vol. 56, no. 5

clu news"

on are ese FES. )

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PERMIT NO. 4424

Volume LVI

September - October 1992

No. 5

~ ACLU Challenges San Francisco's

Crackdown on Dissent |

ACLU Sues City over Mass

Arrests of May 8 Demonstrators

he ACLU-NC and_ co-counsel

Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro filed a

- class action civil rights lawsuit on

September 3 in U.S. District Court in San

Francisco against Mayor Frank Jordan,

former San Francisco Police Chief

Richard Hongisto, the City and County of

San Francisco and others challenging the

unlawful mass arrests on May 8 of hun-

dreds of demonstrators who were protest-

ing the acquittals of LAPD officers in the

beating of Rodney King, racism, and

police brutality. The suit is seeking money

damages as well as injunctive and declara-

tory relief.

The four named plaintiffs in the lawsuit

(Brown y. Jordan) - Vince Brown, Aviva

Kakar, Orson Titus-Maquelini, Brenda

Mitchell - are represented by ACLU-NC

cooperating attorneys Robert A:

Mittelstaedt, Roxane A. Polidora, Shawn

E. Hanson and Frank Kennamer all of the

San Francisco law firm of Pillsbury,

Madison and Sutro and staff attorney Alan

Schlosser.

"We believe this lawsuit is necessary

to vindicate the constitutional rights of

those innocent people arrested on May 8

and prevent the resulting chill on the First

Amendment rights of all citizens," said

attorney Polidora. :

The mass arrest of demonstrators on May

8, culminated a dramatic ten-day period of

protests, mass arrests, and the declaration

of a State of Emergency and a curfew in

San Francisco. In the early evening of May

8, approximately 1,000 protestors gathered

at Dolores Park for a march and rally to

protest the Simi Valley verdicts, the previ-

ous mass arrests in San Francisco on April

30 and May 1, racism and police brutality.

Although the marchers followed a

route mandated by the police, the march

was persistently disrupted by police as it

headed toward its planned destination of

Duboce Park. These intimidating and pro-

vocative police tactics created fear, confu-

sion and anxiety among the protestors and

they eventually turned back; some of them

attempted to leave the area but were pre-

vented from doing so by the police.

When a police order was given that

marchers should move onto-the sidewalk

or be arrested, a large group moved onto

the sidewalk on the south side of Market

Street. The police then suddenly, and with-

out warning or justification, encircled this

group of over 400 (the class member plain-

tiffs in this suit), and refused to let them

leave.

At no time did the police declare an

unlawful assembly, order the plaintiffs to

disperse,.or give the plaintiffs an opportu-

nity to disperse. Moreover, while the plain-

tiffs were seized for up to three hours on

Market Street, the police refused to explain

Continued on page 6

_ Special Report Blasts "State of

Emergency"

n September 3 the ACLU-NC

issued a 35-page special report

"State of Emergency: The Attack

on Civil Liberties in San Francisco, April

30 - May 8, 1992" detailing the violations

of constitutional rights by San Francisco

officials in response

voices of dissent and future citizen outrage

at injustice will be dealt with by our city

officials." -The report notes that Mayor

`Frank Jordan's six-month assessment of

his administration cites his "tough, no-

nonsense" stand and the mass arrests as

among his _ major

to the demonstra- accomplishments.

tions (April 30. "The fabled tolerance 1% (eke

May 1 and May 8) tolerance. of San

protesting the acquit Of San Francisco for - Fncisco for vie

orous dissent is not

tals of the police

officers who beat

Rodney King. The

report also calls for

city officials to

implement specific

recommendations so

that these viola-

tions do not reoc-

Copies of the

report were hand-

delivered to Mayor

Frank Jordan, mem-

bers of the Board of Supervisors, the

Police Commission, and other city offi-

cials with a letter asking for their response.

ACLU-NC staff attorney Alan

Schlosser. explained, "Our report is

intended not just to review the events and

the egregious violations of civil liberties

but to raise an important warning. What is

at stake is the way future protests, future

vigorous dissent is not

some cute aspect of

the City like the cable aneaed by the

cars or sourdough

cur, bread, it is mandated

by the Constitution."

some cute aspect

of the City like the

cable cars or sour-

dough bread, it is

Constitution," said

Schlosser. "We

cannot allow the

suspension of civil

liberties to become

San Francisco's

method of dealing

with exercise of

freedom of expression."

During the period of time covered by

the report, approximately 1500 peaceful

protesters and innocent bystanders were

arrested by the San Francisco. Police

Department. That the District Attorney

subsequently dropped all of the charges in

Continued on page 6

THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM:

A New Arena in the Fight for Reproductive Rights

tions - with a great measure of success. Of the more than 160 prose-

n the past five years, as part of the trickle-down effect of the

"War on Drugs," overzealous prosecutors have used criminal

charges to punish substance addicted pregnant women. The

threat of such prosecutions, especially combined with the lack of drug

treatment faciities for pregnant women, has the harmful effect of driv-

ing women away from the prenatal care they need. The ACLU has

been a leader nationally and in California in opposing these prosecu-

ACLU Defeats "Fetal Murder"

n August 21, ACLU-NC attor-

QO neys won a major victory in the

case of a Hollister mother of two

who was accused of murdering her fetus

by ingesting cocaine. In the first case of

its kind in California, San Benito County

Superior Court Judge Donald R. Chapman

dismissed the charges against Roseann

Jaurigue.

_ ACLU-NC staff attorneys Ann Brick

and Margaret Crosby, co-counsel for

Jaurigue, contended that this murder pros-

ecution is not permitted by California's

fetal murder statute, which contains a spe-

cific exemption prohibiting the State from

bringing charges against a woman based

Charge |

on her conduct during pregnancy. At a

lengthy hearing before Judge Chapman,

Brick argued that the statute was intended

to protect pregnant women from assaults

by others and that the California

Legislature has recognized that prosecu-

tions like this one exacerbate - rather

than remedy - the health problems of

pregnant women and infants.

"The court's decision wisely recog-

nizes that permitting such prosecutions is

ill-conceived," said Brick. "If this murder

charge were allowed, every woman would

be at risk that a district attorney might

second-guess her decisions during preg-

Continued on page 7

cutions which have been brought around the country since the mid-

1980's, every contested case has been dismissed.

In California, the ACLU-NC has recently been successful in striking

down a "fetal murder" charge and in overturning a superior court

order barring a woman convicted of drug use from becoming pregnant

as a condition of probation.

Court Rules Pregnancy Ban

"legal"

he state Court of Appeals on July

` 22 unanimously overturned a

Tulare County Superior Court

judge's ruling that threatened to send a

woman to prison if she became pregnant

while serving five years of probation for

possessing drugs. When she appealed the

ruling, ACLU-NC staff attorney Ann

Brick filed an amicus brief charging that

the trial court had overstepped its legal

authority by attempting to control the

woman's reproductive choices rather than

her drug use.

Prior to the appellate court decision,

however, Superior Court Judge Howard

Broadman had already revoked probation

and sent defendant Linda Zaring to prison

- because she showed up a few minutes

late for her hearing.

When Zaring arrived at Judge

Broadman's courtroom 22 minutes late for

an 8:30 hearing, she tearfully explained to

the judge that she had no one to help her

get her children off to school. After wait-

ing with them for the 8:00 AM school bus,

a friend drove her the 45 minutes to the

courthouse.

Although her defense attorneys

objected, Judge Broadman sent Zaring to

jail. Later the judge refused to reinstate the

five-year probation and sentenced Zaring

Continued on page 3

aclu news

sept - oct 1992

6 oT he Supreme Court has seri-

ously weakened the constitu-

tional right' to choose

abortion. It is no longer a fundamental

right entitled to strong protection against

government interference." With _ that

charge, ACLU-NC staff attorney Margaret

Crosby characterized the long-awaited

U.S. Supreme Court decision issued in

Planned Parenthood vy. Casey on June 29.

The high court's ruling in the ACLU chal-

lenge to a Pennsylvania law restricting

abortion was an ominous warning that

renewed efforts are essential to protect

reproductive freedom for all women.

"The joint opinion by Justices O' Connor,

Souter and Kennedy eloquently reaffirms

the principle that the Constitution protects

childbearing decisions," explained Crosby

at a San Francisco press conference held

the day the decision was announced. "The

opinion also forcefully explains that over-

ruling the Court's 1973 landmark Roe v.

Wade precedent in response to political .

pressure would degrade the integrity of the

Court as an institution and undermine its

moral authority to protect constitutional

-values."

`However, what the Court said and what

the Court did were two very different

things.

