Point of View Archives - Page 10 of 13

A newly-elected president, a new beginning

CSUC graduate says AMLO is a "beacon of hope"

by Floritzel Salvador | Posted July 5, 2018

Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has officially won the presidency with 53.5 percent of the national vote. This is a new and hopeful beginning for Mexico, and AMLO is a beacon of hope for someone like me.

Mexico is a country that has been plagued with brutal murders, disappearances and extremely low wages, and these conditions have forced many Mexican citizens to flee and cross the U.S. border.

I am currently in my home state of Oaxaca, Mexico, a beautiful state that is rich in culture and tourism. Yet, it continues to be one of the poorest states in all of Mexico. In Oaxaca, teachers who have been killed and brutally tortured have made international news, indigenous communities that should be valued and cared for have been forgotten. read more

Mexican left may win presidency

Lopez Obrador's rhetoric hasn't changed in 30 years

by Leslie Layton | Posted June 30, 2018

photo by Gustavo Benítez courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO)

In 1988, I traveled with Andrés Manuel López Obrador – the man expected to win Sunday’s presidential election in Mexico — during his gubernatorial campaign in the southern state of Tabasco. I covered his quirky, upstart campaign for the San Francisco Chronicle, often riding in the back of his family’s little Volkswagen, largely because I sensed that he’d eventually be influential nationally, if not someday elected president.

This is to suggest that this passionate, fierce and bloody presidential race has been in the making for a very long time, and because 30 years ago a younger López Obrador was already a skilled politician. He was charismatic and smart, and he seemed to just need the right moment to stake his claim to the presidency and deliver power to the Mexican left. read more

El movimiento verde se vuelve café

The 'browning' of California's green movement

by Peter Schurmann | Posted June 26, 2018

Hace casi treinta años, Juana Gutiérrez, residente de East Los Ángeles y madre de nueve niños, retó a un gigante del petróleo y ganó. Reconocida positivamente en su momento en los medios nacionales e internacionales, se la veía a Gutiérrez como en la vanguardia de un movimiento medioambiental “incipiente”, uno arraigado profundamente en las comunidades de color de California cada vez más numerosas. (Read this story in English here.)

Hoy en día ese movimiento incipiente ha alcanzado su plenitud en lo que rápidamente se está convirtiendo en la nueva corriente principal del activismo medioambiental del estado. read more

Chicoan recalls xenophobia of her childhood

WWII internment camps unjustly imprisoned Americans

by Diane Suzuki | Posted June 22, 2018

I am Sansei, a third-generation Japanese-American who did not experience the hardship and humiliation of being rounded up without due process and imprisoned for three to four years as my elders did. But I did experience the racism and xenophobia in the 1950s in the aftermath of war.

Refugees fleeing violence from their homelands south of our border are now being locked up in immigration detention centers that are intentionally located in isolated sites. Americans should be ashamed that these men, women and children are being imprisoned in our country with the threat of being sent back to where they might be killed. read more

Chicoan recounts journey on the “Delaine Train”

Restoring the "Golden State" a goal, Keehn says

by Robin Keehn | Posted April 21, 2018

Like so many Americans, I was mystified and depressed when Donald Trump was elected. But the first Chico Women’s March got me motivated to do something, and in early February 2017, I went to see a dear friend in Sonoma. She warned me that we “just gotta do this thing in Napa.” Would I go too?

The “thing” was Delaine Eastin’s “Meet & Greet” to announce her campaign for California governor. We walked in saying to each other, “No one can beat Gavin, but the tea, cookies and champagne will be fun.”

I walked out saying, “I’m dedicating my next year and a half to getting Delaine elected.” Activism was ignited. Delaine Eastin had become my HERo. read more

Shooting of Phillips violated “public trust”

Prof says killing not comparable to other recent deaths

by ChicoSol staff | Posted September 16, 2017

Editor’s Note: ChicoSol asked Diane E. Schmidt, the ranking professor of public administration in the department of political science and criminal justice at Chico State, to comment on the two deadly law enforcement shootings in Butte County that have taken place since the March 17 Chico police shooting of Desmond Phillips, a 25-year-old mentally ill black man. We have elected to run her response as a guest commentary.

by Diane E. Schmidt

I don’t see these situations as being comparable to Desmond Phillips’ killing. Desmond’s killing violated the sanctity of the home — the trust of the family calling for medical help — and instead they had to endure police officers pepper-spraying the dog, breaking in the door, and shooting the very person who most needed medical intervention. Desmond’s killing was a violation of the public trust, not just a tragic overreach of police power. read more