The National Lawyers Guild has a strong commitment to liberation across all forms of injustice, repression, exploitation and inequity. This is reflected in the movement lawyering by our members across a diversity of social justice and civil and human rights issues as well as in our Committee and program work. We also continue to strive to reflect these commitments in our organizational practices and relationships - in the ways we work together and treat one another. 

The staff, Board and active Committee coordinators of NLG-SF would like to increase our external and internal work on gender justice as we head into 2021 and face the potential for an escalated attack on the rights of women and transgender, gender expansive and queer people both from the white house and a newly imbalanced supreme court. 

We would like to see the launch of a Gender Justice Committee and hope that many members will be interested in joining and providing leadership along with staff, Board and community partners. 

This has been an important several weeks, for reminding us of the urgent need to continue this work and this week we have added a Gender Justice section. This section includes some articles and actions specific to the losses and hits we have faced in the past few weeks and the powerful organizing of women and transgender, gender expansive and queer activists. 

We honor the brave acts and legacies of survival, contributions to struggles for justice and the loss of women and transgender, gender expansive people. Read more below. 

Below is also updates on repression news and anti-repression victories and successes as well as on electoral news and mobilization opportunities. 

A significant victory is the release of freedom fighter and political prisoner Jalil Munteqim who was granted parole after nearly fifty years in prison. It is an example of the long-term solidarity work that is required by the movement for yesterday’s and today's political prisoners. 

We hope to see you on Saturday, October 17th for a discussion of how we are preparing for the lead-up to and response following the election and results. 

Sara Kershnar, Interim Executive Director

Defending the rights and lives of women & transgender, gender expansive people organizing for survival, safety and justice. 

The brutal killing of Breonna Taylor is a reminder of the disregard that the US government has for the lives of all Black people, and the importance of centralizing the voices and the experiences of Black women and transgender, gender expansive people when fighting against police violence. Kimberle Crenshaw’s words below, that Black women are not safe anywhere, was echoed in the killing of a sixteen-year old girl in East Oakland last week as a result of intimate partner violence by another young person. And we are reminded by Cat Brooks at last week’s press conference at the Breonna Taylor mural at 15th and Broadway in downtown Oakland that ALL violence is State violence, including the intimate and community violence fueled by the conditions of economic exploitation and devastation, racism and gender-based violence. 

Women and transgender, gender expansive (TGE) people, particularly of color, in prison face multiple levels of gender-based violence. Often incarcerated for the ways they survive, women and TGE people then experience gender-based violence at the hands of guards and through conditions they create for homophobic and transphobic assaults. We send power to Blue Sky, a transgender indigenous man denied parole for a fifth time due to the transphobia of the parole board and prison administration. As outlined below, the NLG-SF is part of the #MeTooBehindBars campaign that continues to fight against gender-based violence in prisons and for TGE prisoners’ freedom as part of our larger abolition efforts. The Santa Rita Jail hotline is working to secure reproductive and labor rights to women inside. 

As we continue these battles for gender justice, we have been hit hard by the loss of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Despite the limitation of any progressive Supreme Court Judge ruling within a system built on vast inequalities, racism, colonialism and economic exploitation, RBG is a devastating loss to all progressive movements and particularly to the fight for gender justice, including queer and transgender, gender expansive liberation. 

We stand in solidarity with Black women-led organizations and initiatives fighting for the freedom, safety, health and liberation of Black women and transgender, gender expansive people in communities, in the movement, inside and outside of jails, prisons and detention centers. The Gender Justice Committee hopes to gear up for the attacks on women, queer and TGE people, families and communities as part of broader struggles for racial, economic and ecological justice. With the pending shift in the Supreme Court towards profound conservatism and the potential for another four years of Trump more emboldened and emboldening ultra-right, fascist and fundamentalist forces, we anticipate that this Committee will be busy following launch. 

Update on repression and the fight against it!

