S.F. beating of Asian father was a hate crime, DA Chesa Boudin decides

Lee Heidhues 5.8.2021

My Response to Reader Comments to the article which follows:

The smug sense of cynicism and snark evident in several of the responses to SF Chronicle reporting is reprehensible. It’s a series of cheap shots taken by folks who should be aware that San Francisco voters have elected “Progressive” District Attorneys since 1993; Terence Hallinan, Kamala Harris, George Gascon and Chesa Boudin. Each of these DA’s sees their job as being more than handmaidens for the Police Officers Association (POA), law and order politicians and the lock ’em up brigades in the media. These “Progressive” DA’s continue to be elected because they represent the criminal justice viewpoint of San Francisco voters.

San Francisco Chronicle 5.7.2021

There have been 12 reported hate crimes in San Francisco against Asian Americans through March of this year, according to a report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. That’s already more than the nine anti-Asian hate crimes reported in the city during all of 2020.

The man accused of attacking a 36-year-old Asian father while he pushed a baby stroller last month will be charged with a hate crime, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced in a Twitter post on Saturday.

Boudin said on the social media platform that he “received new evidence” that the April 30 attack outside a Mission Bay grocery store was “racially motivated.” Police arrested Sidney Hammond, 26, in connection with the crime.

Boudin did not specify what prompted the decision to allege that the attack was a hate crime. The victim was pushed to the ground and pummeled. The victim told ABC 7 that he thought the attack could have been racially motivated given increased hostility against Asian Americans, though police considered the incident random at the time.

Hate crimes are difficult to charge and prove in the courts.

Boudin’s announcement came one day after his office said that the suspect in Tuesday’s stabbing of two Asian women at 4th and Market streets would be charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse.

The suspect in that case, Patrick Thompson, 54, could be imprisoned for life if convicted. Boudin’s office, in a media release, said Thompson was a former mental health patient at Napa State Hospital. In an unusual move, the district attorney represented the prosecution at Thompson’s May 7 arraignment.

Boudin, who was elected on a reformer platform, is fending off two online recall campaigns from conservative interests that seek to paint him as soft on crime. A spokesperson for the D.A. wasn’t immediately available.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/S-F-beating-of-Asian-father-was-a-hate-crime-16162411.php

San Francisco’s Most Iconic Figure … Willie Mays at 90 Still Thrills the Crowd

I was fortunate to watch Willie Mays frequently in the prime of his career. My friends and I all took it for granted that the “Say Hey Kid” was one of the best.

It’s no surprise Willie is still a presence at the age of 90 and revered by all.

San Francisco Chronicle – John Shea 5.7.2021

Things happened quickly. As they always did when Willie Mays owned the baseball diamond.

The legendary ballplayer appeared in the front seat of a 1956 turquoise and white Oldsmobile convertible, which pulled out of the opening in the left-field corner and made a lap around the Oracle Park field, Mays doffing his cap to elated fans wishing him a happy 90th birthday.

Willie Mays V 5.7.2021.jpg — Receiving Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama

Then the Olds retreated through the opening, and the birthday kid retreated to his suite overlooking left field.

In his suite, Mays was jubilant. Back at his second home, where a statue of his likeness greets passers-by, he was in his element and among friends, not just the 9,219 fans in attendance but those fortunate enough to hang with him in his suite.

Mays spoke of how appreciative he was of all the love and phone calls he received the past couple of days. Danny Glover spoke of how he loved watching Mays play as far back as Seals Stadium, inspiring his pregame narration.

Willie Mays IV 5.7.2021 — Willie Mays Most Iconic Moment – The Catch September 29, 1954

“He’s the summer wind,” said Glover, Friday evening’s narrator, his voice bellowing throughout the stadium just before Mays made his first on-field appearance at 24 Willie Mays Plaza since 2019.

“His very essence is movement,” continued Glover, the actor, director and San Francisco native whose words were accompanied by classic highlights shown on the center-field scoreboard. “Running out from under his cap. Stealing bases. Chasing fly balls. The basket catch. His windmill of a swing. The most famous catch in baseball history.

After Glover’s tribute, PA announcer Renel Brooks-Moon introduced the man of the hour and the man of all time, “The Hall of Famer … No. 24 … Mr. … Willie Mays.”

Willie May IV 5.7.2021 — Young Willie Mays on the streets of New York

The roar of the crowd, still limited because of the coronavirus, greeted Mays, whose smile lit up Third and Mission, a sight welcomed by all who waited a long time to return to the ballpark, waited a long time to see their hero, making his first visit to Oracle since late in the 2019 season.

