Fresno Speaks Out

“I’m here because it’s Dr. King’s birthday, and I feel that his birthday is everyday,” said Rev. Dr. Floyd Harris Jr., pastor of the Free AME Ministries in Fresno, during a demonstration at Blackstone and Nees avenues on Jan. 20.

“I also feel that we got the Border Patrol out now hunting people down like they’re some type of animal or something, and all of us are human beings. I don’t feel or believe that anybody has a right to call anybody an immigrant or an illegal alien. America has always, from the time of George Washington and his crew, used labeling.

“What’s also important about today is that 45 [Donald Trump] is getting installed. We have to understand that Dr. King always said that love and unity is the priority. It’s the only way to fight back against systemic institutionalized racism, corporate control and capitalism.

“We’re all one human family, and we have to form a power base. If you have a problem, I have a problem. If I have a problem, you have a problem. We have got to get back to that mentality because we have lost that here in America.

“This country is our country; it doesn’t belong to the 1%. We must change the narrative, change this environment right now. We have got to stop calling people names and call the people our brothers and sisters.”

A Voice of Hypocrisy

“At the [2025] Dr. King commemoration breakfast, they had a chance to reflect on how our City is striving to live out Dr. King’s vision—one similar to Mayor Jerry Dyer’s One Fresno vision,” noted Fresno City Manager Georgeanne White on Facebook. On Jan. 16, 2024, Dyer said that “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of God, a man of vision and a man of love, and his dream continues to be a guiding light.”

Sadly, under Dyer’s leadership, Dr. King’s vision of equality and justice for all is not the guiding principle. The recent “no camping” ordinance that criminalizes the most poor and vulnerable and the refusal of the City to open its warming centers even as temperatures drop to 36 degrees are but two examples. Hypocrisy reigns at City Hall.

Voices from the People’s March

Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Save Mart Center and marched several miles down Shaw Avenue and back on Jan. 18. The lively crowd carried many signs with various themes: “Elect a Criminal, Expect Crimes,” “Felon of the United States,” “Your Hypocrisy Is Showing,” “F##k the Oligarchy,” “We Won’t Go Back,” “Defund Israel, Defend Gaza,” “Deport Elon” and “No Human Is Illegal, Stop the Hate.” The demonstrators were multigenerational with many young people in attendance.

Adalaide Hackett, 19, said, “We’re protesting what our government is currently doing. Our government is not representing us; they’re only looking out for the top few, the very wealthy that don’t support anyone except for themselves. 

“I think it’s a beautiful thing to be a part of the people that are waking up and realizing that our government isn’t working in our best interest. If we make enough stink, if we make enough noise, it could really drive some actual change.”

Stan Santos of Raza Against War said, “Our No. 1 concern [today] is Palestine, Gaza and the region. I think that people may be misled by this negotiated truce. On the day of the announcement, within about 24 hours they killed approximately 80 Palestinians; that’s an indication of their sincerity.

“We already know them, and we know it’s coming. They’re gonna carry out some horrendous bombings and kill as many people as they can on the eve of this negotiated peace settlement. And, in the end, the goal is to rid the region of Palestinians and erase their claim to their homeland of centuries.

“The solution is to halt the weapons because that’s the only thing that’s sustaining the Israeli Defense Forces. [We also] need to move into the boycott and sanctions movement, BDS. We could boycott Valero, the sole provider of JP-8 jet fuel, which is produced in Texas. It’s a proprietary formulation of jet fuel that is the only jet fuel that can be used in F-16 and F-35 jets, widely used in Gaza.”

Justin, 28, said, “I’m basically out here for the people. I’m marching for not just the generations that are all here but the next generation behind us. They are going to inherit this crap, and I wanted it to be a better place for my nieces, my nephews and the people that are coming after me.

“Keep focusing on stopping the wars, and keep the focus on protecting everybody. We can take action, whether it is striking with the union, boycotts and other ways of shutting down different sectors of the economy.”

A young woman named Hannah said that she was at the march to bring attention to the genocide in Gaza and of the aid that’s not getting into Gaza. “Their voices need to be heard and their stories told. I really hope that we can continue to create community and do things like this where we get together and we can continue pressuring the government.

“They are trying to take away our voice, and we now need to kind of push directly into our communities and interact with each other more, person to person. To continue the fight and to make sure that people’s voices are being heard that their rights are not being taken away.”

Jose, 26, a Fresno State graduate, said he has concerns about corporate control and the influence of billionaires. He said that “billionaires right now have a lot of influence. They have influence in politics on what laws get passed with lobbyists and they have all this money, right?

“I am also very concerned for immigrants. There’s been some sweeps and some arrests out there. The [current] ICE raids are just targeting people based on the color of their skin. [ICE] is pulling people over on the highway, workers, van drivers. I’ve seen videos and accounts on social media. 

“They arrested some van drivers and some workers on their way to work with bandannas and dirty shoes on. They would pull you over just based on that, and yet stories in the media are putting out that [they are] criminals and child molesters. That’s nonsense.

“Maybe a few are criminals, but overall I saw them pulling over just anyone. They’re making arbitrary arrests out there based on color, the color brown; even other races like Indigenous and Asian people.”