This area of our newsletter will focus on victories against repression, education on how to reduce vulnerability, and information about local and national trends in repression. 

October 17th, 2020, 11:00amPST - 3:00pmPST // 2:00pmEST -  6:00pmEST

(The first half of the symposium will be a panel discussion, and the second half will be break out sessions for NLG members and partner organizations to participate in interactive trainings and work groups towards engaging in voter know your rights and protection and election defense work)

NLG-SF is hosting a forum to prepare attorneys, legal workers, and activists for defending the right to vote, the right to assemble and to free speech, the right to due process, the right to resist, and the right to a free and fair election this November. We see this time as a pivotal moment in history where we must challenge the rise of an authoritarian government, contest state repression, and build alternatives to sustain our communities. In this symposium we will discuss potential scenarios for the election and what we might expect to see from the white house, at the polls and on the streets. 

While the military has explicitly stated they will not back Trump in attempts to hold office beyond his term, law enforcement agencies have been steadfast in their commitment to defending his presidency. And with the designation of anti-fascism as terrorism and the violent repression that has ensued since, we must be prepared to defend the basic right to vote and those who rise up in protest whatever the result of the election. This preparation must include as many of us as possible, and employ as many tactics as we see fit. 

Thus we invite all of you as NLG members and members of our broader community and networks to come together to build shared understandings of this moment and equip ourselves with legal and political strategies to support resistance: from voter repression to authoritarianism. 

Our panelists will include a range of perspectives on these issues and there will also be the opportunity to participate in breakout sessions where we will strategize potential legal action. Please bring your ideas, and most of all, bring a willingness to participate in the practical work that comes out of this symposium for us to better defend and protect our communities and movements.

Moderators:

- Sara Kershnar, Interim NLG-SF Executive Director 

- Jay Kim, former NLG-SF Executive Director and Deputy Director of the East Bay Law Center

Speakers:

- TBA

From now until the election, we will be posting news links and opportunities for NLG-SF members to get involved and informed in electoral work - whether electoral defense or voter mobilization and protections. Please send action and organizing opportunities to sara@nlgsf.org.

Seeking:

1) Seeking lawyers and legal workers willing to submit Public Record Acts requests for the Arab Resource and Organizing Center in support of their work to integrate Arab American Studies into ethnic studies curriculum both in San Francisco and statewide. Email sara@nlgsf.org if you are interested. 

2) Attorneys to consult with members of the 6 Forced to Strike and the Brown Berets in Antioch. On Friday, September 4th, youth organizers began a hunger strike and occupation on September 5 in front of the Antioch Police Department. They demand the termination of Officer Michael Mellone, who shot Luis Góngora Pat in 2016. They are also demanding the resignation of Steve Aiello, President of the Antioch Police Officers' Association; as well as the greater integration of community representatives into a local forum on police violence.

NLG-SF Legal Observers and members of community organizations who support the occupation have reported intimidation and harassment by Antioch and Oakland police – including being followed to their homes, receiving tickets, and having their vehicles impounded. To date, 3 supporters of the occupation have seen their vehicles impounded. We are looking for attorneys who can consult with the individuals about their rights and possibly file motions in court to have the vehicles returned.

Please contact srjhotline@nlgsf.org.

3) An attorney to consult with and represent fourteen organizers who were arrested at Governor Newsom's house on Monday, July 27. The  #FreeThemAll14 recently published a report about their incarceration in Sacramento County Jail.  In arresting the organizers, CHP circumvented Sacramento County's emergency bail schedule, which should have resulted in a cite-and-release. CHP sought a bail increase for the misdemeanor charges, which led organizers to be incarcerated for 16 hours, during which they were denied food and water.

We are looking for attorneys who can assist organizers in filing a claim against CHP, as well as consult with them about the potential risks, strategy, and timing of a complaint. Organizers hope that their case can leverage media attention and lift up the demands for release of people from detention centers. Volunteer attorneys will join a legal team consisting of SFBA and Sacramento NLG members.

