a publication of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center
April 2015, Vol. 28 Issue 3
San Antonio
e h t f o e Stat community address
San Antonio, Tejas
La Voz de Esperanza April 2015
vol. 28 issue 3 Editor: Gloria A. Ramírez Design: Monica V. Velásquez
Contributors
Itza Carbajal, Malena González-Cid, Rachel Jennings, Jessica O. Guerrero, Tom Keene, Cathy Marston, Vanessa Quezada, Laura Rios-Ramírez, Luissana Santibañez, Yoly Zentella
Voz Mail Collective
Juan Díaz, Fidel Castillo, Mario Carbajal Grace Gonzáles, Mildred Hilbrich, Josie M. Martin, Angie Merla, Daniel Ovalle, Lucy & Ray Pérez, Alvaro Rafael, María Reed, Mary A. Rodríguez, Gina Sandoval, Adolfo Segura, Guadalupe Segura, Roger Singler, Dave Stokes, Rebecca Velasco, Helen Villarreal Esperanza Director
Graciela I. Sánchez Esperanza Staff Imelda Arismendez, Itza Carbajal, René Saenz, Saakred, Susana Segura, Amelia Valdez, Monica Velásquez Esperanza Interns Elizabeth Joy Delgado, Iliana Medrano, Elisa Pérez, Gianna Rendón Conjunto de Nepantleras
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2015 Vol. 28 Issue 3•
-Esperanza Board of Directors-
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Brenda Davis, Rachel Jennings, Amy Kastely, Jan Olsen, Kamala Platt, Ana Lucía Ramírez, Gloria A. Ramírez, Rudy Rosales, Tiffany Ross, Lilliana Saldaña, Nadine Saliba, Graciela I. Sánchez, Lillian Stevens • 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 Esperanza Peace & Justice Center 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212
210.228.0201 • fax 1.877.327.5902 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 Letters with intent to slander individuals or groups will not be published. Esperanza Peace & Justice Center is funded in part by the NEA, TCA, theFund, CoYoTe PhoeNix Fund, AKR Fdn, Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Fdn, Horizons Fdn, New World Foundation, y nuestra buena gente.
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n this issue of La Voz we include The People’s State of San Antonio Address, speeches that were given on March 3rd by community members on the steps of City Hall. Mayor Taylor and the Council were invited to listen to these concerns on the same day she delivered her address to city government and business leaders. The issues addressed were a continuation of efforts to listen, connect and understand each other’s experiences through storytelling circles—part of the US Dept of Arts & Culture People’s State of the Union poetic address. We begin with Patricia Castillo’s speech: Listen Mayor Ivy Taylor and City Council Members: We have community-based visions of a city where families live in P.E.A.C.E. And receive all the police protection we pay for delivered in a most professional way. We need you to listen, and hear what citizens’ lives are like when riddled by violence inflicted from those who are supposed to love them, 44K calls to police in 2014 alone. Is it the connection to peoples’ experience that may require an appropriate response from you and city council members that you fear the most.....??? Try to understand others’ experiences because no matter how much money we bring in through tourism, business, militarism and Fiesta..... If families continue to be destroyed through family violence, child abuse, teen dating violence and elder domestic violence and human trafficking, your efforts to better our city will have only a minimal effect.... So Listen Mayor Ivy Taylor and City Council Members... Are You Listening??? Editor’s Note: Also in this issue: a speech from the 25th Annual S.A. International Women’s Day March & Rally by Nadine Saliba, a tribute to National Poetry Month and reading sources on Palestine. Submit articles and announcements for the May Voz by April 8th.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: A letter to La Voz (Dec 2014 | Jan 2015) proposes that “the entire human race (is) genetically predisposed to violence.” I propose a more hopeful thought: Our violence is grounded not in our genes, our human nature, but only in our culture. Evidence for this goes back to our racial beginnings as homo sapiens 200,000 years ago. Anthropologists tell us that our neolithic ancestors (50,000 to 10,000 years ago) experimenting with gardens and herding left evidence of many tools, but no weapons of war such as swords and shields. Theirs was a culture of tribal cooperation and solidarity that had enabled their survival from the beginning. Only the advent of a plantationsized agriculture brought the structural violence of armies, slavery and empire. In other words, brought us to our present “civilized” culture. Now, eight thousand years later that is where we get our violence. If it were true that we are predestined by our genetically determined human nature to be violent, then the work of Esperanza and La Voz is doomed to failure. But, we of Esperanza, by our work and commitment, defy that proposition. We are betting our lives, money and time on the meaningfulness and power of determined, relentless cooperation and solidarity. It is this kind of dedication out of which new and just systems arise and replace our current culture of corruption and violence. —Tom Keene | 2.20.2015
ATTENTION VOZ READERS: If you have a mailing address correction please send it to lavoz@ esperanzacenter.org. If you want to be removed from the La Voz mailing list, for whatever reason, please let us know. 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 ($100 for institutions). 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.
San Antonio IWD Rally | March 7, 2015
On International Women’s Day 2015:
by Nadine Saliba, speaker at 25th Annual SA IWD rally
I always like to evoke the radical history of International Women’s Day to reclaim it from the banal celebrations and official appropriation by governments, the United Nations and NGO’s. This day is rooted in a radical history of socialism, labor rights, anti-war organizing and international solidarity. How can we miss the recurrence of similar themes and struggles today, from war to racism, exploitation, immigration, displacement, inequality, greed and capitalism with no liberal make-up on? God knows there is no lack of issues to talk about and angles to explore. Yet, it was a challenge to write something for today. This is not the first time I come up on this podium to say that I am at the end of my rope, at my wit’s end, only to discover the worst is yet to come.
