Monthly Archives: October 2016

We’Ced Weighs In: 13th and the Road to Mass Incarceration

October 31, 2016 /

Modern incarceration has become a privatized business due to the 13th Amendment. However, mass incarceration is just a fancy term for a modern day slave trade that produces JCPenney clothing and vanity plates for the DMV. Today’s world activists are being arrested and killed, just as people were in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. If we are to follow Trump’s perfect America, we will fall back into the hatred-filled time of the 60’s.

We’Ced Presents: Meet your Merced Candidates- Anthony Martinez

October 31, 2016 /

I seek to raise the morale of Merced by bringing good deeds and kind acts to all segments of our population. I seek to change the way new parents see this city as a place to raise a family I seek to change the way our youth see this town as an area of ineptitude and misery. Instead, I want the youth to know that the city is not only here for them, but depends on them to become strong men and women of character who must take up the charge of leading Merced into fruition.

We’Ced Presents: Meet your Merced Candidates- Jesse Ornelas

October 31, 2016 /

I have supported invest in youth campaign several times during city council meetings . Where i have voiced my displeasure with the city officials in investing in the incarceration of the youth not their futures.

Crushed Hopes and Empty Chairs: A Letter to Merced Law Enforcement Officials

October 27, 2016 /

I understand officials have lives of their own or may have pre-scheduled events, but notifying the community of your absence would be the respectful thing to do, especially when you claim to want to be transparent with the community.

Q&A: Prop. 57 Offers Promise of ‘Hope and Opportunity’ to CA Youth

October 24, 2016 /

There is nothing “soft” about giving judges the discretion to make decisions. It is fair. Prosecutors have a problem with losing their power, which is why they are so opposed to this bill. Too much power in the hands of prosecutors is not a good thing. Additionally, prosecutors generally do not have any insight when it comes to rehabilitation. If judges have discretion, sentencing would look a lot different because they are not solely focused on convictions like prosecutors are.

Reality in Fiction: Q&A with the Director and Cast of Lupe Bajo el Sol

October 21, 2016 /

This weekend documentary filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes will premiere his film “Lupe Bajo el Sol (Lupe Under the Sun)” to a hometown audience in Merced. Inspired by tales of his own grandfather’s life as a migrant farmworker, the movie tells the story of an aging agricultural worker living in the Central San Joaquin Valley. Merced County residents and real-life couple Daniel and Ana Muratalla star as ‘Lupe’ and his onscreen girlfriend ‘Gloria.

Raising her political voice, even without the right to vote

October 19, 2016 /

Renteria has been working with Students Advocating Law and Education (SALE), a UC Merced group comprised of undocumented students and allies that has been promoting voter registration on campus this fall. A week of registration and voter education events are planned for Oct. 18 through 21, in the lead up to California's deadline on Oct. 24. “Many of the students I talk to know there are undocumented people, but they just don’t know there are undocumented students,” she says. “Once you find a way to relate it to them though, it’s easier for them to understand the importance [of the issue] and pay attention.”

In Stockton, Green Spaces Critical for Health of Young People

October 19, 2016 /

The opportunity for recreation and community cohesiveness is powerful for public safety. By giving our children a place to stay out of trouble and by adding more eyes on the street, parks help keep communities safe and connected. Our organization, Fathers & Families of San Joaquin (FFSJ), has seen the comprehensive benefits parks provide and has become a champion for parks in Stockton and throughout California.

Parents air concerns, hopes for LCAP funding in Merced City School District

October 19, 2016 /

LCFF goals include increasing student test scores and English comprehension, providing clean, safe and secure learning environments and increasing parent participation. Parents are also supposed to have a say in how local schools carry out their LCAP, a goal Corchado and other local advocates say is essential for Merced families. “All the parents we work with have always wanted to participate in their kids education. They’ve always wanted to get involved in the school but they just didn’t know how,” she said.

‘It’s on us’: UC Merced students take control of voter registration efforts

October 14, 2016 /

“It’s really important that the communities who are disenfranchised and have been ignored for so long, turn out and vote. They have power and they can help make a change,” said Brenda Gutierrez, organizing director of Associated Students of University of California, Merced (ASUCM). The 20-year-old university student spent a majority of her summer going door-to-door in Merced County to help spread the word about several ballot measures and campaigns this year. Her work was part of the ASUCM external office “We Vote” program, a statewide initiative across the UC campuses aimed at getting students more involved in elections.