vol. 67, no. 1

aclu news

Wo.tume LXVII

ACLU INTERN ELIZABETH HAN

CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE.

and inspiration, filled with serious

issues but leavened by mirth. One by

one, speakers at the ACLU of Northern

California (ACLU-NC)'s 30th annual Bill of

Rights Day celebration Sunday December 8

called on the rapt crowd not to allow fear to

extinguish freedom in a post-Sept. 11 world.

| t was a day of challenges, invocations,

"We are here to celebrate the Bill of "

Rights and we won't let anyone bury it,"

declared Gregory Nojeim, associate direc-

tor of the ACLU's Washington National

Office over thunderous applause as he

gave the keynote address. "We're gearing

up, beefing up, psyching up for two years of

hand-to-hand combat [with John Ashcroft

and the Bush administration]. Hach night

when we put our heads on our pillows, we

must ask ourselves, `Did I do enough to

keep the Bill of Rights safe?"

"We're no longer talking about threats

to freedom, we're talking about freedom

denied," warned ACLU-NC executive direc-

tor Dorothy Ehrlich as she urged the 500-

strong crowd at San Francisco's Argent

Hotel to take action to restore civil liber-

ties by signing up for the ACLU-NC's

activist network and working to pass local

ROPRRHSHEFAREESESSEROTHEHSEHEERAOHHKHCRHEESHE PHOT HSHSERSHRRE OH HESS ESROHHHHEHESCHREEHESSEESESREH HS EE SE

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2003

Freedom, not Fear

Bill of Rights Day, 2002

Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award Honoree Hua Jefferson Paterson (right) with Fred =

Korematsu, a previous recipient of the award, (left) and ACLU-NC board chair Margaret

Russell (center).

resolutions opposing the USA Patriot Act..

The theme of the day, `Freedom, not

Fear, was inspired by Rick Rocamora's crit-

ically-acclaimed photographic exhibit

Freedom and Fear: Bay Area Muslims

after September 11, 2001, which was dis-

played in the lobby. It is a theme embodied

_ by Eva Jefferson Paterson, who received

the ACLU-NC's Earl Warren Civil Liberties

Award for three courageous decades of

work championing civil rights.

Paterson was thrust into the national

spotlight as a student leader at

Northwestern University when she debat-

ed then Vice President Spiro Agnew on live

television in the aftermath of the shootings

of student demonstrators at Kent State

University. After earning a law degree from

UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall, Paterson found-

ed the ACLU-NC's first program for high

school students before joining the Lawyers'

Continued on page 7

Major Win for Immigrant

Airport Screeners

BY NICK OAKLEY

ACLU INTERN

n November 15, the ACLU scored a

key victory in its legal challenge to

the federal government's new citi-

zenship requirement for airport screeners,

securing a preliminary injunction that pro-

Take Action!

hibits the Transportation Security

Administration from barring non-citizens

from working as airport screeners.

Federal District Court Judge Robert

Takasugi issued the preliminary injunc-

tion, stating that the government has "not

established that the exclusion of all noncit-

izens is the least restrictive means to further -

"Discriminating against

non-citizen airport

screeners will not make us

safer or more secure."

- Alan Schlosser

legal director, ACLU-NC

the government interest in improving avia-

tion security."

"We are very encouraged by this ruling.

Discriminating against non-citizen airport

screeners will not make us safer or more

secure, "said Alan Schlosser, legal director

of the ACLU of Northern California. "In fact

it will certainly decrease air travel security

by eliminating much of the experienced

and trained workforce."

The Northern and Southern California

Affiliates of the ACLU, along with the

Service Employees Union International

and a coalition of civil rights groups, filed

the lawsuit, Gebin v. Mineta, on behalf of

nine non-citizen airport screeners at Los

Angeles International Airport and San

Francisco Airport in January 2002. In

November 2001, the Transportation and

_ Aviation Security Act included a require-

ment that airport screeners be U.S. citi-

zens, putting the jobs of 8,000 qualified

screeners at risk.

NEWSPAPER OF THE AMERICAN Giwilt LIBERTIES UNION OF NORTHERN GALIFORNIA

Non-Profit

Organization

U.S Postage

PAID

Permit No. 4424

"San Francisco, CA

ACLU Probes

Secret

"`No-Fly"' List

an Adams and Rebecca Gordon have

aie activists for most of their lives.

Between them, they have fought for

women's rights, taken testimony from peo-

ple abused by the Nicaraguan Contras,

monitored elections in El Salvador, and

taught desktop publishing to anti-

apartheid activists in South Africa.

When Adams and Gordon discovered

that their names were on a "no-fly' list when

they checked in for a flight out of San

Francisco Airport (SFO) this summer, they

contacted the ACLU. On December 12, the

ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC)

filed requests under the Freedom of

Information Act (FOIA) and the Privacy Act

seeking information about the "no-fly" list

and other government watch lists on the

women's behalf. The requests were filed

with the Transportation Security Agency,

the FBI in Washington, DC, and the FBI in

San Francisco.

"We want to find out how a person's

name gets on government watch lists like -

the "no-fly" list, and how a person can get

their name off such lists," said Jayashri

Srikantiah, staff attorney with the ACLU-

NC. "There must be public accountability

regarding government lists like these."

The requests also seek information on

_ the number of names on the "no-fly" list or

other government watch lists, the number

of times that individuals were incorrectly

identified as being on such lists at SFO and

other airports across the country, and

whether individuals are targeted for such

lists based on First Amendment activity.

On November 14, 2002, the ACLU-NC

sent a request to SFO under the California

Public Records Act asking for documents

relating to the SFO incident involving

Adams and Gordon. SFO responded by

providing documentation confirming the

existence ofa "no-fly" list, and also con-

firming that the women's names were

checked against a master "FBI list."

Although the women were eventually

permitted to fly to Boston, their tickets

were branded with a large red "S," singling

the women out for special searches and

scrutiny on every leg of their journey. -

The two women are among the

founders of War Times, an anti-war publi-

cation launched shortly after Sept. 11.

While Gordon, 50, and Adams, 55, worry

about what will happen the next time they

fly, they have decided to continue with

their War Times work. "We've got a war to

stop,' says Adams. "We're more determined

than-ever to work for peace."

WHAT'S INSIDE

Youth Conference Tackles Immigration

BY ALSTON LEW

ACLU INTERN

hey were encouraged to abandon

their preconceptions, leave preju-

dice at the door, and join their peers

in a frank exploration of one of the most

pressing issues facing California today:

Immigration. .

Eight hundred high school students

answered the call, flocking to the UC

Berkeley Student Union Center on

November 14 for a conference inspired by, -

"Examining your Prejudices," "Immigration

and Racial Profiling since Sept. 11," "U.S.

Foreign Policy," and "Public Schools and

Immigration."

The conference opened with a lively

plenary session in which students from the

Friedman Project's Youth Advisory

Committee introduced their new report,

Immigration Unplugged, 2002. Hot off the

press, the report uses poetry, prose and art

to deliver an array of first-person perspec-

tives on the people the students met and

the issues they explored during the trip .

_ Students recounted personal experiences of

discrimination, and talked frankly about what

race and nationality mean to them.

and based on, the findings of peers who

took part in a field trip investigating immi-

cates with the ACLU-NC's Howard A: First

Students chose from a wide menu of

workshops throughout the day. In one

workshop, "The Rights of Queer

Immigrants," Marta Donayra from the

you read, but read every-

thing," she told students.

