a publication of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center
March 2012 | Vol. 25 Issue 2
San Antonio, Tejas
The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center celebrando 25 a単os, presenta
Lila Downs
Due単a de las fronteras Woman without borders Sunday, March 11, 2012
La Voz de Esperanza March 2012 vol. 25 issue 2
© 2012 Esperanza Peace & Justice Center All Rights Reserved.
Editor
Gloria A. Ramírez
Design
Monica V. Velásquez
Contributors Eliott Benjamin, Jeff Biggers, Susana Hayward, Brenda Norell, Roberto Cintli Rodriguez
La Voz Mail Collective Genevieve, Flor, Sara DeTurk, Juan Diaz, Jo Flores, Marisa González, Amanda Haas, Gloria Hernández, Araceli Herrera, Gina Lee, Ray McDonald, Angie Merla, Michelle C. Myers, Mary Agnes Rodríguez, Juana Hilda Ruiz, Ben Salinas, Ines Valdez, Mariana Vásquez
Esperanza Director Graciela I. Sánchez
Esperanza Staff
Imelda Arismendez, Verónica Castillo, Monica V. Velásquez
Conjunto de Nepantleras
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 2•
-Esperanza Board of Directors-
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Brenda Davis, Araceli Herrera, Rachel Jennings, Amy Kastely, Kamala Platt, Ana Ramírez, Gloria A. Ramírez, Rudy Rosales, Nadine Saliba, Graciela Sánchez • We advocate for a wide variety of social, economic & environmental justice issues. • Opinions expressed in La Voz are not necessarily those of the Esperanza Center.
La Voz de Esperanza
is a publication of The Esperanza Peace & Justice Center 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212 (on the corner of Evergreen Street)
210.228.0201 • fax 210.228.0000 www.esperanzacenter.org Inquiries/Articles can be sent to:
lavoz@esperanzacenter.org Articles due by the 8th of each month Policy Statements
* We ask that articles be visionary, progressive, instructive & thoughtful. Submissions must be literate & critical; not sexist, racist, homophobic, violent, or oppressive & may be edited for length. * All letters in response to Esperanza activities or articles in La Voz will be considered for publication. Letters with intent to slander individuals or groups will not be published. The Esperanza Center is funded in part by the TCA, Alice Kleberg Reynolds Fdn, Astraea Lesbian Fdn for Justice, the NEA, theFund, The Kerry Lobel & Marta Drury Fund of Horizon’s Fdn, Coyote Phoenix, Movement Strategy Center Fund, Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Foundation y nuestra buena gente.
In 2004,
we were able to lure the soulful singer/composer, Lila Downs to San Antonio scoring a major coup. The concert at the Plaza Guadalupe was her only Texas appearance on her U.S. One Blood Tour. Lila remarked that she had never performed for such a respectful audience. Everyone sat in wonder watching and listening to this amazing performer who even transformed herself into an iguana on the concert floor for La Iguana. In 2009 for the Shake Away Tour, we were able to put San Antonio on the touring map bringing her to the Sunken Gardens Theater where we had a mercadito set up as part of the ambiente that evening. Lila’s third concert here, Dueña de la frontera, Woman without Borders kicks off the Esperanza’s celebrations of our 25th year. She is the first performer we will bring back this year that exemplifies the work that Esperanza does in trying to concientizar gente, bringing awareness to people about the different social justice, cultural and environmental issues facing us in our cities, nations and in the planet that we all reside in together. Lila exemplifies in her singing what the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center tries to do daily–mixing arte, politica, lengua y cultura to create positive social change locally and globally. Lila usa su canto como puente juntando gente de diferentes razas, lenguas, culturas y también, causas politicas. She offers her voice and back as a bridge, bringing together communities from different ethnicities; different languages and cultures, and different social causes. Además, she blends the ancient, the native and the new to get her social messages or musical aesthetic across to her audience. Y canta con todo su corazón y alma. She puts her heart and soul into all her music and socially inspired poetic lyrics. Having been to Oaxaca often, I was elated to learn that this great singer was born of an indigenous Oaxacan mother and an American father. Did she qualify as a Chicana? Maybe not, but she is in that genre of great female artists from Mexico that bring to their art not only a mixture of cultures but also a concern for social justice issues. In this genre are performers like Chavela Vargas (originally from Costa Rica), cabaret performer Astrid Haddad (Lebanese Mexican), Mexican blues singer Betsy Pecanins (Mexican & American– from Arizona), Liliana Felipe (originally from Argentina) y muchas mas. A quick review of Lila’s albums since her first concert in San Antonio illustrates the breadth of her cultural activism. Beginning with música tradicional de Oaxaca in 1999 with La Sandunga, to Tree of Life/Árbol de Vida in 2000 dedicated to her mother’s people, the Cloud People, with songs in her mother’s indigenous tongue, Lila began to hone a style that cannot be imitated. It comes from the depths of her heritage and being, totally authentic in form, word and style. In her 2001 CD, Border/La Linea she focused on Mexican migrants and in Una Sangre/One Blood in 2004 she sang about mujeres like Digna Ochoa, La Malinche, Joan of Arc and Mother Jones who dedicated their lives to combating oppression in their comunidad. In 2006, with the album Cantina: Entre Copa y Copa she flirted with the Tejano/Mexican style reminiscent of Lydia Mendoza and in 2008 with Shake Away, she injected a mix of cumbias, folk songs, rancheras, blues, and rock that was evenly spread with American and Latino influences including a duet with the great Mercedes Sosa. And that now brings us to the Pecados y Milagros tour. What a great way to celebrate Women’s History Month having Lila Downs in San Antonio! And don’t forget to come out to the 22nd Annual International Woman’s Day March on Saturday, March 3rd (see back page). Peruse this issue carefully for the many offerings for mujeres this month and there is still so much more so ¡ojo!, keep an eye out for more! ATTENTION VOZ READERS: If you have a correction you want to make on your mailing label please send it in to lavoz@esperanzacenter.org. If you do not wish to continue on the mailing list for whatever reason please notify us as well. La Voz is provided as a courtesy to people on the mailing list of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. The subscription rate is $35 per year. The cost of producing and mailing La Voz has substantially increased and we need your help to keep it afloat. To help, send in your subscriptions, sign up as a monthly donor, or send in a donation to the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. Thank you. -GAR VOZ VISION STATEMENT: La Voz de Esperanza speaks for many individual, progressive voices who are gente-based, multi-visioned and milagro-bound. We are diverse survivors of materialism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, classism, violence, earth-damage, speciesism and cultural and political oppression. We are recapturing the powers of alliance, activism and healthy conflict in order to achieve interdependent economic/ spiritual healing and fuerza. La Voz is a resource for peace, justice, and human rights, providing a forum for criticism, information, education, humor and other creative works. La Voz provokes bold actions in response to local and global problems, with the knowledge that the many risks we take for the earth, our body, and the dignity of all people will result in profound change for the seven generations to come.
