And I strongly believe that the 2012 Millionaires Tax Ballot Initiative is the first step towards taking advantage of this convergence of opportunity.

The Millionaires Tax is the only progressive measure being considered for the November 2012 ballot to bring revenue back to California. The proposal has the potential to raise up to $9.5 billion in revenue for the state.  You can read the entire language of the Millionaires Tax here.

The Millionaires Tax to Restore Funding toEducation and Essential Services Act of 2012, calls on Californians making over $1million to pay and 3% more in state income taxes, and those making over $2 million to pay an additional 5% in taxes to restore California’s declining economy.   Sixty percent of the generated revenue would go towards education, 25% for vital social services, 10% for public safety and the remaining 5% for road maintenance.

All of us who live in California benefit from the services that our state provides.  Whether we’re in a bus, our own car or on a bicycle we all use California roads and bridges.  We all benefit from having well trained and equipped firefighter, law enforcement and first responders.  These are all services that we access and benefit from, and in order to having a thriving state, we need to pay our fair share to have them.

Since 2006, the Ella Baker Center has been a core collaborative partner of Oakland Rising, which is an anchor organization for California Calls.  Through our partnership with California Calls, Oakland Rising has been able to develop the electoral infrastructure that allows us to talk to unlikely, occasional and never voters in the Oakland a minimum of 2 times a years.  These are the same low-come communities and communities of color that the Ella Baker Center advocates for through our 4 people-powered campaigns.

In the time that we have worked with California Calls through Oakland Rising, more than three years now, we have consistently been providing public education and engaging voters in the Tax and Fiscal Policy issues facing California and directly disproportionately impacting low income, immigrant communities of color.  The Millionaires Tax is an initiative that reflects thousands of conversations that California Call anchor organizations like Oakland Rising have been holding up and down the state with registered voters.

All the various Civic Engagement Campaigns that we have held over the years have allowed us to properly frame the initiative, demonstrate strong voter support, and reflect the values and interests of voters. More than that, the Millionaires Tax is a truly progressive measure that raises taxes on the wealthiest Californians to pay their fair share, rather than once again placing the burden on communities that continue to face the cuts to social services they so desperately need.

This chart lays out a great side-by-side analysis of how the Millionaires Tax compares to the Munger Initiative and Governor Brown’s plan.  For the simple facts that the Millionaires Tax is the only true progressive initiative, does not have a sunset clause, stands to bring in nearly the same amount of money, if not more, than the other 2 initiatives, and polls stronger than the other two bills the Ella Baker Center has decided to endorse the Millionaires Tax.

And just to re-cap, the Millionaires Tax is rooted in community.  This initiative that was created by listening to the needs and concerns of registered voters and engaging them in meaningful conversations.  It has been tailored to restore funding to the safety net social services that so many Californians desperately depend on, not only as a way of restoring our communities, but also restoring California’s economy.

As strongly as the Millionaires Tax is polling now, combined with the identified support of registered voters that California Calls has been building over years, should the Millionaires Tax make it to the November 2012 Ballot, we’re highly confident that it will pass.

But we need your support to push the Millionaires Tax out in front.  Stayed tuned for ways that you can work with Soul of the City to take part in the signature gathering efforts happening from the Bay Area, to Southern California, and to the Central Valley to qualify the Millionaires Tax for the 2012 Ballot Initiative. You can learn more about the Millionaires Tax, see who the supporters or sign-up to support this initiative by checking out their website.

This is a timely opportunity in the state of California, that we can not afford to pass us by.

I’m guessing the answer that California business school researchers found in a new study is not what you had in mind.

This study, featured in yesterday’s East Bay Express, found that companies that voluntarily disclose their green house gas emissions see an overnight increase in stock value.

The researchers had a sample of 84 companies including health care, information technology and financial services. They compared stock values the day before the emissions announcement, the day of, and the day after. They also compared these stock values to those of companies that did not release their green house gas emissions.

Not only did the researchers find that voluntary disclosure increased stock value, but also that small companies benefited the most from green house gas emission disclosure with an average increase of 2.3 percent.

What does this mean for business as usual?

Investors are speaking loud and clear. They would rather invest in companies that they see as environmentally responsible.

