Sacramento Area Black Caucus Community News

Hands Off Assata, Hand Over Posada!
Educational Program: Saturday, June 4 at 6 PM
with clips from Eyes of the Rainbow and
Posada’s Victims Families Demand Justice
Oaklandish – 411 2nd St. (Near Jack London Square)
Oakland More info. Statement; Contact:

Bay Area Jericho Movement, P.O. Box 3585,Oakland, CA 94609

On May 2 the FBI put a $1 million bounty on the head of Assata Shkura (former member of the Black Panther Party) and placed her on the domestic terrorist list under the Patriot Act. Read more:http://www.prisonactivist.org/jericho_sfbay/index.html.
The Fight to Stop the Patriot Act Expansion Begins Now

The debate around the Patriot Act is approaching a crucial moment of decision. Will we sit back while the Bush Administration sacrifices our liberty, or will we answer freedom’s call and help Congress bring the Patriot Act in line with the Constitution?

Visit:http://www.aclu.org


Saturday, June 4: In celebration of the United Nations World Environment Day the Freedom Bound Center will sponsor a neighborhood clean-up on Saturday, June 4th staring at 1:00pm in south Oak Park. Youth (ages 9-18 years), community members and Freedom Bound Center’s staff will gather at 1:00pm at the Freedom Bound Center, 4104 44th Street in Sacramento to start their journey and commitment to a clean and beautiful neighborhood (environment). For more information contact: Carl Pinkston, (916) 736-9843; e-mail: cpinkston [at] freedomboundcenter.org

Monday, June 6: The Sacramento Community Forum presents MEDEA BENJAMIN book signing and talk at 7:00pm at the Coloma Community Center Auditorium, 4623 T STREET, SACRAMENTO. For more information please contact Ruth Holbrook at (916)455-1396 OR (916)456-9282

Thursday, June 9th: Sisters’ Keeper Liaison Inc., presents--WHERE’S MY MOMMY?: THE VOI CES OF CHILDREN WITH INCARCERATED MOTHERS (National statistics show 1.5 million minor children have a parent in prison*) from 6:30pm to 9:00pm noted advocate Dorsey Nunn, of the San Francisco Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) will discuss the growing epidemic of women in prison and the fate of their children at the Sam Pannell Community Center,. 2450 Meadowview Road, Sacramento. The June 9th community forum entitled Where’s My Mommy will focus on the high price a child pays for a mother’s addiction, incarceration and involvement with the child welfare system. In 2003, the number of women in state and federal prison increased eight-fold to 101,000 from just 12,300 in 1980.** For more information contact Dee McConico at (916) 531-6214 or by e-mail: deemcconico [at] hotmail.com.


Please support---The George Sim Community Center & the Ladies of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., collaborated with the March of Dimes and West Sacramento Community Care Clinic's Stork's Nest Project to assist in hosting a monthly "clothes closet" for mothers in need of clothing for their children. Women who participate in prenatal appointments, parenting classes and personal development workshops earn point for attendance. With these points they can redeem for clothing and other items for their children as an incentive to continue to participate. If you have new or gently used clothing for infants or up to 5 yrs old... we will gladly accept your donation. Unfortunately, storage space in very limited... so we will only be able be to accept donations on the 2nd Monday - Tuesday & Wednesday of each month. The clinic is hosted on the 2nd Thursday of each month. Please pass this along to folks who may have had children recently and are looking for a place to donate. If someone has items and cannot wait until the collection days, please have them contact me directly and we can make arrangements.
Contact Information:
Viancia Roberson, Program Supervisor
George Sim Community Center
ph (916) 808-3709 direct 808-3761 community center main line
fax (916) 386-8235

Parker’s Place: New Dates--Parker’s Place announces the launching of; "Young Voices." A drama program for Sacramento’s teens and young Adults. June 10, 11, 12, 17, 18 & 19 at Monterey Trail High School, 8661 Power Inn Rd, Elk Grove, Ca 95624. (Elk Groves Newest High School.); Show times 7:30pm- All evening shows. Contact: William a. Parker at (916) 271-8202. Cost; $8 General $6- Students/Seniors. ($6- All Matinee seats); For more information: visit: http://www.parkersplays.com

City of Sacramento: General Plan Update: The City of Sacramento’s General Plan Update is an opportunity for people living or working in Sacramento to help shape the future of the city. Get Involved attend a community meeting:

· Wednesday, June 8 from 6-8:30pm at Sierra 2 Center, 2791 24th St. Sacramento

· Saturday, June 11 from 11:00am to 1:30pm at Cosumnes River College, 8401 Center Park Way, Sacramento ( Meeting in the cafeteria)

· Wednesday, June 15 from 6:8:30pm at Coloma Community Center, 4623 T St., Sacramento.