"Having spoken eloquently about the

significance of Roe's protection for repro-

ductive freedom and fidelity to precedent,

the Court proceeds to jettison major por-

tions of Roe v. Wade. While using the lan-

guage of reaffirmation, Casey greatly

weakened Roe."

"Undue burden"

By a5 to 4 vote, the Court ruled that a

woman's right to choose abortion is an

aspect of liberty. But while Roe held that

laws could burden access to abortion only

if they promoted a compelling justifica-

tion, Casey allows states to impose any

restrictions that are "reasonable" except

those that constitute an "undue burden" on

a woman' right to choose.

The Pennsylvania law challenged in

Casey requires married women to notify

their husbands, compels doctors to carry

the state's anti-abortion ideology into the

counselling session by delivering govern-

ment-produced materials designed to dis-

courage abortion, mandates a 24-hour

waiting period after a woman has chosen

_ abortion, requires teenagers to obtain

parental consent or a court order for abor-

tion, compels the parent and teenager to

receive the state's anti-abortion literature,

and imposes reporting requirements on

abortion providers that are burdensome

and increase harassment.

By a 7 to 2 vote (the two dissenting

votes came from Roe author Justice

Blackmun and Justice Stevens), the jus- _

tices upheld every requirement except

spousal notification.

"This new standard is far more defe-

rential to legislative judgments", explained

Crosby. "Thus, Casey grants states sweep-

ing new authority to impose obstacles to

abortion although it does not permit laws

barring abortion.

Xe -ACLU- NC Factsheet

After Casey: Reproductive

Rights in California

The June U.S. Supreme Court Casey

decision, granting states sweeping new

authority to restrict a woman's right to

`choose abortion, raised questions among

many people concerned about the state of -

- reproductive rights in California.

In a new fact sheet, the ACLU-NC pro-

vides the answers to such commonly

asked questions as: "What is the legal

status of abortion in California?" "Will the

California Supreme Court follow the U.S.

Supreme Court in defining the scope of

the right to abortion?" "Should Californians

who support reproductive choice be con--

Action Needed In States, Congress

U. S. Supreme Court Erodes Reproductive Rights.

JusticE Harry BLackMun, author

of Roe v. Wade, eloquently described

the precarious thread supporting women's

right to reproductive freedom.

"Just when so many expected the

darkness to fall, the flame has grown

bright. And I fear for the darkness as

four justices anxiously await the single

vote necessary to extinguish the light.

I am 83 years old. I cannot remain

on this court forever, and when I do step

down, the confirmation process for my

successor well may focus on the issue

before us today. That, I regret, may be

The Opinion - Pro and Con

exactly where the choice between

two worlds will be made."

Cuter Justice WitiiAM Renn.

QUIST, in his dissenting opinion, argued

that the court should not only have

upheld the Pennsylvania law, but should

have overturned Roe v. Wade entirely.

"The joint opinion...retains the

outer shell of Roe v. Wade, but beats a

wholesale retreat from the substance of

the case. We believe that Roe was

wrongly decided, and that it can and

should be overruled."

At a well-attended press conference in San Francisco, pro-choice advocates

denounced the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Casey: (1. - r.) Elizabeth Toledo of

NOW, ACLU-NC's Margaret Crosby, Luz Alvarez-Martinez (at mikes) of the

and Jamienne Studley of CARAL.

"The Court has forged a new compro-

mise on abortion, by reaffirming the prin-

ciple that the Constitution protects

childbearing decisions, while granting new

legal recognition to the state's interest in

fetal survival," Crosby stated.

Divisiveness

"In Casey, the Court includes a states-

manlike call to the country to end its divi-

sive war on abortion.

"However, the new Casey standard is

likely to exacerbate the national divisive-

ness. By granting government new author-

ity to restrict abortion, Casey launches

intensified battles on abortion in state leg-

islatures throughout the country."

The ACLU is gearing up to oppose

new laws like Pennsylvania's that are

expected to be introduced in state legisla-

tures. Such laws will make abortion una-

vailable to many young, poor and rural

women.

"By allowing states to place roadblocks

to abortion, the Supreme Court makes

Casey's eloquent language about the

Constitution's guarantee of reproductive

liberty a hollow promise for the most vul-

nerable women," said Crosby.

The decision was released on the final

day of the Supreme Court term. Hours

after the decision was announced, the

ACLU-NC and other representatives of the

pro-choice movement, including Belle

cerned about the Casey decision and the

future of abortion rights?" The answers

detail California's history of legal and leg-

islative support for reproductive rights, as

well as the need for increasing vigilance

to guarantee that those rights are not eroded.

- The new fact sheet is a valuable

resource for pro-choice activists, counse-

lors, and all who value reproductive free-

dom.

Single orders are free; bulk orders are

available at 10 copies for $2 (postage and

handling). To order, please write to:

ACLU-NC Public Information Department,

1663 Mission St. Suite 460, San

Francisco, CA 94103.

National Latina Health Organization, Belle Taylor-McGhee of Planned Parenthood,

Planned Parenthood

Taylor-McGhee of Planned Parenthood,

Luz Alvarez-Martinez of National Latina

Health Organization, Kristina Kiehl of

Voters for Choice, Jamienne Studley of

CARAL North, and Elizabeth Toledo of

NOW, responded to the ruling at a well-

attended press conference.

In California, reproductive choice: is

protected by the state Constitution's

in so fundamental a struggle,"

explicit right to privacy. At the press con-

ference, the ACLU-NC released a new fact

sheet outlining the status of California law

on abortion after Casey. Reproductive

rights remain secure-for now (see sidebar).

"California has a pioneering tradition

of protecting the right to an abortion.

However, we cannot afford complacency

said Crosby.

"People who support reproductive freedom

must take action to secure ie rights of all

women.'

On the day of the decision, there were

numerous - pro-choice demonstrations

throughout California and around the

country. On July 25, the ACLU-NC Field

Department sponsored an organizing ses-

sion and speaker training, "Did Roe Go?"

attended by more than 100 activists.

`Reproductive rights advocates, including

ACLU-NC attorney Crosby, Mary Chung

from Asian Pacific Islanders for Choice,

Carmen Vasquez, coordinator of Lesbian/

Gay Health Services at the San Francisco

Department of Health, and Nina Di Natale

from CARAL, trained participants in

effective speaking and organizing strate-

gies to take back to their communities.

Freedom of Choice Act

Pro-choice leaders have mobilized the

effort to persuade legislators to pass the

Freedom of Choice Act, which will restrict

state authority to burden the right of a

woman to choose abortion. The Act would

restore the protection of Roe, allowing

states to impose only limitations that pro-

tect a woman's health before fetal viabil-

ity. The Act would prevent a checkerboard

of inconsistent state regulation of abortion

by restoring the uniform legal standard

established by Roe.

"People who care about privacy and a

woman's right to choose must work tire-

lessly to persuade Congress and the presi-

dential candidates that protecting reproductive

freedom is a very high priority," said

ACLU-NC Executive Director Dorothy

Ehrlich. "We cannot let the Supreme Court

have the last word on abortion."

In the wake of the Casey decision,

it?s even more important that pro-

choice voters pressure their members

of Congress to pass The Freedom of

Choice Act, which would secure the

right to choose for all women.

More phone calls and letters to

your legislators are needed to shore up

their votes, and remind them of their

constituents' support for reproductive

freedom. California Senators John

Seymour and Alan Cranston have

signed onto the bill, as have many

Representatives. The following

Congressional Representatives have

yet to sign on, and must be contacted.

If you live in their district, please call

or write their office (U.S. House of

Representatives, Washington, DC

Support Freedom of Choice

20515) and send to us any correspon-

dence you receive from them stating

their position. If you do not live in

these districts but would like to get

involved, please call Field Representative

Nancy Otto at 415/621-2493.

Representative Frank Riggs

(Santa Rosa)

202/225-3311 Fax: 202/225-5577

Representative Wally Herger

(Redding/Chico)

202/225-3076 Fax: 202/225-0996

Representative Gary Condit (Modesto)

202/225-6131 Fax: 202/225-0819

Representative John Doolittle (Visalia)

202/225-2511 Fax: 202/225-5444

aclu news

6 issues a year: January-February, March-April, May-June, July-August,

September -October, and November-December.

Published by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California

Milton Estes, Chairperson

Dorothy Ehrlich, Executive Director

Elaine Elinson, Editor

Nancy Otto, Field Page

ZesTop Publishing, Design and Production

1663 Mission St., 4th Floor

San Francisco, California 94103

(415) 621-2493

Membership $20 and up, of which 50 cents is for a subscription to theaclu news

and 50 cents is for the national ACLU bi-monthly publication, Civil Liberties.

aclu news |

sept - oct 1992 3

ast year, the ACLU-NC success-

fully challenged a state anti-

begging statute which was used to

silence the poor. In striking down the law,

U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick

stated, "begging constitutes protected

speech under the First Amendment."

