Talk:Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

Untitled
I have removed a large amount of materia that was copied from here. We need permission to have this info released under the GFDL if we want to use it. However, It is not written in an encyclopedic style, and I would suggest rewriting the material rather than using the material from the website, even if we are granted permission to use it. For example, as someone else has already brought up, the article sounds like an advert and may be a violation of WP:NPOV. Articles should report facts on their subjects, not comment on them. I'd suggest paring away all the commentary and stating only the facts. Again, we will need to do this whether or not we're given permission to use the material. For example, I'd change "When the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights started in 1996, we were small. Very small. In every conceivable way. We had one full-time staff person. We had one computer that co-founder Van Jones brought from his home. Our office was literally a closet, donated by the ever-generous Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights."

"Not exactly an auspicious beginning."

"Fast forward 10 years. We have a staff of 24 world-class human rights activists. We've graduated from a closet to a real office, from an office to a floor, and from a floor to an entire building in Oakland. And we've built a record as one of the most effective and innovative human rights organizations in America."

to:

"When the Ella Baker Center was started in 1996, it had only a single staff person, one computer, and an office located in a closet donated by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. Ten years later, the center had an entire building in Oakland."

This removes commentary and pov language (e.g. "generous", "world-class"; use of the first person). I suggest doing that with all the wording. I think the suggestion I have made may still be too close to the original text to use without permission, but we can use it if we do get permission.

If I have removed any non-copyrighted info in my recent edit, please add it back in and accept my appologies! Let me know if there were any other problems with my edit. delldot | talk 21:06, 5 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I have removed links to the particular campaigns from the "see also" list because I'm not sure these things should have articles of their own. I'd suggest keeping the text about them in this article.  However, if they've received significant press coverage by themselves, I could be wrong, in which case revert me. delldot | talk 21:37, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Potential History Section
Hey - How does this look so far?

Getting Started: 1995-1996
The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights grew out of Bay Area PoliceWatch, a small initiative founded in 1995 as a hotline for victims of police brutality. The hotline was based in a closet-sized office donated by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. High demand for assistance led Bay Area PoliceWatch to quickly outgrew the space so, on September 1, 1996, founder Van Jones launched the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and opened payroll.

Named for a civil rights leader and champion of students, sharecroppers, and everyday people, the Ella Baker Center proclaimed early on, “This is not your parents’ civil rights organization.” The group was known for a passion and willingness to take on tough fights that few other organizations would tackle and chose its mission: “to document, challenge and expose human rights abuses.”

The Aaron Williams Campaign: 1996-1997
The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights’ first large campaign for Aaron Williams. In 1995, San Francisco police officer Marc Andaya killed Williams, an unarmed black man. Andaya led a number of cops in violently beating and kicking Williams, emptying three cans of pepper spray into his face, and hogtying him in an unventilated police van where he died. Andaya was known for past misconduct, including involvement in the death of another unarmed black man, 37 formal complaints of racism and brutality, and five lawsuits filed against him. Even so, the San Francisco Police Commission dismissed disciplinary charges against the officers. Bay Area PoliceWatch took on the case at that point and helped lead a community-based campaign, “Justice for Aaron Williams,” that put Andaya on public trial. After long disagreement, the Police Commission fired Andaya from the San Francisco Police Department.

Growth: 1997-1999
The Aaron Williams victory began a period of growth for the Ella Baker Center and spurred the formation of a number of campaigns, initiatives, and organizing projects. These included youth group Third Eye Movement, New York City PoliceWatch, a transgender activist collective TransAction in connection with Community United Against Violence and INSWatch, an initiative with La Raza Centro Legal.

Third Eye Movement: 1999-2000
In 1999 and 2000, Third Eye Movement was evidence of Ella Baker Center’s success in branching out from Bay Area PoliceWatch. After the “Justice for Aaron Williams” campaign, young people formed a new group: Third Eye Movement. They spent their first few years working on local issues including the well-publicized police murder of Sheila Detoy. Then Proposition 21, an initiative that increased a variety of criminal penalties for crimes committed by youth and incorporated many youth offenders into the adult criminal justice system, made it onto the California ballot. Third Eye Movement worked together with a coalition of youth organizations in the Bay Area to oppose Proposition 21. Known for its “innovative, militant, non-violent direct action,” Third Eye Movement became a national example of a new generation of hip hop activism. Thousands of young people got involved in politics for the first time. Thanks in part to this movement, Bay Area counties were the only ones in the state to reject Proposition 21 in March 2000.

