vol. 56, no. 5
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PERMIT NO. 4424
Volume LVI
September - October 1992
No. 5
~ ACLU Challenges San Francisco's
Crackdown on Dissent |
ACLU Sues City over Mass
Arrests of May 8 Demonstrators
he ACLU-NC and_ co-counsel
Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro filed a
- class action civil rights lawsuit on
September 3 in U.S. District Court in San
Francisco against Mayor Frank Jordan,
former San Francisco Police Chief
Richard Hongisto, the City and County of
San Francisco and others challenging the
unlawful mass arrests on May 8 of hun-
dreds of demonstrators who were protest-
ing the acquittals of LAPD officers in the
beating of Rodney King, racism, and
police brutality. The suit is seeking money
damages as well as injunctive and declara-
tory relief.
The four named plaintiffs in the lawsuit
(Brown y. Jordan) - Vince Brown, Aviva
Kakar, Orson Titus-Maquelini, Brenda
Mitchell - are represented by ACLU-NC
cooperating attorneys Robert A:
Mittelstaedt, Roxane A. Polidora, Shawn
E. Hanson and Frank Kennamer all of the
San Francisco law firm of Pillsbury,
Madison and Sutro and staff attorney Alan
Schlosser.
"We believe this lawsuit is necessary
to vindicate the constitutional rights of
those innocent people arrested on May 8
and prevent the resulting chill on the First
Amendment rights of all citizens," said
attorney Polidora. :
The mass arrest of demonstrators on May
8, culminated a dramatic ten-day period of
protests, mass arrests, and the declaration
of a State of Emergency and a curfew in
San Francisco. In the early evening of May
8, approximately 1,000 protestors gathered
at Dolores Park for a march and rally to
protest the Simi Valley verdicts, the previ-
ous mass arrests in San Francisco on April
30 and May 1, racism and police brutality.
Although the marchers followed a
route mandated by the police, the march
was persistently disrupted by police as it
headed toward its planned destination of
Duboce Park. These intimidating and pro-
vocative police tactics created fear, confu-
sion and anxiety among the protestors and
they eventually turned back; some of them
attempted to leave the area but were pre-
vented from doing so by the police.
When a police order was given that
marchers should move onto-the sidewalk
or be arrested, a large group moved onto
the sidewalk on the south side of Market
Street. The police then suddenly, and with-
out warning or justification, encircled this
group of over 400 (the class member plain-
tiffs in this suit), and refused to let them
leave.
At no time did the police declare an
unlawful assembly, order the plaintiffs to
disperse,.or give the plaintiffs an opportu-
nity to disperse. Moreover, while the plain-
tiffs were seized for up to three hours on
Market Street, the police refused to explain
Continued on page 6
_ Special Report Blasts "State of
Emergency"
n September 3 the ACLU-NC
issued a 35-page special report
"State of Emergency: The Attack
on Civil Liberties in San Francisco, April
30 - May 8, 1992" detailing the violations
of constitutional rights by San Francisco
officials in response
voices of dissent and future citizen outrage
at injustice will be dealt with by our city
officials." -The report notes that Mayor
`Frank Jordan's six-month assessment of
his administration cites his "tough, no-
nonsense" stand and the mass arrests as
among his _ major
to the demonstra- accomplishments.
tions (April 30. "The fabled tolerance 1% (eke
May 1 and May 8) tolerance. of San
protesting the acquit Of San Francisco for - Fncisco for vie
orous dissent is not
tals of the police
officers who beat
Rodney King. The
report also calls for
city officials to
implement specific
recommendations so
that these viola-
tions do not reoc-
Copies of the
report were hand-
delivered to Mayor
Frank Jordan, mem-
bers of the Board of Supervisors, the
Police Commission, and other city offi-
cials with a letter asking for their response.
ACLU-NC staff attorney Alan
Schlosser. explained, "Our report is
intended not just to review the events and
the egregious violations of civil liberties
but to raise an important warning. What is
at stake is the way future protests, future
vigorous dissent is not
some cute aspect of
the City like the cable aneaed by the
cars or sourdough
cur, bread, it is mandated
by the Constitution."
some cute aspect
of the City like the
cable cars or sour-
dough bread, it is
Constitution," said
Schlosser. "We
cannot allow the
suspension of civil
liberties to become
San Francisco's
method of dealing
with exercise of
freedom of expression."
During the period of time covered by
the report, approximately 1500 peaceful
protesters and innocent bystanders were
arrested by the San Francisco. Police
Department. That the District Attorney
subsequently dropped all of the charges in
Continued on page 6
THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM:
A New Arena in the Fight for Reproductive Rights
tions - with a great measure of success. Of the more than 160 prose-
n the past five years, as part of the trickle-down effect of the
"War on Drugs," overzealous prosecutors have used criminal
charges to punish substance addicted pregnant women. The
threat of such prosecutions, especially combined with the lack of drug
treatment faciities for pregnant women, has the harmful effect of driv-
ing women away from the prenatal care they need. The ACLU has
been a leader nationally and in California in opposing these prosecu-
ACLU Defeats "Fetal Murder"
n August 21, ACLU-NC attor-
QO neys won a major victory in the
case of a Hollister mother of two
who was accused of murdering her fetus
by ingesting cocaine. In the first case of
its kind in California, San Benito County
Superior Court Judge Donald R. Chapman
dismissed the charges against Roseann
Jaurigue.
_ ACLU-NC staff attorneys Ann Brick
and Margaret Crosby, co-counsel for
Jaurigue, contended that this murder pros-
ecution is not permitted by California's
fetal murder statute, which contains a spe-
cific exemption prohibiting the State from
bringing charges against a woman based
Charge |
on her conduct during pregnancy. At a
lengthy hearing before Judge Chapman,
Brick argued that the statute was intended
to protect pregnant women from assaults
by others and that the California
Legislature has recognized that prosecu-
tions like this one exacerbate - rather
than remedy - the health problems of
pregnant women and infants.
"The court's decision wisely recog-
nizes that permitting such prosecutions is
ill-conceived," said Brick. "If this murder
charge were allowed, every woman would
be at risk that a district attorney might
second-guess her decisions during preg-
Continued on page 7
cutions which have been brought around the country since the mid-
1980's, every contested case has been dismissed.
In California, the ACLU-NC has recently been successful in striking
down a "fetal murder" charge and in overturning a superior court
order barring a woman convicted of drug use from becoming pregnant
as a condition of probation.
Court Rules Pregnancy Ban
"legal"
he state Court of Appeals on July
` 22 unanimously overturned a
Tulare County Superior Court
judge's ruling that threatened to send a
woman to prison if she became pregnant
while serving five years of probation for
possessing drugs. When she appealed the
ruling, ACLU-NC staff attorney Ann
Brick filed an amicus brief charging that
the trial court had overstepped its legal
authority by attempting to control the
woman's reproductive choices rather than
her drug use.
Prior to the appellate court decision,
however, Superior Court Judge Howard
Broadman had already revoked probation
and sent defendant Linda Zaring to prison
- because she showed up a few minutes
late for her hearing.
When Zaring arrived at Judge
Broadman's courtroom 22 minutes late for
an 8:30 hearing, she tearfully explained to
the judge that she had no one to help her
get her children off to school. After wait-
ing with them for the 8:00 AM school bus,
a friend drove her the 45 minutes to the
courthouse.
Although her defense attorneys
objected, Judge Broadman sent Zaring to
jail. Later the judge refused to reinstate the
five-year probation and sentenced Zaring
Continued on page 3
aclu news
sept - oct 1992
6 oT he Supreme Court has seri-
ously weakened the constitu-
tional right' to choose
abortion. It is no longer a fundamental
right entitled to strong protection against
government interference." With _ that
charge, ACLU-NC staff attorney Margaret
Crosby characterized the long-awaited
U.S. Supreme Court decision issued in
Planned Parenthood vy. Casey on June 29.
The high court's ruling in the ACLU chal-
lenge to a Pennsylvania law restricting
abortion was an ominous warning that
renewed efforts are essential to protect
reproductive freedom for all women.
"The joint opinion by Justices O' Connor,
Souter and Kennedy eloquently reaffirms
the principle that the Constitution protects
childbearing decisions," explained Crosby
at a San Francisco press conference held
the day the decision was announced. "The
opinion also forcefully explains that over-
ruling the Court's 1973 landmark Roe v.
Wade precedent in response to political .
pressure would degrade the integrity of the
Court as an institution and undermine its
moral authority to protect constitutional
-values."
`However, what the Court said and what
the Court did were two very different
things.
