Fresno lawyer Phil Fullerton wrote a Valley Voices commentary June 2 on some of the dark history of his early days in the local legal community. He doesn't regret writing it, but he's concerned that people might come to some wrong conclusions about him. He wrote this note to me last week:
My Bee article on the practice of law was a mea culpa. And I surely have lots to be embarrassed about. There were some nasty things in those days and only by revealing them can we hope to change them. However, at the risk of being an egotist (and partly for my obituary) I thought that I would list some things that I, sometimes with Margaret, did to not excuse what was listed in the article, but rather to perhaps give it a sense of balance on the racism issue. A friend noted to me that we were acting tough as attorneys, but underneath did lots of good. You be the judge.Our law firm was the first major law firm in town to hire a black secretary: Laura Eddings; an Oriental attorney, Ted Slocum (yes, Ted Slocum), and a Hispanic attorney, Val Saldana. I headed a committee at our church to sponsor in the 1970's a Cambodian refugee family of four. I led a trip for seven years to the Kaibito, Arizona, Navajo Indian school for a week with a busload of church teenagers and exchange students. Margaret and I headed first the Bullard and then the District program for AFS, a student exchange program. And we hosted two students for a year from Finland and from Chile, and another Rotary student from New Zealand for three months.
Our firm pro bono incorporated Fresno Metro Ministries and was active in its formation. Since then Margaret and I have been active in many of its activities including Multi-Cultural Clusters.I successfully spearheaded a drive to get a visa for a Sikh priest for the local area on behalf of the Sikh Temple and pushed for and got rights of Sikhs entering the military service to carry out their faith with bears, turbans, etc.
Our firm represented the Counsel for Mexico in the Valley, Carlos Troyo for many years. I made innumerable trips to Mexico on behalf of injured and agrieved documents and undocumented workers and pioneered their rights including the case of Hinojosa v. WCAB which vastly broadened their rights going and coming to work.
Our firm did corporate work for Cesar Chavez, a Hispanic labor leader, and some litigation, including a pro bono case of a Hispanic girl not allowed to graduate from Delano High because she demonstrated (where all the attorneys had coffee with the judge, but I was excluded due to my client).
I have held many office in College Community Church including Moderator, the chief lay office. This church has been at the forefront of civil rights activities including gay rights.
Do these things excuse past wrongs? Of course not, but may instead put them into more of a picture of light and shadow, with a little of both.
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