The incident in Dallas is jolting. A newly-wed Iraqi man who recently joined his bride in north Texas was killed few days ago. What kind of a cruel fate brought this man from Iraq to the United States escaping the violence, devastation and insanity unleashed on his country by non-other than the illegal US invasion and occupation only to be shot dead by a neo-American sniper as he stepped out of his home to take pictures of the snow. Dealing emotionally and intellectually with this ravaging violence has been a challenge of the first degree. Trying to account for the political, social and economic dynamics that give rise to this violence –from poverty to racism, economic inequality, religious extremism, political extremism, a violent foreign policy and imperialism– is hard enough. Pretending that you can go through the routine motions of living as though this is a livable life is too much to bear. Even when you are not directly caught up in this traumatic violence, you feel its weight on your psyche and on your body. You feel it right here in the lump of your throat. You look in the mirror and all of a sudden you see your skin wrinkled, your belly split open and blood streaming
Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19, were shot to death by Craig Stephen Hicks, 46.
buffoons. I rip you to shreds, then I spit on your bits. This is the spectacle of war standing on an edifice of a militarized culture sustained at all institutional and socioeconomic levels. The proponents and agents of the War on Terror and the military industrial complex have a clear vision of how the desire-fear binary works and is worked, ensuring public passivity through escapism and induced political phobias. They continue to indulge in the “freedom against tyranny” narrative, with Muslims and Arabs serving as subjects of a post 9/11 perpetual war. Think of a collage of Muslim and Arab pejorative depictions –as terrorists, desert-dwelling villains and backward fools– that crowd the US entertainment industry and have done so for a long time. Racist messaging embedded in pop culture and an Orientalist rendering of Iraq as a desert wasteland outside of civilization furnished by aerial reconnaissance photos create contemporary perceptions of the Middle East and a seeming remoteness of military conflicts filtered through Hollywood and the military industry into American consumerist culture. This is continued on pg. 5
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But truly, and more than ever, I feel overwhelmed by the violence swallowing us whole, pulverizing our world from Syria, Iraq and Palestine to Ferguson, Chapel Hill and Dallas like a sledgehammer in the hand of an ISIS fighter whacking at a Mesopotamian monument.
from your eyes, ears and mouth in a silent suffocating pain. And if you attempt to write, unintelligible protestations stammer out through choking fits. Please do not expect a well-thought-out and organized flow of ideas, only flashes of warring thoughts and feelings. That is all I’ve been capable of. American Sniper — the movie. “Shatters Records.” “Biggest January Opening EVER.” Perhaps the most ironic headline: “Astounds with Record 105 M on MLK Weekend.” My favorite one however — “Blowing Away Iraqi Heads… I mean Box office Records.” “Blowing Away Box Office Records.” Have I ever felt so alienated from this society? Violence heaped upon violence by dangerous men and shameless
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San Antonio State of the Community Address | March 3, 2015
STATE OF THE LATINO ARTS IN SAN ANTONIO
I LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2015 Vol. 28 Issue 3•
am speaking today on behalf of the Westside Arts Coalition, a group of Latino organizations working to maintain the heart and soul of this city, through the promotion and presentation of Latino arts and artists.
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For over 35 years, San Antonio’s Latino arts organizations have been uplifting the voices of those that are under-represented in the arts today. Through the power of arts and culture, our organizations have played a key role in transforming San Antonio into a vibrant and creative cultural center. We have contributed to the city’s economic growth, created jobs, and promoted international cultural exchange. Collectively, we have produced hundreds of thousands of original works of art and attracted millions of audience members to our City. In addition to our contributions to making San Antonio an international destination point, we have also helped make San Antonio a great place to live in. Our organizations have taken on roles such as arts education in the public schools, and have done the work of preserving neighborhood histories, promoting healthy living, and educating communities on a wide variety of topics essential to our health and well being. Despite all of our contributions, San Antonio’s Latino arts organizations and Latino artists remain extremely underresourced, receiving on average only 16% of the City arts funding budget generated from the Hotel Occupancy Tax. Much of the remaining 84% of operational support for the arts primarily serve white, middle class and wealthy audiences. Many of the institutions that draw from this 84% of the City’s arts funding pot, also receive assistance with subsidized rent in city-owned facilities, infrastructure and maintenance support, discretionary funds
by Malena González-Cid, Executive Director of Centro Cultural Atzlán representing the Latino Arts Collective of San Antonio
and allocations from the City’s general fund. This in a city with a population of Latinos well over 60%. How do San Antonio’s many Latino arts organizations survive on only 16% of the City’s arts funding budget? The resourcefulness and dedication of our organizations mirrors that of our Latino communities, who continue to thrive despite income inequality and jobs that often do not even offer minimum wage.
The Executive Directors of Latino arts organizations receive salaries at or below San Antonio’s median household income, while the leaders of the city’s major arts institutions receive annual salaries of over $100,000 - $200,000. Our Latino artists are often asked by other organization to do their work for free, or next to nothing. As Latino arts organizations we have made a commitment to compensate our artists for their work. Our organizations are also dependent upon community volunteers, a quality that we see as our strength. We are proud to work side-by-side with the communities that we serve, blurring the boundaries of what it means to be an “artist.” Our organizations are responsive to current events. The artists and communities that we serve are at the front lines of most political struggles, and the art that we present reflects that reality. Our work tells the stories of immigration, homophobia, racism, education,
healthcare, and the other realities that our communities face on a daily basis. Our organizations also shake up the definition of “art,” proclaiming “Arte es Vida,” and harkening back to the cultural ways of our antepasados, for whom art was an expression of life, and life was lived with artistry.
