vol. 70, no. 1

WHAT'S INSIDE

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

AC

BE Cea US E

Aes

FREED 0H

mLey

CAN'

PROTECT

DEO ELE

VOLUME LXX ISSUE 1

PAGE 2 PAGE 3

New Board Members: Free Speech for Labor:

ACLU-NC Election ACLU Puts Stop to Gag Order

Results Are In

PAGE 4h.

Rave Reviews:

Students and Teachers

Applaud ACLU Retreat

BILL OF RIGHTS DAY

ON EVE OF

By Yasmin Anwar

EXECUTION

ess than 36 hours before Stanley Tookie Williams execution, the

ACLU of Northern California presented some of the nation's

most powerful and poignant voices against the death penalty at

its 2005 Bill of Rights Day celebration.

More than 700 members and supporters of the ACLU of

Northern California (ACLU-NC) gathered at the San Fran-

cisco Marriott on Dec. 11 to commemorate the enlightened

constitutional amendments that drive the organization's mis-

sion to protect individual freedoms and civil rights, and to

honor those who defend them.

It was one of the largest Bill of Rights Day turnouts in recent

years. In between listening to eloquent speeches, provocative

poetry and pleas to get involved in key campaigns, dozens of

Organization

U.S. Postage

PAID

Non-Profit

Permit No. 4424

San Francisco, CA

audience members faxed letters to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein

asking her to oppose "cloture"-a Senate term for overriding a

filibuster and thus ending debate-of the USA Patriot Act.

Others faxed and sent letters in support of a bill to put a

hold on executions while the California Commission on the

Fair Administration of Justice investigates problems with

the state's criminal justice system, particularly in the face of

mounting wrongful convictions.

Bill of Rights honorees included Sister Helen Prejean,

CENTER SPREAD

Death Penalty on Trial:

ACLU Steps up Campaign

PAGE 1 O

South Bay Civil Liberties:

San Jose Office Opens its Doors

against Capital Punishment

Sister Helen Prejean accepting the Chief Justice

Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award from Sean Penn.

author of "Dead Man Walking," for her work against capital

punishment; Monterey Chapter veteran Michelle "Mickey"

Welsh for her outstanding service to the ACLU-NC; and the

afhiliate's Yolo County chapter for its creative outreach efforts.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

VICTORY ON PROP 73 SHOWS

POWER OF GRASSROOTS ACTIVISM

By Yasmin Anwar

[ was the afternoon of the Noy. 8 special election and Shay-

na Gelender, field coordinator for the ACLU of Northern

Californias campaign to defeat Prop 73, was exhausted. For

weeks, she had been recruiting and training volunteers, run-

ning phone banks, organizing sandwich board demonstrations

and helping chapters to get involved.

Volunteers trickled in to the Planned Parenthood office to

make final desperate calls asking people to vote against the

measure that would require doctors to notify parents 48 hours

before terminating the pregnancy of an unwed minor. Their

orders were to call opponents of the initiative three times until

they confirmed that they had cast their

"no" ballot. Gelender needed to keep all

her helpers fed and in high spirits.

When the polling stations were all

closed, Gelender closed shop and walked

with a friend into darkness. Her job was

over. Now it was up to the voters. They

headed for a "Vote No on Prop 73" party

WELCOME TO THE ACLU NEWS.

TOTAL "NO" VOTES

3,465,629 (52.6 percent)

TOTAL "YES" VOTES

3,130,062 (47.4 percent)

at a bar in Old Oakland, anxious about what lay ahead.

Periodically, someone at the gathering would check their

laptop and yell out the latest precinct returns. The suspense

was killing Gelender. "I wanted to know, and, of course, to

win," she said. She went home, still not knowing the outcome,

and after midnight fell into a heavy sleep.

Early the next morning, she jolted awake. She could hear

the radio in the next room, and hollered at her partner to give

her the news. When she heard Prop.73 had been defeated,

Gelender shrieked with glee.

"Tt was like weathering a night of punishing and scary storms and

then waking to a bright clean day and dis-

covering no damage had been done to your

home, everything was in tact," she said.

For Gelender and others heavily in-

volved in the campaign, the Prop 73 de-

feat shows what can be done with finite

resources, determined volunteers and a

strong campaign message.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

RICHARD RESSMAN

PRIVACY POLICY

Too our + members.

Direct mail to our "members ana a

general public provide opportunities to describe

complicated legal and political issues in ways not

possible in ter media. pound hey enable us to explain,

a detail, the

stitution and the:

program, we `exchange or pmo u les of one

names to like- minded organizations and - / -

tions.

The ACLU" never ce its lis auatlatle cent to par- _

tisan political groups or those whose programs are

incompatible with the ACLU's mission. Whether

by exchange or rental, the lists are governed by

strict privacy procedures, as recommended by the

U. Ss. Privacy Study Commission. Lists are never

given rao ae ee possession qe the

our growth,

: wee to fo

aterials from

eliminate _

ibership exchange/

ACLU SUPPORTER SEEKS CLOSURE IN

HOLOCAUST INSURANCE CLAIM

By Stan Yogi

IE April 2003, ACLU supporter Gilbert Bendix learned

that an international insurance commission was mak-

ing public the names of 363,232 Holocaust victims who

were covered by German life insurance policies but whose

records had been concealed for decades.

Bendix, who in 1936 immigrated to America from Nazi

Germany, realized that relatives might have been insured

and that he and other heirs

could file claims for ben-

efits. "I had put Germany

behind me long ago,"

"I didn't

want to have anything

to do with them. I didn't

want their money, but I

Bendix explains.

didn't want the thieves to

get away with robbing the

corpses of my relatives."

On the list of insured,

he discovered names that

of his

grandparents. He filed

matched three

complicated claim forms

requiring the drawing of

family trees spanning four

generations and researching

the whereabouts of all surviving heirs. Since his grand-

parents' names were not distinctive, though, all Bendix's

work could easily have been for naught.

More than 18 months passed before Bendix heard from

a German life insurance company, not about his grand-

"MR. BENDIX DEMONSTRATES

HOW AN INDIVIDUAL CAN taken out a policy

MAKE A DIFFERENCE eee

BY TRANSFORMING

UNSPEAKABLE SUFFERING

INTO HOPE FOR THE FUTURE."

