News & Commentary

As the mother of an African-American boy, the tragic, unnecessary death of Trayvon Martin and the trial and subsequent acquittal of George Zimmerman have me heartbroken and filled with unanswerable questions.

Última actualización: 28 de junio del 2013

A little noticed surveillance technology, designed to track the movements of every passing driver, is fast proliferating on America’s streets. Automatic license plate readers, mounted on police cars or on objects like road signs and bridges, use small, high-speed cameras to photograph thousands of plates per minute.

The fate of AB 1266 (the School Success and Opportunity Act) is currently in the hands of Gov. Jerry Brown, after passing both chambers of the California legislature. The bill would ensure that transgender students have equal access to facilities and activities – such as gym class – that match their gender identity.

Carlos walked into my classroom on the first day of school and in a clearly practiced manner said, “Hello, Miss, my name is Carlos. It is nice to meet you.” He then took his assigned seat and for the rest of the period remained quiet and attentive, nodding to me when I spoke to him and bidding me a kind “Goodbye!” at the end of the period.

Learn how to protect your right to free speech by downloading our guide on First Amendment rights to demonstrate and protest.

For five days, 29,000 inmates in California's state prisons have refused all meals in the largest hunger strike and prison protest in state history. It is the third hunger strike in two years protesting the state's inhumane practice of prolonged solitary confinement, and it looks to be a long strike.

For more than one year, the government has refused to turn over information about a key representation it made to the Supreme Court regarding how long it detains certain immigrants during deportation proceedings. It has offered no explanation for its silence.

It's been almost exactly a month since President Obama welcomed a debate about government surveillance, saying it was healthy for our democracy, but we have yet to see the debate begin. A debate entails a discussion on a particular matter in which opposing arguments are put forward. But, as we are now seeing, if only one side has the information relevant to the matter, there can be no meaningful debate.