As our nation begins to talk about and address issues of income inequality and racial equity, the City of San Antonio has an opportunity to take a leadership role in examining and correcting the arts funding inequities that have existed here for decades.
We recommend that empty references to equity be actively transformed into equitable funding policies and grant making practices to distribute new resources to San Antonio’s vibrant Latino arts sector. We call on the City of San Antonio to institute an equity funding formula to build the capacity of underresourced organizations. On a national level, foundations such as Ford, Surdna, Nathan Cummings, Kellogg, Kresge, Rockefeller, and Mellon are shifting their funding priorities to address racial equity and income inequality. We encourage the City of San Antonio to also take a leadership role in creating equity in arts funding. It’s essential for the City of San Antonio to acknowledge and validate the vital role that our local Latino arts organizations and artists have played in contributing to the expansion and growth of the city’s cultural landscape. In a city like San Antonio, with a majority Latino population, our Latino arts & cultural organizations are called on to do much more than 16% of the work, and we deserve more than 16% of the City’s arts funding. v
San Antonio State of the Community Address | March 3, 2015
Environmental Injustice in SA
by Vanessa Quezada
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nvironmental Justice efforts in San Antonio are a combined effort of many different groups including the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, Southwest Workers Union, Fuerza Unida and others. 2015 was a year of horrendous contamination of our water, air and land. We must act more responsibly to be better caretakers of this land and each other. Despite “tens of millions of dollars” in improvements, the Calumet Refinery experienced fuel spills on March 4th and April 11th of 2014. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) cited Calumet for three different violations, since the second spill contaminated the San Antonio River. We demand that this company be held accountable for the health of our city. In late September, the refinery also experienced a fire, for which the city fire department was on site for an hour before being told to stand down while extinguished by an “internal special unit”. We ask that our city fire department be trained in specialty fires so that in the event of an emergency, more trained professionals are able to assist to protect and preserve the viability of our community. The $3.4 billion Vista Ridge Pipeline outsourced to Abengoa and Blue Water Systems of Austin that will be built over with Wilcox-Carrizo Aquifer will bring water from Burleson County to San Antonio. We ask that our city council explore more creative water preservation and sustainability practices. We are losing water due to contamination at an alarming rate and rather than spending more money on a project that is a temporary solution, we ask for more research and resources to further existing conservation programs and stronger policies to minimize pollution of our waters. Concerns mount over the Governor-appointed TCEQ who denied the Alamo Area Council of Governments a $185,000 grant because the Council showed that fracking in the Eagle Ford Shale is impacting San Antonio Air Quality. Thanks to the “Frackaso!” exhibit at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, citizens affected by fracking shared their stories of headaches, nausea and respiratory problems near fracking sites, the same complaints being heard inside the city limits. Particulate matter,
what you call the normalization of violence in mass media and culture –an architecture of decimated public spaces and anonymous dead and maimed fighters or civilians– (they’re all the same), ravaging the Arab and Muslim body as it undergoes a relentless process of othering. This media and political narrative loves to depict Muslim and Arab women as oppressed veiled victims of their religion and culture who need saving. This framework has been used as a rationale for military intervention. Using the trope of women’s rights in the service of imperial
formaldehyde, benzene and other “proprietary” chemicals are carried with the gulf coast currents into our city with little oversight. Within the last month, citizens have reported Frac sand inside our city limit. Ninety-nine percent of this sand is composed of crystalline silica, a known carcinogen that has also been associated with cardiovascular, kidney and autoimmune diseases. We must dedicate more resources to researching the dangers of fracking on our city and actively take measures to minimize the impact on our citizens to preserve a healthier city. Just two weeks ago, during the expansion of the convention center, 150,000 cubic years of soil was found to be contaminated with toxic heavy metals including arsenic, barium, lead, mercury and selenium “that exceeded regulatory levels”. That soil was dumped on a city-owned site at 151 and US 90 across from the San Antonio Food bank community gardens to save the city $6 million. We demand the city ONLY allow responsible development that does NOT jeopardize the health of the land and those that depend on these lands to live. n
wars is not new. The phrase “White-mensaving-brown-women-from-brown-men,” was coined a while back to describe this phenomenon. And Western liberal feminists have jumped on the governmentsponsored bandwagon of imperial missions to “liberate” Muslim women a long time ago. This time, however, we have a CIA propaganda memo exposed by Wikileaks to dispel any doubts anyone might have. Oh, the Western liberal feminist’s burden! We know from the families of the three Muslim American victims in Chapel Hill, North Carolina that the women’s headscarves marked them in their shooter’s eyes. “We have no doubt that the way they looked… had something to do with this,” said the girls’ father. Their killer shot
them in the head execution style. Point made. The sisters Yosur and Razan Abu Salha –a dental and an architecture student respectively, volunteers and activists in their communities, thoughtful, compassionate and engaged– needed only to be saved from their neighbor-shooter and liberated from American Islamophobia and the antiMuslim rhetoric we breathe. Yes, we are women telling our stories! They will not have the last word in the account of what has come to pass. v Bio: Nadine was born in Tripoli Lebanon on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and immigrated to San Antonio with her family. She studied Political Theory and Int’l Relations and works as a translator. She is a board member of the Esperanza Center.
LA VOZ • April 2015 Vol. 28 Issue 3•
..... A Spectacle of War and Violence cont’d from p.3
The Calumet Refinery located along the San Antonio River had spills in 2014 that contaminated our river along the Mission Reach area. Concerns fell on deaf ears with the River still at risk for more “accidents”.
