PASEO POR EL WESTSIDE Sat. May 4th, 9-3pm, 816 S. Colorado St., SATX May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 San Antonio, Tejas
May is Preservation Month! Established in 1973 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation Month is observed across the U.S. by local preservation groups, state agencies, and business and civic organizations. The City of San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) collaborates with San Antonio organizations to curate a comprehensive list of events that honor and showcase the city’s cultural heritage and traditions often encapsulated in designated historic sites and neighborhoods [See https://www.saspeakup.com/preservationmonth2024]. This May, the Preservation Month theme is “People Saving Places” to shine the spotlight on everyone doing the work of saving places. A major event, sponsored by the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in San Antonio is Paseo Por El Westside, now celebrating 15 years. At the 2024 Paseo, workshops, tours, and cultural activities will engage participants in Westside life from Aquellos Tiempos—from those times in the past when life was simpler and neighbors spoke to each other face to face. The Esperanza along with the Westside Preservation Alliance have revived efforts to preserve buildings and sites throughout the Westside but the process is slow, full of roadblocks and arduous. Nevertheless, it has been the Buena Gente, often our elders and sabios, that have stepped forward to make preservation of places and cultural traditions of the Westside a reality. Read the article (pages 4-7) in this issue of La Voz written by Graciela Sánchez ten years ago for the San Antonio Latino Legacy Summit to get an idea of the work we’ve done together to preserve Westside traditions and places. The work we do matters, especially for the generations to come. Join us on May 4th for Paseo Por El Westside to learn more and get involved in the work of preservation. —Gloria A. Ramírez, editor of La Voz de Esperanza La Voz de Esperanza May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 Editor: Gloria A. Ramírez Design: Elizandro Carrington Cover Art: Mary Agnes Rodríguez Contributors Tarcisio Beal, Don Mathis, Kayla Miranda, Graciela Sánchez (2014 La Voz de Esperanza reprint), Annie Xia & Sneha Dey (Texas Tribune) Esperanza Director Graciela I. Sánchez Esperanza Staff Sherry Campos, Elizandro Carrington, Sarah Chavarria, Kayla Miranda, Roxanna Rojas, René Saenz, Imane Saliba, Susana Segura, Rosa Vega Conjunto de Nepantleras —Esperanza Board of Directors— Richard Aguilar, Norma Cantú, Brent Floyd, Rachel Jennings, Amy Kastely, Ana Lucía Ramírez, Gloria A. Ramírez, Rudy Rosales, Lilliana Saldaña, Nadine Saliba, Graciela I. Sánchez • 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 • www.esperanzacenter.org Inquiries/Articles can be sent to: [email protected] 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. Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers, whether with us now or not, who simply strive to make this world a better place for their children and their communities. Feliz Día de Madres de parte de la Esperanza y su Buena Gente. 2 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. 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 LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 • The property at 836 S. Laredo St., part of the old Laredito neighborhood, needs to be preserved rather than demolished. Efforts are underway to revive this area.
Paolina and the Condor By Don Mathis AUTHOR’S NOTE: Bird Day is recognized on May 4 to foster interest in birds. To celebrate, this ekphrastic poem offers an imaginative narrative of a creature brought to life on a mola. It speaks of the power and beauty of nature, of the indigenous women of Panamá, of art, and the calling to create. Paolina works on her fabric amongst the other women on the islands of San Blas, the patron saint of animals They call it a mola Paolina keeps one eye on her work When her brother works on ceramics removing one layer of clay to show another beneath they call it sgraffito Yet when she removes one layer of cloth to show another underneath they call it appliqué She laughs Paolina watches her process The mola metamorphoses from abstract to concrete The condor emerges Paolina keeps one ear tilted toward the idle gossip as the women chatter She hears of the fights the make-ups and the love women share with men Once in a while she hears talk of trading secrets how to make this effect or that to make the mola glow The designs go back to the day they wore tattoos like clothing before the missionaries Efforts to convert the Kuna stopped a long time ago These people of Panamá still carry their old ways Paolina keeps one eye to the sky watching the condor in flight Some see a vulture a bird of prey others see a buzzard looking for carrion Paolina sees a majestic flight She can see how the thermal drafts keep the creature aloft and admires its beauty how it tilts its wing tips to change direction or altitude and marvels at its cunning The condor has an eye too far stronger than Paolina’s and it gains honor at Paolina’s portrait smiles at the wondrous branch it grasps with a flower at the end or is it a caterpillar or a butterfly or more Paolina keeps one ear tuned to her heart her head her hands The language they speak predates the conquistadores and she listens well Her condor tells her of flying through a rainbow picking up the colors of the cosmos She listens and understands No border can contain the condor so she breaks the border on her portrait She listens to the sounds of the sky, the vast space deafening in its silence, and she includes that too in her mola The beauty Paolina makes lasts as long as its construction to her at least To the international traders and the individual customers in far off lands the beauty of the mola lasts and lasts Paolina laughs as she receives her pay Her job is done The pittance she receives will keep her in rice and beans for a week maybe more She buys more fabric She lays out her scissors her needle and thread Paolina begins work anew but is distracted by a shadow Another condor passes by XXX LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 • 3 Mola, purchased in Colombia in 1985, from the collection of Don Mathis
