Impassioned protests. An ongoing pandemic. Reckonings with historical past. And amid all of it, celebrations of life, pleasure and resistance.
2022 supplied no scarcity of indelible pictures within the Bay Space. Maintain studying to see a collection of images by KQED’s Information Photographer Beth LaBerge, alongside work by KQED’s Aryk Copley, Amaya Edwards and Marlena Sloss.
Phrases under by Lesley McClurg, Annelise Finney, Spencer Whitney, Matthew Inexperienced, Marisol Medina-Cadena, Gabe Meline, Jaclyn Diaz, Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí, Carly Severn, Lindsay Gauthier, Nastia Voynovskaya, Scott Shafer, Amaya Edwards, Cesar Saldaña, Lakshmi Sarah, Sara Hossaini, Anaïs-Ophelia Lino and Daisy Nguyen.
Because the omicron surge resulted in early January of 2022, COVID-19 continued to be a problem, particularly tough for the roughly 7 million immunocompromised People. Amongst them was Sassy Outwater-Wright. Her 39-year-old physique can be very fragile.
Proper when COVID hit within the spring of 2020, the Berkeley resident began feeling an agonizing ache in her head and face. Docs found a really aggressive soft-tissue most cancers creeping towards her mind. Radiation and chemotherapy remedy worn out her white blood cells, and subsequently her immune system. Leaving the home, not to mention taking an Uber to and from the hospital for screenings and checkups, was and nonetheless is terrifying for her. Public transportation continues to be out of the query.
Learn ‘Threat No Matter The place I Go’: For Many Disabled Individuals, a Way forward for Ever-Current COVID Is Daunting
In 1981, Naomi Kubota Lee, then a UC Berkeley undergraduate pupil, was the co-chair for the San Francisco department of the Nationwide Coalition for Redress/Reparations, a Japanese American grassroots group that organized individuals to testify on the fee hearings. Lee’s dad and mom and grandparents have been incarcerated at Topaz Warfare Relocation Heart in Utah.
Lee retains an archive from the hearings, full of transcripts of testimony and handbills, saved in three rows of submitting packing containers in a studio in her Mill Valley house. She remembers sitting within the viewers, surrounded by different Japanese People, listening to individuals describe their experiences, in some circumstances, for the very first time. The rapt viewers cheered for the audio system, whereas additionally weeping with them. “It’s actually fairly an emotional course of after I reopen and browse some testimonies right here and there,” Lee mentioned.
Learn How Japanese People within the Bay Space Are Carrying Ahead the Legacy of Reparations
“The Lunar New 12 months parade is about bringing out positivity and hope for group,” mentioned Richard Ow, known as “sifu,” which means instructor. College students on the Yau Kung Moon College be taught the basics of the Yau Kung Moon fashion, and the Nam Si Buk Mo lion dance fashion.
“For the efficiency, we usher in members which were with us for 22 years, and it’s like a household gathering once more,” Ow mentioned. “Individuals nonetheless come out rain or shine. We symbolize our group positively in Chinatown.”
Learn ‘Hope for Group’: Storied Chinatown Kung Fu College Gears Up for First Lunar New 12 months Parade Since Pandemic Started
Russia commenced its assault on Ukraine early on the morning of Feb. 24, unleashing a barrage of airstrikes on cities and army bases and sending in troops and tanks from a number of instructions, as civilians piled into trains and vehicles to flee.
Later that very same day, lots of of individuals gathered exterior San Francisco Metropolis Corridor to protest the invasion. There are roughly 20,000 individuals of Ukrainian descent dwelling within the Bay Space, in line with the Ukrainian consulate in San Francisco.
Learn ‘I am Devastated’: Bay Space Ukrainians React to Russian Invasion of Their Homeland
In 2020, the American Indian Cultural District was created in La Misión in San Francisco — a house base for the City Native group. Rightnowish introduces us to the individuals behind this cultural district, together with Sharaya Souza.
“What individuals do not know is that at one level, the Mission district was referred to as the ‘Crimson Ghetto,'” mentioned Souza. “At one level, it was a thriving, bustling space of American Indian companies, organizations and group members. And right now, once we have a look at the information that comes from a map, we nonetheless see a lot of our members really reside within the cultural district … It’s a persevering with historical past. It’s a dwelling historical past.”
Learn ‘You are On Native Land’ : The Cultural District Honoring City Native Historical past
The Soapbox Derby made its grand, colourful return to McLaren Park in San Francisco on April 10 with thrills, hills and spills.
Hundreds turned out to see 57 artwork vehicles, none of them outfitted with engines or motors, hurl (and sometimes crawl) precariously downhill. The races occurred on John F. Shelley Drive, an under-maintained asphalt impediment of a avenue, full with potholes, cracks and — presenting a supply of generally slapstick comedy for the group — a pace bump.
Learn PHOTOS: The Soapbox Derby’s Wild Downhill Motion in San Francisco
Chris Lodgson, lead organizer of the Coalition for a Simply and Equitable California, mentioned that Black Californians who’re descendants of U.S. slaves are topic to surprising financial disparities and oppression.
