This blog is part of our series celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. You can celebrate with us at the 2011 Ellas: 15 Years of People-Powered Change, or submit your own anniversary memory or wish to ellasvoice@ellabakercenter.org.
I… Read more
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee, while traveling to support Black sanitation workers fighting for collective bargaining rights. His support was part of his nascent “Poor People’s Campaign” which he regarded as a second phase of the civil rights movement. Since the… Read more
My partner, child and I just got back from the United States Social Forum in Detroit on Saturday. We slept nearly the entire day Sunday; I think I slept as much or more than my four month old daughter (which is a lot).
In addition to smiling at… Read more
Tax day is here. Hopefully, you got some money back. But maybe you just found out you owe. Either way, if you are like me, you might wonder where our state tax dollars are going. California faces an unprecedented multi-billion dollar deficit; even though many of us can relate… Read more
The way the U.S. has fought its “War on Drugs,” much like its “War on Terror”, has severely damaged our credibility as a promoter of human rights across the United States and around the world. The U.S. has sent billions in counter-narcotics aid to support ineffective and inhumane policies,… Read more
In “Hellhole,” published in the March 30 issue of The New Yorker, Atul Gawande condemns the use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons as a form of torture. If solitary confinement is torturous to adults, imagine the impact of prolonged isolation on young people whose brains are… Read more
Calling it a “step backwards for California’s children and communities,” the Children’s Defense Fund joins the Ella Baker Center in taking a strong stand against Proposition 6. One of the most harmful provisions of Prop 6 is to try more children as adults — even though studies show that children’s… Read more
Here are some threats that lie beneath a worrisome California initiative, “The Safe Neighborhoods Act,” explained by Jonathon Simon’s post on the weblog Governing Through Crime. Stop Them Before They Legislate Again: California’s Lock-em-Up Couple Goes Back to the Ballot As California prisons continue into a second… Read more