News & Commentary

These days, it seems like almost every city is launching “smart initiatives” that promise to turn data about the city into improved public services, a vibrant business community, or a new approach to challenges like public health. 

Eight people were killed and nearly a dozen more injured yesterday when a man drove into the bike lane of a street in Lower Manhattan. Instead of expressing unity and resilience, Trump took to Twitter to further his nativist agenda, calling for entire Muslim and immigrant communities to be punished and for some of the worst national security policies of recent years to be revived. 

Alameda mom Dede Lewis fights the school district on its censorship of Black Lives Matter, says the value of white lives has never been up for debate.

California is known for protecting the rights of marginalized people. The ACLU of California sponsored and supported incredible legislation that was ultimately signed by the governor. And we couldn't have done it without our partners.

"Once the state furnishes medical care to poor women in general, it cannot withdraw part of that care solely because a woman exercises her constitutional right to have an abortion.”

A newly leaked FBI report contains troubling signs that the feds are scrutinizing and possibly surveilling Black activists in its search for potential "extremists."

Today, students across the country are responding to the pre-game protests by professional athletes, when players during the National Anthem have chosen to kneel, sit, or raise a fist against police violence and state oppression of African-Americans and other people of color. Inspired, students have bravely followed suit.

Local law enforcement, in particular the Sheriffs in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, are fully entangled with immigration enforcement authorities and detain people on ICE’s behalf in our local county jails. In San Bernardino county, ICE agents are also allowed full and unfettered access to county jails. Nationally, 65-75% of deportations occur because of these entanglements.

The people who grow our food shouldn’t have to risk getting sick just to do their jobs. But dozens of California-grown crops—including oranges, lemons, almonds, and walnuts—are often treated with a dangerous pesticide called chlorpyrifos that can cause asthma and brain damage. This toxicant is not safe for pregnant women and children to ingest even in trace amounts, but it is especially dangerous for the farmworkers who come into direct contact with it while they work.