San Francisco District Attorney’s Town Hall
You’ve probably seen hype about this already, but I wanted to make sure folks have it on their radar. Kamala Harris, SF’s District Attorney, has put together a historic town hall meeting for this upcoming Thursday night. It coincides with a conference she is organizing on the use of transgender and gay panic strategies.
I realize that living in, or near, San Francisco, we can sometimes get numb to things like this, but for context let me tell you what happened in Fresno in late 2005. After the Fresno County District Attorney’s office agreed to a 4 year plea bargain for a guy who stabbed a transgender person to death with a pair of scissors, community members in Fresno asked for a meeting. After being threatened with national media coverage, the DA finally agreed to a closed door meeting so long as no one living outside of the county attended. And despite some promises to the group, the DA has yet to deliver anything.
In contrast, the SF DA is organizing a cutting edge legal conference (for which over 200 law enforcement folks from around the country have registered) and backing it up with this town hall. It’s a first-time chance for our elected “top cop” to hear directly from community members about what she and her colleagues can be doing better to protect our communities from hate violence.
It’s now up to us to show up and make this event a huge success so that other law enforcement officers from around the state and the country will be inspired to follow her example. Here are the details:
San Francisco District Attorney’s Town Hall
Kamala Harris to talk to community about Hate Crimes
When: July 20th from 6:30 – 8pm
Where: LGBT Community Center (1800 Market Street at Octavia)
What: Historic meeting of San Francisco District Attorney with LGBT community members about Hate Crimes and protecting our communities. The Town Hall will also feature:
Sylvia Guerrero, activist and mother of Gwen Araujo
Robert Haaland, community leader and brand new SF Commissioner
David O’Malley, former Police Chief in Wyoming who oversaw investigation of Matthew Shepard’s murder
Assemblymember Sally Lieber, author of the Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act
Free and Open to the public
I realize that living in, or near, San Francisco, we can sometimes get numb to things like this, but for context let me tell you what happened in Fresno in late 2005. After the Fresno County District Attorney’s office agreed to a 4 year plea bargain for a guy who stabbed a transgender person to death with a pair of scissors, community members in Fresno asked for a meeting. After being threatened with national media coverage, the DA finally agreed to a closed door meeting so long as no one living outside of the county attended. And despite some promises to the group, the DA has yet to deliver anything.
In contrast, the SF DA is organizing a cutting edge legal conference (for which over 200 law enforcement folks from around the country have registered) and backing it up with this town hall. It’s a first-time chance for our elected “top cop” to hear directly from community members about what she and her colleagues can be doing better to protect our communities from hate violence.
It’s now up to us to show up and make this event a huge success so that other law enforcement officers from around the state and the country will be inspired to follow her example. Here are the details:
San Francisco District Attorney’s Town Hall
Kamala Harris to talk to community about Hate Crimes
When: July 20th from 6:30 – 8pm
Where: LGBT Community Center (1800 Market Street at Octavia)
What: Historic meeting of San Francisco District Attorney with LGBT community members about Hate Crimes and protecting our communities. The Town Hall will also feature:
Sylvia Guerrero, activist and mother of Gwen Araujo
Robert Haaland, community leader and brand new SF Commissioner
David O’Malley, former Police Chief in Wyoming who oversaw investigation of Matthew Shepard’s murder
Assemblymember Sally Lieber, author of the Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act
Free and Open to the public
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