"Having spoken eloquently about the
significance of Roe's protection for repro-
ductive freedom and fidelity to precedent,
the Court proceeds to jettison major por-
tions of Roe v. Wade. While using the lan-
guage of reaffirmation, Casey greatly
weakened Roe."
"Undue burden"
By a5 to 4 vote, the Court ruled that a
woman's right to choose abortion is an
aspect of liberty. But while Roe held that
laws could burden access to abortion only
if they promoted a compelling justifica-
tion, Casey allows states to impose any
restrictions that are "reasonable" except
those that constitute an "undue burden" on
a woman' right to choose.
The Pennsylvania law challenged in
Casey requires married women to notify
their husbands, compels doctors to carry
the state's anti-abortion ideology into the
counselling session by delivering govern-
ment-produced materials designed to dis-
courage abortion, mandates a 24-hour
waiting period after a woman has chosen
_ abortion, requires teenagers to obtain
parental consent or a court order for abor-
tion, compels the parent and teenager to
receive the state's anti-abortion literature,
and imposes reporting requirements on
abortion providers that are burdensome
and increase harassment.
By a 7 to 2 vote (the two dissenting
votes came from Roe author Justice
Blackmun and Justice Stevens), the jus- _
tices upheld every requirement except
spousal notification.
"This new standard is far more defe-
rential to legislative judgments", explained
Crosby. "Thus, Casey grants states sweep-
ing new authority to impose obstacles to
abortion although it does not permit laws
barring abortion.
Xe -ACLU- NC Factsheet
After Casey: Reproductive
Rights in California
The June U.S. Supreme Court Casey
decision, granting states sweeping new
authority to restrict a woman's right to
`choose abortion, raised questions among
many people concerned about the state of -
- reproductive rights in California.
In a new fact sheet, the ACLU-NC pro-
vides the answers to such commonly
asked questions as: "What is the legal
status of abortion in California?" "Will the
California Supreme Court follow the U.S.
Supreme Court in defining the scope of
the right to abortion?" "Should Californians
who support reproductive choice be con--
Action Needed In States, Congress
U. S. Supreme Court Erodes Reproductive Rights.
JusticE Harry BLackMun, author
of Roe v. Wade, eloquently described
the precarious thread supporting women's
right to reproductive freedom.
"Just when so many expected the
darkness to fall, the flame has grown
bright. And I fear for the darkness as
four justices anxiously await the single
vote necessary to extinguish the light.
I am 83 years old. I cannot remain
on this court forever, and when I do step
down, the confirmation process for my
successor well may focus on the issue
before us today. That, I regret, may be
The Opinion - Pro and Con
exactly where the choice between
two worlds will be made."
Cuter Justice WitiiAM Renn.
QUIST, in his dissenting opinion, argued
that the court should not only have
upheld the Pennsylvania law, but should
have overturned Roe v. Wade entirely.
"The joint opinion...retains the
outer shell of Roe v. Wade, but beats a
wholesale retreat from the substance of
the case. We believe that Roe was
wrongly decided, and that it can and
should be overruled."
At a well-attended press conference in San Francisco, pro-choice advocates
denounced the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Casey: (1. - r.) Elizabeth Toledo of
NOW, ACLU-NC's Margaret Crosby, Luz Alvarez-Martinez (at mikes) of the
and Jamienne Studley of CARAL.
"The Court has forged a new compro-
mise on abortion, by reaffirming the prin-
ciple that the Constitution protects
childbearing decisions, while granting new
legal recognition to the state's interest in
fetal survival," Crosby stated.
Divisiveness
"In Casey, the Court includes a states-
manlike call to the country to end its divi-
sive war on abortion.
"However, the new Casey standard is
likely to exacerbate the national divisive-
ness. By granting government new author-
ity to restrict abortion, Casey launches
intensified battles on abortion in state leg-
islatures throughout the country."
The ACLU is gearing up to oppose
new laws like Pennsylvania's that are
expected to be introduced in state legisla-
tures. Such laws will make abortion una-
vailable to many young, poor and rural
women.
"By allowing states to place roadblocks
to abortion, the Supreme Court makes
Casey's eloquent language about the
Constitution's guarantee of reproductive
liberty a hollow promise for the most vul-
nerable women," said Crosby.
The decision was released on the final
day of the Supreme Court term. Hours
after the decision was announced, the
ACLU-NC and other representatives of the
pro-choice movement, including Belle
cerned about the Casey decision and the
future of abortion rights?" The answers
detail California's history of legal and leg-
islative support for reproductive rights, as
well as the need for increasing vigilance
to guarantee that those rights are not eroded.
- The new fact sheet is a valuable
resource for pro-choice activists, counse-
lors, and all who value reproductive free-
dom.
Single orders are free; bulk orders are
available at 10 copies for $2 (postage and
handling). To order, please write to:
ACLU-NC Public Information Department,
1663 Mission St. Suite 460, San
Francisco, CA 94103.
National Latina Health Organization, Belle Taylor-McGhee of Planned Parenthood,
Planned Parenthood
Taylor-McGhee of Planned Parenthood,
Luz Alvarez-Martinez of National Latina
Health Organization, Kristina Kiehl of
Voters for Choice, Jamienne Studley of
CARAL North, and Elizabeth Toledo of
NOW, responded to the ruling at a well-
attended press conference.
In California, reproductive choice: is
protected by the state Constitution's
in so fundamental a struggle,"
explicit right to privacy. At the press con-
ference, the ACLU-NC released a new fact
sheet outlining the status of California law
on abortion after Casey. Reproductive
rights remain secure-for now (see sidebar).
"California has a pioneering tradition
of protecting the right to an abortion.
However, we cannot afford complacency
said Crosby.
"People who support reproductive freedom
must take action to secure ie rights of all
women.'
On the day of the decision, there were
numerous - pro-choice demonstrations
throughout California and around the
country. On July 25, the ACLU-NC Field
Department sponsored an organizing ses-
sion and speaker training, "Did Roe Go?"
attended by more than 100 activists.
`Reproductive rights advocates, including
ACLU-NC attorney Crosby, Mary Chung
from Asian Pacific Islanders for Choice,
Carmen Vasquez, coordinator of Lesbian/
Gay Health Services at the San Francisco
Department of Health, and Nina Di Natale
from CARAL, trained participants in
effective speaking and organizing strate-
gies to take back to their communities.
Freedom of Choice Act
Pro-choice leaders have mobilized the
effort to persuade legislators to pass the
Freedom of Choice Act, which will restrict
state authority to burden the right of a
woman to choose abortion. The Act would
restore the protection of Roe, allowing
states to impose only limitations that pro-
tect a woman's health before fetal viabil-
ity. The Act would prevent a checkerboard
of inconsistent state regulation of abortion
by restoring the uniform legal standard
established by Roe.
"People who care about privacy and a
woman's right to choose must work tire-
lessly to persuade Congress and the presi-
dential candidates that protecting reproductive
freedom is a very high priority," said
ACLU-NC Executive Director Dorothy
Ehrlich. "We cannot let the Supreme Court
have the last word on abortion."
In the wake of the Casey decision,
it?s even more important that pro-
choice voters pressure their members
of Congress to pass The Freedom of
Choice Act, which would secure the
right to choose for all women.
More phone calls and letters to
your legislators are needed to shore up
their votes, and remind them of their
constituents' support for reproductive
freedom. California Senators John
Seymour and Alan Cranston have
signed onto the bill, as have many
Representatives. The following
Congressional Representatives have
yet to sign on, and must be contacted.
If you live in their district, please call
or write their office (U.S. House of
Representatives, Washington, DC
Support Freedom of Choice
20515) and send to us any correspon-
dence you receive from them stating
their position. If you do not live in
these districts but would like to get
involved, please call Field Representative
Nancy Otto at 415/621-2493.
Representative Frank Riggs
(Santa Rosa)
202/225-3311 Fax: 202/225-5577
Representative Wally Herger
(Redding/Chico)
202/225-3076 Fax: 202/225-0996
Representative Gary Condit (Modesto)
202/225-6131 Fax: 202/225-0819
Representative John Doolittle (Visalia)
202/225-2511 Fax: 202/225-5444
aclu news
6 issues a year: January-February, March-April, May-June, July-August,
September -October, and November-December.
Published by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California
Milton Estes, Chairperson
Dorothy Ehrlich, Executive Director
Elaine Elinson, Editor
Nancy Otto, Field Page
ZesTop Publishing, Design and Production
1663 Mission St., 4th Floor
San Francisco, California 94103
(415) 621-2493
Membership $20 and up, of which 50 cents is for a subscription to theaclu news
and 50 cents is for the national ACLU bi-monthly publication, Civil Liberties.
aclu news |
sept - oct 1992 3
ast year, the ACLU-NC success-
fully challenged a state anti-
begging statute which was used to
silence the poor. In striking down the law,
U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick
stated, "begging constitutes protected
speech under the First Amendment."