-DOROTHY EHRLICH,

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ACLU `0x00B00x00B0

OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA irve sie selense. of

parents but about

his father, who had

father's identity, the

company claimed

the policy was re-

alesmecl jim 119535),

However, under

international

ling the release of

the names of those

insured, the company was required to pay the death ben-

efit if there was any doubt at all whether the policy had

been cashed in.

The following month, Bendix received word that none

of the claims for his grandparents matched any policies.

Still, the commission overseeing distribution of the in-

surance money gave Bendix a symbolic "humanitarian"

Gilbert Bendix

award from discretionary funds for his efforts.

In November 2005, another life insurance company

informed Bendix that his father had taken out an earlier

policy in 1927, thereby entitling Bendix and his sister to

another payout.

As he completed paperwork for this final claim,

Bendix recognized his subconscious motivation: "I

was looking for closure,

for the ability to look the

past in the face," he said.

"Where are at least two

new generations of Ger-

mans, and most of them

have made a sincere ef-

fort to deal with the sins

of the fathers. Accepting

that money could settle

more than a financial

debt. Maybe I could have

found closure if it weren't

for Cambodia and Rwan-

da and Bosnia and now

Darfur. No closure. Pur-

gatory will not end in the

foreseeable future. We're

a flawed species."

After coming to this realization, Bendix decided to

donate the insurance proceeds to a human rights or-

ganization. As he pondered which organization would

receive the gift, he received materials from the ACLU

explaining the gift annuity program, through which

supporters make irrevocable contributions and receive

income for life. Bendix decided to establish a gift annu-

ity with appreciated securities that more than matched

the amount of his insurance proceeds. In doing so, he

avoided significant capital gains he would have realized

had he sold the securities. "Since financial benefits will

accrue to me by donating appreciated stock instead of

the cash," Bendix said, "

donated above the German payments and still break

I could increase the amount

even.

By establishing a gift annuity, Bendix also generated a

matching grant through the ACLU's Legacy Challenge

program, in which a generous ACLU supporter is match-

ing a percentage of all new gift annuities and bequests to

they AGW:

"Mr. Bendix demonstrates how an individual can make

a difference by transforming unspeakable suffering into

hope for the future," said Dorothy Ehrlich, executive di-

rector of the ACLU of Northern California. "We deeply

appreciate his thoughtful and meaningful support. The

story behind his gift is profound." and

BOARD ELECTION RESULTS

The ACLU of Northern California is proud to welcome

new Board members Lovely Dhillon, Angel Garganta,

Jahan Sagafi, and Elizabeth Zitrin who were elected

in the 2006 Board Election by the membership of the

ACLU-NC. Congratulations to incumbent Board

members Jim Blume, Dick Grosboll, Hiraa Khan, Peter

Kwan, Philip Mehas and Nancy Pemberton.

We thank outgoing Board members Luz Buitrago,

Scott Burrell, Harmeet Dhillon, Milton Estes, and Paul

Gilbert (Mid-Peninsula Chapter) and welcome new

chapter representatives to the Board Dawn Abel (Mid-

Peninsula Chapter), Alice Fialkin (San Francisco Chap-

ter), and Peter Yessne (Santa Clara Valley Chapter.)

ELECTION OF OFFICERS and

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS

At them December 8, 2005 meeting, the ACLU

NC Board of Directors elected incumbent officers

Quinn Delaney (Chair), Nancy Pemberton (Secre-

tary/Treasurer), Bob Capistrano (Vice Chair), Susan

Freiwald (Vice Chair), and Roberta Spieckerman

(Vice Chair).

elected as a Vice Chair.

In addition, Lisa Honig was newly

Elected to the Executive Committee were: Donna

Brorby (incumbent), Dick Grosboll, Michael Jackson,

Peter Kwan, Philip Monrad, and Ronald Tyler.

ABR Ue

THE QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF THE

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

Membership ($20 and up) includes a subscription to the

ACLU News. For membership information call

(415) 621-2493 or visit www.aclunc.org/join.html.

Quinn Delaney, CHAIR

Dorothy Ehrlich, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Erika Clark, EDITOR

Yasmin Anwar, MANAGING EDITOR

DESIGNER AND

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Gigi Pandian,

1663 Mission Street #460, San Francisco, CA 94103

(415) 621-2493

2 | ACLU BECAUSE FREEDOM CAN'T PROTECT ITSELF

ACLU KEEPS TABS ON STATE LABOR LAWYERS:

FREE SPEECH RIGHTS

or years, state labor lawyers have attended various gatherings to impart their knowledge of the rules

By Yasmin Anwar

governing workers' comp, overtime, meal and rest breaks, minimum wage and other worker issues.

But these briefings came under attack last year when the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement

at the state Department of Industrial Relations sought to silence public employees tasked with enforcing

workers' rights.

The gag order issued last year prohibited DLSE staff attor-

neys from participating in "any speaking appearances" related

to laws and regulations enforced by the labor commissioner. In

response, attorneys Rachel Folberg and Anne Hipshman asked

the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC) for help.

After the ACLU-NC sent the division a letter challenging

the rule as a violation of employees' First Amendment right

to speak on matters of public concern, the policy was swiftly

rescinded.

"We are pleased that the DLSE backed away from its un-

constitutional policy and we will stay in touch with attorneys

there to make sure public employees retain their free speech

rights," said ACLU-NC staff attorney Julia Harumi Mass, who

had prepared to file a federal lawsuit against the policy.

It should be noted that the gag order did not come out

of nowhere. At the time, the Schwarzenegger administration,

along with the California Restaurant Association and other

pro-business lobbying groups, were crafting "emergency" regu-

lations that would end obligatory meal breaks.

Miles Locker, a senior DLSE staff attorney, believed that

meal breaks were guaranteed under the law. And he made that

clear at a brown bag luncheon on meal and rest break litigation

LAW AGAINST FALSE POLICE COMPLAINTS

OVERTURNED

In a free speech victory, a federal appeals court in

November struck down a California law that makes it

illegal for citizens to knowingly level false accusations

against police officers.

