Activism

Protesters Block Traffic, Demand: ‘Unplug PG&E. Not Us!’

Published

5 years ago

December 19, 2019

Dozens of activists, including many disabled protesters, blocked roads and shut down the PG&E headquarters in San Francisco for hours Monday, demanding the utility company stop its ongoing power outages and invest money to ensure that communities of color and disabled people are guaranteed stable electricity.

Protesters shut down Beale Street between Mission and Market streets early Monday, and by 12:30 p.m. over 100 people had joined the rally. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency officials said the protest near Market and Beale streets forced bus lines to be rerouted.

Four protesters locked themselves together, arms inside plastic pipes, sitting in the middle of the street behind a banner that read “Unplug PG&E. Not us.”

The purpose of the action was to “lift up the voices of people, especially the disabled and people of color, who have been incredibly impacted by the malfeasance of PG&E, not just the last couple of years but for decades,” said Pete Woiwode of #PowertoLive, the grassroots coalition that helped organize the protest.

The group is demanding that:

• PG&E give back all shareholder profits until it safely provides power,

• PG&E invest in minority and disabled communities

• The state government turn PG&E over to the people.

Post Staff

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

Published

1 day ago

June 7, 2025

Oakland Post

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Oakland Post

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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

1 week 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.