· Saturday, June 18 from 11:00 am to 1:30pm at Charles Mack Elementary School, 4701 Brookfield Dr. Sacramento, CA.

For copies of all the Town Hall meeting dates at other locations, please visit the City's General Plan web page or call the General Plan Hotline at (916) 808-7500 to order flyers. RSVP (916) 808-7500 or online at http://www.sacgp.org
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COMMENTARY/ANALYSIS-750 WORDS
CALIFORNIA STUDENTS BOOST ANTI-ARNOLD PROTESTS

EDITOR'S NOTE: A raucous, limousine-rocking protest led by California students angry over the state of public schools marks a new political moment, writes PNS contributor Raj Jayadev, editor of http://www.siliconvalleydebug.com, the voice of young workers, writers and artists in Silicon Valley.

BY RAJ JAYADEV, PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

SAN JOSE--In the heart of Silicon Valley, in front of the very elegant Fairmont Hotel, a bunch of fired up students and nurses stopped a limo trying to enter the hotel. They surrounded it and rocked it back and forth. It looked like they might tip it over completely. Union officials, the ones who initially called everyone here, now had to personally escort the limo out of the teeth of danger. The besiegers only relented when they were told their target, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, was not inside the vehicle.

When limousines are protected by union officials in Silicon Valley, you know California is in a hot political moment.

Authentic, car-rocking protest, not seen since Vietnam War protests and anti-Proposition 187 demonstrations, has returned to California. In 1994, Prop. 187 -- a bill that barred undocumented immigrants from services such as public schools and medical care -- triggered mass protests by the Latino community that made national news. In the days before the vote, over 100,000 people took to the streets, marking the largest march in Southern California's history. Although the proposition went on to pass, and was later struck down by the courts, it would be credited for alienating Latino voters from Gov. Pete Wilson and the state Republican Party, leading to the GOP's successive loses in state polls.

After this show of organizing strength by undocumented immigrants and their advocates, unions and Democratic politicians started taking Latinos more seriously, spearheading citizenship drives and organizing workers in the service economy.

Today, it is California students who are shaping up as the force giving muscle to street-level organizing against the governor, perhaps ushering a new era of mass protest over local issues in the state. This time, instead of an anti-immigrant initiative, it's the governor's proposed cuts in education and public services that is fueling grassroots mobilization among affected constituencies -- "special interests" to Arnold.

Students are adding bulk and confrontational energy to protests by firefighters, teachers and nurses that have grown in size -- 15,000 people in late May in Sacramento; thousands in Los Angeles on the same day; hundreds in San Francisco the month before; 2,000 in San Jose, which is not known for mass mobilizations.

At the San Jose protest against Schwarzenegger on March 25, labor officials scrambled to control the surge of students, mainly from East San Jose high schools, some of which have been ranked as the worst-resourced in the state. The angry students came in the hundreds, by bus or skateboard, and unaccompanied by teachers or community organizers. Police, hotel security and even union officials had to form a protective barrier to protect the hotel and the governor inside. The organizers kept asking the students to "take three steps back," to which one young woman responded, "We've taken too many steps back!"

If union bureaucrats protecting the governor sounds strange, consider the student walkouts that led up to the protest. The Bay Area Clear Channel station WILD 94.9-FM, popular among high school students and condemned by media critics as another brain-draining corporate entity, took calls by students across the Bay talking about how bad their schools were and how youths needed to fight back. When "The Dog House," the station's popular morning talk show that usually focuses on crank calls and strippers, uses airtime to support student walkouts, something new is emerging.

Early in the governor's term, university students and community college student activists were at odds. The state decided to give students who qualified for the UC or state system priority status for class registration and counseling at community colleges if they went to those schools first, as a way to make up for budget cuts in the university system. Community college students, however, were already sitting in overcrowded classrooms.

But the once-divided community college and university student movements are now strategizing together. Their statewide actions just weeks ago at the governor's offices in San Francisco, Fresno and Los Angeles were testimony to their new united front. For the first time in state history, the students have created a cross-system (UC, state and community college) coalition called Action in Defense of Education (AIDE).

The high school students' chants in front of the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose showed the youthful energy that could electrify future protests. First in Spanish, then in English to accommodate non-Hispanic union members, they stood shoulder to shoulder, chanting to the governor, "Nobody likes you!" It's a line usually aimed at the school bully; in this case, it was aimed at California's governor.

(06032005) ***END*** (C) COPYRIGHT PNS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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