Videos by Matthew Gossage of the First Vigil to Shut Down Hutto have been posted recently at YouTube, please see links on right sidebar of our home page.
2007 marks the tenth anniversary of the Texas Civil Rights Review. Throughout
the years, our motivation has remained the same. We want to make sure that some
issues and arguments not communicated by the corporate media get represention
on the internet. Along the way we have provided a few stories and perspectives
that make distinctive contributions to the civil rights struggle in Texas. And
a healthier Texas makes for a healthier world. In January we are looking at record-breaking page views (for us, they are record
breaking) making this our busiest month yet. Jay Johnson-Castro has brought an
audience with him, and we can see the difference it makes.
Although the corporate media is nearly unanimously evading affiliation with Palestinian
families imprisoned in Texas, the story of the Ibrahims, Suleimans, and Hazahzas
is nevertheless traveling the globe at the speed of light. How is the word spreading?
To begin with, Austin-area activists called a
Dec. 16 vigil ouside the T. Don
Hutto prison camp for immigrant families. Then Del Rio entrepreneur Jay Johnson-Castro
heard about it and volunteered to walk from the Capitol to the vigil, which he
did, mostly alone.
Then Juan Castillo of the Austin-American Statesman wrote a story reporting that
the Hutto jail was populated with people who had entered the USA illegally.
Castillo’s report prompted Dallas attorney John
Wheat Gibson to fire off an email pointing out to the reporter that some
families in the jail had in fact entered the USA legally. Johnson-Castro distributed
that email, we posted it right away, and we have been collecting materials about
the Palestinian families since then. (Even though, I don’t think the Statesman
has mentioned the Palestinian families yet.)
IndyMedia has been a very important space for distributing news about this story.
And editors at CounterPunch, Dissident
Voice, Electronic
Intifada, and Uruknet have been very supportive with their re-postings of our work.
Then came Marisa Treviño’s Dec. 19 overview
at Lista Latina. From there
the story has spread to important websites such as Infowars, XicanoPwr, Aztlan
Electronic News, and blogs such as Texas
Kaos and PhoenixWoman.
Jesse Salmeron’s
video of the Christmas Eve vigil has been warmly linked around
the blogosphere. When the woman from Dallas introduces the child she has
brought with her to the vigil, she reaches right into your heart. And everything
changes.
Last but never least is Flashpoints host
Dennis Bernstein who moderates a wonderful program for KPFA and Pacifica
affiliates. Audio
links to his progam help complete the package
of materials available for people finding this news for the first time.
Of course, the trouble with thanking people in a crowded room is that you are
sure to have failed to mention all who deserved it. So please take the names
as indicators of a spirit that is not at all limited to the entities named above.–gm
Texas Civil Rights Review 