Based Call to Action for the 99%!
** No Cuts! No Concessions! Fully fund education and socialservices
** Tax the rich
** Support the Millionaires Tax
** Support the Oil Tax to Fund Education (Prop. 1522)
** Reject Jerry Brown's budget
** Defend Free Speech and the Right of Assembly
** End police attacks on Occupy
** Health care for the 99%
** Support workers' rights
** End immigrant scapegoating to cover-up economic injustice

ENDORSEMENTS FOR THE MASS MARCH MOBILIZATION (NOT A COMPLETELIST):
AFT 2121
Alameda Central Labor Council
Berkeley Faculty Association
Berkeley Federation of Teachers
California Federation of Teachers
International Socialist Organization (Northern California)
La Raza Centro Legal
Oakland Education Association
Occupy SF Action Council
Occupy Solidarity Network Community Labor and Faith Groups
Occupy Bernal
Occupy CAL
Occupy Education NorCal
Occupy UC Santa Cruz_
Peralta Association of Teacher_
San Lorenzo Education
San Francisco Labor Council Executive Committee
San Mateo Federation of Teachers'
SEIU 1021
UAW 2865
United Educators of San Francisco
UPTE

Against the Cuts Workshop

2012-01-20T15:50:00.000-08:00

Against Cuts January 28th conference to discuss organizing and educational efforts for this spring, leading up to the march in Sacramento on March 5th.

10 am to 3 pm
Berkeley City College Basement
2050 Center Street (nr Shattuck)

Please arrive to register by 10:00 AM
We will provide coffee, pastries and lunch. In planning for food it would help us if you RSVP (Mail@AgainstCuts.org) that you are coming, and how many people you are bringing, as soon as you can.

January 28 Agenda
10:30 AM sharp
    We will have introductions so we all know who is there
    Presentation about the next rounds of cuts at the state level
    Questions and Discussion 11:30 AM
    The March 5th action in Sacramento
    Proposals for outreach and educational activities in the coming weeks
    Explore how to build a network of activists to continue the fight after March 5th
    Questions and Discussion
12:30 PM
    Lunch in the Atrium
1:30 PM
    Break into geographic regions, plan organizing activities, set up calendars, and decide where to go etc.

Please come and if possible bring a team from your school, neighborhood, union, or workplace.

We will have T-shirts ($10 each), buttons (50 cents each) packets ($1.00 each), and free posters, fliers and stickers for you to take. We would appreciate donations to help cover the printing costs for the stickers, posters and fliers, which are free.

Also please let us know if you have access to xeroxing and could run fliers for us at your office or school. We are going to need a lot of fliers!

If you can, bring money from your school or other organization, to purchase an ?institutional? bag or bring money if you can purchase an individual organizer?s bag. Institutional bags will be $100 and individual bags will be $25. They will have everything you need for outreach including T-shirts, buttons, posters, fliers, stickers and packets. Of course you can just purchase whatever you want separately.

If you know that you will want to purchase a large order (5 or more) of T-shirts, on the 28 -- please let us know ahead of time so we know how many to order.

We have added some events to our calendar of other group?s activities where Against Cuts folks will be fliering or tabling.

1) Creating Balance Networking Night
Friday, January 13th
Blondie?s Bar & No Grill
540 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

2) Diane Ravitch, KPFA, 1/19/12, Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St, Berkeley, 7:30 PM

3) West Coast Rally for Reproductive Justice
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 11am
Justin Herman Plaza, San Francisco at Stuart and Market Streets. Embarcadero BART
www.bacorr.org

Experimental College at SFSU

2012-01-20T13:29:00.000-08:00

The following is a letter sent out by two students teaching a course in the SFSU Experimental College

Dear students/faculty/lecturers,

Over the past few semesters, we've seen classes disappear and class sizes increase beyond capacity. This is a problem that plagues both students and teachers, but we believe we have an alternative. The experimental college at SFSU allows groups of students to effectively teach themselves and each other curriculum for credit towards graduation. The college is designed to provide learning opportunities to fill in the gaps in the heavily stripped course catalog, as well as to provide aide to students who need access to classes that are usually impacted.

Currently, the experimental college is still setting up the infrastructure necessary to meet all its goals. This semester, we will focus on providing students with workshops to acclimate them to the idea of a self education. In the fall semester, we hope to provide a wide array of upper division and GE classes for students who were unable (or unwilling) to register for regular university courses.

