Barry Saks

Protesters, on Sunday, July 23, marching toward Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon’s South Gate Office; photo by Barry Saks 

More than 150 people marched from Hollydale Park to the office of California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon in South Gate, on Sunday, July 23, for California Senate Bill 562, also known as the Healthy California Act.

At the rally in the park, people told the crowd why they were there with chants interspersed.

Michelle Manos, Sunday, July 23, speaking to protesters gathered in Hollydale Park, South Gate, California; photo by Barry Saks 

One speaker was Michelle Manos, who’s an activist with California for Progress.  Manos said while this country may have a high standard of health care, “only certain people have access to that excellent healthcare and that is absolutely preposterous.  Your ability to survive a disease or an accident should not depend on the dollar amount in your pocket or bank account.”

Yolanda Gonzalez, on Sunday, July 23, speaking to protesters in Hollydale Park, South Gate, California; photo by Barry Saks

Another speaker was Yolanda Gonzalez, who is a Green Party activist, said, “As an educator and a teacher for 25 years, I’ve seen students who can’t learn… because they are sick….They don’t make it to the doctor (because) they cannot afford the deductibles.”

A third speaker at the park was Lori Margaret.  She said she has worked all her life for nonprofits and “never had great health care.”  Margaret said, “With the ACA (Affordable Care Act), I actually was able to get my knee replaced and I had an emergency hysterectomy…and on my salary it was a lifesaver.  She added she will do anything to fight for the health care for everyone else.

Marcia Martin, on Sunday, July 23, speaking to protesters in Hollydale Park, South Gate, California

Another speaker at the park was Marcia Martin, who later emceed the protest outside the South Gate office of Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon.  Martin, who is an environmental and racial justice activist, said, “The area I was born and raised in it has been subject to environmental racism.  It was contaminated by Exide Technology, which operated in the city of Vernon for over a 100 years.  For over 33 years, they operated on a temporary permit and spewed lead, arsenic, cadmium, chromium 6, benzene, 1 3 butadiene into the atmosphere.  It contaminated our soil…and consequently contaminated our ground water…Pretty much we’re the most vulnerable community and most in desperate need of (Senate Bill) 562.”

One chant at the rally was “When the system fails us, what do we do?  Pass SB562.”  Another chant was “Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, health care greed has got to go.”  A third chant was “Anthony Rendon, what do you say.  How many people died today?”  A fourth chant was “What do we want? Health care!  When do we want it?  Now.”  A fifth chant was “If we don’t get it, shut it down.”  A sixth chant was “When health care is under attack, what do we do?  Stand up, fight back.”

After the rally in the park, the protesters marched about three-quarters of a mile to Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon’s office.  One chant during the march was “Medicare for all is our fight.  Health care is a human right.”

At the office, more people spoke with chants interspersed among them.

Reed Heisley-Shellably, on Sunday, July 23, speaking to protesters outside the office of Assembly Speaker Anthouy Rendon in South Gate, California; photo by Barry Saks

One speaker was Reed Heisley-Shellaby, who was identified as a member of the Los Angeles Green Party and Health Care for All, said we face a health care and a political crisis.  He said regarding healthcare in California three million people don’t have health care with many underinsured and some go bankrupt because of their health care costs.  He pointed out a disparity exists because of class and race.  He cited a study, which showed people living in South Los Angeles will live 11 years less than people living in Beverly Hills.  Heisley-Shellaby told crowd the health care crisis can be solved by getting rid of the health insurance industry.  He said the political crisis California faces is because “the Democratic Party leadership is bought by the health insurance industry and by the pharmaceutical companies.  Currently the chair of the Democratic Party in California, Eric Bauman, he was a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical companies….The Sacramento Bee reported that (Assembly Speaker) Rendon received over $36,000 in 2015….Rendon, Kevin DeLeon and Jerry Brown, all Democrats, have received combined $370,000 from groups opposed to Single Payer Health Care legislation and $3.4 million in campaign donation from the health insurance industry.”

Gayle McLaughlin, former Mayor of Richmond, on Sunday, July 23, speaking to protesters outside the office of Assemby Speaker Anthony Rendon in South Gate, California; photo by Barry Saks

Another speaker outside Assembly Speaker Rendon’s office was Gayle McLaughlin, who is running for Lieutenant Governor in 2018.  McLaughlin, who was the Mayor of Richmond, California from 2007-2014, said all four of her campaigns were funded without corporate funding.  She said democracy in California is under corporate control and that a corporate-free candidate should run against the Speaker.

