Off the Record #1 SF Mayor London Breed, Black Magic Woman

 Off the Record #1 Mayor London Breed, Black Magic Woman

Santana

photo Adam Turner

Off the Record #1
Mayor London Breed

Black Magic Woman

by

Marvin X

Sun Reporter Political Columnist

Marvin X
Photo Adam Turner

When the Mayor ended her address we departed the beautiful SF City Hall, renovated during the administration of the living legend, the Honorable Willie Brown. As we made our exit from the press section, it was announced  Santana was about to play. We just knew he would play his classic Black Magic Woman in honor of our Voodoo Queen, Mayor London Breed! LoL We were informed he did not play Black Magic Woman and whatever he played was drowned out in the city hall sound trap! For the Mayor's loyal opposition, we share words from Santana's classic:

I've got a Black magic woman

Got me so blind I cannot see

Don't turn your back on me, baby

Stop messing about with your tricks

You just might pick up my magic sticks....

Wednesday, January 8

This morning SF Mayor London Breed was inaugurated for her first four year term. Initially she served out
the term of Mayor Ed Lee who suffered a heart attack. Affordable housing dominated her acceptance address,
although she began with herstory as a descendent of Africans captured in the American slave system. Eventually
her family arrived in San Francisco seeking a better life. Growing up in the projects did not allow her to imagine
one day she would be Mayor of a most beautiful city in the world.

MC Kayla Smith

photo Adam Turner

She did not imagine her goddaughter, Kayla Smith, would be mistress of ceremony at her inauguration,
or that a black woman, Superior Court Judge Teri L. Jackson, would administer the oath of office. 

 
Superior Court Judge Teri L. Jackson and Mayor Breed
photo Adam Turner

After noting historic niceties, she delved into the ugliness of the hour: lack of affordable housing, not

only for the homeless but teachers, police, techies and other workers. Affordable housing shall be the priority

of her administration, along with making the streets safe and clean for everyone. This will involve conservatorship

for the severely mentally ill. Homeless shelter beds are being made available to get people off the streets. Car parks

have been set up for persons forced to live in their cars. But again, she noted that affordable housing is the critical issue.

She said the City is planning 50,000 homes in the next decade. Whatever policies that have prevented the development of

affordable housing must be altered. "Homelessness isn't just a problem, it's a symptom: the symptom of unaffordable

housing, of income inequality, of institutional racism, of addiction, untreated illness; and decades of disinvestment.

These are the problems. And if we're going to fight homelessness, we've got to fight them all.... ...Our housing problems

were entirely predictable. They are the result of decades of almost intentional under-building, and the decision decades

ago to down-zone almost three-quarters of the city and ban apartments."

Although the Mayor's agenda is an honest attempt to address the City's critical issues, she faces serious opposition

from the board of supervisors that some black community  leaders call racist, partly because the mostly white board

proposed policies without consulting the community. SF NAACP President Rev Amos Brown is one critic.

In turn, the so called progressive supervisors charge the Mayor's affordable housing program as top down since she

wants to limit community input during the planning process. The Mayor simply wants to expedite the process because

the  problem is a full blown emergency. Her loyal opposition say she has sided with developers but Mayor Breed won

70.7% of the vote so she clearly has the consent of the governed, plus she controls the budget and city departments.

Still she will need to organize more black community support, perhaps, to convince the loyal opposition to vote in her

favor on issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, drug abuse and mental illness that impact the North American

African community. Left wing racism is still racism. Our community must support the Mayor with a visible presence at

Board of Supervisor meetings, planning committee sessions and other meetings that impact our lives. We are too often

absent. We can Lift Every Voice and Sing or sing Silent Night. But we see there are forces on the Board of Supervisors

who care not whether we remain in this city. Perhaps Mayor Breed should do what the late poet Amiri Baraka did for the

Newark, NJ city council. He purchased multiple copies of my manual How to Recover from the Addiction to White

Supremacy, a 13-step recovery program based on the AA model, and passed copies out to the city council members,

including Newark's Mayor at the time, Cory Booker. 

We hope the Mayor will ultimately understand housing is a human right, therefore the financialization of housing must

end. Everyone has a right to be housed. It should not be an economic proposition but a matter of national social security.

When the Mayor ended her address we departed the beautiful SF City Hall, renovated during the administration of the

living legend, the Honorable Willie Brown. As we made our exit from the press section, it was announced  Santana was

about to play. We just knew he would play his classic Black Magic Woman in honor of our Voodoo Queen,

Mayor London Breed! LoL We were informed he did not play Black Magic Woman and whatever he played

was drowned out in the city hall sound trap! Final word to SF Board of Supervisors: don't mess with that Black Magic Woman!

January 6, 2020

Monday Night Interfaith Prayer Service for Mayor Breed

On the eve of the inauguration of SF Mayor London Breed, Third Baptist Church, officiated by Rev Amos Brown,
hosted an interfaith prayer service Monday evening, January 6, 2020. Sun Reporter Newspaper Publisher Ameila
Ashley Ward suggested I attend in my new role as political columnist. Amelia wanted me to get familiar with
politics in the City of St. Francis. Amelia introduced me to Sheryl Evans Davis, the sister who heads the Human
Rights Commission, the brother who is State representative of the NAACP; PUC Chief Harlen Kelly and his wife
Neomi. Amelia didn't know my baby brother Tommy and Harlen grew up together in Fresno and are best friends.
Nor did she know my niece Sheena Johnson is a Specialist in Harlen's department.

Rev Amos Brown opened the service and brought on the featured speaker, the dynamic spirit filled Dr Frederick
D Haynes,III, of Dallas, Texas. On a previous occasion, after hearing Dr. Haynes preach, I told Amelia, "If I hear him
preach one more time, he might make me a Christian!" 

TonightI was again enraptured by his sermonette for Mayor London Breed, mixing the rap lyrics of Nippsy Hustle
and the Book of Isaiah. He described Mayor London Breed as one who descended from the slave ships but refused
to allow the waves to consume her. All she need do is stay under the guidance of her Spiritual GPS. He called forth
Mayor London Breed who said repeatedly she could not believe she was indeed the Mayor of San Francisco, one
of most beautiful cities in the world. She acknowledged the awesome task before her to uplift the downtrodden of
her city. She noted that on her frequent visits to the Tenderloin ghetto, she runs into people she grew up with in the
projects of the Fillmore District.

She knows it is her job to help the less fortunate, to be a role model for all the girls in the hood who think they
are doomed to a life of nothingness and dread. She knows her opposition is substantial: only one of the eleven
Supervisors was present this night. She called upon those present for support and prayers, especially the
interfaith community. She thanked them for assisting with the homeless, mentally ill and drug addicted.

--Marvin X 

1/8/20

Mayor London Breed delivering inauguration address
photo Adam Turner