Lila Downs
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repare to cry, then dance. Audiences always do when Lila Downs pours out her corazón on stage and she will do just that right here in San Antonio on Sunday, March 11th at Laurie Auditorium on the Trinity University Campus beginning at 6 pm.
by Susana Hayward
concert is being offered. Those interested can call the Esperanza Center at 210.228.0201 for details. A lifelong activist and feminist, Downs sees her role as more than a singer and composer: “As an artist my responsibility is to tune into something that maybe sometimes doesn’t come with an explanation,” she said. “It’s like the great writer Octavio Paz said, ‘there’s a need for poetry in desperate situations.’” In Pecados y Milagros, Downs tapped into Mexico’s “desperate” condition as the southern neighbor undergoes a chilling “war” among drug cartels, police and the military, financed in great part by the United States. More than 50,000 people have been killed since the conservative administration of President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006. “We’ve been very shocked, but in two-three years, cynicism starts to take over. It’s a mechanism to either not let yourself be touched by it or it’s because of fear,” she commented. This human condition, trying to find refuge from terror, led her to find inspiration for her album’s title and in particular the song, “Reina del Inframundo” (Queen of the Underworld), about a fallen beauty queen “buried six feet under” after getting involved with organized crime. “It’s why I was attracted to religious symbolism. As Mexican people, we’ve had a fascinating relationship with saints, spirits of another world, and I find that it’s the place where we can speak of our sins. It’s certainly where the title came from: the killings, the notion of morality, the questioning of what is right,’’ she remarked. Downs said she was also moved by the evolution of the so-called ex-votos, from the Latin for votive offerings (ex voto suscepto, or “vow made”), an inspiration for her music that she said the media doesn’t ask her about very often. Historically in Mexico, these are paintings on tin portraying anything from pleas to survive illness to gratitude for the miracle of survival, be it from sickness, a natural disaster, or, comically, not getting caught cheating on a spouse. And now
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 2•
Making Sense of Killings, God and Spirits in Sins and Miracles
The Mexican-American singer will yank your heart out in one song and make it soar with bliss the next. Up there, from the stage, Downs can tell what you’re feeling; she can discern the mood of a nation, a city –by the faces in the audience. While on tour for her latest album, Pecados y Milagros, (Sins and Miracles), in Monterrey, Mexico, the songs she belted out about sin and salvation in a country suffering from a brutal drug war unleashed a torrent of pain, muffled by fear and loss. “In Monterrey, I noticed people crying,” she said. “It’s a catharsis for something that’s sad but can’t be expressed. That’s the beauty of music.” That’s certainly the beauty of her music, eclectic and traditional Mexican folklore, ballads, corridos, pop and hip-hop that she interprets with a passionate mesh of musical genres that bridge nations. Along these lines, Esperanza is sponsoring her third concert in San Antonio, Dueña de Las Fronteras, Woman Without Borders, to launch celebrations for our 25th anniversary. “I’m so happy to return to San Antonio, and I admire Esperanza tremendously because they’ve done so much for society’s understanding of complex issues, about women, Latinos, immigrants,” Downs noted in a telephone interview. “Community organizations are the future; they make a community democratic.” Indeed, the organization’s 25 year history that includes a lawsuit against the City of San Antonio won by the Esperanza Center in federal court in 2001 attests to that. The two prior concerts in 2004 at the Guadalupe Plaza and in 2009 at the Sunken Garden were free and introduced the Oaxacan-born singer to the city at a time when she was relatively unknown. Now, Lila Downs is internationally famous and the production will be much more costly. Still, the Esperanza’s commitment to keeping our programs accessible to all will hold prices down starting at $12 ranging to $27 for the best spots in the 2700 seat Laurie Auditorium. To help offset the costs of this concert, a convivio with Lila Downs after the
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these paintings can conjure up anything from angst over unrequited gay love, a wounding in a drug battle, surviving thirst in the Arizona desert or drowning on the Rio Grande. “I just love how we have this dialogue with God and how historically it has changed to represent the times we live in. They really evoke the border. They’re about invisible and visible characters,” said Downs. “We’re constantly changing the rules.” With the recent adoption of her son Benito with her longtime musical partner Paul Cohen, Downs added that she’s also optimistic about the future, because, as the Mexican saying goes, no hay mal que dure 100 años. (No evil can last Palomo del Comalito 100 years). She Letra y Música: Lila Downs/Paul Cohen hopes it doesn’t take 100 years. “I don’t know if things will be getting better or worse,” noted Downs, who divides her time between Mexico and New York, where she just signed a contract with Sony Records. “As an artist I’m sensitive to what is happening in my country, and I’m learning constantly from my songs.“I hope people come and listen.” Do come and offer up your heart to La dueña de las fronteras, A woman without borders, Lila Downs. v
–Vi Milagros vi Milagros de esta tierra De mujeres que sus manos alimentan La qu invi la que invita aunque nada tenga y pelea por las cosas que si son buenas
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 2•
Lila Downs
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Tickets Available Now: $12, $17, $22 and $27 Laurie Auditorium Box Office M-F 10am-4pm, 210.999.8119 or www.ticketmaster.com, 1.800.745.3000 (extra charges apply) A few tickets are also available at Esperanza, 210.228.0201
l Centro Esperanza de Paz y Justicia está orgulloso de presentar de nuevo – a la querida cantante-compositora, Lila Downs. La Latina de 43 años adorna la escena este año gracias
al miembro más nuevo de su familia –su inspiración y bendicion…Benito Dxuladi. Lila y su compañero/marido Paul Cohen adoptaron a Benito en 2010. Con aquella misma promesa de esperanza y amor que él le ha dado a ella nos trae el mismo cariño aqui en San Antonio. Esta es la tercera visita de Lila a la ciudad de San Antonio. La parada en San Antonio es parte de su gira internacional del álbum Pecados y Milagros y empieza la celebración de 25 años del Centro Esperanza que celebramos en 2012. Su concierto en San Antonio titulado, Lila Downs: Dueña de las Fronteras/Woman Without Borders será realizado en Trinity University en el Auditorio Laurie el 11 de marzo. Las puertas se abrirán al público a las 5 pm y el concierto esta programado para las 6 pm. Antes de su actuación en escena, habrá una compilación de preespectáculo honoraria que representa la trayectoria acertada de 25 años del Centro Esperanza de Paz y Justicia. Los precios de boletos se extenderán de $12$27. Puede comprar boletes en la pagina de web: www.ticketmaster.com o en la taquilla de Laurie Auditorium, 210.999.8119. También tendremos un Convivio con Lila Downs después del concierto con patrocinadores del concierto que nos quieren ayudar con los costos de la producción. Usted puede acompañarnos como patrocinador/a del convivio con la gran Lila Downs llamando al Centro de Esperanza 210.228.0201 por los detalles. Vengan a iniciar nuestra celebración de 25 años y no se pierdan de éste espectáculo con Lila Downs, una fuerza en movimiento. v
Fandangeando con Mujeres Jaraneras Xochi Flores, from the Los Angeles group, Cambalache and Wendy Cao Romero & Raquel Palacios Vega from the Veracruz, Mx group, Los Utrera will share with the San Antonio community their views and interpetations of Son Jarocho, a traditionally male-dominated musical tradition with roots in the south of Veracruz, México and influenced by indigenous, African, Spanish and Arabic culturas spanning over 500 years.