On Friday, June 23, California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon decided SB 562 will remain in the Assembly Rules Committee and will not move forward.

Photo by Barry Saks

Photo by Barry Saks

Photo by Barry Saks

Photo by Barry Saks

Photo by Barry Saks

Photo by Barry Saks

Photo by Barry Saks

Audience at Town Hall on Single Payer, Saturday, July 8, in the Mayfair Activities Room of Mayfair Park, Lakewood, California; Photo by Barry Saks

More than 100 people, with some from the 63^rd Assembly District of California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, on Saturday, July 8, held, what the headline of the press release of the day before of California Nurses Association characterized as a “Town Hall… on Single Payer,” in the Mayfair Activities Room in Mayfair Park, 5720 Clark Ave., Lakewood, California, also in the Assembly Speaker’s district.

Marcia Martin, Environmental and Racial Justice activist,on Saturday, July 8, speaking at the Town Hall on Single Payer on the contamination by Exide Technology; Photo by Barry Saks

The first speaker of the town hall was Marcia Martin.  Martin, who was identified as an environmental and racial justice activist, said, “I am a constituent.  I was born and raised and currently live in the city of Bell, which is in the district…My community lies within an area contaminated by Exide Technology.  It was a battery-recycling plant in the city of Vernon that operated for nearly 100 years…It spewed lead, arsenic, chromium-6, cadmium, benzene … and other carcinogens and toxics into the atmosphere.  We breathed it in.  It contaminated our soil and consequently has contaminated our ground water.”

Michael Lighty, the Public Policy Director for the California Nurses Association, on Saturday, July 8,speaking at the Town Hall on Single Payer; Photo by Barry Saks

After Martin, Michael Lighty, the Public Policy Director of the CNA, spoke.  He said, “I know that there is some sense out there that SB (Senate Bill) 562 is a radical idea or something from the far left…. Have you ever heard of Warren Buffett? Now does anyone think Warren Buffett’s a leftist?” Because Warren Buffett came out this week, co-chair of Berkshire Hathaway, one of the most successful investment companies in the world…and he came out for single payer….So what we are trying to do with 562 is take those principles that have succeeded in Medicare since 1965 and apply them to the rest of the health care population.”

One person in the audience before the start of the meeting was Bill Eisen, 72.  Eisen said lives in Torrance and thought healthcare should be a human right.  He said, “Our country needs to provide its citizens with affordable healthcare just like every other western country” and soon after added, “I frequently attend the Los Angeles chapter of the Healthcare for All group.”  When Eisen was asked if he were a registered Democratic, he said, “No, I’m registered (as) no party preference…I think the Democrats are totally corrupt right now.”

Another person in the audience was Jennie Vargas, 55.  Vargas, before the event started, when asked if she were from Rendon’s district, raised her hand.  Vargas said she lives in South Gate, is registered Green Party.  When asked if she was willing to protest outside Rendon’s office, she said, “I did that!”

Audience, after the Town Hall on Single Payer event, on Saturday, July 8, posing; Photo by Barry Saks

One agenda item the Long Beach City Council is to decide or not on the Long Beach City Attorney Charles Parkin’s recommendation that $2.5 million plus attorney’s fees and costs in full settlement be paid to the cousins, Miguel Contreras and Miguel Vazquez, and their attorneys, to lawsuits filed.

Court records show, in October 2016, a jury, in the Los Angeles courtroom of Magistrate Judge Patrick J. Walsh, awarded the two cousins more than $1.5 million in a lawsuit filed against the city and the two Long Beach Police Department officers, alleging they used excessive force.

The Long Beach Press-Telegram story, “Cousins win $1.6 million verdict after graphic video shows Long Beach police hitting them with batons,” of Oct. 11, 2016, identified the police officers as David Faris and Michael Hynes and pointed out the LBPD did not “deny striking Contreras and Vazquez with the batons.”  In the story, Long Beach Deputy City Attorney Howard Russell, said, ‘Our contention was and is that the officers acted reasonably and lawfully.’

According to the same story, it was in late November of 2010 in the early morning hours “when Contreras and Vazquez were returning from The Falcon bar in Long Beach…(w)hen they got back to Vazquez’s apartment in the 1600 block of Broadway, Vazquez saw officers Faris and Hynes yelling at a small group of people that included a friend of his, according to Vazquez’s lawsuit, Vazquez claimed that when he tried to find out what was going on, one of the officers told him to go home and pushed him away.”  Then the altercation between the two LBPD police officers and two cousins was video-recorded on a cellphone.

To watch the video, click here.

