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On May 27, attorney John Burris announced at a press conference held at Salinas City Hall that his law firm is representing the family of Carlos Mejia, who was killed by officers with the Salinas Police Department on May 20. He explained how the family would be pursuing legal action against the city as an avenue for justice. "Unless they admit to wrongfully having killed Mr. Mejia, and pay him substantial damages, we intend to file a civil rights lawsuit in the very near future," Burris said. They also hope the case will be investigated by the Department of Justice of California and the United States Department of Justice to determine whether the officers involved in the killing should be criminally prosecuted, and additionally whether a pattern exists within the SPD that "ratifies" the use of illegal deadly force and/or racially discriminatory law enforcement practices. José Mejia answers questions from reporters Carlos Mejia was a Salvadoran national who su...

In response to the recent killings of three residents by officers with the Salinas Police Department, a coalition of local political and labor groups organized a march and rally for "Respect, Dignity, and Justice" in East Salinas on May 25. The rally began at Closter park, and after hearing from relatives and family representatives of the deceased, the march visited two of the locations where the killings occurred. The event was organized by a number of political and labor groups, including the Salinas Council of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and United Farm Workers (UFW). An organizer stated that the rally was the "first step" towards their objective, which she then described in more detail. Their list of goals includes: a convention to take place in Salinas in five weeks; a federal investigation of all fatal police shootings within the last 10 years; The firing of the Salinas Police Chief; the creation of a civilian review board; the ...

A candlelight vigil was held in San Jose on May 21 to mark the three month anniversary of the death of Antonio Guzman Lopez, who was killed by San Jose State Police near the university on February 21. Antonio was shot in the back by police twice in broad daylight, and Laurie Valdez, the widow of Antonio and mother of Josiah Antonio Lopez, still has not received the police report or coroner's report on his killing from any agency. "I want answers and it's three months already and I don't have nothing at all," she said at the vigil. The San Jose Police Department and the University Police Department are not returning her calls or revealing what the officers' uniform-mounted cameras recorded that day. The intimate vigil was organized at the last minute when Antonio's parents arrived from Nayarit, where they live and where Antonio is now buried. Antonio's mother, who spoke briefly at the vigil, wanted to see where her son died. In April Laurie descri...

Residents and representatives of community organizations in Santa Cruz rallied outside of the court house on May 14 to voice their strong opposition to the Governor's May revise budget, which calls for an increase in spending for jail and prison expansion. According to Californians United for A Responsible Budget (CURB), spending on corrections in the state will rise 2.9%, and total spending on prisons will top $12 billion if the budget revision is adopted. Similar rallies were also held in San Francisco, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Diego. "We are out here today because we know that if we put this money toward restoring social services, and the social safety net for the state of California, that we won't be locking up as many people because these two things are directly related," said Courtney Hanson of the organization Sin Barras. "They take funding away from services that people need to survive," she said. Sin Barras has e...

While reflecting on a long year of labor struggles at UC Santa Cruz, students looking to the future continued to call for the resignation of UC president Janet Napolitano at the 'No 2 Napolitano' May Day rally held at the university on Thursday. The opposition of Napolitano is central to their fight for justice for workers, especially those who are undocumented. "Janet Napolitano comes from the federal government as the head of the Department of Homeland Security. She has not only deported two million people but she has also separated many families and brought fear into undocumented communities," an event announcement for the rally read. In addition to calling for Napolitano's resignation, students also called for the university to settle a fair contract with UAW 2865, the labor union that represents Graduate Student Workers, and for all charges against the UCSC 22 to be dropped. May Day is International Workers Rights Day. Since 2006, the workers holiday an...