Film Presentation: Legacy of Torture: The War Against the Black Liberation Movement

Legacy of Torture: The War Against the Black Liberation Movement"
Presenter: Filmmaker Claude Marks
Friday, June 12, 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Atlantic Room

“The same people who tried to kill me in 1973 are the same people who are here today, trying to destroy me. I mean it literally. I mean there were people from the forces of the San Francisco Police Department who participated in harassment, torture and my interrogation in 1973 ... none of these people have ever been brought to trial. None of these people have ever been charged with anything. None of these people have ever been questioned about that.” -- John Bowman, former Black Panther

In 2005 several former members of the Black Panther were held in contempt and jailed for refusing to testify before a San Francisco Grand Jury investigating a police shooting that took place in 1971. The government alleged that Black radical groups were involved in the 34-year old case in which two men armed with shotguns attacked the Ingleside Police Station resulting in the death of a police sergeant and the injuring of a civilian clerk.

In 1973, thirteen alleged "Black militants" were arrested in New Orleans, purportedly in connection with the San Francisco events. Some of them were tortured for several days by law enforcement authorities, in striking similarity to the horrors visited upon detainees in Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib.

In 1975, a Federal Court in San Francisco threw out all of the evidence obtained in New Orleans. The two lead San Francisco Police Department investigators from over 30 years ago, along with FBI agents, have re-opened the case. Rather than submit to proceedings they felt were abusive of the law and the Constitution, five men chose to stand in contempt of court and were sent to jail. They were released when the Grand Jury term expired, but have been told by prosecutors that "it isn't over yet."

Library Closed 5/18 & 5/20

The library will be closed next Monday and Wednesday, May 18 and May 20 for the NonprofitCenters Network and Tides 2009 Building Opportunities Conference.

This biannual conference will again bring together leaders from the philanthropic, nonprofit, private and public sectors to share successful models and best practices for creating and operating shared workspace and services. Your members may be especially interested in the Funders’ Networking Session on May 18th, where they can talk to peers who have created successful shared space and services projects across North America.

As nonprofit organizations search for strategies to weather difficult economic times, the 2009 Building Opportunities Conference will offer proven models to reduce costs, gain greater efficiencies, and enhance community programs through shared space and services. Join leaders from the nonprofit, philanthropic, private, and public sectors who have created successful multi-tenant nonprofit centers, shared staffing and technology, and pooled purchasing. Presented by The NonprofitCenters Network and Tides. For more information visit http://www.nonprofitcentersnetwork.org/events.

Bike to Work Day

Forwarding some information from the Thoreau Center. And if you want some helpful advice for your urban biking, we do have a copy of Urban bikers' tricks & tips: low-tech & no-tech ways to find, ride, & keep a bicycle by Dave Glowacz.

Ways to Help with Bike to Work Day in the Presidio, May 14^th 2009

The Bay Area's biggest bicycling celebration, Bike to Work Day is tomorrow, May 14^th, and the Presidio Trust & SFBC need your help to make this day a big success!

§ Join us. Ride Your Bike To Work at The Presidio Thu. May 14^th & Win. Sports Basement & Honest Tea are giving away new bicycles this year to Presidio Bike To Work Day Participants! That’s two bikes this year. Stop by our Energizer Station at Lincoln & Halleck between 6:30AM & 9AM for free coffee & bagels and sign in for your raffle ticket. While you are at it get a quick tune up courtesy of Sports Basement mechanics. Enter to win a bike from SFBC too, visit: btwd.bayareabikes.org/register.

§ Come to the Bike To Work BBQ Thu. May 14^th 12-2 in the Courtyard at Thoreau Center (1014 Torney) to see if you won the raffle. Free lunch and prizes such as Two new bicycles, meal passes from Presidio Social Club & Asqew grill, Exploratorium passes, Bowling passes for Presidio Bowl, Free Golf Game for four people with a cart at Presidio Golf Club, Sports Basement Gift Certificates, Framed artwork from Crissy Field Center.

§ Come to the Bike Away From Work Party Thu., May. 14 | 6-10pm, The Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell St. You're invited to the SF Bicycle Coalition's fun and fabulous Bike Away from Work Party! Stop by Rickshaw Stop on your commute home and unwind (FREE valet bike parking provided). Learn the city's biking secrets from fellow bicyclists and bask in the glow of a successful Bike to Work Day! Free for SFBC members, $10 for non-members or join at the door and get in free!

§ Nominate a Bicyclist you admire as Bike Commuter of the Year.

§ Take part in the Team Bike Challenge: Register your team and compete with other Bay Area commuters to win great prizes for bike commuting in May. Go to btwd.bayareabikes.org/tbc for more info.

