Articles Published in October, 2015

With the House of Representatives pushing to defund Planned Parenthood, a national non-profit organization that provides health services and is used by close to 3 million Americans, San Jose residents joined the first-ever national Pink Out Day to support Planned Parenthood and reproductive freedom. Check out what folks had to say from the rally in front of a local Planned Parenthood clinic.

Last week tenants and housing rights organizations across the Bay Area organized coordinated actions in Mountain View, San Mateo, Redwood City, Burlingame, Oakland, Alameda, San Francisco, Fremont and San Jose to spotlight the crisis felt by tens of thousands of families being pushed out of their homes. In San Jose tenants gathered at the first meeting of an advisory committee approved by San Jose City Council to consult the Council on revising the City's current ordinance.

Mister CR, has been active for more than twenty years in the Cali scene as one of the original Goodlife MCs. At the age of 15, he is a long standing affiliate and one time protege of Ellay Khule aka Rifleman and as a member originally of the Eastside Badstads and most recently Goodlife Bullyz. His music has appeared on the sound track to "Soul Plane" and is playing the BET Awards in Atlanta this year.

The documentary premiere, "Exodus of the Jungle" following the lives of those homeless residents who were swept out continues their story of searching for a home. Hundreds of folks in the community showed up for the premiere and dialogued about solutions around the housing crisis happening in San Jose. To learn more about how to show the documentary at your venue, contact: andrew@siliconvalleydebug.org

Have a loved one facing trial? Here are a few things your community can do to have impact on the outcome of the process.

At 13 years old, photographer Julian "Kid Nuñez", has a lot more on his plate than most of his peers. He regularly goes to car shows, taking photos for lowrider magazines across the nation. All while starting 8th grade. DeBug followed him as he was getting ready for his first solo exhibition at Cukui.

"#WhenICECame" is a series of video profiles of immigrants in Santa Clara County caught in the crosshairs of police-ICE entanglement. As Santa Clara County considers whether our local law enforcement agencies should notify ICE about individuals going through the criminal justice system, hear from our community members who are most affected when local police become entangled with ICE. This video series, produced by Silicon Valley De-Bug, is done in coordination with the Santa Clara County Forum for Immigrants Rights (FIRE) Coalition. For more information, check out www.iceoutofscc.org. In this audio file, an ordinary day laborer looking for work tells how his encounter with police and ICE changes the course of an entire family, marking them for life.

The recent Oregon mass shooting at a community college by a student stirs up memories of one too many tragedies involving guns, mental health and child incarceration. Writer Shaunn Cartwright writes, "It seems all too common that people with mental health issues have access to guns... and this seems to me the real issue that our elected officials need to address."

This is the second installment of the #WhenICECame video profile series of immigrants in Santa Clara County caught in the crosshairs of police-ICE entanglement. As Santa Clara County is considering whether our local law enforcement agencies should notify ICE about individuals going through the criminal justice system, hear from our community members who are most affected when local police become entangled with ICE. This video series, produced by Silicon Valley De-Bug, is done in coordination with the Santa Clara County Forum for Immigrants Rights (FIRE) Coalition. For more information, check out www.iceoutofscc.org. In this video, a mother enduring years of domestic violence recounts the moment with police that separated her from her son. Undocumented, she always felt the fear of deportation, and even when she called police, it was her that was taken into custody. Her story is particularly poignant as Santa Clara County recognizes October 2015 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Students from DeAnza College along with the Affordable Housing Network, and part of the Silicon Valley Renter's Coalition, presented a renter’s rights organizing workshop on Saturday, Oct. 17th - educating tenants on their rights and the need for stronger protections in San Jose's Apartment Rent Ordinance in a time when a quarter of families who rent in San Jose spend more than half their income on rent.