Parents and Students for Racial Equality in California is opposing a measure that would result in legal racial discrimination in California. Proposition 16, an initiative on this November’s ballot, threatens to introduce institutionalized and legal race-based admissions in our public universities, as well as contracting and hiring policies in all California government settings.
“Although recent polling shows that this measure is struggling to gain traction with California voters, organizations opposed to racial discrimination must remain vigilant,” said organization spokesman and former California State Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff. “Proposition 16 represents a step backwards to the darkest days of this country, when racial discrimination was openly tolerated and encouraged. This is contrary to the fundamental principles upon which this nation was built and for which so many fought to secure. The Declaration of Independence tells us all men are created equal. Proposition 16 tells us that some are more equal and deserving than others.”
Proposition 16 would allow supporters to impose across the board, racial guidelines for all California public school and public university admissions and settings. It would also allow schools, colleges and other government agencies to discriminate in employment, promotions and contracting. The measure seeks to overturn Proposition 209, which appeared on the November 1996 ballot and passed with a strong 54 percent majority in support. Proposition 209 amended the state constitution to prohibit state government institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity, specifically in the areas of public employment, public contracting or public education.
Recent polling conduction by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) revealed that barely one-third of the state’s voters appear to support the idea of racial discrimination. Nearly half are opposed to the proposal and some remain unopposed. A second poll conducted by the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies divulged nearly identical findings.“No person in California should ever be told that they cannot be admitted to a university or not awarded a job or contract because they are the wrong color or sex,” said Huff. “Discriminating on the basis of race, color, sex or religion represents the darkest part of California’s history. Measures like Proposition 16 only serve to divide our state at a time when everyone is needed to work together to heal wounds and create a brighter future.”
Parents and Students for Racial Equality is an organization that fights for the rights of all California citizens, regardless of race or color, and believes that government must judge all people equally, without discrimination.
Ross Williams made it out, and then he wrote a book about it.
Growing up in New Orleans’ 7th Ward can be rife with challenges. The horror stories far exceed the successful ones. Ross’s journey is an exception, and an exceptional one.
Surrounded by a solid family with community values, Williams attended Tulane University where he studied sociology. He has gone on to become the author of two best-sellers within an eight-month span.
“Made It Out” is testimony not only to his journey, but also to the similarities of surviving the streets and corporate America. His follow-up book, “Crabs In A Barrel: War On Racism,” gives a different perspective on the phrase that focuses more on the barrel than on the crab.
Author is just one of Williams’ many hats. He is also CEO of Williams Commerce Writing Services, which aims to empower job seekers, authors and entrepreneurs.
Photo courtesy of Ross Williams
Zenger News invited Williams for a Q&A session to learn more about his break-out book and journey of discovery.
Percy Crawford interviewed Ross Williams for Zenger News.
Percy Crawford interviewed Ross Williams for Zenger News (Photo courtesy of Percy Crawford)
Zenger: How did you break the cycle, so to speak, and make it out of the 7th Ward in New Orleans?
Williams: Really learned as much as possible. So, really learning what cursed prior generations and trying to avoid those same things. A lot of that came from learning from my parents who were born in the 1940s, so a lot of my family members are older. So, I have a lot of old-school values. I had the chance to learn about life before my era… I was able to accumulate all of that and just learn from every lesson or loss that I had in life and just never settled.
Zenger: What was it like growing up there and seeing some of the things you experienced?
Williams: I had a sense of pride about my community. My mother’s side of the family has been part of the St. Bernard, 7th Ward community since it was established back in the 1930s and 40s. A lot of people talk about the downfall of the neighborhood. Of course, I discuss that in my first book, “Made It Out,” some of the things I experienced. But one of the big things my neighborhood helped with was just building a confidence about myself and my abilities. At first it was basketball and then it became a swag with everything I do. I believe that I can be the best at whatever I put my mind to.
Zenger: What made you decide to even write a book?
