News and Views from the People's Struggle
Santa Ana, CA – On May 1, nearly 300 people packed into Sasscer Park for International Workers’ Day. The rally and march, which also commemorated the 20th anniversary of the immigrant mega marches, was organized by the Orange County May Day Coalition. The energy in the crowd grew as the emcee of the rally, Abe Quintana from Community Service Organization Orange County (CSO OC) led chants of “ICE out of Santa Ana! ICE out of OC!”
Santa Ana, CA – On the morning of April 29, chants of “Fuera Kingsley!” rang outside the room where the Rent Stabilization Division (RSD) was meeting. Coach Royal mobile home park residents, alongside members from Community Service Organization Orange County (CSO OC), held a press conference before a hearing with the RSD. The residents have been facing abuse and harassment from Kingsley Management Corporation, the owners of the park, for years.
San José, CA – While not as visible as the spike in gasoline prices since Trump began his war on Iran, economic distress is rising as more people lose their access to food benefits, lose their health insurance and lose their homes to foreclosure.
Los Ángeles, CA – En la mañana de abril 20, el movimiento contra los crímenes policiales en Los Ángeles ganó una gran victoria ya que un juez dictó que el caso civil de Joseph Perez contra la Ciudad de Los Ángeles iba a proceder. Docenas – principalmente chicanos, afroamericanos, e incluso coreanos que han sufrido violencia policial y están en las calles luchando en contra – llenaron el Juzgado Stanley Mosk para exigir justicia por Joseph Perez.
Los Angeles, CA – On Friday, May 1, 500 Chicano community members and activists gathered at Mariachi Plaza to rally and march for the 11th annual May Day protest in Boyle Heights. More than 50 different community organizations, unions and local businesses helped put on the event, and were joined by students who walked out of Roosevelt, Garfield and Ed Roybal high schools.
San Jose, CA – On May 1, 1500 people gathered in East San Jose for the annual San Jose May Day march. This year marked 20 years since May Day was revived in the United States with the 2006 immigrant rights megamarches in protest of the racist, anti-immigrant Sensenbrenner bill. This year, the May Day march began at the intersection of Story and King, an historic center of the Chicano community in San Jose and the same starting location as the 2006 march.
San José, CA – On April 29, the League of Filipino Students (LFS) in SJSU held a vigil in front of the Victory Statue to honor the lives of the Toboso 19. The Toboso 19 were murdered by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on April 23 in Barangays Salamanca, Toboso, and Negros Occidental. A total of 653 residents and 168 households were displaced from Barangays Salamanca and San Jose.
Los Angeles, CA — On the morning of April 29, Centro Community Service Organization (CSO) and other organizations announced the 11th Annual May Day rally.
Oakland, CA – On Thursday, April 23, more than 40 people gathered for an art build to prepare for Oakland’s upcoming May 1 rally, march, and resource fair commemorating International Workers’ Day. The event was hosted by Eastside Arts Alliance and organized by Oakland Sin Fronteras, a coalition of over 20 organizations and workers’ unions.
Oakland, CA – On April 25, around 20 community members attended a cookout and rally at Arroyo Viejo Park in East Oakland. The gathering was organized by the Oakland Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression to raise funds for the second independent autopsy of Jalani Lovett, who died in custody at Los Angeles Men’s Central Jail in 2021.
San José, CA – On Tuesday, April 28, the average price of gasoline rose to a four-year record high, up 41% since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran that began February 28. According to the American Automobile Association, the average price of diesel fuel nationwide was $5.46 that day, up 47%, even more than gasoline.
San Jose, CA – On April 22, Earth Day, over a dozen SJSU students led by Students for a Democratic Society disrupted the campus’ newly opened “AI Center for Civic and Social Good.”
Santa Ana, CA – El martes 21 de abril, los residentes del parque de casas móviles Coach Royal exigieron que Kingsley Management Corporation se retire de su parque. La Organización de Servicio Comunitario del Condado de Orange (CSO OC) se unió a ellos para exigir que el Concejo Municipal intervenga ante años de acoso, desalojos injustos, robo de viviendas e intimidación por parte de la corporación. Este abuso resultó en el suicidio de la residente María Pedraza, cuya vivienda estaba en proceso de serle arrebatada después de años de sacrificios para comprarla.
Anaheim, CA – Rosie Camacho approached the Anaheim City Council podium, April 21, clutching a woven doll to her chest. Camacho was Albert Arzola’s mother, and the doll symbolized the spirit of her son.
Santa Ana, CA – On Tuesday, April 21, residents of Coach Royal mobile home park demanded Kingsley Management Corporation get out of their park. Community Service Organization Orange County (CSO OC) joined them to demand the city council intervene against years of harassment, unjust evictions, home theft, and intimidation by the corporation. The abuse resulted in the suicide of resident Maria Pedraza, whose home was in the process of being taken after years of sacrificing to purchase it.