In "The Patriot Act

and Privacy Issues,"

speakers Dan Komarek

and Lotus Yu, co-presi-

dents of the UC Berkley

ACLU club spoke with

students about . the

impact of the USA Patriot

Act on privacy, activism

and immigrants' rights,

and encouraged students

to write to their Member a

of Congress or Senator to a

protest the legislation. g

Students recounted

personal experiences of

discrimination, and talked

High school student Jackson Yan (right) with Yurt

Kochiyama, who was forced into Japanese internment

camps as a child.

frankly about what race

|

|

ongoing studies. Rick Ayers, an English

teacher at Berkley High School noted

_ that the conference fit perfectly into the

school's Communication Arts and Science

and nationality mean to them. Tynan Kelly,

a student at Carlmount High School, -

explained that he started an ACLU club at his

school after a police officer pulled his friend

National Center for Lesbian Rights outlined

the tremendous challenges facing same-sex

bi-national couples. When straight cou-

ples marry, a U.S. citizen may petition for

Amendment Education Project, the confer-

gration this summer. Organized by advo-

ence tackled thorny topics. including |

over and began asking personal and inappro-

priate questions. "The government only

seems to target certain groups," said Kelly.

Students and teachers praised the

curriculum, which explores social justice

issues, while Javeria Aleem, who works

with AmeriCorps at Tennyson High

School in Hayward, said that the confer-

High school student Angelo Sandoval displays

an ACLU temporary tattoo.

their spouse to become a legal perma-

nent resident. But because same-sex

unions are not recognized under federal

law, a U.S. citizen is powerless to help

their gay or lesbian partner remain in the

country. Holland is the only country in

the world thus far to legalize same-sex

marriage, Donayra pointed out.

In a workshop on organizing, Yuri

Kochiyama, a noted civil rights and anti-

war activist and a former Japanese

internee spoke to a packed room about

her experience in the internment camps

during World War II, as well as her sub-

sequent fight for prisoners' rights. "The

unfortunate thing about the U.S. is the

fact that our answer for any crime or

problem is to build more prisons," said

Kochiyama. Kochiyama encouraged stu-

dents to challenge what they read in the

mainstream U.S. media about the war on

terrorism, and to embrace alternative

information sources. "Be careful what

GiGI PANDIAN

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ACLU Urges

Rehearing in Charged

Death Penalty Case

he ACLU of Northern California

(ACLU-NC) and several civil rights

groups filed an amicus brief in the

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday

November 6 in support of San Quentin

death row inmate Stanley Williams' peti-

tion for rehearing en banc.

The trial prosecutor's past racial bias in

selecting juries and his racist closing argu-

ment in Williams' trial should be relevant

in determining whether he used racial bias

in selecting the jury and disqualifying all of

the African American jurors, according to

the amici. .

Williams, the founder of the Los

Angeles Crips gang, was nominated for the

2001 Nobel Peace Prize for his work as an

advocate of non-violence while behind

bars. He was sentenced to death in 1981 for

four murders by an all-white jury in

Torrance, California. :

"Courts must be vigilant to prevent

racial bias and stereotyping from deter-

mining the selection of juries, particularly

in a capital case where it is a matter of life

and death," said Alan Schlosser, legal

|

director for the ACLU-NC. "Exclusion from

a jury on racial grounds undermines an

individual's - and a community's - partici-

pation in the democratic process.

Rehearing should be granted because the

three-judge panel's decision in this case

would exclude the best evidence of a pros-

ecutor's racial bias."

During jury selection, the prosecutor

removed the only African-American citi-

zens called into the jury box and during

the trial engaged in a racially-coded clos-

ing argument that compared Williams in

trial to a Bengal tiger in the zoo and

Williams "in his environment" to a Bengal

Tiger in its "habitat." This same prosecu-

tor was censured judicially twice for racial

bias in jury selection.

Williams became internationally known

when a member of the Swiss Parliament

nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

In prison he became an advocate for gang

summit peace talks and an author of nine

highly acclaimed~ gang prevention chil-

dren's books that are in schools and

libraries throughout the world.

ence was relevant to the school's ethnic

studies program.

conference for shining a light on tough

questions that are pertinent to their

TIJUANA

By AMELIA ROSENMAN

Three Dogs

barking at the fence

barking at the bus, at me.

Jaime Cota with maps and

fine fire mind and

smoothe sautee Spanish on high.

This room framed by flags, John

Lennon, the eyes

of so many heroes.

Sweat shops, bus stops, tough to

talk when

a finger costs a peso or two, less

than a shoe, less than break-

fast.

White men

watching women wolf down

water with pills

(to keep them from their wombs)

I can see the tombs, lined up like

one man's teeth that

won't

stop

falling

out.

Los OLIVIDADOS

By ADRIENNA WONG

Here the streets are paved in gold:

white gold, set with blue-eyed

sapphire

Here the fiery grip of Democracy

And proximity

makes us melt

makes us spit and bubble/hiss

And if this land is a melting pot-

then the lid is shut

cauldron brimming already with an

unstirrable

foundation

try to pour in a portion

of my bronze skin

but, already too full, borders bulging

there is not room for me.

And so I become but

steam. I sublime

Or maybe I just

Disappear

`These poems are excerpts from Through Our Eyes: Immigration Unplugged,

2002, a report written by and for youth from the Howard A. Friedman First

Amendment Education Project on their weeklong field investigation of immigration

this summer. Amelia Rosenman is a junior at Lick-Wilmerding High School in San

Mateo: Adrienna Wong is a senior at University High School in San Francisco.

Call Shayna Gelender at 415-621-2493 for a copy of the report or visit our website

at www.aclunc.org/publications.html

ACLU News = January = Fesrvary 2003 ao Pace 2

Free Speech for California Doctors

By ELIZABETH HAN

ACLU INTERN

alifornia doctors may "speak frankly

CO and openly to patients" regarding

the healing potential of medical

marijuana, according to a landmark ruling

handed down by the Ninth Circuit Court of

Appeal in Conant v. Walters.

The case was brought in the wake of the

passage of California's Proposition 215, in

which voters overwhelmingly approved the

right of patients in the state to use marijua-

na for medicinal purposes as long as they

have a doctor's recommendation. Despite a

mound of evidence demonstrating that pot

has healing qualities and is not a "gateway"

to harder drugs, the federal government

classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug -

one with no medicinal qualities. Faced with

a high-profile brouhaha over states' rights

and medical weed, then U.S. Drug Czar

Barry McCaffrey responded with a gag order

barring doctors from recommending mari-

juana to their patients on pain of losing their

DEA-issued prescription drug licenses.

Since the case was filed in 1997, nine

states have approved ballot initiatives or

laws approving the use of medical marijua-

na (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado,

Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, and

Washington). All but two of these states,

Maine and Colorado, fall under the juris-

diction of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of

Appeals. Thus the court's decision will

affect almost all of the states whose laws

present a challenge to the federal govern-

ment's drug policy.

The ruling suggested that the federal

government may not use its power to

undermine a controversial state law by

"striking at core First Amendment inter-

ests of doctors and patients."

"Physicians who have the sensitive task

of informing patients about the risks and

benefits of medical marijuana can now do

so without the fear of government inter-

vention," said Graham Boyd of the ACLU's

Drug Policy Litigation Project, who argued

the case before the court.

The government's power to issue gag

orders on physicians rested on the claim

that the "public interest" outweighed any

First Amendment considerations. In

Conant v. Walters, the court unanimously

upheld the significance of the First

Amendment. In doing so, it let stand an

earlier court order blocking the govern-

ment from revoking doctor's licenses.

"The Court recognized that the govern-

ment has no business using threats as a

means of cutting off the free flow of infor-

mation from the one source patients rely on

` the most: their doctors," said co-counsel

Ann. Brick of the ACLU of Northern

California (ACLU-NC). Milton Estes, a for-

mer chair of the ACLU-NC's board of direc-

tors, was a physician plaintiff in the case.

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High Court Ruling

Bolsters Internet Speech

By ALsTon LEW

ACLU INTERN

alifornia courts

do not have juris-

diction over an

"The Court's ruling:

means that people

can't be hauled into

court in a far-distant

individual whose only State for doing nothing

Pavlovich, who has ney-

er been to California,

and whose only contact

with the state was his

posting of the program

on the Internet? The

ACLU-NC's amicus brief

contact with the state is more than making argued that there is no

posting 4 controversial inform ation available jurisdiction, and the

computer program =o California Supreme

online, according to a on the Internet. Court agreed.

recent decision handed

- Ann Brick The Court found

down. by the California

Supreme Court on November 25. The ACLU

of Northern California (ACLU-NC) filed an

amicus brief in support of the defendant in

the case, DVD Copy Control Association,

Inc. v. Pavlovich.