Throughout the game, the scoreboard showed many videos of shout-outs to Willie including from Bonds, Vin Scully, George W. Bush, Steph Curry, Steve Young, Magic Johnson, Gavin Newsom, Wayne Gretzky, Snoop Dogg, Ronnie Lott, Ken Griffey Jr., Steve Kerr, London Breed and Tom Brady (who actually received some boos).

After the third inning, Brooks-Moon led a chorus of the Happy Birthday song, and Mays and Bonds, his godson, cut the cake. It was shown on the scoreboard, and fans cheered and cherished the moment and the presence of greatness.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/giants/article/Even-at-90-Willie-Mays-owned-the-diamond-in-16161617.php#photo-20964018

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Mays

Jane Birkin talks. Not a word about her most notorious song Je t’aime

The most famous, perhaps notorious, song by the duo Jane Birkin and her par amour Serge Gainsbourg, Je t’aime is not mentioned in the following Wall Street Journal article.

To have read the media of the day a reader would have had the impression Je t’aime was universally banned.

Well, not everywhere.

I became dizzingly familiar with Je t’aime while spending a month at a hotel in the Red Light district of Amsterdam. I was traveling and living in Europe. Je t’aime was played over and over and over on the hotel Juke Box. A link is found at the end of this post.

Excerpted from Wall Street Journal 5.7.2021

Jane Birkin, 74, is an English actress, singer and songwriter who has appeared in more than 70 films and on albums with her romantic partner, Serge Gainsbourg. Her latest album is “Oh! Pardon tu dormais” (Verve). She spoke with Marc Myers.

Serge Gainsbourg? We were together for 12 years. He was shy, funny, sophisticated and frightfully erotic.

Today, do you listen to your albums with him? Never. The fun was making them, not listening. My voice was too high, and my French accent was terrible.

What about watching your films? Never. I’d be disappointed.

I was happiest as a child. It’s the one place I’d like to go back to if I could—to be with my parents and older brother, Andrew, and younger sister, Linda.

The freedom of my family home in London was special. It was safe. You felt nothing could happen to you there. Home was about loyalty and something very strict as well. I always felt that if I could get home, I’d be all right. I loved my parents very much.

I grew up in the Chelsea section of London, in a large attached, three-story Victorian brick house with a garden. It was ugly, as most Victorian homes are, but handsome in its formality.

Jane Birkin, right, with her sister, Linda, in England in 1952.

During World War II, my father, David, was a lieutenant commander. He navigated a boat that rescued downed British and Canadian pilots and French Resistance members.

His grandfather started Birkin & Co., a prominent lace company. His father was the director, so his sons were comfortable.

My mother, Judy Campbell, was a beautiful, well-known stage and film actress.

After my sister was born in 1950, my father stopped my mother from being the person she wanted to be. We moved to a farm that was too far from London for her to be in Noël Coward’s plays. My father simply loved her so much that he wanted her all to himself. He felt left out of her theater life.

My mother tried her best and threw herself into the rural change with enthusiasm. Eventually, my father needed operations, so we moved back to London, where he bought that Victorian brick home.

Jane Birkin III 5.7.2021.jpg — Charlotte Gainsbourg with Mom Jane Birkin

Despite resuming her career, my mother was there for me. She loved to be one-to-one, but she was glamorous and wasn’t super close. She was too beautiful for that.

She also was an intellectual. Any book or play that I read or became interested in reading came from her. She was curious. By contrast, my father preferred reading only P.G. Wodehouse and Proust. I’d read to him each night. We had such fun. He was a gifted artist who loved to draw me. His attention made me feel pretty.

My brother was sent off to boarding school when he was 6. Being away was painful for someone so young. He told me he’d take his photos of us and turn them over so he wouldn’t cry.

My sister and I went to boarding school when we were older. I was 12 and she was 8. We chose Upper Chine, a school for girls, on the Isle of Wight, off the southern coast of England.

Soon after I arrived, I realized I’d made a terrible mistake. The pressure to be with other girls at that age was overbearing. There was no privacy. I didn’t have bosoms yet like the others, so I was teased relentlessly. Girls would peer in and say things to me like “Still nothing?” Too proud to give up, I stuck it out.

She took me out immediately. Back home at 14, I found my father relieved. He missed me. I returned to private school. After secondary school, my father thought art school would be ideal for me, perhaps because that’s where daughters went.

