Voices: River City

Governor Gavin Newsom has three weeks to decide if he will sign off on a parole panel's recommendation to release 77-year-old Sirhan Sirhan, the man who has spent over half a century in federal prison after being convicted for the killing of Senator Robert F Kennedy in 1968.

This story is proving itself to be a case study on the question of mainstream Democrats actually practicing what they preach.

By all legal and personal accounts, Sirhan has proven himself rehabilitated, and is ready to spend his final years with his brother in California. Indeed, two of RFK's sons--as well as Paul Schrade, an old friend of the late senator and the last surviving victim from the shooting 53 years ago--agree with the parole panel's ruling.

But others do not, such as Kerry Kennedy, who is both RFK's daughter and the president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. While her nonprofit insists it is against mass incarceration, Kerry doesn't seem to think that principle applies to at least one septuagenarian.

Last month the Sacramento Bee published an opinion piece by Kerry, in which she leveled demonstrably false claims against Sirhan's parole.

Today we're joined by three remarkable women who know this case front to back, in order to set the record straight on Sirhan's recommendation for parole, before it's too late: 

Angela Berry, Sirhan Sirhan's attorney

Denise Bohdan, documentarian/attorney who has covered this case extensively

Jen Abreu, executive director of Redemption Row California (and friend of the show)

Want to ask Governor Gavin Newsom to do what's right and sign off on the parole recommendation? Visit justiceforrfk.com and join the chorus advocating for Sirhan's release.

[Editor's disclosure: The interviewer for this episode received an RFK award for journalism in 2010 from RFK Human Rights.]

Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you, @aolbites

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

Last week the City of Sacramento, led by District 3 Councilmember Jeff Harris, launched a widespread, violent sweep against hundreds of unhoused folks living in trailers and cars on Commerce Circle. Since City Manager Howard Chan is less likely to commit to sweeps these days unless a councilmember tells him to do it in their district, it's safe to infer that Harris was the mastermind behind this move, which tore families apart and forced people to lose some of their only belongings just two weeks before Christmas and days before a massive storm hit the region. Harris confirmed as much in a public meeting that week.

 

Not only that, he's currently pushing the American River Flood Control District to terrorize these folks even further, using a loophole in the landmark Martin v. Boise decision, which deemed homeless sweeps without sufficient shelter/housing options to be cruel and unusual punishment.

 

The ultimate irony? In the midst of Harris's reign of terror against unhoused folks, he found himself just last weekend receiving a "Heroes for the Homeless" award. The neoliberal consensus is truly beyond satire.

 

One possible ray of light in this dark moment: Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and others on the dais disagreed with the sweeps and are pushing this week for a new ordinance that would stop the city from towing the trailers and cars of unhoused folks if officials cannot provide shelter or a safe space for their vehicles to go.

 

Another beam of sunshine?

 

Jeff Harris has been drawn out of his council district in this year's redistricting process, and word on the street is that he is livid. If he wants to defend his seat in 2022, he'll need to move from East Sacramento to South Natomas. Think that'll happen?Another option for Harris is to wait until 2024 to run against District 4 City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela, whose jurisdiction he now lives in.

 

We also take a moment to discuss Sacramento's new police chief, Kathy Lester. Lester, the city's first female police chief, will be replacing Daniel Hahn, who was the first Black police chief. Hahn's four-year tenure was marked by civil unrest that reflected a national movement to hold violent cops accountable for their actions. We discuss his time as the city's top cop, and what we can expect from Lester.

 

Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you, @aolbites

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

For episode 200, we discuss all our favorite things about our favorite town :)

Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you, @aolbites

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

Remember when Sacramento's neoliberal consensus teamed up with conservative ghouls to blame unhoused folks for the rise in E. coli in the American River, and used it to harass them with more frequency?

 

Turns out that was all a massive lie, and that bird and dog droppings were to blame.

 

It's a tale as old as California capitalism, using specious conservation concerns to mask one's disdain for people experiencing homelessness (See: Friends of Ballona Wetlands in this LAT column). It also speaks to a larger concern over the convergence of neoliberal and conservative voices in the "right to housing" discourse (See: that same LAT column).

 

A recent Sacramento shooting that resulted in the accidental death of a 7-year-old girl has left many in the region asking questions about how and why something like this could happen. In 2020, homicides--three-quarters of which involved firearms--jumped 30% in California from the year before. But why?

 

Thanks to the passing of Assembly Bill 173 last September, public health professionals can finally start doing serious research on the determinants of gun violence in California and beyond.

 

Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you, @aolbites

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

Today we're discussing two enigmatic newcomers to state and local politics: Sacramento City Councilmember Sean Loloee and SEIU Local 1000 president Richard Louis Brown.

Loloee, who represents Sacramento's District 2, recently made headlines when he admitted in the middle of a council meeting that he was "not a fan of affordable housing."

We all know that conservative politicians actively work to gentrify their districts, but it's always fun to hear them say the quiet part loud.

From his comments on local media coverage of the Sacramento Police Department, to his outlandish businessman's ruminations on homelessness from the dais, Councilmember Loloee regularly breaks the monotony of city government meetings.

We take a few minutes to discuss Mayor Darrell Steinberg's "right to housing" effort here in Sacramento, which is garnering attention throughout the state, before moving on to our second character.

