Photo by Ralph Isenberg, April 2006

LETTER TO SUPPORTERS FROM VICTOR CARILLO (Chair of the Texas Railroad Commission, March 3, 2010)

Dear Family, Friends, Colleagues, Supporters:

As you now surely know, last night I was defeated (61% / 39%) in my statewide Republican Primary by my opponent, David Porter.

Porter, an unknown, nocampaign, no-qualification CPA from Midland residing in Giddings filed on the last day that he could file while I was waiting in Abilene to bury my dad. He has never held any elected office, has no geoscience, industry, or legal experience other than doing tax returns for oil and gas companies.

I was handily defeated in spite of spending over $600,000 to do the following:

1. Distribute two direct mail pieces to almost 500,000 Republican primary households;
2. Run a 60-second radio spot on TX State Radio Network, supplemented by key conservative talk and Christian radio stations;
3. Run ads in several targeted newspapers;
4. RoboCalls to thousands of “Independent” households;
5. Distribute election push cards, website, Facebook page, bumper stickers, letter writing;
6. Actively campaign in-person by my campaign staff and me.

Early polling showed that the typical GOP primary voter has very little info about the position of Railroad Commissioner, what we do, or who my opponent or I were. Given the choice between “Porter” and “Carrillo” -- unfortunately, the Hispanic-surname was a serious setback from which I could never recover although I did all in my power to overcome this built-in bias. I saw it last time but was able to win because the “non-Carrillo” vote was spread among three Anglo GOP primary opponents instead of just one. Also, the political dynamics have changed some since 2004.

Many of you have begun to call and/or write to express your concern over the whole situation. You are correct to be concerned over the fact that the GOP (our party) still has these tendencies to not be able to elect or retain highly qualified candidates who WANT to continue serving the public as I do.

It is indeed a shame. Nevertheless, I refuse to walk away in shame because I know that my team and I did just about all we could have done to ensure that the primary electorate knew of my qualifications, expertise, and experience. The rest was beyond my control. I also urge party leaders to not alienate the Hispanic/Latino voter in Texas, as we now comprise about 39% of the population and we remain the fastest-growing minority group in the nation.

However, none of you should be concerned about me and my family or my staff. Justin, my dedicated chief of staff and former student, gave up an excellent position to come back to help me through a most difficult time in my personal life with regard to my health and campaign. He remains a trusted friend and advisor and I will do all I can to ensure that he and his dear family are well positioned to allow his true, full potential to shine.

As for me and my family, I have learned much over the last several months of personal tragedy -- after my own brain surgery/recovery, the death of my halfbrother at Thanksgiving, and the death of my Dad (my best friend) in January:

THE SPECIFIC OUTCOME OF MY PATH IN LIFE IS NOT IN MY CONTROL, BUT WHOLLY IN THE MERCIFUL HANDS OF MY LORD & SAVIOR. HE, BEING SOVEREIGN, KNOWS WHAT IS BEST FOR ME & HE ALONE REMAINS IN FULL CONTROL! AS FOR ME, IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL!

So please don’t fret over my situation! God has known my path from before the beginning of time and He guides my path and I am fully confident that He will work things out for His ultimate glory! I do, however, seek your continued prayers for my wife (Joy) and my daughters (Laura, Christina, Grace), that they not overly worry about our future. I also covet your ongoing prayers for my 86- year old mother (Alicia), who continues to grieve the loss of her firstborn son and my dad within a six-week time period.

Sincerely,

Victor Carrillo

Note: the following announcement was posted at the top of the TCRR website for three years--gm.

Archived Feb. 20, 2010

Note: the following announcement was posted for three years at the top of the TCRR website--gm

USA citizens Amal and Jasmine Suleiman during happy days at home
Following an immigration raid and two months in prison for their parents and older brother, the twins were deported with their family to Jordan, and their house was foreclosed. Now is the time to bring them back.

Read Ralph Isenberg's updates: 1 / 2 / 3.

Building an American Dream

Archived Feb. 20, 2010

We got the tip from Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Sr., who writes, We've wondered where the next Hutto would be."

Apparently there is federal contract up for bid to build a new detention center for immigrant women and children. And an "undisclosed" company would like to put the project outside Las Cruces, NM.

