Defunding the Police: On the road to abolishing oppressive policing

by Western Regional Advocacy Project

Black Lives Matter and other abolitionist groups are leading communities across the country to recognize that the criminal justice system is a powerhouse of violence and white supremacy. Policing was racist at birth, with its origins in scalping Indigenous people and kidnapping Black people escaping slavery. It has a long history of keeping non-white, non-property owning people “under foot” and disempowered. From Reconstruction to Jim Crow and up to the present, police budgets across the country have continued to grow,

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Homeless Tenderloin Residents May Face Massive Police Enforcement in Hastings Settlement

by Quiver Watts

City May Abandon Housing for Thousands of Unhoused Residents While Removing Tents

San Francisco, CA — As thousands protest to end police violence during a pandemic, disproportionately black homeless residents may face massive police enforcement in a settlement reached between the City of San Francisco and UC Hastings College of Law. The settlement compels the City to “employ enforcement measures” for those who do not accept shelter placements or safe sleeping sites — yet provides less than 10% of homeless residents with such offers. 

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Oppose Nancy Tung & Geoffrey Gordon-Creed

by Jennifer Friedenbach

George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. Erik Salgado was killed and his girlfriend shot in Oakland this past weekend, while last week, San Francisco resident Sean Monterrosa was killed in Vallejo.  This month has been a powerful reminder of what happens without police accountability. 

Nancy Tung and Geoffrey Gordon-Creed were nominated by Mayor London Breed to fill two seats on the Police Commission.  These seats must be approved by the Board of Supervisors;

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No State Execution by COVID-19

by Press release

Press release: SAN QUENTIN PRISON PROTEST West Gate, Saturday May 9 @ 11AM

A car caravan demonstration to demand protection from the deadly COVID-19 virus for prisoners is set for Saturday, May 9th. Cars will assemble at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal parking lot at 10AM. The caravan will begin at 11AM driving up Sir Francis Drake Blvd. to the West Gate of San Quentin State Prison. They will be protesting prison authorities who are leaving the most vulnerable people—prison inmates in overcrowded conditions—in danger without basic protections and unable to enact physical distancing.

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COVID-19: Homelessness & Faith Communities in San Francisco

by Kelley Cutler, Human Rights Organizer

Unfortunately we will not be publishing a print version of our April 1st edition because of the risk to our vendors and readers. In the midst of this pandemic, our Street Sheet vendors need your support more than ever. Please consider making a donation to our EMERGENCY VENDOR SUPPORT FUND to help vendors cover essential costs while they are unable to sell the newspaper.

Today we spent time figuring out how to organize collecting and distributing tents across the City for folks who have no place to ‘shelter in place’ during the pandemic.

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Moms 4 Housing

by Quiver Watts

An armored vehicle was parked outside the house on Magnolia Street in Oakland when a SWAT team dressed in what looked like military fatigues broke down the door. Deputies from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department swarmed in to carry away their targets. So what threat was the police force sent in to pacify? What danger warranted all the police, the guns, the fatigues, the vehicle meant to respond to terrorism threats?

Mothers. 

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One Day Hunger Strike at Notorious Santa Rita Jail

by Quiver Watts

by Ella Rose-Kessler

On October 30, over 400 individuals locked up in Santa Rita Jail staged a one-day hunger and work stopage strike to fight back against the inhumane conditions they’re subjected to. The group had a list of 26 demands relating to their inhumane treatment, such the jail providing more cleaning supplies to maintain sanitary conditions, access to lawyers, better and more nutritious food, daily exercise and recreation time, and an end to price gouging for commissary items and phone calls.

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Our Wheels, Our Homes

by Quiver Watts

By Mirjam Washuus

As of April 2019, over 1,800 San Franciscans  were living in their vehicles. This is an increase of almost 600 people (49 %) since 2017 and simultaneously an undercount according to the point-in-time count itself. That is nearly 2,000 people sleeping, eating, fighting illnesses, helping neighbors, raising children, going to work and school from inside a tin box with very limited, if any, access to water and electricity. So, they are dependent on its community (both City and neighbors) to provide support as in any other community.

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TRANSIT SYSTEM’S DETERRENT TO PANHANDLERS A BAD SIGN

by Quiver Watts
BART advertisement reads “Say no to panhandling. There’s a better way to give.” with a hand forming a heart around words reading “Have a HEART but GIVE SMART”

By TJ Johnston

July 25, 2019

As this paper goes to print the president of BART’s Board of Directors, Bevan Dufty, wrote on Twitter that BART will be removing the anti-panhandling signs and that the campaign “happened w/out considering broader messaging”. 

Here we go again: another anti-panhandling campaign.

To be specific, another plea for housed people to avoid giving money to usually unhoused or unsheltered people.

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BELONGING(S) STOLEN IN SAN FRANCISCO SWEEPS

by TJ Johnston

The homeless property yard at the San Francisco Department of Public Works saw an unusually busy Saturday afternoon on June 22, more activity than the workers anticipated.

Eleven unhoused City residents — joined by about 100 supporters of unhoused people — attempted to reclaim property that Public Works crews seized during sweeps of outdoor encampments earlier this year to where it was supposedly stored. 

Alton Perdew lost four backpacks containing such personal possessions as phones,

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