We are, however, offering at least one course students can take for credit during the Spring '12 semester. The class will be a tour of social movements designed to push its students to critique their surroundings and promote activism. It is being offered through the political science department, sponsored by Kathy Emery and James Martel. Up to three units will be available for the class.

THE CLASS: Students will research and discuss social movements and the historical and social conditions that led to their necessity. Examples include the Southern Freedom movement, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, Students for a Democratic Society and the Weather Underground, and the Earth Liberation Front. We will analyze the effectiveness of the movements using our established "11 Key Components for Effective Social Movements". Students taking the class for credit will be responsible for leading at least one class discussion, either alone or in a group. Grades will established by the students themselves on an honor system. Failing grades will only be given to students who registered but did not present, or to those who stopped attending/participating, with few exceptions. The first few weeks will be led by Will and I as a means of demonstration, then the reins of the class will be passed to its attendees. We will strive for a democratic environment. Our goals will be to heighten awareness and embody consciousness through research and experience.

Students: If you are interested in taking the class, or, if you would like to know how to offer your own class or workshop, reply to this email and information will be given.

Faculty/Lecturers: If you have students in excess on your first day of classes, we ask that you let them know about this alternative. It is important that the experimental college succeed so that students and teachers alike be alleviated of the burdens placed on them by the administration, cuts from the capital, and the overwhelming influence corporations have over public institutions of learning. We feel that, with your support, the success of the college will be inevitable.

Thank you for taking the time to consider our proposal. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions OR if you would like to meet with us to chat.

Sincerely,

Kelly Corwin, Will Nelson and facilitators of the Experimental College
Kelly: duckshirt@gmail.com, Will: willnelson272@gmail.com

SFFS at SFSU - Spring 2012 Semester - visitors welcome!!

2012-01-18T16:55:00.000-08:00

Below is the course schedule of PLSI 357 at SFSU (Political Movements: Lessons from Freedom Summer).

This is the course that was developed over six summers as the SF Freedom School (2005-2010), which took place in the Parish Hall of St. Francis Lutheran Church. This Spring will be the third time this course has been taught at SFSU.

If you are interested in attending any of the films or to listen to a guest speaker, please drop by. The class is every Thursday night, from 6:10 - 9:50, in the Business Building (Room 122) at SFSU. If you are coming from the East Bay by public transport, take BART to Daly City and then get the SFSU shuttle to campus.

Normally, the guest speaker (Civil Rights Veteran) will speak during the first hour and answer questions for another half hour. Then we will show a movie, if that is on the agenda. We will also be referring to the assigned chapter in Lessons from Freedom Summer. IF you have any questions, please contact me (mke4think@gmail.com or 415-703-0465).

January 26: Community
Movie: When We Were Colored ( approximately 7:30 pm)

Wazir Peacock

February 2: Building the Foundations of the Movement
Movie: 10,000 Men Named George
Reading from Lessons: Foreword, Introduction and About Using this Book (pp. xiii-xxiii)

February 9: Building the Foundations of the Movement
Movie: With All Deliberate Speed
Reading from Lessons: Chapter One

February 16: Why become an Activist?
Guest Speaker: Chude Allen
Movie: You Got to Move
Reading from Lessons: Chapter sections 4.B

February 23: The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Movie: Boycott (excerpts)

Reading from Lessons: Chapter sections, Intro to Chapter 4 and 4.A, 4.C, 4.D

March 1 : Sit Ins and the formation of SNCC
Guest Speaker: Bruce Hartford

Chude Allen

Movie: When We Were Warriors
Reading from Lessons: Chapter 5

March 8: Freedom Rides
movie: Freedom Riders (excerpts)

Reading from Lessons: Chapter 2

March 15: Guest Speaker: Mimi Real (Freedom Rider)

March 22 SPRING BREAK -- NO CLASS

March 29: The White Power Structure in Mississippi
Movie: Take Me to Chicago
Reading from Lessons: Chapter 6

April 5: Freedom Summer – Mississippi 1960-63
Movie: Freedom Song
Reading from Lessons: Chapter 7

April 12: Mississippi before Freedom Summer –
Guest Speaker: Wazir Peacock
Movie: Murder in Mississippi
Reading from Lessons: Chapter 8

Phil Hutchings

April 19: Freedom Summer
Movie: Freedom on my Mind
Reading from Lessons: Chapters 9 and 10

April 26: Selma to Montgomery
Movie: Eyes on the Prize: Bridge to Freedom (excerpts)