Here's a link to the story by Todd G. Dickson posted at the Las Cruces Bulletin.

By Nick Braune

Anti-death penalty activity has increased in the Rio Grande Valley recently, led by The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty chapter in the Valley. And one key figure in the local TCADP is Sylvia Garza, a working class woman whose son is on death row after a problematic conviction in a high-profile multiple murder case back in 2002.

Garza’s son was 19 when he was convicted under the vicious “law of parties” statute in Texas, where anyone having anything to do with a chain of happenings in certain serious criminal cases can receive a maximum penalty. (Garza lobbied against the law of parties in the last legislative session and was shocked to find out how few legislators themselves were aware of the wide net cast by the statute.) Incidentally, there also remains considerable confusion about a “confession” Garza’s son gave the police. Sylvia and several women friends who are spouses or moms of death row inmates have been getting their word out well over the last few years, but with more effectiveness recently.

In early November, the local chapter organized a Valley-wide speaking tour for Juan Melendez, who spent 18 years on death row in Florida before he was released by the intervention of the national Innocence Project. Melendez’ visit clearly energized the local organizers, who had arranged for him to speak at two campuses of South Texas College, at some churches, and at high schools. Since the tour, the women in the chapter have continued vigils on execution days, have visited local legislators, and done other organizing.

Last weekend, Garza and the TCADP chapter were joined by Gloria Rubac from the Death Penalty Abolition Movement, who was visiting from Houston. They held a workshop in Spanish and one in English at the Fifth Annual People for Peace and Justice Gathering in Weslaco. They also maintained a literature table at the event, joining a good number of other progressive organizations in the Valley. (Over 200 people attended the annual gathering.) Speaking with this reporter over the phone afterwards, Garza reported that she was really pleased with how many people stopped over at their table, and how many indicated they wanted to help.

At speaking engagements Garza frequently tells groups that before her son was picked up and charged she remembers hearing the priest in church urging people to pray for the end to the death penalty, but it simply didn’t hit her. But she and the other moms in her circle here have done a lot of attentive praying since and have made their presence felt politically. “I used to think my voice could never be heard, but now I know it can be,” she told this reporter. And she said that the day before the Gathering she and the group went over to Harlingen for the Texas Forensic Science Commission meeting.

Because the Commission was hoping no one would attend if they held their meeting in remote Harlingen, they were surely disappointed that Garza and other concerned citizens turned up holding protest signs. Here is a quick report on the meeting and why it drew visitors.

The January 29 Forensic Science Commission meeting could have been important, had it been chaired properly. The Houston Chronicle writer, Rick Casey, reported the meeting, opening his coverage this way:

“Friday started badly for John Bradley, the Williamson County district attorney selected last fall by Gov. Rick Perry to ride herd over the troublesome scientists on the Texas Forensic Science Commission. His [Bradley’s] first official act of the morning was to violate the state’s open meeting law. Then the day got worse.”

Although the Innocence Project, a national organization which has now freed 250 people through DNA testing, had anticipated live-stream video coverage, an Austin-based documentary crew was not allowed to film the meeting. The crew called the Attorney General’s office, and the office sent a message to Bradley. An hour and a half into the meeting, someone signaled Bradley. He called for a ten minute break and readmitted the film crew.

The Commission meeting was tense. Bradley had been picked by Governor Perry to head the commission last September, Perry having high-handedly reorganized the commission after it had shown some independence. Because Perry has overseen more executions than any American governor, even surpassing George Bush’s previous ghoulish total, and because Republicans and Democrats have begun rethinking capital punishment across the nation recently, Perry is sensitive and wants to hide any embarrassments on the issue. And one clear embarrassment involves the 2004 execution of Todd Cameron Willingham.

Forensics in Texas has a bad reputation anyhow, but the commission meeting was particularly haunted by the Willingham case. When Bradley was installed as chair back in September, he canceled a meeting scheduled for three days later which was intended to discuss the Willingham case and he did not call another meeting until the January 29 session in Harlingen. The cancelled September meeting was going to discuss the fact that an arson expert, hired by the commission, had verified charges that Willingham was falsely convicted.