Protest, on Tuesday, June 27, in favor of Single Payer outside of California Assembly Speaker’s South Gate office; Photo by Barry Saks

More than 200 people protested, outside the office of California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D, Lakewood), at 12132 Garfield Ave., South Gate, on Tuesday, June 27, in favor of Senate Bill 562, also known as the Healthy California Act.

The program consisted of skits, speakers and chants.

The character, “The Grim Reaper, on Tuesday, June 27, at protest; Photo by Barry Saks

The program started and ended with a skit linking the Assembly Speaker to the insurance and pharmaceutical companies through their campaign donations to him and to death through the character of the Grim Reaper signifying it.

David Sirota, in a June 26 article for the International Business Times, wrote, “Since 2012, Rendon has taken in more than $82,000 from business groups and healthcare corporations that are listed in state documents opposed the measure, according to an International Business Times review of data amassed by the National Institute on Money In State Politics. In all, he has received more than $101,000 from pharmaceutical companies and another $50,000 from major health insurers.”

Former Garden Grove Mayor Bao Nguyen speaks, on Tuesday, June 27, at Healthcare for All rally in South Gate, Calif., outside of the office of California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon; Photo by Barry Saks.

One speaker was Bao Nguyen.  Nguyen, who is a former mayor of Garden Grove, said, “Coming from Orange County, we’re all not conservative….We need healthcare too….Being I guess a politician, …we know what campaigns take and we know that you don’t have to take the money…We do not want our representatives to sell us out, especially here in California.  What difference are you (Assembly Speaker Rendon) compared to what is happening in Washington?”

A second speaker was Brenda Gutierez, who said she is a diabetic and had healthcare until she lost it this year.  Gutierez said her diabetic medication is going to cost monthly $674.85.

One chant was “Rendon, Rendon, shame on you, action now on 562.”  A second chant was “Medicare for all is our fight.  Healthcare is a human right.”  A third chant was “What do you do when your healthcare is under attack.  Stand up, fight back.” A fourth chant closer to the end of the program was “Recall Rendon.”  A fifth chant was “What do we need? Healthcare.  When do we want it? Now.”

One protester outside of the Speaker’s office was Rachel Burkhardt, 44, who now lives in Burbank, and is a stay-at-home mother “with some free time” because her two children are “at day camp.”  Burkhardt characterized herself as a registered Democratic, who believes in women’s and abortion rights.  She said, “There is no reason why our country can’t have a single-payer system…I want us (California) to lead the nation with a single-payer system…I feel like on a daily basis there is so much like soul-crushing news,…it hurts me….This is really the first time I’ve felt really compelled to pay attention and become active…What is so amazing is seeing this resistance build up.”

One person outside, who had a recall Rendon sign but was not protesting Rendon’s decision and who opposes the Healthy California Act, was Arthur Schaper. Schaper, with his iconic red Make-America-Great-Again baseball cap and President Trump tee-shirt, said, “I think single payer, forcing that on every person in California would be the most uncivil thing to happen.”  When Schaper was asked how many people he brought with him, he refused to answer.

A statement issued on the Assembly Speaker’s website, on Friday, June 23, in part, said, “As someone who has long been a supporter of single payer, I am encouraged by the conversation begun by Senate Bill 562.  However, SB 562 was sent to the Assembly woefully incomplete.”

While the Speaker decided the bill will remain in the Assembly Rules Committee, near the end of the statement, Rendon left some hope for supporters of the Healthy California Act by adding “this action does not mean SB 562 is dead….(I)t leaves open the exact deep discussion and debate the senators who voted for SB 562 repeatedly said is needed.”

Photo by Barry Saks

Photo by Barry Saks

Photo by Barry Saks

More than 150 people, mostly port drivers and warehouse workers from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, with their allies, on Tuesday, June 20, marched in downtown Long Beach from Promenade Square, at 1^st and the Promenade, to City Hall to demand the end of wage theft and that workers be considered employees and not contractors for whom they work at the two ports.

The day before the Teamsters union called a one week strike at both ports for the port drivers and the warehouse workers the union is organizing.

A Cal Cartage warehouse worker estimated about 60 of coworkers were on strike at his workplace.

Jeff Farmer, who was identified as the director of organizing for the International, said “We’re dealing with many, many companies here in the port of L.A., Long Beach.  One of the companies in a sense is a kind of the poster child for we view as U.S. corporate greed is XPO Logistics….They are also in the freight industry and warehouse industry…Their scope is worldwide…We are attempting to do is right a serious wrong…That serious wrong is essentially the misclassification of drivers, where companies claim they are independent contractors…The reality is they are not independent.  They are in fact employees.  Every (governmental) agency that has looked at this issue has come to the same conclusion.”