The 90x00B0 U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vob: in the

_ case Chaker v. Crogan , found that a 1995 law, passed

in response to police union claims that the notori-

ous Rodney King beating would open the floodgates

_ to officer-abuse complaints, is unconstitutional. The

ACLU affiliates of Southern California, Northern

_ California and San Diego filed an amicus brief and

were asked by the court to pane in ) the oral argu-

meat .

_ Speech that i is cricical of public officials enjoys the

highest level of First Amendment protection,.'

ACLU- NC Legal Director Alan Schlosser. "Criminal-

izing citizen complaints against the police, and requir-

ing that complaint { forms include a boldface warning _

of the criminal penalties has had a chilling effect on .

the milling: of citizens to ay forward and oo

police abuse."

the Neue ae aed In his opinion, ae

Harr y Pregerson wrote that Penal Code Section 148.6 _ oe San Fence 49ers soentides Belden are dak -

discriminates on the basis of a speaker's viewpoint __lenging the pat-down policy at `Monster Park imple-

_ because "only those individuals critical of peace of-

__ ficers are oubject to ligpility and not those who are of Northern California is representing Dan. Shechan, a

a hotles fr more than yeats, aud" his wife

: supportive. -

ine case reaffirms the principle ao ae oe

Amendment doesn't play favorites. The core pu pose 6

_ of the amendment is to afford cent citizens oa oice as t

sid

hosted by the San Francisco Bar Association's Barristers Club.

Locker had previously been given permission to speak as a

representative of the DLSE at the luncheon in an official ca-

pacity. When he was told not to speak in an official capacity,

he went forward in his personal capacity, believing it was his

right to do so, according to his attorney, Steve Zieff.

However, when Locker returned to work from vacation,

he was placed on an indefinite leave pending an investigation

of his speaking engagement, and other unidentified issues in

apparent retaliation for his exercising First Amendment rights

and for his efforts in enforcing California labor laws intended

to provide protections to workers, according to Zieff.

Moreover, newly installed chief counsel Robert Jones is-

sued a memo prohibiting all staff attorneys from public

speaking engagements on labor law.

The memo worried state labor lawyers Folberg and Hipsh-

man, who were scheduled to speak at a California Employ-

ment Lawyers Association conference. When they offered to

speak in their personal capacities and on their own time, Jones

threatened to discipline them for insubordination.

That's when Folberg and Hipshman enlisted the help of the

ACLU-NC.

LEGAL BRIEFS |

the performance of government," said ACLU/SC Le-

gal Director Mark Rosenbaum, who argued the case

before the court of appeals last year.

The case was launched by Darren David Chaker, a

San Diego man who filed an abuse complaint against

an El Cajon police officer who arrested him in 1996.

Two years later, Chaker was convicted of a misde-

meanor for coeyately filing a false accusation against

the officer.

_ Chaker objected to being branded a criminal for

making a complaint about how he was treated by El

_ Cajon police. With the ACLU's help, he filed a series

_of unsuccessful appeals in state courts and then a ha-

beas corpus petition in federal court in San Diego.

he 0 Circuit panel issued its ruling that the law

_ is an unconstitutional infringement on speech on Nov.

_ 3, 2005. The government has already filed a petition

_ judges, and an eventual petition for U. S. Supreme

Court review is likely.

ry

_ mented last year by the pro football team. The ACLU

for rehearing by an en banc panel of 11 Ninth Circuit _

well?

"Tt was particularly ironic that the state agency responsible

for enforcing employees' rights was ready to violate its own

employees' most pre-

cious right-the right

"IT WAS PARTICULARLY IRONIC

THAT THE STATE AGENCY

RESPONSIBLE FOR ENFORCING

EMPLOYEES' RIGHTS WAS

READY 10 VIOLATE ITS OWN

EMPLOYEES' MOST PRECIOUS

RIGHT-THE RIGHT TO FREE

EXPRESSION."

-LABOR LAWYER

ANNE HIPSHMAN

TO) ice expression.

Said' Flipshiman, 4

labor lawyer with the

labor standards divi-

sion for 16 years.

The state withdrew

its policy after receiv-

ing a letter from the

ACLU-NC | threat-

ening litigation and

demanding that the

division rescind its

policy. Folberg and

Hipshman have since

spoken at a brown bag lunch on "Hot Topics in Wage-an-

Hour Enforcement" for the Bay Area chapter of the National

Lawyers Guild. @

"Going to the games is a real family event that we

all look forward to. It is a tradition that lam proud -

of," said Dan Sheehan. "But this year, my family and I

have been forced to submit to pat-downs by complete

strangers that run their hands over my back, arms,

waist and the outside of my legs. They have even patted _

down my 4-year-old grandson. I find this terribly of- _

fensive and ask, is this now the price we have to @ Pay for

admission to a football game?"

The pat-down policy was oe this seasonin

response to a directive from the NFL, citing post- ON

security concerns. "These kinds of concerns, based on

speculation and fear, lead to the erosion of our civil lib-

erties and freedoms, and does not make us any safer,"

said Ann Brick, ACLU- NC staff attorney.

Last yea, a Florida court ruled that pat- -downs at _

`apa Bay Buccaneers games are unconstitutional and

the Florida court of appeal refused to stay the injune-

tion.

"The citizens . of California enacted Proposition i

the Privacy Initiative, to ensure that every California

citizens tight to privacy would be explicitly protected

-ADERS: SEASON-TIOKET HOLDERS CHALLENGE PAT-DOWN -

by our state's constitution," said ACLU- NC cooperat- :

ing attorney Benjamin. Riley, a lawyer at the firm of

Chapman, Popik and White. ke 49ers: pat-down

policy violates the right to privacy by forcing fans to

subject t themselves to repeated " `touching, patting and

light rubbing" before they can enter Monster Park -

to a the 49ers a Courts have 7

searches, and v we are - confident me will do : so ioe a

ACLU BECAUSE FREEDOM CAN'T PROTECT ITSELF | 3

STUDENT AND TEACHER ACTIVIST

RETREAT GETS RAVE REVIEWS

By Danielle Silk

atthew Green, a journalism and media studies teacher at Fremont

High Media Academy in Oakland, noted a marked difference in

his students' sense of leadership potential after they attended a

Student and Teacher Activist Retreat last fall, sponsored by the ACLU

of Northern Californias Friedman Education Project.