UTSA Women’s Studies Institute presents
Redefining Gender Roles in Son Jarocho Folk Tradition Xochi, Wendy & Raquel will lead a discussion & demonstration
Esperanza Peace & Justice Center presents
Ernesto Yerena Montejano
Jaraneras celebrating Women’s History Month
a performance by las jaraneras, Xochi, Wendy and Raquel playing and dancing in the musical tradition of son jarocho of Veracruz
Thursday, March 29th
Saturday, March 31st
4pm. UTSA Main Campus, University Center Bexar Room, UC 1.102 For more info: 210.458.6277
8pm, Esperanza, 922 San Pedro For more info: 210.228-0201 Both events are free and open to the public
Legends of Texas
Border Music Series Tuesday, March 20th
Trinity University, 715 Stadium Dr., San Antonio, TX 4pm - Ruth Taylor Recital Hall Juan Tejeda, guest scholar, lectures on Xicanismo and Tejano/ Conjunto Music: Local Music, Global Identity and Vision 7:30pm- Laurie Auditorium Juan Tejeda will introduce in concert, Legends of Texas Border Music honoree
Eva Ybarra
conjunto accordionist
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 2•
Trinity University’s
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Which is Worse:
War or “Everything Else”?
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LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 2•
by Elliot Benjamin
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here seems to be a steady controversy in some In a Ron Paul America, there would be no environmental Progressive and Occupy circles in regard to the relative protection, no Social Security, no Medicaid or Medicare, degree of the evil of war compared to “everything no help for the poor, no public education, no civil rights else” (see comments in articles at the Common laws, no anti-discrimination law, no Americans with Dreams website: www.commondreams.org). This Disabilities Act, no laws insuring the safety of food or drugs controversy is currently playing itself out in the Republican primary or consumer products, no workers’ rights... In Ron Paul’s bid of Ron Paul, as an alternative to the deep disappointments that America, if you weren’t prudent enough or wealthy enough many Progressives feel toward Obama, which I certainly share to buy private insurance—and the exact policy of what’s (Benjamin, La Voz 2011). However, for most of these Progressives ailing you now—you find a charity or die. who advocate Ron Paul as the only candidate who is opposed to Of course this is all pure philosophy, as the chance of an Obama’s war escalations and targeted assassinations by drones election featuring Obama vs. Paul is virtually nonexistent. But with the unintended killing of many innocent civilians including the philosophical implications of this controversy are worth children, there are no blind spots to the extreme disregard that considering to me, if for no other reason than to openly voice Paul has for anything resembling compassion for people in my deep feeling of disgust at the murderous actions of our war need of human services. Paul’s disregard of and advocacy to president who received the Nobel Peace Prize. But what is even significantly reduce or eliminate human service programs includes more disgusting to me is that I will probably feel the necessity of the dismantling of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and voting for Obama again, based upon the Republican alternative I programs for children in poverty, the elderly, and people with will have in November—which appears more and more likely to mental disturbances. Rather, the argument as I understand it, speaks be Romney. I’ve been criticized for my “conservative” Progressive to the primary evil of Obama’s war escalations, drone attacks, stance of being too “realistic” and not going third party (see Swift, and targeted assassinations in a growing number of countries, La Voz 2012), but this is what feels right to me. fueling overwhelming universal hatred of the United States and As much as I advocate for humanistic Progressive political the making of numerous additional terrorists. The Progressives ideals (Benjamin, La Voz 2012), when it comes to voting, I just who are willing to sacrifice all the domestic damage that Ron Paul cannot see contributing to something that I believe is even worse would do are choosing their poison, and they believe that Paul’s than Obama, even if it would spur on a Progressive backlash that non-military ideals, regardless of his reasons, is worth putting up is very much needed, as some Progressives urge (see comments with the extremes of his Libertarian principles. on the Common Dreams articles at their website). The resulting I find myself going back and forth in this philosophical dilemma damage to the country and the of which is worse: war or world and to human beings in “everything else”? At times, need is just too much for me to as repugnant as all of Paul’s fathom, and I therefore accept extreme capitalist ideas are to the title of “Conservative me, I find myself becoming Progressive.” increasingly sympathetic But getting back to the to the viewpoint of the philosophical Obama vs. Paul Progressives who believe that dilemma and which is worse: Obama is actually a worse war or “everything else,” evil. It certainly can be argued Katha Pollitt expresses this that it is a worse evil to kill conflict eloquently, and her unintended innocent civilians conclusion is one that I agree including children with the CODEPINK crashing Assoc. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Systems Int’l conference - 2/8/12 with: pressing of a computer button I, too, would love to see the end of the “war on drugs,” and thousands of miles away, ordered by the President of the United our other wars. I, too, am shocked by the curtailment of our States without any safeguards or democratic process in making civil liberties in pursuit of the “war on terror,” most recently the numerous assassination decisions. But then again the evils of a provision of the NDAA permitting the indefinite detention, without Ron Paul presidency is not to be discounted. Katha Pollitt in a charge, of US citizens suspected of involvement in terrorism. But recent article in The Nation describes these evils impactfully: . . . continued on p. 11
Arizona’s ‘banned’ Mexican American books
First, the Tucson school district came for the Mexican American studies program.