Lodgson informed information outlet Axios that this mandate to gather detailed demographic data from state staff will open the door to revealing disparities in earnings, careers and management inside California state companies. “You may’t repair an issue till you see it, till you acknowledge it,” Lodgson informed Axios.
Learn California Turns into the First State to Break Down Black Worker Knowledge by Lineage and No, the Reparations Activity Power Report Is not a ‘Watershed Second.’ Motion Will Be
The Supreme Courtroom resolution in Dobbs v. Jackson Ladies’s Well being Group, introduced on June 24, overturned Roe v. Wade and eradicated the constitutional proper to an abortion.
California ensures the suitable to abortion in statute and the state structure. Our state’s abortion legal guidelines are the strongest in america. Each officers and abortion suppliers have made it very clear that abortion entry in California is not going to change due to the U.S. Supreme Courtroom’s resolution.
Learn With Roe v. Wade Overturned, What’s Subsequent for Our Constitutional Rights? and LGBTQ+ Advocates Concern Implications of Overturning Roe v. Wade
A way of hope is on the coronary heart of Sean Dorsey’s new work, The Misplaced Artwork of Dreaming. It’s additionally the impetus for a brand new, forward-looking part of Dorsey’s creative life, centered on encouraging trans and nonbinary individuals to assert their proper to a life they love.
“So many trans persons are informed that we received’t have a future,” Dorsey mentioned. “So many people are discouraged from dreaming, are discouraged from imagining, discovering love, discovering group. Dreaming invitations us all to think about expansive futures which are joyful and liberated, and by which we raise one another up with love.”
Learn Transgender Dancer Invitations Trans and Queer Individuals to Dream Huge
Grief and anger swept the Bay Space as San Francisco headed into Pleasure weekend after the Supreme Courtroom’s resolution to overturn Roe v. Wade. However LGBTQ+ individuals didn’t cower in worry — they celebrated in defiance.
As 1000’s of individuals joined the Trans March at Dolores Park on June 24, the day the ruling got here down, a queer and trans drum ensemble saved a gradual beat whereas the group chanted, “When our group is beneath assault, what will we do?/Stand up, combat again!” Although Roe is technically useless, and quite a few states are legislating in opposition to trans well being care and different rights, the Trans March didn’t really feel like a funeral procession. As an alternative, it grew to become a ritual transmuting rage into collective energy and providing a prayer for the subsequent era.
Whereas each few individuals on the Trans March held protest indicators, the Dyke March — which additionally took off from Dolores Park on June 25 — largely made a political assertion by the use of pleasure, and making individuals really feel seen and heard.
“Being collectively helps us heal,” an attendee mentioned because the march made its approach again from the Castro. The ladies of the Dyke March cheered and waved to the individuals partying on their porches and enjoying disco of their entrance yards. After the march ended, everybody dispersed into Dolores Park, the place lots of of LGBTQ+ pal teams picnicked, drank and danced.
Learn SF Pleasure Celebrates in Defiance of Assaults on Reproductive, Trans Rights
San Francisco Mayor London Breed on July 7 tapped Brooke Jenkins to be town’s subsequent district legal professional, selecting a murder prosecutor who left the DA’s workplace final yr and have become a number one critic of her former boss Chesa Boudin.
The appointment comes a month after 55% of voters within the metropolis opted to recall Boudin from workplace, halfway by means of his first time period. Jenkins described herself as a “progressive prosecutor,” but in addition mentioned she supposed to rebalance the workplace’s strategy to crime and punishment. “As a Black and Latina girl, I’ve seen the imbalances and disproportionate impacts of our prison justice firsthand,” Jenkins mentioned at a Metropolis Corridor press convention, after Breed launched her.
Learn Breed Faucets Boudin Critic Brooke Jenkins as New San Francisco DA
On July 9 and 10, KK Brinson competed on the Invoice Pickett Invitational Rodeo (BPIR). William “Invoice” Pickett was born in 1870 in Taylor, Texas. He invented the specialty rodeo occasion “bulldogging,” also called steer wrestling, and is likely one of the most well-known Black cowboys in American historical past. The touring occasion named in his honor celebrates Black cowboy tradition across the nation.
Collaborating in one other BPIR felt like a homecoming for Brinson, making it much more essential to “present up and present out.” “After I was 13, that was the primary rodeo I ever began with. That was the primary rodeo I’ve ever seen. That was the primary rodeo that I used to be ever welcome to,” Brinson mentioned.
Learn KK Brinson, a Black Cowgirl from Oakland, Will get Prepared for Her Comeback
On Aug. 11, the Castro Theatre’s new operators, the live-music promoters One other Planet Leisure (APE), hosted a city corridor to debate the theater’s future. The proposed restoration and renovation of the 100-year-old theater consists of the ceiling, marquee, proscenium, dressing rooms, bogs, ADA compliance and extra — upgrades broadly welcomed. One a part of APE’s proposal, nevertheless, impressed over 5,000 opponents to signal a petition launched by the nonprofit Castro Theatre Conservancy, which names well-known movie administrators like Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola amongst its supporters.