May 3: Lessons from Freedom Summer
Guest Speaker: Jimmy Rogers (SNCC organizer in Lowndes County, Alabama)
Reading from Lessons: Chapter 11

May 10: From Civil Rights to Black Power
Movie: Orangeburg Massacre

Guest Speaker: Phil Hutchings
SNCC, 1963-70, Georgia, Maryland,Tennessee
Phil was one of the most effective urban organizers of the Sixtiesand Seventies. In 1966, he was the leading SNCC field secretary in Newark,NJ--"the urban Mississippi." Phil became a national SNCC leaderin 1968. He was actively involved in the anti-Vietnam War and peace movementsand was one of the founders of the Venceramos Brigade. For many years, Phillived in Detroit where he was involved in organizing young people around issuesof education, community control of educational institutions and drug abuse. Hewas a regular columnist for the Guardiannewspaper and a board member of PRSC, an organization in support ofindependence for Puerto Rico. After moving to the Bay Area of San Francisco, hehas worked on organizing multi-racial/multi-ethnic coalitions (e.g., Black Alliance for Just Immigration,and Just Cause),neighborhood organizing and serves as a technical and financial consultant fornon profit organizations. He was the grants director for the VanguardFoundation. He is an active participant in the Bay Area Veterans of the CivilRights Movement and consultant to neighborhood organizations.

May 17: Review of Course

Organize to support Ron Bridgeforth

2012-01-11T14:25:00.000-08:00

Ways to support Ron Bridgeforth's defense

send money: Checks should be made to "Paul Harris" and sent to him at: 20 Quickstep Lane #1; San Francisco, CA 94115.
help his wife find a job: She taught African American Literature at Eastern Michigan University, Department of English Language and Literature from 2005-2010
Attend his sentencing hearing, 8:00 a.m. on the morning of February 3, in San Mateo County.

contact Mike Miller (415 648-6894 )for details on any of these three ways to help.

Here are excerpts from the SF Chronicle story on November 22, 2011

Ron Bridgeforth was a SNCC organizer in Mississippi in 1964. He moved to SNCC's SF office after Freedom Summer. In 1968,

Police were called to a White Front discount store on El Camino Real in South San Francisco on a report of a customer arguing with store employees. Bridgeforth admits he was trying to buy toys and clothing for kids in the community with a stolen credit card.

Bridgeforth said he panicked when police arrived. According to prosecutors, he took a handgun out of his pocket and led the store manager and two police officers to the front of the store. He had jumped into a waiting car with two other men when a third police officer arrived and blocked the getaway car's path.

Authorities said Bridgeforth opened fire, hitting the car but none of the officers, who returned fire. Bridgeforth was shot in the foot, his getaway car crashed, and the men were arrested.

"It was incredibly reckless, stupid and dangerous," he said last week. He called the incident "an aberration in my life."

He was arrested but jumped bail and went into hiding for the next 44 years under an assumed name.

"The politics of the Bay Area were really volatile," he said. "I left because I didn't want to go to jail for the rest of my life."

After going to New York, Senegal, Gambia, back to LA and SF and then getting married in Atlanta, Bridgeforth

moved his family north and settled in Michigan. He worked as a welder and custodian while earning his bachelor's degree from Wayne State University. In 1993, he graduated with a master's degree in counseling. In 1998, he joined the faculty at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Mich....One of his former students, Kelly Mendenhall, said Bridgeforth transformed her life when she met him in 2000. Once a depressed college dropout, she credits Bridgeforth with motivating her to re-enroll and said he guided her through college.

. . . . Bridgeforth said he and [his wife] discussed surrendering to authorities several times over the years. Each time, they decided against it, saying they wanted to give their sons a normal childhood. Now those boys are in their 30s. They never knew about their father's past until recently, when Bridgeforth said he had to address some legal problems in California.
"My sons didn't ever know their families," he said. That included his sons' 81-year-old grandmother, who Bridgeforth discovered was still alive after an Internet search turned up her name on meeting minutes from community organizations.
"I really thought I had lost my mother, and she thought she lost me," he said.

crmvet.org website - What's New!

2012-01-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

28,776 different people visited the CRMVets website during December. On school days that's about 1500 per day (fewer when school is out of session, of course). The website's annual statistics report for 2011 is now posted at:
http://www.crmvet.org/rpt1201.htm. The reports shows total usage stats for the year as reported by Google (270,570 different visitors in 2011, for example). It also report the most popular pages and sections.

