Activism

Jovanka Beckles Projected to Win AC Transit Board Seat

Published

5 years ago

November 5, 2020

Although the votes are still being counted, Jovanka Beckles’ campaign is confident she won her seat for the AC Transit Board of Directors in Ward 1. She had challenged Joe Wallace, a 20-year incumbent.

Beckles is a movement organizer, a former two-term Richmond City Councilmember, a longtime leader in the Richmond Progressive Alliance, a children’s mental health professional, a former candidate for California’s 15th State Assembly district, and a democratic socialist in the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., her web site biography says.

In a letter to her supporters on Wednesday, she said, ‘We won!”

She went on to thank her donors supporters who spent ‘countless hours’ volunteering for her campaign.

And characterized her victory a one “for working people and our public transit system. We said “NO” to service cuts, wage reductions and layoffs, and demanded expanded service.

“We demanded free masks and sanitizer to make buses safe for workers and riders. We demanded that we treat public transit like a human right and get rid of bus fares permanently,” she wrote.

Further demands by her campaign support a Green New Deal for the East Bay and a call to reclaim wealth from corporations and the ultra-rich and invest in public services and public union jobs — starting with transit.

Beckles gave credit to labor unions, progressive activists, and ordinary working people across the Bay and the country who came out in support of her vision for the people. “That’s why we won, and I’m so grateful to all of you for your support.”

But the fight does not stop now, she said. “We’re going to need to put massive public pressure on the rest of the AC Transit Board and on local and state legislators to win taxes on the rich, to fund the public transit system we deserve.

“We need to support the ATU workers should they go on strike to stop givebacks.

Let’s celebrate our victory — and then get back to work to win transit for the people!

Post Staff

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Related Topics:AC Transit Board of Directors Jovanka Beckles Richmond Progressive Alliance

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Activism

Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

16 hours ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.