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
Social Justice
2011: A Brave New Dystopia
(Reprinted with permission. This article originally appeared at Truthdig, www.truthdig.com/ on December 27, 2010.) The two greatest visions of a future dystopia were George Orwell’s 1984 and [...] 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
Staying Busy Inside
Recently, a friend (on the outside) asked how someone in prison keeps from “going crazy” after spending a significant amount of time behind bars. “What do you do to help pass the time?” he asked. That [...] Continue Reading
Maria Telesco Spends a Lot of Time in Prison These Days
Dear Everybody: I heard through the grapevine that someone mistakenly thought I was incarcerated and wanted to do something to help me get out. When I learned of this, I did not take offense. [...] Continue Reading
Progressive Religion…Is Not an Oxymoron
Living in an America I No Longer Recognize I have been feeling for some time that I am living in an increasingly unfamiliar nation. It has reached the point that some days I look in the mirror in my [...] Continue Reading
Surprise: Rehabilitation through Spirituality
Earlier this year, John Flock and I, Unitarian Universalists, began participating with Maria Telesco in prison ministry at a men’s state prison. We learned of a small group of men interested in [...] Continue Reading
Video Remix Festival in January
“Oil and War” will be the theme of a first-of-its-kind Critical Remix Festival. The festival and gallery opening will take place January 6, 2011, at 5 p.m. at Gallery 25 (660 Van Ness Ave.) in [...] Continue Reading
Living the Dream, Let Freedom Ring for LOVE: Let Our Violence End
The 2010–2011 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Unity Committee (MLKUC) is reaching out to find a way to fund another year of celebration and commemoration around King’s birthday, as it is in jeopardy [...] Continue Reading
Know Your Rights!
1. Always be calm and cool; a bad attitude guarantees a bad outcome. 2. Remain silent; what you don’t say can’t hurt you. 3. You have the right to refuse searches; saying no to searches can’t be [...] Continue Reading
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to School
In recent months, the Fresno Chapter of the ACLU has become involved in the struggle by community members to have a middle school built in Southwest Fresno. A funny thing happened on the way to that [...] Continue Reading
From Tuskegee to Guatemala Via Nuremberg
News broke last month that the U.S. government purposefully exposed hundreds of men in Guatemala to syphilis in ghoulish medical experiments conducted during the late 1940s. As soon as the story got [...] Continue Reading