SAN DIEGO, Calif. - In the end, it was the collective voice of a California youth movement that rang loudest. The youth chanted, waved placards and raised clenched fists to protest plans to build the biggest per capita juvenile hall in the country in Oakland's Alameda County.
The proposal would give the county of 1.5 million people, a juvenile hall with 540 beds. By comparison, Chicago, home to 5 million people, has a smaller juvenile hall, with only 498 beds. The Alameda County hall would also be bigger than the ones in New York City and Washington, DC.
Alameda County officials had expected the California Board of Corrections (BOC) to allocate state money to help pay for the expansion. The $2.3 million request, which had been pre-approved by a BOC committee, was merely awaiting what is usually a "rubber-stamp" vote of approval from the full corrections board.
But a colorful throng of young activists flooded the stuffy confines of the BOC meeting place in San Diego, delivering some emotional and well-researched arguments to the body that has presided over perhaps the largest prison boom in the world. Activist after youthful activist spoke passionately against expanding the state's juvenile halls - at a time when youth crime is dropping and the state's schools are crumbling.
One activist even serenaded the BOC with a "freedom song" about Harriet Tubman rescuing youth through the Underground Railroad. The BOC members listened patiently, conferred among themselves then voted 10-2 to reject the $2.3 million funding request.
In the wake of the decision, stunned Alameda County officials scurried out a side door without comment, as the youth and their allies exploded into wild cheering. One of the youth movement's signature chants - "Ain't no power like the power of the people! 'Cause the power of the people don't stop!" - boomed like thunder in the crowded hearing room.
"Once again, California's youth activists have 'upset the set-up,' " said an exuberant Fela Thomas of the Youth Force Coalition, which represents more than 30 youth organizations in the Bay Area. "People are gonna have to learn that you can't mess with California's youth!"
But the youth-led forces were also handed a significant defeat. Over the objections of the assembled advocates, the BOC approved spending $130 million statewide to repair or expand juvenile halls in 10 other counties, including Los Angeles and San Diego.
Bay Area activists say they plan to continue the fight, working with local youth activists across the state to derail these expansions at the county level.
"This is a statewide movement, and we went [to San Diego] not just to stick up for Oakland, but to say, 'Don't expand juvenile halls anywhere in the state, period,' " said Rory Caygill, of the Youth Force Coalition.
"We will not consider this a true victory until we have stopped all of the expansions throughout California."
For more information, please contact Rachel Jackson, Books Not Bars, (415) 951-4844 ext. 28. and Fela Thomas, Youth Force Coalition (510) 451-5466 ext. 301.
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Dynamic Magazine