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San Antonio State of the Community Address | March 3, 2015
A Lack of Accountability: San Antonio’s City Government
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2015 Vol. 28 Issue 3•
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oday I would like to speak about our city’s lack of accountability as based on our own experiences with issues such as Mission Trails, the Vista Ridge Pipeline, and Hays Street Bridge, to name just a few. In the SA2020 section of Civic Engagement, the city sets out various goals such as having “elected officials and city staff take ownership of issues and are accountable for results” [and] to be “inspired and effective leaders in selfless service to the community... recognized for delivering transparency in government.” Our city has failed to produce any of these results. For example, take the devastating vote on Mission Trails. As many will recall, residents of this community spent hours pleading to city council to place their needs before so-called economic development. While county members demanded that alternative solutions be found to avoid this horrendous displacement, city staff and council ignored those pleas. With a 6-4 vote, council members voted in favor of rezoning the property effectively pushing out over 300 families. Where was the demand for city staff and officials to be held accountable for the fate of these people? At least with the Mission Trails vote,
there was some sort of conscience –not enough to stop the destruction of this community, but at least enough to show that some council people favor the lives of people over economic development. On the other hand, for the Vista Ridge Pipeline, the council voted unanimously to fund the project despite the fact that only a few months prior, it was considered to be a bad idea by the SAWS’ President. Here we saw the classic scenario— “powerful business leaders urged the council to sign off on the project as a way to ensure job growth, while local environmental groups and advocates for low-income people called it unnecessarily expensive and risky.” (Texas Tribune Oct 2014) Citizens demanded that their city officials side with the community and called for environmental justice for Burleson County and for the people of San Antonio. Community folks even asked for a delay in the vote in hopes that city leaders would come to realize the riskiness of such a project, but to no avail. The 3.4 billion dollar pipeline project was approved without even a whimper from city council. Where was the nod of approval for the hard work of community folks asking for effective and responsible government planning? Finally, I’d like to remind our city leaders and the press about one of the most contested and blatant examples of
by Itza Carbajal, Esperanza Peace and Justice Center
this city’s lack of ownership, ill decisions and wasteful pursuit of economic development —the Hays Street Bridge struggle. This past year, we witnessed a clear disregard for justice when the city of San Antonio continued with its plan to sell the contested land at 803 N. Cherry next to our dear Hays Street Bridge. Just months prior, the Hays Street Bridge Restoration Group had won the court case citing that the city had indeed breached the original contract regarding the use of the land. Even before going to trial in 2012 —when thousands of San Antonio residents signed petitions and tried to involve themselves in government decisions with a call for a vote— it never happened. Now, we face a publicly funded lawsuit using taxpayers’ dollars aimed at destroying a community-led effort. Where is the transparency? Where is the accountability? Where is democracy? Today, we organize against this disregard for democracy in San Antonio. We are here to tell city officials & staff that we are disappointed with their lack of accountability and transparency. We expect you to listen to the people, not the lobbyist, corporations, or developers. Stop the illegal and unethical actions that take place at city hall. Use our taxpayer money to honor and care for all people especially those most vulnerable. n
april is
Thy kingdom come
national poetry month
by Tom Keene We are the world that has. This is how we dream: along everlasting assembly lines we put ourselves together suited to designs of fashion to fit intentions of entrepreneurs who follow leads of markets that care not to know what we do so long as doing gets done. We dream of machines that mold us to fit to become interchangeable parts till obsolescence or wear send us to recycling bins.
We are the rest of the world. This is how we dream: Fitfully, amid babies’ cries. We harvest colonial garbage cans, ponder melting into mountains with machetes and guns. Poets, we celebrate our desperate hopes. Painters, we color our future and wake to a cold gray now.
We are the tribe of dreamers. This is how we live: Becoming a people to make a people of all who dream. We wear on our faces the blueprints, store lumber, brick and mortar in the basements of our minds. Seeds, dormant in winter’s dirt, we wait for spring. Yeast set aside, we wait for the wheat and the fire.
(for Jennifer Casolo) by Tom Keene
Who will be our voice and speak to our killers’ consciences, remind them that someone, someone/all is watching?
Who will cleanse with pain-hardened truths the eyes and ears of blind and deaf, the nameless who pay our assassins’ wages, buy the bullets that pierce our bodies?
Who will be our hands to touch the hands of our torturers, naming their work the cruelty it is, deeming it more hurt than our own?
Who will nourish initial doubts and whispered thoughts into growing convictions and stubborn resistance, broadcast the seeds of critical mass till stilled hearts rise and cry as one?
Who will ask our interrogators the questions that turn their hearts, hearing their confessions, granting them forgiveness?
Who will hail us from our graves to hear our cries transfigured into choruses of justice, symphonies of grace when we come, bright and sure as morning suns?
—February 5, 1990
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Cry of the Savior’s Martyrs
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For Molly / Eulogy For a Prisoner of the State
Yanaguana
Molly was a lesbian was a survivor of male battering was the mother of Brandy and Kim
(Song) Yanaguana Yanaguana ho Yanaguana heyana hei ney owey
by Cathy Marston, PhD
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Molly, with a tattoo on her arm in honor of her mother’s life and death. Her brother snubbed her because of that tattoo, and told her to remove it. “I didn’t sit in a chair for hours to remove it for YOU,” she told him. Quiet Molly said that? Yes!