This year, Mayor Frank Jordan is try-

ing to resurrect that unconstitutional law in

San Francisco by placing Proposition J,

the so-called "aggressive panhandling"

measure, on the November city ballot.

A broad range of individuals and ~

organizations - including the Board of

Supervisors, former Police Commissioners,

religious leaders, neighborhood associa-

tions, the Coalition on Homelessness and

the ACLU-NC - are fighting the ballot

measure.

ACLU-NC Police Practices Project

Director John Crew explains, "With this

mean-spirited and cynical move, the

Mayor is proposing an ordinance to make

criminals of poor people and others by out-

lawing `requests'. for money or other

`things of value,' while `closely following'

someone on the street. Proposition J would

punish the poor with fines up to $500 and

jail terms of up to six months. Yet Mayor

Jordan's new crime won't make San

Francisco's streets, sidewalks and parks

any safer."

In Blair vy. Shanahan, the ACLU-NC

case which struck down the state anti-

begging law, the ACLU-NC represented

Celestus Blair a formerly homeless man

who was arrested five times by San

Francisco police officers simply for asking

people if they could "share their blessings"

or "help a homeless person." Blair, now a

MUNI bus driver who credits his survival

with the "charity of people who responded

to his requests for assistance," was repeat-

edly arrested for "aggressive panhandling"

-although he never threatened, harassed or

hounded anyone.

Father Thomas Flower, who provided

food to the hungry in the pre-dawn hours

in U.N. Plaza, was also arrested twice

Say NO to "Aggressive Scapegoating" -

Vote NO on Proposition J

under the old law. He was simply asking

passers-by to "Help us feed the homeless

hungry."

In his eloquent opinion, Judge Orrick

stated, "City streets are a public forum,

one of the few remaining democratic

spaces where the conventioneer, the gawk-

ing tourist, the eager consumer, the city

resident, and the needy may mingle freely.

... The speech of the needy around us may

well be subjectively felt as an unwelcome

intrusion by some, but the expressive free-

dom guaranteed by the Constitution is

never costless. That speech may not be

barred by a statute such as this."

According to Crew, "Proposition J is

even worse than the law struck down by

the federal court. It violates the First

Amendment by outlawing officially disfa-

vored speech, and it is so vague that police

will use it to arrest people they consider to (c)

be 'undesirable,' while others - asking

for the same thing in the same way - will

not be bothered."

On August 17, the Board. of

Supervisors approved the principal ballot

argument against Proposition J, supported

by Supervisors Achtenberg, Alioto, Britt,

Hallinan, Gonzalez, Kennedy, Shelley and

Migden. Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg

called the measure `"`a mishmash of empty

catch words...created for two cynical rea-

sons - one, to increase the polarization

between those who are poor and those who

are not; and two, to increase the turnout of

San Francisco's more conservative voters."

Aside from its questionable constitu-

tionality, there are other reasons to vote

against Proposition J: :

@ It is unnecessary - there are

other laws on the books. Panhandling

Pregnancy Ban...

Continued from page |

to two years in state prison for heroin pos-

session.

In overturning Judge Broadman's sen-

tence, the Court of Appeals three judge

panel declared that he erred both in impos-

ing the no-pregnancy condition and in

revoking the probation simply because of

tardiness.

Broadman's orders were "an arbitrary

and capricious use of the court's power,"

as well as an inappropriate "imposition of

personal social values," the court noted in

a published opinion.

Moreover, the appellate court deter-

mined that the probation ban on pregnancy

_was "unlawful." Noting that pregnancy

bans had been struck down by another

California appellate court and courts in

other states, Justice James Ardaiz wrote

that the prevention of harm to future chil-

dren could be met by "other conditions,

less drastic than an outright ban on preg-

nancy."

"Prohibiting pregnancy as a condition

of probation is an illusory: solution to the

problem of substance abuse during preg-

nancy," said Brick. "It ignores the root -

causes of the problem while at the same

time threatening the reproductive rights of

all women. The judge's order prohibiting

pregnancy was based on the premise that

the government has the right to determine

who may and who may not have children.

That is a right that the Constitution guar-

antees to the individual, not the State."

The ACLU-NC has tangled with Judge

_ Broadman before. In 1991, Broadman, a

Tulare County Superior Court Judge since

1988, ordered Darlene Johnson, as a con-

dition of her probation on a child abuse

charge, to be surgically implanted with the

Norplant contraceptive device. Brick and

ACLU-NC staff attorney Margaret Crosby

challenged the condition of probation as a

violation of Johnson's rights, although the

issue became moot when Johnson's proba-

tion was revoked for other reasons.

New ACLU-NC Board

Members

he following people were elected to

: : serve on the ACLU-NC Board of

Directors in the 1992 elections (*

denotes incumbents):

David Bunnell*, Helen Chang, Marlene

De Lancie*, Milton Estes*, Susan Harriman',

Margaret Jakobson, David Oppenheimer',

Nancy Pemberton, Kenneth Train, and

Donna Yamashiro.

They will each serve a three-year term. |

In addition, the Board recently

appointed three interim members to fill

vacancies left by Debbie Lee, Trinidad

Madrigal and the death of Richard Sevilla.

Janet Halley is a professor at Stanford

Law School with a special interest in con-

stitutional law. She wrote "Toward A

Politics of the Closet: Equal Protection for

Lesbians and Gays," a leading article in the

area of gay and lesbian jurisprudence that

recently appeared in the UCLA Law

Review.

Maria Ontiveros received her law

degree from Stanford University in June

and will begin teaching at Golden Gate

University this fall. Her specialty is Labor

and Employment Law, and she also does

volunteer work for a well baby. clinic in

Coastside, where she lives.

Marcelo Rodriguez is the editor of the

San Francisco Weekly. He formerly

worked for San Francisco Magazine and

other Bay Area publications, and is a mem-

ber of the board of directors of Media

Alliance.

that is truly threatening, intimidating or

coercive is already illegal. There is no

need for a new crime when laws against

assault, battery, maliciously obstructing

the sidewalks, robbery and extortion may

be enforced against aggressive panhan-

dlers.

@ It is so vague that it could be used

against anyone from petition circulators

to Girl Scouts selling cookies. The defini-

tion section of the proposed law make it

clear that it does not simply make crimi-

nals out of panhandlers who "harass and

hound" for money. It applies to anyone

who "requests" any "thing of value." This

law could apply to any charity seeking

donations on the street or any concerned

citizen gathering signatures on a petition.

It could criminalize requests for a cup of

coffee on a cold night, an umbrella in a

downpour or a scrap of food.

It applies not only to aggressive

"demands," but to "requests" - no matter

how polite and non-threatening they might

be - if they were made while "closely fol-

_lowing'" someone - yet just how close is

not defined - after they "imply" that they

are not interested.

@ It will be wasteful and expensive

- generating more litigation paid for

by San Francisco taxpayers. If passed,

this law will surely trigger expensive law-

suits that the city will spend taxpayers'

money defending - and, if history is any

judge, losing. Right now, the city is

appealing the decision in the Blair case. If

the city wins, it surely doesn't need

Proposition J. If the city loses, Proposition

J would probably also be invalid.

@ It includes expensive and unrealis-

tic penalties - maximum penalties of up

to six months in jail time and a $500

fine. If Mayor Jordan's only plan for hous-

ing the homeless is to put them in San

Francisco's already overcrowded jails -

just who does he suggest be released from

jail to make room for the poor? Proposition

J also carries a maximum penalty of a $500

fine. Imposing fines on destitute beggars is

ironic and stupid. It simply forces them

back to the street to raise money to pay the

fine.

@ It will divert scarce law enforce-

ment resources from serious crimes.

When Frank Jordan was Chief of Police,

he enacted and publicized a policy on the

Rights of the Homeless. Chief Jordan

pointed out that being homeless is not a

crime and warned that using police against

the homeless would only divert scarce

resources from the fight against serious

crimes. Now that Frank Jordan is a profes-

sional politician, he seems all too willing

to exploit the public's frustrations about

homelessness and fears about panhandlers

with a law that criminalizes the poor.

As Victor Honig, President of the

Board of Directors of the Tenderloin's

Hospitality House argues, "Just because

some people feel *hounded,' is no excuse

to treat other people like dogs. Proposition

J represents the triumph of fear over com-

passion - I urge you to vote NO."

For more information or to make a

contribution, contact San Franciscans

Against Proposition J, Jim Stevens,

Treasurer, 1085 Greenwich, 2, San

Francisco, CA 94133; or call the ACLU-

NC at 415/621-2493.