This year, Mayor Frank Jordan is try-
ing to resurrect that unconstitutional law in
San Francisco by placing Proposition J,
the so-called "aggressive panhandling"
measure, on the November city ballot.
A broad range of individuals and ~
organizations - including the Board of
Supervisors, former Police Commissioners,
religious leaders, neighborhood associa-
tions, the Coalition on Homelessness and
the ACLU-NC - are fighting the ballot
measure.
ACLU-NC Police Practices Project
Director John Crew explains, "With this
mean-spirited and cynical move, the
Mayor is proposing an ordinance to make
criminals of poor people and others by out-
lawing `requests'. for money or other
`things of value,' while `closely following'
someone on the street. Proposition J would
punish the poor with fines up to $500 and
jail terms of up to six months. Yet Mayor
Jordan's new crime won't make San
Francisco's streets, sidewalks and parks
any safer."
In Blair vy. Shanahan, the ACLU-NC
case which struck down the state anti-
begging law, the ACLU-NC represented
Celestus Blair a formerly homeless man
who was arrested five times by San
Francisco police officers simply for asking
people if they could "share their blessings"
or "help a homeless person." Blair, now a
MUNI bus driver who credits his survival
with the "charity of people who responded
to his requests for assistance," was repeat-
edly arrested for "aggressive panhandling"
-although he never threatened, harassed or
hounded anyone.
Father Thomas Flower, who provided
food to the hungry in the pre-dawn hours
in U.N. Plaza, was also arrested twice
Say NO to "Aggressive Scapegoating" -
Vote NO on Proposition J
under the old law. He was simply asking
passers-by to "Help us feed the homeless
hungry."
In his eloquent opinion, Judge Orrick
stated, "City streets are a public forum,
one of the few remaining democratic
spaces where the conventioneer, the gawk-
ing tourist, the eager consumer, the city
resident, and the needy may mingle freely.
... The speech of the needy around us may
well be subjectively felt as an unwelcome
intrusion by some, but the expressive free-
dom guaranteed by the Constitution is
never costless. That speech may not be
barred by a statute such as this."
According to Crew, "Proposition J is
even worse than the law struck down by
the federal court. It violates the First
Amendment by outlawing officially disfa-
vored speech, and it is so vague that police
will use it to arrest people they consider to (c)
be 'undesirable,' while others - asking
for the same thing in the same way - will
not be bothered."
On August 17, the Board. of
Supervisors approved the principal ballot
argument against Proposition J, supported
by Supervisors Achtenberg, Alioto, Britt,
Hallinan, Gonzalez, Kennedy, Shelley and
Migden. Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg
called the measure `"`a mishmash of empty
catch words...created for two cynical rea-
sons - one, to increase the polarization
between those who are poor and those who
are not; and two, to increase the turnout of
San Francisco's more conservative voters."
Aside from its questionable constitu-
tionality, there are other reasons to vote
against Proposition J: :
@ It is unnecessary - there are
other laws on the books. Panhandling
Pregnancy Ban...
Continued from page |
to two years in state prison for heroin pos-
session.
In overturning Judge Broadman's sen-
tence, the Court of Appeals three judge
panel declared that he erred both in impos-
ing the no-pregnancy condition and in
revoking the probation simply because of
tardiness.
Broadman's orders were "an arbitrary
and capricious use of the court's power,"
as well as an inappropriate "imposition of
personal social values," the court noted in
a published opinion.
Moreover, the appellate court deter-
mined that the probation ban on pregnancy
_was "unlawful." Noting that pregnancy
bans had been struck down by another
California appellate court and courts in
other states, Justice James Ardaiz wrote
that the prevention of harm to future chil-
dren could be met by "other conditions,
less drastic than an outright ban on preg-
nancy."
"Prohibiting pregnancy as a condition
of probation is an illusory: solution to the
problem of substance abuse during preg-
nancy," said Brick. "It ignores the root -
causes of the problem while at the same
time threatening the reproductive rights of
all women. The judge's order prohibiting
pregnancy was based on the premise that
the government has the right to determine
who may and who may not have children.
That is a right that the Constitution guar-
antees to the individual, not the State."
The ACLU-NC has tangled with Judge
_ Broadman before. In 1991, Broadman, a
Tulare County Superior Court Judge since
1988, ordered Darlene Johnson, as a con-
dition of her probation on a child abuse
charge, to be surgically implanted with the
Norplant contraceptive device. Brick and
ACLU-NC staff attorney Margaret Crosby
challenged the condition of probation as a
violation of Johnson's rights, although the
issue became moot when Johnson's proba-
tion was revoked for other reasons.
New ACLU-NC Board
Members
he following people were elected to
: : serve on the ACLU-NC Board of
Directors in the 1992 elections (*
denotes incumbents):
David Bunnell*, Helen Chang, Marlene
De Lancie*, Milton Estes*, Susan Harriman',
Margaret Jakobson, David Oppenheimer',
Nancy Pemberton, Kenneth Train, and
Donna Yamashiro.
They will each serve a three-year term. |
In addition, the Board recently
appointed three interim members to fill
vacancies left by Debbie Lee, Trinidad
Madrigal and the death of Richard Sevilla.
Janet Halley is a professor at Stanford
Law School with a special interest in con-
stitutional law. She wrote "Toward A
Politics of the Closet: Equal Protection for
Lesbians and Gays," a leading article in the
area of gay and lesbian jurisprudence that
recently appeared in the UCLA Law
Review.
Maria Ontiveros received her law
degree from Stanford University in June
and will begin teaching at Golden Gate
University this fall. Her specialty is Labor
and Employment Law, and she also does
volunteer work for a well baby. clinic in
Coastside, where she lives.
Marcelo Rodriguez is the editor of the
San Francisco Weekly. He formerly
worked for San Francisco Magazine and
other Bay Area publications, and is a mem-
ber of the board of directors of Media
Alliance.
that is truly threatening, intimidating or
coercive is already illegal. There is no
need for a new crime when laws against
assault, battery, maliciously obstructing
the sidewalks, robbery and extortion may
be enforced against aggressive panhan-
dlers.
@ It is so vague that it could be used
against anyone from petition circulators
to Girl Scouts selling cookies. The defini-
tion section of the proposed law make it
clear that it does not simply make crimi-
nals out of panhandlers who "harass and
hound" for money. It applies to anyone
who "requests" any "thing of value." This
law could apply to any charity seeking
donations on the street or any concerned
citizen gathering signatures on a petition.
It could criminalize requests for a cup of
coffee on a cold night, an umbrella in a
downpour or a scrap of food.
It applies not only to aggressive
"demands," but to "requests" - no matter
how polite and non-threatening they might
be - if they were made while "closely fol-
_lowing'" someone - yet just how close is
not defined - after they "imply" that they
are not interested.
@ It will be wasteful and expensive
- generating more litigation paid for
by San Francisco taxpayers. If passed,
this law will surely trigger expensive law-
suits that the city will spend taxpayers'
money defending - and, if history is any
judge, losing. Right now, the city is
appealing the decision in the Blair case. If
the city wins, it surely doesn't need
Proposition J. If the city loses, Proposition
J would probably also be invalid.
@ It includes expensive and unrealis-
tic penalties - maximum penalties of up
to six months in jail time and a $500
fine. If Mayor Jordan's only plan for hous-
ing the homeless is to put them in San
Francisco's already overcrowded jails -
just who does he suggest be released from
jail to make room for the poor? Proposition
J also carries a maximum penalty of a $500
fine. Imposing fines on destitute beggars is
ironic and stupid. It simply forces them
back to the street to raise money to pay the
fine.
@ It will divert scarce law enforce-
ment resources from serious crimes.
When Frank Jordan was Chief of Police,
he enacted and publicized a policy on the
Rights of the Homeless. Chief Jordan
pointed out that being homeless is not a
crime and warned that using police against
the homeless would only divert scarce
resources from the fight against serious
crimes. Now that Frank Jordan is a profes-
sional politician, he seems all too willing
to exploit the public's frustrations about
homelessness and fears about panhandlers
with a law that criminalizes the poor.
As Victor Honig, President of the
Board of Directors of the Tenderloin's
Hospitality House argues, "Just because
some people feel *hounded,' is no excuse
to treat other people like dogs. Proposition
J represents the triumph of fear over com-
passion - I urge you to vote NO."
For more information or to make a
contribution, contact San Franciscans
Against Proposition J, Jim Stevens,
Treasurer, 1085 Greenwich, 2, San
Francisco, CA 94133; or call the ACLU-
NC at 415/621-2493.
