Daniela Prado

Social Movements

M/W 5:30-6:45

Black Lives Matter vs. the LAPD: Are the Police Unfairly Targeting & Surveilling the Movement?

This article discusses on the social issue of Black Lives Matter. Prosecutors in Los Angeles are determining whether to retry six Black Lives Matter activists whose trial recently ended in a hung jury. The six face misdemeanor charges for barricading the 101 freeway in Los Angeles in November 2014. They were charged with felony on vandalism and felony of conspiracy to commit vandalism.This action response was to the non-indictment of former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson in the killing of Michael Brown three months earlier. Activist Rosa Clemente was also tried but was acquitted. Supporters say the prosecution is part of a larger effort by the LAPD and City Attorney's Office targeting Black Lives Matter activists in Los Angeles. Melina Abdullah, an organizer with Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, describes how many protesters facing charges were under surveillance and how some had letters sent to their homes from the LAPD and the U.S. Justice Department.

Who's Teaching Us?: Stanford Students Demand Faculty Diversity & Support for Ethnic Studies

This story was about Stanford students demanding faculty diversity and support for ethnic studies. The student diversity effort is called, "Who's Teaching Us" which grew out when an Stanford English Department denied tenure to an Asian American Activist. Ever since this incident the movement has emerged including students of colors and marginalized identities. "Who's Teaching Us" has recently issued a list of 25 demands to the administration, including increased diversity among faculty and the curriculum, residential space and other programs that meet the needs of students of color, and divestment from institutions that harm marginalized communities. In Stanford University faculty is 73 percent white and 73 percent male. The student's at the university want more diversity because they want to be able to have professors that look like them, that aren't just a white population.