Civil Rights Archives - Page 148 of 151

Sunday Commentary: Ten Years After 9/11 – Analyzing the Toll On Freedom and Civil Society

By David GreenwaldSeptember 11, 201167 comments

Legacy-911

My typical 9/11 column has focused not simply on the horrific attack on innocent Americans, but also on the US response to those attacks. I usually recount the horror I felt, now ten years ago, watching those towers come down, the fear I felt as I attempted to go about my day as though business were usual, and the despair I felt knowing that business would never be usual again.

If you had told me on that day that we would still be in Afghanistan and Iraq, in various stages of war, that the US would have drastically and perhaps permanently curtailed civil liberties, I am not sure how I would have reacted. Like many in this country, I reacted first with fear but then with concern more for US policies than for the dangers of another attack.

Wealth Gap Rises to Record Highs Between Racial Groups

By David GreenwaldJuly 27, 201114 comments

The Great Recession has had a disproportionate impact on the net worth of households depending on their race, according to a new extensive report from the Pew Research Center which analyzes newly-available government data from 2009.

They find that the “median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households.” Moreover, “These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.”

Rifkin Wants Doctors to Have Ability to Force Medicate Patients Without Due Process of Law

By David GreenwaldJuly 24, 201141 comments

James Pavle, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center in Arlington, Virginia, writes a pretty strong indictment regarding the issue of treatment for mental illness in The USA Today. He calls it the “criminalization of mental illness.”

Writes Mr. Pavle, “America has lost 90% of its psychiatric hospital beds since 1960, a shrinkage that has corresponded with the growth of the prison population. Instead of hospitalizing people with mental illness, many are jailed or imprisoned. By some estimates, 16% of inmates are suffering symptoms of severe mental illness.”

Effort Underway To Repeal SB 48 Teaching the Contributions of LGBTs in History Course

By David GreenwaldJuly 23, 201134 comments

The ink was barely dry on the Governor’s signature on SB 48 when a group of conservatives announced that has filed papers to put an initiative on the ballot to repeal the law that amends the education code to include social sciences instruction on the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, as well as of people with disabilities and members of other cultural groups.

The effort to repeal the law is being led by the Pacific Justice Institute and an arm of Capitol Resource Institute.

Word To The Wise – Granny “Gate-Rape”

By David GreenwaldJuly 21, 201114 comments

By E. Roberts Musser –

Hearings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. have been hurriedly convened, as public outcry has mounted over the latest Transportation Security Administration (TSA) outrage at a small Florida airport security checkpoint. A 95 year old woman, battling the final stages of leukemia, was given an extensive 45 minute pat down. What happened next is still somewhat in dispute, but does not reflect well on the TSA. According to the victim’s daughter, “My choices were to remove the Depends [adult diaper] or not have her clear security.” A spokesman for the TSA insists upon review of the incident their agents acted “professionally, and according to proper procedure and did not require this passenger to remove an adult diaper“.

However, the daughter is sticking to her story, persisting airport security advised they could not examine the contents of the soiled diaper. “They said they would have to be removed and I had to take her to the airport restroom outside of security to do that… Otherwise… they would have not released her to board the plane.” The TSA spokesperson conceded “…every person and item must be screened before entering the secure boarding area…” but further added, “TSA works with passengers to resolve security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner“. You can view an enlightening MSNBC news clip on this latest appalling incident of “granny gate-rape” at: link.

UCD Experts Explain SB 48 and LGBT Contributions in History

By David GreenwaldJuly 19, 201177 comments

Last week many applauded and some lamented the decision by Governor Jerry Brown to sign what amounts to landmark legislation, to amend the education code to include social sciences instruction on the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, as well as of people with disabilities and members of other cultural groups.

SB 48 is the FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful) Education Act, authored by Senator Mark Leno. Supporters of the legislation claim that the bill ensures that the historical contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and disabled individuals are accurately and fairly portrayed in instructional materials, by adding these groups to the existing list of under-represented cultural and ethnic groups already included in the state’s inclusionary education requirements.