When I was 17, I traveled to Italy with my father for a month. In Rome, we stayed with director Carol Reed and his wife. Carol was filming “The Agony and the Ecstasy” with Charlton Heston. Carol said I might have a chance as an actress, if the camera liked me.

In London, I went on an audition. I had never acted before and was so nervous. I forgot my lines. Fortunately, Graham Greene, the author of the play, “Carving a Statue,” was there. I got the part.

Today, I live in Paris, in an apartment in the 6th Arrondissement. I bought it four years ago. I should have purchased a larger one. For now, my place is cozy, like a nest egg. I have low chandeliers, Turkish rugs and lots of photos and artwork on the walls.

jane-birkin-ii5.7.2021.jpg — Jane Birkin

My father died in 1991, my mother in 2004. I keep my father’s naval uniform and hat draped over a chair. I also have my mother’s Victor Stiebel ball dress on a chair, as if she’s sitting there. I feel their presence.

Former Mill Valley high schoolers found guilty of killing Italian police officer

I was drawn to this story because of the wanton violence exported from America and inflicted on the citizen of another country. When I learned the suspects attended the high school where I spent four years I was shocked.

I never thought Tam High whose clock tower can be seen from Highway 101, well respected for its academic standards and beautiful campus, would send people like Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth into the adult world who could commit such a horrific crime.

San Francisco Chronicle 5.6.2021

A pair of high school friends from the wealthy Marin County enclave Mill Valley were found guilty Wednesday of stabbing an Italian police officer to death after a botched drug deal during a 2019 vacation in Rome.

Tam students convicted VII 5.6.2021.jpg — Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth on Trial in Italy -2021

A jury found Finnegan Lee Elder, 21. and his friend Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth, 20, who met while students at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, guilty of homicide for repeatedly stabbing an Italian carabinieri officer, following a scuffle, and killing him on July 26, 2019, days after he returned from his honeymoon.

The Bay Area men, then 18, said they acted in self defense after being attacked by two men who did not identify themselves as police. The Associated Press reported the verdict from Rome. They were also found guity of attempted extortion, resisting a public official and carrying an attack style knife without just cause.

Tam students convicted VI 5.6.2021.jpg — Cerciello Rega and his bride on their wedding day

Murder carries a life sentence in Italy, which does not have a death penalty.

As the defendants were escorted out of the courtroom, Elder’sfather, Ethan Elder, called out, “Finnegan, I love you,” the Associated Press reported. The slain officer’s widow, who held a photo of her dead husband throughout the 14-month trial, sobbed and hugged his brother.

Tam students convicted I 5.6.2021.jpg — Finnegan Lee Elder’s family in Mill Valley – 2019

Police and prosecutors in Rome said the Marin men purchased what turned out to be fake drugs from an Italian man in Rome. When the two teenagers returned to the location, they allegedly stole the backpack of the man who had pointed them to the purported dealer and demanded 100 Euros and a gram of real cocaine in exchange for the backpack, according to polce.

The men arranged to meet the dealer near their hotel, but the Italian man instead called police. Two plainclothes paramilitary police officers, including Cerciello Rega, responded to the scene. Police say Elder stabbed Cerciello Rega 11 times and Natale Hjorth punched and kicked his partner, Andrea Varriale, before running back to their hotel room.

Tam students convicted V 5.6.2021.jpg — Funeral procession of slain Italian police officer Cerciello Rega – 2019

Varriale told investigators that both officers identified themselves as law enforcement and showed their badges, the Associated Press reported. But the two men said they did not and that the officers attacked them, forcing them to fight for their lives.

Elder admitted to stabbing Varriale but under Italian law, accomplices can also be charged with homicide. Natale Hjorth hid the knife in the ceiling panels of their hotel room after the stabbing, where it was later found by police, the AP reported.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/2-Bay-Area-men-found-guilty-of-killing-Italian-16154609.php

Wealthy Landlords + Trump appointed Judge = Eviction day for tenants

It is obscene that the wealthy and empowered landlords are able to toss American renters out in the street as the Pandemic is still a part of our lives.

Even if there was no Pandemic the historical power of landlords to ruin the lives of their fellow citizens is reprehensible. The latest abuse of this unfettered greed is the decision by a Trump appointed Judge to declare the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Moratorium on evictions unconstitutional.

Washington Post 5.5.2021

In a ruling that could have a tremendous impact on millions of Americans, a federal judge in Washington D.C. on Wednesday ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its legal authority when it issued a nationwide eviction moratorium.