Matthew Pavlovich was a student at |

Purdue University in Indiana when he

posted a program on his website that

would enable those who downloaded it to

play legally purchased DVDs on DVD play-

ers that could not otherwise play them

because they lacked the proper decryption

program. Unfortunately for Pavlovich, the

decryption mechanism in the program also

_ allows users to copy the disk.

Enter the DVD Copy Control Association

(DVD CCA). A nonprofit trade association

created by the movie and DVD industries to

protect DVDs against illegal copying, DVD

CCA filed suit against a raft of individuals

and websites, including Pavlovich, claiming

that the defendants were illegally exposing

trade secrets. But can a California court

have jurisdiction over someone like

that there was insuffi-

cient evidence that Pavlovich expressly

aimed his conduct at or intentionally tar-

geted California. The decision sets an

important precedent because it means

that out-of-state defendants in cases like

this will not be forced to travel to

California to defend themselves. If defen-

dants like Pavlovich cannot come to

California to defend the suit, the court may

issue a default judgment ordering that the

disputed material be taken offline. "This is

an important decision for everyone who

posts information on the Internet," said

ACLU-NC staff attorney Ann Brick, who

filed the brief. "The Court's ruling means

that people can't be hauled into court in a

far-distant state for doing nothing more

than making information available on the

Internet. In addition, courts aren't going to

be issuing default judgments that require

that information be taken off the Internet

simply because the defendants did not

have the resources to come to court and

raise a valid defense."

Airport Discrimination

Suit Moves Forward

| Js District Court Judge Charles R.

Breyer denied a motion to dismiss a

federal civil rights lawsuit alleging

that Northwest Airlines discriminated

against a passenger on Friday, December 6.

The suit was filed in the Northern District of

California by the ACLU of Northern California

(ACLU-NC) and the Washington, DC-based

civil rights law firm Relman and Associates

on behalf of Arshad Chowdhury, a U.S. citi-

zen of Bangladeshi descent. Airline

employees prohibited Chowdhury from

boarding a flight even after he had cleared

security at San Francisco Airport.

"This ruling is significant because it

recognizes that longstanding civil rights

protections apply to individuals who suffer

| discrimination at the hands of airlines after

September 11, 2001," said Jayashri Srikantiah,

a staff attorney with the ACLU-NC.

"The airlines were indulging in dis-

crimination, not enforcing security, when

they ejected our client from this flight,"

said Kelli Evans of Relman and Associates.

On October 23, 2001, Chowdhury was

returning to Pittsburgh after a weekend in

/ San Francisco when Northwest Airlines

refused to allow him-to board his Detroit-

bound flight. Even after the FBI and local

law enforcement authorities had deter-

mined that he was not a security threat,

airline employees told Chowdhury that

the pilot had decided that he would not be

_ allowed to fly on Northwest. Northwest

| booked him' on a US Airways flight

instead. Despite the security clearance by

federal and local law enforcement profes-

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Supreme Court

Considers Three Strikes Law

Court on November 5, the ACLU urged

the Justices to invalidate a California

man's 50-years-to-life sentence under the

state's harsh "three strikes" law for stealing

$153 worth of children's videotapes,

including "Snow White" and "Free Willy."

"The sentencing of Mr. Andrade to fifty

years for shoplifting - when his prior

strikes were nonviolent burglaries - is a

violation of a bedrock principle that is part

of our constitutional system," said Alan

Schlosser, legal director of the ACLU of

Northern California (ACLU-NC) and co-

counsel in the case. "The state is not free to

impose harsh and excessive sentences that

violate basic principles of decency, human-

ity and common sense."

The case, Lockyer v. Andrade, is the

I: arguments before the U.S. Supreme

"It is completely irrational

to put someone in prison

_ for life for shoplifting."

- Erwin Chemerinsky,

University of Southern California

first Supreme Court challenge to the appli-

cation of California's "three strikes" law.

Andrade was argued in tandem with anoth-

er case, Ewing v. California, in which

Gary Ewing received 25 years to life for

stealing $1,200 worth of golf clubs.

"It is completely irrational to put some-

_ one in prison for life for shoplifting," said

Erwin Chemerinsky, a University of

Southern California law professor who is

arguing the case on behalf of his client,

Leandro Andrade. The ACLU's national

office and its California affiliates are serv-

ing as co-counsel.

Passed in 1994, the law requires a prison

term of 25 years to life for anyone convicted

of a third felony after two previous serious

or violent felony convictions. But Andrade

and Ewing, as well as hundreds of others,

are nonviolent criminals whose previous

sentences were for burglary and petty theft.

California is the only state in the country

that allows such stiff punishment for a

minor, nonviolent "third strike."

The argument focused on whether a

potential life sentence for petty theft

under the "three strikes" law constitutes

"cruel and unusual" punishment.

In November 2001, the Ninth Circuit

ACLU NeEws ua JANUARY my val Eee ee 3

ELMAN and ASSOCIATES

Arshad Chowdhury

sionals, Northwest input Chowdhury's

name into a database that included the

names of known terrorists, and failed to

remove his name.

"I love America intensely and was

deeply affected by the events of

September 11," said Chowdhury. "I'm

gratified that my case is going forward."

Chowdhury, an MBA student at

Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh,

PA, worked as an investment banker at

- Deutsche Bank in and across the road

from the World Trade Center between

1998 and April 2001.

On October 18, 2002, Judge Dickinson

R. Debevoise of the United States District

Court in New Jersey allowed two similar

lawsuits against Continental Airlines to

proceed, ruling that the ACLU had "suffi-

ciently alleged" that their clients' removal

from flight on January 31, 2001, "was the

product of intentional discrimination and

not of a rational determination that their

presence was `inimical to safety."

Less than one week earlier, a federal

judge in Los Angeles permitted similar

claims against United Airlines to proceed,

saying that pilots' discretion "does not

grant them a license to discriminate."

For more information on the cases,

visit http://archive.aclu.org/features/f060 .

- 402a.htm! @

SSERR ES SSRK ESE SRSRESSRRKEES BR

" Court of Appeals overturned Andrade's

sentence, agreeing with his claim that it

was cruel and unusual punishment in vio-

lation of the federal Constitution's Eighth

Amendment.

A recent report by the Sentencing

Project, a Washington, DC-based policy

group, concludes that the three strikes

law has not contributed to the reduction

of crime in California to any significant

-extent. The study also shows that the law

has increased the number and severity of .

sentences for nonviolent offenders, who

now make up two-thirds of the state's sec-

ond and third "strike" sentences. i

ACLU INTERN Nick OAKLEY

CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.

he FBI detained two young Afghan-

[| Tsnesas for 11 hours as they set

off on a trip to Afghanistan with the

human rights group Global Exchange. Fifty

FBI agents raided a Pakistani family's

house after neighbors mistook food dishes

for containers of anthrax. A Bay Area attor-

AC LU's Ro mero

Sandip Roy (left) of New California Me an `ACLU-NG aff

Baas

happening, but which the greater public

does not believe is happening," said Romero.

One after the. other, representatives

from Filipino, Iranian, Pakistani, African-

American, Indian, Latino and Afghan media

reported chilling stories of fear, intimidation

and disappearances in their communities.

Jalal Ghazi of WorldLink explained

that the targeting of people from Arab and

South Asian communities based on their

ethnic profile has led

to widespread fear

of law enforcement.

"They say `well, I'd

better stay quiet, I'd

better not voice my

political opinion,"

he noted.

Many Iranians

no longer attend

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that the government

will target them for

their religious

beliefs, according to

Jahansha Javid of

attorney Jayashri Srikantiah (right) look on as Anthony Romero ~ [ranian, com, who

speaks at the ethnic media roundtable. _

ney and a turbaned Sikh, Mandeep Dhillon

was called `Osama' 15 to 20 times when he

attended an Oakland A's game in the sum-

mer of 2002.