Williams: Really to help other people to make it out of situations that they encountered. At first when I was writing my book, it was kind of like making it out of the inner city. I felt my lessons were applicable to any environment that you can grow up in. Like I said, learning from mistakes, gravitating towards positive energy, and learning from your losses. I really just wanted to give people the blueprint because halfway through the book it became about making it out of corporate America and becoming an entrepreneur. As of right now, even just picking up from there, I’m trying to show the world that I’ve made it out since then. Since the book, I’m still making it out.
Zenger: You actually make parallels in the book about the similarities of making it out of the street life and making it through corporate America. As crazy as it sounds, there’s not very much separation, is there?
Williams: I think in society with social engineering, a lot of us feel that if we are a different race or different religion, society has taught us that the next person is very different from us. And we can’t see eye-to-eye just because we come from different worlds or experiences. Gangstas and crooked people growing up in inner cities are no different than white collar gangstas. White collar gangstas are actually more cutthroat because at least in the neighborhood you know who to look out for. In corporate America, a lot of people have ulterior motives, but they project friendly energy. It’s not really necessary. It’s not these people need me to get by like in the neighborhood. It’s just out of malice. That’s why I feel like it’s grimier in corporate America because of how it’s presented to you.
Williams: Right. And something that my neighborhood taught me, once I started communicating with people in higher level CEO positions or people that made in the upper six figures or north of that, just the intellect and growing the confidence once I interacted with these people, it’s like, “Oh, I can sit in these positions too.” A lot of times we are made to look at certain people as if they are superior to us, especially when we’re coming from inner cities. But we have the same abilities as those people. A lot of those people had easier routes to get there. That’s one thing of just gaining confidence along each step of your journey.
Zenger: Did you anticipate becoming a best-selling author and your books having the kind of impact that they have had?
Williams: Humbly speaking, my mom always told me, “Don’t step at all if you are going to half step.” So, I know the tears, the blood and sweat that I put into each project, or even a client’s book. I put that same energy towards everything. I’m very strategic and I move with a sense of urgency. I visualized the successes that I have had in my career so many times over and over, that all of the excitement is poured into the process each day. So, when it happens, I’m kind of militant about it, so I’m really not surprised. I really put my all into each thing and utilize my natural skillset. I haven’t been surprised so far.
With November 3rd less than a month away, Black women voters hold a huge stake in this year’s election. With the first Black woman vying for the vice-presidency, a recent poll of 506 likely 2020 Black women voters conducted from September 30-October 4, 2020 by Higher Heights and Change Research, showed that 75 percent of Black women are now more motivated than ever to vote. But the remaining 25 percent of Black women polled are feeling hopeless that their ballot won’t bring the change they want to see.
In the poll, the top priorities and anxieties about the upcoming election for Black women included: the desire for a stronger response to the coronavirus and the need for racial justice. In addition, the Black women polled noted that when it came to the demographic who could bring about the change the United States needed with voter turnout, an overwhelming 64 percent, of course, chose Black women.
Over the last two presidential elections, Black women have continued to show up and show out. Whether it was voting for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, Black women have been at the forefront of trying to protect the United States from eating itself alive. But over the last 4 years, the Black community has dealt with everything from the coronavirus to the state sanctioned killings of Black people at the hands of law enforcement, as well as voter disenfranchisement.
For example, in Harris County, Texas, home to 2.4 million voters, Gov. Greg Abbott allowed the closing of ballot drop off sites, which has now resulted in several lawsuits. This is one of several examples of how voter suppression is in full force this election. But these tactics, along with long lines, changes to voting and the present pandemic won’t keep Black women from the polls. When asked in the survey, ‘what is one word or phrase that best describes your motivation for voting this year?’ participants responded with the need for change and racial justice.
As COVID continues to disproportionately affect Black and Brown communities, this election’s turnout is tantamount in putting someone in office who is capable of instituting laws that will protect the Black community’s health, as well as providing assistance to those who have been displaced from their homes or have faced unemployment. 48 percent of the respondents stated that the coronavirus was a top issue for them personally. But when it comes to what keeps them up at night, weeks before the election, racism was the most common response.