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Molly had Chihuahuas. She loved those dogs, too Talked about them all the time. On June 19, 2011 I woke up at 1:55 a.m. I looked out the window— the ambulance was on the street. I looked out my cell door as I sweltered in the heat from no A/C and SCREWED-SHUT WINDOWS. Molly, EMS brought you downstairs on a gurney NAKED The guards videotaped all the way to the ambulance
They brought you right by my door Then lied that you were alive. Your bunkie sobbed and sobbed, “Oh, Molly! Oh, Molly!” They took her to seg. Was it the 105 degree HEAT? Or was it the Thorazine, the psych poisons, I begged you to get off of that had you so disoriented that yesterday you wore your shirt inside-out to dinner? Was it your bunkie I helped you report? Was it everything? To TDCJ, you’re nothing but you’re everything to ME, friend. 43 years old. You were everything. P.S. Molly, you’ll be GLAD to know: law enforcement showed up 4.5 hours AFTER the ambulance left. Don’t take it personally. I’ll take it personally for you.
Acaso deveras se vive con raiz en la tierra? Y que nos alimentará si vivimos con agua contaminada...? Agua que se contamina por la avaricia, el egoismo, el turismo. Agua que ya no brota por Yanaguana
Benzine injections into mother earth’s skin Radiation left behind for our next of kin. Carcinogens, our origins didn’t always begin with corporations and sinister grins. (Song) Yanaguana hawey ney ney Heyana hawey ney neyo Somos gente que ama sus origenes Hermandad alumbrada como jarrón de barro Extraido desde el fondo de la tierra Con la misión de servir al hermano. (Song) Yanaguana heyana hey neyo wey Quien hablará por los peces, las tortugas y todos quienes viven en sus aguas. As guardians of mother earth. We will speak for Yanaguana -written by Laura Rios-Ramírez, Luissana Santibañez & Vanessa Quezada for The People’s State of San Antonio Address.
On Making Papier Mâché Puppets that we glued to the balloons. Emma’s hair was a bun, while César’s was dusted with talcum powder to make it salt-and-pepper. These puppets were old as the earth: wise, worldly, satirical. Even their faces, which we painted brown, were old, the dried plaster creating wrinkles and creases. Invisible beneath brown paint and black yarn were collages of words in newsprint: Gaza Beijing wolves stocks women bomb Juárez checkpoint global immigrant coal transport factory whales lettuce oil police environment Border drought fossil Words lay beneath their skin. Another language could be heard in Emma’s eyes, which were simply pecans pressed in her sockets by an Esperanza artist. Emma’s old eyes were a world. —Rachel Jennings
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In March 2000 at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, we who were buena gente made papier-mâché puppets of César Chávez, leader of the farmworkers’ union, and Emma Tenayuca, organizer in San Antonio of striking pecan shellers. At the César Chávez March, César and Emma would sit serenely side by side on the flat-bed truck like an old married couple, though sometimes they would jump up and down or raise their arms in defiance of los patrones. (“Dale shine al Westside!”) We tore long strips from La Prensa, The Current, and The San Antonio Express-News. As if swinging a scythe, we shredded stories about primary elections; falling internet stocks; and Elián González, the little Cuban refugee scooped from the sea but kept from his father, who stayed on the island. Curls of newspaper print added up to half a dozen bags. The project leader taught me to soak the paper in a paste of harina y agua before pressing each strip flat onto a huge balloon. Seeing the balls sticky with plaster, I recalled projects of childhood— my sister’s Groucho Marx mask as well as the green and blue model of earth we made in fourth-grade science class. The heads of César and Emma, too, were worlds we created. Their hair and eyebrows were black yarn
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Blood Pudding by Rachel Jennings
Not even Welsh or Scotch-Irish as lore would paint me, I was an Appalachian Sassenach* who knew nothing of Celts or Catholics but entered Irish studies on a whim at The University of Texas. After the Galway conference on nationalism and outsiders, my companions and I traveled east by train in time for breakfast at a Dublin diner. I craved the blood pudding that came with two fried eggs, fried potatoes, and pinto beans. The round patties reminded me of the breakfast sausage, Tennessee Pride, that my mother used to serve on melamine plates. Crisp, savory, the plump disks melted on my tongue,
Rhiannon LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2015 Vol. 28 Issue 3•
-for Sid Hall
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enlivened me after a sleepless night on a railway car. Inheritors of Vatican II, Fighting Irish Catholic schools, Clancy Brothers rebel songs, and melodious Irish names that were one-way tickets to Ph.D’s in postcolonial theory, my fellow travelers were aghast—made nauseous by fried blood that they knew to be even worse than kidneys or intestines. Disgusting. Ugh. I could hardly hear their wails over Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” keening+ on the radio. Poking a morsel with my fork, I only wished for a bigger portion. By now, the milky tea had gone straight through me, so I stood to find the bathroom.