Starting today, we've discontinued the Guestbook and are replacing it with a new Blog that can be found at: http://crmvet.org/wordpress/. We're just setting this up now and it needs to be tested. Please try it out and let me know if there are any problems.

New postings on the Civil Rights Movement Veterans website since our last update:

*Blog* http://crmvet.org/wordpress/

"Veterans Roll Call" (http://www.crmvet.org/vet/vethome.htm)

George Blevins, CORE Freedom Rider 1961
http://www.crmvet.org/vet/blevinsg.htm

Ray E. Holmes, NAACP, CORE, 1960-64, Florida
http://www.crmvet.org/vet/holmesr.htm

Alan Reich, MFDP, COFO, 1965, Mississippi
http://www.crmvet.org/vet/reicha.htm

"In Memory" (http://www.crmvet.org/mem/memhome.htm)

Mimi Shaw Hayes
http://www.crmvet.org/mem/hayesm.htm

Bob Mants
http://www.crmvet.org/mem/mantsb.htm

"The Freedom Movement" (http://www.crmvet.org/info/infohome.htm)

"SCLC/SCOPE Project," by Maria Gitin (2011)
http://www.crmvet.org/info/scope1.htm

"History & Timeline" (http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhome.htm)

"Alabama Attacks Black Leaders," (1960-1964)
http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis60.htm#1960sullivan

"Letters From the Field" (http://www.crmvet.org/lets/letshome.htm)

Letter From Jim Boebel (MS) 1964
http://www.crmvet.org/lets/6405_boebel.pdf

The School Boycott, Moultrie, GA. Herman Kitchen. 1965
http://www.crmvet.org/docs/kitchen.htm

Position Paper: Funds-Sources & Staff Salaries. 1965?
Joanne Gavin (SNCC) [PDF]
http://www.crmvet.org/lets/65_gavin_staff.pdf

Gulfport, MS. Report & Analysis, Sam Walker [PDF] 1965
http://www.crmvet.org/lets/65_gulfport_report.pdf

Letter From Natchez, MS, Jim [lastname?] [PDF] 1965
http://www.crmvet.org/lets/6507_natchez_letter.pdf

"Our Stories" (http://www.crmvet.org/nars/narshome.htm)

Fannie Lou Hamer Interview: "Winona, Mississippi" [PDF]
(Her description of 1963 Winona jail atrocity.)
http://www.crmvet.org/nars/63_flh_winona.pdf

"Bertie County, NC: Taking the 1700s into the 20th Century"
Hunter Bear (John R. Salter). 2011.
http://www.crmvet.org/nars/bertieco.htm

"In the New York SNCC Office," Alan Reich 2011
http://www.crmvet.org/nars/reich63.htm

Peter Nemenyi Interview, 2000
http://www.crmvet.org/nars/nemenyi.htm

"Movement Documents" (http://www.crmvet.org/docs/dochome.htm)

"Heed Their Rising Voices," (SCLC)
York Times ad of the "New York Times v Sullivan" case
http://www.crmvet.org/docs/60nyt_ad.htm

"Memo on Organizing," Mike Miller. 1964 (SNCC) [PDF]
http://www.crmvet.org/docs/6410_sncc_miller.pdf

SNCC Staff Retreat Minutes, November, 1964 [PDF]
http://www.crmvet.org/docs/6411_sncc_staff_min.pdf

Gulfport MS, "Liberty Bell," 1965. (Local newsletter) [PDF]
http://www.crmvet.org/docs/65_gulfport_newsletter.pdf

SNCC Executive Committee Minutes, April, 1965. [Large PDF]
http://www.crmvet.org/docs/6504_sncc_excom_min.pdf

SNCC Alabama Staff Meeting Minutes, April, 1965. [Large PDF]
http://www.crmvet.org/docs/6504_sncc_al_staff_min.pdf

"SCLC/SCOPE Orientation Brochure," 1965
http://www.crmvet.org/docs/scope1.htm

List of SCOPE Volunteers, 1965 [PDF]
http://www.crmvet.org/docs/scopevols.pdf

Program: Martin Luther King Funeral, 1968 [PDF]
http://www.crmvet.org/docs/68_mlk_funeral.pdf

Alabama map, showing Black Belt counties. [PDF]
http://www.crmvet.org/docs/al_blackbelt.pdf

"Our Thoughts" (http://www.crmvet.org/comm/commhome.htm)

"Another Account of the Second Freedom Summer," Jo Freeman
Review of "My Summer Vacation: 1965" (SCOPE)
http://www.crmvet.org/comm/freeman2.htm

"The Dark and Poor Must Join OWS!" Curtis Muhammad
http://www.crmvet.org/comm/curtis4.htm

"Poetry" (http://www.crmvet.org/poetry/poemhome.htm)
(The Poetry section is one of the most-visited parts of the site.)

