Alex Darocy Photography

To mark the National Day of Protest Against Brutality, community members in Salinas rallied in front of city hall on October 22, where the family members of Jose Velasco, Frank Alvarado, and Angel Ruiz all spoke. Ruiz and Alvarado were among five unarmed Latino men killed in separate incidents in 2014 during encounters with the Salinas Police Department. Velasco was severley beaten by a group of Salinas police officers in 2015. Individuals held signs in front of city hall and joined in several group chants, including energetic repetitions of the phrase "Brown Lives Matter" and choruses of "Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Chief McMillin has got to go!" Calls for the removal of Salinas police chief Kelly McMillin have been consistently expressed at protests against police brutality in Salinas, which have been organized regularly since May of 2014 when a video of the killing of Carlos Mejia by two Salinas police officers went viral. Up to that point Mejia was third person kill...

On September 22 community members protesting the criminalization of homelessness in Santa Cruz returned to city hall for their eleventh sleepout. A sizable group again made it through a night of sleep at city hall, though Santa Cruz police woke everyone up as a group at about 5:30am. Police have conducted regular raids on the sleepouts since they began on July 4, but they employed a new tactic on September 22. They informed individuals that the city needed the area cleared in order to steam clean the sidewalk, and that workers would be arriving within the hour. All of the sleepers complied, and as the protesters were eating breakfast in front of city hall, the sidewalk was eventually steam cleaned. Sleeping next to the flagpole at Santa Cruz city hall Police cite person sleeping next to flagpole during the first raid of the evening Police and security guards during the first raid Protesters line the sidewalk as police conduct the raid The city rents l...

On the evening of September 15, two First Alarm security guards, Nathan Hammack and Ken Hietala, violently detained Christina Latic Barnes, a black woman who had been peacefully sitting on the lawn in the courtyard of Santa Cruz City Hall during hours the area is open to the public. The security guards were employed by the city to monitor the Freedom Sleepers, who held their tenth in a series of all-night sleepouts at City Hall organized to protest local laws that criminalize homelessness. On September 15 at around 8pm, Nathan Hammack and Ken Hietla were patrolling the City Hall courtyard when they suddenly approached Barnes, who was sitting with a friend on a blanket on the lawn. When Barnes stood up, Hietala then walked behind her and stood very near to her body. Hammack also quickly moved in. "I was bombarded by two men," she recalled in an interview conducted later that evening. She was standing next to her blanket, and within an area that was delineated by o...

On September 17, the first move-in day for Fall quarter at UC Santa Cruz, students and community members at the main entrance of campus displayed signs opposing Senate Concurrent Resolution 35 (SCR 35), which was introduced this year in the California Senate. On its surface SCR 35 is legislation that addresses anti-Semitism on the University of California campuses, but critics caution the measure has the potential to limit the free speech activities of those seeking justice for Palestine. To communicate to both new and returning students, community members displayed signs at various locations leading up to campus. A sign that read "Palestinian Lives Matter" was placed on the pedestrian overpass that crosses Highway 1 near Mission Street, and at the main entrance of campus, community members held a large banner that read "Free Speech For Palestine." Another sign placed at the entrance to campus proclaimed visitors were, "Entering Occupied Territory....

On September 8, community members protesting laws that criminalize homelessness held their ninth in a series of group sleepouts at Santa Cruz City Hall, which is closed to the public at night. At least three people were issued citations, and two others were reportedly arrested for participating in the latest protest. Despite that, a large group stayed through the night and slept at City Hall. Since the sleepouts began on July 4, police have consistently attempted to disperse protesters away from City Hall and its garden courtyard by conducting raids. In the process, many participants have been issued citations, and several have been arrested. One individual taken to jail on the evening of September 8/9 had been holding a protest sign and speaking loudly about the injustice of the police raids as people were being cited in the courtyard. She was arrested when she began to walk away from two police officers who were attempting to communicate with her. She had been standing on a fla...