Feature Archives

On August 3rd, Kevin Kumashiro spoke with Teachers for Class War on Free Radio Santa Cruz about reframing education debates, politics of education and realities of classrooms from grade 2 through teacher training programs, looking at intersections of race and sexuality for youth, as well as Asian American experiences.

Leonard Peltier, a sixty-four-year-old activist and political prisoner being held at the Lewisburg prison in Pennsylvania, who was illegally extradited from Canada, tried in a sham trial, and has been denied justice for over thirty-three years, had a parole hearing on July 28th. The results have not yet been announced.

On Sunday, August 2, the documentary William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe will screen in Berkeley as part of the Jewish Film Festival. The late civil rights attorney William Kunstler was one of the most famous and controversial lawyers of the 20th century. He represented civil rights and anti-war activists, as well as accused terrorists and murderers.

Raj Jayadev writes: "What would have happened to Dr. Gates if he were not an acclaimed scholar and author, friend to the President, and someone whose stardom could greatly embarrass a city and county justice system? What would have happened if Dr. Gates, were he not a noted scholar, was arrested in my city, San Jose, California, with the same fact pattern, even as described by the police report?"

Health care reform activists in the San Francisco Bay Area rallied on July 30th in solidarity with a major demonstration held in Washington, DC. "Medicare: Made in America Rally and Lobby Day" marked the 44th anniversary of the creation of a single-payer health care system for seniors. Demonstrators celebrated by serving up slices of "single layer, single-payer Medicare birthday cake."

On July 13th, defense attorneys for Joseph Buddenberg, Maryam Khajavi, Nathan Pope and Adriana Stumpo (the AETA 4) presented oral arguments on their motion to strike down the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA). The AETA 4 are being represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC), and other well-respected civil rights attorneys, including Tony Serra. The defense demanded that AETA be struck down as unconstitutional before Judge Ronald Whyte of the United States District Court, Northern District of California in San Jose.

On July 6, People gathered at Harry Bridges Plaza in the Embarcadero to remember the day, July 5, 1934, when two strikers were gunned down and killed by police. Several hundred union members and their supporters, many from around the world, marched in a reenacted funeral procession of the fallen men, Howard Sperry and Nick Bordoise. As the procession passed the memorial at Mission and Steuart Streets, across the street from the site of the deaths, they took off their hats.