Now, it’s come for its books.
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n the aftermath of the suspension of the Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican American studies department, TUSD has confiscated and continues to confiscate MAS teaching materials. Besides artwork and posters etc, that includes books. This move came in response to an unconstitutional measure, HB 2281, which was specifically created to dismantle the highly successful MASTUSD department. Amid a massive backlash, TUSD officials have backpedaled, claiming that the confiscation of the books that took place after the 10 January MAS suspension does not constitute a banned books list. While TUSD claims that only seven book titles were ordered boxed and carried off, the fact is that the confiscation – in some cases, in front of the students – involved more than the seven titles. But the seven books that are “not banned” (but merely “confiscated”) are:
The MAS-TUSD curriculum comprises some 50 books. All have been or are being removed or confiscated from every classroom; teachers are being told to turn in the books that have not been “confiscated”. This might strike the average person as odd: it’s as if the presence of these books inside classrooms constitutes a distraction or bad influence. Apparently, students should not be able to even see those books in the classrooms. Officially, the 50 books (listed at the end of the independent Cambium report, http://www.scribd.com/doc/58025928/TUSDethnic-studies-audit, which actually gave the MAS-TUSD program a big thumbs up and recommended that it be expanded) are not banned. But it could be said that their apparent status is now that of “undocumented books”. As a result of the banning of the MAS program, there has been much unrest. One action involved a walkout and march
from Cholla High School to the TUSD headquarters, a distance of five miles. When the marchers reached TUSD headquarters, they were met by several bureaucrats, including administrator, Lupita Garcia, an opponent of the MAS program who oversees the district’s ethnic studies programs. She unabashedly told the students that racism has nothing to do with color and that Mexico is where Mexican studies is taught, not America! This was, of course, inaccurate: what was suspended by HB 2281 was Mexican American studies, not
appears to be that the state and the district do not want students to study Mexican American studies, but they do want them to clean toilets Mexican studies. When students asked why European studies has not been banned, nor any other area studies discipline, the administrators had no response. And regarding the issue of this being America, apparently this administrator believes that Mexican Americans don’t belong in America (as she presumably meant the United States). In a development typical of Arizona, the students who walked out on Thursday, protesting the elimination of the district’s Mexican American studies program, have – without a hearing – been directed to perform janitorial duties this Saturday: an amazing message, right out of Newt Gingrich’s playbook (he has been campaigning in the GOP presidential nomination . . . continued on p. 10
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 2•
•Critical Race Theory, by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic •500 Years of Chicano History In Pictures, edited by Elizabeth Martinez •Message to Aztlán, by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales •Chicano! The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement, by F Arturo Rosales •Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, by Rodolfo Acuña •Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire *Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, by Bill Bigelow
by Roberto Cintli Rodriguez
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No History Is Illegal: Teach-Ins Target Arizona’s Mexican American Studies Ban, As National Organizations Demand by Jeff Biggers Return of Banished Books
F
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 2•
rom the high plains of Wyoming to the urban centers of Atlanta, Chicago and New York City, hundreds of schools launched a historic teach-in movement today to incorporate lesson plans from the banished Mexican American Studies program in Tucson in their own classrooms.
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Organized by the Teacher Activist Groups and joined by Rethinking Schools and other educational networks, the monthlong “No History is Illegal” initiative comes on the heels of an unusually strong statement by over two dozen of the nation’s largest publishing, literary and education organizations that calls on the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) and Arizona state education officials to recognize First Amendment rights and “return all books to classrooms and remove all restrictions on ideas that can be addressed in class.” Thousands of detained books remain behind lock and key in the school district’s warehouse like broken chairs and desks and school bus parts, despite the fact that the TUSD library catalog shows that there are less than 2-3 copies of several of the removed Mexican American Studies textbooks in the entire school district, which serves more than 55,000 students. In outrage at the detained books, nearly 15,000 people have also signed a petition started by former Mexican American Studies teacher Norma Gonzalez, which calls on the Tucson school district to “immediately remove these books from their ‘district storage facility’ and make them available in each school’s library. Knowledge cannot be boxed off and carried away from students who want to learn!” Signed by representatives of the Association of American Publishers, American Association of University Professors, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Council for the Social Studies, National Council of Teachers of English, and the PEN American Center, among other national groups, the censorship statement yesterday also calls out the troubling doublespeak by Tucson Unified School District administrators like Superintendent John Pedicone, who declared the drastic confiscation of textbooks and curriculum materials in front of children and subsequent detainment in locked storage units is not a ban. School officials have insisted that the books haven’t been banned because they are still available in school libraries. It is irrelevant that the books are available in the library — or at the local bookstore. School officials have removed materials from the
curriculum, effectively banning them from certain classes, solely because of their content and the messages they contain. The effort to “prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, [or] religion” is the essence of censorship, whether the impact results in removal of all the books in a classroom, seven books, or only one. The American Library Association issued a similar denouncement of Tucson’s extraordinary book banishment and forced removals last week. A larger list of other unacceptable titles, including numerous Native American authors, from the banished Mexican American Studies literature and history curricula can be found here. Along with curriculum lists, videos and suggested lesson plans, the “No History is Illegal” website includes links to other