California

The American Civil Liberties Union

of Northern California takes the follow-

ing positions on two state initiatives on

the November ballot:

Prop. 161: California Death

With Dignity Act-YES

nized the rights of individuals to make

choices about their own bodies and

lives. All people should have access to

life-sustaining medical care - but they

must also have the right to refuse it.

The California Death With Dignity

Act gives terminally ill patients the right

to request and receive physician aid in

dying. The Act provides that a mentally

competent adult can sign a-set of

instructions to his or her physicians. If

two physicians certify that the patient

has an irreversible terminal condition,

the patient may request aid in dying. If

he or she requests aid twice, the physi-

cian may help the patient die without

fear of criminal reprisal.

Prop. 165: Taxpayer Protection

Act- NO

This mislabeled initiative is

Governor Pete Wilson's attempt to slash

welfare payments to poor children and

families, and amend the state

| Constitution to give the governor

sweeping powers over the budget. The

measure would give the Governor

extraordinary powers to reduce or elimi-

nate funding to any state funded pro-

| gram not protected by the Constitution

anytime the Governor's. own appointees

manipulate budget statistics to allow the

Governor to declare a fiscal emergency.

The initiative also contains most of the

same proposals as Wilson's failed legis-

lative plan. Among them are:

@ An across-the-board 10 percent

cut in Aid to Families with Dependent

=

: ACLU-NC Ballot Card

ACLU-NC policy has long recog- (c)

women;

_ily planning services will make it only

`

Children grants with an additional 15

percent cut for all "able-bodied" recip-

ients six months later;

@ Denial of support for children

conceived while either parent received

AFDC;

@ Forcing minors with children to

live with parent or guardian in order to

receive AFDC;

@ Setting AFDC grants for people

new to the state at the same level as the

state from which they moved;

@ Repeal of special aid to pregnant

@ Putting Medi-Cal out of reach for

thousands of blind, disabled and elderly

people.

This initiative seriously restricts the

civil liberties of AFDC recipients, as

well as making little fiscal sense.

Welfare makes up only 6 percent of the

state budget, and two thirds of those on

welfare are school-age children.

Denying them and their families access

to proper nutrition, health care and fam-

more likely that they will continue to

need social services in the future.

San Francisco

Proposition J - Mayor

Jordan's Ban on Panhandling

- NO

This mean-spirited, vaguely worded

ballot measure would criminalize

"requests" for any "thing of value"

made while "closely following" a per-

son on the street. It violates the First

Amendment and will lead to selective

prosecution. This "aggressive scape-

goating' is the Mayor's answer to

homelessness - silencing the poor and

jailing the homeless. (See article this

page.)

aclu news

sept - oct 1992

6 6 H ow can we define the era

we find ourselves in?

America is a failed democ-

racy - we are looking at an unfinished

civil rights agenda." With this charge, key-

note speaker Joe Hicks, Executive

Director of the Southern Christian

Leadership Conference of Greater Los

Angeles, addressed the opening plenary of

the 1992 ACLU-NC Activist Conference

and underscored its theme -- "The

Changing Struggle for Civil Rights in the

0s"

The annual Conference, held at U.C.

Davis on August 22-23, drew over 150

ACLU activists and supporters for a week-

end of information, inspiration and plan-

ning for the future.

Hicks's call was responded to by a

panel of experts on current cutting-edge

civil liberties issues. ACLU-NC Executive

Director Dorothy Ehrlich moderated the

plenary on "Rebuilding Our Agenda: Civil

Rights Under Attack in California" which

included Ed Chen, ACLU-NC staff attor-

ney speaking on language rights; Casey

McKeever, Directing Attorney with the

Western Center on Law and Poverty; Dr.

Sandra Hernandez, Director of the AIDS

Office in the San Francisco Department of

,Public Health and Beverly Tucker, Chief

`Counsel of the California Teachers

Association and Chair of the ACLU-NC

Legislative Committee.

Chen called the English Only move-

ment "a discreet attack on immigrants and

part of a larger attack on civil rights."

Tracing the modern English Only move-

ment to a 1980 ordinance in Dade-County,

Florida which defunded programs that rep-

resented different languages and cultures,

Chen spoke of the proliferation of

English-only workplace rules in California

ranging from UCSF to a meat packing

plant, convalescent homes, and even a

Salinas Taco Bell. "This movement

creates an environment of cultural big-

otry," Chen charged.

Dr. Hernandez spoke of the opportu-

nity that.the AIDS crisis gives the medical

establishment to change the "passive, frag-

mented health care delivery system."

People with HIV demand a dialogue about

their care, she said, and an "incredible

sense of participation."

"Although some providers are incredi-

bly threatened, this represents a new inno-

vation in the health care system,"

Hernandez noted, and encouraged the

community-based organization and advo-

cacy that is an integral part of the AIDS

epidemic to be translated into other health

care programs as well.

Assault on the poor

McKeever, a leading opponent of

Governor Wilson's Proposition 165 which

would slash welfare payments to the most

vulnerable people in the state, called the

measure "the most ruthless assault on poor

people that we've ever seen." He noted

ACLU-NC Board member and teachers' union

attorney Beverly Tucker with panelist Casey

McKeever. "The school voucher plan will increase

stratification in our society."

~ 1992 ACLU-NC Ac

The Changing Struggle fo

Keynote speaker Joe Hicks (at podium) with panelist Ed Chen.

"I have come to believe that the struggle for civil rights is truly revolutionary."

that one provision in the initiative allows

the Governor to declare a "fiscal emer-

gency" giving the Governor extraordinary

powers over the state Budget. "Governor

Wilson is using the current budget stale-

mate to charge the Legislature with failing

in its duty," said McKeever, "and exploit-

ing the emotional issue of welfare to bash

his opponents and win more seats in the

state Assembly and Senate.

"If Wilson's initiative can be defeated,

it will give a very serious blow to the use

of scapegoating as a means of gaining

political power," said McKeever, calling

on all in attendance to work hard to defeat

Proposition 165. :

Tucker opened her presentation with a

few stark statistics: the average teacher's

salary in California is $38,000 per year,

while the average prison guard's salary is

$50,000. The state spends $5,200 per year

for each child in school and $20,000 per

year for each inmate in prison.

With these alarming figures as a back-

drop, Tucker blasted the federal and state

proposals for school voucher systems

which would provide government funds

for parents to send their children to the

school of their choice - be it public, pri-

vate or religious. "The premise behind

this choice," charged Tucker, "is that gov-

ernment is evil and that we should cut it

down to size. In reality, this plan will only

increase the stratification in

our society. Although better

parents will get better schools

what will happen to the other

children. Schools in poor

neighborhoods will deteriorate

further - and some children

may even find themselves

with no school to go to."

Acknowledging that there

is a crisis in public education,

Tucker called for increased

funding for public schools and

for improved administration of

the public school system as a

more equitable solution.

Disabilities Act

The speakers on the fol-

lowing panel, "Winning in the

90s: The Building of the

Coalition to . Pass - the

Americans with Disabilities

Act," provided an encouraging

insight as to how some of

these difficult problems can be

addressed. Margaret Jakobson,

Staff Attorney with Protection

and Advocacy, Inc., who has

been disabled since the age of

educated and better motivated (c)

for their children, think of

four, said that when she was growing up

she "envisioned disabled people as those

who spent their lives selling pencils on the

street or locked away in a nursing home."

Though she spent much of her early

life "segregated and isolated," as a young

adult she asked "What is wrong with what

I am? - and realized that I could be and

function in society without being changed

or locked away."

Jakobson, a newly elected ACLU-NC

Board member, outlined the provisions of

the recently-enacted Americans with

Disabilities Act (ADA) regarding employ-

ment, transportation, public accommoda-

tion and telecommunications.

Gerald Baptiste, Associate Director of

Berkeley's Center for Independent Living,

served as the grassroots coordinator for the

Western Region on the Americans with

Disabilities Act.

"We needed to get disabled people to

Washington walking the halls of

Congress," said Baptiste, "and to do that

we had to arouse, inspire and motivate

people with disabilities to get into the

movement." Baptiste spoke of the step-by-

step efforts taken by organizers from the

Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities

to mobilize people nationwide for the lob-

bying effort. His own work included

speaking at meetings - "Tl speak to a

group of three or 300!" , visiting

Representatives in their home districts,

organizing publicity, and culminating in a

17-day intensive lobbying effort on

Capitol Hill to prevent an onslaught of

amendments from watering down the act.

When asked how he responded to

President Bush's taking credit for signing

the landmark legislation into law, Baptiste

said, "He was the only President at the

time!"

