Texas Civil Rights Review

Category: Uncategorized

  • At Last: Statesman Reports on Palestinian Family

    A month and a half after receiving its first tip on the Palestinian families jailed at the T. Don Hutto prison in Taylor, Texas, the Austin American-Statesman today followed the Dallas Morning News example by publishing news of the Ibrahim family’s abduction. And at long last, a headline about the story appears in Harvey Kronberg’s Quorum Report under “news clips you need to see.”

    What made the story impossible to ignore any longer was the filing of a Habeas Corpus motion in an Austin federal court. New York attorney Joshua Bardavid flew in and out of Austin Thursday to file the motion in behalf of pregnant mother Hanan Ibrahim and her four children, who have been jailed at Hutto since their arrest November 2.

    And what made the involvement of attorney Bardavid possible was the support of Rita Zawaideh of the Arab American Community Coalition of Washington State and Dallas real-estate developer Ralph Isenberg.

    There are two other families of Palestinian heritage at Hutto, along with an unknown number of children from other families detained by immigration authorities.

    Activist attention to the prison is expected to continue with a fourth vigil on Feb. 12. Meanwhile, there is reason to be optimistic that the unlawful jailing of the Ibrahim family may soon come to an end.–gm

  • TCRR Exclusive: Official Texas Survey of Admissions

    We received via email from the Office of General Counsel at the

    Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board the results of a statewide survey of proposed admissions

    policies. We’re not sure what it means yet, but you can help us decide.

    Go to

    Downloads to get the documents for yourself.

  • A&M Faculty Advertise for Inclusion

    Following is the text of an advertisement placed in the Texas A&M student newspaper in early

    December, 2003, following press reports that affirmative action would not be used in admissions. Text

    sent via email by Professor Marco Portales of Texas A&M University. He notes that the media did not

    publish any reports about this ad: Faculty Committed to an Inclusive Campus

    <br?
    To

    publicly respond to recent incidents and messages of discrimination prepared and widely promulgated by

    various campus groups, we, the undersigned faculty, confirm and publicly reaffirm the University's

    Mission Statement and its commitment to an inclusive campus environment.

    Texas A&M

    University is dedicated to the discovery, development, communication, and application of
    knowledge

    in a wide range of academic and professional fields. Its mission of providing the highest quality

    undergraduate and graduate programs is inseparable from its mission of developing

    new
    understandings through research and creativity. It prepares students to assume roles of

    leadership,
    responsibility, and service to society. Texas A&M assumes as its historic trust the

    maintenance of freedom of inquiry and an intellectual environment nurturing the human mind and

    spirit.

    It welcomes and seeks to serve persons of all racial, ethnic, and geographic

    groups, women and men
    alike, as it addresses the needs of an increasingly diverse population and a

    global economy. In the twenty-first century, Texas A&M University seeks to assume a place of

    preeminence among public
    universities while respecting its history and traditions.

    (Texas A&M Home Page,
    http://www.tamu.edu/00/data/about.html, emphasis added.)

    Robin

    Fran Abrams
    Jeff Ackerman
    Marcelo Aguiar
    Patricia L. Alford
    Colin

    Allen
    Paul Almeida
    Michael Alvard
    Nancy Amato
    Victor Arizpe
    Mike

    Ash
    Sheela Athreya
    Riad Attar
    Scott W. Austin
    Judith A.

    Baer
    Terrence M. Barnhart
    Tammy D. Barry
    Maura A. Belliveau
    Ludy T.

    Benjamin, Jr.
    Harris M. Berger
    Mindy Bergman
    Dennis Berthold
    Brenda L.

    Bethman
    Angela Bies
    Carlos Kevin Blanton
    Jon Bond
    Eduardo Bonilla-

    Silva
    Heather Bortfeld
    Douglas Brooks
    Kimberly N. Brown
    Vaughn M.

    Bryant
    Mary Bryk
    Walter Buenger
    James Burk
    Karen L. Butler-

    Purry
    Gaile S. Cannella
    David L. Carlson
    Rollyn B. Carlson
    Linda

    Castillo
    Filipe Castro
    Antonio Cepeda-Benito
    Feinian Chen
    Federica

    Ciccolella
    Lauren Cifuentes
    Adrienne Colella
    Michael Collins
    Jonathan

    Coopersmith
    Leon W. Couch III
    Kevin J. Crisman
    Ben M. Crouch
    Jeff

    Cunningham
    Vesna Danilovic
    Sumana Datta
    Donna S. Davenport
    Emily S.

    Davidson
    Stephen E. Davis
    Darryl de Ruiter
    Giovanna P . Del Negro
    Angelo

    DeNisi
    Cynthia E. Devers
    Katherine M. Dietrich
    Donnalee Dox
    Lorraine

    Eden
    George C. Edwards III
    Maria Escobar-Lemmon
    John Fenn
    Barbara

    Findlay
    Lee A. Fitzgerald
    Mark Fossett
    Sarah N. Gatson
    Fran

    Gelwick
    Heather Gert
    Lisa Gilman
    Kay Goldman
    Carlos F. Gonzalez
    Tom

    Green
    Gale Hannigan
    Elizabeth A. Hastings
    Cecelia E. Hawkins
    Kathryn

    Henderson
    Alan Houtchens
    Mary Hovsepian
    Becky Hubley
    Patricia A.

    Hurley
    William Hyman
    Marian Hyman
    Brian Imhoff
    Andrea Imhoff
    Tazim

    Jamal
    Ute Jamrozy
    Hank C. Jenkins-Smith
    Joseph O. Jewell
    R. Malatesha

    Joshi
    Gregor Kalas
    Hilaire Kallendorf
    Diane S. Kaplan
    Howard B.