After a summer of protests and Black deaths at the hands of law enforcement, the poll results show that Black women voters are concerned about being safe in their Black skin, and if they would end up like Breonna Taylor. Others were also concerned about their Black children being safe once they leave their homes on a daily basis. Only 34 percent of respondents said they felt more hopeful of the progress that has been made in light of the recent protests, whereas 38% said they didn’t feel any different from before the protests, and 28 percent stated they felt less hopefully. Across the country, we saw millions of people hitting the streets in protest and allies standing in solidarity to the systemic racism that has engulfed this country for centuries. Black women know that the only way to rid the country of its vile history is by voting, and not only on a national level, but also on local levels. Black women know that we possess a political power like no other, and the poll results are reflective on that, particularly when 50 percent of the women polled said they felt motivated by the upcoming election.
Across the country, many people have already voted using mail-in ballots. But on November 3rd, others will head to their local polling location and cast their vote. And although the weight of the world seems as though it’s on the shoulders of Black women, this election is literally a vote or die situation. And once again, Black women will rise to the occasion to save their country.
As one of the few living children of a slave, 88-year-old Daniel Smith has a unique perspective on race relations in America.
Smith’s father, Abram “A.B.” Smith, was born into slavery in 1863 and was 70 years old when he had Daniel, his sixth child, in 1932. Smith, who grew up hearing stories from his father about America’s most shameful period, would go on to build a remarkable life and witness momentous events in the ongoing struggle for racial equality.
Smith draws a direct comparison between the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the racial justice protests of today.
Daniel Smith, 87, poses for a portrait at his home in Washington, D.C. on September 29, 2020. (Randy Marso/Zenger)
“When the [Ku Klux Klan] bombed the church [in Birmingham, Alabama], that finally got the ministers and the clergy to join Martin Luther King,” he said. “They finally came. Today, Black Lives Matter — after George Floyd was killed, it galvanized everyone. Everyone watched someone die on TV.”
Smith was born and raised in Winsted, Connecticut, a small town with a population of 10,000 that included only about 20 African Americans at the time of his birth. Smith grew up with four older sisters and one older brother, and his family of eight made up nearly half of the town’s Black population.
Daniel Smith’s high school yearbook entry. (Courtesy: Daniel Smith)
Though Daniel Smith was just 6 years old when A.B. Smith died, he still has vivid memories of his father. “My father was a real gentleman. He was always a good provider on his salary of $16 a week. When he went to work, I was still in bed. When he came home, I was in bed,” Smith said. “We would have these big Sunday dinners —a step down from Thanksgiving dinner.”
Smith recalls hearing firsthand accounts of slavery during his youth, primarily from his father.
Daniel Smith, 87, poses for a portrait with photos of his parents at his home in Washington, D.C. on September 29, 2020. (Randy Marso/Zenger)
“I used to get out of bed, sneak into my parents’ room, and put my head at the bottom of the bed, listening to their conversations. My father used to tell stories about the whipping posts, the hanging tree,” he said. “On Sundays, we would go to church, and you would hear people talking about similar things, but they had worse stories.”
Smith was the only African American at his high school, but he had a good experience there.
“I was very popular primarily because I was the only Black, and I was a novelty,” Smith said. “I had no problems with the girls, but they couldn’t publicly acknowledge any type of relationship with me.”
Daniel Smith, 87, poses for a portrait at his home in Washington, D.C. on September 29, 2020. (Randy Marso/Zenger)
After graduating from high school, Smith served in the U.S. military as an operating room technician and a scrub nurse in the Korean War. He was also sent for certification as a Red Cross water safety instructor and worked as a lifeguard at one of the three concrete swimming pools in Korea during the summers.
Daniel Smith poses in uniform at Camp Pickett in Nottoway County, Virginia, on an unknown date in 1952. (Courtesy: Daniel Smith)
When his military service ended, Smith came home to Winsted, which suffered a hurricane-induced flood in 1955. Smith remembers seeing water rushing down the main street, taking cars and houses with it, and humbly recalls saving a drowning man during the flood. Pulitzer Prize winner John Hersey documented the event for the New Yorker.