San Jose, CA – On Saturday, April 18, over 20 people gathered in front of the Microsoft office in Mountain View to protest the company’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Palestine, ICE’s deportation operations as well as their development of AI data centers causing ecological destruction.
Eureka, CA – Around 25 protesters gathered outside the Humboldt County Courthouse on April 20 to demand that charges be dropped against student activist Rick Toledo, who is facing repression from Cal Poly Humboldt after a Palestine solidarity protest.
Los Angeles, CA – On the morning of April 20, the movement against police crimes in Los Angeles won a major victory as a judge ruled that Joseph Perez’s civil case against the City of Los Angeles would proceed. Dozens – mainly Chicanos, African Americans and even Koreans who have experienced police violence and are on the ground in Los Angeles fighting back – packed the Stanley Mosk Courthouse to demand justice for Joseph Perez.
In 2020, Joseph Perez was brutally beaten by sheriff deputy gang members using the name “Indians” and who operated out of the City of Industry Sheriff's Station. A deputy gang is made up of police officers who participate in beatings, planting of evidence, and even extrajudicial executions. The deputy gangsters identify each other with a deputy gang tattoo, which they earn by committing crimes in the furtherance of their gang. Some deputy gangs like the “Banditos” out of the East Los Angeles sheriff’s substation and the “Executioners” out of Compton substation are known nationally and even internationally for their crimes. The Industry Indians are well known to those who they terrorize but are one of the newer deputy gangs.
LA County wanted this civil case to be dismissed but Vanessa Perez, the mother of Joseph Perez, and their supporters struck a blow to the county. The judge ruled that the case will move on to trial in September of 2027, a big win and what Vanessa Perez wanted.
Fight Back! interviewed Vanessa Perez on the courthouse steps immediately after the ruling.
Fight Back!: We’re outside the courthouse with Vanessa Perez, can you let us know what happened today?
Vanessa Perez: The judge went ahead and agreed that we will move forward to the next step and we’re coming back to court for Joseph. The next step we’re going to end up getting is the discovery and we will find out what they did to Joseph.
Fight Back!: What you want is that that Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department be put on trial for what they did to Joseph?
Perez: Yes, pretty much. We want the truth.
Fight Back!: What does justice look like to you?
Perez: What we asked the judge today is to allow the case to move forward so that we can understand better what happened to Joseph. Joseph is a person of brown skin with development issues and mental health issues. He is the exact kind of person who is statistically more likely to experience police violence in his lifetime. The justice system should be flexible with people like Joseph so these cases can be heard and the police can be held accountable for abusing vulnerable people like my son. Today we are fighting for Joseph so something might go differently for others like him, so that the next mother who calls 911 seeking help for their child in crisis doesn't have to be afraid that something terrible will happen like what they did to Joseph. We will continue to fight in and out of this courtroom until we see that world become a reality.
Fight Back!: Is there anything else you would want to add?
Perez: We have been trying our best to get justice for Joseph Perez but the system is not built for people like him. Instead of getting physical and mental healthcare that he needed, he spent two years incarcerated for the beating that was done to him while these deputy gang members are beating other kids out here.
Deputy Shawn Merrick and Deputy Adam Nelson are both confirmed Industry Indians deputy gang members. Together with their trainees Jake Adamo and Sabastian Pombal, they beat Joseph Perez. They also beat young teens outside of a Montclair bowling alley where the deputies were arrested and Merrick and Nelson admitted to being part of a deputy gang. These four deputies were later fired. Vincent Rodriguez, Paul Saldana and Abraham Rivera are other deputies who beat Joseph Perez and are still on duty.
Centro CSO – a community organization that fights back against police crimes in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles – has supported Vanessa Perez in her fight for justice. In December of 2025, they made history together by having the first protest outside of the Industry Sheriff’s Station. To stay updated with this fight for justice, follow @JusticeforJosephPerez and @CentroCSO.
#LosAngelesCA #CA #JosephPerez #InjusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #KillerCop #LASD #CentroCSO #CSO
Los Ángeles, CA – Durante las primeras horas de la mañana del 1 de abril, oficiales del Departamento del Sheriff del Este de Los Ángeles le dispararon y mataron a Erik Torres, de 29 años, mientras él atravesaba una crisis de salud mental. Aunque Torres no estaba armado y necesitaba ayuda, los oficiales lo asesinaron.
San Francisco, CA – El miércoles 8 de abril, cientos de residentes del Área de la Bahía se reunieron en la estación de BART de la calle Powell para protestar contra Trump por las amenazas que él hizo el 7 de abril, de que “una civilización entera morirá esta noche” si Irán no reabría el estrecho de Ormuz.