Governor Signs Landmark Bill Mandating Inclusion of Gay Contributions in History

By David GreenwaldJuly 15, 201136 comments

Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed the FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful) Education Act, authored by Senator Mark Leno. Supporters of the legislation claim that the bill ensures that the historical contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and disabled individuals are accurately and fairly portrayed in instructional materials, by adding these groups to the existing list of under-represented cultural and ethnic groups already included in the state’s inclusionary education requirements.

“History should be honest,” Governor Brown said in a written statement on Thursday. “This bill revises existing laws that prohibit discrimination in education and ensures that the important contributions of Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life are included in our history books. It represents an important step forward for our state, and I thank Senator Leno for his hard work on this historic legislation.”

Governor Brown to Decide Whether California Should Mandate Teaching About the Contributions of Gays

By David GreenwaldJuly 7, 2011116 comments

While California may be trailing other states in recognizing same-sex marriage, the state is poised to become the first state that would require public schools to include the contributions of gays and lesbians in social studies curriculum.

SB 48, dubbed the “FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful) Education Act,” authored by Senator Mark Leno, would “amend the Education Code to include social sciences instruction on the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.”

Commentary: History’s Slow Arc Towards Marriage Equality

By David GreenwaldJune 27, 201138 comments

Reflecting again on the momentous occasion in New York shows us both how far we have come, and yet how far we have to go. Embroiled in this debate are deep divisions over the role of faith in Government, the separation of church and state, and over who gets to set the country’s morality.

In a way, this debate played out this weekend within my own extended family.

New York Beats California to Same-Sex Marriage… And the Budget… And Fiscal Stability…

By David GreenwaldJune 25, 201161 comments

Late last night, the New York State Senate narrowly passed the bill that will allow same-sex couples to wed. Four Republicans joined all but one Democrat, to pass the measure 33-29.

The New York Times reported on a key Senate Republican from Buffalo who had “had sought office promising to oppose same-sex marriage,” and “told his colleagues he had agonized for months before concluding he had been wrong.”

California Behind the Same-Sex Marriage Curve

By David GreenwaldJune 19, 201173 comments

This week in California the issue of same-sex marriage has re-surfaced, due to the ruling that Judge Vaughn Walker was not conflicted out due to his own sexual orientation.

Regardless, in 2008, the state voters narrowly passed a ban on same-sex marriage. However, that ban is now in question as a federal court has already ruled it unconstitutional. Emerging in the last couples of years, also, is opinion polling that shows an increasing number of California voters more and more inclined to support same-sex marriage.

Court Rules that Judge’s Sexual Orientation Does Not Disqualify From Ruling in Prop 8 Challenge

By David GreenwaldJune 15, 201184 comments

Can an openly gay judge rule on the constitutionality of a same sex marriage ban? That was the question that supporters of Proposition 8 posed before a federal court.

The court, in a 21-page opinion, denied the motion to vacate the judgment. The movers in the suit argued that Judge Walker should have been disqualified from presiding over this case based on “statutes require a federal judge to recuse if, inter alia, the judge has a substantial non-pecuniary interest in the case, or if there is some fact that brings the impartiality of the judge reasonably into question. If the judge does not recuse, a motion for disqualification may be made by a party.”

Unshackle Ombudsmen:

By David GreenwaldJune 10, 20116 comments

AB 40 ensures law enforcement will know about crime in long-term care facilities

By Assemblymember Mariko Yamada –

The California State Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes recently exposed “deep flaws in California’s system for detecting and responding to elder abuse and neglect” in long-term care facilities in their report California’s Elder Abuse Investigators: Ombudsmen Shackled by Conflicting Laws and Duties. The report’s findings are verified by hearings I conducted as Chair of the Assembly Aging and Long-term Care Committee last August and in a joint hearing with the Assembly Committee on Public Safety in February. During these hearings, district attorneys, law enforcement, and the Attorney General’s Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud testified that the state has made a “de facto” choice to obscure the extent of criminal abuse and neglect in long-term care facilities by statutorily handcuffing dedicated, unpaid volunteers of the Office of the Long-term Care Ombudsman.

The “Long-term Care Ombudsman,” a federal program in every state, facilitates details of daily living for disabled or incapacitated residents of long-term care homes. Ombudsmen fulfill their duties under the protection of strict federal confidentiality guidelines established to protect the residents from potential retaliation from management.

