"This is not just a fight against my First Amendment rights
– this is an attack on the rights of Black newspapers and Black
journalists. We have to create a space for Black media to speak
truth to power without being subjected to oppression or censorship
by those who seek to silence our voices because it's inconvenient
for them to listen to Black struggles." – Malik Washington
WHO
: The Malik Defense Committee is organizing this fundraiser on
behalf of Keith “Malik” Washington, editor of the
San
Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper
that has been serving the Bay Area for 45 years, who is under
attack by GEO Group for his unflinching political analysis and activism.
INTENT
: We are fundraising for Malik's First Amendment right to speak
as a journalist for the Bay View and to pay the legal costs accrued
in Malik’s lawsuit defending himself and the SF Bay View against
both the Federal Bureau of Prisons and prison-profiteer GEO Group.
BACKGROUND
: On Jan. 9, 2021, Washington contacted a reporter about a
COVID-19 outbreak that was taking place at the 111 Taylor Street
Center halfway house located in San Francisco's Tenderloin District.
The Taylor Street Center is owned by GEO Group – a corporation that
has been banned from operating prisons in the entire state of
California, and whose contracts include several notoriously abusive
ICE Detention facilities.
The reporter then sent emails to the GEO Group asking about the
COVID outbreak. The GEO Group initially denied that an outbreak was
taking place.
Retaliation against Washington began soon afterwards. On Jan.
10, 2021, a GEO Group employee informed Washington that Facility
Director Maria Richard had revoked permission for him to attend a
press conference that the SF Bay View had sponsored and organized to
address systemic racism in the San Francisco Health Service System.
A GEO Group employee then came to Washington’s room and
confiscated his cell phone, which he is allowed to have. The
employee told Washington he could not get his phone back. Washington
was also told that he could no longer speak to members of the press
without obtaining permission from GEO Group and the Bureau of Prisons.
All of these acts of retaliation were visited upon Washington
because he contacted a news reporter about a serious public health
issue. See SF Public Defender's searing documentary released Feb. 16
exposing GEO Group's deadly mishandling of COVID-19:
https://wearedefender.com/111-taylor.
Since Washington’s release from federal prison in September
2020, he has been on numerous radio programs, both local and
nationally syndicated. Washington has attended press conferences
both physical and virtual and he has fulfilled the duties of an
editor of a major publication.
None of this was a problem for GEO until the COVID outbreak at
the Taylor Street Center.
Malik has retained the services of attorney Richard Tan, who
commented: “Mr. Washington was retaliated against for exercising his
rights, under the First Amendment and the Free Speech Clause of the
California Constitution, to speak about a COVID outbreak in the
heart of San Francisco – an outbreak which is still ongoing.”
WE NEED YOU
! Join the Bay View and Malik's fight to dismantle the systems
that seek to censor and oppress us!
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