recopilado por el personal de El Reportero
(The following letter was emailed to El Report- ero):
OAKLAND – Three candidates for Oakland mayor today will appeal to Oakland City Attorney John Russo to withdraw a North Oakland gang injunction – the ACLU challenged it in court earlier this month – because the injunction is racist, unconstitutional and will open the city of Oakland to more costly lawsuits.
Candidates Don Macleay, Orlando Johnson and Terence Candell delivered the joint letter to Russo MONDAY, April 19, at his City Hall offi ce.
“An anti-gang injunction is a recipe for the kind of abuse that Oakland has seen too much in the past and will open the floodgates for more unwinnable lawsuits. There is far too much room for abuse. The public has every right to expect…city offi cials to do all (they) can to fi ght crime, but the gang injunction will not work,” said the candidates in their letter.
“This injunction will have a marginal effect on crime, but will have a highly detrimental effect on the youth in our community, particularly African American and Latino. There is a high probability that the injunction will make a bad situation worse among certain communities,” they said.
Instead, the candidates implored the city to implement policies “known to work and known not to provoke civil rights law-suits. Policies, such as classic police work, ‘street outreach’ and ‘restorative justice,’ normal criminal prosecution, and tactics developed working together with community task forces should be implemented in areas affected by gang violence in Oakland.”
“This gang injunction is a violation of the spirit of due process and is unconstitutional…the gang injunction targets directly and exclusively African American and Latino men. That is called race discrimination,” the letter says.
The SF Labor Council approved a resolution to support May Day in SF on May 1
The resolution, adopted last night (April 12, 2010) by the San Francisco Labor Council and it goes like this:
Resolution to Endorse and Support May Day March and Rally in San Francisco on May 1, 2010 Whereas, in past years the San Francisco Labor Council has supported May Day demonstrations for the rights and just demands of immigrants and all workers, and this year the protest will take place on Saturday, May 1, 2010, assembling at noon at 24th and Mission streets in San Francisco, joining other May Day protests in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, and many other cities; and Whereas, the Council has gone on record in support of each of the demands of the San Francisco May Day 2010 protest:
– Full Rights for Undocumented Workers! Legalization/Amnesty For All!
– Money for Jobs and Education, Not War and Occupation! Jobs For All!
– No Budget Cuts of Fee Hikes! Tax the Rich and Corporations!
Therefore be it resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council endorse the May Day march and rally in San Francisco, notifying affiliates and otherwise building participation in this important day of protest.