Feature Archives

Around 75 people attended a vigil in Fresno on the evening of July 18 in honor of Vanessa Guillen, where a mural featuring her likeness had just been completed. The mural is one of a number of Guillen that have been painted across the country. As part of the Black Lives Matter movement there have been several murals painted around Fresno recently. Guillen was a 20-year-old soldier in the U.S. Army who was killed by a male soldier at Fort Hood, Texas, on April 22. Her remains weren’t found until June 30.

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.

Demanding action for homeless families at higher risk from coronavirus, homeless and housing insecure families successfully moved into six vacant, state-owned properties in the El Sereno neighborhood of Los Angeles on March 14, with scores of community supporters coming out in support. In the next few days, similar families reclaimed more houses, with thirteen providing shelter now. CalTrans owns the houses, and activists estimate that nearly 200 sit vacant.

One of the largest demonstrations ever in the United States was the Women's March in Washington D.C. the day after Trump was inaugurated. Solidarity marches were also held across the country. On January 18, for the fourth year in a row, women again marched to affirm that Women’s Rights are Human Rights and Human Rights are Women’s Rights. The goal is to create a society in which women — including Black women, Native women, poor women, immigrant women, disabled women, Muslim women, Jewish women, lesbian queer and trans women — are free and able to care for and nurture their families, however they are formed, in safe and healthy environments free from structural impediments.

On November 18, unsheltered mothers claimed possession of a vacant investor-owned property in West Oakland. After receiving an eviction notice, Moms for Housing declared that they intended to remain in their new home and petitioned the courts to allow them to stay. Wedgewood refuses to negotiate with the moms on a sale backed by the Oakland Community Land Trust. At the latest court hearing on December 30, the judge did not issue a ruling, but might any day. Separately, Moms for Housing pushed back against a public relations ploy by Wedgewood — using affiliated Los Angeles nonprofit Shelter 37 to soften the company's image as it attempts to evict the moms.

Two homeless mothers reclaimed possession of a vacant investor-owned property in West Oakland on November 18. The mothers, Dominique Walker and Sameerah Karim, are the founding members of Moms for Housing, created to address the extreme challenges working mothers face in finding safe and affordable housing for themselves and their children. The Moms for Housing have announced their intention to remain in the home until it is returned to the Oakland community. Their supporters are surrounding the home, and will remain in place until the transfer of the home to community control has been negotiated.

On January 19, at women's marches throughout the Bay Area, the focus was on unity rather than the rift in the national group. Optimism was abundant despite a slight decrease in attendance over last year. The marches were not without critics who cited a lack of attention to the plight of the underhoused and other issues effecting women. Unlike the city of New York where there were two separate marches, however, a spirit of solidarity ruled the day. The largest marches in the Bay Area were in San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and Santa Cruz.