Alex Darocy Photography

On May 2, Native American community members and Interfaith supporters, including clergy leaders, demonstrated outside of Mission Dolores in San Francisco to oppose the impending canonization of Junipero Serra by the Catholic church. Pope Francis has reaffirmed his decision to name Junipero Serra a saint, despite strong opposition from Native Americans who say the man is responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people when he helped to establish and then presided over the California mission system in the 1700s. "My ancestors were directly enslaved at Mission Dolores here, and at Mission San Jose in Fremont, and I want to make sure that the Vatican knows that we, and Native people allies, do not agree with the canonization of Junipero Serra," said Corrina Gould, who is of Karkin and Chochenyo Ohlone ancestry. Individuals of Coastal Miwok and Chumash ancestry, two other Californian tribal groups gravely affected by the establishment of the mission syste...

Students at UC Santa Cruz occupied the Stevenson Coffee House for a short period of time on April 27 to expose a person they say is a known rapist who is presently employed at the business. The small cafe, which is privately owned and operated under a lease with the university, is located within Stevenson College on the east side of the UCSC campus. The person who they say raped at least two students was not in the coffee house at the time the group marched inside. They had first assembled in Quarry Plaza for an "Activists IN! Rapists OUT!" rally. Students announced the intention of the Activists IN! Rapists OUT! rally as follows: "The University of California is targeting and repressing student activists as “threats to the health and safety” of the community, while protecting students who repeatedly rape and sexually assault our fellow slugs. 6 students are facing unprecedented sanctions (suspension until September 1, 2016, 100-120 hours of community service, and ...

Statewide coordinated actions to end solitary confinement continued on April 23, and were held in Eureka, Los Angeles, Oakland, Point Reyes, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz, and nationally in Philadelphia. In Santa Cruz, community members held their second monthly vigil overlooking the sea at the Santa Cruz Lighthouse. Across the state, activists have begun to coordinate vigils and protests on the 23rd in response to a call from the Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers to designate a certain date each month as Prisoner Rights Day to call attention to prison conditions. The Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers were among an estimated 30,000 California prisoners who refused meals and work assignments in a 2013 strike. Their principle demand was to end the state’s use of indefinite solitary confinement. Actions are held on the 23rd of each month to represent the 23 hours or more per day inmates held in solitary typically spend in isolation. "People are locked up in small concrete ...

Mayor Don Lane, Vice-Mayor Cynthia Mathews, and Council Member Cynthia Chase have submitted a proposal to be heard by the Santa Cruz City Council on Tuesday, April 28 which if passed, will direct city staff to research the subject of a local minimum wage. The minimum wage is currently $9.00 an hour in California, and is scheduled to raise to $10.00 an hour in 2016, as set by state law. Communities across the state, however, have created higher minimum wages for their localities either by the voters passing ballot initiatives or through the action of city councils. "The Fight for 15" has become a common rallying call for those advocating for a $15.00 an hour minimum wage. Lane, Mathews, and Chase have not suggested a specific dollar figure they have in mind for a minimum wage in Santa Cruz in the agenda report they submitted to the city council. The agenda report states: "While the issue of income equality is an important reason to consider adopting a local minimum wage ...

Sheriff Jim Hart is making an 'emergency requisition' in the amount of $47,925 to install a seven-foot tall, 364-foot long gated iron fence in order to close off the area of the Santa Cruz County Main Jail's parking lot that is most commonly used by community members for public assembly and political demonstrations. Hart has specifically stated that recent political demonstrations held at the jail are the reason for building the new fence. Due to the lack of a continuous sidewalk along the Blaine Street side of the jail, the installation of the fence will essentially push protesters on to the street if they want to continue to assemble on that side of the jail. The Sheriff's Department expenditure request has been placed on the consent agenda of the April 21 Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors meeting. The proposed fence. Sheriff Hart explains his justification for the necessity of the fence in the April 21 agenda report: ".....following and in conjunc...

Emeryville Police Chief Ken James speaks with members of the public and appears to completely misquote Thomas Paine, suggesting they read 'Common Sense' because, in the words of James, Paine said, "human nature is corrupt." James brings this up to explain why humans need to be governed. "The reason that we have government is because we cannot control our vices," James states. "We need a government to control our vices [...] Government came into effect to give protection from those who are stronger," he says. When he is questioned about the government controlling its own vices, he dodges it. Here is an actual quote from Paine: "man, were he not corrupted by governments, is naturally the friend of man, and that human nature is not of itself vicious." (pg. 116 of 'Rights of Man') This video was recorded on November 25, 2011 when Police Chief James was present and observing community members who were participating in the annual pr...

In the last week, the city councils of two different cities on the Central Coast, Salinas and Capitola, approved the purchase of body camera systems for their police departments. Salinas The Axon body camera. The Salinas City Council on April 14 voted to approve the purchase of enough body cameras to outfit every officer in the Salinas Police Department with one. The SPD is now authorized to purchase 70 Axon body cameras manufactured by TASER International, Inc. through a five-year contract, and at a total cost of $388,106.06 with the first year total operating cost at $123,542.50. TASER International is also the manufacturer and distributor of the Taser electroshock gun. According to Salinas police, the video system features a "30 second pre-event buffer" and was described in the city council agenda report as follows: "It is Bluetooth enabled to allow officers to enter metadata, such as report numbers, names of persons recorded, and locations, prior to uploa...