Alex Darocy Photography

On June 14, the Freedom Sleepers held their 49th community sleepout at Santa Cruz City Hall, with about two dozen people spending the night. As summer approaches, attendance has continued to increase at the weekly sleepouts, which are organized to protest local laws that criminalize homelessness. The 50th community sleepout is planned for Tuesday, June 21, and the Freedom Sleepers have announced their one-year anniversary sleepout will be held on July 5. A Freedom Sleeper in front of Santa Cruz City Hall at community sleepout #47 on June 1 The community sleepouts in Santa Cruz were initiated on July 4, 2015 by a coalition of unhoused and housed activists. Organizations participating in the sleep protests have included Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs, Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom (HUFF), Santa Cruz Homeless Persons Legal Assistance Project, Santa Cruz Homeless Depot Shelter, Homeless Advocacy & Action Coalition, and Housing NOW Santa Cruz. Through the course of the p...

On June 4, the family of Yanira Serrano was joined in the city of Half Moon Bay by a large community of friends and supporters to commemorate the two year mark since the 18-year-old was killed by San Mateo County Sheriff's deputy Menh Trieu. Also in attendance were the loved ones of two other victims killed by police in the Bay Area, Errol Chang and Antonio Guzman Lopez. Yanira's brother, Tony Serrano Garcia, wrote in an event announcement that the community remembrance of Yanira would also focus on justice. "Everyone is invited to celebrate the life of my sister in commemoration of her second angelversary, in which not only will [we] celebrate her spirit and the beauty of who she was, but we will also let the county and corrupt system know that we are still hungry for justice. Yanira is in the heart of each and every one who still remembers her," he wrote. The gathering began at the large, colorful mural created in Yanira's honor, which is located on the pr...