It was 1996, not long after O.J.’s acquittal in his criminal trial. One of my colleagues at the Fresno Center for Nonviolence, a retired physician, was outraged by the (in his view) miscarriage of [...] Continue Reading
Local & State
Opinion and Analysis from the Grassroots
Fresno Could End Hunger Here, Now By Edie Jessup The fallout of Walmart’s ploy with poor cities, in a pretense of addressing hunger, is a case study and an expose of Walmart’s co-opting the City of [...] Continue Reading
China Syndrome or Chinatown?
Conflict and Contradiction for Fresno’s Nuclear Ambitions Fresnans looking for some cozy holiday movie watching might consider curling up with two classic California films from the 1970s—The China [...] Continue Reading
A Tale of Two Cities
The voting precinct map (below) illustrates why there is a gap between the political power of north and south Fresno. Voters north of Shaw Avenue are more conservative and have a much higher voter [...] Continue Reading
From the Editor
Last month, I spoke at the Metro Ministry’s 40th anniversary celebration. It was an honor to share some of my thoughts with the 300+ people at the event. Metro Ministry is one of those progressive [...] Continue Reading
Progressive News Briefs
Fresno Police Officers Beat Homeless Man In February 2009, Fresno police officers Jeff Gross and Scott Payn were caught on videotape beating Glen Beaty. Beaty, who was homeless at the time, had been [...] Continue Reading
Fresno’s Next Boondoggle
On December 9, a divided Fresno City Council voted in favor of privatizing the city’s commercial solid waste operations. Now, 100 drivers represented by IUOE [International Union of Operating [...] Continue Reading
Church Sanctuary versus NIMBY
It has been more than two months since homeless encampments in the City of Merced were forcibly closed and the “No Camping Ordinance” strictly enforced. Homeless people have been scattered throughout [...] Continue Reading
Dream Act Event Held in Merced
On December 10, the California Central Valley Journey for Justice hosted an event to celebrate the 62nd Anniversary of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNUDHR). The event was held in [...] Continue Reading
Homeless No More
(As told at the Human Rights Day event held in front of Fresno City Hall on December 9, 2010) I didn’t exactly come from a warm and loving family, as much as I hoped for one. I left home at 18 years [...] Continue Reading
Human Rights Day at City Hall
A hundred or so people participated in the action at City Hall on the eve of Human Rights Day in support of city aid for three requests by advocates for the homeless people of Fresno. The overnight [...] Continue Reading
Opinion and Analysis from the Grassroots
Agent of Change or of the Government?? By Ernesto Saavedra “Mr. Moderator, Brother Lomax, brothers and sisters, friends and enemies: I just can’t believe everyone in here is a friend, and I don’t [...] Continue Reading