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
Social Justice
Progressive News Briefs
The Art of Dumpster Diving Explored By Richard Stone The video Dive (to be shown November 10 at the Fresno Center for Nonviolence at noon and 7 p.m.) turns attention to another stupidity of corporate [...] Continue Reading
Letters to the Editor
Support Real Peace for Palestinians Israel’s attempt to end the so-called moratorium on settlement building in Palestine seen as “unprecedented” by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [...] Continue Reading
William James Tranquilli
With sorrow, we announce the peaceful passing of William James Tranquilli on September 3, 2010, after a lingering illness. A well-known activist for many causes, Will enjoyed living in Fresno for many [...] Continue Reading
Grassroots Profile: Jason Chang
Jason Chang is the young president of the local chapter of the Japanese-American Citizens League (JACL). And, he tells me, he is the newly elected vice president of planning and development for the [...] Continue Reading
Spoon
By Boston Woodard When people work at the same job for many years, live in the same locale, shop at the same stores, attend the same schools and churches, become friends and associates with those [...] Continue Reading
Police Auditor’s Report Faults Fresno Police Department for Its Handling of Citizen Complaints
Fresno’s first attempt at civilian oversight of the police is not yet a year old, so perhaps it is too soon to make any definitive judgments about its effectiveness. The Office of Independent Review [...] Continue Reading
Opinion and Analysis from the Grassroots
Defunding Public Education: An Arresting Development By Tim Young Americans are facing the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression. States like California have responded by pulling the [...] Continue Reading
A War Veteran and Homeless
“I’m thankful to be alive,” answered Wilson, a homeless veteran with his homeless wife, “and I’m thankful to be in Fresno.” “Huh, thankful to be in Fresno?” I ask back. Before he answered, I [...] Continue Reading
The New Jim Crow
Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow is a brilliant history and assemblage of legal decisions, statutes, rules and practices that have incrementally grown since the 1970s to form a system of mass [...] Continue Reading
The Ben Lomond Four (Muslims Targeted During Ramadan)
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) houses prisoners of every faith imaginable: Islam, Catholic, Protestant, Episcopalian, Baptist, Jewish, Mormon, Buddhism, Hinduism, [...] Continue Reading
Meeting Energizes Peace Community
On the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the peace movement in our politically conservative San Joaquin Valley got a big boost. One hundred [...] Continue Reading