Racial Justice

The ACLU of Northern California’s Racial Justice Project uses a combination of legal and legislative advocacy, public education, and organizing strategies to advance the cause of civil rights for communities of color. Established in 1998, the Project has waged campaigns on a range of issues and engaged in both local and statewide advocacy efforts.  The Racial Justice Project’s priorities are eliminating racial bias in the criminal justice system and achieving educational equity.

Court Upholds Race and Gender-Conscious Goals in Federal Contracting
While studying for a doctorate, San Francisco-based engineer Satinder P. Singh chose to specialize in the retrofitting of bridges. He joined a team charged with evaluating the structural soundness of the Bay Area’s bridges following the Loma Prieta earthquake. Soon thereafter, Singh was hired as a Caltrans engineer. And in 1999, he founded his own structural engineering firm.
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Securing Educational Equity for California's Students
Throughout the nation, vulnerable student populations are facing policies and practices that make it more difficult for them to attend school, let alone receive an education. In California, the newly released high school graduation rates show that our state is failing to provide a high school to diploma to an alarming number of children, particularly African American and Latino students. ACLU-NC’s Racial Justice Project is to ensure educational equity in California schools.
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California Won’t Educate You, But We Will Lock You Up
A new study by the ACLU of Northern California and the W. Haywood Burns Institute explores how racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in access to education, employment, and housing impact presence in the criminal justice system in three California counties: Alameda, Fresno, and Los Angeles. An important finding is that – surprise, surprise – these factors are related to how likely it is someone will wind up in jail or prison. It’s no far leap to presume that this is not an accident, but a direct result of the choices California makes.
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Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Alameda County Jury Pools
Despite the diversity of Alameda County, jurors are being selected from pools with insufficient representation from communities of color. The disparities are striking: while African Americans represent approximately 18 percent of the eligible jury pool, they comprised 8 percent of the people who appeared for jury duty in 11 recent felony trials examined in this study. One-third of eligible Latino jurors did not appear for service.
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The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, a new book by former ACLU-NC Racial Justice Project Director Michelle Alexander. Alexander now holds a joint appointment at the Moritz College of Law and the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University.
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ACLU Report to CERD: Turning a Blind Eye to Injustice
The American Civil Liberties Union today released a comprehensive analysis of the pervasive systemic and structural racism in America. The report, Race & Ethnicity in America: Turning a Blind Eye to Injustice, is a response to the U.S. report to the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) released earlier this year. The U.S. report, which the ACLU called a “whitewash,” swept under the rug the dramatic effects of widespread racial and ethnic discrimination in this country.
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