Non-sexist language and feminist exegesis of Judges or Genesis did not—could not— assuage my anger. Weeping fits in church meetings, meltdowns in the parking lot, polemics on Facebook and Twitter were my only weapons. How I burned. A pantheon of preacher men had ascended singly as on wings into the pulpit. I never saw a woman. Nothing reached me. Nothing worked to quell the rage, newly aflame, in this middle-aged, menopausal self. Fathers, brothers, clergy had betrayed me. How could I have known, Reverend Jones, Methodist druid healer
When I returned, a stack of dark patties lay piled on my plate. I heard my friends laughing: “She will eat them.” And I did. Not much of a proposal to finish off five or six modestly sized slices of blood pudding. *Anglo-Saxon; gringa. +wailing to express grief.
of thinning black hair, that in your mild-mannered pastoral wisdom, you would post a YouTube video of Stevie Nicks’ appearance on Midnight Special in ’76? Thank you, Reverend Jones, Facebook friend who has fixed his mind to another time. ———————— In gauzy black scarves and feathered hair, Stevie sings about the old Welsh witch, Rhiannon. Her contortions are Pentecostal, her shrieks fire-and-brimstone. She gives all she has and is. Her eyes melt inward. A rustle of wings, a bird that flies. I am taken into the air. *Ruah. Ruah: The Hebrew word for breath or spirit. —by Rachel Jennings
Reading for Palestine
by Yoly Zentella
or over 10 years, I have researched the historical loss of land and place in el norte de Nuevo Mexico, northern New Mexico. This loss was a result of 19th century colonization, war and annexation into the American Union of the area now know as the Southwest which includes Nuevo Mexico. The Southwest was part of the northern territories of Mexico until 1848. My research has also included the impact of this historical loss on contemporary Hispano-Chicano populations in el norte. The more I research, the more I find that the historical phenomena responsible for loss of land and place in Nuevo Mexico: Westward Expansion, the use of law to dispossess Mexicanos from their lands, illegal land seizures (many at gunpoint) and deadly violence against Mexicanos already living in these territories — is parallel to the violent occupation of Palestine and the displacement of Palestinians in the creation of Israel. Placing the historical colonization and annexation of Nuevo Mexico side by side and within a universal context with the occupation of Palestine, one reaches a global understanding of the patterns of territorial expansion, their origins and consequences. Viewing specific international issues on such a level brings these issues out of isolation, encouraging each of us to understand the commonality we have with others facing parallel situations.
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They mirror our own struggles — whether they be racism, racial profiling, gentrification of our barrios, assaults on our indigenous and native languages, suppression of our histories and cultures, or the historical, systematic killing of our people including the killing of our children by law enforcement. There are differing perspectives between alternative and mainstream media on the complex Palestinian issue and because of this, we can find ourselves either not knowing where to turn or sifting through numerous sources vying for our attention. As most of us live a fast-paced life combining work, education, family and activism — who has time to do the legwork? Sometimes, unfortunately, we settle for what the corporate, biased, conservative tube brings into our homes. As a grassroots and academic writer I stumble onto information. In this process some sites have emerged, which I believe, are credible, possessing particular characteristics that I look for in news and information sources. For example I consider — the reputation of the site, and who supports or sponsors it. Do they keep archives? Do they document sources, particularly historical ones, used in creating news items, information, and materials? Lastly, do they let the people speak? Based on these observations, I would like to share with the readers of La Voz some sites with information on Palestine. These not only provide more balanced
Institute of Palestine Studies www.palestine-studies.org The Institute offers articles from their journals: The Journal of Palestine Studies and The Jerusalem Quarterly — to which one can subscribe. One can browse through current or past issues, free. Also available is a free enewsletter with current topics on Palestine. Their gem is a bookstore that offers readers books with a sound foundation and analyses on Palestine. A must-read is Before Their Diaspora: A Photographic History of the Palestinians 1876-1948, by Walid Khalidi. Another is, Prelude to Israel: An Analysis of Zionist Diplomacy 1897-1947 by Alan R. Taylor, published in 1970 by the Institute for Palestine Studies. Written simply and well- documented, minus academic jargon, it is nevertheless powerful.
If Americans Knew
www.ifamericansknew.org This site was founded by Alison Weir, American freelance journalist and author of Against Our Better Judgment: How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel. The site contains reports on the current situation in Palestine and articles on related issues; two issues that are particularly striking for us in the U.S., are those on the killing of Rachel Corrie and the attack on the USS Liberty. Attacks by Israel on international peace workers include the 23 year old American, Rachel Corrie, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer operator in Gaza in 2003 where she was protesting the bulldozing of a Palestinian home. In 1967, the Israeli military attacked the USS Liberty, killing 34 American servicemen. An article which stood out for me, was, Christian Evangelicals Increasingly Support Palestinian Human Rights by Alison Weir. Having been both baffled and concerned about Latino evangelical support of Israel, the article offers a twist on the matter, shattering the belief that there is unconditional support of Israel by Latinos.
Weir’s book, available through the site, is well-documented using government and academic documents, and media reports. It describes in simple language how the U.S. became involved in the support of Israel and narrates the Zionist plan to take Palestine before 1948. Weir’s book along with Taylor’s gives us a better understanding of what Zionism is, its ma-
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Universality creates solidarity because it places them next to us.
reporting, but also offer educational materials, archives, book announcements, interviews, academic articles, and links to other sites. All are on the internet:
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nipulation of the British government and its lobbying in the U.S. — efforts that have spanned two world wars leading to the U.S. government’s support of Israel’s establishment on Palestinian land. Educational materials are also available.
to dispossess Palestinians from their ancestral homes, properties, and livelihoods.
The Link
www.merip.org
www.ameu.org The Link is a humble periodical published by Americans for Middle East Understanding (AMEU), an educational website. Each issue focuses on a critical topic, which as the site states, “is usually not covered in depth—if at all—in the mainstream press”. AMEU has several programs that include videos and teacher packets. The current issue of January/March, 2015, features Ilan Pappe, the widely respected Israeli historian now living and teaching in England that has been instrumental in exposing the occupation of Palestine for what it is. Link issues are archived going back to 1968.