Marchers, Tuesday, June 20, posing for photo; Photo by Barry Saks

Farmer added XPO Logistics had lost a law suit filed by four drivers for misclassification.  The drivers were awarded $855,000.

Ernesto Rocha, an organizer for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, led a short rally at Promenade Square, in English and Spanish.  The marchers weaved through downtown to City Hall.  In City Hall, they went up to the 14th floor, delivered a petition to a member of the mayor’s staff.

After delivery of the petition, a rally outside was held in Spanish and English, where supporters expressed their solidarity and union officials and workers expressed their determination to win.

One worker who spoke was Dwayne Wilson, 24.  Wilson, who lives in Long Beach, told the audience how at Cal Cartage the warehouse workers must pay for basic equipment, like steel-toed boots, back braces and rain vests.

Besides union members and their supporters speaking, First District Councilwoman Lena Gonzalez spoke.  She told the crowd her father is a retired teamster and that it was time to end wage theft.

2nd District Councilwoman Jeanine Pearce speaking at the rally, Tuesday, June 20, outside of Long Beach City Hall.  In background is Vice Mayor and Ninth District Councilman Rex Richardson who is about to speak and to his right is 1st District Lena Gonzalez who had spoken; Photo by Barry Saks

Besides Gonzalez speaking, Second District Councilwoman Jeanine Pearce, Eighth District Councilman Al Austin, and Vice Mayor and Ninth District Councilman Rex Richardson also spoke.  Richardson told the crowd when he got out of college he was a strike organizer for the California Faculty Association.

Part of a contingent of fast food workers show their solidarity by marching with the port workers.  Jose Paz (second on the right) spoke briefly at the march; Photo by Barry Saks

More than 20 Long Beach residents, on Thursday, June 8, outside the World Trade Center Long Beach, on the corners of Maine Ave. and West Broadway, to protest the Bisnow Boom event as a means to voice their concern regarding the lack of affordable housing, no local rent control or renter protections from unfair evictions.

The intent of the Bisnow Boom event was to encourage local real estate investment.

The protesters stood on the two southern street corners with their signs and chanted.  One chant was “Gay, straight, black, white, housing is a human right.”  A second chant was “Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, these gentrifiers have got to go.” A third chant was “What do we want?  Affordable housing, when do we want it? Now.”  A fourth chant was “We will not give up the fight.  Housing is a human right.”

Longtime activist and Long Beach resident, John Kindred, protests while holding his sign, June 8, outside the World Trade Center; Photo by Barry Saks

While the Long Beach Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America organized the protest, activists from the Gray Panthers, Long Beach Residents Empowered and the Service Employees International Union Local 2015, which is a statewide local representing home-care and nursing-home workers in California, participated.

Before the event by way of email, Josh Butler, the Executive Director of Housing Long Beach, said, “Housing Long Beach fully supports the demonstration. The Mayor and City Council are doing a lot to recruit new people to Long Beach, but doing nothing to mitigate the negative impacts on our current residents. Seniors, people with disabilities and communities of color are being pushed out.”

One of the protesters was Elizabeth Garcia.  Garcia, who lives and works downtown, said, “I’m here because we need to stop the gentrification of Long Beach.  It is becoming less and less affordable for the working-class community that has lived here for generations.  We are seeing developers come in and invest millions of dollars but not for the community but for their own profit and we’re here to try to stop that or at least bring light to the issue, to bring attention to the issue…It is easy for our politicians and representatives to ignore us when no one is paying attention to the issue.  So getting our community to be organized, to come together and to demand action from the people who represent us in our city council is a good way to do that.”

The Bisnow Boom investment event website said, “With many exciting developments on the horizon – including the $250M (million) proposed Queen Mary Island entertainment complex – along with over $2.6B (billion) invested in Downtown Long Beach over the past four years, come hear from all the major players in the region on the new capital coming into Long Beach, the evolving tenants, residential updates and more! All the major asset classes will be covered – mixed-use, retail, residential, office, and civic and adaptive reuse projects across downtown, Douglas Park, and the Long Beach airport.”

A flyer, which announced the protest, in part, said, “Developers and landlords have bought off the mayor and the city council and are replacing affordable housing with luxury condos.  A lack of rent control and eviction protections allows the wealthy to kick families out of their homes, replacing the diverse working class communities…with newcomers who are richer and whiter.”