National ACLU Field Director Gene.

Guerrero rounded out the panel by talking

about the ACLU's coalition efforts to gain

passage of the ADA, and how that can be

used as a model to press for other impor-

tant civil liberties legislation ending dis-

crimination against lesbians and gay men,

protecting privacy rights, limiting surveil-.

lance at the workplace and erasing the

domestic remnants of the Cold War such

as restrictions on travel to Cuba.

Death penalty

At the plenary session on the death

penalty, ACLU-NC Death Penalty Project

Director Michael Laurence gave an impas-

sioned presentation on the efforts to save

the life of condemned inmate Robert

Harris, the first person to be executed in

California in 25 years. "Our state spent an

enormous amount of money and amassed a

militia of law enforcement personnel to

kill one person. The killing of Robert

Harris was supposed to end crime in our

streets. Just one week later we experienced

_ one of the most violent weeks in U.S. his-

tory - with scores of deaths and great

destruction in Los Angeles. So much for

the deterrence theory."

Laurence traced the events of the tortu-

ous night which ended in the gas chamber

execution of Harris, but added that "his

execution exposed capital punishment for

what it is - the taking of a life. When the

execution was. going on, there was a

change from esoteric values to people's

realization that they were part of the kill-

ing process.

"IT hope that Robert Harris's death will

begin the era that ends executions in this

country,' Laurence said.

Laurence's call was concretized by two

action workshops: "Reeducating - the

Public about the Death Penalty through

International Pressure" with ACLU-NC

Death Penalty Action Campaign Chair

Nancy Pemberton; Elgy Gillespie, corre-

spondent for British and Irish press;

Claudia King, Program Coordinator of

Death Penalty Focus; and Magdaleno

Rose-Avila, Western Regional Director of

Amnesty International; and "Organizing

the Lesbian and Gay Community to

Gerald Baptiste (at mike) described the successful lo

Disabilities Act and ACLU-NC Board member Mar;

the new law.

Journalists Ben Bagdikian, Raul Ramirez and Steve

media know when the issues they care about are not.

Joanne Lewis, Chair of the ACLU-NC Field Commi

leader Dick Criley outlined strategies for building st

aclu news

sept - oct 1992 5

essful lobbying effort for the Americans with

er Margaret Jakobson detailed the provisions of

ctivist Conference

or Civil Rights in the 90's

Oppose the Ultimate Hate Crime: the

Death Penalty" with Milton Estes, Chair

of the ACLU-NC Board of Directors; Pat

Clark, Executive Director of Death

Penalty Focus, Alissa Friedman, Vice-

Chair of the ACLU-NC Lesbian and Gay

Rights Chapter, and Liz Hendrickson,

Executive Director of the National Center

for Lesbian Rights. -

Media coverage of the death penalty

was one of the main focuses of Saturday

evening's plenary "Rising Above the

Rhetoric: How the Media Can Manipulate

and Affect Public Opinion." A distin-

guished panel of Bay Area journalists -

Ben Bagdikian, former Dean of the U.C.

Berkeley School of Journalism, KQED-

FM News Director Raul Ramirez, San

Francisco Examiner. Asian Affairs

reporter Steve Chin, and Pacifica Radio's

National Affairs Correspondent Larry

Bensky - looked at the press response to

several issues of importance to civil liber-

ties activists: the Persian Gulf War, the

Harris execution, the response to the ver-

dict in the police beating of Rodney King,

and the Democratic and Republican con-

ventions.

"The government's Gulf War media

strategy - that of keeping the media

sequestered and restricted - had already

id Steve Chin (1. -r.) encouraged activists to let the

are not. being covered well.

ACLU-NC Vice-Chair Margaret Russell (r.) and Mid-Peninsula Chapter member

Mark Clark addressed the importance of diversifying the ACLU membership and'

chapters.

been tested in Grenada and Panama. It was

all very carefully orchestrated." said

Bagdikian, the author of The Media

Monopoly. "Yet not one major news

organization joined the suit against the

Department of Defense challenging the

severest censorship rules in history."

Bensky, who had arrived that day from

the Republican convention in Houston,

said he was guided in his reporting by the

words of I.F. Stone who said, "All politi-

cians lie all the time." "The job of the

journalist is to go and find out and then to

tell the truth," Bensky said.

This is what Chin had attempted to do

for the Examiner when he went to Los

Angeles "to give voice to the Korean com-

munity three days after the verdict" in the

police beating of Rodney King and to

combat: "a simplified view of the civil

unrest."

Media neglect

"The omissions and lack of context

were the result of decades of media

neglect covering the minority communi-

ties,' Chin stated.

The journalists' comments led to chal-

lenging questions from the audience about

the poor quality of media coverage of key

issues and concern about the use of lan-

guage which fosters and maintains stereo-

types and "official" perspectives. "You

should call up the station or the newspaper

and ask why stories aren't being covered,"

said Ramirez. A former Examiner

reporter, Ramirez told the audience about

how a series of stories he wrote about the

return of Salvadoran refugees from camps

in Honduras to their homeland was moved

from a back section of the paper to the

front page after his editors received only

14 calls from readers applauding the sto-

ries. "You'd be surprised how news man-

agers will respond to just a few calls," he

said.

Strengthening the ACLU

Sunday's plenary sessions were

devoted to strategies for building a

stronger ACLU. ACLU-NC Chapter and

Board leaders led three lively plenary ses-

sions on building effective chapters, pro-

moting local action on ACLU priority

issues, and outreach and _ diversity.

Underscoring the need for diversity within

the ACLU, Board Vice-Chair Margaret

Russell explained that not only is it a mat-

ter of national affiliate policy, but that it is

"crucial for the ACLU to have an inclu-

sive vision of society. The kind of work

that we do - standing up for the rights of

penalty - hits minorities the hardest.

`We also need diversity at the chapter

level," Russell said, "because it makes for

a better organization. We'll get more done

and we'll see new issues, new questions

and new perspectives."

The 1992 Bill of Rights Campaign was

launched at a special Sunday morning

breakfast followed by an intensive work-

shop on the nuts and bolts of fundraising

led by chapter activists.

A workshop on "How to Influence the

Legislative Process" included

tips from lobbyists - Gene

Guerrero. of the ACLU

national legislative office in.

Washington, D.C., Francisco

Lobaco, ACLU's lobbyist in

Sacramento and grassroots

activist Howard Lewis -

and. "Jobby-ees? H.. Lee

Halterman, Legal Counsel to

Congressman Ron Dellums

and Zoon Nguyen of the

Office of Community Development

in San Francisco. That panel

was followed by informative

sessions on issues that

ACLU members are currently

addressing on the local, state

and national level: police

practices, reproductive rights,

student organizing and the

Death with Dignity Act.

"These. Sessions - pre-

sented us not only with lots

of information on the issues,

but with ways. we can all get

involved in the fight for civil

liberties in the 0x00B090s," said

conference organizer Nancy

Otto.

Pat Clark (r.) of Death Penalty Focus and Liz

Hendrickson of the National Center for Lesbian

Rights spoke of the urgent need to organize the

lesbian and gay community against the death penalty,

Those strategies were put into action

on Monday morning, when a score of con-

ference participants headed to Sacramento

fora day of lobbying their legislators to

pass the California Civil Rights

Restoration Act which is currently pending

in the Senate.

Board Chair Milton Estes reminded the

participants, "Over the past 12 years.we

have seen the hope raised by the civil

rights and civil liberties struggles of previ-

ous decades relentlessly undermined issue

by issue, bit by bit.

"We need to build our skills for our

struggle for improving civil rights and

civil liberties and to gather information,

meet people, build contacts - but most of

all to reinspire us in our work," Estes said.

The Conference was organized by

Field Representative Nancy Otto, Field

Director Marcia Gallo and the 1992

Conference Planning Committee chaired

by Joanne Lewis, Chair of the ACLU-NC

Field Committee; members of the

Planning Committee included Michelle

Anderson of the Yolo Chapter, Cathy Daly

of the First Amendment Committee and

Lesbian and Gay Rights Chapter, Eleanor

Eisenberg of the Santa Cruz-Chapter, and

San Francisco Chapter activists April Lee

and Phil Mehas. The Conference was co-

hosted by the Sacramento and Yolo

County ACLU-NC Chapters.

The hardworking Conference Crew,

the team which enabled the whole week-

end to run smoothly, included Program

Assistant Michele Hurtado, Public Information

Associate Jean Field, and volunteers

Michelle Anderson, Jane Bailie, Dan Ban,

Cindy Bergantz, Jennifer Berland, Jody

Castro, Cathy Daly, Paul Goodman, Zoon

Nguyen, Bob Orlowsky, Peter Tarr, and

Kathleen Winter. Child care was provided

by Kim Larrey and ASL interpretation was

done by Class Act Interpreting.

