The Connection Fall 2000 Issue
Attorney
General Civil Rights
Commission on Hate Crime Update The State Attorney General's Civil Rights Commission on Hate Crimes will complete its activities for the year on
October 24th when the final draft of its report is submitted to the Attorney General. The Attorney General will release the report to the public in December.
Building
Alliances: The Key to Success in California
The need for the progressive and civil
rights communities to be more aggressive has become increasingly apparent in recent years. Recent loses at the ballot box - Propositions 187, 209, 21 and 22 - have made three things very clear. First, there
is a real need to organize at the grassroots level in California. Second, the progressive community has to do a better job of communicating with the general public. Third, we must do a better job of working
together.
Building
an Alliance to Promote an
Inclusive Society in California is Tough Work
Statewide alliance building in a state with 34 million people spread over 100,000 square miles is not an enviable task. California labor unions
have been successful in achieving this task, but their job is narrowly focused because the constituency they are trying to organize is clearly defined, and the issues, to a large extent, are predetermined. Their
achievements illustrate the value of a statewide alliance or organization.
Civilian Review of Police: The San
Francisco Experience As Director of the Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC) in San Francisco since May
1996, I have noticed a sharp increase in the past couple of years of contacts asking about our work and structure. These contacts usually come from both civilian and police groups exploring whether, and (much more
often) how, to establish effective mechanisms of civilian oversight of police, in a wide range of contexts such as municipal law enforcement, institutional police, security forces.
Human
Relations Organizing: Introducing Community Organizing Skills
to Human Relations Professionals
Tom Hayden characterized human relations commissions as groups that believe the injustice that exists in our society is fundamentally a
misunderstanding. Although this sweeping indictment belies a subjective judgment, there is some truth to it.
The Need
for Human Relations and Human Rights Commissions is Growing
CAHRO has recently been asked to
help build human relations and human rights commissions in two starkly different cities - Beverly Hills and Chico. CAHRO also has been working with two other contrasting cities - Rialto and Oakland - to
build commissions.
Symposium
on Community-Police
Relations Hoping to foster a better understanding on police accountability and community partnerships, CAHRO is hosting a symposium on police/community relations at the Richmond Civic
Auditorium, in Richmond, California on December 18th from 9:00 am - 6:00 pm. |
