Feature Archives

Pre-statehood Alta California was home to immigrants from Europe and Latin America, although most of the population spoke indigenous languages and Spanish. In 1848, gold was discovered in the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. Shortly after, a young married couple arrived in California. They were Joaquin and Carmelita Felíz de Murrieta. White settler colonizers soon concluded that California had to become a part of the United States, although it was unclear whether it would be a slave or free state.

On July 20, as part of the national Strike for Black Lives, protesters marched on a McDonald's restaurant in Oakland. The demonstration was part of a nationwide action called “Strike for Black Lives.” McDonald's and other fast food restaurants were targeted for not taking adequate precautions against Covid-19 for their workers, predominantly Black and Brown people. Protesters marched up Telegraph Avenue and into the parking lot at the McDonald's at Telegraph and 45th Street.

Stanford Hospital healthcare workers are facing a choice that is not really a choice. Employees were shocked to learn that Stanford Health Care recently demanded frontline workers “share the sacrifice” in this time of pandemic, that they choose between being furloughed, taking paid time off early, or accepting a 20% pay cut over a 10-week period. On May 21, dozens of hospital workers and concerned members of the public protested in Palo Alto.

A coalition of activists marked May Day with demands to cancel rent, mortgage and utility payments for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic with a car caravan at San Francisco city hall, and also counter-protested against a simultaneous Republican-sponsored demonstration to "open" up the economy. Republicans want to resume economic activity as soon as possible in an attempt to salvage the reelection of Trump, wrapping their intentions in American flags and slogans of "freedom" and "liberty."

A coalition of organizations is organizing a SF May Day Car Caravan on Friday, May 1 to demand the cancellation of rent, mortgage, and utility payments as well as homes for all and a debt free future for tenants, homeless residents, workers and families. The COVID-19 pandemic has further unveiled the deep inequality in our economic and housing systems. In California, renters make up almost half of the population. 55% of renters are considered cost-burdened, with low-income people and people of color suffering the worst instability.

Thousands of families in the US rely on the income from sex work to survive and have been thrown into a crisis by the coronavirus. Most sex workers are mothers, primarily single mothers. This crisis came on top of a crisis in poverty and homelessness. Much sex work inevitably involves close personal contact so the self-isolation rules and the shelter-in-place order mean that sex workers, like many other workers, can’t work safely. Yet there is still rent to pay and families to feed.

On April 11, a campesino appreciation caravan took place in Watsonville to recognize and thank all the farmworkers. Participants wrote, "I'm sure many of you have noticed the lack of acknowledgement of farmworkers, field workers, campesinos, our people, in the media. Specifically recognizing the work they do as essential to our society. Because of this, we mobilized to create a caravan of recognition and thankfulness."