California
The American Civil Liberties Union
of Northern California takes the follow-
ing positions on two state initiatives on
the November ballot:
Prop. 161: California Death
With Dignity Act-YES
nized the rights of individuals to make
choices about their own bodies and
lives. All people should have access to
life-sustaining medical care - but they
must also have the right to refuse it.
The California Death With Dignity
Act gives terminally ill patients the right
to request and receive physician aid in
dying. The Act provides that a mentally
competent adult can sign a-set of
instructions to his or her physicians. If
two physicians certify that the patient
has an irreversible terminal condition,
the patient may request aid in dying. If
he or she requests aid twice, the physi-
cian may help the patient die without
fear of criminal reprisal.
Prop. 165: Taxpayer Protection
Act- NO
This mislabeled initiative is
Governor Pete Wilson's attempt to slash
welfare payments to poor children and
families, and amend the state
| Constitution to give the governor
sweeping powers over the budget. The
measure would give the Governor
extraordinary powers to reduce or elimi-
nate funding to any state funded pro-
| gram not protected by the Constitution
anytime the Governor's. own appointees
manipulate budget statistics to allow the
Governor to declare a fiscal emergency.
The initiative also contains most of the
same proposals as Wilson's failed legis-
lative plan. Among them are:
@ An across-the-board 10 percent
cut in Aid to Families with Dependent
=
: ACLU-NC Ballot Card
ACLU-NC policy has long recog- (c)
women;
_ily planning services will make it only
`
Children grants with an additional 15
percent cut for all "able-bodied" recip-
ients six months later;
@ Denial of support for children
conceived while either parent received
AFDC;
@ Forcing minors with children to
live with parent or guardian in order to
receive AFDC;
@ Setting AFDC grants for people
new to the state at the same level as the
state from which they moved;
@ Repeal of special aid to pregnant
@ Putting Medi-Cal out of reach for
thousands of blind, disabled and elderly
people.
This initiative seriously restricts the
civil liberties of AFDC recipients, as
well as making little fiscal sense.
Welfare makes up only 6 percent of the
state budget, and two thirds of those on
welfare are school-age children.
Denying them and their families access
to proper nutrition, health care and fam-
more likely that they will continue to
need social services in the future.
San Francisco
Proposition J - Mayor
Jordan's Ban on Panhandling
- NO
This mean-spirited, vaguely worded
ballot measure would criminalize
"requests" for any "thing of value"
made while "closely following" a per-
son on the street. It violates the First
Amendment and will lead to selective
prosecution. This "aggressive scape-
goating' is the Mayor's answer to
homelessness - silencing the poor and
jailing the homeless. (See article this
page.)
aclu news
sept - oct 1992
6 6 H ow can we define the era
we find ourselves in?
America is a failed democ-
racy - we are looking at an unfinished
civil rights agenda." With this charge, key-
note speaker Joe Hicks, Executive
Director of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference of Greater Los
Angeles, addressed the opening plenary of
the 1992 ACLU-NC Activist Conference
and underscored its theme -- "The
Changing Struggle for Civil Rights in the
0s"
The annual Conference, held at U.C.
Davis on August 22-23, drew over 150
ACLU activists and supporters for a week-
end of information, inspiration and plan-
ning for the future.
Hicks's call was responded to by a
panel of experts on current cutting-edge
civil liberties issues. ACLU-NC Executive
Director Dorothy Ehrlich moderated the
plenary on "Rebuilding Our Agenda: Civil
Rights Under Attack in California" which
included Ed Chen, ACLU-NC staff attor-
ney speaking on language rights; Casey
McKeever, Directing Attorney with the
Western Center on Law and Poverty; Dr.
Sandra Hernandez, Director of the AIDS
Office in the San Francisco Department of
,Public Health and Beverly Tucker, Chief
`Counsel of the California Teachers
Association and Chair of the ACLU-NC
Legislative Committee.
Chen called the English Only move-
ment "a discreet attack on immigrants and
part of a larger attack on civil rights."
Tracing the modern English Only move-
ment to a 1980 ordinance in Dade-County,
Florida which defunded programs that rep-
resented different languages and cultures,
Chen spoke of the proliferation of
English-only workplace rules in California
ranging from UCSF to a meat packing
plant, convalescent homes, and even a
Salinas Taco Bell. "This movement
creates an environment of cultural big-
otry," Chen charged.
Dr. Hernandez spoke of the opportu-
nity that.the AIDS crisis gives the medical
establishment to change the "passive, frag-
mented health care delivery system."
People with HIV demand a dialogue about
their care, she said, and an "incredible
sense of participation."
"Although some providers are incredi-
bly threatened, this represents a new inno-
vation in the health care system,"
Hernandez noted, and encouraged the
community-based organization and advo-
cacy that is an integral part of the AIDS
epidemic to be translated into other health
care programs as well.
Assault on the poor
McKeever, a leading opponent of
Governor Wilson's Proposition 165 which
would slash welfare payments to the most
vulnerable people in the state, called the
measure "the most ruthless assault on poor
people that we've ever seen." He noted
ACLU-NC Board member and teachers' union
attorney Beverly Tucker with panelist Casey
McKeever. "The school voucher plan will increase
stratification in our society."
~ 1992 ACLU-NC Ac
The Changing Struggle fo
Keynote speaker Joe Hicks (at podium) with panelist Ed Chen.
"I have come to believe that the struggle for civil rights is truly revolutionary."
that one provision in the initiative allows
the Governor to declare a "fiscal emer-
gency" giving the Governor extraordinary
powers over the state Budget. "Governor
Wilson is using the current budget stale-
mate to charge the Legislature with failing
in its duty," said McKeever, "and exploit-
ing the emotional issue of welfare to bash
his opponents and win more seats in the
state Assembly and Senate.
"If Wilson's initiative can be defeated,
it will give a very serious blow to the use
of scapegoating as a means of gaining
political power," said McKeever, calling
on all in attendance to work hard to defeat
Proposition 165. :
Tucker opened her presentation with a
few stark statistics: the average teacher's
salary in California is $38,000 per year,
while the average prison guard's salary is
$50,000. The state spends $5,200 per year
for each child in school and $20,000 per
year for each inmate in prison.
With these alarming figures as a back-
drop, Tucker blasted the federal and state
proposals for school voucher systems
which would provide government funds
for parents to send their children to the
school of their choice - be it public, pri-
vate or religious. "The premise behind
this choice," charged Tucker, "is that gov-
ernment is evil and that we should cut it
down to size. In reality, this plan will only
increase the stratification in
our society. Although better
parents will get better schools
what will happen to the other
children. Schools in poor
neighborhoods will deteriorate
further - and some children
may even find themselves
with no school to go to."
Acknowledging that there
is a crisis in public education,
Tucker called for increased
funding for public schools and
for improved administration of
the public school system as a
more equitable solution.
Disabilities Act
The speakers on the fol-
lowing panel, "Winning in the
90s: The Building of the
Coalition to . Pass - the
Americans with Disabilities
Act," provided an encouraging
insight as to how some of
these difficult problems can be
addressed. Margaret Jakobson,
Staff Attorney with Protection
and Advocacy, Inc., who has
been disabled since the age of
educated and better motivated (c)
for their children, think of
four, said that when she was growing up
she "envisioned disabled people as those
who spent their lives selling pencils on the
street or locked away in a nursing home."
Though she spent much of her early
life "segregated and isolated," as a young
adult she asked "What is wrong with what
I am? - and realized that I could be and
function in society without being changed
or locked away."
Jakobson, a newly elected ACLU-NC
Board member, outlined the provisions of
the recently-enacted Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) regarding employ-
ment, transportation, public accommoda-
tion and telecommunications.
Gerald Baptiste, Associate Director of
Berkeley's Center for Independent Living,
served as the grassroots coordinator for the
Western Region on the Americans with
Disabilities Act.
"We needed to get disabled people to
Washington walking the halls of
Congress," said Baptiste, "and to do that
we had to arouse, inspire and motivate
people with disabilities to get into the
movement." Baptiste spoke of the step-by-
step efforts taken by organizers from the
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities
to mobilize people nationwide for the lob-
bying effort. His own work included
speaking at meetings - "Tl speak to a
group of three or 300!" , visiting
Representatives in their home districts,
organizing publicity, and culminating in a
17-day intensive lobbying effort on
Capitol Hill to prevent an onslaught of
amendments from watering down the act.
When asked how he responded to
President Bush's taking credit for signing
the landmark legislation into law, Baptiste
said, "He was the only President at the
time!"
National ACLU Field Director Gene.