"Since the retreat, | have seen a broadening in their overall

perspectives on what they are capable of doing and how to

strategically accomplish those tasks," Green said. "In terms of

my own teaching, the retreat has given me a lot of curriculum

ideas and lesson plans that deal with issues of social justice that

are relevant to my students."

Indeed, those who have attended the Student and Teach-

er Activist Retreat (STAR) program commonly describe the

experience as "positive," "energizing," and "hopeful." The

annual retreat gives Northern California teachers and stu-

dents the opportunity to come together outside the class-

room setting to share and learn new strategies for campus

activism.

The ACLU of Northern Californias (ACLU-NC) retreat

took place in the serene Sonoma setting of Westerbeke Ranch.

Students and teachers from high schools in San Francisco and

the East Bay came with various goals in mind. Some came to

learn about student rights, some were looking to become bet-

ter activists and some were looking for ways to strengthen the

impact of on-campus clubs.

"Tt is a refreshing chance for students and teachers to break

down the youth/adult barriers that the traditional school sys-

tem creates," said Melissa Ambrose, a teacher at Oceana High

School in Pacifica.

One of the highlights of the three-day retreat was a stu-

dent rights workshop run by ACLU-NC staff attorney Julia

Harumi Mass. It addressed a wide array of campus concerns

such as dress codes, on-campus speech rights, discrimination,

harassment, and the rights of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual,

transgender, queer/questioning) students.

To meet the needs of various participants at the retreat,

Friedman Project staff ran workshops on how to share strate-

gies for peer education projects, take action on campus, and

improve club attendance. Participants also planned specific

club events, such as culturally relevant movie nights, discus-

sions, guest speakers, and anti-slur campaigns.

Each school came with a different goal in mind. For ex-

ample, students from Balboa High School in San Francisco

wanted to learn about how to deal with a dress code policy

that they believed unfairly targeted students of color. Students

from Oceana High School in Pacifica were troubled by homo-

phobic language and planned a creative campaign to challenge

discrimination by designing T-shirts with anti-hate messages.

Meanwhile, students at Fremont High School in Oakland were

looking for ways to build school spirit by bringing back school

dances that the administra-

tion had banned.

After the retreat, students

THE ANNUAL RETREAT

GIVES TEACHERS

AND STUDENTS THE

OPPORTUNITY 10 COME

TOGETHER OUTSIDE THE

CLASSROOM SETTING TO

SHARE AND LEARN NEW

STRATEGIES FOR CAMPUS

ACTIVISM.

and teachers often stay in

touch with Friedman Proj-

ect staff to get additional

support or to report their

successes. One student

who has stayed in touch is

drianne Stewart, editor

of the school newspaper at

McClymonds High School

in Oakland. She has been

writing articles on contem-

porary issues in the Native

American community, the "n-word" and homophobia. She's

been thinking of writing about violence in schools to challenge

critics' assertions that this will never change.

Students who attend the retreat are encouraged to get in-

volved with the Friedman Project's Youth Activist Committee.

The next STAR Program is scheduled for Oct.13-15, 2006 at

Westerbeke Ranch. For more information, contact Friedman

Project Director Eveline Chang at (415) 621-2493. m

Danielle Silk is a Friedman Project Youth Advocate.

WILLIAMS SETTLEMENT TRIGGERS

POSITIVE CHANGES FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

By Yasmin Anwar

( ee in California's lowest-achieving public schools

are improving, according to a new report chronicling the

first year of implementation of the landmark Williams v. Cali-

fornia settlement won by the ACLU's California affiliates.

`The report, issued by the American Civil Liberties Union

Foundation of Southern California, says hundreds of school

facilities are being inspected and repaired; tens of thousands of

textbooks and other learning materials have been purchased;

and more teachers are being hired and properly certified, par-

ticularly those in classrooms with high numbers of English-

language learners.

The class-action Williams v. California lawsuit was filed by

the ACLU's California affiliates, Public Advocates and the

Morrison and Foerster law firm in 2000 on behalf of San Fran-

cisco middle-school student Eliezer Williams. As the case

gathered momentum, Williams became the lead plaintiff

representing low-income students learning in substandard

conditions compared to their middle-income, suburban

counterparts.

Among other basic standards, the lawsuit demanded that all

California public schools have well-trained teachers, sufficient

textbooks and other learning materials, and that classrooms

and other campus facilities be kept clean and safe.

Under Gov. Gray Davis, the state spent $18 million to fight

the lawsuit. In August 2004, the Schwarzenegger administra-

tion agreed to settle the case and the governor signed into law

five bills implementing the legislative proposals set forth in the

settlement.

`The goal of the implementing legislation was to establish "a

floor, rather than a ceiling, and a beginning, not an end, to the

state of Californias commitment and effort to ensure that all

California school pupils have access to the basic elements of a

quality public education," the report says.

Aside from setting standards for school site and learning

conditions for millions of low-income students of color, the

agreement established new accountability mechanisms, and

committed a billion dollars to meeting those goals.

One result of the 2004 Williams' settlement, lauded by

teachers and parents, is the Uniform Complaint Process

used to identify deficiencies and seek timely remedies. As

for other advances in accountability, school districts are

now required to conduct rigorous self-evaluations, the re-

sults of which are reported to the school community in a

yearly report card. @

Students and teachers at the Westerbeke Ranch

retreat discuss campus issues.

2005-2006 STAR PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS

Balboa High School (San Francisco)

Communication Arts and Sciences, Berkeley High

School (Berkeley)

Excel Academy, McClymonds High School

(Oakland)

Lincoln High School (San Francisco)

Media Academy, Fremont High School (Oakland)

Newark Memorial High School (Newark)

Oceana High School (Pacifica)

Washington High School (Fremont)

EXCEPTS FROM ANONYMOUS EVALUATIONS

OF THE RETREAT

FROM TEACHERS:

"Energizing, good ideas and eye-opening for youth at

our school, fun for me, I got to get many new ideas

e examples. Awesome!!

`I would certainly encourage teachers who have

strong feelings about injustices at their schools but

aren't sure how to fight them, well seasoned activists

who need refreshing and students who have leader-

ship/activism potential."

FROM STUDENTS:

"This impacted me a lot. I can speak up more, and I

have more ideas."