“They identified me as Danny Smith, the Negro hero of the town,” Smith said.
When Smith ran for student council president at Springfield College in Massachusetts, his winning campaign slogan was “Vote for Dan, the man with a tan.” He continued his pursuit of higher education at the Tuskegee Institute School of Veterinary Medicine. But after the Klan killed four young Black girls in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, Smith felt compelled to leave school and join the civil rights movement.
Soon Smith and a white friend, Barry Fritz, found themselves in a crowd at the March on Washington, where they saw Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis speak at close range.
“I was reluctant to go at first because I didn’t want to get beat up. I thought there was going to be a big rise. I’m not a coward, but I’m not a fool,” Smith said.
But, he added, the risk was worth it: “The march was just unbelievable, especially when Martin Luther King gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. You couldn’t find a dry eye. I was crying.”
Later that summer, Smith moved to Hayneville, Alabama, where he experienced many of the kinds of injustices that he said made Alabama “a hotbed for the civil rights movement.”
In 1965, he accepted a position as executive director of the Lowndes Christian Movement for Human Rights organization and began directing a program to teach migrant seasonal farmworkers how to read and write. He could not get electricity or a telephone line set up in the church building he worked out of without a white sponsor. After a judge by the name of Judge Hammon helped him, 24 of Hammon’s Black Angus cows were poisoned. Smith said there is “no doubt in my mind” that this was a message from the Klan.
Daniel Smith, 87, examines plants in his garden at his home in Washington, D.C. on September 29, 2020. (Randy Marso/Zenger)
Smith’s anti-poverty program was not popular with the whites in Alabama or with then-Gov. George Wallace, a conservative who infamously supported “Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” Smith recalls being confronted by an intimidating lieutenant of Wallace’s who told Smith that Wallace considered him “an outside agitator from Connecticut.”
Shortly after, Smith’s church building was burned down.
Smith was undaunted, however, and continued to run the program from a trailer on the charred property.
“Oddly enough, I had anticipated that there would be some destruction to my building,” he said. “I had carefully made a copy of all my records and kept them at home.”
One night after work, Smith was driving the 40-mile commute from Hayneville to Tuskegee on an unlit highway when a car of white men rear ended his car.
“They came around the side of my car and said, ‘Pull over, black coon!’ And I thought, ‘Not me, not me,’” Smith said. “I sped as fast as I could and made it to the gas station. That’s why I’m here today.”
Smith moved to Washington, D.C. in 1968, where he developed neighborhood health centers. He got hired to direct a $60 million program at the National Institutes of Health in 1972 but faced “all kinds of discrimination and battles with the government.”
After retiring in 1994, he began to volunteer at the Korean War Veterans Memorial and serve as head usher of the Washington National Cathedral. As head usher, Smith escorted sitting presidents for three decades, from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush.
In his age of retirement, Smith has high hopes for the newest generation of activists.
“They have done a tremendous job of putting the problems that America has in your face,” he said. “I support them with money and with voice.”
Daniel Smith and Loretta Fay Neumann pose at their wedding in the Washington National Cathedral in 2006. (Courtesy: Daniel Smith)
Smith resides in D.C. with his wife, Loretta Neumann, and has two children from a previous marriage. He wed Neumann at the National Cathedral in 2006, under the same arches where he walked alongside presidents.
WASHINGTON, DC— The U.S. Postal Service continues to celebrate Kwanzaa, which honors the values and beliefs around African American heritage, by dedicating a new Kwanzaa stamp today.
News of this Forever stamp is being shared with hashtag #KwanzaaStamps.
“This new Kwanzaa stamp captures the essence of the African American cultural celebration. The stamp depicts the profile of a reflective woman with a kinara, or candleholder, with seven lit candles in front of her,” said USPS Regional Processing Operations Eastern Vice President Dane Coleman, the dedicating official. “The stamp, which was hand-sketched and digitally colored, evokes a sense of inner peace with its cool tones and vibrant design elements to give a festive feel to the celebration of Kwanzaa.”
