Feature Archives

Early this month officers of the San José police union unleashed a new website with video mocking public testimony by a critic of police practices. Two City Council members, Sam Liccardo and Ash Kalra, quickly denounced inflammatory statements as well as the video on the police union website. The Council members noted that activist Raj Jayadev's testimony was incorrectly characterized as a threat, and signed a letter stating that, "First Amendment freedoms may be chilled when dissent is characterized as threats".

The San José Police Department is coming under increased public scrutiny after killing 27-year-old Daniel Pham in his own backyard last month. City officials are also being criticized for trying to hire the brother of a city police officer for the position of Independent Police Auditor for the city, and the community is demanding more input into the process of identifying a new top cop watcher.

On May 26th, a delegation of janitors who were laid off from their jobs at Cisco Systems' corporate headquarters met with San Jose City Council members. More than 75 were laid off despite the tech company's enormous profitability. Since then, the janitors and hundreds of Silicon Valley community supporters have launched a series of escalating mobilizations to urge the corporation to be responsible and put the janitors back to work.

On May 21st, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Civil Liberties Defense Center joined in a defense attorneys’ motion in the San Jose district court to dismiss U.S.A. v. Buddenberg, a federal prosecution of four animal rights activists in California for alleged conspiracy to commit animal enterprise terrorism. The four have been charged with First Amendment protected activities such as protesting, chalking the sidewalk, chanting and leafleting. The motion asks the Court to strike down the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) as unconstitutional.

With Mexican flags and music, Cinco de Mayo was celebrated in San José on May 3rd with the usual pride and enthusiasm. People were just trying to have some safe fun driving slowly down Santa Clara Street, the main thoroughfare from Mexican Heritage Plaza and the east side of the city into downtown. The crowds were smaller than previous years, but that did not stop San José police from targeting Latinos.

Cinco de Mayo is traditionally a time of celebration on the streets of San José, but the early days of May brought more protest than ceremony to the city center this year. City Hall Plaza was the scene of two demonstrations, both of which were monitored by mounted city police. The protests called for meaningful immigration reform and an end to police brutality.

On May 1st, International Workers Day, rallies and marches were held in the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Cruz County, and the Central Valley. Demonstrators called for action in defense of jobs, families, immigrants, and unions.