Two new poems by Molly Watt
"Captive"
"Race Riff"
http://www.crmvet.org/poetry/pmolly.htm

"Photo Album" (http://www.crmvet.org/images/imghome.htm)

New collection: "We're Going to March in St. Augustine"
http://www.crmvet.org/images/imgstaug.htm

"Web Links" (http://www.crmvet.org/crmlinks.htm)
Updated, revised, & expanded.

As always comments, suggestions, corrections, and submissions from Freedom Movement Veterans are welcome. Veterans of the Southern Freedom Movement who are listed on the website's Roll Call are encouraged to contribute to the website their stories, thoughts, documents, and memories & tributes of those who have passed on by emailing them to webmaster@crmvet.org.

Western Workers Labor Hertiage Festival

2011-12-14T15:35:00.000-08:00

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s contribution
to the civil rights and labor movements
A weekend of solidarity in an era of war, racism, and hard times.

Fri-Sun January 13-15, 2012
Local 1781 of the I.A.M.,
1511 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA map

$65 for weekend, $40 for Saturday only. Concert $15-25,
sliding scale. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Mail to: WWLHF, P.O. Box 7184, Santa Cruz, CA 95061
Conference registration form - pdf

YouTube of previous festival video highlights here.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Facing History - Freedom Riders Workshop

2011-12-14T11:43:00.000-08:00

Freedom Riders: Democracy in Action

Event Date:	01/26/2012	Event Fee:	No Fee
Event Time:	4:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Location:	Everett Middle School, 450 Church Street San Francisco, CA
RSVP

Included in Program, Freedom Riders Mimi Real and Elizabeth Hirshfeld

From May until December, 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives by simply traveling together through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders’ belief in non-violent activism was sorely tested as mob violence and bitter racism greeted them along the way. Facing History is an educational partner for this PBS American Experience film. Workshop participants will learn more about southern segregation laws and models of political resistance during the civil rights movement.

Occupy West Coast Ports - December 12

2011-12-14T11:11:00.000-08:00

The whole point of STRATEGIC direct action is to

dramatize the injustice to a larger audience
gain the sympathy of a larger audience to the point they want to join you and
provide a VARIETY of ways in which they can support you.

For example, I am not willing to go out and get arrested, but I can give food and money. How do I do that? IS THE OCCUPY WALL STREET MOVEMENT building an infrastructure to recruit people like me..to make it obvious where I can contribute?

It is also crucial that activists understand the difference between organizing and mobilizing.

READ BELOW AND DECIDE for yourself what is the degree to which the Occupy Ports succeeded in keeping the movement MOVING. and what needs to happen next... MY EMPHASIS ADDED.

FROM An Open Letter from America’s Port Truck Drivers on Occupy the Ports

We are the front-line workers who haul container rigs full of imported and exported goods to and from the docks and warehouses every day....We are inspired that a non-violent democratic movement that insists on basic economic fairness is capturing the hearts and minds of so many working people. Thank you “99 Percenters” for hearing our call for justice. We are humbled and overwhelmed by recent attention. Normally we are invisible.

Today’s demonstrations will impact us. While we cannot officially speak for every worker who shares our occupation, we can use this opportunity to reveal what it’s like to walk a day in our shoes for the 110,000 of us in America whose job it is to be a port truck driver. It may be tempting for media to ask questions about whether we support a shutdown, but there are no easy answers. Instead, we ask you, are you willing to listen and learn why a one-word response is impossible?....

It may be difficult to comprehend the complex issues and nature of our employment. For us too. When businesses disguise workers like us as contractors, the Department of Labor calls it misclassification. We call it illegal. Those who profit from global trade and goods movement are getting away with it because everyone is doing it. One journalist took the time to talk to us this week and she explains it very well to outsiders. We hope you will read the enclosed article “How Goldman Sachs and Other Companies Exploit Port Truck Drivers.”....

But we believe in the power and potential behind a truly united 99%. We admire the strength and perseverance of the longshoremen. We are fighting like mad to overcome our exploitation, so please, stick by us long after December 12. Our friends in the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports created a pledge you can sign to support us here

From NY TIMES

...Long the most militant Occupy branch, Occupy Oakland has continued to push the movement’s campaign against the wealthiest 1 percent even after losing its perch in front of City Hall. It spearheaded a one-day action on Monday in which thousands of protesters rallied at West Coast ports from San Diego to Anchorage, effectively closing the Ports of Portland and Longview, Wash., and largely shutting the Port of Oakland. ...

