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Michael D. Evans
Community Alliance Editor Mike Rhodes and his family enjoyed a trip to Europe in the weeks leading up to the publication of this month’s issue. In his stead, Associate Editor Michael Evans served as the guest editor for this issue. This month’s “From the Editor” commentary is therefore from Evans.
Fresno has become Ground Zero for the war on labor in California. Despite the success that anti-labor forces have had recently in the Midwest, in California we turned back Prop 32 last year. Prop 32 was a blatant attempt to make it difficult for unions …[Read the details]
Editor Mike Rhodes
It was an honor for the Community Alliance to be a part of the ¡Que Vivan Los San Patricios! Saint Patrick’s Day Concert and Dance on March 17. The Fresno City College Old Administration Auditorium was a great venue for the 300-plus guests who participated in this benefit for the Community Alliance and activists going to Immigrant Day 2013 in Sacramento.
The music and dancers at the event were amazing—lots of people told me afterward how much they enjoyed the show. You can always count on our fund-raisers to have a progressive political …[Read the details]
Editor Mike Rhodes
If you have ever told someone that Fresno is a conservative community, take a look at the maps below. The large map illustrates how we voted last November on Prop 32, the initiative promoted by big business and their allies, which would have been a near death blow to organized labor. Most progressives voted no on Prop 32 because we support unions and believe in paying workers a living wage and improving the lives of the working class. The map shows us, again, that there is a major split in this community, with the more …[Read the details]
Editor Mike Rhodes
I spent several fascinating days last month observing a trial at the Fresno County Courthouse. On trial were Angelo Fernandez and his two brothers (David and Robert). You may recall that Angelo was the guy a Fresno police officer shot in the back in 2011.Angelo was unarmed, this was done in the middle of the day and there were multiple witnesses. For details about that incident, see http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=3181.
The District Attorney’s Office was trying to convict Angelo of an alleged carjacking, which Fresno Police Department (FPD) spokespersons used as a justification for …[Read the details]
Mike Rhodes
When we started the Community Alliance in 1997, I had no way of knowing all of the twists and turns we would take that eventually brought us to where we are today. Back then we were the Labor/Community Alliance, a small newsletter published by the Labor Party, which was affiliated with the Central Labor Council.
Our focus 15 years ago was to build a labor community alliance, provide a tool to communicate with organized labor and progressive community activists, and develop a calendar of events in the Fresno area. It amazes me now …[Read the details]
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