Feature Archives

The National Lawyers Guild of Sacramento contradicts the lies being circulated by cops and corporate media regarding what occurred at the Stephon Clark demonstration in Sacramento on March 31. NLG Sacramento states, "We witnessed cases of harassment and excessive force by the California Highway Patrol and Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, including the unprovoked hit-and-run of a demonstrator, the issuance of unlawful orders and threats to our legal observers."

Sacramento police shot Stephon Clark seven times from behind, according to an independent autopsy conducted by pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu, who was hired by Clark’s family. The autopsy contradicts the Sacramento police department’s claim that Clark, who was unarmed at the time, was advancing towards officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet when they shot 20 times and killed him.

To support transformational change for Black communities in Sacramento, the Build. Black. Coalition and Black Lives Matter Sacramento announced they are creating a multi-year plan in partnership with the Sacramento Kings to support the education of young people and to provide the workforce preparation and economic development efforts needed to truly #BuildBlackFutures. The effort to support and lift up Black youth begins this Friday, March 30 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the South Sacramento Christian Church.

On March 24, the kids and families of March For Our Lives took to the streets to demand that their lives and safety become a priority, and that gun violence comes to an end. Northern California is marched in solidarity. The national mission statement declared: March For Our Lives is created by, inspired by, and led by students across the country who will no longer risk their lives waiting for someone else to take action to stop the epidemic of mass school shootings that has become all too familiar. In the tragic wake of the seventeen lives brutally cut short in Florida, politicians are telling us that now is not the time to talk about guns. March For Our Lives believes the time is now.

Black Lives Matter Sacramento writes: The murder of Stephon Clark was unjustified. On March 18th at 9:13 pm, Stephon was murdered, and while the police interrogated his family, the family was not told that his body was in their backyard. Four hours later at 1:00 am, his grandmother looked into the backyard, and saw his body on the ground, shot up. Within 48 hours Sacramento Police Department changed their story four times: first, they said he was carrying a gun; then they said he was carrying a “toolbar;” then they stated he was carrying a wrench; lastly, they confirmed that he only had a cellphone.

Hundreds of immigrant rights activists, including many students, unionists, and other allies, surrounded the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in San Francisco to disrupt ICE's daily patterns of mistreatment and dehumanization. Increased ICE activity has been reported throughout the Bay Area, the Central Coast, and in the Central Valley. Reports from rapid response networks confirm that ICE agents have recently arrested hundreds of people in cities including Monterey, Oakland, Fresno, Napa, San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Clara, and Salinas.

Bob M writes: In the wake of the Stoneman Douglas shooting, the high school students at that school and across the country are calling for a walkout on March 24 and again on April 20, the anniversary of the Columbine shooting in 1999. The students are calling for national leaders to listen to them, but as of yet they do not have demands other than getting AR-15s "out of the hands of people who should not have them." Many radicals still hold strong to the important point that de-arming must start with the cops and military, and not take away self-defense from oppressed communities.