Backside of a protester, on June 8, wearing her union tee shirt; Photo by Barry Saks

Bisnow, according to one of its webpages, is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and is an “educational platform for America’s $11 trillion commercial real estate industry” and publishes in “25 major metros coast-to-coast.”

Neither the Mayor, nor any of the City Councilmembers were available for comment.  Also Bisnews and Joani Weir from Better Housing Long Beach were not available for comment.

The audience waits for the program to start, Saturday, May 13, at Hellada Gallery; Photo by Barry Saks

In the small backroom of the Hellada Gallery, 117 Linden Ave., on Saturday, May 13, Marshall Bleskofsky spoke on the Recruit Awareness Project in Long Beach and Zach Medeiros spoke on Syria to about 20 people.

According to an email sent before the event, this was to be the first of a speakers’ series the Long Beach Area Peace Network would sponsor.

Videographer Marlene Alvarado as emcee, Saturday, May 13, introducing Marshall Blesofsky; Photo by Barry Saks

With videographer Marlene Alvarado emceeing, the program consisted of a short video Alvarado produced, where Blesofsky spoke at a local solidarity march and rally at the Long Beach Islamic Center, which was earlier threatened; followed with Blesfosky speaking and ending with a photographic presentation of Syria with Medieros speaking.

Marshall Blesofsky, on Saturday, May 13, Speaking on Military Recruitment in Long Beach; Photo by Barry Saks

Blesofsky said RAP is “to help students make informed choices about (joining) the military.”  He said when the military recruits someone, a contract is signed, in which language exists allowing the military to change the contract, but of course, no such language exists for the recruit.

Blesofsky pointed out, while cities like San Diego and Los Angeles have policies regarding the military recruiters in the high schools, Long Beach has none, essentially giving recruiters full access.  He added, “They (recruiters) can hang out (and) they go to lunch with the students….They get to know the kids, make relationships with the kids or the students and also recruit them.”

Zach Medeiros, Saturday, May 13, Speaking on Syria; Photo by Barry Saks

Medeiros first provided a summary of the foundations of modern Syria, followed by the non-military aspects of the Syrian revolution, followed by the internationalization of the Syrian war and followed lastly with how we in the United States can best help the Syrians in their struggle.

Medeiros said that after 400 years of foreign domination with first the Ottoman Empire and then the French Mandate, Syrians ended their foreign rule in 1946, “(i)n 1949, Syria’s young democracy was overthrown by an army colonel backed by the CIA” and in 1963 the Syrian Ba’ath Party seized power.  He characterized the Ba’athists as “espous(ing) pan-Arab nationalism, top-down statist modernization, and Arab socialism.”  He added in 1970 Hafez al-Assad, the defense minister and “de-facto leader” took complete control of the country.  Mederios characterized the regime under Hafez al-Assad as “essentially (a) fascist dictatorship.”  He explained how al-Assad was able to maintain power.  He won popular support by improving rural conditions through regime-initiated large modernization, redistributing land to peasants, expanding the state to provide the urban working and middle classes with public sector jobs and he won support of the Alawites by integrating them into the power structure. Regarding state repression, Medeiros said to enforce complete obedience to the state and dictator, the army and secret police were used.

Mederios said in 2000, Hafez al-Assad died and his son, Bahsar, assumed power through a unanimous vote in a “sham election.”  He pointed out Bashar al-Assad accelerated the market liberalization, which “led to a dramatic increase in poverty, unemployment, and the concentration of wealth in an even smaller fraction of society, often in(to) …Assad’s own family.”  Mederios claimed the accelerated market liberalization contributed to making Syria “ripe for…revolutionary fervor…in 2011.”

Regarding the non-violent revolution, Medeiros said it didn’t start as an armed rebellion for revolutionary change, “but (for) things like jobs, basic rights, and an end to corruption, discrimination, brutality, and repression” and it began “as a multi-ethnic, non-sectarian movement.”  He added a democratic awakening occurred with the creation of “scores of independent media centers, films, newspapers, and magazines, and the flourishing of street art and citizen journalism.”

Regarding the internationalization of the Syrian war, Medieros said some leftists who characterize the Syrian revolution as nothing but a US-led plot against the anti-imperialist Assad regime, is a lie.  He argued the Assad regime was not anti-imperialist by pointing out the Syrian government joined the US during the first Gulf War, allowed Israel to keep the Golan Heights, weakened Palestinian resistance and lent the CIA torture during the Bush-Cheney years.  He explained how the US provided minimal limited support to the rebels to contain their revolution.  He said, “When the US began sending aid to rebel groups, it mostly consisted of nonlethal equipment and a trickle of light weapons…The CIA aggressively intervened to stop revolutionaries from gaining access to anti-aircraft weapons…The US repeatedly turned off the minimal flow of arms and ammunition whenever the rebels proved too successful on the battlefield.”

