News & Commentary
Transform California: Stop the Hate Now
From North Carolina to California and everywhere in between, transgender individuals face threats from lawmakers, bigots, pundits and others who choose to marginalize their fellow residents.
By Melissa Goodman
An Apology to Alex Nieto, Idriss Stelley, and their Family and Friends
We owe an apology to our community, and especially to the family and friends of Alex Nieto and Idriss Stelley. In our January letter to the US Department of Justice, we mischaracterized the shooting deaths of Alex Nieto and Idriss Stelley. We included language regarding Alex Nieto that was in published reports, but was both disputed by the family, and not relevant to the police shooting. And, we did not provide details that would be important in understanding the circumstances in which Alex Nieto and Idriss Stelley were killed.
By Alan Schlosser, Claudia Center
Clovis Learns the Hard Way: Hiding Discrimination in a Dress Code Won’t Fly
The Clovis Unified School District has a problem. School administrators in this small town in California’s Central Valley can’t seem to stop punishing students for being themselves. But this week, the school board took a brave leap into the 21st century and amended the dress code – bringing it into compliance with California law for the first time in recent memory.
By Abre' Conner
Communities Not Jails
Where we spend our money says a lot about our priorities. That’s why California’s legislature must reject the governor’s plan to spend $250 million more taxpayer dollars to build new jails.
By Margaret Dooley-Sammuli
Together We Can Put a Stop to High-Tech Racial Profiling
This week, we’re attending the “Color of Surveillance” conference in Washington, D.C., meeting leaders and activists from across the country who are shining a light on discriminatory surveillance. When technology advances, the tools of surveillance change but the color of surveillance remains the same. Here in California, we’re seeing communities fighting back against the secretive purchase and unaccountable use of surveillance technologies like Stingrays, license plate readers, and social media surveillance software.
Hey DOJ: SFPD Text Scandal Shows Review Isn’t Enough. Please Help.
Today we sent a letter to the Department of Justice. Racist and homophobic texts by SFPD officers again demonstrate why a review of department policies alone—with no enforceability—is not enough. We need a pattern and practice investigation.
By Alan Schlosser
Do Fresno Police Have a Secrecy Problem?
One day after Fresno PD’s fourth shooting this year, the department released body cam footage of police killing Freddy Centeno last September and claimed that the shooting was justified. But why is the shooting still shrouded in secrecy?
By Novella Coleman
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