By Eduardo Stanley
It is particularly disgusting to see how elected officials and other public servants are confronting the pandemic that is affecting so much of our community. For instance, the majority of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors are acting like there is nothing dangerous about it. They show contempt toward the most vulnerable sector of our society and seem to worry only about businesses.
This behavior is unacceptable because elected officials and public servants have been elected or hired to work for the well-being of our community, not to assist or help the social sector of their sympathies.
At this point, the social well-being consists of controlling the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Of course, we need to keep an eye on the economy but we are facing an emergency and we have to act accordingly.
It appears that our supervisors and other politicians of the same ilk are trying to imitate Trump, showing shamelessly their ignorance because you can’t have a good economy without a healthy population, particularly without healthy workers. Who works in the fields of our valley? In the packing houses? In the meatpacking houses?
To make matters worse, Fresno County received money from a state relief fund in April to confront the pandemic and the money is still sitting in the bank. The supervisors didn’t even distribute the masks they received. Nothing, they did nothing on behalf of the people they are supposed to serve. And it seems that they have no intention of doing anything.
The Community Alliance has been informing you about this situation and will continue doing so, including some good coverage in this issue.
We have to be aware that the cases of Covid-19 are increasing dramatically in the San Joaquin Valley and that hospitals are to the limit of their capacity.
Covid-19 is keeping us busy and concerned. Nevertheless, we are concerned about other important matters. For instance, President Trump suggested that due to the pandemic the Nov. 3 Presidential elections could be postponed. Curiously, he spread this rumor after several surveys in the last few weeks placed him well behind Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Some Republicans expressed objections to this possibility.
Even if Trump doesn’t get away with this, he and his team continue to attack our democracy, including trying different ways to suppress voting in some states with a Republican governor, affecting the rights of people of color and low-income residents. There is no doubt that in this way Republicans are trying to steal elections.
The pandemic also has affected the Community Alliance newspaper. As our readers know, since March our newspaper has been only online. Perhaps in September we’ll be back on paper. But regardless of the platform, our commitment to our community is still the same.
We are confident your support will help us to continue bringing you news and commentaries that matter and a wide range of opinions you probably won’t find anywhere else.