Medieros lastly told the audience how they could help.  He told them to arm themselves with knowledge and not to forget the uprising began as a democratic awakening; to learn and listen to revolutionary-democratic Syrians; to organize solidarity by supporting the White Helmets, the Syrian Medical Society, Doctors without Borders; and to echo the demands of Syrians, such as an end to all sieges, the immediate release of all political prisoners, a massive increase in direct humanitarian aid, the removal of all foreign armies and militias from Syrian soil, accountability for war criminals and to demand rights for refugees.

According to the Dr. Marshall Blesofsky for LBCC (Long Beach Community College District) Trustee Facebook page, Marshall Blesofsky is a retired educator from the University of Southern California and taught in the Allied Health Program at Long Beach City College.

According to the publication “The Socialist,” Zach Medeiros is a history student and is the Male Co-Chair of the Socialist Party’s International Relations Committee.

Barry Saks is married to Marlene Alvarado.

To hear the audio of Marshall Blesofsky’s talk, click here.

To hear the audio of Zach Mederios’s talk, click here.

To download the transcript of Mederios’s talk, click here.

Upstairs at the Scottish Rite Event Center, on May 18, before the program begins; Photo by Barry Saks

About 150 people met on Thursday, May 18, at the Scottish Rite Event Center, 855 Elm Ave. to begin to fight for the city of Long Beach to implement anti-displacement measures, like just-cause eviction and rent control.

According to the press release for the event, this was the first Renter’s Assembly and Housing Long Beach hosted it.

Sharon MacNett, from the Long Beach GRRRL Collective, which defines itself on its Facebook About page as a feminist collective, spoke first on the program.  MacNett said, “We demand affordable housing now.  Access to housing is being stripped from our communities of color, from our immigrant communities, from our seniors, from our neighbors with disabilities, from the working-class and all historically marginalized communities who call Long Beach home….Widespread displacement is occurring while mayor  and our city council sit idly by….Housing is a human right.”

Josh Butler speaking, May 18; Photo by Barry Saks

Josh Butler, the Executive Director of Housing Long Beach, said, “The situation has become dire and time is not on our side.  Further inaction and delay from our mayor and city council will mean more people being put out of house and home.”  He then thanked the organizations who sponsored the event and thanked the Liz Waite, the student organizer, and the two community organizers, Maria Lopez and Brenda Caloca.  Butler introduced Ernesto Rocha, who is an organizer for the Clean and Safe Ports campaign for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy.

Ernesto Rocha emceeing on May 18; Photo by Barry Saks

Rocha emceed.  Rocha put the dramatization, which was to follow, into context by talking about his own and family’s experience as newly arrived immigrants, who needed to rent.  Rocha pointed out that many times when repairs in the rental needed to be fixed, his family did the repairs because they didn’t want to inform the landlord out of fear of being deported.  Rocha introduced Lopez, who played the daughter, and Melissa Arechiga, who played the mother in the first scene of the dramatization.

The dramatization was in Spanish and English.  The daughter spoke of hearing the mice under her bed and the roaches crawling on her and one which crawled into her ear.  Her mother spoke of working two jobs.  When the daughter asks the mother when a repair will be fixed, the mother says, “Call the landlord for what?  So he can be mad at us.  So he can raise the rent another $50.  So he can get another tenant…or worse call La Migra (the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)?”

After the first scene of the dramatization, Rocha introduced Elena Popp of the Eviction Defense Network, which according to its website under Tenants Together is a network of trial lawyers, advocates and tenants dedicated to defending the right to affordable housing and ensuring access to justice in housing matters to tenants in Los Angeles County.

Popp described how the legal clinic Housing Long Beach has grown and the use of rent strikes.  She said in August 2016 when she first came to Long Beach without any notice of a lawyer being available, 12 people were there with legal problems.  A month later, 36 people were there.  She said usually there were two reasons for the need of a lawyer.  First, the tenants were given a 30-day or 60-day notice to vacate depending on the circumstance, or second, “a huge rent increase” usually with a new landlord.  Popp spoke of using rent strikes when tenants are living in “bad conditions” and fighting the evictions when conditions are not bad.  She pointed out that these tactics without just-cause evictions, only get renters more time and saves them rent sometimes, but it is something.