"This was an amazing retreat and it gave me strength

0x00B0 3?

to continue my work.

"Tt has instilled in me a newfound drive to strive for

what I believe in and to be the change I wish to see

in the world."

"Tt really helped us realize the inequities in schools and

what our rights are and what we can really do."

"Games were a blast, and really did build commu-

nity! Everything was interesting and thought-pro-

voking."

"It is worth everything because I never knew that ev-

eryone in different schools have so many problems,

and knowing those problems makes me want to help

everyone."

`T have learned how to exercise my rights as well as

how to become a fellow advocate for my peers."

4 | ACLU BECAUSE FREEDOM CAN'T PROTECT ITSELF

ByVickMalhowa = = posals to create a new state immigration police force (ACA ates our fe national identity card and enables he rout

_ . ss | _ 20), roll back access to higher education for immigrant tracking of individuals by both government and businesses.

A state Legislature gears up for a new year of lob- children (SB 349, AB 589), and deny a range of public _ Among other privacy violations, Real ID stands to seriously

ying and lawmaking, ther auch planning going `services, including emergency health care, to undocument- `increase incidents of identity cent theft. __

__ on, But first, a quick review of t ember 20 special a q arnietan (ACA 6). `The ACLU joined immigrant _

fornia, "Assembly Bill FROM.

(1121, authored "7 Ae na

"ABIL CALLING FOR A ee and Assembly om

Member Paul Korerz _

ced TWO-YEAR SUSPENSION West Hollywood),

(c) OFEXECUTIONS WHILE (c) was shelved "in the

_ TWECALIFORNIA

tions Committee last

. COMMISSION ON THE smonth. However, its

FAIR ADMINISTRATION OF `renee Heping tcent partner at he times ihe rate |

o JUSTICE INVESTIGATES THE a it before homes. if a woman knows that

the session's end. The

CAUSES OF WRONGFUL = Legislature established

ne the California Com-

mission on the Fair

ter co _ Administration of

i Justice i in 2004 to investigate flaws in California's ctiminal

justice system and recommend specific reforms to ensure

_ that the system is just, fair, and accurate. The commission -

has until December 2007 to make its recommendations.

sorely needed. mm

Vivek Malhorr:

California e

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FEDERAL

cae oo. bs CALIFORNIA

In May 2005, Congress enacted the

Real ID Act, without the benefit of - eee CLASS. C

__ public hearings. Implementation of

this new law threatens to have far- EPH X. SMITH

ching consequences for indi ab yen STREET

2 al ACE CA 90000

HAIR:BRN --_EVES:GRN

5-09 Wied 08 0

You Yaron -

06/06/2001 123 16 XxX/00

ACLU BECAUSE FREEDOM CAN'T PROTECT ITSELF | 5

DEATH PENALTY ON TRIAL

s San Quentin's death chamber prepares for its third execution in three months, the ACLU of Northern

California is stepping up its campaign against capital punishment. In April, the affiliate will co-sponsor a

conference at the UCLA Law School called "The Faces of Wrongful Conviction." Following are reports

on efforts to bear witness to state-sanctioned killing and highlight problems with the death penalty.

MIKE FARRELL: BEARING WITNESS, BEARING CHANGE

By Erika Clark

ike Farrell soared in the hit TV shows M.A.S.H. and

Providence, but to many, he has ascended to even

greater heights through his steel commitment to humani-

tarianism. Upon meeting Farrell, president of Death Penalty

Focus, I discovered a man with a frame taller than most, eyes

a brighter watery blue than most, and a spirit more apt to

embrace than most. His honed ability to empathize makes

him vulnerable, yet unrelenting in his advocacy to reform

our justice system.

CLARK: You've been advocating against the death

penalty for almost 30 years. What in your back-

ground has better enabled you to clearly see injus-

tices in the administration of the death penalty?

FARRELL: An experience I had when | was in my mid-20s,

I guess. I was part of a halfway house program for those re-

cently released from prison. And part of that is what moved

me in the direction of being opposed to the death penalty.

Being involved in the lives of those formerly incarcerated and

seeing many of them succeed sensitized me to a lack of fair-

ness that is threaded throughout our prison system. So when

I meet someone on death row who is incredibly bright, who

has had as ugly a history as a human being could ever have,

and then I witness the potential for them to develop into a

thinking, caring human being, it magnetizes me. | just think,

"This cant happen. You just can't kill this human being."

CLARK: But the system remains impersonal.

_ FARRELL: In the system there is what I call an institutional

imperative against the admission of error. States, counties,

jurisdictions, district attorneys offices -they never want to

admit that they ve made a mistake. And you see it. We've got

118 people now freed from death row and the prosecutors

continue to insist that's the guilty guy.

CLARK: Having navigated many political waters

yourself, what do you think are the best strategies

that can move politicians to take a stand against

the death penalty?

FARRELL: Our so-called political leaders are not leaders,

theyre followers. We really have to educate the people. We

have to move the people.

We to encourage

them to understand that

the death penalty's harming

all of us. It's not just killing

this bad person, it is harm-

ing all of us.

have

"LITTLE BY LITTLE, YOU

DEMONSTRATE THAT

INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE

TRAPPED IN THE SYSTEM

AND THAT IT S MORE

EXPENSIVE 10 KILL THAN

IT IS TO PUT THEM IN

PRISON FOR THE REST OF

THEIR LIVES."

-MIKE FARRELL

CLARK: Right.

FARRELL: Ive heard from

any number of prison of-

ficials helping to adminis-

ter the death penalty that,

"It's just a terrible, terrible

thing that we are doing to

ourselves to walk people

through this process and `escort them, to their deaths." So

that's a point I try and make. Little by little, you demonstrate

that innocent people are trapped in the system and that it's

more expensive to kill than it is to put them in prison for the

rest of their lives.

CLARK: I think on some sort of fundamental level

people are beginning to get it. How do you ap-

proach the issue with victims' families?

FARRELL: It's a very hard thing. What I try to do is say this

is not about my morality being higher than your morality,

but what we as a society have to do is figure out what works

for us. How do we establish a set of laws and a set of policies

and practices that help us become the society we endeavor to

be. This is not about you being wrong and me being right.

`This is about how do we come together and say, "Let's create

a system that serves us all."

