Hoodline Highlights: San Francisco, Oakland Cafés Join Nationwide ACLU Fundraiser

Hoodline Highlights: San Francisco, Oakland Cafés Join Nationwide ACLU FundraiserAndytown Coffee Roasters. | Photo: Fiona Lee/Hoodline
Hoodline
Published on December 29, 2017

To close out the year, we've asked contributors to choose their favorite stories of 2017.

Reporter Cirrus Wood selected San Francisco, Oakland Cafés Join Nationwide ACLU Fundraiser, which ran on February 3rd.

"This was the first article I contributed to Hoodline," he recalled.

"What gets me about this ACLU fundraiser was that it was part of a wave of businesses, nonprofits, and individuals who took it upon themselves to put their money where their mouths are and really do something to bring about the change they were after."

In early February, coffee shops in Oakland and San Francisco joined hundreds of cafés around the world that donated a portion of their proceeds to the American Civil Liberties Union so it could combat the Trump administration's initial travel ban.

Although that policy, which temporarily banned all refugees and barred visitors from seven majority-Muslim population countries, was eventually overturned, the administration would go on to issue similar executive orders in the coming months.

"Nevertheless, the ACLU carries on the important work of taking the powerful to task for their actions, and the café fundraiser showed the willingness of independent businesses to unite and sacrifice financial gain for the sake of protecting civil liberties," said Cirrus.

“Since the election, we've really asked ourselves how our vision of using our business as a force for good could apply to something as daunting as national level issues,” said Robert Myers, co-founder of Oakland’s Highwire Coffee Roasters. “When we saw Sprudge post their campaign, it was an easy choice for us to join.”
“The executive orders of the current administration are unconstitutional and anti-American,” said Cortt Dunlap, owner and manager of Awaken Café. “With Congress and the White House controlled by the Republicans, legal action might be the only check we have.”

Continue reading Cirrus' favorite story of 2017, San Francisco, Oakland Cafés Join Nationwide ACLU Fundraiser.