Brenda Caloca, on May 18, explaining just cause eviction; Photo by Barry Saks

Caloca spoke next on renter protections or more specifically just cause, also known as a responsible renter ordinance.  She pointed out the city of San Diego also has just cause.  Caloca listed some of the most common just causes for eviction: not paying rent, causing substantial damage to the unit, refusing to provide access, the need to substantially rehab the unit, the unit is being withdrawn from the rental market and illegal use of the unit which includes drug dealing.  She also pointed out just cause would only apply to people on the lease.

After Caloca, the dramatization returned with its second scene.  The mother tells the daughter they will be going to the house daughter’s grandmother to shower, instead of at home.  The daughter objects and tells the mother she wants to shower at home where they pay the rent.  The daughter informs her mother of what she learned in a history class about the uprooting of population around what would become Dodger Stadium and identifies it as gentrification.  The mother acknowledges she doesn’t know her rights as a renter.  Finally the daughter tells the mother a Renter’s Assembly is coming up where she can learn some of her rights.   The mother says she’ll go.

Aimee Inglis, May 18, explaining rent control; Photo by Barry Saks

After the second scene of the dramatization, Aimee Inglis spoke about rent control.  Inglis, who is an Associate Director of Tenants Together, a statewide organization for renters’ rights, said, “Rent control is really just fair rent” and added 14 cities in California have some form of it.  Inglis said, “The California State Legislators, all those folk are bought off by the real estate industry….There is very little public housing.  There is very little nonprofit housing.”  She pointed out rent control is legal with each city decides how rent increases occur, as long as the landlords are allowed “a fair rate of return.”  Before Inglis spoke from the podium, while eating dinner before the program, she said her salary yearly about $60,000, including benefits.  She lives in San Francisco with her partner.

Melissa Arechiga (mother) and Maria Lopez (the daughter), on May 18, at the end of the dramatization; Photo by Barry Saks

The program ended with the third scene of the dramatization.  The daughter apologizes to her mother.  They reconcile.  The mother says, “I’ve raised you to be a strong woman…. Sometimes I feel so powerless.”  The daughter tells her mother they want us to feel powerless.  The mother and daughter realize they must struggle together to win housing justice.  The scene and the program ends with the chant, “No justice, no rent.”

One of those in the audience was Jorge Rivera, the Program Director of Long Beach Residents Empowered.  Rivera said, “We’re here because we are a housing advocacy group and so naturally we have to support anything that has to do with renters or furthering renter protections or affordable housing and we’re here to help mobilize and support, to bring renters out so that we can inform them and educate them….I think what they want to hear is what is can be done ….about the rent increases, what can be done about the unjust evictions.”  He added he was hoping the renters at the event would be motivated enough to get involved in housing justice.

One person in the audience was Bill Sive, 56.  Sive said he lives in Long Beach’s Council District 3 and rents.  Sive said, “We need to get someone…from any these organizations get themselves elected to office to create change from within.”  After getting elected, the representative then needs to make “alliances, partnerships (and) collaborations with groups that are represented here….It’s all about lobbying your fellow councilmembers to make the change.”

Another attending was Erin Foley, who is a renter and who volunteered to be an usher to help people find their seats.  Foley said once she rented a place, in which bedbugs came into her rental unit.  She gave the landlord notice she was moving.  It then took 13 days before the landlord did anything about removing the bedbugs.

Thyra Jackson eating downstairs, May 18, before the program begins; Photo by Barry Saks

A third person attending was Thyra Jackson, 55.  Jackson said she rents and lives near 8^th St. and Lime Ave. and said she heard about the event from her son, who gave her a flyer.  She was there with her son and another neighbor.  Jackson said, “The rent is getting higher and higher….They (apartment owners) can raise the rent whenever they want to and you can’t do anything about it, which is why people are moving out Long Beach.”  She said she has had friends who were forced to move to Las Vegas and further inland.  She added she was willing to go to meetings, talk to her neighbors and was willing to protest for rent control.

CSULB Student Senators Meeting of May 10; Photo by Barry Saks

After dozens of speakers, pro and con, during the public comments, with more than a hundred people, mostly students in the audience, on Wednesday, May 10,  the California State University Long Beach student representatives (senators) of the Associated Students Inc. voted 15-7 with one abstention to support a resolution urging the school administration to divest in firms doing business with the government of Israel.