The controversy comes all the way down to the raked theater flooring and the Castro’s conventional orchestra-style theater seating, which APE has proposed changing with detachable seats on multilevel, flat platforms extra conducive to standing-room live shows.
Learn There’s Solely One Castro Theatre. Why Change It Now?
Hundreds of farmworkers and their allies completed a march to California’s Capitol in Sacramento on Aug. 26, finishing the final leg of a 24-day journey that started 350 miles away in Delano. The United Farm Employees union designed the march to strain Gov. Gavin Newsom to signal a invoice that will give farmworkers the choice to vote by mail in union elections, mirroring the way in which Californians vote for candidates for political workplace.
Newsom initially introduced his intention to veto the invoice — some of the contentious payments earlier than the governor this yr — however reversed course after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris publicly backed it, pinning him in a tough political place. Nevertheless, Newsom authorised the invoice solely after he, the United Farm Employees and the California Labor Federation agreed on clarifying language to be thought of throughout subsequent yr’s legislative session to deal with his considerations round implementation and voting integrity.
Learn Farmworkers’ 24-Day March Culminates in Sacramento, Pressuring Newsom to Signal Union Invoice
Feelings ran sizzling Sept. 8, as Caltrans started evicting residents from Oakland’s largest encampment of unhoused individuals. Some residents of the Wooden Road encampment, with assist from volunteers and activists, erected a makeshift barricade to dam the one entry street to the positioning.
Woody Guthrie’s folks anthem “This Land Is Your Land” blared from a windup amplifier as Oakland police and California Freeway Patrol officers confronted off with residents and supporters.
“You destroy individuals’s lives, you’re taking their belongings,” mentioned Ben Murawski, 47, his voice quivering. “And the way are they speculated to get again on their ft to do something to maneuver ahead in life?”
Learn Residents, Activists Decry Evictions at Oakland’s Largest Homeless Encampment
On Oct. 9, round 2,000 Iranian People joined a bunch of native politicians exterior San Francisco’s Metropolis Corridor in assist of the continuing woman-led rebellion in Iran.
“What is occurring in Iran now could be a lesson to the world of what occurs once you let spiritual extremists take management,” mentioned state Sen. Scott Wiener on the protest. “Now we have to demand our leaders and our media, that we shed a light-weight on this and that the whole world rally with the ladies of Iran to place an finish to this regime.”
Learn 4 Methods to Take Motion in Solidarity With the Individuals of Iran
On Oct. 10, lots of gathered in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens to have a good time Indigenous Peoples Day with a day of efficiency, group and artistic expression. Xochitl Flores of San Francisco was one in every of them, photographed as he put ayoyotes on his ankles in preparation for performing a standard Mexica dance on the gathering.
“At this time is a celebration of our continued resistance, our solidarity with Indigenous individuals all around the world,” mentioned occasion emcee Morning Star Gali. “It’s actually lovely … to see Indigenous individuals celebrated on this approach. It’s about our ongoing resistance to colonialism.”
Learn ‘Our Ongoing Resistance’: See Indigenous Peoples Day Celebrated in San Francisco
Khaled Almaghafi is the native beekeeper whom BART has tasked for the final 5 years with eradicating beehives and safely relocating their more and more susceptible insect inhabitants — whereas additionally getting some good honey out of the deal.
“BART got here alongside and mentioned, ‘Do you take away bees alive?’ I mentioned, ‘After all I do,’” mentioned Almaghafi, who has tended bees within the Bay Space for almost three many years and now takes care of, and harvests from, over 100 beehives that he retains in Oakland and Richmond. Almaghafi is paid per job and retains the bees and honey he finds.
Learn A Candy Deal: This Oakland Beekeeper Rescues Bees From BART — Then Sells the Honey
In San Francisco, Black birthing individuals make up half of town’s pregnancy-related deaths, and Black youngsters make up 15% of toddler deaths regardless of representing simply 4% of all births. Metropolis information additionally exhibits almost 14% of Black infants are born prematurely in contrast with 7.3% of white infants.
Asmara Gebre, a nurse-midwife, based One Love Black Group, an area group devoted to bettering Black individuals’s entry to reproductive well being care. Sabrina Corridor is simply a type of Gebre and her most devoted volunteer, Cassandra Perkins — an outreach coordinator for the San Francisco Division of Public Well being — have been supporting.
Learn Diapers, Meals and Money: San Francisco Group Helps Black Households, One Supply at a Time
The Golden Gate Bridge. The Bay Bridge. Sutro Tower. Coit Tower. Even perhaps (whisper it) the Salesforce Tower. In terms of immediately recognizable constructions, San Francisco suffers no scarcity. But when requested to choose their favourite, many individuals would possibly go for a traditional: the Transamerica Pyramid.
The Pyramid — formally referred to as the Transamerica Pyramid Heart — first opened again in 1972, making it a half-century outdated this yr. At over 850 ft excessive, again then it was the tallest constructing San Francisco had ever seen. It has over 3,000 home windows, an exterior of white quartz, and an illuminated spire at its very prime, just like the star on prime of a Christmas tree.
Learn The Transamerica Pyramid at 50: From ‘Architectural Butchery’ to Icon