Rick Casey of the Chronicle said, “The meeting had drawn national attention because the expert found that the arson investigation that had helped lead to the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham for the murder of his children was badly flawed. It was especially controversial because Perry had rejected a request to delay Willingham's execution based on similar analysis.”

Chairman Bradley, no doubt with Perry’s best interests at heart, did not even allow the Willingham case to be placed on the January meeting agenda. (The McAllen Monitor quoted Gloria Rubac of the Abolition Movement: “I think it is a cover-up by Perry. The (gubernatorial) primary is in March, and their next meeting is not until April.”) And this gap in the agenda not only angered the protestors and those nationally who were following matters through the Innocence Project network; according to Sylvia Garza, it also seemed to irritate members of the committee who are growing suspicious of Chairman Bradley.

Garza and TCADP are planning a full day workshop on capital punishment in March to consolidate some of the new forces around them. For information: www.tcadp.org.

By Nick Braune

On January 9, some 70 people attended a rally/prayer vigil protesting the “tent city” immigration detention center in Raymondville, Texas. It was lively -- although I was out of town, I saw a video clip of the event -- with vigorous picketing, signs demanding that human rights be respected and calls on the megaphone for an end to the failed, cruel, immigration system.

The event was convened greatly by various United Methodist ministries and teams including the United Methodist Women Immigrant and Civil Rights Initiative. Watching the video, I recognized people joining in from Pax Christi in Brownsville, the Southwest Workers, People for Peace and Justice and Border Ambassadors.

The press release stated, “We call for closure of for-profit detention centers like Raymondville, which have a history of denying basic civil and human rights to immigrants. We call for basic rights for all immigrants.

“We call for an end to detentions and deportations until just immigration reform is in place. The reform should include a pathway to citizenship for migrants in the U.S.; protection of workers’ rights regardless of status; the unification of families, and humane border policies that respect human rights. The Willacy County detention center has had a series of allegations of horrendous conditions and abuse, including alleged sexual assaults on female detainees by guards, reports of detainees being fed rotten food and inadequate food, and poor access to medical and mental health care.”

The press release emphasized a “faith-based” approach, using the Pauline principle that, despite status and nationality differences, humans are fundamentally connected and “when one member suffers, we all suffer.”

I called Cindy Johnson, an organizer of the event and a deaconess for the United Methodist church. I had two questions for her, one about follow-up and one about the response of the guards. Answering the first question, she assured me that her group intends to keep the pressure on Raymondville, on ICE and their private contractors. She has been getting messages from people urging more public events, and smaller events are scheduled hopefully leading to a major one in May. (Johnson also told me she plans to attend the Valley-wide People for Peace and Justice “Gathering” in Weslaco on January 30th, the theme of which is that the fight against the Iraq and Afghanistan War and the fight for immigrant rights are connected.)

The other question I asked her concerned the guards. About two months ago there was a rally where some Raymondville guards became strangely belligerent and pulled out guns. Cautious because of that previous incident, Cindy’s group, before their vigil, took a lawyer to the site; they determined that there could be no reason for authorities to prevent demonstrations there. Johnson indicated that even the local sheriffs seemed to agree. The vigil went well and the guards behaved themselves.

(Incidentally, about two years ago, Amy Goodman, producer of a national media group, Democracy Now, was ordered away from the Raymondville detention center by a guard pointing a rifle at her. I interviewed someone who accompanied Goodman, and it was obvious that the guards were way out of bounds. The guards are poorly trained, as is the whole private staff running the fiasco there. It is operated by a Utah-based management and training corporation which is cost-cutting for extra profits wherever possible, at the expense of the immigrants and the whole tax-paying public.)

Because the rally was intended to help break the silence on detention centers, it was encouraging when the day after the rally the New York Times ran another critical report on America’s detention centers. The story has upped the ante considerably, reporting a trove of documents the paper and the ACLU had gathered, specifically looking at the 107 deaths of detainees nationwide (according to an ICE count) since 2003.

“Silence has long shrouded the men and women who die in the nation’s immigration jails,” said the Times. “For years, they went uncounted and unnamed in the public record. But behind the scenes, it is now clear, the deaths had already generated thousands of pages of government documents, including scathing investigative reports that were kept under wraps, and a trail of confidential memos and BlackBerry messages that show officials working to stymie outside inquiry.”