U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich’s 20-page order says that the protection, first put in place during the coronavirus pandemic under the Trump administration and now set to run out on June 30, goes too far.

Rent Control II 3.15.2019

“It is the role of the political branches, and not the courts, to assess the merits of policy measures designed to combat the spread of disease, even during a global pandemic,” the order stated. “The question for the Court is a narrow one: Does the Public Health Service Act grant the CDC the legal authority to impose a nationwide eviction moratorium? It does not.”

Rent Moratorium III 5.5.2021.jpg — Serving Eviction Notice

Landlords and property owners have consistently challenged the CDC order, arguing the policy sets an undue financial burden on business owners.“We’ve argued from the beginning that the CDC lacked statutory authority to impose this, and we’ve had multiple courts agree with us on that,” said Luke Wake, an attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation who has represented landlords in similar cases. “Today’s decision again vindicates our argument.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/05/05/federal-judge-vacates-cdcs-nationwide-eviction-moratorium/

Following is the Bob Dylan song “Dear Landlord” performed by Joan Baez.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYSvm4nQiq0

“A” Unusual alliance of Justices holds government to strict notice requirement

Liz Heidhues – Blog Post contributor – 5.4.2021

Deportation Smacked Down by Government’s Incompetent Use of “A”

For once the Supreme Court got it right about the Government’s incompetence using Standard American English.

The grammar rules of rich white men are the basis for Standard American English. These rules were established long ago in England to protect the upper classes from infringement upon their status and authority by the lower classes, who were slowly becoming educated and, predictably, gaining access to power.

The grammar rules have nothing to do with logic and are based on politics and power.

An English teacher knows full well the pitfalls of getting the hang of the articles “a, an, the” and the usage of “count” vs. “noncount” nouns which confounds most English language students.

It seems that the Justices of the Supreme Court recently took on the challenges of an English teacher when they had to teach the Government how to interpret the grammar of its own laws.

An immigrant from Guatemala, Agusto Niz-Chavez, had been living in the United States 8 years when he received “a notice to appear” at a deportation hearing.

The notice informed Mr. Niz-Chavez of the charges against him but did not include any further information about the hearing. Two months later, Mr. Niz-Chavez was sent another “a notice to appear”, this one with the missing information about the time and place for his deportation proceeding.

Under a 1996 federal law (the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act – IIRIRA), an undocumented immigrant cannot be deported if they can establish their continuous presence in the country for at least 10 years.

If the immigrant establishes a continuous presence in this country for at least 10 years, they can appeal to the Immigration Judge for eligibility for cancellation of their removal.

However, as soon as an immigrant is served with “a notice to appear” with specific information about a deportation proceeding, the clock is stopped on the immigrant’s continuous presence.

This is known as the stop-time rule.

Mr. Niz-Chavez, who entered the country unlawfully, was ordered by the Immigration Judge to depart the United States within 30 days or else be removed to Guatemala. He contested his removal.

The Supreme Court heard the case and cast aside, in a 6-3 decision, the Immigration Judge’s order to remove Mr. Niz-Chavez from this country.

The Justices ruled that the “two” notices sent to Mr. Niz-Chavez could not be construed as “a notice to appear’, or one notice, as they were multiple notices and not a singular one.

The Justices agreed that, to stop the 10-year clock or to invoke the stop-time rule, the Government must provide all the required information in ONE DOCUMENT rather than TWO.

Agusto Niz-Chavez III 5.4.2021.jpg — A Portrait of the Supreme Court Justices

The Government attempted to invoke the Dictionary Act, arguing that the Dictionary Act tells us to assume “words importing the singular include and apply to several persons, parties, or things”.

The Supreme Court Justices would have none of the Government’s doublethink.

The Justices told the Government that “The Dictionary Act does not transform every use of the singular ‘a’ into the plural ‘several’.

The Justices then hit the bull’s-eye in explaining their reasoning in such plain English that any student would be able to get it.

“Suppose a statute made it a crime to vandalize ‘a’ bank. Under the Dictionary Act, someone who vandalizes five banks could not avoid prosecution on the ground that he vandalized more than one.”

The Government’s lack of proficiency in using the article “a” or in recognizing that the noun “notice” is inherently neither a “count” nor a “noncount” noun was a blessing in disguise for the immigrant whose native language is not English.

Its incompetence in following the rules of Standard American English means that now Agusto Niz-Chavez will be able to apply for citizenship. This worthy immigrant deserves a break for his ability to interpret the English language better than the US Government.