The stamp is available nationwide today. A virtual dedication ceremony will be posted on the Postal Service’s Facebook and Twitter pages. The event includes remarks from Coleman and Linda Hazel Humes, adjunct assistant professor, Africana Studies Department, John Jay College; and music by Sanga of the Valley.
Kwanzaa takes place over seven days annually from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, bringing family, community and culture together for many. Each year, millions of African Americans gather with friends and family throughout Kwanzaa week to honor the Pan-African holiday’s seven founding principles — unity (umoja), self-determination (kujichagulia), collective work and responsibility (ujima), cooperative economics (ujamaa), purpose (nia), creativity (kuumba) and faith (imani). Each day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of these seven principles, collectively known as the Nguzo Saba.
Kwanzaa was created in 1966, drawing on a variety of African traditions, deriving its name from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” meaning “first fruits.” Kwanzaa is a festive time for rejoicing in the prospect of health, prosperity and good luck in the coming year. It is also a time for contemplation and recollection of past hardships, faced by individuals and communities, and the ways history can inform and impact future happiness.
Art director Antonio Alcala designed the stamp, and Andrea Pippins was the illustrator.
The Kwanzaa stamp is being issued as a Forever stamp in a pane of 20. Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1-ounce price.
A pictorial postmark of the first-day-of-issue location, Nashville, TN, is available at usps.com/stamps.
Greenwood has secured $3 million in seed funding from private investors as the first digital banking platform for Black and Latinx people and business owners. Greenwood features best-in-class online banking services and innovative ways of giving back to Black and Latinx causes and businesses.
Greenwood’s founders include: Andrew J. Young, civil rights legend, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and former Mayor of Atlanta; Michael Render, aka Killer Mike, rapper and activist in Black financial empowerment; and Ryan Glover, Greenwood Chairman and founder of Bounce TV network.
“Today, a dollar circulates for 20 days in the white community but only six hours in the Black community,” Ryan Glover stated.
He continued, “It’s no secret that traditional banks have failed the Black and Latinx community. We needed to create a new financial platform that understands our history and our needs going forward, a banking platform built by us and for us, a platform that helps us build a stronger future for our communities. This is our time to take back control of our lives and our financial future. That is why we launched Greenwood, modern banking for the culture.”
“Today, a dollar circulates for 20 days in the white community but only six hours in the Black community,” said Michael ‘Killer Mike’ Render. “Moreover, a Black person is twice as likely as a white person to be denied a mortgage. This lack of fairness in the financial system is why we created Greenwood.”
Greenwood’s executive leadership includes:
Aparicio Giddins, President & Chief Technology Officer (previously of Bank of America and TD Bank)
David Tapscott, Chief Marketing Officer (previously of Green Dot and Combs Enterprises)
Andrew “Bo” Young, III, Board Member (managing partner, Andrew Young Investment Group)
Dr. Paul Judge, Board Member (co-founder of Pindrop and TechSquare Labs)
Product
Greenwood’s initial products are savings and spending accounts that come with a stunningly designed black metal debit card for customers who sign up by the end of the year. Advanced features like Apple, Samsung, and Android pay, virtual debit cards, peer-to-peer transfers, mobile check deposits, and free ATM usage in over 30,000 locations are offered with no hidden fees. Customers who invite their friends to open accounts receive cash awards as a thank you from Greenwood. All deposits are FDIC insured by a partner bank.
Additionally, Greenwood plans to work with brick and mortar minority-owned backs to provide deposits to help strengthen historically black banks.
“The work that we did in the civil rights movement wasn’t just about being able to sit at the counter. It was also about being able to own the restaurant,” said Ambassador Andrew Young. “We have the skills, talent and energy to compete anywhere in the world, but to grow the economy, it has to be based on the spirit of the universe and not the greed of the universe. Killer Mike, Ryan and I are launching Greenwood to continue this work of empowering black and brown people to have economic opportunity.”