These give just a taste of the stories told

on Tuesday November 19, when around 50

representatives from Californian ethnic

media outlets gathered at the San

Francisco offices of the James Irvine

Foundation for a roundtable discussion on

civil liberties with ACLU executive director

Anthony Romero. The event, which sought

to provide a window on the ways that new

policies are impacting communities of color,

was organized by New California Media and

co-sponsored by the ACLU-NC.

"We're here to discuss what we know is

RSSRREEEEE ESE SSR SESSRRARREE EES

added that those

who do go are suspi-

cious of new faces, fearing that they might

be FBI agents.

_ THE `NEW DISAPPEARED'

Speaking of the "new disappeared," the

1,200 immigrants who were picked up,

detained and deported after Sept. 11, many

of them Pakistani nationals, Asim Mughal

of the Pakistani News Service described a

nightmare world where "wives can't find

their husbands." "The dream of America as

a free society where everyone has a right is

being changed into, is no different from,

the tyrannical third world, renegade coun-

try where people are abducted, where

there's no respect for the law," he said.

The backlash is not limited to those of

Arab and South Asian descent. "Latinos

feel like they are absolutely not welcome in

their communities," said . Claudia

Menendez of Nuevo Mundo.

SAFETY AND FREEDOM NOT AT ODDS

Turning to a broader discussion of the

changing fabric of politics and media since

Sept. 11, the ACLU's Romero urged partici-

pants not to subscribe to the `false dichoto-

-my of national security versus civil

liberties. "Safety and freedom are not at

odds," said Romero, "they are both essen-

tial ingredients in our democracy."

After Sept. 11, said Romero, the gov-

ernment sought to "shut down dissent and

Joins Ethnic Media Roundtable

debate," framing the war on terrorism as

"you're either with us or against us," dis-

missing the views of dissenters as "giving

ammunition to our enemies," and ques- (c)

tioning the patriotism of Democrats who |

did not support the Iraq resolution.

The veil of secrecy shrouding the gov-

ernment's actions after Sept. 11, Romero

noted, has posed a particular challenge

both for the ACLU and for the media, in par-

ticular, the government's refusal to release

the names of those detained in the days fol-

lowing the attacks. Romero described a

recent initiative by the ACLU to track down

some of the individuals detained and |

deported in this secret operation.

LOCATING PAKISTANI DETAINEES

With the help of the Pakistani consulate

and a human rights group in Pakistan, the

ACLU identified and interviewed 21 people

who were deported after Sept. 11. Eight of

them are willing to tell their stories on

~ camera, and ACLU staff will soon be

returning to Pakistan with news crews

from major mainstream media outlets.

Their stories, said Romero, are deeply dis-

turbing: i:

@ Of the 21 tracked down, seven were

married to U.S. citizens.

(c) Many agreed to be deported because -

they did not want to remain in detention.

_(c)@ They were told they could get papers if

they said they knew where Osama bin

Laden was.

e@ At times, some were handcuffed and

shackled, and one detainee was held

Asim Mughal of the Pakistani News

Service addresses the audience.

for three days with no clothes.

@ They were called `Pakis' by the guards.

(c) They were only permitted to make col-

lect calls.

(c) Some were deported without anything,

including access to bank accounts, and

some were deported without being told

where they were taken. .

Even so, Romero said, many of them

still talked about still loving America.

Romero ended with a rally cry to the

ethnic news reporters. Calling "muckraking

journalism" a part of the democratic process,

he urged the reporters to document how

secret powers are being used, to find indi-

viduals whose phones are being tapped or

emails intercepted, and to write about how

this is affecting our democracy. i

SQSRReSSSSSSSEESSERRSEESESESESESSSERRSEHESSESSSSRRREEHEEEESESESE SE

SSsessRe ees eS SSRRRSEKEEE SESS SRRRHKEEEESSSRRKRREEESSSSRSRKESSESSSSSRRKSSSSSSSRSRRKRHK KEES SES SRSRRHKEKSEE SES RPRRRHREEE SS SRRSRREEEE SSE SS BRS

Local Resolutions Pillory Patriot Act

By SANJEEV BERY

ACLU ApvocateE / ORGANIZER

through Congress, it isn't getting the

rubber stamp of the American peo-

ple. Since its passage over a year ago, com-

munities across the U.S. have been making

their opposition publicly-known.

Already, some 17 communities have

passed resolutions opposing the scape-

goating of immigrants, the expansion of

federal surveillance powers, and elements

of the Patriot Act. City councils ranging

from Denver, CO, to Cambridge, MA, have

done so. Many more are expected to in the

days ahead.

These local resolutions send an impor-

tant message to the White House and

Congress: People across America do not sup-

[Nie the USA PATRIOT Act sailed

These local resolutions send an important message to

the White House and Congress: People across America

do not support the recent rollbacks of civil liberties.

port the recent rollbacks of civil liberties.

They are also important for a second

reason. They give ACLU lobbyists and oth-

er public interest advocates in Washington,

DC, the backup they need when they tell

elected officials that freedom cannot be

sacrificed in the name of security.

Northern California is no stranger to

this growing municipal movement.

Already, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and

Sebastopol have all passed resolutions of

. Opposition. The list of cities where resolu-

tions may soon be considered is growing.

In communities ranging from Davis and

Sacramento to Watsonville and Salinas,

coalitions of ACLU members and other

organizations are forming to oppose the

anti-civil liberties tide.

As the ACLU News went to press, the

City of Oakland had just voted to become

the 19th jurisdiction to pass such a resolu-

tion, and the largest city to do so. The City

of San Francisco is now preparing to intro-

duce one.

What makes this growing movement so

powerful is that it brings together people

and organizations from a wide range of back-

grounds and concerns.

PX 4 eC ae eae Ce ee Cae

FBI agents have contacted public

libraries across the country to see what

books patrons have been reading. South

Asian, Arab, and Muslim immigrants have

been detained and deported by the hun-

dreds. No one knows how many secret

search warrants and acts of Internet sur-

veillance have occurred. :

As a result, an entire cross section of

activists and organizations - from

Internet privacy experts to immigration

advocates to librarians - is angry and

ready to do something about it.

Perhaps it is time to add your city and

county to the growing number of communi-

ties that are standing up for civil liberties. mm

lraqis Face Questioning Dragnet

BY STELLA RICHARDSON

MEDIA RELATIONS DIRECTOR

ays after the government announced

1) new plans to question and monitor

Iraqis and Iraqi-Americans, the

ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC)

joined with civil rights and community orga-

nizations in calling the program "a troubling

and counterproductive manifestation of

racial profiling."

In letters sent to the University of

California Police Departments and mem-

bers of the Joint Terrorism Task Forces in

Northern California, the groups warn that

the monitoring aspects of the program

"threaten to violate California's precious

constitutional right to privacy."

On November 17, the New York Times

reported that the federal government has

begun a program of tracking, monitoring,

and questioning thousands of Iraqi immi-

grants, Iraqi-Americans, and possibly other

individuals of Middle Eastern origin. One

senior government official told the Times

that this was the "largest and most aggres-

sive program we've ever had." The program

includes the Pentagon, the Central

Intelligence Agency, the Immigration and

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Schlosberg, police practices policy direc-

tor with the ACLU-NC.

"By yet again targeting Arabs and Arab-

Americans for questioning, the federal gov-

ernment continues to contribute to the

climate of scapegoating," said Heba Nimr

of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination

One senior government official told the New

York Times that this was the "largest and most

aggressive program we've ever had."

Naturalization Service, the State Department

and the National Security Agency.

"This new program is dangerous

because individuals are being targeted for

questioning and surveillance based on

their ethnicity and not because they have

done anything wrong," said Mark

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Committee, San Francisco Chapter.

