JusticeNews

Live from Death Row: A Conversation with Kevin Cooper

on February 12, 2018

On February 10th the DSA SF Justice Committee at Koret Auditorium hosted a Q&A and discussion with anti-death penalty activist Kevin Cooper to talk about his case, the barbarism of the death penalty, the racism of California’s justice system, and the agony of being innocent on death row.  Fourteen years ago, on February 10, 2004, Kevin Cooper came within minutes of being executed by the state of California for a crime he did not commit.

March 2018 will mark two years since Kevin’s petition for clemency hit Governor Brown’s desk. It’s long past time for the Governor to take action. Brown has been sitting on the clemency petition for the past 2 years. He has also received numerous letters from high profile names, including 9th Cir. Judge William A. Fletcher, Paulette Brown (President of the American Bar Association), Cruz Reynoso (former California Supreme Court Justice), John Van de Kamp (former California Attorney General) all who support Kevin’s claim to innocence and his petition for clemency. The sister of one of the victims also has signed on for the case for innocence. Despite pleas from numerous high profile supporters (https://kevincooper.org/people-speak-out/), Brown has yet to take action. We hope that this event can help re-invigorate the Free Kevin Cooper campaign and with mass support, we have a chance to convince Governor Brown to grant clemency before he leaves office. Help us free Kevin Cooper from his unjust death sentence!

Visit http://www.savekevincooper.org/index.html for more information.

Direct actionJusticeNewsSocialist feminism

Marching for Reproductive Justice

on January 22, 2018

The Rally for Reproductive Justice will take place on January 27th – we begin at the Federal Building (90 7th St.) at 11:30 a.m to voice strong opposition to the Walk for Life, a hypocritically named movement backed by individuals who stand against reproductive justice for women. We ask you to come out on the streets and stand with us as we declare our goals: free contraception; free abortion; on demand; without apology.

In July 2017, SF DSA voted to ratify a statement by our Socialist Feminism Committee which cemented our chapter’s commitment to never compromise on reproductive justice. Our statement made clear that “[T]he socialist society we envision includes support for a full range of reproductive choices. We demand free and universal access to contraception and abortion, free and universal access to fertility support, and free and universal access to transgender healthcare.” In keeping with these principles, at our December chapter meeting, we endorsed the Rally for Reproductive Justice to counter the Walk for Life West Coast. The Walk for Life—a mass march organized by Christian fundamentalists opposed to reproductive justice for women—will attempt to take over the streets of San Francisco on Saturday, January 27, 2018. Their explicit goal is to oppose access to reproductive healthcare, contraception, sex education and, abortion. This march targets the basic human rights of self-determination and bodily autonomy.

SF DSA is joining the Rally for Reproductive Justice not only to defend against this attack on crucial human rights, but also to recognize the importance of reproduce justice as an emblematic movement for personal liberty and social progress. The fight for reproductive justice includes the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children or not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.[1] While indigenous women, women of color, and trans people have always fought for reproductive justice, we want to take this opportunity to recognize that the term was invented in 1994 by a group of black feminists who recognized that the women’s rights movement, led by and representing middle class and wealthy white women, could not defend the needs of all women. Reproductive justice is an active framework that sees reproductive rights in a political context in the fight against racism and gender and class oppression.[2] Fighting for reproductive justice is an integral part of building socialism and equality in this world, and SF DSA is committed to this fight.

We also recognize that the Walk for Life is a complete misnomer. Our comrades in DSA Chicago have said it best:

“There is nothing “pro-life” about these people – they don’t care about babies once they’re born, they’re pro-gun, pro-war, and pro-Trump. They want to ban contraception and comprehensive sex ed. They don’t care that black women are drastically more likely to die in childbirth than white women. They’re perfectly happy to see funding cut for programs that serve disabled infants, children, and adults. They don’t care that folks across America are suffering from lead poisoning and treatable diseases. They don’t care that folks across America are getting murdered by police. They don’t care that trans folks, people of color, and sex workers are getting murdered every day. They don’t care that folks around the world are being killed by American bombs. For these reasons and more, we call them not ‘pro-life’, but ‘pro-lie’.”

The Walk for Life is no different than the fascist threat we stood up to in August last year. It is incumbent upon us to stand against this threat and reaffirm our commitment to reproductive justice. Join us and our coalition partners [3] as we mobilize again to make clear that SF DSA stands with our community in opposing this sexist agenda. Join us as we make our position clear: Free Abortion. On Demand. Without Apology.

Event details: https://www.facebook.com/events/552430751801203/

 

 

 

[1] http://sistersong.net/reproductive-justice/

[2] https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/reproductive-justice-not-just-rights

[3] Our coalition partners include: UC Student-Workers Union – UAW Local 2865, United Educators of San Francisco, International Socialist Organization – Northern California, Workers’ Voice/La Voz de los Trabajadores, CODEPINK San Francisco, Resistance SF, South Beach District 6 Democratic Club of San Francisco, Refuse Fascism Bay Area, Socialist Action, Left Party, The Committee to Elect Stephen R. Jaffe, Bay It Forward and our comrades in Silicon Valley DSA and East Bay DSA.

HomelessnessJusticeNews

#NoTasersSF – Police Commission Vote

on November 11, 2017

Friday, November 3 marked the fifth vote on “conducted energy devices” in the last decade and a half, and perhaps the most contentious — met with large-scale protests from our chapter, the Frisco 500, Coalition on Homelessness, Do No Harm Coalition, and many more.

After 7 hours of protest, public comment that was overwhelmingly against the adoption of tasers, and a series of underhanded bureaucratic action, the police commission voted against the will of the community to give SFPD tasers.

You can read a long form account of the action here.

JusticeNews

SFPD Does Not Need Tasers

on October 9, 2017

DSA SF has joined a coalition of community groups in standing up and fighting back against a push from the right-wing San Francisco Police Officer’s Association to equip the San Francisco Police Department with deadly Taser weapons, and we need your help! Reuters has reported that over 1,000 people have been killed by police using Tasers, and we’ve seen some of those deaths occur here in the Bay Area, including a man killed by police using Tasers in Oakland this Fall. Studies show that Tasers don’t reduce police shootings, they simply add another weapon to the arsenal, at a time when we should be focusing on de-escalation tactics and community-led violence reduction programs that actually work.

Tasers, like all police violence, target the most vulnerable members of our community, including the poor, the unhoused, people of color, and those experiencing physical or mental health crises. DSA SF is committed to standing in solidarity with the poor and working class against police violence and racism.

DSA SF members have been organizing with community groups, researching Taser studies, and meeting with members of the San Francisco Police Commission, the body that will ultimately decide whether or not to allow the police to carry electroshock weapons. The Commission hastily arranged two “community meetings” on Tasers, and despite the lack of publicity or lead time, many DSA SF members turned out to both meetings. Although the stated goal of the meetings was to seek feedback from the public, uniformed and armed officers were on hand to push back against any criticism of Tasers. DSA SF members acquitted themselves well, armed with knowledge against anecdotes, and refused to back down.

DSA SF has begun collecting postcards to send to the Police Commission, to demonstrate, once and for all, that the community wants less violence, not more weapons. Look for these cards at our events and please make your voice heard! DSA SF members have also been showing up to Police Commission meetings, and will keep showing up, and ratcheting up the pressure. The vote on Tasers may happen as early as November, and we’ll need all hands on deck. Please, join us!

 

For more information and updates, contact: justice@dsasf.org

To tell the Police Commission you don’t want these weapons, email them at: sfpd.commission@sfgov.org

Or call: 415 837-7070