Now it is clear what the agenda was truly about — banning books, censoring teachers, rolling back the decades of civil rights and equality all to appease the desires of egocentric politicians. actions around the country. On Saturday, for example, educators and civil rights activists in Atlanta, Georgia are holding a special “teach-in on Tucson” at Georgia State University. “The national outpouring of support has been amazing and this website, this movement of solidarity, is proof of this,” said former Mexican American Studies literature teacher Curtis Acosta. “It is humbling to think of the hard work that our friends across the country have produced to keep our story and program alive in the minds and hearts of so many people. I believe the tide is turning due to the deplorable enforcement of the law by our district. Now it is clear what the agenda was truly about — banning books, censoring teachers, rolling back the decades of civil rights and equality all to appease the desires of egocentric politicians. The
love and respect from fellow educators and citizens will lift the hearts of our students during these dark days. Now they will know that they are not alone.” February 1st, of course, also kicks off Black History Month, which pioneering historian Carter Woodson launched in West Virginia more than 80 years ago to address “distortions” and “deletions” in the historical record. Only days away from Arizona’s centennial celebrations on February 14th, residents in the beleaguered state, and particularly in Tucson, have once again been reminded of Woodson’s admonition to guard against the “danger of being exterminated” through historicide or the removal of certain histories from the national experience. In her State of the Union last month, California-transplanted
Gov. Jan Brewer failed to even mention a single Native American, Mexican American or African American in her round-up of pioneers in the state’s history. In 1895, in fact, African American innovator Henry Flipper made history in Nogales, Arizona, when he became the first black editor of a non-black-owned newspaper in the nation. In the following spring, Flipper published a historical booklet, Did a Negro Discover Arizona and New Mexico, that provided some of the first translations of Spanish documents on the role of Moroccan slave and scout Esteban, who most historians consider to be the first non-native Favianna Rodriguez to enter present-day Arizona in 1539, at the head of a Spanish expedition. “As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. warned us,” the “No History is Illegal” website notes, “‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ What is happening in Arizona is not only a threat to Mexican American Studies, it is a threat to our right to teach the experiences of all people of color, LGBT people, poor and working people, the undocumented, people with disabilities and all those who are least powerful in this country. Our history is not illegal.” - February 1, 2012 Bio: Jeff Biggers is the American Book Award author of Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland (Nation/ Basic Books). Visit: www.jeffbiggers.com This article was previously published by AlterNet.
ast week important works of literature, history and philosophy by world-renowned writers and scholars such as Leslie Marmon Silko, Sherman Alexie, Ofelia Zepeda, Paulo Freire, Rodolfo Acuña, Carmen Tafolla and others were removed from classrooms and some libraries in the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD). The perspectives and insights about diverse ethnic, racial and gender communities contained in these works as well as the penetrating visions of human community they offer contribute in Arizona, as they do elsewhere, to cultivating in students appreciation for difference and diversity, knowledge of wide-ranging ideas and fearlessness in engaging with the ideas of others. The TUSD Board’s action in banning and removing these works, in contrast, promotes fear and suspicion about select ethnic and racial groups and fear of free and democratic discussion and debate. Such attitudes have no place in the public school system that serves ALL children. The Tucson Unified School District in compliance with the State of Arizona Revised Statutes Sections 15-111 and 15-112 (formerly House Bill 2281 that was signed into law May 11, 2010) eliminated its Mexican American Studies (MAS)
Program, resulting in the subsequent removal of textbooks and books on the MAS Program Reading List. Some of the banned and removed books are allowed in other classrooms, but not ethnic studies, making this a highly discriminatory action about who gets to teach. Why is a Mexican American Studies teacher prevented from teaching The Tempest but an English teacher is not? The removal of books amounts to censorship that undermines the United States’ commitment to democracy. While the Board argues that the new legislation was intended to promote unity, the effect is to reject multiculturalism and pave a path back to Jim Crow practices of segregation and racism where the culture and values of ethnic groups go unrecognized in public education. Research has shown that multicultural education that addresses the history and identity of ethnic minorities in fact closes the achievement gap between white students and students of color. Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS), a national professional association of Chicanas, Latinas, Native American and Indigenous women, calls on the Tucson Unified School District Board to reverse the decision to ban books from Tucson schools. MALCS encourages efforts to intervene through continued on p. 10
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 2•
JANUARY 30, 2012 | From the Executive Committee of MALCS
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Houston writers and activists organize a caravan of
Librotraficantes to
smuggle contraband books back into Arizona! HOUSTON, TEXAS - Local literary nonprofit Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say is organizing The Librotraficantes Banned Book Caravan from Houston, Texas to Tucson, Arizona leaving Houston on Monday, March 12 and culminating in Tucson, Arizona Saturday, March 17. The caravan will be filled with authors and activists who will be taking banned books back into Arizona, to give to students. The bus will include banned authors, new authors, as well as concerned advocates of First Amendment rights of Equal Protection and Freedom of Speech. The Caravan will be making stops in Texas, New Mexico, and, of course, Arizona. Banned writers have embraced the caravan and will participate along the route, including Mac Arthur Genius recipient Sandra Cisneros, who kicked off our fundraising efforts by making a generous donation; Guggenheim Fellow Dagoberto Gilb, whose work recently appeared in the New Yorker and Harpers; and best selling author Luis Alberto Urrea, who was the first to enthusiastically support the project through Twitter.
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 2•
The caravan is intended to:
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* Raise awareness of the suspension of the MexicanAmerican Studies Program and the removal of banned books. * Promote banned authors and their contributions to American Literature, Non-Fiction and Poetry. *Celebrate diversity: Children of the American Dream must unite to preserve the civil rights of all Americans.
