Don’t Let the Vampires In
Words and Music by Hali Hammer See the video of “Don’t Let the Vampires In:” !
Vol. III Edition 1
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Unhoused: forward and backward we go, again
Update on Alternative Housing Sites In our last issue (Spring 2025), Berkeley Speaks reviewed the status of the unhoused community in Berkeley, and of the Struggle in the Court and the Council. The new development, beyond the continuing series of…
Berkeleyside and Berkeley Speaks: On police accountability
Comparison and comment On November 5, 2025, Berkeleyside.com published a revealing article by Alex Gecan titled “Civilian oversight of Berkeley police is hitting a wall.” Berkeley Speaks appreciates the Berkeleyside investigation. In our article below, we compare selected passages from…
2025 California Legislative Session: How Criminal Justice Reform Fared
by Tracy Rosenberg The 2025 California state legislative session wrapped up on October 13, 2025. As Berkeley Speaks readers know, we are in a time of a severe backlash to the justice concerns raised so effectively in the earlier years…
Activists: “Dump Wellpath as the Medical Provider in Alameda County Jail”
By Micky Duxbury In 2021, Maurice Monk lay motionless for three days in his Alameda County jail cell. Body camera videos showed sheriff’s deputies and nurses from Wellpath, the for-profit jail healthcare company, throwing his meals and medications through a…
Berkeley People’s Alliance’s Brown Act lawsuit victorious on appeal
Berkeley Speaks comment: A grassroots lawsuit against the City of Berkeley for violations of the California open meetings law (Ralph M. Brown Act) has won on appeal. Background: For months beginning in October 2023, the beginning of the intense bombardment…
Stand up! for the things you know are right.
How You Can Help: On immigration defense, food stamps, and other cutbacks Immigration: Important resources Many people in Berkeley and the East Bay feel called to defend our community from ICE, but might be unsure what to do. Here are…
Climate Action in 2026
The Ongoing Struggle for Climate Justice A year ago in the Fall 2024 edition of Berkeley Speaks, we wrote about Measure GG, or “Go Green!” This measure would have taxed owners of the large buildings in Berkeley for the climate…
UC informs on its own students to Trump
By a UC Berkeley student “Everyone told me Berkeley had our backs” For years, the University of California system has presented itself as a place that would protect vulnerable students from hostile government action. In September 2017, the University of…
The Impact of Gaza on Berkeley
News AnaIysis: Is This the End of Peace and Justice in Berkeley? Half a year has passed since the Berkeley City Council passed a toothless statement of grief at the loss of life, but no call for an end to…