Ramsey Robinson, an activist and social worker, visited West Fresno on April 18 to share his vision of California if he were to win the gubernatorial race in June.
“I am here spreading this message that there’s no excuse that all the people in Fresno and all of us in California get the dignity and security that we deserve,” Robinson shared in an interview with the Community Alliance.
The community cookout was organized by the Vote Socialist campaign. Members of the Central Valley chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) are major drivers of the campaign locally and many of their members volunteered to make the event happen.
At the event, about 100 Fresnans joined to break bread with, meet and hear from Robinson and community leaders Rev. Dr. Karen Crozier, Lourin Hubbard and Princess Rios. Rios, a volunteer for the Vote Socialist campaign and member of the local PSL chapter, hosted the event, sharing her own story before introducing the speakers.
Rev. Dr. Crozier told her story of growing up in West Fresno. Through her organization Jewel of Justice, she is committed to helping folks “expand (their) capacity to think critically, act creatively and engage from (their) values and mission for racial and environmental justice.” She finished with a reading from her book Fannie Lou Hamer’s Revolutionary Practical Theology: Racial and Environmental Justice Concerns.
Hubbard, a candidate for Congressional District 21, spoke about his upbringing by a single mom who worked multiple jobs and how he began caring for his siblings from an early age while she worked. Now a parent, he watches as his children “get to be kids” and reflects on the system that prevented him from accessing his own childhood.
Robinson reflected on his experience with the system as well, sharing:
“I’ve lived so many years of my life in California where I’ve had to live in basements that didn’t have a shower, living with roommates, five, six of us in a two-bedroom house, living paycheck to paycheck, not having enough money for both rent and healthcare, having to decide which one.”
When asking the crowd who has experienced the same dilemma, many people raised their hand.
“There’s just 194 billionaires that are hoarding $1.2 trillion of the wealth that us folk make and that we’re out to get it back and make sure that we have everything we need to survive and thrive,” he said.
Robinson’s campaign promises include a rent freeze on day one; “homes for the people, not for profit”; Medi-Cal for all; fully funded public schools; full rights for immigrants; environmental safety from capitalism; a $30 minimum wage; reparations; and defense for Black Americans, women and the LGBTQ+ community.
“Y’all have a 20 year less life span than other people, right? That half of folks in West Fresno live below the poverty line, right? So when we say that we’re going to tax those billionaires and make sure that we have housing, healthcare, education, a dignified retirement and a guaranteed union job at $30 an hour, well, that’s going to benefit everyone in Fresno,” he said, speaking directly to the impact his proposed policies would have on Fresnans.
He also emphasized Fresno’s exploitation of Black and Brown people, and his plan for direct reparations and preventive measures including creation of the State Department of Anti-Discrimination.
“They can review, rewrite or veto any racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophonic bills because this campaign is really about building power, economic and political power that’s going to put everyone, (including) the people in Fresno.”
As a mental health professional, Robinson works closely with youth 14–18 years old in Bayview-Hunters Point, a neighborhood in San Francisco that he compares to Fresno’s west side. He reflects on how the structures affect his community and how meeting basic needs can have a positive impact on their mental well-being.
“So much of the anxiety, the depression, the trauma that they experience is due to the crisis that they face outside of the school, outside of the therapeutic space…imagine when they have guaranteed union jobs at $30 an hour minimum when they graduate, imagine if their aunties and their mothers and their mamas and their brothers and sisters that they have, they’ll never be kicked out of a home, whether they’re in between jobs or working full time…Imagine when they get fully funded healthcare that covers mental health, that covers reproductive rights, gender-affirming care. I mean, this is going to transform people’s lives.”
At the end of the day, Robinson’s campaign promises align with his slogan, a “California for the People, Not the Billionaires.”
“It’s going to really build about this amazing society where our needs are met, that we’re healthy, that we’re getting preventive care, right? That everybody that needs to see a therapist can see a therapist like myself or my coworkers. This is the California we’re building together.”