MERIP, a non-governmental, non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. established in 1971 are publishers of Middle East Report, a significant source of current news, perspectives and analysis from and about the Middle East, by Middle Eastern and Western correspondents. While the site and publication are not specific to Palestine, I include it because it provides clear background to the complex politics of the Middle East, which often overlap with Palestine, for example, the connection of Hamas to the Muslim Brotherhood. There are also special publications like the Primer on Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict that gives a comprehensive history from the 19th century, covering intifadas, and peace plan initiatives. Middle East Report covers general and specific topics, some of which hit close to home. For example, the issue on fuel and water, published in the summer of 2014 included the issue of fracking which reminded me of the ongoing oil and gas designs that we in el norte continue to do battle with and which I see discussed in La Voz. One can subscribe to Middle East Report online or receive paper copies. Some archived articles are accessible for free. The intervention tab offers analyses on many topics with book announcements and a blog. A staple periodical, it has good reporting and photography. Being informed and aware will help us wade through the biases, manipulations, and racial profiling that the Palestinian image is daily subjected to in mainstream media.
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Palestine Link
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www.palestinelink.eu This new source I found describes itself as an initiative by Palestinians in the Netherlands, and a “genuine independent voice and a professional resource and service center”. The source advocates for Palestinian rights and promotes Palestinian interests. Its goal is to connect Palestine, its people and culture, to the outside world. The site is an open door for those interested in the real Palestine, not the hysterical, stereotyped, racist models exported by corporate media. It includes a historical chronology, 19191939 — Resisting Zionist immigration and British occupation. What is impressive about this site is its link to the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music. This site shows the amazing efforts that young Palestinian musicians are making in refining their musical expertise and keeping performances alive despite the many obstacles that they are facing as Israel continues
Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP)
Bio: Yoly Zentella is a writer, independent researcher, clinician and professor focusing on Hispano-Chicano psychology of place and historical trauma in el norte de Nuevo Mexico. Comments: yzentellnm@yahoo.com
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Carol “Ms. Carol” Thompson, former resident of Mission Trails Mobile Home Community passed away on March 13, 2015. The Esperanza Center and buena gente along with the many people who supported her efforts in defending the Mission Trails Mobile Home Community extend our heartfelt sympathies to her family and many friends. Jessica O. Guerrero of Fuerza Unida and community supporter of Mission Trails residents notified everyone with the following note: Ms. Carol was one of the most vocal residents of this mobile home community. She was a fierce presence in collective opposition to her and her neighbors’ displacement. She spoke often about her concern for her beloved dogs and the difficulty in finding a new home for them alongside her. Ms. Carol met with her neighbors and supporting community countless times, rain or shine, cold or hot, always in the front row of that picnic area at Mission Trails. She was a mother figure to her neighbors and her loss is a new weight on their shoulders.
of 95 in February and will now reside in “El Otro Barrio” — as he would often joke. Born in Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, Mx, on May 6, 1919, Leno came to the U.S. at an early age with his family of 10 siblings settling in the Boyle Heights and Maravilla barrios of Los Angeles. He served in World War II as an airplane mechanic in the China-Burma-India Theater receiving commendations. He then earned a B.A. in Education at Texas Western College (nowThe University of Texas at El Paso) that begin a 25-year career in 1954 as a bilingual educator and administrator. Leno was a tireless advocate for the Latino community in both civic affairs and the cultural arts. He travelled extensively with Elisa, his beloved wife of 65 years, who also retired as a schoolteacher. In retirement he honed his skills as an artist and enjoyed life. Leno and Elisa lived in San Antonio for 13 years when their son, Eduardo, and former daughter-in-law, Beverly SánchezPadilla, moved here to be part of the cultural arts community. Micaela and Siboney, Eduardo and Beva’s daughters, grew up in San Antonio and currently reside here. Elisa and Leno made many a friend in San Antonio and are fondly remembered as an integral part of the social justice and cultural arts community. The Esperanza staff and buena gente extend our deepest sympathies to Leno’s family, friends and community especially to his wife, Elisa—and to Eduardo, Beva, Mika and Siboney. —Que En Paz Descanse, Leno
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Leno F. Díaz entered into rest in Los Angeles, CA at the age
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* community meetings *
Amnesty International #127 For info. call Arthur @ 210.213.5919. Bexar Co. Green Party: Call 210. 471.1791 or bcgp@bexargreens.org Celebration Circle meets Sun., 11am @ Say Sí, 1518 S. Alamo. Meditation: Weds @7:30pm, Friends Meeting House, 7052 Vandiver. 210.533.6767. DIGNITY SA Mass, 5:30pm, Sun. @ St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1018 E. Grayson St | 210.340.2230 Adult Wellness Support Group of PRIDE Center meets 4th Mon., 7-9 pm @ Lions Field, 2809 Broadway. Call 210.213.5919. Energía Mía: Call 512.838.3351. Fuerza Unida, 710 New Laredo Hwy. www.lafuerzaunida.org | 210.927.2294 Habitat for Humanity meets 1st Tues. for volunteer orientation, 6pm, HFHSA Office @ 311 Probandt. LULAC Council #22198, Orgullo de SA, meets 3rd Weds, 6:30pm @ Luby’s, 911 Main Ave., Alamo Room. To join e-mail: salgbtlulac@gmail.com
NOW SA Chapter meets 3rd Wed’s. For time and location check FB/satx.now | 210. 802.9068 | nowsaareachapter@ gmail.com Pax Christi, SA meets monthly on Saturdays. Call 210.460.8448
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Proyecto Hospitalidad Liturgy meets Thurs. 7pm, 325 Courtland.
