Feature Archives

To support transformational change for Black communities in Sacramento, the Build. Black. Coalition and Black Lives Matter Sacramento announced they are creating a multi-year plan in partnership with the Sacramento Kings to support the education of young people and to provide the workforce preparation and economic development efforts needed to truly #BuildBlackFutures. The effort to support and lift up Black youth begins this Friday, March 30 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the South Sacramento Christian Church.

Black people, especially women, are more likely to have been unarmed when killed by police than non-blacks, according to a new study of nationwide data. This risk also appears to increase in police departments with a greater presence of non-white officers, report the researchers. A key finding of the study is that nearly 60 percent of black women killed by police were unarmed at the time of the interaction.  While the odds of being killed by police when unarmed were about the same for black and white males, the high percentage of unarmed black women killed by police significantly increased the overall odds for unarmed blacks.

Black Lives Matter Sacramento writes: The murder of Stephon Clark was unjustified. On March 18th at 9:13 pm, Stephon was murdered, and while the police interrogated his family, the family was not told that his body was in their backyard. Four hours later at 1:00 am, his grandmother looked into the backyard, and saw his body on the ground, shot up. Within 48 hours Sacramento Police Department changed their story four times: first, they said he was carrying a gun; then they said he was carrying a “toolbar;” then they stated he was carrying a wrench; lastly, they confirmed that he only had a cellphone.

Chief Deputy Craig Wilson of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office has been appointed to the new editorial board of the Santa Cruz Sentinel. The process was initiated by the Sentinel's new managing editor, Kara Meyberg Guzman. The appointment raises serious questions concerning the Sentinel's journalistic independence, and the news organization's ability to adequately respond editorially to issues of police brutality and brutality within the Santa Cruz County jail system. Wilson oversees Santa Cruz County's corrections Bureau, a department he has managed as deaths spiked at the jail.

Defend J20 Resistance writes: On January 20, 2017 at the massive protests in Washington DC against Trump’s inauguration, militarized police attacked and mass-arrested over 200 protestors, charging 214 of them with an unprecedented eight felonies. The first trial against 6 defendants ended with a verdict of not guilty on all charges. In this touring presentation, you'll hear an overview and critical analysis of the case this far, highlighting its role and significance in the changing landscape of political repression in the United States.

Joshua Shepherd writes: I have a self-inflicted wound. I joined the United States military. I didn't know. I couldn't see. I couldn't hear. I was borne of wounded folk. I became wounded myself. Let us heal. I am currently using a Twitter account @FortressBayArea to name militarisms past and present. I aspire to a kind of community solidarity where we challenge our neighbors to stop inflicting wounds for their own sake and that of others. The foundation of the modern Bay Area was laid on conquest. Of land, of people, of spirit. One of UC Berkeley's cornerstones was shifted 5° to align with the Golden Gate and mark the coming conquest of the Pacific.

Hundreds of immigrant rights activists, including many students, unionists, and other allies, surrounded the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in San Francisco to disrupt ICE's daily patterns of mistreatment and dehumanization. Increased ICE activity has been reported throughout the Bay Area, the Central Coast, and in the Central Valley. Reports from rapid response networks confirm that ICE agents have recently arrested hundreds of people in cities including Monterey, Oakland, Fresno, Napa, San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Clara, and Salinas.