Guerrero rounded out the panel by talking
about the ACLU's coalition efforts to gain
passage of the ADA, and how that can be
used as a model to press for other impor-
tant civil liberties legislation ending dis-
crimination against lesbians and gay men,
protecting privacy rights, limiting surveil-.
lance at the workplace and erasing the
domestic remnants of the Cold War such
as restrictions on travel to Cuba.
Death penalty
At the plenary session on the death
penalty, ACLU-NC Death Penalty Project
Director Michael Laurence gave an impas-
sioned presentation on the efforts to save
the life of condemned inmate Robert
Harris, the first person to be executed in
California in 25 years. "Our state spent an
enormous amount of money and amassed a
militia of law enforcement personnel to
kill one person. The killing of Robert
Harris was supposed to end crime in our
streets. Just one week later we experienced
_ one of the most violent weeks in U.S. his-
tory - with scores of deaths and great
destruction in Los Angeles. So much for
the deterrence theory."
Laurence traced the events of the tortu-
ous night which ended in the gas chamber
execution of Harris, but added that "his
execution exposed capital punishment for
what it is - the taking of a life. When the
execution was. going on, there was a
change from esoteric values to people's
realization that they were part of the kill-
ing process.
"IT hope that Robert Harris's death will
begin the era that ends executions in this
country,' Laurence said.
Laurence's call was concretized by two
action workshops: "Reeducating - the
Public about the Death Penalty through
International Pressure" with ACLU-NC
Death Penalty Action Campaign Chair
Nancy Pemberton; Elgy Gillespie, corre-
spondent for British and Irish press;
Claudia King, Program Coordinator of
Death Penalty Focus; and Magdaleno
Rose-Avila, Western Regional Director of
Amnesty International; and "Organizing
the Lesbian and Gay Community to
Gerald Baptiste (at mike) described the successful lo
Disabilities Act and ACLU-NC Board member Mar;
the new law.
Journalists Ben Bagdikian, Raul Ramirez and Steve
media know when the issues they care about are not.
Joanne Lewis, Chair of the ACLU-NC Field Commi
leader Dick Criley outlined strategies for building st
aclu news
sept - oct 1992 5
essful lobbying effort for the Americans with
er Margaret Jakobson detailed the provisions of
ctivist Conference
or Civil Rights in the 90's
Oppose the Ultimate Hate Crime: the
Death Penalty" with Milton Estes, Chair
of the ACLU-NC Board of Directors; Pat
Clark, Executive Director of Death
Penalty Focus, Alissa Friedman, Vice-
Chair of the ACLU-NC Lesbian and Gay
Rights Chapter, and Liz Hendrickson,
Executive Director of the National Center
for Lesbian Rights. -
Media coverage of the death penalty
was one of the main focuses of Saturday
evening's plenary "Rising Above the
Rhetoric: How the Media Can Manipulate
and Affect Public Opinion." A distin-
guished panel of Bay Area journalists -
Ben Bagdikian, former Dean of the U.C.
Berkeley School of Journalism, KQED-
FM News Director Raul Ramirez, San
Francisco Examiner. Asian Affairs
reporter Steve Chin, and Pacifica Radio's
National Affairs Correspondent Larry
Bensky - looked at the press response to
several issues of importance to civil liber-
ties activists: the Persian Gulf War, the
Harris execution, the response to the ver-
dict in the police beating of Rodney King,
and the Democratic and Republican con-
ventions.
"The government's Gulf War media
strategy - that of keeping the media
sequestered and restricted - had already
id Steve Chin (1. -r.) encouraged activists to let the
are not. being covered well.
ACLU-NC Vice-Chair Margaret Russell (r.) and Mid-Peninsula Chapter member
Mark Clark addressed the importance of diversifying the ACLU membership and'
chapters.
been tested in Grenada and Panama. It was
all very carefully orchestrated." said
Bagdikian, the author of The Media
Monopoly. "Yet not one major news
organization joined the suit against the
Department of Defense challenging the
severest censorship rules in history."
Bensky, who had arrived that day from
the Republican convention in Houston,
said he was guided in his reporting by the
words of I.F. Stone who said, "All politi-
cians lie all the time." "The job of the
journalist is to go and find out and then to
tell the truth," Bensky said.
This is what Chin had attempted to do
for the Examiner when he went to Los
Angeles "to give voice to the Korean com-
munity three days after the verdict" in the
police beating of Rodney King and to
combat: "a simplified view of the civil
unrest."
Media neglect
"The omissions and lack of context
were the result of decades of media
neglect covering the minority communi-
ties,' Chin stated.
The journalists' comments led to chal-
lenging questions from the audience about
the poor quality of media coverage of key
issues and concern about the use of lan-
guage which fosters and maintains stereo-
types and "official" perspectives. "You
should call up the station or the newspaper
and ask why stories aren't being covered,"
said Ramirez. A former Examiner
reporter, Ramirez told the audience about
how a series of stories he wrote about the
return of Salvadoran refugees from camps
in Honduras to their homeland was moved
from a back section of the paper to the
front page after his editors received only
14 calls from readers applauding the sto-
ries. "You'd be surprised how news man-
agers will respond to just a few calls," he
said.
Strengthening the ACLU
Sunday's plenary sessions were
devoted to strategies for building a
stronger ACLU. ACLU-NC Chapter and
Board leaders led three lively plenary ses-
sions on building effective chapters, pro-
moting local action on ACLU priority
issues, and outreach and _ diversity.
Underscoring the need for diversity within
the ACLU, Board Vice-Chair Margaret
Russell explained that not only is it a mat-
ter of national affiliate policy, but that it is
"crucial for the ACLU to have an inclu-
sive vision of society. The kind of work
that we do - standing up for the rights of
penalty - hits minorities the hardest.
`We also need diversity at the chapter
level," Russell said, "because it makes for
a better organization. We'll get more done
and we'll see new issues, new questions
and new perspectives."
The 1992 Bill of Rights Campaign was
launched at a special Sunday morning
breakfast followed by an intensive work-
shop on the nuts and bolts of fundraising
led by chapter activists.
A workshop on "How to Influence the
Legislative Process" included
tips from lobbyists - Gene
Guerrero. of the ACLU
national legislative office in.
Washington, D.C., Francisco
Lobaco, ACLU's lobbyist in
Sacramento and grassroots
activist Howard Lewis -
and. "Jobby-ees? H.. Lee
Halterman, Legal Counsel to
Congressman Ron Dellums
and Zoon Nguyen of the
Office of Community Development
in San Francisco. That panel
was followed by informative
sessions on issues that
ACLU members are currently
addressing on the local, state
and national level: police
practices, reproductive rights,
student organizing and the
Death with Dignity Act.
"These. Sessions - pre-
sented us not only with lots
of information on the issues,
but with ways. we can all get
involved in the fight for civil
liberties in the 0x00B090s," said
conference organizer Nancy
Otto.
Pat Clark (r.) of Death Penalty Focus and Liz
Hendrickson of the National Center for Lesbian
Rights spoke of the urgent need to organize the
lesbian and gay community against the death penalty,
Those strategies were put into action
on Monday morning, when a score of con-
ference participants headed to Sacramento
fora day of lobbying their legislators to
pass the California Civil Rights
Restoration Act which is currently pending
in the Senate.
Board Chair Milton Estes reminded the
participants, "Over the past 12 years.we
have seen the hope raised by the civil
rights and civil liberties struggles of previ-
ous decades relentlessly undermined issue
by issue, bit by bit.
"We need to build our skills for our
struggle for improving civil rights and
civil liberties and to gather information,
meet people, build contacts - but most of
all to reinspire us in our work," Estes said.
The Conference was organized by
Field Representative Nancy Otto, Field
Director Marcia Gallo and the 1992
Conference Planning Committee chaired
by Joanne Lewis, Chair of the ACLU-NC
Field Committee; members of the
Planning Committee included Michelle
Anderson of the Yolo Chapter, Cathy Daly
of the First Amendment Committee and
Lesbian and Gay Rights Chapter, Eleanor
Eisenberg of the Santa Cruz-Chapter, and
San Francisco Chapter activists April Lee
and Phil Mehas. The Conference was co-
hosted by the Sacramento and Yolo
County ACLU-NC Chapters.
The hardworking Conference Crew,
the team which enabled the whole week-
end to run smoothly, included Program
Assistant Michele Hurtado, Public Information
Associate Jean Field, and volunteers
Michelle Anderson, Jane Bailie, Dan Ban,
Cindy Bergantz, Jennifer Berland, Jody
Castro, Cathy Daly, Paul Goodman, Zoon
Nguyen, Bob Orlowsky, Peter Tarr, and
Kathleen Winter. Child care was provided
by Kim Larrey and ASL interpretation was
done by Class Act Interpreting.
