Lunch with Rick Callender

League of Women Voters^®
of San Jose/Santa Clara

Rick Callendar

JANUARY LUNCH WITH LEAGUE Rick Callender, President of the Silicon Valley NAACP, was the guest speaker at January's program. Rick noted that the NAACP is the oldest civil rights organization in America. Since 2001, they have experienced an increase in membership from Middle Easterners. His organization has seen an erosion of civil liberties since the enactment of the Patriot Act.
Of concern to members of the local NAACP are routine stops of Blacks in downtown San Jose. Downtown clubs are asked to close during hip hop concerts because of the "element" coming in to San Jose. It is his belief that the U.S. should never have a situation in which law-abiding citizens are not welcome. He also related his own experience in being stopped by the police while walking to a downtown San Jose restaurant.
While police behavior must be addressed, Rick said that it is not his main issue. He would like to see improvements in the "bigger issues" like public education and economic equality. He noted that the average GPA among black students attending school in the East Side is only 1.7. He favors legislation such as the First Five initiative for universal preschool to start to address this problem.
As always, the Bella Mia provided exceptional service and food for the meeting.

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