One incident found in documents newly released to the Times: In New Jersey a detained Guinean tailor was left in isolation for 13 hours without treatment after suffering a skull fracture. Eventually an ambulance was called. “While he lay in the hospital in a coma after emergency brain surgery, 10 agency managers in Washington and Newark conferred by telephone and e-mail on how to avoid costs of his care and the likelihood of ‘increased scrutiny and/or media exposure.’”

Documents show that they discussed sending the tailor back to Guinea, but they couldn’t because he hadn’t regained consciousness and he had tubes connected to him; they also discussed renewing his work permit so he could be eligible for Medicaid; they thought about a nursing home, but it would cost too much. Eventually they settled on a “humanitarian release” to relatives in New York who objected that they had no way to care for him. The issue became easier for agency managers when he died.

[This article also appears in Nick Braune’s column in the Mid-Valley Town Crier.]

“One day we will have to stand before the God of history and we will talk in terms of things we’ve done. Yes, we will be able to say we built gargantuan bridges to span the seas, we built gigantic buildings to kiss the skies. Yes, we made our submarines to penetrate oceanic depths. We brought into being many other things with our scientific and technological power.

“It seems that I can hear the God of history saying, That was not enough! But I was hungry, and ye fed me not. I was naked, and ye clothed me not. I was devoid of a decent sanitary house to live in, and ye provided no shelter for me. And consequently, you cannot enter the kingdom of greatness. If ye do it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye do it unto me. That’s the question facing America today.”

--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I believe that peace is unstable where citizens are denied the right to speak freely or worship as they please; choose their own leaders or assemble without fear.”

--President Barack Obama

“I do not believe that our society in this 21st century can ever live up to its promise of justice, equality, and the fundamental rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, until it stops insidious oppression, discrimination, prejudice, hostility, and my imprisonment on the basis of political, cultural, and spiritual philosophy as it pertains to the freedom to all humanity.”

--Ramiro R. Muñiz

Even though I have been confined in the prisons of America for sixteen years, I celebrate not the death of my brother, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but his life that continues to live in a most powerful, spiritual realm in this mode of darkness. His memorable life continues to demonstrate that we must have faith, courage, and the will in our hearts to struggle for our God-given rights. His life proved that the time has come for us to reunite and rise once again, and seek the rights for which he gave his life– freedom, justice, and equality.

In exile,
Ramsey - Tezcatlipoca
www.freeramsey.com

Dear Friends:

The year 2010 is a year for change as we have increased the efforts to free Ramsey Muniz! Support received on national and international levels demonstrates that the time is now!

On an international level, a recent article by Amigas de Mumia, México states,

"To the sound of drums, a little over a hundred of us demanded freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal outside the United States Embassy in Mexico City on December 9, 2009, as well as for Leonard Peltier, the men and women of MOVE, the Angola 3, Sundiata Acoli, Los Cinco, Francisco Torres, Hugo Pinnell, Ruchell Magee, Marilyn Buck, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, the Puerto Rican Independentistas, David Gilbert, Ramsey Muñiz, the environmental prisoners and all the social activists that this government intends to bury alive."

Our requests for prayers and spiritual intervention have made their way to India, as correspondence regarding Ramsey Muñiz was delivered to Amma. We feel blessed for a spiritual connection with Amma, a woman who is considered by many throughout the world as a living saint and prophet.

Nationally, we are most grateful for the support demonstrated by Rosa Rosales, National President of LULAC, who recently met with us to provide assistance in the efforts to free Ramsey Muñiz. The compassion and love that she demonstrates makes her a true leader, and we hold her in great esteem for the work that LULAC has done to help us.

Joe Ortiz, National Civil Rights Director for the American GI Forum, continues to provide support and we extend our gratitude to the American GI Forum for the assistance that they continue to provide.

As we move forward to free Ramsey Muñiz , the list of organizational support continues to grow, and we call on all organizations and individuals to join this movement. The need to unite in this humanitarian cause is critical and the time is now!

We continue to thank God for the signs given to us that Ramsey will obtain the freedom that he so rightfully deserves! Thank you for the assistance that you have provided to free Ramsey Muñiz.