Several labor leaders criticized the plan to disrupt the ports, which cost many longshoremen and truck drivers a day’s pay. And union officials were irked by Occupy Oakland’s claim that it was advancing the cause of port workers even though several unions opposed the protests. For example, several days before the disruptions, Robert McEllrath, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, issued a statement warning: “Support is one thing. Organizing from outside groups attempting to co-opt our struggle in order to advance a broader agenda is quite another.” Organizers at Occupy Oakland shrugged off the criticism, saying many union leaders are afraid of bold action. The Occupy movement, they say, is doing more for working people than some unions and union leaders are. ...

The Oakland protesters also made regular visits to the longshore union’s hiring hall in San Francisco to gather support from rank-and-file workers. They printed 50,000 fliers about the protest and went to the Oakland port, one of the nation’s busiest, to distribute them and talk to nonunion truck drivers. ...

But the Occupy planners also knew that they had chosen a target that was symbolic of multinational corporations, including the investment bank Goldman Sachs, which owns a major interest in a company that operates many port terminals. They also figured that disrupting ports was relatively easy and likely to bring them lots of attention. ...

While praising the Occupy movement’s goal of helping the 99 percent, Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association, faulted the protesters’ tactics, saying, “I don’t know how you call a strike without involving the union or the workers.” But the Occupy activists said unions were too timid about pushing the interests of workers.

“The 1 percent has been able to write and pass labor laws that are designed to restrict the amount of action that can legally be taken by a union. Most union officials today refuse to challenge those laws,” Occupy organizers wrote on a Web site explaining the port shutdown. “It is the responsibility of rank-and-file workers and their allies to escalate the labor struggle. Occupy can spearhead this movement.”

Movie about Daisy Bates (Civil Rights Hero)

2011-12-12T12:54:00.000-08:00

DAISY BATES: As a black woman who was a feminist before the term was invented, Daisy Bates refused to accept her assigned place in society. Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock tells the story of her life and public support of nine black students who registered to attend the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, which culminated in a constitutional crisis — pitting a president against a governor and a community against itself. You can watch a short trailer and read a short synopsis here: http://www.itvs.org/films/daisy-bates

Bay Area Community Cinema

Presented by ITVS, KQED,
The San Francisco Public Library and HandsOn Bay Area

Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Doors Open @ 5:15pm | Screening @ 5:45pm

Please note: the film is 60 minutes.

Post-‐screening discussion will follow.

San Francisc Main Public Library, Koret Auditorium
100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA
(nearest BART station is Civic Center)

Screening is FREE and Open to the Public
For more information, email sara_smith@itvs.org

Community Cinema, the national engagement program of Independent Television Service (ITVS), is hosting a community screening in San Francisco on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 @ 5:45pm for the film, Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock. The film is premiering on PBS in February 2012.

Occupy Wall Street Update - Dec 7, 2011

2011-12-07T12:05:00.001-08:00

ROBIN HOOD EFFECT (nytimes)

They call it the Robin Hood tax — a tiny levy on trades in the financial markets that would take money from the banks and give it to the world’s poor. And like the mythical hero of Sherwood Forest, it is beginning to capture the public’s imagination. Driven by populist anger at bankers as well as government needs for more revenue, the idea of a tax on trades of stocks, bonds and other financial instruments has attracted an array of influential champions, including the leaders of France and Germany, the billionaire philanthropists Bill Gates and George Soros, former Vice President Al Gore, the consumer activist Ralph Nader, Pope Benedict XVI and the archbishop of Canterbury.

Recent Developments (nytimes)

Dec. 6 Occupy Wall Street Protesters move into Senate Offices in Washington DC
Dec. 4 Police arrested 31 people and tore down a barnlike building that Occupy D.C. protesters had begun to erect that morning in a park two blocks from the White House where they had been camping out.
Dec. 1 A judge in Boston said that the Occupy Boston encampment in Dewey Square could stay for the time being, extending a temporary restraining order barring the city from removing tents or protesters from the area without a court order.
Nov. 30 In the pre-dawn hours, Occupy encampments in Los Angeles and Philadelphia were cleared from public parks.

