On January 27, we finally had our day in court. People still remember the televised video of the beating of Glen Beaty, a homeless man, on February 9, 2009. On February 24, 2009, the ACLU faxed, [...] Continue Reading
Social Justice
The 18th Annual Cesar E. Chavez Celebration
“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not [...] Continue Reading
Martin Luther King Day in Fresno 2011
An Antiwar Speech, a Strange Pronouncement by the Police Chief, and more. . . [...] Continue Reading
Letters to the Editor
Help for the Community Alliance from Inside the Prison Industrial Complex I am writing in regard to your request for help, so that you can continue printing the Community Alliance. Enclosed you will [...] Continue Reading
The Out-of-State Transfer Scam
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is again making a mad dash over the borders with large numbers of prisoners in an expensive attempt to reduce overcrowding within its [...] Continue Reading
Fresno Food Not Bombs 2011 Celebration and Fund-Raiser
Historically, February 25 has seen many milestones. The Beatles first single, “Please, Please Me,” was released on this day in 1963. The Beatles also began recording Abbey Road on that date in 1969. [...] Continue Reading
Race Relations in 2010
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
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