Sincerely,
Irma Muñiz
www.freeramsey.com

In an early morning email, Cindy Sheehan is alerting U.S. activists that American citizens are reportedly being roughly handled by Egyptian police. Among the Americans who have gathered for a peace march into Gaza are at least six North Texans, including one contributor to the Texas Civil Rights Review.

The following press release identifies six Texans who were making plans to be in Egypt by Jan. 27:

The Gaza Freedom March that will take place in Gaza on December 31 is an historic initiative to break the siege that has imprisoned the 1.5 million people who live there. Conceived in the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and nonviolent resistance to injustice worldwide, the march will gather people from all over the world to march—hand in hand—with the people of Gaza to demand that the Israelis open the borders.

Marking the one-year anniversary of the December 2008 Israeli invasion that left over 1,400 dead, this is a grassroots global response to the inaction on the part of world leaders and institutions. Participants include Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker, leading Syrian comedian Duraid Lahham, French Senator Alima Boumediene–Thiery, author and Filipino Parliament member Walden Bello, former vice president of European Parliament Luisa Morgantini from Italy, President of the U.S. Center for Constitutional Rights Attorney Michael Ratner, Japanese former Ambassador to Lebanon Naoto Amaki, French hip-hop artists Ministere des Affaires Populaires, and 85-year-old Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein.

North Texas will also be represented on the march by at least six people: Roger Kallenberg, a Jewish retired schoolteacher; Rev. Diane Baker, a hospice chaplain ordained in the United Church of Christ; Josh Smith, a businessman from Plano; Candice Bernd, a student at UNT-Denton; and Walt Harrison & Elsa Clasing, photographers & videographers.

When organizers pitched the idea for the march, they hoped to get 1,000 people to come, but the response has been so great that they have had to turn people away because of a lack of accommodations after capping the march at 1,300 internationals. Inside Gaza, excitement is growing. Representatives of all aspects of civil society, including students, professors, refugee groups, unions, women’s organizations, NGOs, have been busy organizing and estimate that at least 50,000 Palestinians will participate.

The international delegates will enter Gaza via Egypt during the last week of December. In the morning December 31, they will join Palestinians in a non-violent march from Northern Gaza to the Erez/Israeli border. On the Israeli side of the Erez border will be a gathering of Palestinians and Jews who are also calling on the Israeli government to open the border.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has endorsed a report by a UN fact finding mission on the Gaza conflict which concluded that Israel has imposed a blockade, amounting to collective punishment, and has carried out a systematic policy of isolation and deprivation of the Gaza Strip. The UN Mission, headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, the former chief prosecutor for war-crimes tribunals on Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, said Israeli acts that deprive Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of their means of subsistence, employment, housing and water and that deny their freedom of movement could lead the world court to find that the crime of persecution, a crime against humanity, has been committed.

Readers of the Texas Civil Rights Review may recognize Walt Harrison as the photographer who has contributed photos and videos of the protests that successfully ended family detention at the T. Don Hutto immigrant prison in Taylor, Texas

Here is Cindy Sheehan's appeal, which opens with a report from Josh Smith:

One of my friends, Joshua Smith, just texted me from Cairo and said that some U.S. citizens on a Gaza protest are being roughly treated by Egyptian police One of my friends, Joshua Smith, just texted me from Cairo and said that some U.S. citizens of the Gaza Freedom March went to the U.S. Embassy today there to try and implore the staff there to intercede on behalf of the March to help get them into Gaza--they were not so warmly welcomed.

Recently, almost 1400 people from around the globe met in Cairo to march into Gaza to join Gazans in solidarity and to help expose their plight after years of blockade and exactly a year after the violent attack in what Israel called "Operation Cast Lead" that killed hundreds of innocent Gazan civilians. So far the Marchers have been denied access (Egypt closed the Rafah crossing) and their gatherings have become increasingly and more violently suppressed.

In my understanding of world affairs, embassies are stationed in various countries so citizens who are traveling can seek help in times of trouble, but this doesn’t appear to be so right at this moment in Cairo.