Greenwood Gives Back
Greenwood has three key avenues to support Black and Latinx causes and businesses:
For every customer sign-up, Greenwood will provide five free meals to a family in need.
Every swipe of a Greenwood debit card will prompt a donation to UNCF for education, Goodr to feed the hungry, or NAACP to support civil rights.
And every month, Greenwood will provide a $10,000 grant to a Black or Latinx small business owner that is a Greenwood customer.
History of the name “Greenwood”
The Greenwood name pays homage to the prosperous “Black Wall Street,” part of the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the early 20th Century — a center of African American enterprise, entertainment, skills, wealth and investment capital. Though it was destroyed by white mobs in 1921, the Greenwood District remains an enduring symbol of the economic potential of community solidarity. The new Greenwood neobank takes inspiration from the entrepreneurial and empowering spirit of the Greenwood District where a dollar typically circulated 36 times – and for up to a year — within the Black community. The new Greenwood also is proud to be a backer of the contemporary Greenwood Culture Center in Oklahoma.
California is expanding aid and protections to health care workers as the COVID-19 pandemic continues through two new laws and an executive order.
Late last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order that orders new actions on health care in response to the pandemic.
The order allows public health officials working to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic to participate in the Secretary of State’s address-confidentiality program, known as the Safe at Home program.
The Safe at Home program provides substitute addresses for groups that need protection against harassment or violence, including sexual assault and domestic violence victims. Multiple public health officials have reported receiving death threats, including Los Angeles County Health Director Barbara Ferrer and Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody.
“Our public health officers have all too often faced targeted harassment and stalking,” said Secretary of State Alex Padilla. This “program can help provide more peace of mind to the public health officials who have been on the frontlines of California’s COVID-19 response.”
The order also authorizes the Department of Managed Health Care to gather data to assess the impacts of the pandemic on health care providers and health care service plans.
Gov. Newsom also recently signed two bills, AB 2537 and SB 275, that would increase the amount of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers.
Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez (D-Pomona) introduced AB 2537. The law requires hospitals to stockpile a three-month supply of PPE by April 2021.
“We are currently experiencing something we haven’t before, and healthcare workers are at the frontlines of it all. While dealing with this pandemic, the last thing our workers should be worried about is whether or not, they will be protected from exposure. We must protect those providing care so that they too can continue to do their work,” said Rodriguez.
SB 275 mandates the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to establish a 90-day PPE stockpile for health care and other essential workers within one year. It also requires major health care employers, such as hospitals, nursing homes and dialysis clinics, to build an additional 45-day stockpile of PPE by 2023 or later.
Under SB 275, essential workers will receive PPE from the CDPH stockpile include school workers, childcare providers, in-home support providers, and any workers who provide services directly supporting patient care. SB 275 was sponsored by the Service Employees International Union California.
“One of the hard-learned lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic is the need for a well-managed supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep California’s healthcare workforce and other essential workers safe. SB 275 creates a reliable supply of PPE to ensure healthcare workers, essential workers, and the public at large are protected during the next health emergency,” said SB 275 author Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento).
By Rachel Rossi | Special to California Black Media Partners
A common misconception of the criminal justice system is that it is as simple as guilty people admitting their guilt and innocent people going free.
The truth in our courtrooms is rarely so clear. Instead, there are layers of issues beyond guilt, including systemic injustice, rushed proceedings, undue pressure, and broad prosecutorial discretion on what charges are filed and the length of sentence that will result.
Plea bargaining — an imperfect and often coercive process — usually dictates criminal justice system outcomes, and it can be a tool to either fuel over-criminalization or to obtain restorative and just outcomes, depending on how it is wielded. In the United States, more than 90 % of criminal cases end in guilty pleas. Our criminal justice system rarely produces the exciting jury trial scenes from our favorite movies and TV shows; it instead produces the rote theater of back-to-back guilty pleas.