Part of being environmentally responsible means cleaning up the environment where emissions are happening. The article describes how the effects of emissions hurt low-income, urban, and people of color the most. This looks like dirtier air, hotter streets (less trees), and more flooding (living closer to sea level).

Disclosing green house gas emissions is the first step in the right direction towards capping emissions, collecting money for pollution and putting it back into neighborhoods being polluted the most. This is one of the many solutions the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign is working on in Sacramento.

Not only is this the right thing to do, but it can be done in a way that is good for people, the planet and profit.

Which companies do YOU want to know the emissions of?

In case you’re new to California, Prop 8 was a ballot initiative passed in November 2008 that reversed marriage equality (ie the ability for LGBTQ couples to marry). Just six months prior the California Supreme Court had struck down the law that forbid same-sex couples to marry and over 18,000 Californian couples were married before Prop 8 passed.

No matter where you stand on marriage equality, Prop 8 was simply a bad precedent for California to set. Too often, the rights of minority groups are put up for a vote. And most often, the majority votes against said minority group. This is exactly what happened with Prop 8.

At many times in history, the majority has or would have voted to restrict the rights of minority groups. For example, in 1967 the Loving vs Virginia Supreme Court case ended bans on interracial marriage. At the time, a Gallup poll found that 73% of the country disapproved of interracial marriage. Had this issue gone to the ballots, it’s pretty clear what may have happened.

Indeed, in the majority decision from the Court, Justice Stephen Reinhardt wrote, “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples. Constitution simply does not allow for ‘laws of this sort.’”

Now, the supporters of Prop 8 have 15 days to ask the Ninth Circuit panel to reconsider its decision or to ask for reconsideration by a larger panel of judges on that court. Alternatively, they have 90 days to request that the Supreme Court of the United States review the case. Those who are against marriage equality will continue to call out “activist judges” while those who support equality hope the court’s decision is affirmed. So… once again we wait.

But my hope is that California is moving to affirm that our laws are meant to protect its people, not to attack their dignity. And that our ballot initiative process will no longer be a forum to debate the rights of individual (and minority) groups of people.

When in prison, opportunities to enrich the mind are far and few between. A small part of an inmate’s day is filled with physical activity and prison work, but the majority of time is spent sitting in a cell or in a secure common area. Although there is plenty of time for intellectual work, prisoners are left to initiate this on their own.

Many inmates are interested in having the opportunity to read while in prison, but they often don’t have the means to get books on their own. This is why prison book projects are so important, and why we should continue to support the intellectual pursuits of those in prison by donating our unused books to these programs.

Prison book programs are donation-based programs that provide a library of books to local prisons. These organizations make it possible for prisoners to stay in touch with the world and enrich their minds while behind bars. Through these efforts, many inmates are able to fill their minds with the information and skills they will need to establish their lives after release.

There are two programs in California that donate books to prisons in California and across the nation. You can send your books their way, and they will send them those in great need of a good read!

To donate text books, contact Groundwork Books in La Jolla, California, at 858.452.9625 and ask about their Books 4 Prisoners Program.

To donate all other fiction and non-fiction books, contact The Claremont Forum’s Prison Library Project at 909.626.3066. Please note that this program does not accept college textbooks, encyclopedias or damaged books.

Whether you are in prison or not, there is no better way to enrich the mind, stimulate and entertain the imagination and learn new skills than through reading. Give those in prison the opportunity to read by donating your unused books today.

Shannon Barnett owns the site Careers in Criminal Justice. In her spare time, she enjoys writing articles for various other sites on many topics of interest.

Black Women Writers

Black history month is proof of America’s obsession with pacifist behavior. A sweet cyclic muse that we court each February, exploiting the notion that Black history is a subgenre of American history and therefore can be relegated to a month filled with partial truths — one short, concentrated heritage month spent divulging stories that have been diluted due to an overwhelming feeling of White guilt.  This guilt urges historians to hide the truth and tell only those heroic tales of Blackness suitable for their grandchildren’s ears. This is not my Black history.