Conference photos by

Laura Trent

"the ultimate hate crime."

ACLU-NC Board Chair Milton Estes, National ACLU Field Director Gene

people who are victims of police abuse,

AIDS discrimination, facing the death

Guerrero and ACLU-NC Executive Director Dorothy Ehrlich confer during a lunch

i Committee and veteran Monterey Chapter break on the U.C. Davis campus

iilding stronger ACLU chapters.

aclu news

sept - oct 1992

Student Video Beats Ban - and Wins Prize

| ulare Valley Continuation High

School student filmmakers scored

a double win this summer with'

Melancholianne, their video about teen

pregnancy - on June 30, a judge snatched

it from the jaws of the censors and, a few

days later, it won a prize in high school

film competition.

Tulare County Superior Court Judge

Kenneth E. Conn issued an order granting

a request for a preliminary injunction pro-

hibiting school officials from censoring

Melancholianne ate in the afternoon of

June 30. The order came in the ACLU-NC

lawsuit, Lopez v. Tulare Joint Unified

School District Board of Trustees, filed on

June 18 on behalf of four of the high

school students who produced the film.

School officials did not want the video

released because it contained some "vul-

gar' language.

"While local school boards are vested

with great discretion in making curriculum

decisions, the legislature has restricted

such discretion when dealing with censor-

ship or the prior restraint of speech and

press by students of public schools, Judge

Conn stated in his one-page order.

`"T am persuaded that [Education Code]

Section 48907 does not authorize the local

school authorities to censor the video in

question," he ruled.

The students were represented by

ACLU-NC staff attorney. Ann Brick,

ACLU-NC cooperating attorneys Neil

Shapiro, Peter Goodman and Stephen

Knaster of the San Francisco law firm of

Brobeck, Phleger and Harrison and attorney

Jacob M. Weisberg of the Fresno ACLU

Chapter.

"It is a great victory for kids who are

trying to talk about a subject that really is

important to their lives in language that

they use," said Weisberg.

Film and English teacher Eric Moberg,

who worked with the students on the

video, said, "The students voted to make a

video on the problem of teenage preg-

nancy. We had been informed that Tulare

County has one of the highest rates-of teen

pregnancy in California. It is a fictional

film, and it was the students' judgment -

in which I concur - that in order to be

convincing, the teenage characters should

act and "Speak as teenagers might be

expected to do."

"The constitutional guarantee of the

right of freedom of speech is so fundamen-

tal that any attempt to curtail that right

constitutes a threatened irreparable injury

a

that justifies... relief," stated Judge Conn.

The ACLU-NC sought the preliminary

injunction so that the students could enter a

video competition by a July 1 deadline.

Attorney Goodman said, "We're happy

Judge Conn issued the order so quickly. It

was clearly warranted by statute and by the

state Constitution. I also think sound edu-

cational policy would be served by looking

to the creative and constructive substance

of the students' videotape, not to the fact

that characters in it use a few words some

people don't like."

Brick added, "This Court's - ruling

teaches students two important lessons:

that freedom of expression is alive and

well in California's public schools and that

their actions in making this video and fil-

ing this lawsuit have helped ensure that it

will remain so."

Over 40 students in the high school's

Valley Arts Club worked on the video pro-

ject. Student Sarah Valenzuela, co-author

of the script, said, "I spent a lot-of time and

energy working on Melancholianne

because I believed it could make an impor-

tant statement that should be heard by

Tulare County teenagers."

Goodman added, "I'm extremely

pleased for the students. They worked hard

to make a_ socially-responsible film

addressing a social problem in their com-

munity. When the school administration -

unreasonably and illegally refused to let

them show it, they patiently applied to the

Court and at least on this occasion, they

found that they system worked."

The court order came just in time for

_Melancholianne to meet the July 1 entry

deadline for Vision West, a video film

competition for high school and college

work. unofficially affiliated with the SF

Film Arts Foundation. On July 8,

Melancholianne won first prize in the high

school drama category.

Student Adriann McGrew said, "A lot

of people stereotype us [at the continuation

school] as having some sort of problem.

The film shows that the students can deal

with the issues.

"Tt'?s our generation - someone has to

deal with it," added McGrew.

ACLU Raps Attorney General

for Censorship Threat

n response to a letter sent by

Attorney General Dan Lungren to 18

record store chains doing business in

California urging them not to sell rapper

Ice-T's album containing the track, "Cop

Killer," the ACLU-NC wrote to the same

music distributors on July | urging that

they not "bow to the heavy-handed

attempt" of the Attorney General to dic-

tate what music shall or shall not be sold

in their stores.

`Tt is singularly inappropriate for the

Attorney General of California - the per-

son in this state most directly charged

with upholding constitutional principles of

freedom of expression - to engage in

such tactics," wrote ACLU-NC Executive

Director Dorothy Ehrlich and staff attor-

ney Ann Brick.

"Your actions are crucial in assuring

that freedom of thought and expression

are given the widest possible latitude.

"The Attorney General suggests that it

is somehow irresponsible for you to allow

Ice-T to give voice to his anger and frus-

tration," the letter states. "We would sug-

gest that it is irresponsible for you to try to

silence it. Violence itself should be sup-

pressed and its underlying causes

addressed. But speech about violence

must remain free."

Brick also criticized Lungren for sin-

gling out an African American rap singer

ACLU Sues 2

Continued from page |

to them why they were being detained and

ignored numerous requests from many of

the plaintiffs for an order and opportunity

to disperse.

The protesters were then arrested,

handcuffed, photographed and transported

to Pier 38 and detained there until the early

hours of the morning. When they were

released in that deserted district of San

Francisco, many. could not find their

friends, did not know where they were or

how to get home.

"There was no basis for the arrests,"

said Polidora, "and the District Attorney

subsequently dropped all charges.

"Since May 8, San Francisco officials

have repeatedly touted the conduct of the

SFPD on that day as both lawful and com-

mendable. Our investigation shows that

there was absolutely no justification for

the police disruption of the march and the

mass arrests of hundreds of innocent peo-

ple," Polidora stated.

The class action lawsuit charges San

Francisco city officials and law enforce-

ment officers with conspiring to and pre-

venting the demonstrators from engaging

in a peaceful protest rally and subjecting

them to unreasonable and unlawful deten-

tions and arrests in violation of the federal

and state Constitutions.

The ACLU-NC suit is seeking mone-

tary damages for each class member

arrested as well as a declaration from the

court that the defendants' actions were

unconstitutional and unlawful. In addition,

the suit is seeking an injunction restraining

the defendants from engaging in such

unlawful actions in the future, prohibiting

the use of handcuffs in the painful and

injurious way they were used on the May 8

demonstrators, and requiring destruction of

all records of the arrests.

Plaintiff Aviva Kakar said, "I was

brought up to trust the law, to have the

conviction that as long as you did nothing

wrong, you would be protected by enforc-

ers of that law. I can no longer feel that

false sense of security that most people

have.

"T strongly feel that if this type of

behavior goes unchecked, the results will

affect all of our rights as individuals and

citizens who pay for protection, not unjus-

tified harassment," Kakar said.

Plaintiff Vince Brown explained, "My

civil rights were taken away - the whole

intent of the protest was because justice

was- not being served in Los Angeles.

When the San Francisco police acted the

way they did, it was just another way of

my civil liberties being taken from me and

that outraged me.

"Personally, I want to be vindicated

and get my name cleared. I understand that

I still have a police record - and I want

that erased," Brown added.

for censure when there have been so

many other portrayals of violence about

which he has said nothing. "Dan Lungren

Rapper Ice-T was the target of a censorship move by

Attorney General Dan Lungren.

may see this as a call to violence," she

said, "Ice-T and others see it as a call to

end police brutality." :

The ACLU-NC letter also drew the par- .

allel to the chilling of speech during the

McCarthy era: "Thirty years ago the gov-

ernment was instrumental in fostering the

creation of a blacklist that has forever

scarred the motion picture industry and this

nation. Sadly, the entertainment industry

abandoned its principles and knuckled

under to governmental

pressure to voluntarily'

purge itself. Daniel

Lungren is now asking

you to do that same

thing. His tactic is as

dangerous today as it

was thirty years ago.

We urge you to stand

firm in the face of cen-

sorship," wrote Ehrlich

and Brick.

As aresult of the con-

troversy, Ice-T announced

on July 28 that he vol-

untarily decided to drop

the track -from his

album because of bomb

threats and other hostile

actions aimed at his

record producers Warner

Bros. Records.

