Feature Archives

In August 2006, seven African American lesbians were walking down the street in the West Village, when a male bystander assaulted them with sexist and homophobic comments. The women tried to defend themselves, and a fight broke out. The women were arrested and three of them accepted plea offers while the other four received sentences of up to 11 years in prison.

On Monday, June 23, 2008, Terrain Dandridge’s case was overturned, all her charges were dropped and her record was cleared. Terrain Dandridge and her mother meet with Angela Davis at the San Francisco Women’s Building for a public event Tuesday, June 24th to discuss the experiences of violence faced by queer people of color.

On June 6, a Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge voided a demolition permit for the historic Juana Briones home. Juana Briones de Miranda was a Latina businesswoman, humanitarian, and landowner who built a rare earthen-walled house in the 1840s in what later became Palo Alto.

As the longest running festival of its kind, the UCSC Women of Color Film and Video Festival has sparked dialogue across communities – locally, nationally, and trans-nationally – by providing a platform for critical explorations at the intersections of race, nation, class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality. The festival took place March 14th and 15th at UC Santa Cruz along with spoken word and hip-hop on Friday night at the Hide Gallery in Santa Cruz.

Saturday, March 8th is International Women's Day. The first IWD in the United States was observed in 1909, after a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. The day is observed in countries all over the world, with celebrations taking political, social, and cultural forms. In many cities around the world, women participate in a Global Women's Strike. Some organizers focus on the situation of women in countries such as Iran.

On Friday January 18th, anti-choicers gathered for a "Standing Up For Life" conference and march in Oakland. This particular gathering focused on the African American community of the East Bay and cited the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. They planned to march past the Women's Choice Clinic, as march organizers accused the clinic of participating in a racist holocaust. Those who support Oakland as a pro-choice community for all women confronted the anti-choicers in Frank Ogawa Plaza, just a few blocks from the clinic.

On Saturday, January 19th, San Francisco pro-choicers celebrated the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, which made abortion legal for women in the United States. For the first time in years, pro-choice marchers were granted a permit for a rally in San Francisco's Justin Herman Plaza. Following the rally, pro-choicers protested the "Walk for Life," in which thousands of anti-choice people from all over the state marched down the Embarcadero for an anti-abortion rally on the Marina Green. Pro-choice organizers said that "Roe v. Wade must be defended and expanded."

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27th. Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim state. She was sworn in as Prime Minister in 1988 but was removed from office after only 20 months on grounds of alleged corruption. In 1993 Bhutto was re-elected but was again removed in 1996 on similar charges. In mid 2007, Bhutto appeared to have arranged a power sharing deal with the US backed dictator Pervez Musharraf, but the deal was scuttled when the Supreme Court appeared set to rule that Musharraf could not legally remain President. Musharraf declared emergency rule in December and replaced the Supreme Court. Bhutto was placed under house arrest and publicly denounced Musharraf, but refused to boycott elections set for January 2008.