CLARK: So what do you think we can do to support

a moratorium on executions?

FARRELL: The people of California supported the creation

of the Commission for the Fair Administration of Justice

with a specific mandate to review the death system. So that

gives us a big leg up. The appropriate thing for the legislators

and Gov. Schwarzenegger to do, given the fact that this com-

mission is in operation, is to declare a moratorium, to simply

stay executions until we know whether or not the system is

working.

CLARK: Well, I certainly think momentum is gain-

ing for a moratorium when you consider the public

debate on the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams.

What did you think of the governor's decision to

deny clemency?

FARRELL: With the majority of the world's nations abandon-

ing state killing, Gov. Schwarzenegger instead washed his

hands, Pilate-like, and ordered the extermination of a man

who had become a force for good in our society and an ex-

ample of hope for misdirected youth. He chose rank politics

over justice, poisoning the hopes of our youth with the very

needle that took Stan's life.

CLARK: Wzlliams is certainly a compelling example,

but I continue to be struck with your ability to

identify with the underdog.

FARRELL: We're all a product of our environment as well

as our genes, but I think the truth is that I was a terrified

child and my father was not a brutal man but terrifying.

So I always identified with the underdog, always have and

always will, I guess. And I'm a great believer in justice. I

think that justice must be done, and to the degree that I have

the capacity to contribute to thar, I will.

CLARK: Not only have you been vigorously involved in

death penalty issues, but you have also been involved

in human rights issues spanning much of the globe.

You are co-chair of Human Rights Watch in Califor-

nia and, after a trip to Bosnia and Somalia, you were

named Good Will Ambassador for the United Nations

High Commissioner for Refugees. What do you think

is next for the human rights movement?

Mike Farrell

FARRELL: I think the human rights movement is now ex-

panding its reach. It was a big deal for Human Rights Watch

and Amnesty International to come out against the death

penalty, for the ACLU as well. They lost a lot of membership

because of it. Now many human rights organizations are get-

ting into the area of gay rights. It's about recognizing human-

ity and with humanity comes certain inalienable rights as the

Constitution says. So I think the human rights movement is

at once being broadened to include more nations and more

cultures and at the same time is being challenged to filter_.

down into cultural areas that have been ignored over time

because they were considered "dangerous."

CLARK: Well, you certainly do what many are afraid

to do-by being a witness to death. When you

think about your own life, how do you want to be

remembered?

FARRELL: There's an image that stays with me. When | was in

Rwanda we were at church where an incredible slaughter took

"THIS 1S NOT ABOUT YOU

BEING WRONG AND

ME BEING RIGHT. THIS

IS ABOUT HOW DO WE

COME TOGETHER AND

SAY, LET'S CREATE A

SYSTEM THAT SERVES

US ALL."

~MIKE FARRELL

place. Inside the chapel was

almost beyond description.

Outside the church there were

piles of bones and there were

some skeletons of those who

had been killed still wrapped

in clothing. And we came to

understand there was an area

where the children had been

secreted away in the hope that

they would not be killed and

of course, they were. One of

the figures on the ground was

the skeleton of a man still in

his clothing. You could tell that it was the skeleton of a man

who had been killed in the midst of running. And for myself,

because of the posture of the figure, the direction he was go-

ing, I believe he was rushing toward the children. There is

no better way to either die or to be remembered than having

spent your last ounce of energy to help somebody.

CLARK: Thank you. 0x2122

6 | ACLU BECAUSE FREEDOM CAN'T PROTECT ITSELF

BRAVE AND WEARY KEEP VIGIL FOR STANLEY TOOKIE WILLIAMS

By Natasha Minsker

hen Bryan Stevenson told Rosa Parks that he represented death

row inmates in Alabama, she shook her head and said, "Son,

that work will make you tired, tired, tired." Stevenson nodded in

agreement and said, "Yes, I am tired, very tired" to which Parks placed

her hand on his knee and said, "Son, you must be brave, brave, brave."

MICHAEL WOOLSEY

And brave is what I tried to be at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 13,

2005 as I kept vigil for Stanley Tookie Williams outside San

Quentin Prison along with 2,000 others. For months, I had

been working with death penalty opponents and Williams'

defense team to spread awareness of his plight and of proposed

legislation to put executions on hold while an

independent commission studies flaws in the

criminal justice system.

Less than ten hours earlier, we had learned that

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to grant

Williams' clemency. And so we had come to the

gates of San Quentin Prison to bear witness to

the state of California killing a man that many

in the crowd had come to know, if not personally

then through his redemptive work to keep young

people out of gangs.

I never met Williams, founder of the Crips

street gang. But I can still hear his voice in my

head from listening to his lectures and reading his books.

Indeed, in the days leading up to his execution, Williams was

no longer viewed by the world as an anonymous prisoner

identifiable only by his mug shot. He was a human being

that many felt a connection with, a man who was about to be

killed in a cold, calculated and clinical manner.

Those who had worked hard to save Williams' life were

PEOPLE FROM ALL

WALKS OF LIFE HAD

COME TOGETHER FOR

ONE PURPOSE: TO

SAY THAT IT 1S SIMPLY

WRONG FOR THE

STATE TO KILL A MAN.

filled with emotion that night. When Joan Baez took the

stage early in the evening to sing "Swing Low Sweet Chariot,"

her eyes brimmed with tears.

At midnight, the crowd grew quiet and tense. Rabbi Alan

Lew of San Francisco's Congregation Beth Shalom, who has

kept vigil at nine executions, told us that the

next half hour would be difficult. Children of

all ages read from Williams' books, filling the

air with his words even as the state prepared

to silence him forever. A minister from the

Nation of Islam took the stage and prayed for

a moratorium on executions.

It was in some sense a moment of transcen-

dence. People from all walks of life had come

together for one purpose: to say that it is simply

wrong for the state to kill a man, this man.

But the unified purpose was also eclipsed

by suffering. Those who had never gone to an

execution suffered from not knowing: "Tell us what's going

on!" they yelled, not understanding that once the macabre

ritual begins, those involved do not communicate with those

outside the gates until the death is confirmed. Others, in-

cluding myself, suffered from knowing too much.