One of those in the audience was Juwairiah Syed, who said she is a third-year student, who in the fall is going to declare deaf studies and American-sign language as her majors. Syed added she’s a member of the Muslim Student Association and the Vice President of the CSULB Interfaith Project, which its About Facebook page states it is “a diverse group of CSULB students – Muslims, Christians, agnostics, Jews, Buddhists, atheists, Hindus, Catholics, and more – who are committed to growing in our understanding of one another and of our spiritual and religious traditions.”  She said, “I am here today because …. the voting is done by our senators in there and they need to see  that the people on our campus support divestment.”

CSULB President Jane Close Conely in a April 26 letter to the student senators, in part, said, “The Jewish people have been the targets of suspicion, violence, discrimination, and ostracism for centuries. They have suffered institutional racism in the United States and dozens of countries across the world. Israel’s actions against the Palestinians may certainly be critiqued, but what about Syria’s actions against its own people, Brazil’s brazen violations of human rights, North Korea’s imprisonment of an entire nation, or Russia’s current war on their LGBTQ+ community? Why are only Jews picked out for condemnation? It’s worth reflecting, I think, on implicit bias when singling out only one group of people for sanctions.”

Palestine Legal, in a May 3 letter to President Conely, responded.  The letter said, “(W)e write to raise serious concerns about your public statement surrounding campus debates on Boycott Divestment and Sanction (BDS), in which you blame students concerned with Israeli human rights abuses for causing campus antisemitism, without evidence…. conflating criticism of Israeli policy with anti-Jewish hate undermines efforts to combat bigotry.  Moreover, despite your professed concern about addressing hate, your office has been silent in response to an explicit death threat targeting the campus Muslim community.”

A May 4 post on 49ers for Israel Facebook reads, “Divestment does nothing to help anyone. It does not help Palestinians, it does not help the peace process, and it does not help our campus community. What it does do is promote a hateful campaign against Israeli, Jewish, and pro-Israel students and faculty on campus. Divestment is a poisonous piece of legislation that does not belong on our campus or any campus for that matter!”

Barry Saks is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace.

CSULB Divestment Banner, May 10; Photo by Barry Saks

Rev. Michael Eagle, May 6, posing with Mexican Dancers; Photo by Barry Saks

About 50 people, mostly African-Americans and mostly from the congregation of the Grant AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Church Long Beach, at 1129 Alamitos Ave., on Sunday, May 7—heard music, poetry, testimonials and comedy—as part of a program to honor mothers who lost their children to violence.

An outside processional was planned to be included in the program of the tenth annual event, however, with the pouring rain, the Rev. Michael Eagle decided to have the processional around the inside perimeter of the church, which were led Mexican dancers, who the Reverend had invited.

District Director of Congresswoman Maxine Waters, May 7,  presenting Certificate of Special Recognition to Rev. Eagle of Grant AME Church Long Beach; Photo by Barry Saks

Following the processional, Blanca Jimenez, District Director for Congresswoman Maxine Waters, said she was honored to be there representing the Congresswoman and presented to Rev. Eagle a Certificate of Special Recognition to acknowledge the church putting on the event of “Making Mothers Matter.”

Lietenant Commander David Efferson of California Highway Patrol, on May 7, suggesting ways to stay safe when being stopped by a police officer; Photo by Barry Saks

After the church choir sang, Lieutenant Commander David Efferson, of the California Highway Patrol, spoke.  The Lieutenant Commander told audience the CHP, after evaluating its recruitment program, understood the need to recruit more minorities, including women.  He then suggested some safety tips when being stopped by a police officer: be sure to stop at a safe location, turn the lights on in the vehicle, put your hands where they are visible, preferably on the steering wheel, and tell the officer before you do something what you’re about to do.

After Efferson, the church congregation gave the mothers gifts and two mothers told their personal stories of tragedy.

Comedian Jonathan Slocumb was the master of ceremonies, church member Brenda Calhoun read one of her poems, and comedian and impressionist Jay LaMont and jazz vocalist Eloise Laws, who sang and danced, entertained.

Pastor Eddie Jones Jr. at the ‘Mothers Matter Event’ on May 7; Photo by Barry Saks

A participant was Minister Eddie Jones.  He pointed out while he is a minister and pastor, at this church he is only member.  The Minister said, “This (event) is for mothers who lost their kids because of gun and gang violence, suicides, car accidents.  He added one result of these yearly events is the mothers who have lost their children, are able to bond with each other.

Another participating church member was Kisha Frazier, who said she has been going to the church all of her life.  Frazier, who said she was there to greet people, added, “I’m here to give my contribution to the mothers and let them know they have not been forgotten by the church (and) by the community.”