Read more on Scotusblog.com

https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/05/unusual-alliance-of-justices-holds-government-to-strict-notice-requirement-in-removal-proceedings/

Top Cartoon – Common Count / Non Count Nouns – The New Yorker – Edward Steed 5.3.2017

May Day Berlin. Left & right battle Police in melee. Many detained.90 cops injured.

May Day in Berlin is often a time of rowdy and violent street demonstrations. 2021 was no exception. Germany is still in the midst of recovering from the economic and social strain of the Pandemic, astronomic housing costs and national elections to be held next September.

The current political atmosphere of May Day in Berlin is a far cry from that of the Nazi era. Check out the article in Jacobin Magazine at the conclusion of this blog post .

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 5.2.2021

Around 4,000 officers were deployed on the streets of Berlin, where past May Day rallies have been accompanied by disorder, particularly after nightfall. Saturday’s clashes between protesters and police saw trash cans and street barricades set on fire.

The first of May, the annual holiday for workers’ rights, is typically heralded by loud protests and well-attended street marches.

This year, with many people unhappy at the coronavirus restrictions currently in place, authorities have been on increased alert.

Left meets right in Germany

Thousands of police officers were on hand ahead of and after the protests, with unrest emerging among both left- and right-wing demonstrators.

Protesters in Berlin threw bottles, firecrackers and stones at police during May Day marches in the Neukölln neighborhood of the German capital.

According to police tallies, 5,000 people took part in the rally, while organizers put the turnout closer to 20,000. Police took several demonstrators into custody.

A reporter for Berlin’s Tagesspiegel newspaper noted that after confrontations between protesters and police, the situation in Neukölln had calmed somewhat.

DW journalist Elliot Douglas said fire was still raging in Neukölln shortly before curfew, but crowds started leaving as riot police were taking over the scene.

While the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) held its main rally in Hamburg with a motto that “Solidarity is the Future,” the authorities’ main focus was elsewhere.

https://www.dw.com/en/may-day-rallies-police-protesters-clash-in-berlin-paris/a-57395625

During the Nazi regime (1933-1945) Hitler thugs destroyed the focus of a workers holiday and turned it into a celebration of the Reich.

May Day 2021 VII 5.1.2021.jpg — View of Tempelhof Field in Berlin, Germany on May 1, 1933. (Keystone-France / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

The Nazis Stole May Day, But Socialists Took It Back

A deep look at what May Day was like during the Nazi regime can be found by opening the link to Jacobin Magazine.

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/05/nazi-may-day-hitler-socialism

Reporter in Kenya struck by tear gas canisters while conducting interview

Being a journalist is a dangerous profession. In Nairobi, Kenya a reporter for the German publication DW was struck by two tear gas canisters.

Attacks on journalists are a common occurence as governments increasingly attempt to stop the dissemination of news. It happens in autocratic countries. It happens in America, too.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 5.2.2021

Police fired tear gas canisters at DW’s East Africa correspondent Mariel Müller (shown above) while she was covering a protest in Nairobi. Amnesty International and the Foreign Press Association of Africa have condemned the attack.

Müller said that police appeared to be purposefully aiming at her and the camera crew.

She approached authorities afterward, telling the officer who had been firing the canisters: “You just shot me, you just hit me in my leg.”

The officer denied it and walked away, “but he knew exactly what had happened,” Müller said.

Kenyan authorities fired tear gas canisters at Müller with one canister grazing her and a second injuring her leg while she was conducting an interview.

‘You just shot me’

Müller was covering a peaceful protest against police brutality and coronavirus lockdown measures in central Nairobi at the time of the attack.

Around 40 protesters gathered to voice their opposition to COVID restrictions and the economic impact on poorer communities. The demonstrators were careful to adhere to social distancing rules “to not anger the police,” Müller told DW.

“The police were there and observed the first part [of the protest] and then eventually started firing tear gas,” Müller said.

The first time Müller was struck, she said she was grazed by a canister when police began launching tear gas in the direction of protesters and reporters.

Police moved in with batons and detained several demonstrators. One man was shoved in a truck after police tried to take away the sign he was holding.

DW Editor-in-Chief Manuela Kasper-Claridge called the attack “absolutely unacceptable,” adding that “freedom of the press has to be protected.”

Amnesty International’s Kenya branch also called for authorities to launch an investigation, and slammed “the brutal attack on journalists and protesters” in Nairobi.

https://www.dw.com/en/dw-journalist-attacked-by-kenyan-police-at-protest-in-nairobi/a-57397828

DA Boudin supporters up against full weight of San Francisco power structure.

