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Activist-Photographer Fred Lonidier’s Photos of 1972 Anti-War Protest Part of Museum of Contemporary Arts Exhibit

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Staff / OB Rag

Way back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, there were very active social movements stirring in San Diego – and across the country. Here in San Diego, from the student-based anti-Vietnam war movement to episodes of local labor struggles, there was always this one guy whom some considered the “movement photographer” on the scene. And it was Fred Lonidier, with his long-lens camera dangling from his neck, always there to record it all with his lens.

There was one particular and historic event in May of 1972 where 88 students and supporters were arrested for peacefully sitting down in front of the local Naval District HQ in protest of the Vietnam war. A good number of anti-war activists from OB were there that day, as OB was a center of anti-war activity in those heady days.   [Read more…]

Save Our Heritage Org. Announces the 2016 Most Endangered List of San Diego’s Historic Places

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Republished with permission from SOHO

Save Our Heritage Organization’s annual Most Endangered List is a sobering assessment of the state of historic preservation in San Diego County. SOHO is releasing the names of 11 threatened properties this month to coincide with the announcement by the National Trust for Historic Preservation of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

SOHO has nearly a half century record of saving important historic buildings, sites, and landscapes through advocacy, public education, and negotiation, but there are always properties at risk. The Most Endangered List, now in its 29th year, raises public awareness about the valuable historic and cultural resources that are currently threatened with demolition or irreparable alteration by development, deterioration, or neglect.   [Read more…]

Police Shootings: Law, Policy, and Accountability

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By William John Cox

From amongst themselves, the people of the United States have empowered some of their members to enforce their laws and to police their society, but things have gone terribly awry.

The police are killing those they are sworn to protect and they themselves are becoming the target of public anger over racial inequality and discrimination. Video images of recent police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota were followed by the mass murder of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, apparently in response to these shootings

The killing of an unarmed mentally-disturbed man last week by El Cajon, California police officers—and resulting civil disturbances—once again raises the question of the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers. The question involves complicated issues of law and policy, but the decision to shoot must often be made in a nanosecond.   [Read more…]

Thinking of Old Badgers in the Autumn of Our Years

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Looking at an autumn scene, with trees changing colors, overlooking a lake of cold water, signifying the last season of a year, I thought of how I’m in the autumn of my years.

And from that I couldn’t help but think about the Class of ’56 of Tucson High, people whom I hold dear, old “Badgers” celebrating a time when we were classmates 60 years ago.

Our hair, like the leaves in the picture of the trees, has thinned and its color has changed as has a host of other things.   [Read more…]

From Mission to Microchip: An Interview with California Labor Historian Fred Glass. Part 2

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In my Labor Day column, I gave a shout out to Fred Glass’s seminal new labor history of California, From Mission to Microchip: A History of the California Labor Movement. As Glass notes in his introduction, his history of working people in the Golden State is much broader than a narrow chronicle of unions…

…To learn more about this story and what about it is most important, I am pleased to present the second installment of my three-part interview with Fred Glass, author, teacher, union member, and long-time Communications Director for the California Federation of Teachers.   [Read more…]

Ramon ‘Chunky’ Sanchez: Singing My Way to Freedom

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Art and life seamlessly merged a few weeks ago at Border X Brewery in Barrio Logan. It was the site of a launch party for Emmy award winning filmmaker Paul Espinosa’s latest project, a full length documentary about San Diego activist and musician Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez. It was a career milestone for both Espinosa, who is probably best known in San Diego for his critically acclaimed production of The Lemon Grove Incident and Chunky whose music has been a voice for social justice for over thirty years.   [Read more…]

From Mission to Microchip: An Interview with California Labor Historian Fred Glass. Part 1

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In my Labor Day column , I gave a shout out to Fred Glass’s seminal new labor history of California, From Mission to Microchip: A History of the California Labor Movement. As Glass notes in his introduction, his history of working people in the Golden State is much broader than a narrow chronicle of unions:

California labor history doesn’t begin and end with union membership. Forming and maintaining unions is one part of a broader story, repeated countless times–in coastal seaports, the Central Valley farms, the southern oilfields, and the Sierra foothills, in financial high-rises and bungalow classrooms—of workers journeys from isolation and powerlessness to community, strength, and hope. Their toolbox contains unions, to be sure, but also lawsuits, legislation, election campaigns, community murals, songs, demonstrations, and a mountain of dedication by ordinary people to shared ideas of fairness and social justice.