Please contact srjhotline@nlgsf.org

Yet another outbreak of COVID-19 which began on September 17 has continued to spread inside Santa Rita Jail. The outbreak is currently at 18 active cases, the highest number since August 25 when an outbreak was caused by the transfer of prisoners from a quarantined unit into a non-quarantined unit. On Monday, September 21, COVID-19 cases at Santa Rita Jail increased by 250 percent overnight. The number of cases have continued to rise. This is the third significant outbreak in only two months.

The jail’s consistently low testing rate makes it extremely difficult to determine each outbreak’s true magnitude. On each day in September, an average of 10% of the population had been tested in the past 7 days. Despite the alarming increase in cases on September 21, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) did not test any prisoners for COVID-19 that day.

On September 25, ACSO reported that five entire housing units had been placed under quarantine. Each housing unit consists of 6 separate “pods” that are clustered around a central technician’s booth. Deputies, medical staff, and prisoner workers move between pods; residents do not. Prisoners have consistently reported that they believe that, in addition to reckless transfers that have spread the virus, deputies are spreading the virus between pods through carelessness and failure to wear personal protective equipment. On September 28, Housing Units 3D, 3C, 3E, and 9E remained quarantined, while Housing Units 7 and 21 were quietly taken off of quarantine. ACSO does not keep a public record of its quarantine practices. While the numbers are posted each day, historical data must be tracked by community members and advocates.

Santa Rita’s written quarantine and testing policies also continue to be called into question by direct testimony from prisoners. On September 24, a prisoner reported that someone newly booked from San Leandro arrived 3 days before, on Monday. The new prisoner was tested 2 days after his arrival, but has been out in the pod and has used the phone rather than being quarantined.

Prisoners with serious medical concerns are made to feel as though their medical issues don’t matter and that they are not a priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. On September 24, a prisoner who experienced a seizure and was taken to OPHU was disciplined for experiencing a medical emergency. According to the report, the prisoner “stopped the facility from running properly” by reporting his medical situation to the deputy.

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The Santa Rita Jail Hotline works directly with prisoners to determine how they were exposed to Covid-19 and whether the care they are receiving is adequate. The content of hotline calls can suggest a very different reality than what is being presented to the public. If you are interested to become a hotline worker, please fill out this form.

Advanced Legal Observer Training

The NLG-SF will be offering an Advanced Legal Observer Training on the evening of Wednesday, October 7 for Legal Observers who have attended at least 3 demonstrations. The Advanced Training aims to prepare Legal Observers to respond to the presence of right-wing counter-protesters and violence by both state and non-state actors. 

If you are a Legal Observer who has attended at least 3 demonstrations, ideally within the past 2 years, please fill out this registration form to receive an invitation and Zoom link. 

Please note that we will ask all participants to be signed up for secure communications via Signal and Protonmail. If you do not have a Protonmail email, you can create one at https://protonmail.com/signup. 

Please contact demonstrations@nlgsf.org with questions.

Letter to DA Nancy O’Malley Regarding Protest Felonies

On September 4th, the National Lawyers Guild – SFBA and NLG attorneys issued a letter to DA Nancy O’Malley regarding the overcharging of protesters at recent demonstrations. 

For the 112 felony arrestees that the NLG currently has information on:

- 84 are Black
- 15 are Latinx
- 6 are POC (not Black or Latinx)
- 7 are White.

Within this sample of those arrested for felonies, 75% are Black; 88% are Black/Latinx; and 94% are POC.

Of the thirty-four individuals the DA is currently prosecuting for felony Charges:

- 25 are Black
- 6 are other people of color

For the National Lawyers Guild – San Francisco Bay Area, the connection in all of these cases are the disparities in police encounters, arrests and charges based on race and economic status for various crimes of survival. The protests and related civil disobedience and expressions of outrage are a demand for an end to systemic racism and for reparations for the intergenerational impact of centuries of brutal racism and state violence against Black people (and others). The crimes of survival of those who are homeless or poor are just that – crimes to access what society has made inaccessible, often very basic needs that many of us take for granted.