"Its not a Warner

Bros. fight, it's my

fight,' he said, adding

that he planned to

release "Cop Killer" as

a single and distribute it

free. "Ill bring it back

to South Central and

give it away free at con-

Harrison Funk certs."

Special Report ...

Continued from page |

no way remedies these egregious viola-

tions of individual rights, the ACLU-NC

charges.

"What our report makes clear is that

city officials, including the Mayor and the

Police Chief, authorized and applauded a

policy of mass roundups of innocent peo-

ple to deter and prevent protest demonstra-

tions at the very time when the need to

speak out against the Simi Valley verdicts

was at its most critical," said Schlosser.

"In a very real sense, the Bill of Rights

-was also a victim of San. Francisco's

response to the protests. The Mayor's dec-

laration of a State of Emergency did not

justify Chief Hongisto's order prohibiting

a demonstration even before it took place

on May 1. The de facto suspension of the

First Amendment is a power that is denied

to city officials by the Constitution." The

report notes that when a protest was

planned for the following week to show

that the streets of San Francisco were still

open for peaceful demonstrations of peo-

ple's outrage against police brutality and

the verdicts, the actions of the police

showed that they did not need a declared

State of Emergency to round up and arrest

hundreds of peaceful protestors on May 8.

"As their public statements made clear,

the Mayor and the Police Chief ignored

their constitutional duty not just to permit

but to protect the rights of all of us to

express our views in public demonstra-

tions. That the danger to our constitutional

rights is real and present today is under-

scored by the Mayor's official assessment

of his first six months in office - issued

this July - where he lists the mass arrests

that occurred on these three days as among

the major accomplishments of his new

administration," Schlosser said.

The ACLU-NC report charges that the

events of the last day of April and early

_ May did not occur because of some confu-

sion about legal standards or crowd con-

trol policies. "Those policies and laws are

clear and comprehensive: they were sim-

ply ignored. Given that this problem will |

not be `fixed' by new policies or legal

reforms, we hope that City officials will

implement the recommendations in our

report," said ACLU-NC Police Practices

Project Director John Crew.

The specific recommendations in the

report include: acknowledgement of false

arrests; sealing and destruction of arrest

records; reasonable compensation for

those arrested; reaffirmation of crowd con-

trol policies; public hearing by the Police

Commission; strengthening of the OCC;

public accounting of the District

Attorney's "investigation" of the legality

of the arrests; and selection of a new

police chief who is respectful of constitu-

tional principles.

`Fetal Murder' ..

Continued from page |

nancy, making her vulnerable to criminal

charges. The court's ruling prevents this

abusive use of the criminal law," she

added.

In 1991, Jaurigue, nine months preg-

nant, checked into a hospital where a

sonogram indicated that her fetus was

' dead. Based on a highly questionable med-

ical opinion which ignored Jaurigue's his-

tory of hypertension during pregnancy, the

District Attorney charged that her alleged

ingestion of cocaine caused the fetus's

death.

In dismissing the charges, Judge

Chapman said he was concerned about the

implications a murder conviction would

have for all pregnant women, including

those who smoke, drink alcohol, or work

in dangerous environments.

~ aclu news

sept - oct 1992 7

Just a few days before the hearing,

Connecticut's highest court ruled on

August 17 that a pregnant woman who

injected cocaine into one of her veins as

she was about to go into labor had not

committed child abuse and that the state

had therefore erred in using that as justifi-

cation to take her baby away from her. On

July 23, the Florida Supreme Court unani-

mously overturned the conviction of a

woman prosecuted for drug delivery

through her umbilical cord.

"These important state Supreme Court

decisions indicate that despite overzealous

prosecutors' use of criminal laws to

attempt to punish pregnant women, courts

around the country are recognizing that

these prosecutions do more harm than

good by frightening women away from

getting the prenatal care they need," said

Crosby. =

Board Chair Milton Estes (1.) and Field Representative Nancy Otto (r.) held the

ACLU on the March

banner at the head of the ACLU-NC contingent in the annual Lesbian/Gay Freedom

Day Parade on June 28. Special ACLU-NC T-shirts and placards - "'The Bill of

Rights: the Protection You Don't Have to Carry in Your Wallet" - elicited rousing

cheers and applause from the thousands of supporters who lined the march route.

Mary Stickles

ACLU-NC Photo Exhibit

Lands at San Francisco

International Airport (c)

by Jean Field

an Francisco International Airport is

the first place many visitors to the

Bay Area see and the last impres-

sion travelers have of home. This fall they

will be greeted by an ACLU-NC photo

exhibit honoring 15 outstanding

Northern Californians = who

fought for their civil rights. The

exhibition is sponsored by the

San Francisco Airports Commission.

"The exhibits at the San-

Francisco Airport have an inter-

national reputation for showcas-

ing the best of the Bay Area's

unique culture and spirit," said

ACLU-NC_ Executive Director

Dorothy Ehrlich. "It's a fitting -

place for portraits of these coura-

geous individuals, whose efforts

have helped make our home a

better place to visit and to live."

Photographer Rick Rocamora

created the exhibit, "The Human

Face of the Struggle for Civil

Liberties," as part of the ACLU-

NC's celebration of the

Bicentennial of the Bill of

Rights. It will be on display at

the Gate 62 Gallery in the upper

level of the North Terminal.

Estimated time of arrival for the

photos is October 6, and they'll

remain through November 17.

More than 8,000 people will pass

the exhibit each day.

The subjects of the photo-

graphs were represented by the ACLU-NC

over the past six decades, on issues rang-

ing from the internment of Japanese

Americans during World War II to dis-

crimination of gay men, lesbians and peo-

ple of color, as well as the segregation of |

prison inmates with the HIV virus and ille-

gal search and seizure.

Among the people photographed are:

Fred Korematsu, who fought the intern-

ment order all the way to U.S. Supreme

Court; Chiyuka Carlos, one of the young

-men denied admission to Great America

amusement park in 1990 because security

guards thought they fit a so-called "gang-

profile"; Yolanda Cortez, a hospital dieti-

tian who fought the English-Only rule at

the University of California at

Francisco; Simone LeVant, a Stanford

diver who protested mandatory drug test-

ing required by the NCAA; and Larry

Brinkin, a gay man who worked at

Southern Pacific and now a discrimination

representative for the San Francisco

Human Rights Commission, who was

San ,

denied SP's standard three-day funeral .

leave when his lover died.

"I wanted to share images of people

behind ACLU cases, so others could real-

ize that individuals really do make a differ-

ence," said Rocamora, whose work has

been featured at the Oakland Museum, the

.

Fred Korematsu's photo is one of the portraits in

the `""`The Human Face of the Struggle for Civil

Liberties" which will be on exhibit at San

Francisco International Airport this fall.

Laura Trent

Metropolitan Museum of Manila, as well

as in numerous publications, including

Image magazine, Examiner, and the ACLU

News. -

In January, "The Human Face of the

Struggle for Civil Liberties" was on dis-

play at San Francisco City Hall, where

thousands of visitors gained a new appreci-

ation of the Bill of Rights in action. In

August, the exhibit went to Vietnam,

where it will made its international pre-

miere in a photography show documenting

life in the United States. After its layover

at the San Francisco International Airport,

the exhibit will be on display at the San

-Leandro Library during January and

February 1993.

"We're grateful to all the curators,

especially those at the airport, who have

recognized the powerful message and

beauty of this exhibit," said Ehrlich. "We

hope these portraits, hanging at the gate-

way of our city, inspire travelers to join the

struggle for civil liberties here in the Bay

Area and wherever they fly."

aclu news

sept - oct 1992

THE HOWARD A. FRIEDMAN FIRST AMENDMENT

EDUCATION PROJECT

TEACHERS CONFERENCE

TEACHING THE FIRST AMENDMENT: VOICES THAT

HAVE BEEN SILENCED

Cultural pluralism and children's literature

cent Patterns of censorship in the US.

+ HUAC and the FBI's war on the First Amendment

cent California's civil rights pioneers

cent Teaching lesbian/gay history

cent# "English only" and the politics of bilingual education

~ PANEL DISCUSSIONS

Guest speakers/interactive workshops/resource materials/curriculum ideas/

sample lesson plans

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26

SAM TOs PM =

SAN FRANCISCO STATUE UNIVERSITY GUEST CENTER

| 800 FONT BOULEVARD, SAN FRANCISCO

Cost: $10.00 includes lunch and resource binder; scholarships available.

To register: Contact Marcia Gallo, Director, Howard A. Friedman First

Amendment Education Project, ACLU-NC, 1663 Mission Street, San

- Francisco, CA 94103; phone 415/621-2493.

Registration deadline is September 21.

