Category: Social Justice
Posted inSocial Justice

Behind the protest signs: The voices of Occupy San Francisco

by Christopher D. Cook

Those drawn to the movement are thinking big, and broad

Beyond the slogans and chants, what is this occupation movement about and why is it catching like wildfire? What do the growing ranks of Occupy Wall Street/San Francisco/fill-in-the-blank hope comes of this tempest of progressivism? In an emerging movement where everyone and no one is a spokesperson, and where centralized demands and hierarchy are eschewed, there is no single, or simple, answer. But there are plenty willing to express their varied hopes for the ultimate outcome to the protests.
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Posted inHealth, Homelessness, Social Justice

Empty S.F. hotels occupied in World Homeless Day protest

by T.J. Johnston

As the Occupy Wall Street movement gains momentum nationwide, a band of housing activists occupied 10 vacant buildings in San Francisco on Monday. Following a late afternoon rally at the Civic Center, at least 30 members of Homes Not Jails entered the Cathedral Hill Hotel at 1101 Van Ness Ave. by cutting the gate open. Then they started occupying some of the 600 vacant units.

 

Posted inMedia, Social Justice

Occupy Wall Street movement births newspaper

by Michael Levitin

Last Saturday, prior to the thousands-strong march of Wall Street protestors attempting to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, which ended in some 700 arrests, the first edition of The Occupied Wall Street Journal hit New York City’s streets. Within three days, all 50,000 copies had been snapped up and distributed by volunteers throughout the five boroughs, leading to another print run Tuesday ahead of the paper’s second edition, which comes out Friday. The Journal, a 4-page weekly broadsheet funded entirely through online contributions at Kickstarter.com, is the latest manifestation of a social media-driven movement that is growing in real body numbers and gaining national momentum. 

Posted inCity Hall, Community, Elections, Housing, Neighborhoods, News, Social Justice

An appreciation: Eric Quezada, 1965-2011, a champion for social and economic justice

by Christopher D. Cook

When Eric Quezada — for decades a community organizer and widely respected leader on housing and economic justice and immigrants’ rights — died Wednesday after a seven-year struggle with cancer, there was an immediate outpouring of grief, love and appreciation from progressive friends and allies across San Francisco and the nation. The lonlongtime executive director of Dolores Street Community Services was a leading candidate for District 9 supervisor in 2008 and an accomplished grassroots community organizer.

 
Posted inArts & Culture, Public Safety, Social Justice

Bay Area directors explore post-9/11 FBI entrapment in ‘Better This World’

by Michael Levitin

Winner of the best documentary feature award at the San Francisco International Film Festival earlier this month, “Better This World,” a film by Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway, looks at what happened to two young Texas activists imprisoned for allegedly plotting terrorist acts at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, and the dubious role that one charismatic activist played in their downfall. The co-directors spoke with the Public Press about domestic security problems, what drove them to make the film, and why the rest of us should care.

Posted inHealth, Media, Social Justice

With few restrictions and bundles of cash, cannabis ads help sagging media profits

by Anna Rendall

Commercial broadcast stations still reluctant to take pot club advertisements

Medical marijuana advertising is taking off, propping up the fortunes of ailing media companies that have seen income from other business sectors plummet in the recession.

Advertisements offering free edibles for new patients and products such as “super silver haze” are helping to keep the San Francisco Bay Guardian, SF Weekly and East Bay Express in business. Similar ads have even started cropping up — tentatively — in more staid publications, such as the San Francisco Chronicle.

Ads for pot are growing so fast in part because they face fewer regulations and restrictions than marketing materials for cigarettes and alcohol. The only real regulation is one requiring the ads to warn customers that they need a doctor’s recommendation.

Posted inLaw & Justice, Social Justice, Social Services

Former women prisoners face longer odds staying out after aid programs slashed

by Mineko Brand

Rehabilitation taking backseat to punishment

By the time Sunshine Schmidt was 19, her rebellious streak led her to prison in Wisconsin for violating probation on a forgery charge. But it was just the beginning of her troubled young adulthood. As she tells it, the uncaring reaction from a criminal justice system on autopilot put her back in prison for minor violations, only driving her further into the life of small-time crime as she racked up drug and theft-related charges.

“Every time, I was released back into homelessness or an abusive partner,” she said. “I didn’t have the resources or tools to get back on my feet.”

It was only three years ago, after leaving a California prison at age 27, that Schmidt was able to pursue legitimate jobs and an education. After living in transitional housing, she became a client of Way-Pass, a City College of San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that helps female ex-prison inmates adjust to everyday life.

Posted inEconomy & Business, Food Systems, Government & Politics, Labor, Media, Social Justice

New ‘Distress Index’ shows San Francisco’s economic pain is getting worse

by Nina Martin

New tool finds that recession started earlier in Bay Area

Some economists and business groups say the Great Recession is over, but how do communities really know whether they’re moving out of the recession or falling behind?

A ground-breaking new tool that measures the real-world impact of the recession is providing answers. It shows that in San Francisco, at least, the worst downturn in 70 years isn’t just continuing — it may be getting worse.

The new San Francisco Distress Index, which assembles 11 types of monthly economic indicators such as foreclosure rates and food pantry visits, has risen 11 percent since June 2009 — the month when, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the U.S. recession supposedly bottomed out.

Posted inEducation, Government & Politics, Labor, Law & Justice, Social Justice

State audit: local agencies not providing efficient bilingual services

by Jerold Chinn

A state audit released Thursday revealed that many local agencies are not providing proper bilingual service called for in the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, passed 37 years ago. The audit says agencies need to improve services by providing more staff who are bilingual and translated written materials.

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