Protest this Friday at Cal Berkeley against Bill/Chelsea's visit

I received a Facebook invite from a friend who is a nurse/labor rep for California Nurses Assn, many CNA union members will be there joining Cal students too. CNA does extensive organizing work on behalf of many unions across the country (my favorite was their mock funeral cortege protest in Wisconsin's capitol building/during Walker's slash and burn moment). There is zero press on their visit, but here's the details:

This Friday: 5pm April 1st at Haas Pavilion Building

“From the crime bill to welfare reform, policies Bill Clinton enacted—and Hillary Clinton supported—decimated black America.” - Michelle Alexander, The Nation, February 10th.

On April 1st former US President Bill Clinton is speaking at UC Berkeley during the Clinton Global Initiative University Conference. His presidency engineered the structural racism of mass incarceration. The Welfare Reform Act (1996) pulled the rug out from under African American communities. The “Tough On Crime” Bill (1994) destroyed families as it incarcerated masses of jobless black men and barred them from employment, housing and welfare. In short, his presidency slashed public welfare programmes and transferred the funding to a massive expansion of policing and prisons. A black child born today has a 1 in 3 chance of spending time in prison, a latino child 1 in 6, and a white child 1 in 17. This is on Bill Clinton.

We want to remind Clinton of the real destructive consequences of his policies. Mass incarceration and structural racism exist today. Apologies are not going to give the incarcerated their freedom back and restore destroyed families. The positive image that the Clintons’ sponsorship of education and research creates should not go unchallenged. They should not be allowed to forget and neither should we. In 1992 Clinton used the execution of the mentally impaired black man Ricky Ray Rector as a publicity stunt to prove that he was tough on crime: “I can be nicked a lot, but no one can say I’m soft on crime”, he said afterwards. All the philanthropy in the world should not be allowed to overshadow this legacy.

This protest is organized by activists from Socialist Alternative and other organizations, on and off campus. A full list of speakers will be published soon. Does your organization wish to support the protest? Please contact us at aoe012@berkeley.edu

We refuse to let the Clintons use our campus as tool for whitewashing their legacy. Join us at 5pm outside the Haas Pavilion April 1st to protest mass incarceration. We demand:
- End mass incarceration!
- End racist police violence!
- Defund the prison-industrial complex!

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Love CNA for organizing this protest!

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just to clarify…and imo even better because it is more grassroots! Thanks for the support tho!

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As welcome as Reagan was in the late 60's early 70's.

One can dream Smile

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With their hearts they turned to each others heart for refuge
In troubled years that came before the deluge
*Jackson Browne, 1974, Before the Deluge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SX-HFcSIoU

Ajaradom's picture

labryon, this is awesome! I hope you have a huuggee turnout! Michelle Alexander is incredible! Will she be speaking?

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I haven't heard about Michelle speaking but did get this message from an organizer:

Hey everyone, sorry for the wait!
So on the #Movement4Bernie meeting last Saturday we decided to organize a protest against Mass Incarceration at UC Berkeley April 1st. Bill and Chelsea Clinton is speaking during a conference hosted by their foundation at the university that day. I think it would be a great opportunity to remind the Clintons of the effects of the Crime Bill (1994) and Welfare Reform Act (1996). The working title/main slogan currently is "We Still Remeber, Bill" and right now we are working on getting as many groups to co-organize with us. The main campus trade union, AFSCME Local 3299, has called for Clinton to cancel because of a speakers boycott on UCB against outsourced labour. We are working with the and groups involved with criminal justice reform and racial justice.

And altho there's been a recent union/Cal agreement for outsourced labor/the speaker's boycott now over, here's to hoping for a yuge turnout... Please join us in spirit if not in person!

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Miep's picture

No platform them? Now that would be funny.

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Stay on track. Stay in lane. Don't throw rocks.