Contacts:
Rheema Calloway, Causa Justa::Just Cause 415.864.8372, ext. 307, rheema@cjjc.org
Ronisha Johnson, Bay Area Black Lives Mater
Marla Bell, Conscious Queens/ Black Lives Matter
Carrying large banners, over two hundred Bayview community members march with the families of those who have been lost to violence.
WHAT: Stop the Violence, Start the Healing: #BlackLivesMatter March
WHEN: Saturday, April 4th, 2015, 12pm-3pm
WHERE: Meeting at Third and Evans, Marching to MLK Park at Third and Armstrong–with stops at Kirkwood, Palou, and Quesada for altar building.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA— Dozens of youth, parents and young adults of Bayview Hunters Point will march up Third Street carrying large banners with the faces and names of many of the Black youth and adults who have been lost to violence in Bayview and across San Francisco in the last year.
“We are the family members, friends, and neighbors of all those who lost their loved ones. We are missing them and mourning over all the tragic losses this community has suffered,” said Marla Bell, of the Bayview based Conscious Queens. “We are the last 3% of the Black community left in this city. We need each other, and we will do all that we can to fight for the futures of all our young people.”
The Bayview Start the Healing march comes on the heels of the growing national Black Lives Matter movement that grew in response to the police and vigilante murders of Trayvon Martin in Florida, Michael Brown in Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York.
Over the last year a new generation of Black activists have led a series of mobilizations and direct actions, including the BART shutdown on Black Friday last November, more than 3000 people who filled the Mall of America last December, and hundreds of other marches and actions in Ferguson, New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and even as far as Soweto, South Africa.
“The Black Lives Matter movement has been clear from the outset that the vision of this growing struggle is not only about ending racist police violence, but also about lifting up and defending the value of Black lives in all contexts—from our housing conditions, the medical care we receive in hospitals, the conditions of our schools,” said march organizer Rheema Calloway.
“We should put aside our differences, look at our similarities and come together as a whole community — not only to end oppression but also to learn about systemic issues that keep us divided,” said Janetta Johnson of TGI Justice Project and TAJA’s Coalition. The Trans Activists for Justice and Accountability Coalition (TAJA’s Coalition) came together united in anger and outrage over the murder of Taja Gabrielle de Jesus in early February 2015 in the Bayview.
Along the march, family and community will build a series of community altar’s lifting up the memories of those we have lost. The march will end with a community healing circle and family and children’s activities at the Martin Luther King park at Third and Armstrong.
Twitter@causajusta1 #BlackLivesMatter
Co-sponsors: Causa Justa::Just Cause, Bay Area Black Lives Matter, Conscious Queens, TAJA’s Coalition, and the TGI Justice Project.
Causa Justa :: Just Cause is a multi-racial grass roots housing and immigrant rights organization building community leadership to achieve justice for low-income San Francisco and Oakland residents. We have offices on both sides of the Bay.