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SA Women Will March: Planning Meetings are underway. Check: www. sawomenwillmarch.org|210.262.0654 Metropolitan Community Church services & Sunday school @10:30am, 611 East Myrtle. Call 210.472.3597
Overeaters Anonymous meets MWF in Spanish & daily in English | www. oasanantonio.org | 210.492.5400. People’s Power Coalition meets last Thursdays | 210.878.6751
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PFLAG, meets 1st Thurs. @ 7pm, University Presbyterian Church 300 Bushnell Ave. | 210.848.7407. Parents of Murdered Children, meets 2nd Mondays @ Balcones Heights Community Ctr, 107 Glenarm | www. pomcsanantonio.org. Rape Crisis Center 7500 US Hwy 90W. Hotline: 210.349.7273 | 210.521.7273 Email: sgabriel@ rapecrisis.com The Religious Society of Friends meets Sunday @10am @ The Friends Meeting House, 7052 N. Vandiver. | 210.945.8456. S.A. Gender Association meets 1st & 3rd Thursday, 6-9pm @ 611 E. Myrtle, Metropolitan Community Church. SA AIDS Fdn 818 E. Grayson St. offers free Syphilis & HIV testing | 210.225.4715 | www.txsaaf.org. SGI-USA LGBT Buddhists meet 2nd Sat. at 10am @ 7142 San Pedro Ave., Ste 117 | 210.653.7755. Shambhala Buddhist Meditation Tues. 7pm & Sun. 9:30am 257 E. Hildebrand Ave. | 210.222.9303.
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S.N.A.P. (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). Contact Barbara at 210.725.8329. Voice for Animals: 210.737.3138 or www.voiceforanimals.org SA’s LGBTQA Youth meets Tues., 6:30pm at Univ. Presby. Church, 300 Bushnell Ave. | www.fiesta-youth.org
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Notas Notas YY Más Más
April 2015
The Texas Size Breach Collaborative: From El Paso to San Antonio, an exhibit curated by Alicia Viera, features more than a dozen Texas artists displaying large-scale prints. It continues through June 14th at the Educational & Cultural Arts Center of Texas A&M University, 101 Santa Rosa in San Antonio. Find more on facebook. Study in Chiapas, Tlaxcala and Mexico City with the Mexico-US Solidarity Network this Summer or Fall 2015 and receive credits for studying the theory and practice of social movements. Application deadlines are: April 15th (Summer) and May 1st (Fall). See mexicosolidarity.org/ ausmstudyabroad/mexicostudyabroad. The Coming of Age of LGBTQ Studies: Past, Present, and Future, a two-day conference examining the state of this field of study will take place at San Diego State University from April 17-18. Visit: lgbtqrc.sdsu.edu/ conference/
MEGA CORAZÓN returns in celebration of National Poetry Month at URBAN-15 Studio, 2500 S. Presa with a 6 hour marathon of poetry from 4pm to 10 pm. Check: events@urban15.org
in Nashville on May 27-29. Hosted by The Social Justice Program at Vanderbilt University Law School, it focuses on critical examinations of systemic racism and resistance to it within the context of the shifting social, historical, cultural, and Latinos in Heritage Conservation Sum- political realities in the U.S. and globally. mit: A National Dialogue takes place Fri- Check www.crseassoc.org day, May 22nd and Saturday, May 23rd in Tucson, Arizona at the Hotel Congress. The MALCS Summer Institute is schedPreservationists, scholars and community uled for July 29th to August 1st at the Uniadvocates dedicated to the preservation of versity of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Latino places and stories in the U.S. will Hosts/organizers are Alma Rosa Silvacome together to develop a vision/mission Bañuelos, Director of the UNM LGBTQ for Latino preservation. Visit: www.face- Resource Center and Rosa Isela Cervantes, Director of the UNM Centro de la Raza book.com/latinoheritageconservation and Special Advisor to the President on The Center for Mexican American Stud- Latino Affairs. Check: www.malcs.org/ ies (CMAS) at UT-Austin and The Society summer-institute/ for the Study of Gloria Anzaldúa serve as the hosts of El Mundo Zurdo 2015: Save the Date! Texas State University Memoria y Conocimiento, Interdisciplin- College of Education developed The ary Anzaldúan Studies—Archive, Legacy, Tomás Rivera Mexican American Chiland Thought taking place on May 27-30 dren’s Book Award in 1995 to honor auat the U.T. campus. Papers that critically thors and illustrators who create literature access the archive of the Gloria Evange- that depicts the Mexican American experilina Anzaldúa Papers, 1942-2004 at U.T. ence. Celebrate 20 years of exceptional will be a focus. The conference is free but Mexican-American children’s literature at registration is required. See www.utexas. the conference and literature fair on Friday edu/cola/centers/cmas/anzaldúa-confer- and Saturday, September 25th and 26th. The 2015 award winners include: Sepaence-2015/el-mundo-zurdo-2015-co rate is Never Equal: Sylvia Méndez and The 2015 Critical Race Studies in Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation and Education Conference will take place Gabi: A Girl in Pieces. See www. riverat Vanderbilt University Law School abookaward.org for more information.
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Folk Healing, Curanderismo and the Practice of Biomedicine Conference will be held on April 22nd & 23rd at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburgh in the Valley. Sponsored by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, it brings academics, practitioners and students together to discuss the present and future of curanderismo. Find more on facebook.
Brief news items on upcoming community events. Send items for Notas y Más to: lavoz@esperanzacenter.org or mail to: 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212. The deadline is the 8th of each month.
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PASEO POR E EL WESTSID
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handcrafted ceramics made to honor all women who have nurtured and advocated for their families, friends and community