Each of us enters February anew. A month that begins and ends just like the others, with affixed holidays, anniversaries, and birthdays. Guilt, tradition, and a fear of discriminatory reprisal will lead teachers and the media to communicate misbegotten lessons that highlight the importance and relevance of Black people and our contributions, but we don’t have to bite. We don’t have to agree to learning only the lessons that post-racialists deem relevant to teach — a watery, fetishized skeleton of what is one of the most potent and vital legacies in American history.

My Black history, the one I celebrate every day, is intoxicating. It’s too vast, too compelling, and too detailed to fit into my pocket or yours. My Black history is shiny. It sparkles with glitter and gold. It’s feminine, mysterious, and integral. My Black history has many names: Baldwin, Carver, Chisholm, Hamer, Baker, and Douglas. It has been recorded and retold in many voices, through many narratives, and doesn’t consent to being muddled under the pretext of comfort. My Black history is tall, dashing, and poised. My Black history is not easily oppressed because it is fundamentally weaved into the foundational fabric of America.

Today, history is being strategically decontextualized. States like Texas and Tennessee are fighting to ensure that children learn only what’s easy to digest – only what feels comfortable and nothing more. This certainly isn’t my Black history because in addition to all of the above-mentioned qualities, my Black history is rooted in suffering and sorrow. It can be a sad, heartbreaking tale of death and destruction that weeps angrily. Its unembellished, uncovered body bares deep scars of a long, unforgiving, and vicious experience– an experience that cannot be denied no matter the amount of discomfort it causes, and an experience that cannot be commercially highjacked or co-opted and then slanted into agreeable information.

We are each responsible for our own awareness of history. The vitality of it is subjective. Black history isn’t an impartial regurgitation of facts and ideas; it is a cultural experience that has shaped the lives of not just Blacks but everyone born in this country. It is no less culturally important than other histories. In fact, it is the collective struggle that helps us transcend the idea that our cultural legacies be confined to heritage months.

My Black history is my own. It is the lessons I know to be true despite the constant denial.  I will tell this history to anyone who asks, anytime of the year because my history isn’t a small compliant space. It is shiny and glittery and it sparkles, everyday.

The author and her brother as kids.

My relationship to exercise and fitness is complex, and deeply rooted into my identity. When I grow athletically, I grow spiritually, too.

When I was very young, I was a ballerina. I tap danced. I was on the swim team. I played games with anyone of any age and gender, because I loved the freedom of being able to move my body in the ways it was meant to be moved. I even taught my little brother how to ride a bicycle so that we could cruise down our desert streets together: Team Merson, representing!

Then I started growing boobs and soft spots and caring about sweat and undressing in front of strangers, and wearing shorts on days I wanted to wear pants, and feeling the insidious ways my body was no longer my own. That’s when I stopped being so into exercise. I became ashamed, scared, and embarrassed, and therefore resentful and angry towards anyone who tried to exacerbate my physical discomfort.

I was the queen of doctor’s notes. It was always my knee. I mean, it truly hurt (and continued to as I got older), but to this day I’m not really sure what I had. Whatever the cause, it meant I couldn’t run, and therefore didn’t have to change out of my “street clothes” into the white t-shirt and red shorts that were our athletic uniform.

Fast forward through fifteen years of my life. My boyfriend at the time could not stand that I was not riding a bicycle. So, he took me to a bike shop and helped me select a shiny new black and silver Specialized. With his support and encouragement, I re-learned how to ride, and raced that thing through the streets of San Francisco on a daily basis for the next two years. I rode nearly 15 miles a day to and from my home in Hayes Valley, my job in the Presidio, and my school in the Mission. The adrenaline and release were unlike anything I’d ever felt before. It kept me going.

Since then, I’ve exercised in some capacity more days of the week than not.  A year and a half ago, I started lifting barbells, swinging kettlebells, and doing burpees ‘til (almost) barfing with a group of awesome and kickass women and men at Phoenix Gym. My knee pain disappeared as the rest of my body grew strong, and my mind and heart grew strong alongside my body.

Last year, I participated in my first Half Marathon at the Oakland Running Festival with Team Ella Baker Center, which has become one of my most brag-worthy achievements.

Seven weeks from now, with eighteen months of weightlifting and half a million “mountain climbers” under my belt, I’m going to run the 5K with Team Ella Baker Center in under 20 minutes. Each week for the next seven weeks, I’ll share a story about my training process, as well as stories from my friends and fitness conspirators on their journeys to health, strength, peace, and well-being in 2012. Stay with me! And… join me on Team Ella Baker Center- Register now- walkers and runners of every experience level are welcome!