Read Letter.

Justice for Breonna Taylor Actions in the Bay Area

On Wednesday, September 23, Defund SFPD marched to the San Francisco Police Department Mission Station to demand justice for Breonna Taylor. There were no arrests.

On Friday, September 25, protesters and Legal Observers mobilized at Lake Merritt Amphitheater to demand justice for Breonna Taylor and to show solidarity with Louisville, Kentucky; where protesters mobilized for four consecutive days and the National Guard was deployed to suppress them. Seven legal observers were present on Friday night. OPD responded to the action with the presence of unmarked cars and vans, motorcycle police, and intimidation of marchers on both the sidewalk and in the street. No unlawful assembly was announced during the demonstration, but OPD used a loudspeaker to threaten unlawful assembly multiple times. OPD also charged the crowd and used riot control agents multiple times, including tear gas at least once. Four protestors were detained, and two were cited with felony assault charges.

On Sunday, September 27, Youth Solidarity Project organized a march from Richmond High School to demand justice for Breonna Taylor. 

In the midst of abhorrent treatment of women, girls, and other femmes in the immigration system as well as elsewhere in the US, we urge you to read, choose campaigns to support, and take action. Let’s #ShutDownIrwin, #FreeThemAll and #AbolishICE. 

- A years-long community campaign to Close the Jail ATLanta, Community Over Cages.

- An organizing kit to close the Irwin ICE jail: #ShutDownIrwin - #AbolishICE - Organizing Kit

- A petition to shut Irwin County Detention Center down. 

Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic and Penn State Law published a report on the Steward Detention Center and the Irwin County Detention Center called Imprisoned Justice: Inside Two Georgia Immigrant Detention Centers 

The Center for Reproductive Rights and others have written about the weaponization of the pandemic to close the US border and force immigrants to wait even longer to enter the US and seek asylum. “Pregnant Immigrants and Asylum Seekers During COVID-19”

You can learn more about Project South at their website or follow them on Facebook.

Families Belong Together is asking folx to pledge to help liberate families and end the outrageous and systemic abuses perpetrated by ICE, DHS, and private prison companies. 

A fund to support Pauline Binam, a Cameroonian immigrant who was subjected to medical procedures without her informed consent. She is one of the women denouncing abuse at ICDC. As the news of abuse at Irwin County Detention Center went public, ICE tried to deport her. Thanks to the efforts of GLAHR, Cameroon American Council, South Georgia Immigrants Support Network, Mijente and others her deportation was stopped and Pauline was released.

- A fund to support whistleblower Dawn Wooten. 

Sign on to the letter asking Governor Newsom to include $7.5 million in the January budget to provide reparations for survivors of forced sterilizations in California’s state institutions  -- sign-ons requested by COB Thursday 10/1.  The California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP), California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ), and the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) are reaching out to ask for support in persuading Governor Newsom to approve their budget request to establish the Forced Sterilization Compensation Program. 

LEGAL FIRST AID TRAINING -- SEP. 30 AND OCT. 2

Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity (IM4HI) is partnering with Legal Link to train volunteers to better navigate the legal system and find legal resources for families they accompany.

Join Legal Link for the first-ever Legal First Aid Training for the Faith Community, where community members can learn the basics on how to identify legal issues and help community members navigate the legal system. More info here.

Register at: bit.ly/FJPTrainings

DEMAND THE RELEASE OF IMPRISONED FIREFIGHTER TRANSFERRED FROM CA JAIL TO ICE

Kao Saelee is a Mien refugee, firefighter, and service animal trainer. He was granted parole in September. Instead of coming home to his family, California Department Correction and Rehabilitation (CDCR) collaborated with ICE to have him transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana. Join us now to #FreeSaelee! Share this resource guide.

Kao Saelee’s story was captured in an article in The Guardian.