by Brenda Norrell
San Antonio Librotraficante Stop Tuesday, March 13 4pm - Press Conference at the Alamo. 7pm - Librotraficante Banned Book Bash y mas! Sandra Cisneros, Luis Alberto Urrea, Carmen Tafolla, Barbara Renaud Gonzalez, Xavier Garza y mas! Quantum Demographics: Black and Brown Unity
Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center 1300 Guadalupe St. San Antonio, TX
Founded in 1998, Nuestra Palabra has gone from the party hall of Chapultepec Restaurant to Exhibit Hall F of the George R. Brown Convention Center. Tony Diaz of Nuestra Palabra notes, “Today, the entire city is our forum. When we began, we were told that there was not an audience for Latino literature. We are thrilled to say that today the largest book events in Houston are Latino events. We are proud to bring you Houston’s contribution to the Latino Literary Renaissance.” For more: www.Librotraficante.com | www.NuestraPalabra.org or contact Tony Diaz at 713-867-8943 or aztecmuse @aol.com This article can be found at http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com
MALCS statement... cont’d from pg 9
the use of non-violent tactics in order to guarantee democracy and freedom of expression. Send letters and email messages supporting Arizona State Rep. Sally Gonzales’ HB 2654 that would repeal the ban on ethnic studies in Arizona: Sgonzales@azleg.gov Sign the petition on The National Black Education Agenda at: signon.org/sign/repeal-the-arizona-government Work to pass resolutions in your associations and organizations opposing the elimination of ethnic studies and censorship of Latin@ faculty and students in Arizona. Write to the Educational Opportunities Section of the U.S. Department of Civil Rights requesting that they investigate Arizona state superintendent of public instruction John Huppenthal, who has disregarded independent consultant reports on the value of the Mexican American Studies Program in Tucson. E-mail: education@usdoj.gov Or call (202) 514-4092 or 1-877-292-3804 (tollfree). All efforts are essential.
Arizona’s banned books... cont’d from pg 7
race, proposing the idea that students should be hired as janitors to teach them a work ethic). Apparently, TUSD administrators are paying attention. The further message of this punishment, then, appears to be that the state and the district do not want students to study Mexican American studies, but they do want them to clean toilets. Perhaps, Gingrich should consider relocating to Arizona, where his message is being fully embraced. While the issue of which books are banned, or “not banned” but confiscated, continues to be sorted out, more unrest can be expected. Widespread condemnation has been swift – to the point that TUSD officials are not only claiming that they do not have a banned books list but even that they have not eliminated MAS; they are simply in the process of “improving” it. - January 19, 2012 Bio: Roberto Cintli Rodríguez, a professor at the University of Arizona, Tucson was among those arrested for protesting Arizona law HB 2281. He blogs as Dr Cintli. This article was previously published on guardian.co.uk.
Women’s History Month This March, UTSA Women’s Studies Institute will celebrate National Women’s History Month — for the 26th year in a row. A small sample of the great offerings follow. For a complete schedule check: utsawomensstudiesinstitute. wordpress.com/womens-history-month-2012
March 1: Women’s History Month Opening Program & Reception
When Life meets Light
a San Antonio and Detroit Artist Exhibition Saturday, March 31st 2012 @ 1-5pm Carver Branch Library 3350 E. Commerce St, San Antonio, TX 78220 The ability to be able to create in the midst of struggle says a lot about the strength that people are not aware that they have or can cultivate... –Cambia Smith, exhibit curator, a self-taught professional artist from The Motor City, * Part 2 to the Exhibit will be at the Eclectic UndGrd Studios in Detroit in Mid July-August
3-5 pm Main Campus, Business Bld, BB 2.06.04 Keynote Speaker, Dr. Linda Warner, “Seven Generations” Talks about the preservation of indigenous knowledge systems
10:00 a.m., Main Campus, MH 2.02.10 Georgina Guzman discusses the ways US corporations have gotten rich at the cost of the lives of Mexican women and children.
March 8: Mujeres de su palabra: Indigenous Women and the Spoken Word
3 p.m., Downtown Campus Sandra Cisneros and indigenous poets, María Roselia Jiménez Pérez & Celerina Patricia Sanchez Santiago will read & discuss their experiences at a recent Macondo-Oaxaca encuentro .
March 19: SB 1070
6:30 p.m., Main Campus, MB 1.204 Fabiola Torralba, Marisa Gonzales, Yasmina Codina, Genevieve Gonzales, Daisy Hernandez & Giomara Bazaldua Talk about Movimiento Cihuatl as a platform to discuss movement as a vehicle for social change focusing on SB 1070
March 22: Changing the Game: Black Feminist Educators from Slavery to Hip Hop
9:30 a.m., Main Campus, MH 3.03.18 & 1 1:30 a.m., Downtown, DB 3.208 Paula Groves Price discusses African American education from slavery to hip hop pedagogy.
Which is worse... cont’d from pg 6
these are a handful of cherries on a blighted tree. For Pollitt, and for me, Ron Paul is a “blighted tree” with a few cherries. Admittedly the cherries are very tempting, as the evil of war and drone assassinations and the killing of innocent children is an unspeakable evil, and it cannot be denied that Ron Paul is the only candidate in either major party that speaks out against these evils. But I have to conclude that “everything else” is a worse evil. I believe it is more “progressive” to work toward mobilizing grass roots movements such as Code Pink (www.codepink.org) to promote opposition to Obama’s military escalations and drone attack assassinations and unintended killings of innocent people that are creating universal hatred of the United States and creating many more terrorists. Admittedly this feels like a losing battle to me, as Obama is able to argue that he is curtailing military expenditures, and saving American lives and reducing costs by using drones. But I have no good choices, and at this point in time I choose to do what I can to work towards peace while avoiding what I believe is the worst evil: “everything else.” Bio: Elliot Benjamin, PhD from Maine is a writer, musician, philosopher, mathemematician, and teacher. References for this article are available from lavoz@esperanzacenter.org
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 2•
The 2012 Women’s Advocate of the Year, Mary Agnes Rodriguez, will be honored at the opening on March 1st
March 5: Legacies of Globalization: Labor, Factories, & Femicide in Ciudad Juarez, Mx
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Esperanza Peace & Justice Center in collaboration with Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s
34th Annual CINEFESTIVAL presents:
Out at the Movies all screenings at Guadalupe Theater 1301 Guadalupe St. San Antonio, TX 78207
For ticket info call (210) 271-3151
Mosquita y Mari
Friday, March 2nd, 2012 @ 9pm
Gun Hill Road
Set in a predominately Mexican, immigrant neighborhood in Los Angeles, MOSQUITA Y MARI tells the story of two 15 year old Chicanas growing up in H.P. —Huntington Park. When Yolanda Olveros (“Mosquita”) meets her new neighbor, Mari Rodriguez, all they see in each other are their differences. As a sheltered, only-child to her older, immigrant parents, Yolanda’s sole concern is securing her college-bound future. Street-wise Mari hustles to help her undocumented family stay above water. But despite Yolanda and Mari’s contrasting approach to survival, Yolanda and Mari are soon brought together as Mari and Yolanda forge a friendship that soon proves more complex and sensual than anticipated. Fresh from its World Premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Director will be in attendance. Winner of Best Narrative Film of CineFestival.
Directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green, 98 min
Directed by Aurora Guerrero, 85 min
Also of interest to Voz readers:
Precious Knowledge Sat, March 3rd @ 11am
Directed by Ari Luis Palos, 75 min
Friday, March 2nd @ 11pm
After three years in prison, Enrique, (Esai Morales) returns home to the Bronx to find the world he knew has changed. His wife, Angela (Judy Reyes), struggles to hide an emotional affair, and his teenage son, Michael (Harmony Santana), explores a sexual transformation well beyond Enrique’s grasp and understanding.
While 48 percent of Mexican American students currently drop out of high school, Tucson High’s Mexican American Studies Program has become a national model of educational success, with 100 percent of enrolled students graduating from high school and 85 percent going on to attend college. Despite the success, Arizona passes a law to shut down the program. Precious Knowledge follows the struggle to keep the program open as students organize and fight for civil rights in the context of a highly charged political environment. Winner of Best Documentary of CineFestival. CineFestival runs February 25 - March 3, 2012, for full schedule see www.guadalupeculturalarts.org
Nabe
Movement. Creation. Together. Part one of a series, movement workshop will
explore a variety of writing and choreographic exercises used to generate response to a particular subject of interest.
Nabe
Workshop is free and open to community of all ages and backgrounds! No prior writing or movement experience necessary. Dress comfortably. Bare feet are optional.
1 : neighborhood (English) 2 : a neighborhood movie theater (English Slang) 3 : “sitting around the pot” (Japanese) 4 : hub (German)
To RSVP contact Erison Dancers at 210.315.3968 or erisondance@gmail.com
Saturday, March 31, 2012 1pm - 4pm
Esperanza Peace & Justice Center 922 San Pedro, San Antonio
—noun
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 2•
ERISON presents
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* community meetings * LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 2•
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Amnesty International #127 Proyecto Hospitalidad Liturmeets on 4th Thursdays at 7:30 pm gy each Thursday at 7 pm at 325 at Ashbury United Methodist. Call Courtland. Call 210.736.3579. 210.829.0397. The Rape Crisis Center, 7500 Anti-War Peace Vigil every Thurs- US Hwy 90 W. Hotline @ 210.349day (since 2001) from 4-5pm @ 7273. 210.521.7273 or email DroFlores & Commerce See: ivaw.org minishi@rapecrisis.com veteransforpeace.org The Religious Society of Friends Bexar Co. Green Party info@bex- meets Sundays @ 10 am @ The argreens.org or call 210.471.1791. Friends Meeting House, 7052 N. Vandiver. 210.945.8456. Celebration Circle meets Sundays, 11am @ JumpStart at Blue Star Arts San Antonio Communist Party Complex. Meditation, Weds @ 7:30 meets on second Sundays, 3-5pm pm @ Quaker Meeting House, 7052 @ Westfall Branch Library, 6111 Rosedale Ct, 78201| Contact juanVandiver. 210.533-6767 chostanford@yahoo.com for info DIGNITY S.A. mass at 5:30 pm, Sun. @ Beacon Hill Presbyterian San Antonio Gender AssociaChurch, 1101 W. Woodlawn. Call tion. meets 1st & 3rd Thursdays, 6-9pm at 611 E. Myrtle, Metropoli210.735.7191. tan Community Church downstairs.| Fuerza Unida, 710 New Laredo, www.sagender.org Hwy. 210.927.2297, www.lafuerSA Healthcare Now Coalition zaunida.org meets 1st Thursdays at 6:30pm Habitat for Humanity meets @ National Nurses Organizing 1st Tues. for volunteer orientation Committee office 7959 Fredericks@ 6pm, HFHSA Office @ 311 burg Rd. 210.882.2230 or healthProbandt. carenowsa.org LGBT Youth Group meets at MCC Shambhala Buddhist Meditation Church, 611 E. Myrtle on Sundays Center classes are on Tuesdays at at 10:30am. 210.472.3597 7pm, & Sun. at 11:30 am. at 1114 Metropolitan Communi- So. St. Mary’s. Call 210.222.9303. ty Church in San Antonio The Society of Latino and His(MCCSA) 611 East Myrtle, services panic Writers SA meets 2nd Mon& Sunday school @ 10:30am. Call days, 7 pm @ Barnes & Noble, San 210.599.9289. Pedro Crossing. PFLAG, meets 1st Thurs @ 7pm, 1st S.N.A.P. (Survivors Network of Unitarian Universalist Church, Gill those Abused by Priests). ConRd/Beryl Dr. Call 210. 655.2383. tact Barbara at 210.725.8329. PFLAG Español meets 1st TuesVoice for Animals Contact days @ 2802 W. Salinas, 7pm. Call 210.737.3138 or www.voiceforani210.849.6315 mals.org for meeting times
Be Part of a
Progressive Movement in San Antonio
¡Todos Somos Esperanza!
Start your 2012 monthly donations now! Esperanza works to bring awareness and action on issues relevant to our communities. With our vision for social, environmental, economic and gender justice, Esperanza centers the voices and experiences of the poor & working class, women, queer people and people of color. We hold pláticas and workshops; organize political actions; present exhibits and performances and document and preserve our cultural histories. We consistently challenge City Council and the corporate powers of the city on issues of development, low-wage jobs, gentrification, clean energy and more. It takes all of us to keep the Esperanza going. When you contribute monthly to the Esperanza you are making a long-term commitment to the movement for progressive change in San Antonio, allowing Esperanza to sustain and expand our programs. Monthly donors can give as little as $3 and as much as $300 a month or more. What would it take for YOU to become a monthly donor? Call or come by the Esperanza to learn how. ¡Esperanza vive! ¡La lucha sigue! Contact Amanda @ 210.228.0201 or esperanza@esperanzacenter.org for more info
Make a tax-deductible donation. $35 La Voz subscription
for more info call 210.228.0201
Please use my donation for the Rinconcito de Esperanza
Notas Y Más March 2012
The NACCS Tejas Foco 2012 Conference, This Is Us: Como Nos Ven, Como Nos Vemos / Changing Chican@ Identity in the 21st Century will be at Texas State University, San Marcos, March 1-3. See www.naccs.org/naccs/Tejas.asp?SnID=2
Brief notes to inform readers about happenings in the community. Send announcements for Notas y Más to: lavoz@esperanzacenter.org or by mail to: 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212. The deadline is the 8th of each month.