Conference photos by
Laura Trent
"the ultimate hate crime."
ACLU-NC Board Chair Milton Estes, National ACLU Field Director Gene
people who are victims of police abuse,
AIDS discrimination, facing the death
Guerrero and ACLU-NC Executive Director Dorothy Ehrlich confer during a lunch
i Committee and veteran Monterey Chapter break on the U.C. Davis campus
iilding stronger ACLU chapters.
aclu news
sept - oct 1992
Student Video Beats Ban - and Wins Prize
| ulare Valley Continuation High
School student filmmakers scored
a double win this summer with'
Melancholianne, their video about teen
pregnancy - on June 30, a judge snatched
it from the jaws of the censors and, a few
days later, it won a prize in high school
film competition.
Tulare County Superior Court Judge
Kenneth E. Conn issued an order granting
a request for a preliminary injunction pro-
hibiting school officials from censoring
Melancholianne ate in the afternoon of
June 30. The order came in the ACLU-NC
lawsuit, Lopez v. Tulare Joint Unified
School District Board of Trustees, filed on
June 18 on behalf of four of the high
school students who produced the film.
School officials did not want the video
released because it contained some "vul-
gar' language.
"While local school boards are vested
with great discretion in making curriculum
decisions, the legislature has restricted
such discretion when dealing with censor-
ship or the prior restraint of speech and
press by students of public schools, Judge
Conn stated in his one-page order.
`"T am persuaded that [Education Code]
Section 48907 does not authorize the local
school authorities to censor the video in
question," he ruled.
The students were represented by
ACLU-NC staff attorney. Ann Brick,
ACLU-NC cooperating attorneys Neil
Shapiro, Peter Goodman and Stephen
Knaster of the San Francisco law firm of
Brobeck, Phleger and Harrison and attorney
Jacob M. Weisberg of the Fresno ACLU
Chapter.
"It is a great victory for kids who are
trying to talk about a subject that really is
important to their lives in language that
they use," said Weisberg.
Film and English teacher Eric Moberg,
who worked with the students on the
video, said, "The students voted to make a
video on the problem of teenage preg-
nancy. We had been informed that Tulare
County has one of the highest rates-of teen
pregnancy in California. It is a fictional
film, and it was the students' judgment -
in which I concur - that in order to be
convincing, the teenage characters should
act and "Speak as teenagers might be
expected to do."
"The constitutional guarantee of the
right of freedom of speech is so fundamen-
tal that any attempt to curtail that right
constitutes a threatened irreparable injury
a
that justifies... relief," stated Judge Conn.
The ACLU-NC sought the preliminary
injunction so that the students could enter a
video competition by a July 1 deadline.
Attorney Goodman said, "We're happy
Judge Conn issued the order so quickly. It
was clearly warranted by statute and by the
state Constitution. I also think sound edu-
cational policy would be served by looking
to the creative and constructive substance
of the students' videotape, not to the fact
that characters in it use a few words some
people don't like."
Brick added, "This Court's - ruling
teaches students two important lessons:
that freedom of expression is alive and
well in California's public schools and that
their actions in making this video and fil-
ing this lawsuit have helped ensure that it
will remain so."
Over 40 students in the high school's
Valley Arts Club worked on the video pro-
ject. Student Sarah Valenzuela, co-author
of the script, said, "I spent a lot-of time and
energy working on Melancholianne
because I believed it could make an impor-
tant statement that should be heard by
Tulare County teenagers."
Goodman added, "I'm extremely
pleased for the students. They worked hard
to make a_ socially-responsible film
addressing a social problem in their com-
munity. When the school administration -
unreasonably and illegally refused to let
them show it, they patiently applied to the
Court and at least on this occasion, they
found that they system worked."
The court order came just in time for
_Melancholianne to meet the July 1 entry
deadline for Vision West, a video film
competition for high school and college
work. unofficially affiliated with the SF
Film Arts Foundation. On July 8,
Melancholianne won first prize in the high
school drama category.
Student Adriann McGrew said, "A lot
of people stereotype us [at the continuation
school] as having some sort of problem.
The film shows that the students can deal
with the issues.
"Tt'?s our generation - someone has to
deal with it," added McGrew.
ACLU Raps Attorney General
for Censorship Threat
n response to a letter sent by
Attorney General Dan Lungren to 18
record store chains doing business in
California urging them not to sell rapper
Ice-T's album containing the track, "Cop
Killer," the ACLU-NC wrote to the same
music distributors on July | urging that
they not "bow to the heavy-handed
attempt" of the Attorney General to dic-
tate what music shall or shall not be sold
in their stores.
`Tt is singularly inappropriate for the
Attorney General of California - the per-
son in this state most directly charged
with upholding constitutional principles of
freedom of expression - to engage in
such tactics," wrote ACLU-NC Executive
Director Dorothy Ehrlich and staff attor-
ney Ann Brick.
"Your actions are crucial in assuring
that freedom of thought and expression
are given the widest possible latitude.
"The Attorney General suggests that it
is somehow irresponsible for you to allow
Ice-T to give voice to his anger and frus-
tration," the letter states. "We would sug-
gest that it is irresponsible for you to try to
silence it. Violence itself should be sup-
pressed and its underlying causes
addressed. But speech about violence
must remain free."
Brick also criticized Lungren for sin-
gling out an African American rap singer
ACLU Sues 2
Continued from page |
to them why they were being detained and
ignored numerous requests from many of
the plaintiffs for an order and opportunity
to disperse.
The protesters were then arrested,
handcuffed, photographed and transported
to Pier 38 and detained there until the early
hours of the morning. When they were
released in that deserted district of San
Francisco, many. could not find their
friends, did not know where they were or
how to get home.
"There was no basis for the arrests,"
said Polidora, "and the District Attorney
subsequently dropped all charges.
"Since May 8, San Francisco officials
have repeatedly touted the conduct of the
SFPD on that day as both lawful and com-
mendable. Our investigation shows that
there was absolutely no justification for
the police disruption of the march and the
mass arrests of hundreds of innocent peo-
ple," Polidora stated.
The class action lawsuit charges San
Francisco city officials and law enforce-
ment officers with conspiring to and pre-
venting the demonstrators from engaging
in a peaceful protest rally and subjecting
them to unreasonable and unlawful deten-
tions and arrests in violation of the federal
and state Constitutions.
The ACLU-NC suit is seeking mone-
tary damages for each class member
arrested as well as a declaration from the
court that the defendants' actions were
unconstitutional and unlawful. In addition,
the suit is seeking an injunction restraining
the defendants from engaging in such
unlawful actions in the future, prohibiting
the use of handcuffs in the painful and
injurious way they were used on the May 8
demonstrators, and requiring destruction of
all records of the arrests.
Plaintiff Aviva Kakar said, "I was
brought up to trust the law, to have the
conviction that as long as you did nothing
wrong, you would be protected by enforc-
ers of that law. I can no longer feel that
false sense of security that most people
have.
"T strongly feel that if this type of
behavior goes unchecked, the results will
affect all of our rights as individuals and
citizens who pay for protection, not unjus-
tified harassment," Kakar said.
Plaintiff Vince Brown explained, "My
civil rights were taken away - the whole
intent of the protest was because justice
was- not being served in Los Angeles.
When the San Francisco police acted the
way they did, it was just another way of
my civil liberties being taken from me and
that outraged me.
"Personally, I want to be vindicated
and get my name cleared. I understand that
I still have a police record - and I want
that erased," Brown added.
for censure when there have been so
many other portrayals of violence about
which he has said nothing. "Dan Lungren
Rapper Ice-T was the target of a censorship move by
Attorney General Dan Lungren.
may see this as a call to violence," she
said, "Ice-T and others see it as a call to
end police brutality." :
The ACLU-NC letter also drew the par- .
allel to the chilling of speech during the
McCarthy era: "Thirty years ago the gov-
ernment was instrumental in fostering the
creation of a blacklist that has forever
scarred the motion picture industry and this
nation. Sadly, the entertainment industry
abandoned its principles and knuckled
under to governmental
pressure to voluntarily'
purge itself. Daniel
Lungren is now asking
you to do that same
thing. His tactic is as
dangerous today as it
was thirty years ago.
We urge you to stand
firm in the face of cen-
sorship," wrote Ehrlich
and Brick.
As aresult of the con-
troversy, Ice-T announced
on July 28 that he vol-
untarily decided to drop
the track -from his
album because of bomb
threats and other hostile
actions aimed at his
record producers Warner
Bros. Records.