Other noticeable effects of OWS movement:
Consider David Brook's article on December 6th:

According to data collected by the Center for Progressive Reforms, 62 percent of the people who met with the White House office in charge of reviewing regulations were representatives of industry, while only 16 percent represented activist groups. At these meetings, business representatives outnumbered activists by more than 4 to 1.

Compare that to an article on the same day reporting on Obama's meeting with College Presidents:

In a private meeting on Monday, President Obama and his secretary of education, Arne Duncan, conferred with a dozen college presidents, mostly from public institutions, and leaders of two nonprofit education organizations, about how to curb the rising cost of college and improve graduation rates. “It was an unusually interesting meeting, and not your usual list of college presidents,” said Jane Wellman, founder and director of the nonprofit Delta Project, which studies college costs. . . . In recent months, the cost of higher education has become a central issue of the Occupy movement, and one that arouses bipartisan concern.

John Carlos at Mission High School!!! Dec. 2

2011-12-01T12:26:00.001-08:00

Olympic/Civil Rights Icon John Carlos w/ Dave Zirin in SF
Friday, December 2, 2011
from 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM (PT)
Mission High School Auditorium
3750 18th St
San Francisco, CA 94114

BUY TIX

"John Carlos is one of the grand figures of the 20th century. His incredible political courage, indisputable athletic excellence and indestructible spiritual fortitude set him apart from most contemporary celebrities. In fact, his fame derives from his courage, excellence and fortitude. Yet it is only in this powerful and poignant memoir that we learn of what and who made him who he is."
--Cornel West, from the Foreword to The John Carlos Story

See the book trailer for the The John Carlos Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKDKeVuCxUM

About the authors

John Carlos (http://www.johncarlos.org/) is an African American former track and field athlete and professional football player, and a founding member of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. He won the bronze-medal in the 200 meters race at the 1968 Summer Olympics, where his Black Power salute on the podium with Tommie Smith caused much political controversy. He went on to equal the world record in the 100 yard dash and beat the 200 meters world record. After his track career, he enjoyed brief stints in the National Football League and Canadian Football League but retired due to injury. He became involved with the United States Olympic Committee and helped to organize the 1984 Summer Olympics. He later became a track coach at a high school in Palm Springs, where he now resides. He was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2003.

Dave Zirin (http://www.edgeofsports.com/) was named one of the "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World" by Utne Magazine. He writes about the politics of sports for the Nation magazine, and is their first sports writer in 150 years of existence. Zirin is also the host of Sirius XM satellite's popular weekly show, "Edge of Sports Radio," as well as a columnist for SLAM Magazine, the Progressive, and a regular op-ed writer for the Los Angeles Times. Zirin's other titles are What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States; Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports; The Muhammad Ali Handbook; A People's History of Sports in the United States; and Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love.

About the book:
http://www.haymarketbooks.org/hc/The-John-Carlos-Story

Price: $22.95
ISBN: 9781608461271
Published: October 2011
Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Haymarket Books

Peace/Civil Rights Veterans speak out on Occupy Wall Street

2011-11-26T10:30:00.000-08:00

thanks Lucille!!! for sending this to me!!

James Lawson: "movements must be intergenerational!"

thanks Wade!!! for sending this to me!!!

HOW TO DESTROY THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT AND HOW TO PREVENT IT FROM FAILING
by Paul K. Chappell
October 31, 2011

I graduated from West Point in 2002, served in the army for seven years, and was deployed to Baghdad in 2006. I left active duty in 2009 as a captain, and I am currently serving as the Peace Leadership Director for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, where I work to empower people with the skills and ideals that allow us to effectively wage peace.

If we compare how much the average twenty-two-year-old army officer knows about waging war and how much the average twenty-two-year-old activist knows about waging peace, there is a big difference. Although I admire their deep commitment to waging peace, many activists have not had enough training in the nonviolent methods that lead to positive change. Many activists have not thoroughly studied the brilliant techniques of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Susan B. Anthony, and other peace warriors.

Good intentions are simply not enough. If they were enough, then war, injustice, and oppression would have ended many years ago. To solve our national and global problems, we need more than just good intentions. We must also be disciplined, strategic, and well trained. Civil Rights leader James Lawson, whom Martin Luther King Jr. called “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world,” said, “The difficulty with nonviolent people and efforts is that they don’t recognize the necessity of fierce discipline and training, and strategizing, and planning, and recruiting.” READ MORE

[In 1959, King sent Lawson to Nashville, TN, where Lawson trained students from the four black colleges there in the history, philosophy, strategy and discipline of nonviolent direct action. These students -- among whom became the leaders of the Southern Freedom Movement such as Diane Nash, John Lewis, Bernard Lafayette -- formed the critical leadership of the Nashville Movement. The Nashville sit-ins have been captured in a 30 minute documentary called, appropriately enough, WHEN WE WERE WARRIORS.