On January 5, 2012, Governor Brown submitted his proposed Budget for 2012-2013 to the State Legislature.  In his proposal, Brown addresses the need to invest in creating jobs and delivering public health, economic, and environmental benefits. He suggests that proceeds from the cap-and-trade# auctions, which are expected to be $1 billion in the first year of the program, should be used for such investments.

Even before Governor Brown’s proposal was released, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights’ Green Collar Jobs Campaign advocated for a similar policy by working with State Senator Kevin de Leon and a number of allies in public health and environmental justice to push Senate Bill 535.

This bill would set aside a portion of the money collected by CARB to benefit communities that are most impacted by air pollution and socioeconomic vulnerability.  SB 535 establishes the “California Communities Healthy Air Revitalization Trust” to target 10% of cap-and-trade revenues to jobs and projects in the most impacted and disadvantaged communities.  Senator de Leon introduced this bill while Schwarzenegger was still Governor, and firmly pushed again in 2011 and 2012.  If SB 535 passes, this money will be used to fund projects that create green collar jobs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and mitigate direct health effects of climate change.

Although the Governor’s proposal has a lot in common with SB 535, the details spelled out in SB 535 afford greater protection to the people who need it the most. While Brown’s language makes me happy that our Governor is ready to prioritize the needs of our communities, its ambiguity makes me worried that such efforts won’t be realized as strongly as they would be if our lawmakers would pass SB 535. Still, the Governor’s language also suggests that he would probably support efforts like SB 535 in moving forward. This is great!

Senator de Leon’s bill also includes a mandate that CARB shall convene a review panel consisting of seven experts in air pollution, public health, energy efficiency, transportation, economics, and running a small business. Three of these members shall also have demonstrated knowledge and experience in advancing community interests in the area of environmental protection.  This panel shall make recommendations and review the development of policies, plans, and programs as they relate to SB 535. In other words, community advocates would help CARB make better decisions about how to spend money in a way that benefits the least well off.

In contrast, Governor Brown’s budget proposal provides that “an expenditure plan be jointly submitted by the Director of Finance and the Air Resources Board.” The proposal says nothing about who shall help the Director of Finance and Air Resources Board in making expenditure decisions.

That’s why urging our representatives to support SB 535 is imperative to advancing our communities’ needs. Together, we can start to build a thriving, green economy that puts the planet and people first.

Ever watch something and knew almost immediately that what you were watching was important, amazing, and groundbreaking? As soon as it was done you went and told everybody- making pleas with them to watch the movie for their own benefit.

On Friday of last week, I sat at my desk in the Ella Baker Center offices and watched an entire film, refusing to leave my desk  even for a simple bathroom break. I was that captivated. The film was the highly acclaimed documentary The Interrupters, by Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz.( see trailer below)

The Interrupters tells the stories of three “violence interrupters” who, with bravado, humility, and even humor try to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they themselves once perpetuated. The film, frankly, is a shot to the gut, wakes you up, slaps you around a little bit, and then lifts you back up all in an hour and a half. This film holds particular importance to me because of the recent, senseless violence in Oakland. A film like this highlights the solutions and challenges of creating lasting peace on our streets.

So here is what’s really exciting– you can watch this film and have an opportunity to meet some of the amazing people doing important work in Chicago that are highlighted in the movie.

Free Community Screening
The Interrupters
A Film By Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz
Thursday, February 9
4:00-5:00 PM Light Reception
5:00-7:00 PM Film Screening
7:00-8:00 PM Panel Discussion

Oakland Museum of California
James Moore Theater
1000 Oak Street
Entrance on 10th Street

RSVP here http://oaklandinterrupters.eventbrite.com/

After the film, join us for a panel discussion moderated by yours truly that will feature two of the film’s inspiring subjects, along with youth and adult leaders engaged in violence prevention work in Oakland.

If you can’t make the film screening, The national airing will happen next Tuesday, February 14 on KQED, Channel 9 at 10 PM in Northern California. If you are outside the area, you will have to check your local listings.

