Friday, November 13, 2009

Ella Baker Center


Today I attended an end of year celebration and fund raiser event for Ella Baker Center, an Oakland non-profit co-founded by well-known community activist and "Green Collar Economy" author Van Jones. The event was inspiring, with speeches, awards, and of course, an ask for money. It wouldn't be a non-profit event without a pitch for money! It's always impressive to hear about all these idealistic, progressive people hard at work here in the local community. It makes me feel inadequate. My work produces little besides the fact that my colleagues appreciate my technical assistance. (Theoretically I am helping save Kaiser money, which translates to lower premiums. But I digress.) So to witness people working at their passions and doing what they believe in is an inspiring thing.

I just read a brief history of the EBC. Despite what you may think about the issue of police brutality, I am thankful for organizations like this that keep the police, but also the state and its voters, accountable. Most bad ideas in California are a result of a proposition system that essentially lets any millionaire with an axe to grind or a big enough ego go and try to buy a new law. This creates laws, like last year's "Jessica's Law," passed here in 2006 via a citizen's initiative, that are impractical, expensive, and wasteful. In the case of drug offenses, it's probably a federal issue. However, any way you cut it, due to "3rd strike" sentencing and sentencing for drug offenses, too many people who could be helped with a little counseling are instead caught up in a prison system and (most) destined for a life in and out of jail, at the expense of you and me, the taxpayer.

Which brings up another topic: how to get rid of the California proposition system altogether. Now that's a worthy idea!

Note, I served on a jury this spring, in Oakland, and can tell you I am not a rabid, police-hating radical.  In fact I was one of the "law and order" people in the jury - only because this is Alameda County.  The justice system is slow, ponderous and not very lenient.  In my opinion, it catches up too many people in its teeth who belong elsewhere besides court and prison.