california
-
A Black Professor Asked by Police to Prove She Belonged on Campus Talks About the ‘Surreal’ Experience of Racism in Higher Ed Spaces
Danielle Fuentes Morgan had been looking forward to the reunion with her brother for months. The assistant professor at Santa Clara University was hosting her younger brother, Carlos Fuentes, a composer and music teacher, at her home last weekend. Though he lives in nearby Sacramento, the siblings hadn’t seen each other since last Christmas due…
-
California Man Charged With Hate Crime for Driving Into a Crowd of Black People
Not to continue to belabor the point, but white people have lost their goddamn minds, folks. If it’s not going full Karen in a Target over face masks or sending emails to my colleagues going “Not all white people,” it’s committing whole ass crimes like driving a car into a crowd of Black people. According…
-
Berkeley Might Become One of the First Cities to Remove Police From Traffic Stops
Fundamentally, I’m a begrudging optimist. Pessimism just seems counterproductive so, no matter how awful things look, I always hold out hope that perhaps they can be better. As protests for police accountability have consistently occurred for well over a month across the county, I’ve hoped that the result would be some kind of tangible change.…
-
Black People Are Still Disproportionately Arrested for Marijuana Possession in California Despite Legalization
There was hope that when states like California voted to legalize marijuana, it would correlate with a reduction in marijuana related arrests for Black people. In Los Angeles, the opposite has proven to be true due to both a lack of access to legal means and red tape making it harder for Black entrepreneurs to…
-
4 San Jose Officers Put on Leave After, You Guessed It, Racist Facebook Posts
I don’t know how many cops have to lose their jobs before they realize that maybe they shouldn’t be racist. Let alone be racist on Facebook. Apparently, four cops in San Jose, Calif. felt like learning that lesson the hard way. CNN reports that four officers in the San Jose Police Department have been put…
-
California Sheriff's Office Employee Caught Vandalizing a Black Lives Matters Sign
Law enforcement is a sensitive bunch. Apparently being told “Hey, don’t kill us,” just gets them in their feelings, so much so that an employee at the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office in California was arrested for vandalizing a Black Lives Matter sign. NBC News reports that a homeowner in Thousand Oaks, Calif, has repeatedly had…
-
FBI to Investigate Nooses Hanging in a California Park as a Hate Crime
Over the last week a disturbing pattern has emerged of black men being found hanged in trees. As a result, a series of nooses found in an Oakland park are being investigated as a hate crime. CNN reports that five nooses were found at Lake Merritt and have since been removed. The nooses were discovered…
-
University of California Votes to Restore Affirmative Action 24 Years After Its Repeal
In 1996, the state of California passed proposition 209 which prohibited race and gender from being a factor in university admissions. Now, some 24 years later, the University of California voted unanimously to restore affirmative action. The move was made in the hope of diversifying their student population, according to CNN. The school’s Board of Regents…
-
Family of Man Found Hanged in California Requests Independent Autopsy; 2nd Man Hanged 50 Miles Away
The family of Robert Fuller, a 24-year-old man who was found hanging from a tree across City Hall in Palmdale, California last week, is seeking an independent autopsy after local police initially said he died by suicide. Protestors gathered in the square near City Hall where Fuller’s body was discovered to call for further investigation…