Survival requires sacrifice

September 22, 2025

The SF Bay View National Black Newspaper is facing a financial crisis, losing an average of $4,000 monthly in 2025 and falling $7,500 behind on rent. Publishers Dr. Willie Ratcliff and Mary Ratcliff are hosting a combination 93rd birthday celebration and brainstorming session on September 24, 2025, at the Ruth Williams Bayview Opera House to generate ideas for saving the publication. The newspaper particularly emphasizes its importance to incarcerated people, crediting prisoner stories published in the Bay View with contributing to California's 30% drop in incarceration rates following the 2011-2013 hunger strikes.

Who is affected

The SF Bay View National Black Newspaper and its publishers
Thousands of prisoners around the country who rely on the print newspaper
The Bayview Hunters Point community
Readers of the "Black radical newspaper"
The newspaper's landlord who is waiting for $7,500 in overdue rent

What action is being taken

A combination birthday celebration and brainstorming session is being hosted on September 24, 2025, at the Ruth Williams Bayview Opera House
The publishers are soliciting ideas from the community on how to save the newspaper
The newspaper continues to publish in print despite financial losses to maintain access for prisoners

Why it matters

The Bay View is described as "a historical record, a community stronghold, and a continuing instrument of liberation"
The newspaper's prisoner stories are credited with contributing to California's 30% drop in incarceration rates
Moving to an online-only format would cut off thousands of prisoners from information they use "to organize and get free"
The newspaper serves as a platform for truth-telling from a Black radical perspective
The publication provides representation in a region with extreme wealth inequality (high concentration of billionaires alongside nearly 20% poverty rate)

What's next

No explicit next steps stated in the article beyond the upcoming September 24 meeting to brainstorm solutions.

Read full article from source: San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper