“When Police Kill,” News, 12/10
It’s Not Just the Cops
The legal system in the United States has always been on two tracks. Whites — with money and attorneys — have always been treated differently from others. It’s way bigger than police misconduct. The feds are also complicit by not pursuing Wall Street when it crashed the economy. Many corporations — in the oil, pharmaceuticals, agribusiness, and mining industries — routinely violate environmental laws, endangering the health of citizens, and nobody ever goes to jail. At the same time, we have the audacity to preach “rule of law” to other countries. This is one of the major challenges of our time.
Gary Patton, Hayward
“Media Myths About Protests,” Opinion, 12/10
Change Is Possible
What do you mean, back in the day police used provocateurs? They still do, all the time, everywhere.
And they arrest people, unlawfully; search and seize material in homes and offices, unlawfully; injure and kill people, unlawfully. And the courts, mainstream media, and many ordinary citizens often support this. It was ever so and ever will be. The lesson, though, is that public protests are only one tool, and it is still possible, sometimes, to make substantial change.
Mike Bradley, Oakland
“The Tyranny of Free,” Feature, 11/19
You Validated My Distrust
Excellent article, Sam Lefebvre. I have long distrusted streaming services such as Pandora and its ilk. Now I have concrete reasons for my skepticism.
Your story was linked in an email newsletter from The Last Record Store in Santa Rosa. Here’s hoping for wide distribution of your writing. Support indie music!
Shawn R. Britton, Monte Rio
“Food Delivery for a Cause,” What the Fork, 12/3
The Town Rocks
I love Town Kitchen. The past ten years have been amazing to watch. Viva La Town!
Justine TenZeldam, Oakland
Thanks, Luke!
Luke Tsai, thanks so much for the article and support!
Sabrina Mutukisna, Oakland
Miscellaneous Letter
In the Spirit of the FSM
The Board of the Free Speech Movement Archives is in solidarity with UC statewide protests against increased tuition fees. In raising tuition, the Board of Regents is in direct violation of the Master Plan for Higher Education, the Donahoe Act, signed into law by Governor “Pat” Brown on April 27, 1960.
This standing law guarantees that tuition at the UC campuses will never be charged, in order to make higher education in the state accessible to all people. Whether the discriminatory charges are called tuition or fees, they violate the guiding principal of the law: that higher education ought to be available to all eligible California high school graduates regardless of their economic means.
We also call on the governor and the state Legislature to live up to their responsibilities, as required by the California Education Code, “to ensure that resources are provided” to permit all eligible students wishing to attend the University of California to do so, without demanding reductions in the quality of the UC education offered to them.
The Free Speech Movement Archives is a California nonprofit (since 1998) that collects and preserves FSM history and educates coming generations in the spirit of the Free Speech Movement.
Lee Felsenstein, Gar Smith, Anita Medal, Bettina Aptheker, Susan Druding, Barbara Garson, Jackie Goldberg, Lynne Hollander Savio, Jack Radey, Barbara Stack, Robert Cohen, the Board of Directors of the Free Speech Movement Archives
Corrections
Our December 10 edition of Letters contained a false assertion by a letter writer that Game Changer Fitness is run by a lesbian. Our December 17 news story, “Media Ignores Black Protest,” contained a typographical error: Tamir Rice was twelve years old when he was shot to death by police — not twenty. And our December 17 dining review “Everyday Izakaya,” listed the incorrect hours for AS B-Dama. They are Monday–Saturday 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m., Monday–Thursday 5–9:30 p.m., and Friday–Saturday 5–10 p.m.