Tough Times: 2000-2001
Although the Ella Baker Center’s work against Proposition 21 helped lead to its defeat in the Bay Area, the rest of California passed it overwhelmingly. This loss was followed by a period of “despair, mistrust and infighting” in the entire movement. Third Eye Movement split; its San Francisco chapter spun off from Ella Baker Center and became Conscious Roots while the Oakland chapter remained an Ella Baker Center initiative and became Let’s Get Free. The organization refocused its efforts on creating a positive vision instead of being limited to reactionary mobilization. Let’s Get Free focused on police accountability in Oakland and the rest of Ella Baker Center launched a new campaign, Books Not Bars.

--suggested by Jen3774

Comments on Potential History Section
Looks good. Here are a few suggestions:
 * More references would be good. If all this is from the website, you can use the formatting to cite it again and again (unfortunately, then the text is peppered with 1's or whatever, but you only need ot use it for factual statements like ones that could be disputed).
 * What does "opened payroll" mean?
 * "and champion of students, sharecroppers, and everyday people" -- maybe we should change this to a more precice statement of what she actually did, so it doesn't sound like we're commenting.
 * "The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights’ first large campaign for Aaron Williams. In 1995, San Francisco police officer Marc Andaya killed Williams, an unarmed black man."
 * was for him, right? (maybe I should have done this one myself, but I didn't want to change your suggestion).
 * How about "The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights’ first large campaign was for Aaron Williams, an unarmed black man who was killed in 1995 by San Francisco police officer Marc Andaya." Maybe that makes it more awkward, but that wording prevents the reader from reading the first sentence and going, "who?"
 * Citation definitely needed here.
 * "Andaya led a number of cops in violently beating and kicking Williams"
 * I'd use police instead - more formal, possibly less POV
 * take out violently or replace with a more precice word - is there a nonviolent way to beat someone?
 * Citation definitely needed
 * If these factual statements are disputed, you could cast this as the Center's perspective rather than the official truth. e.g. "The Center argued that..."
 * rather than hogtying, I'd say what exactly they did - handcuffed his hands to his feet? Wherever possible, just use bald facts rather than interpreting them.
 * "Even so, the San Francisco Police Commission dismissed..."
 * I'd eliminate use of "Even so", which would imply an opinion.
 * "well-publicized police murder of Sheila Detoy"
 * Again, I'd use bald facts and let the reader decide how to characterize it.
 * This of course also needs citations.
 * "Known for its “innovative, militant, non-violent direct action,” Third Eye Movement"
 * Whom are we quoting here? Citation would be needed, and rather than saying "known for", I'd say "so-and-so called it 'innovative...'"
 * I'd replace "Thanks in part to this movement" with "Due in part to this movement".
 * Rename "Tough Times: 2000-2001" header to something more NPOV (maybe just "2000-2001"?
 * I'd replace "This loss was followed by a period of “despair, mistrust and infighting” in the entire movement" with "Due to disappointment from the Proposition 21 loss, Third eye split..." Otherwise, again, say who's saying the quote and cite.
 * "The organization refocused its efforts on creating a positive vision instead of being limited to reactionary mobilization."
 * Reword to NPOV or remove
 * "Let’s Get Free focused on police accountability in Oakland"
 * is "police accountability" a commonly used phrase? If not, I'd suggest saying exactly what they focused on.
 * Just in general, whenever you're in doubt about whether a statement is NPOV, you can write "members of the Center believed that X" instead of just X. Or some such.

Sorry, this is kind of massive. Most of these points are pretty minor stylistic stuff, but of course the overall NPOV is very important. We may need to take another look when the whole thing is written to determine whether we're giving a balanced view of the project. If possible, we should include any notable criticisms the group has received, though that will be difficult since the main writer is sympathetic. But anyway, I think the history revision is a vast improvement and it wouldn't be a problem to include in the article once the concerns I brought up have been dealt with or further discussed (as I said, some of them are just suggestions and don't positively need to change). Jen3774 has said s/he is going to get more references for this, so that's great. I still have to look at the original text to determine if it's still too similar and will be a copyvio (in which case we'll have to go about getting formal permission). So let me do that before putting it in, but otherwise I think we're good. Input from all other folks is welcomed. delldot | talk 23:28, 5 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Hey - I would like to continue to work on this article and gather references as well as try to improve POV and expand EBC's other campaigns. To do so, I've created a draft of the page here. I will be working on it there for the next few days and then be calling for outside input before I even consider moving it over here. I welcome input, criticism, questions, etc! Thanks -Jen3774 19:17, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

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