Josh reports, and I also just got off the phone with my good friend and Veterans for Peace board member, Mike Hearington, that about 50 U.S. citizens were very roughly seized and thrown (in at least one case literally) into a detention cell at the U.S. embassy. We are talking about U.S. citizens here being manhandled by Egyptian riot police. According to Josh and Mike (who both just narrowly escaped), it appears that people with cameras are especially being targeted. Another good friend of mine, and good friend of peace, Fr. Louis Vitale is one of those being detained. Fr. Louis is well into his seventies!

Josh posted this on his Facebook wall about his near-detention experience:

We just got away. They were trying to drag me in but we kept moving... And most were dog piling another guy. Then they drug him into the parking lot barricaded riot police zone, lifted him up and threw him over the police and down into the zone. And attacking those taking pictures or attempting to.

When I was talking to Mike he said that an Egyptian told him that all Egyptians are in solidarity with the Marchers and with the people of Gaza/Palestine, of course, but the “Big Boss” (the U.S.) is calling the shots.

Egypt is third in line for U.S. foreign aid (behind Iraq and Israel) and its dictator for life, Hosni Mubarek, is a willing puppet for his masters: the US/Israeli cabal. Israel could not pursue its apartheid policies without the U.S. and it’s equally important for this cabal to have a sold-out ally as its neighbor.

Today also happens to be the anniversary of the 1890 U.S. massacre of Native Americans (Lakota Sioux) at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. It is sad enough that we are also living on stolen land, but also that the Israeli government had good teachers in disposing of its indigenous population!

What are the Israeli settlements on the West Bank, if not stolen land from the indigenous population and what is Gaza if not a mega-reservation? As at Wounded Knee 119 years ago, the Israeli siege and attack on Gaza is nothing more than big bullies shooting fish in a barrel.

Call the U.S. Embassy to demand the release of those detained/that permission is granted for the March to cross into Gaza: Telephone: (20-2) 2797 3300.

Please re-post this alert and spread the word.

Weren’t things supposed to "change" in the Age of Obama?

If photographers were being targeted by police, then we have reasonable cause to be concerned about our contributor Walt Harrison.

Finally, we will pass along this item forwarded to us by another friend of the Texas Civil Rights Review, John Wheat Gibson:

Hedy Epstein, the 85 year old Holocaust survivor and peace activist, announced that she will begin a hunger strike today as a response to the Egyptian government’s refusal to allow the Gaza Freedom March participants into Gaza.

Ms. Epstein was part of a delegation with participants from 43 countries that were to join Palestinians in a non-violent march from Northern Gaza towards the Erez border with Israel calling for the end of the illegal siege. Egypt is preventing the marchers from leaving Cairo, forcing them to search for alternative ways to make their voices heard.

Ms. Epstein will remain outside the UN building at the World Trade Center (Cairo) - 1191 Cornish al-Nil, throughout today, accompanied by other hunger strikers. "It is important to let the besieged Gazan people know they are not alone. I want to tell the people I meet in Gaza that I am a representative of many people in my city and in other places in the US who are outraged at what the US, Israeli and European governments are doing to the Palestinians and that our numbers are growing," Epstein said.

In 1939, when Epstein was just 14, her parents found a way for her to escape the persecution, sending her on the Kindertransport to England. Epstein never saw her parents again; they perished in Auschwitz in 1942. After World War II, Epstein worked as a research analyst at the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi doctors who performed medical experiments on concentration camp inmates.

After moving to the US, Epstein became an activist for peace and social justice causes. Unlike most Holocaust survivors, one of the causes she has taken up is that of the Palestinian people. She has traveled to the West Bank, collected material aid and now she hopes to enter Gaza.

Ramiro R. Muñiz – 40288-115
FCC Beaumont – Medium
P.O. Box 26040
Beaumont, TX 77720

Address updated Christmas Day, 2009

(Walt Harrison / Winston Smith Media)

Hutto:
First Anniversary Vigil
Dec. 16, 2007

Faten and Maryam Ibrahim

Hutto Jail for Children, Women, and Profit
(Taylor, TX)
Photo by Jay Johnson-Castro

Neighbors Say Never
(Photo by Jay J. Johnson-Castro)

June 23, 2007
(Photo by Walt Harrison)

Also: See Slide Show from the Prisons for Profit Blog