The plea-bargaining process that yields the great majority of these guilty pleas is riddled with risks of coercion. This is especially the case when an accused person is behind bars. When a person is locked up pretrial, they risk losing their job, losing their home, and even losing custody of their children. Under these circumstances, there is a strong incentive to plead guilty if it comes with a promise to go home soon. It is not surprising, then, that studies have shown pretrial detention increases a person’s likelihood of pleading guilty by 46 %.
In Los Angeles, on any given day, approximately 44 % of people in County Jail – around 7,500 people – are locked up pre-trial and deciding whether to plead guilty.
The plea-bargaining process is also a byproduct of over-burdensome caseloads combined with the time and stress of jury trials. When there are hundreds of cases to get through in a day in court, the prosecutor, judge, and sometimes even the defense attorney, are all incentivized to resolve cases. There is precious little time to determine what result will adequately ensure public safety, respect the interests and wishes of victims, and be consistent with the facts. Every actor in the criminal justice system is faced with incredible pressure to keep the cases moving and get them resolved. Indeed, it is a truism in the criminal justice world that if every defendant exercised his or her right to trial, the system as it currently operates would cease to function.
Often, these structural problems in the plea-bargaining process result in innocent people pleading guilty. In nearly 11 % of the nation’s DNA exoneration cases, innocent people entered guilty pleas. And these are just the cases where DNA made it possible to overturn a conviction; researchers do not know how many innocent people have in fact pleaded guilty.
Plea bargaining also takes place within the broader systemic racism entrenched in the justice system. When the plea offer that is made is decided by any person, conscious and unconscious biases create disadvantage and inequality across race, ethnicity, gender, and age. While research shows that increasing the diversity of prosecutors decreases racial sentencing disparities, 95 % of elected prosecutors in the U.S. are white. These disparate results are clear when the odds of receiving a plea offer that includes incarceration are almost seventy percent greater for Black people than white people.
But before you decide it is time to do away with plea bargaining entirely, realize that it can also be used to bring humanity into a justice system that is not built to understand or fix societal problems. The plea-bargaining process can potentially provide a mechanism for reformative and decarcerative efforts to succeed. It can allow a prosecutor to look at a person and a situation and decide whether treatment, programs, employment or other outcomes would better ensure public safety than jail.
For example, a person experiencing a significant mental health crisis who yells out a threat could be charged with a felony “strike” offense and face years of prison time. By virtue of the plea-bargaining process, a prosecutor has the power to charge a misdemeanor instead, to pursue alternatives to incarceration as a sentence, or to charge no criminal offense at all and instead refer the person to mental health treatment.
Our justice system is far from perfect. And plea bargaining has many flaws that reflect the larger problems within the system, and society at large. But in the right hands, prosecutorial discretion provides the power to scale back on mass incarceration, promote public safety, and ensure restorative and just outcomes.
CALIFORNIA — Today, Courage California launched its 2020 General Election Courage California Voter Guide, a first-of-its-kind down-ballot, multi-issue guide detailing recommendations on how to VOTE for a California, and nation, that works for everyone.
The Courage California Voter Guide aggregates the insights and endorsements of California’s most trusted statewide and regional advocacy groups and organizations to develop multi-issue recommendations for a more representative democracy reflecting the values of Californians, down the ballot.
The 2020 Courage California General Election Voter Guide offers recommendations including:
All Congressional, State Senate, and State Assembly races
Recommendations for select local races
Statewide Ballot Measures
Select local Ballot Measures
Courage California’s Primary Election voter guide covered 193 races and propositions — the Courage California General Election Voter Guide covers a total of 253 races and propositions. In addition to expanded coverage, the 2020 General Election Voter Guide is more in-depth, including information to help voters:
understand what their elected officials are responsible for.
understand local priorities and voting patterns in their district.
follow the money and understand key financial backers in a race.
identify and break down misinformation around statewide propositions and local ballot measures.