Just before midnight, I saw in my mind's eye Stanley Tookie

Williams in shackles, walking the last 15 feet he would ever

(c) 2005 GEORGE ELFIE BALLIS/SUNMT

People gathered at the midnight vigil for Stanley

lookie Williams.

walk. At 12:05 a.m., I pictured him standing inside the death

chamber, knowing he would never leave that room alive.

By 12:15 a.m. I saw him strapped to the gurney, needles

piercing his skin as the guard fumbled with the IV, the last

physical contact with another person that he would ever have.

By 12:35 a.m., we had not heard any news and so we gath-

ered on the makeshift stage outside the San Quentin gates

and sang (c) We Shall Overcome.' We did so not because we

believed we could save Williams life, but because we needed

to draw inspiration from the civil rights movement. We

needed to resurrect the spirit of Rosa Parks and many other

brave souls so that we could be brave when the word came

down that Tookie was dead. @

Natasha Minsker is Death Penalty Policy Director for the

ACLU of Northern California

HUNDREDS GATHER FOR BILL OF RIGHTS DAY continued From pace 1

Fresh from advocating-successfully, as it turned out-for

a moratorium on executions in New Jersey, Sister Helen told

reporters at a press conference that the message Gov. Arnold

Schwarzenegger sent out by refusing to grant clemency to

Williams is: "Don't tell us you changed your life. Don't tell us

you are helping the children. We have to kill you."

Still, Sister Helen said she has faith that the American peo-

ple are not vengeful and will reject the death penalty when

__ they learn that it is "bet-

ter to heal and transform

than to imitate violence

blindly."

Other speakers also

appealed for Williams

life: "Williams is a liv-

ing example of reha-

bilitation, the power of

renouncing violence in

a violent world," said As-

semblyman Mark Leno,

Natalie Wormeli accepts

the Dick Criley Activist

Award for the Yolo County

ACLU Chapter.

co-sponsor of the mora-

torium bill.

In her _ state-of-the-

union speech, ACLU-

NC Executive Director

Dorothy Ehrlich vehemently echoed the sentiments that

executions should be put on hold.

"No one should be put to death ... while a commission

studies wrongful convictions and flaws in the death penalty

system, she said. "No one should be put to death when

more than 122 people have been released from death rows

because they did not commit the crimes for which they were

convicted."

Sadly, the 51-year-old Crips gang founder, whose redemp-

tive efforts to steer kids away from gangs earned him several

Nobel Peace Prize nominations, was pronounced dead from

lethal injection at San Quentin Prison at 12:35 a.m. on Dec.

13. The execution of Clarence Ray Allen, the oldest and frail-

est inmate on California's death row, followed on Jan. 17.

Along with the death penalty, Ehrlich discussed a broad

range of issues, including the Patriot Act, the impact of Hur-

ricane Katrina on poor minorities and the ACLU's victory in

defeating the Prop 73 parental notification initiative.

"With a winning coalition and a smart political campaign,

we were able to defeat that initiative and defend teenagers

right to privacy and safety,' Ehrlich said.

As well as paying tribute to ACLU old-timers, the 2005

Bill of Rights Day program featured a budding generation

of civil rights activists, including students from the How-

ard A. Friedman First Amendment Project. They showed

Californias juvenile justice system. Also representing

young voices for justice with their powerful slam poetry

were members of Youth Speaks, a San Francisco-founded

spoken word and creative writing program.

Actor Sean Penn, who

got to know Sister Helen

while working on the

1995 film based on her

book, "Dead Man Walk-

ing,' presented the Baton-

MORE THAN 700 MEMBERS

AND SUPPORTERS OF

THE ACLU OF NORTHERN

CALIFORNIA GATHERED

AT THE SAN FRANCISCO

MARRIOTT ON DEC. 11.

Rouge-born Catholic nun

with the ACLU-NC's

Chief Justice Earl Warren

Civil Liberties award.

"She is a true dove to

ride the back of," Penn said, echoing the words of a Youth

Speaks slam poet who had performed earlier. He noted that

the death penalty "is more a reflection of how we fear death

than how we deal with retribution."

a slide show of their summer field trip investigation of

Sister Helen Prejean speaking after being awarded

the Chief Justice Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award.

After accepting the award from Penn, Sister Helen

launched into a speech about her life and awakening through

administering to the poor in New Orleans' St. Thomas hous-

ing project and befriending death row inmate Patrick Son-

nier, who was executed on April 5, 1984.

"There in my heart that night, there was a very clear sum-

mons,' she said. "The American people will never see this, so

I have to tell this story. Then I began to write."

Honoree Micky Welsh received the Lola Hanzel Coura-

geous Advocacy Award for her more than two decades of

dedicated service to the ACLU. She recalled how she and

her longtime partner, Kathy Stone, were first drawn to the

ACLU in 1978 and how it helped shape them.

"When Kathy and I graduated from law school, we

wanted to save the world, but we didn't know how,' she said.

"The ACLU has given us skills, but even more, the ACLU

has given us hope." @

ACLU BECAUSE FREEDOM CANT PROTECT ITSELF | 7

8 | ACLU BECAUSE FREEDOM CAN'T PROTECT ITSELF

NO ON PROP 73: A CAMPAIGN TO REMEMBER continuep From PAGE 1

Margaret Crosby, staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern

California (ACLU-NC) has been instrumental in keeping paren-

tal consent laws off the books in California. In challenging Prop

73, she spoke persuasively in public forums on the initiative's

threat to teen health and safety, as well as reproductive rights.

`The measure described a fetus as a "child conceived but not yet

born."

Crosby has seen abortion

foes returning time and

again with new and insidi-

ous ways to restrict access

to safe and legal abortions,

and anticipates yet another

challenge in the not-too-

distant future.

As 2006,

reproductive freedom in

we enter

America is on the preci-

pice," Crosby said. "With

an administration hostile to

abortion and birth control,

a Congress poised to enact

cruelly restrictive laws,

and a changing Supreme

Court, creative advocacy

will be critical to securing

meaningful reproductive choice, especially for vulnerable

young and poor women."

Still, future challenges don't detract from the success of

defeating Prop. 73. The effort demonstrated to Gelender and

campaign coordinator Becca Cramer the power of grassroots

activism over big-money politics. Prop. 73 was bankrolled by

San Diego newspaper publisher James Holman, winemaker

Don Sebastiani and Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan,

all staunch opponents of abortion.

