vol. 70, no. 1
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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