Elena Blogs for a Change

John Bonifaz is a lawyer who uses his knowledge of the US Constitution to make sure people can vote and that their vote counts. He has co-founded two organizations: Free Speech for People , where he serves as president, and the National Voting Rights Institute . He believes it hurts our democracy to have wealthy individuals and corporations influencing and distorting elections. In 1999, he received a MacArthur Fellowship , also known as a “genius” grant, for his work on voting rights. (That’s the same award Lin Manuel Miranda received in 2015!) You’ve founded two organizations focused on laws that relate to voting, the National Voting Rights Institute and Free Speech for People. Can you compare their areas of focus and approach? I founded the National Voting Rights Institute in 1994 with the primary initial focus on challenging our nation’s campaign finance system as the newest barrier to our right to vote. Former Constitutional Law Professor Jamie Raskin – now Co...

Rinku Sen Rinku Sen is a writer and activist best known for her work with racial justice organization Race Forward and its award-winning news site Colorlines . Under Sen’s leadership, Race Forward had many successes, including a campaign to get media outlets to “Drop the I-Word” and stop referring to immigrants as “illegal.” (The Associated Press, USA Today, and the LA Times all changed their practice.)  I interviewed Rinku to better understand her particular career path. What were you like as a teen? Did you know you would grow up to be a community organizer, writer, and activist? When I was in my early teens I had no politics, so I definitely didn’t think I’d grow up to be an organizer. That is, politics didn’t interest me much, although history did. I loved books. I started keeping a journal on loose-leaf 3-ring paper when I was 13, and I did want to be a writer. I read fast so I must have taken in thousands of romances and mysteries before I went to co...

Last fall I attended a conference organized by the San Francisco Collaborative Against Human Trafficking (SFCAHT). Human trafficking, often described as modern-day slavery, is a crime in which people are forced to do work or prostitute themselves for the benefit of the person who is victimizing them. Sometimes victims are manipulated and controlled through fear of violence, or, if they are immigrants, fear of deportation. Sometimes they are victimized because they owe a lot of money. There were many wonderful speakers and panelists at the conference, including Nancy O’Malley, District Attorney for Alameda County; San Francisco City Supervisor Katy Tang; Ryan Spradlin, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge; William Scott, San Francisco Police Chief, and many more. But the most moving presentation of all was from a former victim of trafficking and now advocate: Harold D’Souza. Harold D’Souza and his family moved to the United States after obtaining what they thou...