The National Lawyers Guild, the ACLU-

NC, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil

Rights, the San Francisco Chapter of the

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Com-

mittee and the Council on American

Islamic Relations sent the letters to law

enforcement agencies, campus police at UC

Berkeley, the University of San Francisco

and UC Davis, and the Joint Terrorism Task

Forces in Northern California.

The letters urge university police and

local law enforcement to "take a strong

stand against such discriminatory federal

programs by declining to participate in this

latest round of questioning and monitor-

ing." In two previous rounds of FBI ques-

tioning of men of Middle Eastern and

South Asian descent, several Northern

California Police and _ Sheriff's

Departments declined to participate,

including police in San Francisco, San

Jose, Oakland, the San Mateo County

Sheriff's Department and others.

The civil rights groups are also distrib-

uting an informational bulletin in English -

and Arabic. The bulletin. is online at

www.aclunc.org/91l/ulletin.hitml/Know -

YourRighis. @

BSSCEEESEES SS SS SSSEEESS SSS SSSEESSSSCESSBSESEESSESSBRBSSSCEREEESC SSPE SSEEEESHSPSSSSSSEEEESS SSS SSSEEEE SSSR SESSSHEEESESSSRSSSSEEEEES SRS SS SEES EB

- Goodbye TIPS, Hello Total

Information Awareness

HOMELAND SECURITY ACT

OuTLaws TIPS

`f there was a silver lining to the passage

of the Homeland Security Act, it was the

death of Operation Terrorist Information

Prevention Services (TIPS), the govern-

ment's misguided effort to encourage

American workers to spy on their neigh-

bors. TIPS was vociferously opposed by the

ACLU.

The Act, signed into law by President

Bush on November 26, expressly prohibits

the controversial TIPS program, which

would have

American utility and transportation work-

ers as volunteer informants. Incoming

House Minority Leader, San Francisco's

Nancy Pelosi, was instrumental in secur-

ing Democratic opposition to TIPS. On the

Senate side, outgoing House Majority

Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) included

provisions prohibiting both TIPS and a

National ID card in the bill.

"There are much better ways to involve

our communities in securing our home-

land," said Armey. "After all, we are here

today to defend our freedoms." Neverthe-

less, the final Homeland Security Act has

activated millions of |

serious drawbacks, including:

e Shielding information from public

scrutiny. The bill exempts information

about so-called "critical infrastructure"

from the Freedom of Information Act

(FOIA). It imposes criminal penalties for

government officials who disclose this

information. As a result, officials who blow

the whistle on threats to public health or

private sector incompetence could become

~ criminals.

e Overly broad intelligence information- .

sharing provisions between the Homeland

Security department and other agencies,

such as the FBI or the CIA, and even with

foreign law enforcement agencies.

e Opening the door to a federal policy on

Pointdexter once said

that it was his duty as

the national security

advisor to withhold

information from _

Congress.

Take Action Te Step

Tamers LCE

ou can stop TIA now! TAKE ACTION by writing to

President Bush, asking him to end this new effort to

invade our privacy. Please let the President know that:

Law-abiding people should be protected from government snooping. It has been a

hallmark of American democracy that our individual privacy is protected against govern-_

ment intervention and snooping as long as we are not guilty of wrongdoing. This new sys-

tem would obliterate these protections - the government would simply collect data on

everyone so as to be able to investigate any one of us if and when they so decide to do so.

Doing so would make us all suspects and in effect eliminate our personal privacy.

In searching for terrorists, we must not investigate everyone. It has been sug-

gested that searching for terrorists in our midst is like looking for a needle in a

haystack. If this is true, then it certainly makes no sense to make the haystack even big-

ger by creating the means to investigate hundreds of millions of law-abiding Americans

rather than focusing in on real suspects.

We must not sacrifice our freedom and liberty in order to prosecute the "War on

Terrorism." As Americans, we have every right to be proud of our constitutional rights

and freedoms. And in being proud of these rights, we must make every effort to promote

and enlarge our privacy rather then sacrifice it in a time of anxiety and concern.

To send a free fax to President Bush, visit the "Take Action" section at

www.aclu.org. or mail your letter to: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

NW, Washington, DC 20500.

forced vaccinations. Such a policy would

not be effective as a public health measure,

nor would it respect individual liberty.

Bic BROTHER Is BACK

Gee over TIPS' demise were

quickly muted by revelations of a new

Big Brother phenomenon brewing at the

Pentagon. Dubbed `Total Information

Awareness' (TIA), this nascent program

will use data-mining technology to create

the most extensive electronic surveillance

system in history, with the ostensible goal

of tracking terrorists.

The program, whose spooky motto is

Scientia Est Potentia (Knowledge is

Power), is under the stewardship of John

Pointdexter, a veteran of the Reagan

administration and the Arms to Iran scan- -

dal. Pointdexter once said that it was his

duty as the national security advisor to

withhold information from Congress.

Data-mining is currently used by indus-

try to track buying habits and target cus-

tomers. It involves the computerized

scrutiny of vast amounts of unrelated infor-

mation in the hope of finding patterns that

will predict future behavior. TIA will link a

huge number of commercial and governmen-

tal databases, ranging from student grades to

mental health history to travel records.

"Smile, you're on virtual candid cam-

era, said Laura Murphy of the ACLU's

Washington National Office. "If the

Pentagon has its way, every American will

find themselves under the accusatory

cyber-state powerful national security

apparatus."

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

n moves illustrating the broad reach of

the ACLU since Sept. 11, former U.S.

Rep. Bob Barr (R-Georgia) has signed on

as an ACLU consultant on privacy issues.

The news came on the heels of a surprise

announcement that outgoing House

Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) is

also interested in working with the ACLU-

on privacy.

Even Rep. Henry Hyde (R-lIllinois)

heaped praise on the ACLU's work. "They

are a very useful and productive force in

jurisprudence, he told the Associated

Press. "Ym glad the ACLU raises the objec-

tions it does, because it forces the govern-

ment and Congress to be mindful of First

Amendment rights."

ACLU News = January - FEBRUARY Yen Ce

"There are no permanent enemies and

no permanent friends, only permanent val-

ues," said ACLU executive director

Anthony Romero.

An ACLU RENAISSANCE

f you follow the newspapers, you can't

have missed this news: it's an ACLU

renaissance! With our membership ranks

swelling by 50,000 this last year - and the

northern California affiliate contributing

more members than any other affiliate in

the nation - the only good news about the

new civil liberties crisis is that the ACLU is

on deck and winning support from

Americans who want our freedoms back.

As ACLU president Nadine Strossen

said, "The good news for the ACLU is bad

news for civil liberties. We do best as an

organization when the public understands

that civil liberties are doing poorly. And

that, unfortunately, is the case."

By VALERIE SMALL NAVARRO

ACLU LEGISLATIVE ADVOCATE

any important bills never make it

| | to the Governor's desk because of

lack of legislative willpower. This

inertia flows from many sources including

the Democratic leadership's unwillingness

to allow the so-called moderate Democrats

take a hard vote on issues that voters may

disagree with, the Governor asking the lead-

ership not to bring a bill to a vote, or lobby-

ing by strong and well-heeled contributors.

THREE STRIKES

Unfortunately, over the last few years, bills

that would have ameliorated some of the

more ludicrous sentences under the three

strikes law or just study its impact on the

state budget were killed - usually in their

first legislative house. This year

Assemblymember Jackie Goldberg (D-Los

Angeles) brought to the legislature the

sixth bill of its kind. AB 1790 sought to

place on the March 2004 ballot an initia-

tive asking California voters to amend the

law they voted for ten years earlier by

requiring that convictions triggering an

enhanced second strike or a three strikes

sentence be a serious or violent felony.

As of December 2001, of the 38,551

people serving second and third strike sen-

tences, 2,392 are there for petty theft with

a prior conviction and 10,641 are there for

drug-related offenses. Though the bill

passed out of the Assembly Public Safety

Committee four votes to two, the bill was

not brought up before the Assembly

Appropriations for a vote. There was no

political will to pass the bill despite

Democrats holding 17 of the 24 seats on

that committee and the committee staff

analysis showing an annual General Fund

cost avoidance of about $500 million and a

savings of capital outlay for prison expan-

sion of more than $1 billion.

