Racial Justice Issues
Another priority of The Bird was covering issues of racism, civil rights
organizing, and police brutality. While many of the early staff members of the paper was drawn by anti-war activism, others, such as Gene Guerrero, Nan Orrock, and Sue Thrasher, came from a background in civil rights organizing. The paper was sympathetic to and supportive of organizations and movements working for black liberation, including the Southern Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Black Panthers. In addition, the paper reported on instances of police brutality against African Americans and called for the establishment of a Police Advisory Board to investigate instances of police misconduct.