Cramer remembers the rainy night before the election when

volunteers at a dozen different locations wore sandwich boards

urging a "no" vote on Prop. 73. Nobody complained about

etting drenched. "The volunteers loved it,' Cramer recalls.

gi g

Volunteers throughout northern California helped

defeat Prop 73.

"They wanted to do it again."

Another fond campaign memory for Cramer was running

the first Marin County phone bank. The volunteers were all

dedicated activists, particularly one named Libby, who had

never worked a phone bank in her life.

After making the first call, Libby shrieked with joy. It turned

out that the person on the other end had been none other

than Bonnie Anderson,

the ACLU-NC finance

and administrative direc-

"tm, _` tot, who not only agreed

wholeheartedly with Lib-

by's pitch, but allowed her

to run through the entire

script. "All the dread that

usually accompanies phone

banking was gone and she

eagerly plugged away at

her list," Cramer said.

Another

favorite campaign memo-

of Cramer's

ties is the mock Prop 73

Judicial Bypass event at the

UC Berkeley campus. The

setup was intended to dem-

onstrate what teens have to

go through to get a judge to waive the requirement to notify

their parents. The scheduled event was rained out, so it ended

up being held at Halloween, which made for a great turnout

at Sproul Plaza.

Students moving through the mock maze were able to see

how it feels to be pregnant teen trying to get court permis-

sion to bypass parental notification. Many were guys who had

been indifferent to Prop 73 until they entered the maze. One

of them, Cramer recalls, was on his way back to work from

lunch. After trying the maze, he talked to Cramer about how

difficult and scary the judicial bypass process had been for

him, even though it was make-believe.

"T think that was the moment when I realized that what we

were doing-both that day and throughout the campaign-

was really impacting people in profound ways," Cramer said.

"It made me so happy that it was difficult to hold back and not

give him a huge hug." @

NATIONAL ACLU NEWS ROUNDUP

ACLU CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO NSA DOMESTIC

SPYING PROGRAM

In a formal request to Attorney General Alberto Gonza-

les, the ACLU has called for the immediate appointment

of an outside special counsel to investigate and prosecute

any criminal acts and violations of laws as a result of the

National Security Agency's surveillance of domestic targets

as authorized by President Bush.

"President Bush's disregard and disrespect for the Con-

stitution are evident, but in America, we are all bound by

the rule of law," said Anthony D. Romero, ACLU Executive

Director. "The president took an oath to `preserve, protect

and defend the constitution of the United States.' He can-

not use a claim of seeking to preserve our nation to under-

mine the rules that serve as our foundation. The Attorney

General, who may have been involved with the formulation

of this policy, must appoint an outside special counsel to let

justice be served."

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 states

that electronic surveillance is only permissible following "a

search warrant or court order." The statements of the presi-

dent and other officials make it clear that domestic surveil-

lance, without court approval or review, has occurred and

will continue to occur.

The ACLU's call for an independent special counsel

follows its expedited records request, under the Freedom

of Information Act, to the NSA, the Department of

Justice and the Central Intelligence Agency for informa-

tion about the NSA's program of warrentless spying on

Americans.

ACLU DISCOVERS FBI SPIED ON ENVIRONMENTAL AND

ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS

The ACLU has obtained documents through Freedom of Infor-

mation Act requests that show the FBI used counterterrorism

resources to monitor and infiltrate domestic political organiza-

tions that criticize business interests and government policies.

The documents show that groups monitored by the FBI

under the agency's expanded definition of "domestic terror-

ism" include Greenpeace, People for the Ethical Treatment of

Animals, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

and the Catholic Workers Group.

"The FBI should use its resources to investigate credible

threats to national security instead of spending time tracking

Americans who criticize government policy, or monitoring

groups that have not broken the law," said Ann Beeson, As-

sociate Legal Director of the ACLU. "Labeling law abiding

groups and their members `domestic terrorists' is not only ir-

responsible, it has a chilling effect on the vibrant tradition of

political dissent in this country."

ACLU affiliates in 20 states have filed similar requests on

behalf of more than 150 groups and individuals. Last year,

the ACLU of Colorado revealed that the FBI had tracked the

names, license plate numbers and vehicle registration infor-

mation of participants at a peaceful protest in 2002 of the

North American Wholesale Lumber Association in Colorado

Springs.

Meanwhile, the ACLU's three California affiliates are seek-

ing information about the intelligence gathering efforts of law

enforcement agencies in this state. Public records act requests

filed with the state attorney general focus on the California

Anti-Terrorism Information Center's policies and information

the agency may have received regarding the ACLU's Califor-

nia afhiliates and chapters, Greenpeace, People for the Ethical

Treatment of Animals, United for Peace and Justice, Food not

Bombs, Code Pink, UC Santa Cruz Students Against the War,

Fresno State Campus Peace and Civil Liberties Coalition, Peace

Fresno, War Resisters League West, College Not Combat, and

the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

ACLU APPLAUDS "INTELLIGENT" DECISION

A Pennsylvania federal judge in December sided with the

ACLU in his ruling that "intelligent design" would violate the

Constitution if taught in public school science classrooms be-

cause it is a religious belief and not a valid scientific theory.

`The landmark case Kitzmiller v. Dover is the first legal chal-

lenge to teaching "intelligent design," an assertion that an

intelligent supernatural entity has intervened in the history of

life. On behalf of 11 parents of students in the Dover Area

School District, The ACLU of Pennsylvania, Pepper Hamil-

ton, LLP and Americans United for the Separation of Church

and State challenged the school board's 2004 policy requiring

high school science teachers to present "intelligent design" as

an alternative to evolution.

Judge John E. Jones III ruled that the policy violated the plain-

tiffs' religious liberty and that the school board acted to promote

their own religious views rather than advance science education.

"The verdict is truly a victory for the Constitution," said ACLU

of Pennsylvania Legal Director Witold Walczak, a lead attor-

ney for the plaintiffs. "We are very pleased Judge Jones agreed

with the plaintiffs and that public school science instruction

will not be muddled with religious beliefs masquerading as

scientific theories."

ACLU BECAUSE FREEDOM CANT PROTECT ITSELF | 9