Text Thread W/ Deshae Lee: Featuring the Students of CFJ
This week, we spoke with Deshae Lee, a student activist in Fresno, CA. Deshae joined Californians For Justice 1 year ago as an incoming high school senior, and is already a central leader within our organization. Every week Deshae is in our Fresno office, setting up meetings with school officials, preparing to speak on behalf…
Read More
Celebrating 5 Years of The Incredible Journey of The Student Voice Campaign
A legacy in the making turns 5 today— the Student Voice Campaign. Five years ago, the Student Voice Campaign transformed the perception and role of students as “essential” stakeholders in local decision-making processes in California’s public schools giving a voice to 4.5 million students. Today Californians for Justice celebrates an incredible historic victory in the…
Read More
Youth Are Ready For A Radically New Future
Above: CFJ’s Angel Palencia and Nhada Ahmed kick off the State of the Youth event in San Jose last month. Young people are leading and taking action on a national and global scale, challenging systems of power that endanger their ability to thrive and live with dignity. In California, we have the 5th largest economy…
Read More
Teen Immigrants Bullied Because of Culture, Language, and More
Teen Vogue recently talked to CFJ leaders and other youth activists in California to hear what it’s like to be bullied over your immigration status. Read below to learn more about the struggles of institutionalized bullying, school-to-deportation pipeline and the beauty of reclaiming your voice and identity. BY ANNETTE LIN OCTOBER 30, 2019 For as…
Read More
What does it mean to be Filipino American?
By Geordee Mae Corpuz (Organizing Director for CFJ Oakland) and Justine Santos (Lead Organizer for CFJ Oakland) October is Filipino American History Month. Three decades after Carlos Bulosan published his poem, his words still resonate. With over 4 million Filipino Americans in the United States this month is a call for us to celebrate and…
Read More
Reparations, The Crown Act, & Youth Voice: A Summer in The Movement
This Summer our communities of youth activists, experts, and community leaders continued to build towards a more equitable and racially just education system. Students rose to podiums, experts used their platforms to speak about racial justice, and race in education made national headlines. Here are just a few of the highlights from this Summer behind…
Read More
An Activist’s Book List
To celebrate National Read a Book Day, we sent out a mass email to Californians for Justice staff and gathered a list of the most impactful books we’ve read. Here are our Top 15 books, and why we love them so much! Signed, your local activists. 1. Hunger by Roxane Gay This books is about…
Read More
Dare to Lean on Love, Power & Strength in Spite of Fear
Starting the Conversation Why this work matters Violence has long been a fundamental part of the American experience for communities of color and immigrants, but the visibility and frequency has jumped dramatically since this president took office in 2016. And now, with this past weekend’s historic level of violence and the mass ICE raids we, like…
Read More
1 Year Later: We Still Demand Justice for Nia Wilson & Frederick Taft
Last July, Californians for Justice staff, students and communities were rocked by the murders of Nia Wilson in Oakland and Frederick Taft in Long Beach. We condemned these hate crimes for what they were, white supremacist violence aimed at destroying the love and joy in our Black communities, and called for justice in their names. …
Read More