Civil Rights Activists Takeover Fresno City Hall

Thank you for your continued coverage of activism in Fresno. Now we Know!

Great Pics i love them!

Who ever posted this report and photos - THANK YOU! Great photos and happy to see shots I wasn't able to see in person. Hopeful for Tuesday!!!

Thank you Mike for covering the rally.

It's not over yet.

Keep up the fight for civil rights!

Rally was great. You did a great job putting it our Rally out there.

Bravo Fresno Love Warriors. I am so proud of you all.

Great job everyone!

Dear Mike, your photos are very catchy and encouraging to a past Fresno resident. Any and all forms of protest within the very repressive climate of the central valley is phenomenal! So to everyone that came out congratulations for taking a very good first step. Yes these photos are greatly pleasing to the eye. Yet I would like to bring attention to a few points of analysis that I feel are lacking from this article.

The title “Civil Rights Activists Takeover Fresno City Hall” is not true from a few perspectives. Adorning 1,000 concerned community members with the label of “civil rights activists” is not 100% accurate journalism. The American Heratige Dictionary defines activism as “The use of direct, often confrontational action, such as a demonstration or strike, in opposition to or support of a cause.” The Random House Unabridged Dictionary provides “an especially active, vigorous advocate of a cause, esp. a political cause” for their depiction of an activist. Labeling all these great people as something they are not is very detrimental to them and the movement.

Arriving to a very legally accepted rally with a sign does not automatically amount to one becoming a civil rights activist. As I know from living in Fresno for roughly four years I am somewhat familiar to the outcome of rallies such as these. They are often orchestrated through leftist groups in the community. Often attended by very mindful community members. Attending a rally does not fit the description of a “vigorous advocate of a cause.”

Labeling concerned citizens as activists is wrong and untruthful. Performing this labeling creates a notion that activists have a higher precedent in our community than other members of the general public. This labeling creates a barrier between community members and activists. These labels take control out of the hands of the average persyn. It creates an illusion that places roles of community protest into the hands of a very select often alienating few. Knowing how arduous community organizing in Fresno can prove to be this seems like a dangerous move on your part.

Holding a rally outside of a city hall during the weekend falls immensely short of taking it over. You for one should know about taking things over. Don’t you remember locking your self to a door to block it for labor reasons? Now that is taking something over! How about the GAP protests you were a part of? Mike you know what works don’t encourage others to do otherwise.
In no way do I mean to discredit this beautiful act of dissent. Especially in a place that does not take kindly to such events. I just wouldn’t ever wish for anyone to obtain any falsehoods of their actions. It is important for journalism to be realistic. This title is not.
I now leave a comment for the readers of this article and those involved in last Sunday’s events. So the prop lost. What are you going to do about it? I dare one of the 750 people that walked on the sidewalk that day to take it further!
Recently in reaction to the passing of AB 2296 a bill signed into law aimed not at illegal actions but at legal, above-ground activism, restricting free speech regarding California academic vivisectors, Feminists for Animal Liberation definitely took it further. They threw stones that broke two windows of a UC berkely vivisector. They also scratched his car with a hammer and then used it to smash another window out of their home.
Many stories of the past come to mind when we think of past civil rights fights. Racially fueled riots are scattered throughout the pages of any accurate history book. What about the massive marches of the women rights movement? Do we dare go back to the battles that initially spilled the blood of the indigenous people who fought for the “rights” to their own land?
I dare you all to truly take the time to be an activist and learn about true struggle and victory through organizing. I double dare you to skip the illusion of the electoral process and pick up something else beside a ballot between now and the primaries and make us of it! Liberation will never be on a ballot! Even as we have one black man in office there are a fucking million black men in prison that can’t even vote.
Dear Mike I am including a statement of validation for you to know that I have indeed been active within Fresno. I would honestly like to exchange words about this feel free to e-mail me.
*Just to validate my statement here while living in Fresno I was awarded the youth peace award from the center for non-violence for the work I did with peace Fresno and the campus peace and civil liberties union. I was one of four awarded the free speech award for having my comrades back at the Ringling Brothers circus and going to jail with him and three other of our comrades. I helped organize Sierra Nevada Earth First! camp’s that helped in the closing of logging sales within the Sequoia National Monument. I helped organize community grocers that gave people free fresh produce. I helped start the CAFÉ infoshop in china town. My opinion on journalism comes after working on community papers in Fresno such as the Alliance and the Undercurrent. Also independent journalism and working within the Earth First! Journal editorial collective.

WE MAY HAVE LOST THE BATTLE AGAINST PROP 8 BUT WE HAVE NOT LOST OUR DIGNITY. I KNOW I AM GOING TO STAY WHO I AM NO MATTER WHO LIKES IT OR WHO DOESN'T WANT TO RECOGNIZE IT. NEVER WILL I ALLOW SOMEONE TO MAKE A DECISION ON WHO I CAN BE. THIS IS SUPPOSE TO BE AMERICA, I JUST BE GLAD WHEN ALL OUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS COME TOGETHER AND BE JUST THAT TRUE AMERICANS. WE HAVE MADE HISTORY IN TWO WAYS. 1 ST WE HAVE OUR FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN PRESIDENT. CONGRATULATIONS OBAMA. 2ND WE FOUGHT FOR OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT THAT WAS MEANT FOR ALL KINDS. BLACK, WHITE, ASIAN, HISPANIC, GAYS AND STRAIGHTS. THAT WAS GIVING TO US, BUT DUE TO DISCRIMINATION, IT WAS TAKEN FROM US. I JUST DON'T SEE HOW PEOPLE CAN BE SO CRUEL. WE ARE NO DIFFERENT THEN THE NEXT MAN OR WOMAN. BUT NOT ONLY DID THEY ROB US OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT BUT THEY CALL THEMSELVES RELIGIOUS. BUT LAST TIME I CHECKED THE BIBLE STATES THAT WE ALL ARE A IMAGE OF HIM. SO HOW CAN PEOPLE EXCEPT HIM AND NOT EXCEPT US. SOUNDS HYPOCRITICAL TO ME. AND YES BEING A LESBIAN IS A SIN, THAT DOESN'T BELIEVE YOU ARE A BETTER PERSON THAN ME. EATING TO MUCH IS A SIN. LUSTING OVER A PERSON THAT IS NOT YOUR WIFE OR HUSBAND IS A SIN. AND ALSO THE BIBLE STATES THAT GOD IS A FORGIVING GOD. HE WILL FORGIVE ALL SINS EXCEPT 1. AND THOSE THAT DON'T KNOW THEIR BIBLES BEING A LESBIAN OR BEING GAY IS NOT IT. IT IS SELF INFLICTED DEATH. (SUICIDE) SO PLEASE I ENCOURAGE MY FELLOW AMERICANS TO STOP THE HATRED AND COME TOGETHER FOR WE CAME ALONG WAYS TO EVEN TRY TO STOP THE FIGHT NOW FOR WHATS RIGHT...... THANK YOU CHANEL GRAY