Blog

On April 4, 1968, I was 11 and growing up in Memphis when the news came that Martin Luther King had been murdered. My parents couldn’t hide how bad it was – they were angry. They were afraid. And most memorably to my childhood self, they were crying. I couldn’t articulate it at the time, but I know now that I was afraid that killing the dreamer could kill the dream. Exactly one year earlier, in... Read More

We learned last weekend that a trove of personal information from 50 million people — one in three U.S. Facebook users — was harvested for an influence and propaganda operation led by Cambridge Analytica, a company later used by the Trump campaign. Was Facebook hacked? Nope. All of this personal information was accessed through the Facebook “app gap,” a major privacy hole in Facebook’s app platfor... Read More

ACLU response to AG Sessions' weak lawsuit challenging California's new 'sanctuary' laws. Read More

When my son recently brought home a certificate for making honor roll at his middle school, I was so proud. That quickly faded the next day when I received several calls from my child informing me that he had been pulled out of class. Because of his hair.My 14-year-old son’s Tenaya Middle School teacher sent him to the vice principal for his hairstyle on a Friday. He was told he had to get it “fix... Read More

Companies developing facial-recognition software need to consider how their products enable dragnet surveillance, discriminatory enforcement, and abuse. Read More

In California, the broad “disruption or willful defiance” category is a legit reason to suspend students from school. This subjective category must be abolished - here's why. Read More

Douglass’s life and words continue to illustrate the struggle of being Black in America. In honor of his legacy and the movement he helped lead, we have asked members of our staff to read passages from his work and reflect on the meaning of his words. Read More

Last night, the Bay Area city of Alameda unanimously rejected a proposed $500,000 contract to purchase license plate reader technology from Vigilant, a company that recently sold ICE access to its nationwide database. This is a win for the rights of all residents. Read More

Last week, San Francisco’s District Attorney, George Gascón, announced that his office would erase thousands of marijuana convictions from people’s criminal records. District Attorneys across the country should follow the will of voters and address the lasting damage caused by ineffective and racist drug arrests. Read More

There were many awful aspects of President Trump’s State of the Union message, but we have a personal perspective on one in particular, thanks to our work on behalf of immigrants who have been accused of being gang members based on dubious or non-existent “evidence.” Read More

If we want to be serious about making long-term cultural change to stop sexual harassment and violence, we should provide comprehensive sex ed in all of our schools.. Read More

In commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy and the Civil Rights Movement, we’ve put together some highlights of the work we’re doing to promote racial justice, stop discrimination based on race and ethnicity, and ensure equal opportunities for communities of color. Read More