To learn more about this story and what about it is most important, I am pleased to present the first installment of my three-part interview with Fred Glass, author, teacher, union member, and long-time Communications Director for the California Federation of Teachers.

  [Read more…]

The Making of an Accidental Feminist

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By Anne Haule / Women’s Museum of California

The year was 1970, I was to graduate with a BA, the Kent State killings had just occurred and campuses all across the nation, including mine, were shut down. Never having to take our last set of final exams, my class was graduated – some of us walking down the aisle to receive our diplomas wearing black arm bands to signify opposition to the war in Vietnam. Having financed my education, my parents congratulated me and quickly let me know that I was now on my own as far as money was concerned.

So, since I had to pay rent, I went about the task of finding a job. I soon learned that my degree in English didn’t matter a damn but my halting ability to crank out 45 words per minute on the typewriter did– a skill I tried to learn in high school since I thought it’d be easier than trigonometry.   [Read more…]

Anti-Bobism Will Be The Death of this Country

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What’s wrong with Bob?

It’s a question I ask myself almost every day, usually after reading the news.

For the last 100 years* it’s been the third most popular name in America (if you’re including Robert), yet we’ve had no President Bobs. Not one.

We’ve had six James’s (the most popular name in the U.S.) and five Johns (the second most popular) elected president even though there’ve only been 50, 717 more Johns than Roberts born in this country over those 100 years. Bobs are solidly in third place in this country but we haven’t sent a single Bob to the White House.   [Read more…]

Black Folks Have Long Memories, Mr. Trump

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By Denise Oliver Velez / Daily Kos

Today, let’s remember the courage of Elizabeth Eckford. While Donald Trump plays games pretending to court black voters (who don’t support him, and almost unanimously loathe and reject him) in order to convince some white folks that he “isn’t so bad,” let’s remind him—and anyone who buys his bullshit—that we black folks have long memories.

The screaming, spittle-flecked people in the crowds drawn to him like flies on shit, his supporters waving confederate flags, shouting racial epithets, and grinning proudly at their own bigoted cleverness evoke a racial déjà vu that some of us participated in, or remember witnessing firsthand on the news, or heard stories about from older kinfolks. We saw Eckford brave an angry crowd alone, separated from the other members of the group who would come to be known as the “Little Rock Nine.” The photograph of a lone Eckford, captured by young journalist Will Counts, will forever remain in my memory and in the minds and souls of all who have seen it.   [Read more…]

Suffragette Leader Inez Milholland – Imagine Someone You Wish You Knew

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Imagine Gloria Steinem, Coretta Scott King, Dolores Huerta, Betty Friedan, Billie Jean King and Malala Yousafzai all rolled into one amazing social justice activist.

Imagine a woman who made a difference in the suffrage movement, the labor movement, the racial equality movement, women’s education, and court reform…

Welcome to the world of INEZ MILHOLLAND – the 27-year-old woman, dressed in a white cape and crown atop a white steed, who led the Suffrage March of 1913 in Washington, D. C. on the day before the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson.   [Read more…]

Laying the Groundwork of Groundwork Books

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By Groundwork Books Collective

At the open house at Groundwork Books during alumni weekend our classic sign got a new layer of paint. A photo was posted online and we learned that the logo was designed by Charyn Segal and Lincoln Cushing.

It was Lincoln Cushing humself* that shared that bit of knowledge. Lincoln, a political poster designer and archivist, was involved in the original Groundwork Books project starting back in 1973.

Wanting to learn more about the groundwork of Groundwork Books (see what I did there mhmm) I reached out to Lincoln and he was happy to share some details.   [Read more…]

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