Uhuru Pies November & December 2008

Order Your Uhuru Pies at www.uhurupies.org

Uhuru Holiday Pies Funds Programs from West Oakland to West Africa

Since 1981, Uhuru Foods has coordinated a fundraiser selling thousands of pies throughout the Bay Area during the November and December holidays.

States Maureen Wagener, coordinator of the local fundraiser, "Conditions in Oakland speak to the need for programs that benefit the African community, which already experienced an economic crisis and is most impacted by the current economic downtrend.. Bringing an Uhuru Pie to your holiday dinner is a easy way to start talking about serious issues."

Continues Wagener, "The Alameda County Department of Health published a report this year citing the economic and environmental apartheid that exists in our city. Born in West Oakland, a black child can expect to die 15 years earlier than a white person born in the Oakland hills due to environmental and economic stresses and lack of access to healthy food and clean air."

The Uhuru Holiday Pies 2008 fundraising campaign will take this message out to thousands of people this holiday season with the call to support the programs of the Uhuru Movement to unite African people across borders to transform these conditions of poverty and oppression.

Whether it’s selling pies in the office, in front of the local Safeway or baking in the kitchen, anyone can participate in the Uhuru Holiday Pies fundraiser. Volunteer coordinator Bill Canada speaks to the wide range of people and groups involved in the campaign. “We are excited to be working with groups like Building with Books, an organization that empowers high school students to get involved in changing the world. Other groups on board this season are Alpha Phi Omega of Cal State East Bay as well as Key Clubs and Excel Clubs from Oakland high schools. We have families and individuals, young and old, who get involved every year. People love to sell our pies because they are so delicious.”

Uhuru Pies are handcrafted and are made from high quality ingredients. This year’s flavors include the signature sweet potato pie, using the authentic spice recipe, pecan, apple, pumpkin and vegan blackberry and pumpkin.

Uhuru Foods stands for solidarity with red, black and green -- sustainability and self-determination for African people everywhere. For more information about the Uhuru Movement or to order, sell or help bake Uhuru Pies this season, visit www.uhurupies.org or call (510) 625-1106.

Speak Out at Oakland City Council Tues, Oct 21st!

WHAT & WHEN:
Speak on Open Forum Before Oakland City Council on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008; Arrive at 5:45pm and Speak at 6pm
WHERE: Oakland City Council, Frank Ogawa Plaza, 3rd Floor on 14th St near Broadway
RSVP: Respond to this email and/or call Wendy at 510-295-7834 to coordinate submitting a speaker's card (we need to submit them at the same time in order to be able to speak in succession as a group).

Seven to a dozen Oakland police officers were exposed recently as lying to obtain search warrants to carry out police raids of homes in East Oakland and to "bust down the doors of suspected small time drug dealers," according to the Oakland Tribune.

We are calling for all the cases to be dismissed and for the officers in question to be fired. This is one exposed instance of the egregious attacks being carried out on the African community, criminalized by a system that itself has no regard for law, evidence or real justice.

This year alone, the Oakland Police Department has killed Casper Banjo, Jose Luis Buenrostro, Jody Woodfox and others. In recent years, the "Oakland Riders" made international news as four police officers who lied, fabricated evidence and beat and harassed the African community of West Oakland. The police brutality, containment and repression of the African community. We demand an end to the war and militarized repression and call for economic development and social justice for the African and oppressed communities in Oakland!