5695. For more contact Cindy Weehler, The University of Cincinnati College of Law – Center for Race, Gender, and cnthweehler@gmail.com Social Justice seeks submissions of indiThe San Antonio Club of the Commu- vidual papers or complete panels for its nist Party USA holds open meetings the upcoming 2012 conference “Social Jus2nd Sunday of every month. The March tice Feminism.” Deadline: April 1, 2012. 11th meeting will be 3-5 pm at the West- Contact Kristin Kalsem at 513.556.1220 or fall Branch Library Meeting Room, 6111 at kristin.kalsem@uc.edu Rosedale Ct., SA 78201. The focus will be Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio SoThe 2012 Elections. Contact Juanchostan- cial (MALCS) invites submissions from ford@yahoo.com for information. the academy and community for its 2012
Summer Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara. This year’s theme is “Todos Somos Arizona”: Confronting the Attacks on Difference. Submissions must be electronically dated by April 2nd. See http://www.malcs.org/blog/ for specifics.
The Association of Mexican American Educators (AMAE) Journal has put out a call for papers in Spanish or English for the special issue, The Politics of Latina/o Social Agency: Praxis & Policy in the Struggle for Educational Justice to be published in December, 2012. Contact editors, Emma Fuentes, ehfuentes@usfca. edu or Patricia Sánchez, patricia.sanchez@ utsa.edu. Deadline: April 15, 2012.
Women for the Environment: 10am – 11:30am, addresses environmental concerns within the context of women and art. Lunch & Keynote Speaker Lucy Lippard - Semmes Gallery
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 2•
EntreFlamenco Company presents AIRE at the EntreFlamenco Dance Space located at West Loop II, 5407 Bandera Rd., Suite #107 on March 2 & 3 at 8:30 pm. The production will feature Flamenco Masters Antonio Granjero and Estefania Ramirez The Center for Latino Achievement and from Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. Tickets Success in Education (CLASE) at the are available at (210)842-4926. University of Georgia’s College of Education announces applications for The UTSA’s Students United For Socio-EcoGoizueta Foundation Graduate Scholar nomic Justice are planning a student walk 2012-2013 assistantships are open until out and rally on campus March 1st for March 15th. Follow the link (in green) at Part I of an Occupy Wall St. National Call www.coe.uga.edu/clase for more info. To Action. A Student/Labor Solidarity March follows on March 5th @ 10:30am The Center for Mexican American Studstarting at the Gazebo in HemisFair Park & ies and Research (CMASR) of Our Lady ending at City Hall for Part 2 of the action. of the Lake University (OLLU) holds its Check occupyeducationca.org for more. 9th Annual Conference, “From DemograEnergia Mia will spon- phy to Identity: Who we are in America.” sor a nuclear energy pro- on March 22nd to 24th. Visit www.ollusa. test/vigil on Saturday, edu/MexAmerConference for more. March 10th to mark the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin is exhibit1st anniversary of Japan’s Fukushima plant ing 31K Portraits for Peace thru April 1st. nuclear disaster. It be- Diego Huerta of Monterrey, Mx and Dangins at 6 pm at the Federal Building in iela Gutiérrez created the project to repreHemisfair ending at the CPS Building on sent the more than 31,000 drug war deaths Navarro St. Wear white clothes and com- in Mexico. Follow them on 31kproject. fortable shoes. For carpools, e-mail aman- com and on Facebook.com/retratosporladajeanhaas@gmail.com or call 210-667- paz. Check www.mexic-artemuseum.org.
Women for Social Justice: 2:30pm – 4pm, discusses social concerns from the perspective of women artists, activists and filmmakers.
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Are you a Hispanic parent or grandparent? Are your children over 18? Do you watch TV? Then, we NEED YOU! Participants Needed for Graduate Communication Research Project – focusing on migrant families’ experiences of adaptation & media consumption. All confidential. Contact Elizabeth or Jenny at 254.228.7920 or email jtcisneros@hotmail.com
University of the Incarnate Word Art & Art History faculty hosts
Women for Social Justice & the Environment Seminar - March 8 – 9, 2012
March 8th – The Gaia Factor art exhibition opens at 5 pm at the UIW, Semmes gallery focusing on human interaction with the environment and its impact. Artists, Sandy Gellis, Deborah Springstead Ford & Cynthia Camlin March 9th – both panels held in the Library auditorium on UIW campus.
Keynote speaker Lucy Lippard,
internationally known writer, activist & curator
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2012 Vol. 25 Issue 2•
Out at the Movies
Erison presents
Fandangeando con Mujeres
Mosquita y Mari & Gun Hill Road
a movement workshop
Jaraneras celebrating Women’s History Month
Nabe
Friday, March 2nd
Laurie Auditorium March 11, 2011
@ Guadalupe Theater see p. 12 for full info
see p. 3 for full info
Noche Azul de Esperanza
March 31st
March 29 | UTSA @ 4pm March 31 | Esperanza @ 8pm
1pm at Esperanza see p. 13
La Voz de Esperanza
see p. 5
922 San Pedro San Antonio TX 78212 210.228.0201 • fax: 210.228.0000 www.esperanzacenter.org
Non-Profit Org. US Postage PAID San Antonio, TX Permit #332
Saturday March 24 @ 8pm at Esperanza $5 más o menos
22nd Annual San Antonio
International Woman’s Day
¡Si Se Puede!
16th Annual Cesar E. Chavez
March for Justice
co-sponsored by the City of San Antonio
March & Rally Meet 10am
corner of Bowie & Market St Rally Plaza del Zacate (Milam Park, 501 Commerce) across from Santa Rosa Hospital
Saturday, March 3, 2012 www.sawomenwillmarch.org
Program begins @ 8am at stage corner of Guadalupe & S. Brazos March to the Alamo begins @ 10am
Saturday, March 31st, 2012 www.cesarchavezlegacy.org
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in awhile?
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