Today marks the date upon which the Underground Railroad was founded in 1838. This was a network of secret routes and safehouses (often called stations) used by Black slaves in the United States to escape to Canada or free states.

Folks known as “conductors” helped direct the fleeing slaves from station to station. Most famous was Harriet Tubman, who made at least 13 trips and rescued more than 70 slaves using the Railroad.

There are many different estimates as to how many individuals were able to travel North using the Underground Railroad. One Railroad historian, Giles Wright claims that “During the approximately 31 years of the nineteenth century that the underground railroad operated, 30,000 to 50,000 slaves are estimated to have passed through it. This was at a time when there were a total of about 4 million slaves throughout the United States. This means that barely one percent of all slaves escaped to the North.”

The Underground Railroad remains an important demonstration of collaborative resistance- how people can come together in the face of unjust laws to attempt to fight for the freedom of oppressed peoples. It feels important to note that all of the actions of the fleeing slaves and the abolitionists who helped them were, at the time, illegal due to the Fugitive Slave Acts. Yet now we celebrate the UR conductors as heroes and champions of freedom.

That makes me reflect on the words of a civil rights leader whose activism came 100 years after the Underground Railroad, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who wrote from his jail cell in Birmingham, “One who breaks an unjust law must do it openly, lovingly…I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for law.”

In celebration of the anniversary of the Underground Railroad, I am reflecting on these words and on the courageous legacies of all the freedom fighters before us who followed the convictions in their heart to stand for real justice and freedom.

Learn more on the site for the Freedom Center, a museum that celebrates the legacy of the Railroad.

This post is based on a press release from the office of Assemblymember Tom Ammiano.

Assemblymember Tom Ammiano’s bill (D-San Francisco) to restore media access to prisoners, AB 1270, passed the California Assembly today. The bill would remove restrictions on pre-arranged in-person interviews with specific prison inmates. Since these restrictions went into effect in 1996, eight versions of the bill have been vetoed by three different governors.

“Independent media access to prison inmates is a critical part of keeping our prisons transparent and accountable while providing information to the public,” said Ammiano. “Despite the thousands of prisoners who participated in a state-wide hunger strike last year over conditions in the prisons, it was near impossible to get unbiased information about what was happening due to these restrictions. Inmates kept in secure housing units (SHU) have no visitation or telephone privileges and information about their solitary confinement punishments are largely unknown to the public even though a disproportionate number of inmate suicides occur in the SHU.”

Ammiano sponsored the bill citing the need for more transparency and public accountability from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/CDCR, an institution that receives $9.2 billion dollars of taxpayer’s money. The bill passed unanimously in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on January 10.

Carol Strickman, staff attorney for Legal Services for Prisoner with Children and a mediator during last year’s state-wide prison hunger strikes stated, “Over the years, including during last year’s hunger strike, LSPC has been contacted by many journalists who wanted to interview prisoners about prison conditions. The reporters are always disappointed to learn about the media ban. While LSPC does its best to inform reporters based on our experience, we are an inadequate substitute for someone presently incarcerated. The public would be better informed if reporters could interview prisoners directly.”

“Prisons tend to be out of sight, out of mind for anyone not directly impacted by them. That’s a recipe for rampant abuse, which is too often the story inside prisons. As taxpayers, we have a right to know what goes on behind prison walls. This bill offers a much-needed step forward in making prisons accountable to the public,” said Sumayyah Waheed, Campaign Director for the Books Not Bars program of the Ella Baker Center.

“If the only information the public gets is from the CDCR spokesperson, how can we really know what’s going on?” stated Dorsey Nunn, Executive Director of Legal Services for Prisoners With Children. “What makes Pelican Bay any different than Guantanamo Bay? Public safety requires openness inside the prisons as well as out. Crime often happens in dark, hidden places. In regards to prisons we depend on journalists and the media to be the light.”

The following organizations support the bill: Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, California Broadcasters Association, California Public Defenders Association, American Civil Liberties Union of California, California Newspaper Publishers Association, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, California Families to Abolish Solitary Confinement, Drug Policy Alliance, Fair Chance Project, Friends Committee on Legislation of California, Pacific Media Workers Guild and the California Correctional Peace Officers’ Association, which includes prison guards and parole officers.