Then and Now

2011-11-19T15:21:00.000-08:00

Eerily similar or different?
What do you think?

For the record, the UCDavis police clearly broke the law as per:

California Penal Code Section 12403.7 (a) (8)

(g) Any person who uses tear gas or tear gas weapons except in self-defense is guilty of a public offense and is punishable by imprisonment in a state prison for 16 months, or two or three years or in a county jail not to exceed one year or by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment, except that, if the use is against a peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2, engaged in the performance of his or her official duties and the person committing the offense knows or reasonably should know that the victim is a peace officer, the offense is punishable by imprisonment in a state prison for 16 months or two or three years or by a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment.

It is crazy to shrug at this even if you don't care about the students it's happening to or because you don't believe in the occupy movement. This is a crime. If anyone other than the police was doing this they would be thrown in jail.It's sad to see comments all over the internet that are modern day echos of the past: "Oh look, they're using hoses on black people and stupid yankee college kids who disobey clear police orders to move out of the street. It's so funny! And it's just water, anyway. Not like they're using machine guns on these idiots."

And just for the record, I have in my life been both hosed down with a fire hose (shellback hazing as I crossed the equator for my first time on a US Naval Ship) as well as pepper sprayed (Marine Corps training for riot control). They are both painful in very different ways but I still feel they are comparable to one another. As a disclaimer, I do feel there is a big difference between the Civil Rights Movement and Occupy but the general principle of Non Violence in the face of blatant police brutality remains the same.

Occupy Wall Street Effects

2011-11-17T11:38:00.001-08:00

From DailyKos

Fri Nov 11, 2011 at 10:31 AM PST

Ten stories of people moving their money, despite bank efforts to stop them

Banks are shrugging off the (at least) 700,000 accounts they've lost the last six weeks and claim they don't want your business:
[T]he banks are going to be better off because they are getting rid of their least-profitable or not profitable clients. It helps them stem this tsunami of cash that’s been flowing in that they don’t know what to do with.
But not only do they relentlessly advertise for new business on billboards, TV, direct mail and other places, but they fight tooth and nail to prevent people from closing their accounts. The Daily Kos community and others have chronicled many such efforts, so follow me below the fold for ten of these awesome stories.

From Stephen Colbert

The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Occupy U.C. Berkeley
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

Protest song -- neccesary variable for a social movement!

2011-11-14T13:47:00.001-08:00

Songs like this need to be sung at every protest site --

The songs. [during the Southern Freedom Movement]
      The songs elevated our courage,
           The songs bonded us together,
                The songs forged our discipline,
                     The songs shielded us from hate,
                           The songs protected us from danger,
                              And the songs kept us sane.

MUSIC AS THE "HUB" -- GO JAVIER!!!

Saturday Dialogues - for white racial justice activists

2011-11-14T12:41:00.001-08:00

YOU'RE INVITED TO OUR NEXT SATURDAY DIALOGUE!!

WHAT: Bay Area Saturday Dialogue for white racial justice activists

Here's a little about what we'll be doing at our November event:
Guest facilitator Holly Fulton will be joining us to talk about The Healing Process in our Journeys Around White Awareness, and sharing examples from her experiences with "Traces of the Trade" and "Coming to the Table." Coming to the Table is a program addressing the legacies and aftermaths of slavery by facing history, healing wounds, making connections and taking action.

WHO: White-Identified People

who want to talk about issues of race, racism, privilege, white identity and liberationist ideas!
who want a community of white racial justice activists!
who want to invite other white folx to join in conversations about racial justice!

* see "Why An All-White Space?"

WHEN: Saturday, November 19, 2011 1:00pm to 4:00pm

WHERE: Niebyl Proctor Library [wheelchair accessible]

6501 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609-1113

WHY:

Bring our anti-racism work into a collaborative community.
Discuss whiteness and our role as white people in the fight against racism.
Build awareness and personal skills to support our racial justice work

FOR MORE INFO or to RSVP to save your spot at SaturdayDialogues@gmail.com.

We appreciate your support of this work and welcome your donations to help sustain our development.

P.S. The December 8th Book Group has been postponed.