Fresno’s Black Lives Matter movement loses leader, educator and ‘mother figure’

West Fresno will remember her as a bright light, a tireless warrior, and a loving mother figure.

Maria Else, a community activist, and educator died on June 25 at age 46 of natural medical complications, according to the Fresno County Coroner’s Office.

Else’s death was shocking to her family and friends because while she had diabetes, they said she was an otherwise healthy and very active woman. Her body remained at the hospital this week as doctors examine a cause of death, according to her mother, Ora Bryant.

Black Lives Matter

To the broader Fresno community, Else may be most recognizable as the mother of a Hoover High School student who, on his first day of school in 2016, was placed in a chokehold by a police officer.

The officer repeatedly yelled at her 16-year-old son to “get on the ground” after the teenager jaywalked across a busy intersection near campus. The officer held the student in a chokehold as he struggled to escape the officer’s grasp for over two minutes, video footage shows. Two officers pinned the student to the ground and arrested him for battery on an officer.

Else fought in court for nearly a year to clear her son of the charges.

“And then the judge, for whatever reason, says, ‘you know what, we’re going to throw this out, seal his records,’” said the Rev. Floyd Harris, Jr., Else’s close friend and colleague, who accompanied the family through the trial. “The cop’s still on the street working; there was no conflict resolution. That’s the problem we have. That’s why there is so much tension between African Americans and the police department.”

The incident helped inspire Else into community activism.

“She said it was like she was asleep about certain things, and this happening to her son awakened the activist in her,” said Aline Reed, board chairwoman of the Freedom School, where Else worked. “She was already working with young people, but the brutality put a whole different spin on it.”

In 2019, Else helped organize the Poor People’s Campaign march in Fresno, part of a statewide bus tour to bring attention to the state’s deepening poverty. She then served as campaign manager for Harris’ mayoral run. And in 2020, she was at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement in Fresno, delivering several speeches.

“She was the real deal,” said David Paredes, a fellow west Fresno activist and friend. “She knew exactly what was wrong with this city and always did her best to stand up for the most oppressed, her Black and brown community members.”

A ‘mother figure’ to west Fresno youth

Else was involved in many headline-making movements, but those closest to her said her most profound impact came from educating and mentoring youth. In addition to raising her five children, with ages ranging from 11 to 26, Else uplifted hundreds of west Fresno kids who might have otherwise been left behind.

Else was the president of Fresno’s Freedom School, an urban farming group in west Fresno. The program, whose curriculum she designed, teaches primarily Black kids how to grow fruits and vegetables, make them into award-winning jellies and pizzas, organize farmer’s markets and more. She poured most of her time into the volunteer-run organization.

“She always told me, ‘give me the throw-aways,’” said Harris, who helped found the Freedom School. “’ Give me the ones you want to kick out of Fresno Unified. Give me the ones you want to kick out of Central. Give me the ones that you feel they’re going to go to prison and they’re going to be a nobody. Give me those children because I’m going to make something out of them.’”

Paredes said Else was able to help struggling youth because she could relate.

“She was just a natural educator,” he said. “She was able to connect with them in a way and with a passion that not many people can as a regular teacher.”

Else gave extra love to kids who acted out because she understood that their pain was rooted in neglect, growing up in a world “designed to tear them down,” according to Ivanka Saunders, who worked closely with Else at the Freedom School.

Else’s day job was also dedicated to uplifting west Fresno’s youth. After earning her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in education, she worked as the registrar and a counselor at the YouthBuild Charter High School in west Fresno, which helps kids earn high school diplomas.

“She was a mother figure, sometimes a father figure, to the young men and women in this community,” said Harris. “There’s not a kid in Fresno that came across her path she did not help.”

She previously worked at The Zimmerman, Fresno County’s largest Boys and Girls Club, and the Economic Opportunities Commission’s Local Conservation Corps.

“Three years old and she was running around praying for everybody. She even prayed for my uncle. I asked him, did it help? ‘Yeah I had a headache, and it went away!’” her mother, Ora Bryant, recalled, laughing. “I guess if she could’ve helped the whole world, she would have.”

Maria Else’s legacy in Fresno

Learning of Else’s passing was heartbreaking for her family and friends because her presence was too bright to be gone so quickly.

Kimberly McKoy, a childhood friend, said Else made everyone feel important.

“If you were having a bad day when you came across Maria and she smiled, whatever you were going through would leave because that positive energy you would receive from her would make your day better,” she said.

“I just pray for her family, I pray for her kids,” she added. “She was the rock. She was the one who held everything together, even when we were coming up.”

Keshia Thomas, Else’s best friend since childhood, said Else was “full of love.”

“When you locked eyes with her, the first thing you saw was her smile. And she would say ‘hi.’ And ask you your name and where you’re from, and before you know it, you were cool, you were friends,” Thomas said. “She had the ability to be friends with everyone.”

Floyd Harris III, the reverend’s son, said Else was always “the light in the room.”

“She really motivated me, and now that this happened, she made me even more motivated,” he said. “I was at work when my dad told me. I was like Maria, Maria? That can’t be. She was so committed.”

Else stayed committed until her death. She recorded a Facebook live and her weekly radio program with Harris about Black Lives Matter hours before passing.

“A lot of people felt she worked too hard, and she was doing too much,” Bryant said. “But Maria, you couldn’t stop her. She did that from 5 years old until her death. She’s going to be missed.”

On her show, Else argued the new commission to reform the Fresno Police Department had too many law enforcement representatives.

“How will they really hold them accountable to retrain, redo and redirect funds that normally go to law enforcement to benefit the people?”

In one of her parting comments, Else invited newcomers to the Black Lives Matter movement with open arms.

“In the relay, you have four different legs of the race,” she said. “We would definitely welcome those who are ready to come in and help stand for justice.”

Harris said he called her after the show.

“You’re growing wings now,” he told her. “But I didn’t know that the wings she was growing (that) last night were going to take her to the other side.”

Her family is raising money for her funeral through GoFundMe.

Manuela Tobias is a reporter with The Fresno Bee. This article is part of The California Divide, a collaboration among newsrooms examining income inequity and economic survival in California.

This story has been corrected from an earlier version that incorrectly reported the date of the incident involving Else’s son. The incident happened in 2016.

This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 11:58 AM.