“California needs a straightforward and trusted resource that provides people with essential information on statewide and local races and propositions. Political power is concentrated in the hands of too few individuals and corporations that do not have the interests of our broader communities in mind. Voters deserve to understand the roles and responsibilities of the various elected offices and how ballot measures will truly affect them and their communities,” said Irene Kao, Executive Director of Courage California. “The 2020 Courage California General Election Voter Guide is the solution for those who want to cut through the misinformation, corporate financed campaigns, and hold our elected officials accountable to the same standards. With Courage, we can elect champions that represent our values and create a democracy that works for all Californians.”
The Courage California Voter Guide comes ahead of the 2020 General Election on November 3rd.
The Courage California Voter Guide aggregates the recommendations and endorsements of California’s progressive groups and organizations fighting to protect our democracy. Organizations consulted include, but are not limited to:
18 Million Rising
Advancement Project California
AFSCME State Council and local chapters AFSCME 57 and AFSCME 3299
Alliance for a Better Community
Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Action (ACCE Action)
Alliance San Diego Mobilization Fund (ASDMF)
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)
Bay Rising Action
Bend The Arc: Jewish Action
Black Women for Wellness Action Project
California Calls
California Domestic Worker Coalition
CA Labor Federation
California League of Conservation Voters
California Progressive Alliance
Californians for Safety and Justice
Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund
California Donor Table
California Environmental Justice Alliance Action
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Nurses Association (CNA)
California Teachers Association (CTA)
California Women’s List
CAUSE Action Fund
CHIRLA Action Fund
Communities for a New California (CNC)
Consumer Attorneys of California
Council of American-Islamic Relations Action
Courageous Resistance of the Desert
Democratic Socialists of America
Emily’s List
Ground Game LA
IE United
Indivisible local chapters including CA 39 and OC 48
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SACRAMENTO, CA— AB 2147, legislation by Assemblymember Eloise Reyes (D-San Bernardino) which provides an expedited expungement process for formerly incarcerated individuals who have successfully participated with fire suppression activities has been signed by Governor Newsom making California the first state in the nation to provide this type of relief to the formerly incarcerated that served as inmate firefighters.
“Signing AB 2147 into law is about giving second chances. To correct is to right a wrong; to rehabilitate is to restore.” Assemblymember Reyes continued, “Rehabilitation without strategies to ensure the formerly incarcerated have a career, is a pathway to recidivism. We must get serious about providing pathways for those who show the determination and commitment to turn their lives around.”
Under existing law, once released from custody a formerly incarcerated individual must finish the terms of their parole before applying for expungement of their criminal record. Even once those records are expunged, the person must disclose their criminal history on applications for state licenses. With nearly 200 occupations that require licensing from one of 42 California government departments and agencies these formerly incarcerated individuals are almost entirely denied access to these jobs. An estimated 2.5 million California workers (nearly 20% of the state’s workforce) need a professional license to work. Under, AB 2147 a person who participates as part of a state or county fire camp would be eligible to apply for expungement upon release from custody, and if the expungement is approved could seek various career pathways including those that require a state license.
Several studies have concluded that occupational licensing restrictions have a direct correlation on recidivism rates. For example, The Center for the Study of Economic Liberty at Arizona State University found that states with the most occupational licensing restrictions saw an increase in the three year recidivism rate of over 9%, while states without the same restrictions saw an average decline in recidivism of 2.5%, and concluded, “a low occupational licensing burden had a significant impact on a state’s ability to lower its new crime recidivism rate. In terms of impact, the occupational licensing burden was second only to the overall labor market conditions in significantly influencing movements in the recidivism rate.”[1]
In an average year, the Conservation Camp Program provides approximately three million person-hours responding to fires and other emergencies and seven million person-hours in community service projects, saving California taxpayers approximately $100 million annually.
Several counties across the state, including Los Angeles and San Bernardino operate fire training academies for those incarcerated in a county jail utilizing several hundred jail incarcerated individuals to fight fires. This bill includes those that have served in county fire camps.
Despite their low-level risk status, dedication and willingness to put themselves in harm’s way, many who participate in these programs struggle to find permanent and stable employment once released. This is in part due to significant barriers in place for individuals with a prior conviction to seek employment or even the education necessary to start a career.
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