Alex Darocy Photography

After being stopped by officers with the Santa Cruz Police Department in Downtown Santa Cruz over the summer, photographer Craig Burton explained in a video interview that he was taking a picture of a child in public and that his subsequent detainment by the SCPD was a case of racial profiling. Burton was clear in stating that his stop by the local police was unwarranted and that they should have known that he was not a predator. Though the authorities did not apologize to him or treat him politely, he didn't blame them, they were just doing their job he said. Burton instead focused on liberals in California, in general, as the source of the problem, stating that, "people act like they are really liberal, but they are not really liberal." He later added, "As you can see, this is Santa Barbara now." When officers Winston and Warren arrived in their patrol vehicle and first caught up to him that day on Locust Street, Burton said he was told by them to sit...

Becky Johnson and Gabriella Ripley-Phipps exit the courtoom during a preliminary hearing in the Santa Cruz Eleven case on January 7, 2013. On January 8, all of the charges against Becky Johnson in association with a bank occupation in Santa Cruz in 2011 were dropped, and to help show what she has been up to in the last year, I've compiled some of my favorite speeches by her that I have videotaped. In the first video, Johnson gives a tongue-and-cheek description of herself, Desiree Foster, and Gabriella Ripley-Phipps, as the "eye-candy" of the Santa Cruz Eleven, and these videos of Johnson really give a feel of what it is like to be a woman and an activist today. The videos, of course, also document how Johnson passionately advocates for the issues she cares about, and the first was recorded at India Joze restaurant in July of 2012. In it, Johnson describes how difficult it was for her not to go inside of the vacant bank during the occupation of 75 River Street. ...

More than two years after originally being cited for lodging on the morning of August 10, 2010 during the Peacecamp demonstrations, which were held to protest the sleeping ban that criminalizes homelessness in Santa Cruz, Linda Lemaster's trial began on November 6, 2012. After three days of listening to testimony, a jury found her guilty of lodging during Peacecamp, and on December 6, Lemaster was sentenced to community service and probation by Judge Rebecca Connolly. Linda Lemaster speaks to her supporter a the Santa Cruz Courthouse before her sentencing on December 6. In an interview conducted on January 3 of this year, Lemaster said she believes now, even more than when she left the trial, that her being cited for lodging was about breaking up a political protest that relied on a law enforcement strategy that is anti-homeless and has a homeland security agenda. "I don't think that trial had much if anything to do with justice," Lemaster said. ...