EXECUTING THE MENTALLY

`RETARDED

After the U.S. Supreme Court decision in

Atkins v. Virginia prohibited the execution

of the mentally retarded, Assemblymember

Dion Aroner (D) amended a bill, AB 557,

to create a pre-trial determination of

whether a defendant who could be subject-

ed to the death penalty was mentally

retarded.

The bill passed the Senate but was not

brought to a vote in the Assembly because

the California District Attorneys

Association and the Attorney General's

office balked at a number of the protec-

tions in the bill, including the requirement

that prosecutors prove beyond a reason-

able doubt that the defendant is not men-

tally retarded.

OUTGUNNED BY Bic MONEY

Although the right to privacy was added to

the California Constitution by the voters,

banks and insurance companies waged a

relentless war against simple privacy pro-

tections for their customers. The federal

Financial Services Modernization Act of

1999 allowed for the creation of vast new

financial conglomerates that combine the

traditionally separate industries: banking,

insurance and brokerage houses. Now,

through shared databases, these conglom-

erates are now able to exploit our private

information in new and powerful ways. SB

773 (Senator Jackie Speier-D) was the

fourth bill in three years to require privacy

protections including obtaining consent -

before sharing customer information with

other companies and

allowing customers to

opt out of sharing

among affiliates of

the company they

do business with.

Although Gover-

nor Davis

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REVIEW AND Preview: 2002-2003

Killed Behind the Curtains

Banks, insurance companies, and oth-

er financial institutions spent over $20 mil-

lion in campaign contributions and

lobbying expenses - Governor Davis

received more than $1 million of those dol-

lars - during this legislative session

according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Cadres of industry lobbyists roamed the

halls of the legislature leading to the defeat

of SB 773 on the Assembly Floor 88 to

36 votes.

Furthermore, Assemblymember

John Dutra-D in last minute maneu-

vering with consent of the

5

8 "" Democratic leadership of the

= 2 es Assembly added amendments to the

a P -cent/ ill that eliminated, among other

ee provisions, consumer protections for

Although Governor Davis had mentioned the

importance of financial privacy in his state of the state

address, his office continued to offer unacceptable

industry-backed amendments and he reportedly

lobbied members of the Assembly to kill the bill.

`had mentioned the importance of financial

privacy in his state of the state address, his

office continued to offer unacceptable

industry-backed amendments and he

reportedly lobbied members of the

Assembly to kill the bill.

See eCPS SSS OSs FS SSSCHEEES OHS SSSR HEEER EHR SSESEROHRERHEEE OO OBES

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affiliate-sharing of information. This

amended bill passed the Assembly 51:9 leav-

ing Senator Speier in the unenviable posi-

tion of asking the Senate to kill her own bill.

_ The Senate spoke clearly when the bill gar-

|

nered only one vote on the Senate Floor.

THE FUTURE - 2003

During the November election, California's

Democrats swept all of the statewide offices

~ and a clear majority in both houses of the

legislature. The redistricting process for the

most part entrenched each party's hold on

the seats by increasing the number of voters

from the dominant party in each seat.

However, the Democrats lost one of the

Senate seats and two of the Assembly seats

that were formerly theirs. Of the 120 legisla-

tors there are 33 women, 27 Latinos, six

African-Americans, six Asian-Americans and

five openly gay members (including for the

first time two openly gay men). It appears

that there may be more members committed

to improving civil rights and civil liberties.

Unfortunately, we lost some champions

of civil liberties due to term limits: Richard

Polanco-D, Dion Aroner-D, and Carole

Migden-D. Furthermore, at the end of this

two-year session we will be losing John

Burton-D, Byron Sher-D, and John

Vasconcellos-D.

Plugging the $21 billion and growing

budget deficit will consume the Legislature

next year. During this time when many

programs will be facing cuts, the ACLU will

be working on bills that have little or no fis-

cal impact, for example:

(c) prohibiting the execution of the men-

tally retarded,

(c) expanding the rights and responsibili-

ties of domestic partners,

(c) ensuring the privacy of personal finan-

cial records,

(c) providing comprehensive and accurate

sex education, and

(c) providing driver's licenses to undocu-

mented immigrants.

Se Ss ss SeOS SSSR ESERE OO ESEEO

Marin Passes

Moratorium Resolution

arin County, home to California's San

Quentin State Prison, marked Inter-

national Human Rights Day on December

10 by passing a resolution calling for a tem-

porary halt to executions until the state'

can show that the death penalty is being

administered fairly. The 4-0 vote made

Marin the 78th jurisdiction in the nation to

pass such a resolution.

The resolution was spearheaded by the

Marin Death Penalty Moratorium Move-

ment, which includes the ACLU's Marin

Chapter.

Marin County is the third county in

California to adopt such a resolution; San

Francisco and Santa Clara counties have

already done so, as have eight California

city councils, including East Palo Alto and

Menlo Park. Marin County houses the

largest death row population in the coun-

try with more than 600 men on death row

at San Quentin.

ACLU Challenges

Sonoma Suspensions

Wie 50 Petaluma High School stu-

dents left class shortly before lunch

on November 20, they left for a reason. They

were exercising their First Amendment

rights by participating in a national day of

student protests against war.

But, back at school on Monday,

November 25, the student activists were in

for a nasty surprise. All 50 were slapped

with suspensions.

"Petaluma High was the only school in

Sonoma County where students were sus-

pended for expressing their political views

in a peaceful and non-disruptive fashion on

this important issue," said ACLU of Sonoma _|

County's co-chair Victor Chechanover in a . |

letter to school Principal Michael Simpson.

In the letter, the ACLU requested the

removal of the suspensions from the stu-

dents' records.

Neighboring Sonoma County schools

did not discipline students for participat-

ing in the protest.

"By selectively targeting expressive

political activity for greater punishment

than that imposed on other students who

miss class without permission," the letter

says, "your actions infringe on their

Constitutional rights of free expression

and equal protection under the law."

ACLU Takes On San

Mateo County

Defender System

[: most counties, public defenders repre-

sent indigent clients. But in San Mateo

County, attorneys in the county's Private

Defender Program perform that function.

Those attorneys balance the defense of

low-income clients with a normal client

caseload, and draw their primary salaries

from private practice.

But needy defendants, especially from

_minority communities, are getting short

shrift from the program, which falls short of

its obligation to provide all defendants a

fair trial, according to the ACLU's North

Peninsula Chapter (ACLU-NP), which has

been working for two years to reform the

program.

Speaking before a committee empan-

eled by the San Mateo County Board of

Supervisors to review the program in

November, the ACLU-NP and the San

- Mateo NAACP urged the committee to

ACLU News oa January = Fesrvary 2003 = Pace 6

examine caseloads and pay rates for attor-

neys, as well as the lack of an adequate

complaint procedure, and called for a

financial audit to determine how county

funds are spent. They also called for statis-

tics regarding the program to be disclosed.

"We were appalled to learn that the

Private Defender Program has refused to

keep, or to make public, any direct statis-

tics bearing on quality, such as the number

of acquittals and number of cases taken to

trial, and even now has not released attor-

_ ney caseloads," said Linda Martonara,

president of the ACLU-NP.

Release of Student

Information to the

Military Draws Warning

S chool officials should protect the priva-

cy of high school students from -

unwanted military recruitment solicita-

tions, according to a letter sent to school

superintendents across the state by the

three California ACLU affiliates on

November 13.

In January 2002, Congress passed the

"No Child Left Behind Act," which requires

school districts that receive certain feder-

al funding to provide students' names,

addresses and phone numbers on request

to various branches of the United States

military for recruiting purposes. At the

same time, however, schools are required

to notify both parents and students that

they may tell schools not to release that

information without first obtaining

parental consent.