Griselda, a young woman carrying a sign that said “Free Luigi,” said, “Honestly, I’m just tired of our politicians not listening to us and watching this country become an oligarchy. I’m tired of watching them bomb Gaza. I’m tired of having to struggle to put gas in my car, to pay my rent. I’m tired of the racism.

“It is getting out of hand, and we have to build a network of activists to try to build community and we can start by loving our neighbors, communicating with our neighbors, finding people with like-minded ideas and coming together and organizing. We can grow community gardens, [for example]. I mean, we gotta be in this for a long fight, ready to activate and ready to advocate.”

Xochil Maraclh, a young woman of Indigenous descent, said, “I often believe in the power of the people, and I’m here to represent all the First people. I’m originally from the Mohawk Reservation in Ontario, Canada, where my father grew up. He gave me this advice, ‘stay strong and take one day at a time.’

“I think we need to build more communities to try to support each other. We need to keep demonstrating. I think strikes and consumer boycotts could be used to pressure the government. We also need to protect our freedom of speech. [Trump] wants to take it away. We can do better and we must always know our history.

“I’m always learning more about my history. I know that when the white man came here and stole our land they wanted to wipe us out but they didn’t; they didn’t take all of us out. So, I still remain, the Maraclh family has been around since the 1700s. We’re going to keep fighting and stay strong.”

Other Community Voices

Maria attended the immigrant rights demonstration on Jan. 20. She said she was there because “I support farmworkers, I was a farmworker, I was a grape picker. I’m from Fresno.

“I’m here because the Trump administration is doing indiscriminate ICE raids. Initially, they told America that they were only going to deport ‘the criminals,’ but they are racial profiling, I believe.

“I’m also here because the children of this city and the children across America deserve better now that Trump has won the election. I was a middle school teacher and students in my class were asking me what are they gonna do now.

“One of them said, ‘What’s going to happen if my parents get taken?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m sure they’ll make a plan for you.’ It’s all scary. What I believe is that there are no throwaway children, and there are no throwaway people.”

Mario Manganiello is a longtime human rights activist from Fresno. He said that “unfortunately today is the day that Trump is going to become President, and a lot of people are angry because the first thing he’s promised to do is literally deport [large numbers] of people.

“We’re standing here in solidarity with them and letting them know that we’re not going to let it go out without a fight, and we’re very angry about it. It’s not right and, yeah, that’s all I got to say.”

Rafael Avitia is a high school teacher and a leader of the Fresno Brown Berets. He said, “Today, here in America, we have all-out fascism. We’ve always known it’s on its way, and now it’s in our faces. We’re going to have to deal with it so we’re trying to make sure that people know that not everybody agrees with this new President in this new administration.

“MAGA is a mental illness, it’s a delusional mental illness. This generation wants inclusion, and they want to be part of something. I see this. I’m a high school teacher and have been teaching for 25 years; I see a lot of youth, and there’s this movement.

“Unfortunately, with social media and the dark web and areas like this, there’s a movement for masculinity and there’s a movement for wanting to belong and MAGA has given a lot of young men an excuse to join this movement. It’s sad, I know. We have to keep educating and organizing.”

Iztac Cualt was at the Jan. 20 event. He said, “Trump has made it plainly obvious he’s intent on hurting folks with Project 2025; that’s the game plan. It’s been around for years. It’s nothing new, and he’s intent on implementing a lot of it.

“It’s gonna hurt a lot of people. It will be traumatizing. There was a traumatization of indigenous people. There was a genocide, and it’s been psychologically damaging. [Trauma has] been ingrained into a lot of indigenous people, and when you’re indigenous survival is so difficult. So, I know, I’m Yaqui and I’m Huichol.”

Stephanny Vazquez, 34, of Fresno was at the demonstration with her two children and husband. She said, “We are out here to support all immigrants. We don’t want ICE and the border patrol out here deporting workers and their families. If there’s no workers, who’s going to work in the fields?

“ICE is now arresting random workers on the highways, everywhere from El Cajon to Bakersfield. They have been stopping and arresting random people. They are asking for documents.”

Her husband, Louis, said that ICE is racially profiling people. “If you’re brown, they immediately pull you over. They ask if you are a citizen and, if not, you are immediately arrested. We are hearing this from family and social media. We even know some people that have been arrested.

“Yesterday, they pulled over and arrested 78 people. We’re out here today to support the people and to stand up for their rights. Stop the arrests. If a convicted felon cannot vote, how can they be President?

Although there have been many reports of random arrests in the Bakersfield area and elsewhere, ICE is claiming it is targeting criminals. It appears that the Biden administration authorized these actions before the Jan. 20 transition of power.

Fresno residents have made their voices of resistance heard. Make your voice heard.

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Bob McCloskey is an activist and a Community Alliance reporter. Contact him at bobmccloskey06@gmail.com.

Hundreds gather at Save Mart Center on Jan. 18 for the People’s March. Photo by Bob McCloskey

On Jan. 18, demonstrators gathered at the corner of Shaw and Chestnut avenues, outside the Save Mart Center, to protest the incoming administration in Washington, D.C. Photo by Peter Maiden