Hats off to Texas! Tribute to Texas activists, not its politicans

Hats off to Texas! Tribute to Texas activists, not its politicians

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Texas offers the best of both worlds and both extremes. It offers us George Bush who claims he is from Texas, and it offers us activists who struggle for justice in a state that is, well, Texas.

So, today the Censored Blog honors the American Indian Genocide Museum in the Great State of Texas, for refusing to compromise or give up in its efforts to establish the facts of American Indian genocide and have those recorded in history.

Today's honors go to Steve and Cheryl Melendez who carry out the museum's courageous work in Houston, Texas.

The Censored Blog also honors those tireless freedom fighters pressing to free the imprisoned children in Hutto prison, near Austin, Texas, where migrant and refugee infants and children are imprisoned.

Here's the latest news from Jay Johnson-Castro, Sr., with those struggling to free the imprisoned children at the Don Hutto Residential Center:

"As many of you know, the Williamson County Commission has been feeling the heat. They also know that they were going to be seeing us in a week and a half at their meeting on the 16th. The local folks who have been championing the children have been relentlessly attending and presenting opposition to the imprisonment of the innocent children in Hutto at their weekly meetings and writing letters to the editor.
The local media keeps reporting on their complicity of profiting off of innocent children. So now, the Commissioners Court has finally decided to address the issue in open forum.In light of the sexual assault and the ACLU settlement, the Commissioners Court, although having no conscience about imprisoning children for profit, now wants to slither out of legal liability.
They are going to vote on a cancellation -- or escape route -- from their contract with Correction Corporations of America and ICE. We know that it is not the most convenient time of the day or of the week, but if we are front line fighters to free the children: WE SHOULD PLAN ON BEING PRESENT and/or COMMENT this coming Tuesday October 9th at 9:30am (Georgetown Justice of the Peace, Pct.#3 Courtroom, 301 S.E. Inner Loop in Georgetown Texas.)We need folks from LULAC, MADRES, CAHFTA, CASA, TUFF, ACLU, TCRP, TJP, Grassroots Leadership, NAACP, Rainbow Coalition, Farm Workers, Cesar Chavez March for Justice, CAIR, MALDUF, to name a few -- and every grassroots person who cares about this practice of imprisoning children and their mothers for profit -- to show up at this important public hearing and lay it on the line.We need folks from all across the state: Austin, San Antonio, the Metro-Plex, the Valley, Houston. We need to support our local partners who are on the battle lines of Ground Zero in Williamson County.
What we want to do is let these money-driven elected officials see that it is not just the local folks that are appalled at their inhumane and immoral conduct.
It is 'We the People' especially of Texas that are willing to fight this sick mentality until every child is free. We are not going to let the Commissioners Court get away with playing Pontius Pilate and wash their hands of the illegal conduct that they authorized, after they have played the role of Judas and therefore betrayed the highest of American values of liberty by selling out to corrupt corporate schemes.
We will not accept that the children would simply be transferred to another facility or to another landlord 'for profit.' Our fight is to preserve human dignity for members of our human family. No government should be allowed to commit this kind of indignity to innocent children with impunity.And especially the Commissioners need to hear that from us. All of us. Black, White, Latino, Asian, Indigenous, Arabic, Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Hindu, Atheist, poor, rich, Republican, Democrat, Marxist, Libertarian, Socialist -- whomever. We are America!!! And we oppose anyone who would commit such indignities on American soil, let alone in Texas.
We will prevail in our opposition. We have the conviction of the heart and the power of reason on our side. The beginning of the end of such sinister conduct starts in Williamson County.Hope to see you there this coming Tuesday.Free the Children!"Jay Johnson-Castro

Photo: Hutto protest 2007/Photo Jay Johnson-Castro

Cheryl Melendez: American Indian ancestors should be buried with respect
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2007/09/american-indian-ancestors-should-be.html