"Its not a Warner
Bros. fight, it's my
fight,' he said, adding
that he planned to
release "Cop Killer" as
a single and distribute it
free. "Ill bring it back
to South Central and
give it away free at con-
Harrison Funk certs."
Special Report ...
Continued from page |
no way remedies these egregious viola-
tions of individual rights, the ACLU-NC
charges.
"What our report makes clear is that
city officials, including the Mayor and the
Police Chief, authorized and applauded a
policy of mass roundups of innocent peo-
ple to deter and prevent protest demonstra-
tions at the very time when the need to
speak out against the Simi Valley verdicts
was at its most critical," said Schlosser.
"In a very real sense, the Bill of Rights
-was also a victim of San. Francisco's
response to the protests. The Mayor's dec-
laration of a State of Emergency did not
justify Chief Hongisto's order prohibiting
a demonstration even before it took place
on May 1. The de facto suspension of the
First Amendment is a power that is denied
to city officials by the Constitution." The
report notes that when a protest was
planned for the following week to show
that the streets of San Francisco were still
open for peaceful demonstrations of peo-
ple's outrage against police brutality and
the verdicts, the actions of the police
showed that they did not need a declared
State of Emergency to round up and arrest
hundreds of peaceful protestors on May 8.
"As their public statements made clear,
the Mayor and the Police Chief ignored
their constitutional duty not just to permit
but to protect the rights of all of us to
express our views in public demonstra-
tions. That the danger to our constitutional
rights is real and present today is under-
scored by the Mayor's official assessment
of his first six months in office - issued
this July - where he lists the mass arrests
that occurred on these three days as among
the major accomplishments of his new
administration," Schlosser said.
The ACLU-NC report charges that the
events of the last day of April and early
_ May did not occur because of some confu-
sion about legal standards or crowd con-
trol policies. "Those policies and laws are
clear and comprehensive: they were sim-
ply ignored. Given that this problem will |
not be `fixed' by new policies or legal
reforms, we hope that City officials will
implement the recommendations in our
report," said ACLU-NC Police Practices
Project Director John Crew.
The specific recommendations in the
report include: acknowledgement of false
arrests; sealing and destruction of arrest
records; reasonable compensation for
those arrested; reaffirmation of crowd con-
trol policies; public hearing by the Police
Commission; strengthening of the OCC;
public accounting of the District
Attorney's "investigation" of the legality
of the arrests; and selection of a new
police chief who is respectful of constitu-
tional principles.
`Fetal Murder' ..
Continued from page |
nancy, making her vulnerable to criminal
charges. The court's ruling prevents this
abusive use of the criminal law," she
added.
In 1991, Jaurigue, nine months preg-
nant, checked into a hospital where a
sonogram indicated that her fetus was
' dead. Based on a highly questionable med-
ical opinion which ignored Jaurigue's his-
tory of hypertension during pregnancy, the
District Attorney charged that her alleged
ingestion of cocaine caused the fetus's
death.
In dismissing the charges, Judge
Chapman said he was concerned about the
implications a murder conviction would
have for all pregnant women, including
those who smoke, drink alcohol, or work
in dangerous environments.
~ aclu news
sept - oct 1992 7
Just a few days before the hearing,
Connecticut's highest court ruled on
August 17 that a pregnant woman who
injected cocaine into one of her veins as
she was about to go into labor had not
committed child abuse and that the state
had therefore erred in using that as justifi-
cation to take her baby away from her. On
July 23, the Florida Supreme Court unani-
mously overturned the conviction of a
woman prosecuted for drug delivery
through her umbilical cord.
"These important state Supreme Court
decisions indicate that despite overzealous
prosecutors' use of criminal laws to
attempt to punish pregnant women, courts
around the country are recognizing that
these prosecutions do more harm than
good by frightening women away from
getting the prenatal care they need," said
Crosby. =
Board Chair Milton Estes (1.) and Field Representative Nancy Otto (r.) held the
ACLU on the March
banner at the head of the ACLU-NC contingent in the annual Lesbian/Gay Freedom
Day Parade on June 28. Special ACLU-NC T-shirts and placards - "'The Bill of
Rights: the Protection You Don't Have to Carry in Your Wallet" - elicited rousing
cheers and applause from the thousands of supporters who lined the march route.
Mary Stickles
ACLU-NC Photo Exhibit
Lands at San Francisco
International Airport (c)
by Jean Field
an Francisco International Airport is
the first place many visitors to the
Bay Area see and the last impres-
sion travelers have of home. This fall they
will be greeted by an ACLU-NC photo
exhibit honoring 15 outstanding
Northern Californians = who
fought for their civil rights. The
exhibition is sponsored by the
San Francisco Airports Commission.
"The exhibits at the San-
Francisco Airport have an inter-
national reputation for showcas-
ing the best of the Bay Area's
unique culture and spirit," said
ACLU-NC_ Executive Director
Dorothy Ehrlich. "It's a fitting -
place for portraits of these coura-
geous individuals, whose efforts
have helped make our home a
better place to visit and to live."
Photographer Rick Rocamora
created the exhibit, "The Human
Face of the Struggle for Civil
Liberties," as part of the ACLU-
NC's celebration of the
Bicentennial of the Bill of
Rights. It will be on display at
the Gate 62 Gallery in the upper
level of the North Terminal.
Estimated time of arrival for the
photos is October 6, and they'll
remain through November 17.
More than 8,000 people will pass
the exhibit each day.
The subjects of the photo-
graphs were represented by the ACLU-NC
over the past six decades, on issues rang-
ing from the internment of Japanese
Americans during World War II to dis-
crimination of gay men, lesbians and peo-
ple of color, as well as the segregation of |
prison inmates with the HIV virus and ille-
gal search and seizure.
Among the people photographed are:
Fred Korematsu, who fought the intern-
ment order all the way to U.S. Supreme
Court; Chiyuka Carlos, one of the young
-men denied admission to Great America
amusement park in 1990 because security
guards thought they fit a so-called "gang-
profile"; Yolanda Cortez, a hospital dieti-
tian who fought the English-Only rule at
the University of California at
Francisco; Simone LeVant, a Stanford
diver who protested mandatory drug test-
ing required by the NCAA; and Larry
Brinkin, a gay man who worked at
Southern Pacific and now a discrimination
representative for the San Francisco
Human Rights Commission, who was
San ,
denied SP's standard three-day funeral .
leave when his lover died.
"I wanted to share images of people
behind ACLU cases, so others could real-
ize that individuals really do make a differ-
ence," said Rocamora, whose work has
been featured at the Oakland Museum, the
.
Fred Korematsu's photo is one of the portraits in
the `""`The Human Face of the Struggle for Civil
Liberties" which will be on exhibit at San
Francisco International Airport this fall.
Laura Trent
Metropolitan Museum of Manila, as well
as in numerous publications, including
Image magazine, Examiner, and the ACLU
News. -
In January, "The Human Face of the
Struggle for Civil Liberties" was on dis-
play at San Francisco City Hall, where
thousands of visitors gained a new appreci-
ation of the Bill of Rights in action. In
August, the exhibit went to Vietnam,
where it will made its international pre-
miere in a photography show documenting
life in the United States. After its layover
at the San Francisco International Airport,
the exhibit will be on display at the San
-Leandro Library during January and
February 1993.
"We're grateful to all the curators,
especially those at the airport, who have
recognized the powerful message and
beauty of this exhibit," said Ehrlich. "We
hope these portraits, hanging at the gate-
way of our city, inspire travelers to join the
struggle for civil liberties here in the Bay
Area and wherever they fly."
aclu news
sept - oct 1992
THE HOWARD A. FRIEDMAN FIRST AMENDMENT
EDUCATION PROJECT
TEACHERS CONFERENCE
TEACHING THE FIRST AMENDMENT: VOICES THAT
HAVE BEEN SILENCED
Cultural pluralism and children's literature
cent Patterns of censorship in the US.
+ HUAC and the FBI's war on the First Amendment
cent California's civil rights pioneers
cent Teaching lesbian/gay history
cent# "English only" and the politics of bilingual education
~ PANEL DISCUSSIONS
Guest speakers/interactive workshops/resource materials/curriculum ideas/
sample lesson plans
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
SAM TOs PM =
SAN FRANCISCO STATUE UNIVERSITY GUEST CENTER
| 800 FONT BOULEVARD, SAN FRANCISCO
Cost: $10.00 includes lunch and resource binder; scholarships available.
To register: Contact Marcia Gallo, Director, Howard A. Friedman First
Amendment Education Project, ACLU-NC, 1663 Mission Street, San
- Francisco, CA 94103; phone 415/621-2493.
Registration deadline is September 21.