"Our concern is that parents and stu-

dents not be blindsided by the release to

the military of what is, to many people,

Continued on Page 8

Bill of Rights...

Continued from page |

Committee for Civil Rights (LCCR), where

she has spent the last 25 years. Paterson 4

was vice president of the ACLU's national

board for eight years, and served on the

ACLU-NC's board from 1977 to 1983.

_ At LCCR, which guarantees litigation

services to low-income clients, Paterson's |

greatest victories include desegregating

local schools and the San Francisco Fire

Department. But Paterson is more than a

formidable intellect, according to Professor

Shauna Marshall of Hastings College of

Law who presented the award; she is also a

"beacon of hope,' a "big heart" with a

singing voice and wit to match, a vigilant

Carol Sugruhe, recipient of the Lola

Hanzel Courageous Award which

recognizes the spirit and devotion of

volunteers. Sugruhe has worked as a

volunteer complaint counselor at the

ACLU-NC for nearly nine years, reading

letters and answering calls from people

who contact the ACLU for help. -

"town crier for civil rights," and a coalition-

builder who forms a "bridge for all our pro-

gressive communities."

Paterson thanked the ACLU for "being so

brave and courageous and standing up and

leading us" afterSept. 11, 2001. Reflecting on

two years in politics where the President

ing, "Working with the ACLU has shown me

that I don't have to grow up before | start to

care about the world."

ACLU-NC volunteer complaint coun-

selor Carol Sugruhe received the Lola

Hanzel Courageous Advocacy Award.

"Here's to the ACLU's beacon - may it

"We are here to celebrate the Bill of Rights,

not mourn its demise."

- Dorothy Ehrlich

Executive Director, ACLU-NC

"was elected in a coup by the Supreme Court"

("even Judge Judy would have known to

recuse herself") and where a sweeping over-

haul of surveillance laws was passed before

most members of Congress read it, Paterson

said, "It sounds too much like an Oliver

Stone movie...1984 came a few years late."

But, calling despair a "tool of oppression,"

Paterson, too, closed with a rally cry, urging

activists to "find common ground with our

adversaries and form an alliance with them

to take back our country."

After a report from Amelia Rosenman

and Jackson Yan, advocates with the

Howard A. Friedman First Amendment

Education Project, on their investigation,

"Immigration Unplugged 2002," Paterson

expressed faith that the next generation

would keep the torch of liberty burning.

With visible emotion, Yan described his

meeting with Yuri Kochiyama, who was

interned during World War II and who was

beside Malcolm X when he was assassinat-

`ed. "After everything she went through she

wasn't bitter. It was still worth it [to be an

activist]. That inspired me," he said.

Rosenman described an eye-opening visit

to the maquiladoras of Tijuana, conclud-

SES SS BEER ASRESRSSERSSRASEERSSPCESERERESEEESSEREREEHEESEEEE SE BE ESS

SF Police Commission

Acts on Racial Profiling

BY NICK OAKLEY

ACLU INTERN

n a groundbreaking step, the San

Francisco Police Commission ordered

the San Francisco Police Department

to take immediate action to address the

problem of racial profiling in traffic stops at

a hearing on November 13. The move

comes on the heels of the release of an

ACLU-NC report documenting dramatic

disparities in how African-American and

Latino motorists are treated by police offi-

cers in the city.

Representatives from Bay Area Police "

Watch, La Raza Centro Legal, and other civ-

il rights and community organizations

joined the ACLU-NC at the hearings to urge

the commission to take the necessary steps

SFPD to audit its data on traffic stops and

report on the results of the data and audit

monthly beginning January 1, 2003. If the

data is still not being collected properly

after 90 days, the commission will recon-

sider whether there should be an indepen-

dent auditor.

"We applaud the Police Commission

for showing real leadership and taking

' strong action to combat racial profiling in

San Francisco," said ACLU-NC police

practices policy director Mark Schlosberg,

who authored the report, A Department in |

Denial: The San Francisco Police |

Department's Failure to Address Racial

Profiling.

The ACLU-NC encouraged the

Commission to go further by prohibiting

consent searches (the practice of asking

African-Americans are twice as likely to be asked

to consent to a search than white motorists; yet

SFPD officers are no more likely to find

contraband as a result of these searches.

to end the practice of racial profiling. Many

shared personal experiences of "driving

while black or brown," and emphasized that

the department's discriminatory practices

were straining police-community relations.

The Police Commission directed the

department to adopt a new policy prohibit-

ing racial profiling that bars the use of race

for any reason unless police have a specific

description linking a special individual

with a specific crime. Until now, officers

could use race as a factor, as long as it was

not the only factor.

The commission also required the

motorists who are not suspected of a crime

for their consent to search their vehicle) as

the California Highway Patrol (CHP) did

last year. The ACLU-NC's report found that

African-Americans are twice as likely to be.

asked to consent to a search than white

motorists; yet SFPD officers are no more

likely to find contraband as a result of these

searches. Further, consent searches were

extremely ineffective and resulted in con-

traband being found less than ten percent

of the time. The Commission will consider

' barring consent searches at a hearing on

January 8th.

ACLU News = JaAnuaRY = Fesruary 2003 = Pace 7

always shine bright and never change

course," she said.

As the ACLU-NC's Ehrlich gave the

annual State of the Union address, she out-

lined the affiliate's efforts to restore civil

liberties in the wake of Sept. 11, and trum-

peted key victories in other areas. "We are

here to celebrate the Bill of Rights, not

mourn its demise," she said.

Ehrlich pointed to the ACLU-drafted

Reproductive Privacy Act, which makes

the state a bulwark for reproductive free-

dom at a time when choice is under nation-

al attack. Victories guaranteeing the rights

of doctors to speak with patients about

medical marijuana, of the media and pub-

lic to witness full executions, and of prison-

ers to receive information downloaded

from the Internet put the judicial seal on

the promise of the First Amendment. And

the historic settlement of George Loomis'

landmark suit against the Visalia Unified

School District marked a key step toward

creating a harassment-free environment

for gay and lesbian students, Ehrlich said.

However, enormous challenges remain,

Honoree Eva Jefferson Paterson

she noted, including achieving criminal

justice reform when an _intransigent

Governor Davis consistently blocks all

attempts at meaningful change.

Yet, as folk singer and political activist

Holly Near reminded supporters, the fight

must go on. Near held the crowd spell-

bound with three songs dealing with war,

imagination and activism, including the

powerful Fired Up!

"Children need schools more than they

need jails,

That's where our society fatls.

Fired up, cant take it no more,

Tied up, ain't gonna take tt no more,

You say cool down, we say step down,

You're breaking my mother's heart,

shame shame."

To approving nods and laughs from the

crowd, Near encapsulated the spirit of the

day, and of the ACLU. "I don't always agree

with the ACLU," she said. "That's why 'ma 4

really good supporter of the ACLU."

GEES GOSS SSSSEEEEE SESE SSS SSEEEEE ESSE SSS SSSSEERREH EHS HS SSE E

BY MARIA ARCHULETA

INTERIM FIELD DIRECTOR

66 e need the ACLU here,

because we don't want the

freedoms we fought for to be

taken away due to hysteria," said WWII vet-

eran Ken Croft who is organizing a new

ACLU Chapter in Napa County. "The

Attorney General's actions are totally out of

step with the core values of this country,"

he continued. "We need to do what we can

to overturn them."

Croft is not alone in his response to

John Ashcroft's crackdown on civil liberties

since the tragedy of Sept. 11. Currently, in

addition to Napa County, there are chapters

forming in Mendocino County, Yolo County,

Contra Costa County, and the tri-valley area

of Livermore, Pleasanton and Dublin. An |

ACLU student club has also formed on the

Stanford University campus, and the for- |

merly dwindling membership of the Santa

Clara Valley Chapter has regained a critical

mass of activists.

The members of the new chapters are as

varied as the California landscape and |

include everyone from war veterans and for-

"mer police officers to legal rights advocates

and college freshman. What they share, - |

however, is the drive to work against the

USA Patriot Act and executive orders that |

threaten civil liberties and civil rights in

their local communities and in the country.