Lesbian and Gay Rights Annual Chapter Meeting

September 13, from 2-5 PM

345 Collingwood Street, San Francisco

featuring

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon

Founders of the Daughters of Bilitis, the oldest lesbian (c)

organization in America; authors of Lesbian/Woman.

FREE

All ACLU-NC members and friends are invited to attend.

For further information call Tom Reilly at 510/528-7832.

"

SAVE THE DATE!

1992 ACLU-NC BILL

OF RIGHTS DAY

CELEBRATION

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6

PROGRAM: 5 PN; NO-HOST RECEPTION 4 PNY

GRAND BALLROON)

WESTIN ST. FRANCIS HOTEL

UNION SQUARE

SAN FRANCISCO

1992 EARL WARREN CINIL LIBERTIES AWARD

WILL BE PRESENTED TO LEADING -

DEATH PENALTY OPPONENTS FOR THEIR OUTSTANDING

LEADERSHIP IN THE ATTENPT TO SANE

ROBERT HARRIS ERONY SAN QUENTIN' GAs CHANNBER:

MIKE FARRELL

ACTOR, DIRECTOR, STAR OF TV'sS M*A*S*H, NARRATOR OF THE

CLEMENCY VIDEO FOR ROBERT HARRIS AND LONG-TIME ABOLITIONIST LEADER

SCHARLETTE HOLDMAN

MITIGATION SPECIALIST, CALIFORNIA APPELLATE PROJECT, MEMBER OF

THE DEFENSE TEAM FOR ROBERT HARRIS. AND VETERAN FIGHTER AGAINST

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE "DEATH BELT" AND IN CALIFORNIA

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

BRYAN STEVENSON

DEATH PENALTY ATTORNEY, ALABAMA CAPITAL REPRESENTATION RESOURCE

CENTER; WINNER OF THE NATIONAL ACLU 1991 MEDAL OF FREEDOM

TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE AFTER NOVEMBER 1. FOR MORE INFORMATION,

CONTACT FIELD REPRESENTATIVE NANCY OTTO 415/621-2493.

Field Program

Monthly Meetings

Chapter Meetings

(Chapter meetings are open to all inter-

ested members. Contact the chapter acti-

vist listed for your area.)

B-A-R-K (Berkeley-Albany-Richmond-

Kensington) Chapter Meeting:

(Usually fourth Thursday) Volunteers

needed for the chapter hotline - call

' Florence Piliavin at 510/848-5195 for

further details. For more information,

time and address of meetings, contact

Julie Houk, 510/848-4752.

Earl Warren (Oakland/Alameda

County) Chapter Meeting: (Usually

second Wednesday) Chapter Hotline,

510/534-ACLU is now available 24

hours. For time and address of meet-

ings, please call John Butchart, 510/

635-5215.

Fresno Chapter Meeting: (Usually

third Monday) Meet at San Joaquin Law

School. New members always welcome!

For more information, call Nadya

Coleman at 209/229-7178 (days) or A.J.

Kruth at 209/432-1483 (evenings) or the

Chapter Hotline at 209/225-3780.

Lesbian and Gay Rights Chapter

Meeting: (Usually first Thursday). Meet

October | at 7:00 PM. and November 5

at 5:30 PM at the ACLU Office, 1663

Mission, #460, San Francisco. The

Lesbian and Gay Rights Chapter will

have booths at the Folsom Street Fair on

September 20 and the Castro Street Fair

on October 4. Phone night for Bill of

Rights Campaign on September 26.

Mailing party on November 5 at 5:30

PM. Refreshments will be available. For

more information, contact Tom Reilly,

510/528-7832.

Marin County Chapter Meeting:

(Third Monday) Meet September 21 and

October 19 at 7:30 PM, Westamerica

Bank, East Blithedale and Sunnyside

Avenues, Mill Valley. For more infor-

mation, contact Harvey Dinerstein, 415/

381-6129.

Mid-Peninsula (Palo Alto area)

Chapter Meeting: (Usually last

Thursday) Meet September 24 at 7:30

PM at the California Federal Bank, El

Camino Real, Palo Alto. New members

welcome! For more information, con-

tact Harry Anisgard, 415/856-9186 or

call the Chapter Hotline at 415/328-

0732. Annual Dinner on Wednesday,

October 28 at 6:00 PM at the Velvet

Turtle Restaurant in Menlo Park. Dr.

Debra Rhode, Professor of Law at

Stanford University, will speak on Sex

and Work. Tickets are $25.00 per per-

son. For more information, contact the

Chapter Hotline, number above.

Monterey County Chapter Meeting:

(Usually third Tuesday) Meet October

20 and November 17 at the Monterey

Library, Community Room, Pacific and

Madison Streets, Monterey. For more

information, contact Richard Criley,

408/624-7562.

Mt. Diablo (Contra Costa County)

Chapter Meeting: (Usually _ third

Thursday) For more information, call

the hotline at 510/939-ACLU.

North Peninsula (San Mateo area)

Chapter Meeting: (Usually _ third

Monday) Meet on September 21 at 7:30

PM at the Unitarian Church, 300 E.

_ Santa Inez Street, San Mateo. Site for

October 19 meeting to be advised. The

Student Outreach Committee needs vol-

unteers for a project this fall. For more

information, call Marshall Dinowitz at

415/595-5131. Note: The North Pen

Chapter has a new Hotline number:

415/579-1789. For more information,

contact Audrey Guerin at 415/574-4053.

North Valley (Shasta, Siskiyou,

Tehema, and _ Trinity Counties)

Chapter Meeting: (Usually third

Wednesday) For more information con-

tact interim Chairperson Tillie Smith at

916/549-3998.

Redwood (Humboldt County) Chapter

Meeting: (Usually third Monday) Meet

September 21 and October 19 at 7:15

PM at the Arcata Library. For more

information contact Christina Huskey at

707/444-6595.

Sacramento Valley Chapter Meeting:

(Usually second Wednesday) Meet on

October 14 and November 11. Annual

Dinner on Friday, October 30. Arrive

early for drinks at 6:00 PM and Potluck

at 7:00 PM. Keynote speaker on Pro-

Choice issues at 8:00 PM. For informa-

tion on cost, times and locations, contact

Ruth Ordas, 916/488-9956

San Francisco Chapter Meeting:

(Usually. third Tuesday) Meet on

September 15 and October 20 at 7:00

PM. at ACLU office, 1663 Mission,

#460, San Francisco. For more informa-

tion, call the Chapter Information Line

at 415/979-6699.

Santa Clara Valley Chapter Meeting:

(Usually first Tuesday) Meet on October

6 and November 3 at 7:00 PM at the

Community Bank Building, 3rd Floor

Conference Room, corner of Market/St.

John Streets, San Jose. Contact John

Cox 408/226-7421, for further informa-

tion.

Santa Cruz County Chapter Meeting:

(Usually third Tuesday) Meet on

September 15 and October 20. Chapter

will continue to work on combating Hate

Crimes. Contact Simba Kenyatta, 408/

476-4873 for further information.

Sonoma County Chapter Meeting:

(Usually third Wednesday) Meet

Wednesday, September 16 and October

21 at 7:30 PM at the Peace and Justice

Center, 540 Pacific Avenue, Santa Rosa.

The Sonoma County Chapter will have a

booth at the Harvest Fair at the Sonoma

County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa

October 2, 3 and 4. Call Steve Thornton

at 707/544-8115 for further information.

Yolo County Chapter Meeting: (Third

Thursday of the month) Meet on

Thursday, September 17 and October 15.

For more information, call the Chapter

Hotline at 916/756-ACLU.. :

Field Action Meetings :

(All meetings except those noted will be

held at the ACLU-NC Office, 1663

Mission Street, #460, San Francisco.)

Student Outreach Committee Meet on

Saturday, Sept 19 and October 17 from

10:30 AM to 12:00 PM. Friedman First.

Amendment Education Project Teacher's

Conference will be on _ Saturday,

September 26 at San Francisco State

University, 800 Font Blvd. from 9:00 AM

to 3:00 PM. Student Conference for

high school journalists on Monday,

October 5. Contact Marcia Gallo, at

ACLU-NC 415/621-2493, for additional

information.

First Amendment Committee Meeting

on Saturday, September 26 and October

24 from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM. Call

Nancy Otto at the ACLU-NC 415/621-

2493.

Pro-Choice Action Campaign Meeting

on Tuesday, September 29 from 6:00 PM

to 7:30 PM. Contact Nancy Otto at the

ACLU-NC 415/621-2493.

Police Practices Committee Meeting on

Saturday, September 26, from 12:00 PM

to 1:30 PM. Contact Nancy Otto at the

ACLU-NC = 415/621-2493.