Friend,

Derek Chauvin -- the police officer who killed George Floyd -- is finally standing trial in Minnesota, but in California, two of the strongest fighters on the front line against police brutality are under attack.

Pro-police, anti-reform groups are pushing to remove two newly elected district attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco in an attempt to stop changes to a corrupt criminal-justice system. And if those groups are successful, they could set back our justice agenda for decades.

Courage California helped elect these rockstar district attorneys, and we’re partnering with local organizations to defeat these attempts to overturn the will of the voters. Will you donate to help stop these recalls?

Yes, I’ll donate to Courage California and help stop anti-justice recall efforts.

Last summer, Courage California joined Black Lives Matter L.A. to run an ad in the Los Angeles Times calling out L.A. district attorney Jackie Lacey.

Under Lacey’s watch, more than 600 people died at the hands of the police, with only one officer held accountable. That’s just one of the reasons why we endorsed George Gascón to defeat her. Gascón ran on a bold reform platform, and we trusted him to help undo the systemic racism proliferating the justice system in Los Angeles.

Gascón has been true to his word from his first day in office. He committed to crack down on police misconduct, and has announced that his office would stop seeking the death penalty, stop prosecuting first-time nonviolent offenders of low-level crimes, and begin the process of ending cash bail.(1,2)

Now there is a concerted campaign underpinned by police unions and the state district attorney organization to not only stop Gascón’s reforms, but remove him from office entirely.(3)

A similar effort is happening in San Francisco to District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was elected last year to reform the S.F. criminal system. Since taking office, Boudin has gotten rid of San Francisco’s three strikes sentencing rules, ended prosecution of cases where evidence was obtained from race-based traffic stops, and stopped gang enhancements on certain crimes.(4)

The coalition working to remove Boudin is spreading misleading crime statistics and using racist rhetoric to turn the public against their DA.(5)

Courage California has worked for years to foster the kinds of reforms instituted by these district attorneys, and we’re not going to let racist, so-called "law-and-order" organizations overturn the voters’ will and remove these representatives from office.

Will you donate to Courage California today?

Yours in the fight for our democracy,

Irene, along with Angela, Annie, Caitlin, Deepthi, Jay, Lindsay, LisaMarie, Molly, Raquel, and Scottie (the Courage team)

Donations go to support all of Courage California's work for a more progressive California and country. Follow us now on Facebook or Twitter!

Footnotes:
1. https://theappeal.org/politicalreport/how-george-gascon-wants-reform-los-angeles-district-attorney-election/
2. https://eji.org/news/new-los-angeles-district-attorney-george-gascon-issues-major-reforms/
3. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-02-27/group-plans-to-launch-recall-effort-against-newly-elected-l-a-dist-atty-george-gascon
4. https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/San-Francisco-DA-Chesa-Boudin-sets-new-policies-15091160.php
5. https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Campaign-to-recall-S-F-s-Chesa-Boudin-to-start-16013079.php