How to Ground the Lords and Share the Rings of Power In my previous column (“The Lords of the Rings, Lording It Over All,” June 2011 California Alliance), I outlined some of the fundamental reasons [...] Continue Reading
Activism
The Interfaith Social Justice Collaborative Faith Calendar
ISJC Mission Statement: To network and collaborate as we work to serve and promote systemic change for the common good; to educate and inspire one another to positive actions; to model interfaith [...] Continue Reading
Opinion and Analysis from the Grassroots
From Fresno to the Israeli Military By Darrow Pierce In December 2009, despite great opposition from family and friends, I moved to Israel, gained citizenship and started learning Hebrew in a kibbutz [...] Continue Reading
Fresno Police Shoot Unarmed Man in the Back
Angelo Fernandez had just gotten into the back of his brother’s car after they bought a few things from a discount store at Peach and Belmont. With his brother in the front and his friend next to him, [...] Continue Reading
DUI Checkpoints: What’s the Agenda?
When you think of DUI checkpoints, you might imagine drunken drivers justly being taken off the road. However, a closer look at the actual practices of the Fresno Police Department (FPD) and [...] Continue Reading
History is Knocking: Stop the Machine! Create a New World!
There comes a time when efforts to avoid the truth begin to fail, when one can no longer go about daily life and pretend that all is okay. If you are like most of us, you are experiencing this. There [...] Continue Reading
Peace Challenge for Youth
The Fresno Center for Nonviolence (FCNV) has received a donation made in memory of Kathryn Stephens to again provide mini-grants to several youth groups to work on projects that “makes it [...] Continue Reading
Community Gardens, Chickens and More
It seems like homegrown food production is on the rise in Fresno. People are digging up their lawns and replacing them with vegetable and herb gardens, backyard chicken coops are popping up in many [...] Continue Reading
A Fair Farm Bill = Job Creation, Infrastructure and Family Farms
The sun is finally out, heating up the fields and bringing much need nourishment to the abundance of Mediterranean crops that grow here in the Central Valley. Politics are heating up too: The federal [...] Continue Reading
California Banks Take $21 Million from Welfare Families Yearly
(Author’s note: Thanks to the Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organization (CCWRO); Jessica Barthalow, Western Center on Law and Poverty (WCLP); Lydia Velasco, Central California Legal Services [...] Continue Reading
ACLU Responds to the Fresno County Grand Jury
The Fresno County Grand Jury recently released a report on mental health care in the Fresno County Jail. The Grand Jury’s investigation was triggered by complaints submitted by the local ACLU [...] Continue Reading
CREDO: Profiles of Activist Elders
Lloyd Carter is our “water guy,” our resident expert on the crazy world of Valley (and state) water politics. To spend an hour with Lloyd, as I just did, is to participate in an impassioned [...] Continue Reading