    Kaplan
    Eileen Kearney
    Wendy L. Keeney
    Kennicutt
    Michelle Hall

    Kells
    Katherine Kelly
    Bill Kibler
    Jimmie Killingsworth
    Laura

    Koehly
    Daniel Koetting
    Gerald Kulm
    Antonio C. La Pastina
    Rafael Lara-

    Alecio
    Ruth Larson
    Shang H. Lee
    Jan Leighley
    Peter Lieuwen
    Shaun

    Longstreet
    Roel R. Lopez
    Marty Loudder
    Laurence E. Lynn, Jr.
    Arvind

    Mahajan
    Joan E. Manley
    Howard Marchitello
    Laurine Elkins Marlow
    Manuel

    Martín-Rodríguez
    Pamela R. Matthews
    Marlynn May
    John J. McDermott
    David

    McWhirter
    Mary W. Meagher
    Kenneth J. Meier
    Chris Menzel
    Katherine

    Miller
    Anthony Mora
    Jack Nation
    Cary J. Nederman
    William H.

    Neill
    Nancy E. Northup
    Donna E. Norton
    Mary Ann O’Farrell
    Joseph T.

    O’Leary
    Larry Oliver
    Alexander Pacek
    Richard Parker
    Paul A.

    Parrish
    Linda Parrish
    Kevin Patton
    Stephanie C. Payne
    David

    Peterson
    Scott Poole
    Marco Portales
    Dudley S. Poston
    Larson

    Powell
    Harland Prechel
    Cemal Pulak
    Christopher M. Quick
    Linda

    Radzik
    Lawrence Rauchwerger
    Steve Rholes
    Mitchell F. Rice
    George

    Rogers
    Werner Rose
    James Rosenheim
    Victoria Rosner
    Rogelio

    Saenz
    Stephen Safe
    James E. Samuel
    Charles D. Samuelson
    Roger

    Sansom
    J. Martin Scholtz
    Roger Schultz
    Susan G. Scott
    David

    Scott
    John M. Scroggs
    Jane Sell
    Barbara F. Sharf
    Carol L.

    Silva
    Nancy Simpson
    Jeff Simpson
    Ercan Sirakaya
    N. Sivakumar
    R.

    Douglas Slack
    R.C. Slocum
    Jane A. Smith
    Laura M. Stough
    Richard

    Street
    John K. Thomas
    Patricia E. Tolciu
    Gary Varner
    Cynthia

    Werner
    Virginia West
    Guy D. Whitten
    Patricia P. Wiese
    Charles W.

    Wiggins
    David Wilborn
    Teresa Wilcox
    Joe Williams
    Kirk O.

    Winemiller
    Peter A. Witt
    Jennifer Wollock
    B. Dan Wood
    Wendy

    Wood
    Richard Woodward
    Lori E. Wright
    Takashi Yamauchi
    Danny L.

    Yeager
    To learn more about Faculty Committed to an Inclusive Campus, contact Harris M. Berger at

    .

  • The Death Penalty Asks for One Death More

    By Greg Moses
    Special to The Rag Blog

    I don’t know much about death. I’ve seen very little of it up close, and I’d like to see less of it on TV. But I have this idea that the less death we cause each other, the better.

    However, the death penalty seems to be based on another kind of idea. The world will be better, says the death penalty, if we all get together and make one death more.

    See the rest of the article at The Rag Blog

  • Media Catching Up to Ibrahim Family Injustice

    An email from Rita Zawaideh of the Arab American Community Coalition of Washington State (theaacc.org) brings word of two Dallas media success stories. The story of the Ibrahim family abduction is seeing the big sky of day in Texas.

    Brett Shipp of WFAA-TV Dallas begins a report with the words “inhumanity” and “atrocity.”

    Speaking of Shipp, Jay Johson-Castro sends word that “Shipp says one cannot imagine the amount of ‘hate mail’ he has received today. Please let your support of this story be known to him at www.wfaa.com/bshipp as well as to your friends, business associates, etc. who believe in our country and the ideals it portrayed when our ‘immigrant’ ancestors arrived.” We have sent word to Mr. Shipp that we appreciate his reporting. Have you?
    As for believing how much hate mail Mr. Shipp gets, of course we can. That hate mail is evidence of the political appetite that the Ibrahim arrest was supposed to satisfy in the first place, the weekend before the November election.

    At the Dallas Morning News, Paul Meyer and Frank Trejo, along with Dianne Solis, quote New York immigration attorney Theodore Cox, who is filing habeas corpus pleas in Dallas and Austin today. Meyer and Trejo credit Cox’s involvement to Zawaideh and Dallas real-estate developer Ralph Isenberg.

    The DMN story ends with a paragraph describing the mail that Ahmad Ibrahim gets on behalf of his jailed relatives, including 15-year-old Hamzeh:

    Another letter arrived recently, this one from the Richardson school district. The letter was to inform Salaheddin that his son Hamzeh had been absent from or tardy for classes at Berkner High School for 35 days since Aug. 14. The absences, the letter said, could make the parents guilty of a Class C misdemeanor, “contributing to truancy.”

    This major-market coverage breaks an important threshold in public awareness. Well done, Rita!

    The Ibrahim story also breaks into the Austin media market thanks to a story by Diana Welch of the Austin Chronicle, with a picture featuring the Kopit family at Vigil III. These corporate media outlets get their phone calls returned from immigration spokespeople, if only to be told that nothing can be said: “due to – you guessed it – ‘reasons of homeland security.’ ”

    –gm