Ella Baker Center for Human Rights discussed the Racial Justice Act (La Ley de Justicia Racial) with over 150 non-English-speaking, Spanish language residents at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.
“Wow there is a lot of people in here, for real this is a good surprise, good morning everyone!” exclaimed in Spanish, Simelia Rogers, EBC program coordinator.
Rogers, communications coordinator Norma Orozco and public policy intern Juan Flores introduced themselves to the crowd who applauded as a gesture of gratitude.
The presentation was given entire- ly Spanish and gave an introduction on four categories of violations of the RJA and seven steps to filing a petition.
“For us, it was important the pro- gram was originating in Spanish, conceptualized in Spanish, and not translated from English,” said Rogers.
Jessie Milo, another resident, noticed that there was no one from the Latino community at the previous EBC presentation on the RJA.
“I was concerned that no one was going to show up, so I was proud when we ran out of chairs — there was so many people,” added Milo.
“One of the biggest challenges in organizing is getting a community to care about a system that they feel has harmed them.”
This is breaking ground for a community the lacks the resources, access to rehabilitation or support from the judicial system. Access to counsel, LexisNexis and other legal resources are not available in Spanish.
The system is not designed to offer these accommodations that are necessary to achieve equity in advancing social justice.
Many attendees came forward and vocalized their past experiences. They believed their rights were violated simply because of their race, and language, during their arrest and criminal proceedings.
According to Gerardo S. Muratalla, currently incarcerated at SQRC, the Spanish-speaking community has been marginalized for over a century when their rights are not explained to them in their language.
Many in the audience considered the future impact on citizens if judges and district attorneys administer justice in a race-neutral manner.
The law still requires petitions to be filed in English. However, thousands of incarcerated men and women struggle with reading and writing Spanish, let alone with understanding how to file this petition in English.
According to longtime resident Rodney “Pitt” Baylis, he himself struggles with understanding how everyone fits in the categories of the law even though English is his primary language.
“I see that Ella Baker brought relief to the non-English speaking community here at SQ,” added Baylis. “I think that they got their questions answered to laws that have been changed here in California.”
EBC listed four categories under California Penal Code Section 745 are:
- Any party — judge, district attorney, defense attorney, police expert, juror —exhibited bias against you because of your race, ethnicity, or national origin (745(a)(1));
- Any party used discriminatory language about your race, ethnicity or national origin, whether or not purposeful or explicit (745(a)(2));
- The prosecution sought more severe charges against you than against members of another race, ethnicity, or national origin (745(a)(3));
- The court imposed a longer sentence on you than against members of another race, ethnicity, or national origin convicted of the same conduct (745(a)(4)(A).
According to the Ella Baker representatives, the steps needed to make an RJA claim after being sentenced are:
- Use the document HC-001: Petition for Habeas Corpus
- Describe the violation in detail under question six on the petition: Grounds for Relief
- State that you require a lawyer.
- Include documents that sup- port your case.
- Make copies (save the original document and a copy)
- File with the Clerk of the Court in the county of your conviction.
The court will appoint an attorney for your case or will deny your petition within 45 days.
Bobby Armendariz, a resident of four months, feels that it is a proven fact in the judicial system that other races get less time than Brown and Black people. For Armendariz, the RJA pertains to his case.
David Guerra, one of the attendees, stepped to the front of the room and spoke assertively and with emotion.
Guerra wondered how far are we from taking up legislation to punish the lawyers, district attorneys, judges and any other public servants who are violating these rights?
“Why do I have to wait 10, 15 years to appeal my case for an excessive sentence that violated my rights, based on being Hispanic?” added Guerra. “Now I can bring this petition, but during this [wait] time, to how many others has this judge done the same?”
Some attendees didn’t know what the RJA was until this day, or that they even qualified for such relief. They also expressed how the pas- sage of such reforms was not enough to address the injustices they have experienced.
EBC intern Flores, himself formerly incarcerated, was able to relate with the incarcerated who were seeking answers for a law that went into effect in January and yet, that they were just learning about.
“Since the law is new, we will see how the system receives the petitions in cases like the officers in Antioch, CA which offer examples and evidence,” observed Flores, referring to the recent investigation of Antioch police for racist texts.
The largest group of incarcerated people are African Americans and they are over policed, and it was important to also make this remedy accessible to Latinos, added Flores.
EBC’s Orozco, who has come into SQRC since 2016, reflected on how in the past there was hardly any Spanish-speaking programs or even a presentation like this one.
“I have seen the diversity in the population changing. This is the first time that I saw faces I had never seen, as if they were invited and before they had not been invited,” said Orozco. “Today we saw that perhaps they hadn’t had access. Even my own job, I was the only person working in Spanish.”
For resident Tony Tafoya, Anglo-Saxon and Latino, this event represents a major change in the system.
“This workshop is being held for a vastly undeserved and marginalized population, which just so happens to be the majority ethnic group in CDCR’s custody. These humans are generally ignored and thrown away,” Tafoya concluded.
The community expressed a sense of hope that the law will potentially offer to reunite them with their families.
“I feel so gratified for how people showed up. We at Ella Baker are so grateful for the people who do the work in providing resources and mak- ing them available for all,” said Rogers.
