by Lawrence Cox, LSPC Regional Advocacy and Organizing Associate We have known the state through its hardest language. We’ve known it in shackles, in lettered clothing, in the daily humiliations of confinement that teach us who power belongs to, and how it moves against us. We know it in a system that conflates violence to order, discipline, and public safety. We know it … [Read more...] about Where the Bloodline Remembers
Lawrence Cox
We Heed the Call: Honoring Our Ancestors & Descendants in the Fight for Reparations
by Lawrence Cox, LSPC Regional Advocacy & Organizing Associate I did not come to this work through theory, I came to this work through my life. Reparations, for me, is not an exercise in morality or symbolism, meant to heal the past. It is a living question of power, of who labors, who benefits, who makes decisions, and who is punished for their refusal to comply. It … [Read more...] about We Heed the Call: Honoring Our Ancestors & Descendants in the Fight for Reparations
Rebuilding from Within: Policy, Persistence, & People Power in 2025
by Lawrence Cox, LSPC Regional Advocacy & Organizing Associate • With contributions from 2025 Policy Fellows A Single Year, A Single Story We measured 2025 by what we refused to let die. In one relentless year, our teams carried a coherent agenda from hearing rooms to home districts, from heat-sick cellblocks to firelines, from juvenile courts to county jails. It is … [Read more...] about Rebuilding from Within: Policy, Persistence, & People Power in 2025
CA Senate Bill 423: Origins, Organizing, and the Fight for Firefighter Justice
by Lawrence Cox, LSPC Regional Advocacy and Organizing Manager I was born in Oakland, California, into a world where stability was elusive and the foster-care docket turned faster than any child could comprehend. I never learned permanence; I learned placement. By age seven, I was a ward of Alameda County, rotating through foster homes and group facilities where the idea of … [Read more...] about CA Senate Bill 423: Origins, Organizing, and the Fight for Firefighter Justice
Involuntary Servitude is Slavery: Excerpts from the Panel
On May 13, participants at Quest for Democracy were invited to attend a legal symposium about the basis of involuntary servitude in the US and CA Constitutions and how we can get them abolished. As we celebrate Juneteenth, we honor this day and our ancestors who were forced into chattel slavery while calling attention to the continuation of slavery through mass … [Read more...] about Involuntary Servitude is Slavery: Excerpts from the Panel