§ SFBC Bike Movie Night Mon., May 4, 8pm The Independent, 628 Divisadero St.(at Grove)
A screening of Macaframa, a film by Colin Arlen and Colby Elrick of track bike riding on the streets of San Francisco. Free!

Bicycling Facts & Figures

§ There is great potential to increase the number of bicycle commuters in the U.S., which would help reduce the number of trips made by automobile. Forty percent of all trips in the U.S. are made within two miles of the home and 50% of the working population commutes five miles or less to work.

§ The average commuter who bikes to work for a year will save $1,825 in auto-related costs, reduce carbon emissions by 128 pounds, conserve 145 gallons of gasoline, avoid 50 hours of gridlock traffic, burn 90,000 calories, reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke by 50%, and enjoy 14% less claims on their health insurance. (Numbers based on June 2006 gas prices and a 10 mile round trip commute)

Every trip converted to bicycle brings us closer to our ultimate goals of air quality enhancement, congestion reduction, better health and slowing global warming.

Bruce DeMartini

Program Manager, Tides

Tides Shared Spaces

[t] 415.561.7823 [f] 415.561.6401

www.tidessharedspaces.org

www.thoreau.org

"Faces of Prop 8" Opening Reception & Exhibition

Photography Exhibition: “Faces of Prop 8”

Photojournalist Craig Winsor

Opening reception: Wednesday, May 6, 5:00PM to 7:00PM

May 6 through July 3, 2009

Thoreau Center for Sustainability

The Corridor in front of the Library in the back of Building 1016

On March 5, 2009 the California Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the validity of Proposition 8, which banned the once legal right for same-sex marriages in the state of California. The oral argument was televised in the San Francisco Civic Center and many people attended demonstrating their views on the proposition.

Photographer Craig Winsor stood outside the courtroom photographing images expressing both sides of the debate.

Wildfire Awareness Week

May 3-9 is Wildfire Awareness Week in California. See what is going on at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. And FEMA offers advice on what to do if you see a wildfire coming.

New Book - Unimagined by Imran Ahmad

Now in the collection is Unimagined: A Muslim Boy Meets the West by Imran Ahmad, who recently spoke here as part of his US, continent-spanning, clockwise speaking tour to advance re-humanization between America and the Muslim world. An entertaining and insightful writer and speaker, he is also on the board of British Muslims for Secular Democracy. From the publisher:

Part White Teeth, part Adrian Mole, Unimagined is the hilarious and captivating memoir of a Muslim boy born in Pakistan, who moves to London aged one and grows up torn between his Islamic identity and his desire to embrace the West.

The endearing narrator recalls his childhood in a series of vivid snapshots: outrage as deserved victory is snatched away from him in the Karachi Bonnie Baby contest; bitterness as he is tricked out of his collection of Tarzan bubbe-gum cards by junior con artists; the heady early taste of success in the Metropolitan Police schools quiz; joy at passing the entrance exam to the local grammar school; uncertainity as he seeks to become a doctor (like all god Asian boys); bewilderment as he tries to learn about women at university; and shock at experiencing racism in its many forms.

Deliciously funny and painfully insightful, Unimagined is truly a joy to read.

Happy National Library Week

Celebrate National Library Week!

Dear Thoreau Center community members and ecosystem lovers,

This week, April 12-18, is National Library Week, a countrywide observance celebrating the contributions of our nation's libraries, librarians, and library workers. Continuing a decade-long trend, library use is up nationwide among all types of library users. Today more than ever, public, school, academic, and special libraries are making a difference to millions of Americans and playing a vital role in supporting the quality of life in their communities. A perfect time to come visit your community's free library: The Whole Earth Library. The Whole Earth Library is committed to creating better and healthier lives for ourselves and our children through sustainable living practices. Our collection includes books, magazines, CDs, and DVDs on a variety of topics, ranging from nature writing to global warming to environmental justice and much more. It is a place to explore, to learn, and to have your curiosity stimulated. It is also a place to come and get out of your office to relax a bit with a book.

So what's going on in the library this week? We're having a second round of the popularly acclaimed Think Green Challenge – a game of wit, mind-boggling depth, and erudition. Answer the questions correctly by the end of the week and be entered for a prize. Questions are available in the library. And don't forget that on Wednesday from 12:30 to 1:30, the library is hosting a discussion of William McDonough and Michael Braungart's Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. Come share your thoughts on their revolutionary prescription for the way we design what we make that eliminates the idea of waste as we know it.

We're here to help you learn how to live a more sustainable life, and we're a community center where everyone is invited to explore, dream, and learn. All that's missing is you.