Lee Heidhues 5.2.2021

#StandwithChesa must be very aggressive in putting out this narrative.

The entire attempt to get a Recall on the ballot this year is being run by City Hall, the SFPD and the Police Officers Associaton.

DA Chesa Boudin supporters are up against the full weight of the San Francisco power structure. The Mayor. The City Attorney. The Police Department and the POA.

The attempted Recall has little to do with Chesa’s “progressive” agenda. Chesa is not one of the ‘in-crowd’ in the cloistered world of City Hall San Francisco politics. It is now out there in plain view. The announcement by a group of political “moderates” to Recall Chesa makes it obvious. City Hall and the POA have one Goal. Chesa is dangerous and must Go.

Supporters of DA Boudin must realize NOW the attempted Recall is no longer being run by some outlier living his political fantasy and respond aggressively. Wannabe power player Republican Richie Greenberg has been shelved.

The “moderate” recall posse is a Creation of Room 200 in City Hall. Mayor London Breed (pictured above with the DA) is all over it. Andrea Shorter is a key figure. So is Mary Jung who, until she was voted out, was the Chair of the Democratic County Central Committee in Western San Francisco. Mary is very influential in certain political circles. She is also a divisive figure.

Equally telling was Heather’s Knight’s SF Chronicle recent exit interview with City Attorney Dennis Herrera in which he expressed frustration, without mentioning DA Chesa Boudin, about the lack of prosecutions against Tenderloin Drug merchants.

Richie Greenberg, a Republican outlier in Dark Blue San Francisco, thought he could do the job. So did City Hall, initially, to give themselves political cover. However City Hall power brokers quickly realized that Richie is a political liability. The Recall would crash and burn. He’s been tossed aside.

Suzy Loftus, the former Acting DA who was appointed by Breed one month before the 2019 election and defeated by Chesa a month later, is being very coy. A six month dissection of her Twitter feed @suzyloftus has not one mention of Chesa. She doesn’t need to do anything but be patient. When Suzy was the acting DA in 2019 she was happy to have the endorsement of disgraced ex-Police Chief Greg Suhr who was forced out in 2016 by late Mayor Ed Lee.

Chesa supporters cannot stand by and allow City Hall and the POA to thwart the will of the voters and destroy one of the most “progressive” District Attorneys in the United States. The reputation of this town as a forward looking and open minded international venue is at stake.

May Day in America 1969. “Free Huey.” A personal look back at a different time

Lee Heidhues – 5.1.1969

May 1, 1969 finds many folks at the Federal Building in San Francisco singing the praises of Huey P. Newton who is serving a long jail sentence for allegedly doing in an Oakland policeman in 1967.

Many folks were there holding aloft “FREE HUEY” placards and several strolls were taken around the block as some 4000 folks chanted many slogans, including “Off the Pigs!!!” … “Free Huey!!!” and it was contagious as young blacks and whites did vent their anger at the outrages of society and discussed the revolution which will come sooner or later in some form.

May Day 1969 II 5.1.2021.jpg — “Free Huey” Rally at SF Federal Building – May 1, 1969

In one sense it’s very depressing to see how far down society has come that the only redress for grievances is in the streets and that’s what occurred today as Tactical Squad folks were called in to quell a small disturbance and these cats, as in the strike at SF State, do look mean and ugly, running down the block … true pigs.

During this time, I talked with an old Black man who chatted about the insanity that is America, then told me to get away since I was putting “up tight” his nice stroll in the country and, “This country is fucked anyway.” A sobering moment.

Little Red Book 5.1.1969 — The Little Red Book

Many Blacks passed out Mao’s Little Red Book and at the proper moment held them high aloft. At this moment I could see why so many folks like Mao. Afterall, he took his cause and won over the biggest land mass next to Russia. So, he’s something of a hero. This was not the typical friendly type march. There were many angry folks ready, willing and able to “off the Pigs!!!”

…………….

Later I went over to City Hall and watched the trials (of several students arrested during the Strike at SF State) with six folks in the Docket, and in this Trial is John Webb, one other man and four women. So, life goes on and a horrid woman as District Attorney mercilessly grilled all the suspects, especially John … The DA with blonde hair all done up probably hates men and could have been an adequate Nazi to be sure.

Free Huey Poster
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – 1969: A poster showing a Mass Rally on May Day 1969. The Black Panther Party held rallies across the nation demanding the jailed minister of Defense Huey P. Newton be set free circa 1969 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Robert Altman/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)