Troubling Report on Government Surveillance

By David GreenwaldMay 10, 201174 comments

Use of National Security Letters Greatly Expanded under the Obama Administration –

In an editorial appearing this morning, the Sacramento Bee argues that “President Obama’s foreign policy looks like President Bush’s.”

Ross Douthat writes, “For those with eyes to see, the daylight between the foreign policies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama has been shrinking ever since the current president took the oath of office. But last week made it official: When the story of America’s post-9/11 wars is written, historians will be obliged to assess the two administrations together, and pass judgment on the Bush-Obama era.”

Commentary: Life After Bin Laden

By David GreenwaldMay 2, 201132 comments

I do not know what was more stunning last night, the news that Osama Bin Laden was killed finally or the realization that the attacks on September 11 occurred nearly ten years ago.

To drive home the point, as we watched transfixed yet again to the TV, we had to explain to my seven-year-old nephew why this was so important and why he would remember this for a long time. Indeed, it sunk in that the attacks occurred before he was even born.

Who Has Standing to Defend Proposition 8?

By David GreenwaldFebruary 21, 20119 comments

That is a question that the California State Supreme Court will now grapple with as the court decided last week to rule on whether sponsors of ballot initiatives have special authority under state law to defend the measures in court when state officials refuse to do so.

Last month, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals asked the California Supreme Court to weigh in on the decision of standing.

A Note on Egypt: The People Overthrew a Dictatorship Armed Only With Their Voices

By David GreenwaldFebruary 12, 201173 comments

People will have to forgive me for weighing in on Egypt and the essentially bloodless revolution. I have two points and both of them link well to local issues.

The people of Egypt brought down a long and at times brutal tyranny armed only with their voices. They achieved their objective in 18 days primarily because they could not be mollified by promises of incremental change and partly because the military refused to turn on the people of Egypt as militaries have in places like China’s Tiananmen Square.

The New Fear of Flying: “Porno-Scans” & “Gate Rape”

By Elaine Roberts MusserJanuary 20, 201112 comments

By E. Roberts Musser –

I had occasion to fly between the West and East Coasts over the winter holidays. On the return flight through Baltimore-Washington International Airport, I was one of the “lucky” passengers who was separated from my adult children and “randomly” selected for subjection to extra security measures. As I stood patiently in the long line to go through the new airport scanning machines, the lady in front of me loudly voiced her displeasure: “I paid extra for business class tickets. I shouldn’t have to wait in line like this, or be separated from my husband. I cannot believe how I am being treated. This is just disgusting. Can you believe this?”

As this woman continued to arrogantly complain, an airport security guard began walking through our line, emphatically declaring: “Anyone not cooperating with security measures will be removed from the line and ejected from the airport if necessary. I will remove you from this facility if I am forced to. If everyone cooperates, the lines will move more quickly.”

Guest Commentary: A Renaissance of Non-Violence From King to Korematsu

By uptownstudiosJanuary 16, 20114 comments

By Mariko Yamada –

“An individual has not started living fully until they can rise above the narrow confines of individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of humanity….Every person must decide, at some point, whether they will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

As Americans, we gather today across the nation to honor the power of peaceful resistance and the courage of civil discourse. Although our hearts are still heavy from the tragedy unleashed in Tucson on January 8, reflection and calm have begun to replace the chaos that engulfed us just a week ago.

A Comment on the Senseless Arizona Shooting

By David GreenwaldJanuary 9, 2011128 comments

Yesterday was once again a reminder that sometimes the outside world shall and must intrude on the writings of this site, normally focused on covering news and events in and around Davis and Yolo County. Given our focus of scrutinizing our local government and government officials, it would be foolhardy and downright irresponsible not to comment on the senseless tragedy that occurred yesterday that left six people dead, 19 more wounded, and put us within inches of seeing a member of the US House of Representatives effectively assassinated.

The story, however, begins nearly 16 years ago. On April 19, 1995, I was a four year student at Cal Poly. I was sitting in my philosophy case, and someone walked in and said that there had been a bombing in Oklahoma City. We surmised it must be Islamic terrorists. I remember early reports of seeing known Islamic extremists around the site.

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