You might remember when SEIU Local 1000's board of directors stripped president Richard Louis Brown of most of his power last month. On Friday, Brown responded by posting the past six years of union leadership's credit card spending on the union's website. 

The problem?

Brown also posted his own spending, which included a $3,000 payment his first week in office. The recipient appears to be either an Irvine beauty salon or a private investigator.

On one of his regular Facebook live feeds Monday morning, union members began asking questions about the transaction. His response:

"You know what? Listen, it's the holiday season. We can always answer those questions later. We can always get to that later."

We're anticipating a raucous December board meeting.

Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you, @aolbites

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

Today we're joined by friend of the show Jackie Fielder, who shocked California with her 2020 state Senate run flanking Scott Wiener from the left.

The arc of today's discussion covers the growing importance of the chasm between the state Democratic Party's moderates and progressives.

Jackie also talks with us about her new political action committee, Daybreak PAC, and how she hopes to help change the state's political landscape with it.

So far for 2022, Daybreak is supporting four progressive candidates for state Assembly:

David Campos - AD 17 - This district is DEM +59.7, and Campos will be running against the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Matt Haney, among others.

Jennifer Esteen - AD 20 - At DEM +42.7, this is another blue stronghold, but the labor leader will surely give Democratic incumbent Bill Quirk a run for his money.

Pilar Schiavo - AD 38 - This district is only DEM +5.1, but Schiavo has serious labor support in her endeavor to take down Republican Suzette Valladares to claim what was once Democrat Christy Smith's seat.

Fatima Iqbal-Zubair - AD 64 - A science teacher who cares deeply about the adverse health effects of fossil fuels on kids in this DEM +53.1 district, Fatima is dead-set on winning this seat from moderate Democrat Mike Gipson.

Is this the start of something big for California's greater Left?

Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you, @aolbites

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

Listen, we get it. It's daylight saving's and we're all trying to recover from the changing of the clocks (something we can apparently blame the Nazis for).

But there are bigger fish to fry.

Such as the big question: Where is Governor Gavin Newsom, who has disappeared since getting his booster shot last month?

After chatter started up about the California executive's absence, his partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom came out with an amusing tweet admonishing 'haters'. But people have been genuinely curious about the governor's absence.

The latest news has Governor Gavin Newsom attending the wedding of the great-granddaughter of a billionaire oil baron.

The wedding was officiated by Nancy Pelosi.

Capitalism.

We also discuss the rise of the the Asatru Folk Assembly, a white supremacist cult just north of Sacramento. Thanks to Antifa Sacramento (at least according to the Sacramento Bee article), these racists continue to be outed to the public.

Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you, @aolbites

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

In a welcome rarity, we've got a full house today!

Resident epidemiologist Dr. Flo talks us through the big news of the week related to COVID-19. Here in California, the state is setting up 4,000 sites to give out 1.2 million vaccines for kids aged 5-11 in the first week of availability.

Meanwhile, the Center for Disease Control is recommending that every adult who has had a Johnson & Johnson shot (as long as they're at least two months removed) get a booster of any kind. Kempa went with Pfizer for round two. It was nice. 

We also discuss the 'Striketober' phenomenon last month, in which Americans saw an incredible number of workers (by our current standards) stand up after nearly two years of risking their lives working through the pandemic.

American billionaires got some $1.2 trillion richer since coronavirus hit. And don't think the workers haven't noticed. The big question: Is this the start of a mass movement, or just a moment?

Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you, @aolbites

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

The California Democratic Party's executive board voted Sunday on a plan to permanently stop taking money from both Big Oil and cops. It ultimately failed, due to resistance from establishment Democrats.

 

We're joined by Amar Singh Shergill, chair of the Democrats' Progressive Caucus, to walk us through the vote, and why the party's decision to make no decision for another four months was a massive disappointment to the party's left flank.

 

A 100-year storm hit northern California on Sunday, with Sacramento receiving the most rain in a 24-hour timespan ever recorded.

 

While the storm impacted many, it was our unhoused neighbors who fared the worst in the elements during the historic tempest. We discuss the impacts felt by folks outside, how the county and city must do better during future weather events, and who in the community stepped up to care for those in need.

 

For further reading on what folks endured and what needs remain to be met, follow the Sacramento Homeless Union's Twitter feed. 

 

Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you, @aolbites

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

Over the weekend board leaders in SEIU Local 1000--one of the most powerful unions in California--took the remarkable steps to strip its controversial president, Richard Louis Brown, of most of his powers.

In a meeting called against Brown's wishes (and under fire of threats that he would punish anyone who attended), a majority of the union's board members put new bylaws and rules into place that would disperse power among union leadership and amend the disciplinary process.

We're joined by SEIU Local 1000 member leader (and longtime friend of the show) Bobby Roy to discuss the pros and cons rising from this meeting.

We also take a moment to discuss the state-sanctioned replacement of colonizer Junipero Serra's statue with a monument celebrating indigenous people in Sacramento's Capitol Park, and why Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert--who is running for state Attorney General--feels the need to press draconian charges against a trans person of color over the statue's much needed removal in the summer of 2020.

The removal of all things Serra in California is long overdue. So why is Schubert acting in such a reactionary fashion?

This surely won't help in her bid for AG.

Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.  

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.  

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.