As everyone knows the Bay Bridge has been under emergency construction for the past week. Some people have said that the parts of the bridge had fallen, others said that a chunk fell into the ocean, but what happened was the metal was rubbing against each other, caused by the high winds. This caused two rods and a saddle to crash onto the roadway last Tuesday, 10-27-09.

A few weeks before this happened I heard a rumor that someone saw a crack or a rip in the Bay Bridge. If this is true then why was in not investigated? So many people could have gotten hurt or die. I could not imagine my family being on the bridge during that time.

People are so simple minded, they think, “oh the bridge broke, it’s alright the government well fix it.”

I just don’t understand why people are not really affected by it at all, well… maybe a little because they couldn’t drive across the bridge but would you want to drive on that thing after finding out that the bridge was broken for the second time. For people who don’t know the first time was in 1989 during the big earthquake.
Ever since they patched up, but will have to makes more repairs in the coming months. The people on the bridge have been driving over it like nothing is wrong. I personally do not want to use that bridge because I’d rather sit back and watch the drama, then be in it or have front roll seats. What I mean is when the bridge goes falling down on everyone and into the ocean I won’t be there I will be nice warm in my house with my family watching it on the news.

I think people should just have more common sense, if you don’t know what happened or don’t understand it then find out the information. You need to keep you and your family safe, especially if you travel across the bridge a lot. Don’t be like a common person and look past what happened like everybody else.
—Valerie Klinker

Last night at the candle light vigil held in Richmond in support of the 15-year-old student who was brutally gang raped outside of her Homecoming dance, the victim herself released a statement to the public which read by her church pastor.

“We realize people are angry about this. But let the anger cause change, change that is necessary to keep our children, our neighbors and our friends safe.”

She also wrote in her statement, “violence is always the wrong choice.”

If I had experienced the two-hour horrific ordeal that she went through I can honestly say I don’t think I would have put those words to paper. It is a strong, empowering statement from a young woman who has been through hell and I applaud her for her strength. But I don’t think I would be able to call on change for the positive change after that.

I didn’t go through what she went through, but I went through something similar. When I finally came to terms with what had happened to me, I went through stages of self-hatred, anger at the world, anger at my ex, I didn’t want to just smile and nod and act like everything was A-OK. I wanted to take something like a baseball bat and do some damage. Of course, I didn’t actually do that, but it takes a very strong person to go through that and not come out of it bitter and hateful.

Because of that I really do appreciate her for coming out and saying something.
—Eming Piansay

Today I when came into work and got on the computer I came across a story that caught my attention. It was basically an article explaining the H1N1 virus. Well, actually it was talking about people who are at higher risk to catch the swine flu and it states their argument on why we need to get vaccinated.

I already knew about the swine flu being more of a risk for ages 18 to 22 year olds. Which means we are at higher risk to get the H1N1 virus. I think it has something to do with our immune system not being able to fight off the flu on its own, but I didn’t know that it’s also attacking little babies, children, the elderly, people with asthma or women who are pregnant.

This kind of scared me because I have a handsome son who is has barely started touching and terrorizing everything and I could not imagine anything happening to him. I am kind of a germophobe, which means I can’t stand when people cough and don’t cover their mouth or spit near me.

Also I am pregnant, and I do not want to get vaccinated for the swine flu. A lot of people are trying to scare me into it though. It’s not like I just don’t usually take shots, it’s because I am scared of what’s inside the medicine, I don’t know what the effects will be and every time I hear about the vaccine people make it seem like something is wrong with it, whether it’s friends or my spouse are telling me about the swine flu. They never took the vaccine before so they would not be able to tell me how it made them feel or if it changed them some how.

I wish someone close to me did get the vaccine so I can ask them questions about it and I would have to question their answers. I think if I get vaccinated I will get really sick, hurt the child inside of me, probably get people who are close to me sick and I won’t get better. I don’t really trust the government because I think they are the cause for the sicknesses across the world and they are only targeting those who are weak.

Even on the Internet I was reading about the vaccine and it said that all the vaccines have not had any bad effects so far, the word so far is a big no, no, to me. That means something bad is going to happen later on, I mean I know it well benefit me but I don’t want to put something in my system or even in my sons system with out having that mush knowledge about it.

—Valerie Klinker

 

The gang rape of a 15-year-old at Richmond High School last weekend has shaken many of us. The details have made us shudder. We’ve refused to read the details of the assault or we’ve analyzed more than a dozen people watched and did nothing or we’ve quietly thanked women like Margarita Vargas and Atianna Gibbs who upon hearing about the rape say they called the police. More than two hours had already lapsed.

The rape has also raised the issue of race.

The young white girl in this CNN video protests that school officials are not providing security at Richmond High School because its student body is made up of kids of color.

“We are ostracized [by school officials] because of our race and our minorities,” says Kami Baker, who claims that a high school she previously attended had lots of security guards because its student body was mostly white.

It’s hard to figure out what’s most disturbing about this video—Kami stumbling through tears and anger to make her points but ending on an enigmatic reference to Asian students or that a white student immediately jumps to the idea of checking the IDs of Latino men as the only way to feel safe or that CNN made no reference in its written report to Kami’s insistence that school security policies vary according to the skin color of students.

The rape took place while the school had its homecoming dance and school officials have acknowledged that two site supervisors left the dance at 9pm. They’ve also admitted that the high school has surveillance cameras that don’t work.

Meanwhile, the school has received emails from across the nation comparing its students to animals, forcing young people of color in Richmond to defend themselves, their school and their community—precisely at a time when they are in terrible grief and shock.

“It’s stigmatizing an entire people,” say Nicholas James, director of special projects with Youth Together, an organization that develops student leaders at six sites in the Bay Area including Richmond High School. “Why can’t we see this for what it is—violence against women of color.”

The organization is proposing to have workshops at the high school to talk about the cycles of violence in school and in the larger community. An email circulating on Friday also announced that students are organizing a healing event for next Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 3:30 pm.

As of Friday morning, cops had also arrested six people including teenage boys and young men. One of them is a young Black man, whose family insists he was only arrested because he is Black, prompting comments that the family is playing the race card and leaving the rest of us to wonder how much worse this is going to get before it’s over.

***
Donations are being taken for the victim. Checks can be sent to: 
Assault Victim Fund
Richmond High School
1250 23rd St.
Richmond, CA 94804

The checks should be made out to “Richmond High School Student Fund.” On the memo line, write “Assault Victim Fund.”