SF Black Wallstreet was formed in June 2020 by seven Black SF natives amid the COVD-19 pandemic and the global Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality. We are committed to securing business, cultural space, and homeownership for Black San Franciscans. This summer, SFBW and members of our community rallied around Cafe Envy -- one of the few Black-owned restaurants in the Bayview corridor to remain open during COVID-19 restrictions-- in response to excessive nuisance and compliance complaints being filed by a neighbor. Cafe Envy, located at 1701 Yosemite Avenue within the African American Arts and Culture District -- has been a site for Black locals to gather and socialize for more than 40 years. Thanks to city and community partnerships, Cafe Envy continues to be a welcoming space for Black people to legally and safely eat, drink, and celebrate our culture during the pandemic. Despite the value Cafe Envy brings to our community as a whole, one neighbor continues to terrorize our community by weaponizing his privilege, filing complaints against Cafe Envy, bullying, and intimidating the restaurant staff, patrons, and other neighbors. This week, those complaints materialized into a written petition and an organized effort to shut Cafe Envy down permanently. Fortunately, Cafe Envy remains open for business with all legal permits and staffing in place, but it is now under heightened surveillance and subjected to over-policing. White transplant residents using anti-black bullying tactics to intimidate long-term Black, Latinx, and marginalized residents by weaponizing complaints and code violations is a National issue. The underlying motive of these complaints is to shut down our businesses, over-police our spaces, and erase our culture in an attempt to make us feel unwelcome in our own neighborhoods. We can no longer allow the discomfort, fears, and expectations of privileged SF transplants to disrespect our community, regulate our community activities, or strip away our cultural identity. SF Black Wallstreet and community stakeholders are calling on city and community leaders to adopt an SF Good Neighbor Policy, a code of conduct that guides respectful engagement with the Black, Latinx, and native SF community. The Good Neighbor Policy would also penalize 311 callers for using the line to file unsubstantiated and malicious reports. The “Good Neighbor Policy” will be crafted by a coalition of Black, Latinx, and SF natives who organize and advocate on behalf of their respective communities. Black San Franciscans, like all other communities in San Francisco, are entitled to spaces where we are welcomed, celebrated, and appreciated. Sign our petition to support Cafe Envy and encourage city officials to close the loophole on 311 complaints and enact a Good Neighbor Policy to guide respectful engagement with our Black, Latinx, and native SF community!

The Department of the Interior oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs as well and the Bureau of Indian Education. The US has never had a Native American in this position, making decisions that affect every aspect of Native life. Tell President Joe Biden that the US needs a Native person in this vital role.

Because facts matter and misinformation hurts Americans.

Despite a decisive win by Biden and Harris, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is promising that Trump will serve another term. This threat to our democracy needs to be taken seriously. How could a second term for Trump be achieved? Recounts and lawsuits won’t change the results. The only real path is to discredit state elections in order to justify rejecting electors so that Trump will have a majority in the Electoral College. It seems far-fetched, but so was a Trump presidency in the first place. This threat cannot be ignored. We cannot trust that precedent, civility and law will rule the day. The plan to steal the presidency seems to be proceeding, with both Senators from Georgia baselessly declaring their states election to be invalid. Will this libel give Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, the cover he will need to simply reject Georgia's electors? If so, why not Pennsylvania as well and so on? So much seems to ultimately hinge on the Electoral Count Act, which according to wikipedia "invites misinterpretation" and whose "central provisions of the law have not been seriously tested in a disputed election". I urge you to take steps to prevent what is clearly an attempted coup. Insist that all electors must be counted, and faithless electors will not be tolerated.

The life of millions of broken families will be better when they are able to work legally in the United States. Undocumented people need to have driver licenses and basically, they need to exist as legal members of this country.

It is important she recognize President-elect Biden for these reasons: 1. She is hindering a peaceful transition until Trump exhausts all legal recourse, which means the transition team pretty much can only get an office to plan the transition and not much else. 2. Her refusal to recognize president-elect Biden has National Security implications because the Department of Defense cannot work with the transition team until the GSA recognizes the results of the election. 3.Her refusal to follow the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 is a clear refutation of the democratic process and severely undermines confidence in free and fair elections in this country.

Joe Biden has won the presidency. But the current president of the United States, Donald Trump, is attempting a coup. He has no plans to concede the race and instead is erratically spreading lies of “widespread voter fraud” and taking radical steps like firing his Secretary of Defense—like a true fascist leader. We knew this would happen but it doesn’t make it any less dangerous. Twitter is Trump’s most direct microphone to speak to the American People. It’s time that microphone be turned off for the good of the People. Enough is enough. We can’t wait until Jan 20. Twitter must suspend Donald Trump and his enablers now.

The transitional process allows the incoming President- elect access to national security resources and funds necessary for hiring and training staff. The Presidential Act provides for access to these much-needed resources. Emily W. Murphy needs to immediately sign the letter granting access. Delaying the ascertainment process places our country in great harm and serves only to maintain the chaotic status-quo of the Trump administration.

In the midst of a global pandemic that dramatically increased the safety risks of physically going to the polls to vote, several states decided to suppress voter turnout by creating rules that effectively invalidate mail in ballots that arrive after Election Day even if they are postmarked by Election Day. To be precise, there are 28 states that do not allow postmarked ballots to arrive after Election Day. Simultaneously, the President of the United States has deliberately undermined the operations and sustainability of the United States Postal Service and impeded its capacity to process mail, including ballots, in a timely manner. Thus, regardless of the outcome of the 2020 general election, it is clear that we need stronger federal protections for American voters so that every vote counts and so that states cannot suppress votes in the aforementioned manner. In America, our hope is that we are better than this. Not counting votes is unacceptable. Ignoring votes is unacceptable. And voter disenfranchisement is unacceptable.

Despite the moniker as the oldest democracy in the world, the United States has an archaic Electoral College system, in which skates of electors representing a state vote for a presidential candidate to the Electoral College—with 270 electors needed to win. For over 100 years now, the electors with few exceptions represent the candidate who won the popular vote by state, and with a recent Supreme Court ruling, are even more tightly bound to do so. Nevertheless, this election, the Republican Party and Trump campaign are continuing their onslaught against our democratic norms and institutions. In an attempt to steal the election, the Republican Party and Trump campaign are suing states to stop the counting of valid ballots largely of minorities, younger people, and people from traditionally Democratic strongholds. Congress can stand up and end this chicanery by refusing to seat the Electoral College until all votes are counted! More nefariously, the Trump campaign and Republican State Parties are preparing a shadow campaign to appoint alternate slates of electors to the Electoral College in an attempt to sow chaos and throw the election to the House of Representatives. Congress can and must head this off by pledging to only seat slates of electors who represent the popular vote winner of that state. These actions can bring peace to the chaos of the post-election period and ensure the survival of our democracy with a smooth transition of power.

Deportation is an extreme consequence for a civil immigration violation. The Trump administration wasn't the first to deport people with cruelty, but it certainly spread the pain. This problem must be fixed by the Biden administration. We are calling for both administrative policy changes and legislative reform to bring our friends and loved ones home. #ReuniteUS

January 12th update (5:36PM EDT): Both the Eighth Circuit and the DC Circuit have issued stays of execution for Lisa. The Department of Justice is appealing both to the United States Supreme Court, and presumably they will rule on the stays tonight. The Bureau of Prison continues to prepare to execute Lisa today. Lisa's life is still in danger.