Lesbian and Gay Rights Annual Chapter Meeting
September 13, from 2-5 PM
345 Collingwood Street, San Francisco
featuring
Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon
Founders of the Daughters of Bilitis, the oldest lesbian (c)
organization in America; authors of Lesbian/Woman.
FREE
All ACLU-NC members and friends are invited to attend.
For further information call Tom Reilly at 510/528-7832.
"
SAVE THE DATE!
1992 ACLU-NC BILL
OF RIGHTS DAY
CELEBRATION
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6
PROGRAM: 5 PN; NO-HOST RECEPTION 4 PNY
GRAND BALLROON)
WESTIN ST. FRANCIS HOTEL
UNION SQUARE
SAN FRANCISCO
1992 EARL WARREN CINIL LIBERTIES AWARD
WILL BE PRESENTED TO LEADING -
DEATH PENALTY OPPONENTS FOR THEIR OUTSTANDING
LEADERSHIP IN THE ATTENPT TO SANE
ROBERT HARRIS ERONY SAN QUENTIN' GAs CHANNBER:
MIKE FARRELL
ACTOR, DIRECTOR, STAR OF TV'sS M*A*S*H, NARRATOR OF THE
CLEMENCY VIDEO FOR ROBERT HARRIS AND LONG-TIME ABOLITIONIST LEADER
SCHARLETTE HOLDMAN
MITIGATION SPECIALIST, CALIFORNIA APPELLATE PROJECT, MEMBER OF
THE DEFENSE TEAM FOR ROBERT HARRIS. AND VETERAN FIGHTER AGAINST
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE "DEATH BELT" AND IN CALIFORNIA
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
BRYAN STEVENSON
DEATH PENALTY ATTORNEY, ALABAMA CAPITAL REPRESENTATION RESOURCE
CENTER; WINNER OF THE NATIONAL ACLU 1991 MEDAL OF FREEDOM
TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE AFTER NOVEMBER 1. FOR MORE INFORMATION,
CONTACT FIELD REPRESENTATIVE NANCY OTTO 415/621-2493.
Field Program
Monthly Meetings
Chapter Meetings
(Chapter meetings are open to all inter-
ested members. Contact the chapter acti-
vist listed for your area.)
B-A-R-K (Berkeley-Albany-Richmond-
Kensington) Chapter Meeting:
(Usually fourth Thursday) Volunteers
needed for the chapter hotline - call
' Florence Piliavin at 510/848-5195 for
further details. For more information,
time and address of meetings, contact
Julie Houk, 510/848-4752.
Earl Warren (Oakland/Alameda
County) Chapter Meeting: (Usually
second Wednesday) Chapter Hotline,
510/534-ACLU is now available 24
hours. For time and address of meet-
ings, please call John Butchart, 510/
635-5215.
Fresno Chapter Meeting: (Usually
third Monday) Meet at San Joaquin Law
School. New members always welcome!
For more information, call Nadya
Coleman at 209/229-7178 (days) or A.J.
Kruth at 209/432-1483 (evenings) or the
Chapter Hotline at 209/225-3780.
Lesbian and Gay Rights Chapter
Meeting: (Usually first Thursday). Meet
October | at 7:00 PM. and November 5
at 5:30 PM at the ACLU Office, 1663
Mission, #460, San Francisco. The
Lesbian and Gay Rights Chapter will
have booths at the Folsom Street Fair on
September 20 and the Castro Street Fair
on October 4. Phone night for Bill of
Rights Campaign on September 26.
Mailing party on November 5 at 5:30
PM. Refreshments will be available. For
more information, contact Tom Reilly,
510/528-7832.
Marin County Chapter Meeting:
(Third Monday) Meet September 21 and
October 19 at 7:30 PM, Westamerica
Bank, East Blithedale and Sunnyside
Avenues, Mill Valley. For more infor-
mation, contact Harvey Dinerstein, 415/
381-6129.
Mid-Peninsula (Palo Alto area)
Chapter Meeting: (Usually last
Thursday) Meet September 24 at 7:30
PM at the California Federal Bank, El
Camino Real, Palo Alto. New members
welcome! For more information, con-
tact Harry Anisgard, 415/856-9186 or
call the Chapter Hotline at 415/328-
0732. Annual Dinner on Wednesday,
October 28 at 6:00 PM at the Velvet
Turtle Restaurant in Menlo Park. Dr.
Debra Rhode, Professor of Law at
Stanford University, will speak on Sex
and Work. Tickets are $25.00 per per-
son. For more information, contact the
Chapter Hotline, number above.
Monterey County Chapter Meeting:
(Usually third Tuesday) Meet October
20 and November 17 at the Monterey
Library, Community Room, Pacific and
Madison Streets, Monterey. For more
information, contact Richard Criley,
408/624-7562.
Mt. Diablo (Contra Costa County)
Chapter Meeting: (Usually _ third
Thursday) For more information, call
the hotline at 510/939-ACLU.
North Peninsula (San Mateo area)
Chapter Meeting: (Usually _ third
Monday) Meet on September 21 at 7:30
PM at the Unitarian Church, 300 E.
_ Santa Inez Street, San Mateo. Site for
October 19 meeting to be advised. The
Student Outreach Committee needs vol-
unteers for a project this fall. For more
information, call Marshall Dinowitz at
415/595-5131. Note: The North Pen
Chapter has a new Hotline number:
415/579-1789. For more information,
contact Audrey Guerin at 415/574-4053.
North Valley (Shasta, Siskiyou,
Tehema, and _ Trinity Counties)
Chapter Meeting: (Usually third
Wednesday) For more information con-
tact interim Chairperson Tillie Smith at
916/549-3998.
Redwood (Humboldt County) Chapter
Meeting: (Usually third Monday) Meet
September 21 and October 19 at 7:15
PM at the Arcata Library. For more
information contact Christina Huskey at
707/444-6595.
Sacramento Valley Chapter Meeting:
(Usually second Wednesday) Meet on
October 14 and November 11. Annual
Dinner on Friday, October 30. Arrive
early for drinks at 6:00 PM and Potluck
at 7:00 PM. Keynote speaker on Pro-
Choice issues at 8:00 PM. For informa-
tion on cost, times and locations, contact
Ruth Ordas, 916/488-9956
San Francisco Chapter Meeting:
(Usually. third Tuesday) Meet on
September 15 and October 20 at 7:00
PM. at ACLU office, 1663 Mission,
#460, San Francisco. For more informa-
tion, call the Chapter Information Line
at 415/979-6699.
Santa Clara Valley Chapter Meeting:
(Usually first Tuesday) Meet on October
6 and November 3 at 7:00 PM at the
Community Bank Building, 3rd Floor
Conference Room, corner of Market/St.
John Streets, San Jose. Contact John
Cox 408/226-7421, for further informa-
tion.
Santa Cruz County Chapter Meeting:
(Usually third Tuesday) Meet on
September 15 and October 20. Chapter
will continue to work on combating Hate
Crimes. Contact Simba Kenyatta, 408/
476-4873 for further information.
Sonoma County Chapter Meeting:
(Usually third Wednesday) Meet
Wednesday, September 16 and October
21 at 7:30 PM at the Peace and Justice
Center, 540 Pacific Avenue, Santa Rosa.
The Sonoma County Chapter will have a
booth at the Harvest Fair at the Sonoma
County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa
October 2, 3 and 4. Call Steve Thornton
at 707/544-8115 for further information.
Yolo County Chapter Meeting: (Third
Thursday of the month) Meet on
Thursday, September 17 and October 15.
For more information, call the Chapter
Hotline at 916/756-ACLU.. :
Field Action Meetings :
(All meetings except those noted will be
held at the ACLU-NC Office, 1663
Mission Street, #460, San Francisco.)
Student Outreach Committee Meet on
Saturday, Sept 19 and October 17 from
10:30 AM to 12:00 PM. Friedman First.
Amendment Education Project Teacher's
Conference will be on _ Saturday,
September 26 at San Francisco State
University, 800 Font Blvd. from 9:00 AM
to 3:00 PM. Student Conference for
high school journalists on Monday,
October 5. Contact Marcia Gallo, at
ACLU-NC 415/621-2493, for additional
information.
First Amendment Committee Meeting
on Saturday, September 26 and October
24 from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM. Call
Nancy Otto at the ACLU-NC 415/621-
2493.
Pro-Choice Action Campaign Meeting
on Tuesday, September 29 from 6:00 PM
to 7:30 PM. Contact Nancy Otto at the
ACLU-NC 415/621-2493.
Police Practices Committee Meeting on
Saturday, September 26, from 12:00 PM
to 1:30 PM. Contact Nancy Otto at the
ACLU-NC = 415/621-2493.