New ACLU CHAPTERS

Post-9/1 1 Backlash Spurs Formation

"After 9/11, | became afraid to speak

out," said Linda Leahy of the newly forming

Mendocino chapter. "I'm part of a Peace

Action Group, and our minutes are circu-

lated via email. I suddenly worried about

being branded a. terrorist sympathizer,

|

|

|

|

|

bying a campus resolution that expressed

support of civil liberties in the face of gov-

ernment actions since Sept. 11. The club is

also hosting a Bay Area Activist Summit in -

February, along with the ACLU-NC's

| Howard A. Friedman Project, to coordinate

"The ACLU has a history of standing up for what

is right and is not afraid, and that gives people the

confidence to speak out and take action."

- Linda Leahy, Mendocino

because my name was on that list. I felt |

like | was already giving up my freedom of

speech. That's why we needed to organize.

The ACLU has a history of standing up for

and take action."

formed a coalition with other groups and is

on civil liberties.

At Stanford University, civil libertarian

|

|

|

|

campus movement in the region around

post-Sept. 11 issues.

The Yolo County Chapter had been dor-

| mant for several years, and its reorganiza-

what is right and is not afraid, and that -

gives people the confidence to speak out -

| because we were still listed on the ACLU

The Mendocino Chapter has already |

| getting a lot of phone calls in the last few

circulating a petition against the USA |

Patriot Act in local communities. They |

hope their efforts will lead to a countywide -

resolution opposing the federal crackdown |

and college freshman John Hamilton was |

surprised that an ACLU club didn't already

exist at his school. After operating only a |

few weeks the group got involved with lob- |

ACLU of Sonoma County's |

2003 Awards Ceremony and Annual Dinner

Chapter Meetings

(Chapter meetings are open to all interested members.

Contact the Chapter activist listed for your area.)

B-A-R-K (Berkeley-Albany-Richmond-Kensing-

ton) Chapter Meeting: Meet the third Wednesday of

each month at 7p.m. at a location to be announced. For

more information, contact Jim Hausken: (510) 558-

0377.

Marin County Chapter Meeting: Meet on the

third Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. Currently

meeting at the West End Cafe, 1131 Fourth Street in San

Ratael. Contact Coleman Persily for more information:

(415) 479-1731. Or call the Marin Chapter complaint

hotline at (415) 456-0137.

Mid-Peninsula Chapter Meeting: Meet at 11

a.m. on the third Saturday of the month. Contact Harry

Anisgard for more information: (650) 856-9186.

Monterey County Chapter Meeting: Usually

meet the third Tuesday of the month at 7:15 p.m. at the

Monterey Public Library. Contact Matt Friday to confirm

time and location: (831) 899-2263. Or to report a civil

liberties concern, call Monterey's complaint line: (831)

622-9894.

North Peninsula (San Mateo area) Chapter

Meeting: Meetings usually held at 7:30 on the third

Monday of each month, at the downstairs conference

room at 700 Laurel Street (off Fifth Avenue). Contact

Linda Martorana: (650) 697-5685.

Paul Robeson (Oakland) Chapter Meeting:

Usually meet the fourth Monday of each month at the

Rockridge library (on the corner of Manila Ave. and College

Ave. in Oakland, three blocks from the Rockridge BART).

Contact Louise Rothman-Riemer: (510) 596-2580.

Redwood (Humboldt County) Chapter

Meeting: Meet the third Tuesday of each month at 7

AGLU News = January = Fesrvary 2003 g Pace 8

tion was nearly spontaneous. "My name

was still associated with the chapter,

website," said Natalie Wormeli. "I started -

months from people concerned about the

backlash since Sept. 11. I used to get an

occasional call about a personal civil rights

issue, but recently people have been call-

ing because they really want to do some-

thing."

Wormeli's group worked quickly to put

on a packed educational forum on civil lib-

erties post-Sept. 11 in Davis. The forum

led to a high-energy organizing drive to get

the City of Davis to pass a resolution oppos-

ing the many recent anti-civil liberties

measures that have an impact on a local

level. The Davis City Council will consider

the resolution on February 5.

The rejuvenated Santa Clara Valley

Chapter, the reformulating Mt. Diablo

Chapter (Contra Costa County) and the new

Livermore activists also have plans to work

on resolutions as well as on local civil liber-

ties and civil rights concerns in general.

All of the chapters, new and old, are

looking for new members to help them in

their efforts. To find out how you can get -

involved please call or email the contacts

listed at the bottom of the page.

SSSSRPRKKEES SS SRRCEE ESSER SR KSEESSSBMRKREKSSESSRBRKSCEESSSBSRESE SS BB RAE

justice in your local community. One

of the following ACLU-NC activist

structures will get you on your way.

[: is now easier than ever to fight for

CHAPTERS: Chapters identify and

address local civil liberties problems

and work on ACLU-NC Affiliate-wide

campaigns. They are the most indepen-

dent of the three structures and have

formal boards of directors, by-laws and

automatic representation on the ACLU-

NC Board of Directors.

ASSOCIATE CHAPTERS: Associate

Chapters are similar to Chapters in their

So You want to become

an ACLU Activist?

goals and function, but do not maintain

strict governance structures such as a

board of directors or bylaws. They have

fewer requirements but also, less inde-

pendence.

ACTION GROUPS: ACLU-NC Action

Groups are loosely organized groups of

activists focusing mostly on a single

issue or campaign.

If you are interested in becom-

ing involved in any of these

groups, call Maria Archuleta at

415/621-2493 x 346 or email

marchuleta@aclunc.org.

News From ...

Continued from page 6

very private information," said Ann Brick,

staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern

California (ACLU-NC). "For example, fam-

ilies in the immigrant community who

have been the target of a barrage of intimi-

dating actions from the federal govern-

ment-including FBI interrogations and

new registration requirements-may find

an unsolicited letter from the military to -

be ominous. Families need to know that

this information is being provided to the

military and that they have the right to tell

schools not to release it."

In the letter, the ACLU affiliates urge

the school districts to protect student pri-

vacy by setting up user-friendly proce-

dures that notify students and their

families of their rights, and make it easy

for them to opt out.

ET

p.m. at the Redwood Peace and Justice Center in Arcata.

Please contact Roger Zoss: rzoss@mymailstation.com or

(707) 786-4942. Or visit www.acluredwood.org

San Francisco Chapter Meeting: Meet the third

Tuesday of each month at 6:45 p.m. at the ACLU-NC

office (1663 Mission Street, Suite 460). Call the

Chapter hotline: (415) 979-6699.

_ Santa Clara Valley Chapter Meeting: Meet the

first Tuesday of each month at 1051 Morse Street (at

Newhall) in San Jose. For more information and news on

events, contact acluscv@hotmail.com or visit

www.acluscv.org.

Santa Cruz County Chapter Meeting: Usually

meet the third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m., but this

may change so please contact Marge Frantz: (831) 471-

0810.

Sonoma County Chapter Meeting: Usually meet

the third Tuesday of each month, at 7 p.m. at the Peace

and Justice Center, located at 467 Sebastopol Avenue,

Santa Rosa (one block west of Santa Rosa Avenue). Call

the Sonoma hotline at (707) 765-5005 or visit

www.aclusonoma.org for more information.

Chapters Reorganizing

Livermore/Dublin/Pleasanton: Contact Bob

Cuddy at (925) 443-1980 or becuddy@aol.com.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender

Chapter: Contact Roy Bateman at (415) 621-7995.

Mt. Diablo: Contact Lee Lawrence at (925) 376-

9000.

Roreorie: Contact Jessie Jesulaitus at (707) 964-

Napa: Contact Mary Wallis at (707) 226-6756.

Starting in February, the Napa Associate Chapter will

meet the first Thursday of each month.

Yolo County Chapter: Contact Natalie Wormeli:

(530) 756-1900.