4 By Graciela I. Sánchez My abuelita Francisca and my Tata lived at 910 Santiago. My brothers and sister and I grew up at 914 Santiago. Before that, my great grandmother, Teresita, lived a block down on Chihuahua. On my Dad’s side, my abuelos lived a block north on Vera Cruz. All of those houses were bulldozed in the 1970s for so called “better housing” for us, “poor Mexicans”. The reality? Zachary and other contractors made millions of dollars. Hundreds of poor and working class families were driven out of the neighborhood and hundreds more were forced to move to new cheaply constructed houses. My family, for example, lost two sturdily built wooden houses, approximately 2400 sq. ft. made with long-leaf pine, a wonderful wood that is now largely extinct. They were moved one-half block north to a cement house, approximately 900 sq. ft. that was made by Zachary, now permeated by mold. In the downtown area, on Laredo St., a neighborhood existed that was known as Laredito. It, too, is gone and recently as (2024) being considered for renovation now designated as still in danger of demolition. Economic development? The Vista Verde project took away Doña Natividad’s house and the Ramos’ Maternity Home, the partera’s two-story, 20-room house on Matamoros St. That street doesn’t exist there any more. We lost so many tienditas — Don José’s on Chihuahua, El Pelón’s on Vera Cruz and Cibolo, Arevalo’s by the Matanzas and Don Antonio’s on Sabinas. We had tienditas at every corner where we’d return empty glass soda bottles for a nickel and, in turn, buy raspas or assorted five cent candies. Beautify the neighborhood? We also lost thousands of fruit trees and jardines medicinales as well as shot-gun homes with our version of picket fences. The beautiful Spanish mission revival Christian church down the street, gone... and the outdoor nichos and grottos with the Virgen de Guadalupe, el Santo Niño de Atocha or any one of a number of assorted saints that our neighbors favored — all gone. Urban renewal devastated our communities, separated families and uprooted children. Yes, our streets are now paved, but our communities are disrupted, our family businesses are shut down and our children are left to fend for themselves as their mothers and fathers now travel far from home to work in big box stores on the northside. Has everything changed for the better from those bad old days? Are we in the midst of enlightened historic preservation? Urban renewal has hurt us by dislocating families and destroying historical landmarks that are the visible reminders of our cultural past. Sadly, most current plans for “neighborhood improvement” or “economic development” or “gentrification” are having the same impact on our ever more vulnerable communities. We, the survivors of Urban Renewal, have grown up. We have studied Chicano history and literature classes. Some of us run cultural centers, some of us have PhDs in history and cultural studies and for those of us who have been gathering the oral histories of our abuelitas and abuelitos, we have gotten our barrio PhDs as well. Because of this, we have committed ourselves to stop the destruction of our communities, the dispersion of our families, and the erasure of our histories. When La Gloria, the 1928 two-story building on Laredo St., was EDITOR’S NOTE: The following plática was delivered by Graciela Sánchez at the February 15, 2014 San Antonio Latino Legacy Summit that focused on the future of Latino heritage and historic preservation in Texas. Graciela, Director of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, attended as part of the Westside Preservation Alliance. In observance of the 15th anniversary of Paseo Por El Westside and Preservation Month, we reprint this text that includes observations and analyses that continue to be relevant ten years later— in 2024. Historic Preservation on SAN ANTONIO’S WESTSIDE: Why Isn’t It Happening? LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • April 2014 Vol. 27 Issue 3• LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 • 4 836 S. Laredo & Guadalupe: The photobanner exhibit —En Aquellos Tiempos: Fotohistorias del Westside was begun in 2006 by the Esperanza.
threatened, hundreds of folks came out to try and save this building. We met with councilmembers. We marched in the streets. We showed film clips of Mexican and Black men playing trumpets and trombones — while women, some dressed like 1920s flappers, danced on the roof-top of La Gloria. We attended city council meetings to try and stop the destruction, but lost because city leaders were more interested in economic development over our history. When we filed a temporary restraining order to stop the demolition, we ran into a racist judge who didn’t want us to talk about equal protection. Didn’t want Ann McGlone to testify in court that the reason there were no buildings saved in the Westside WAS because of racism. That challenge was in 2002. The building fell. And we said no more. We, Chicanos who lived or had lived or worked in the Westside, began to meet. We began gathering oral histories to learn our unwritten history so that we could build up the community’s self-esteem. So that we could learn to love ourselves, our people, our small and simple homes, our history, our culture, our dark-skinned color, our long names that many folks couldn’t and don’t try to pronounce. In 2006, we hung photo banners using photos collected from people who were from the Westside. Suddenly, we saw major interest in being from this neighborhood. People who grew up north of Commerce, north of Culebra, people who grew up in the Jefferson neighborhood, suddenly claimed this neighborhood as theirs. So, we succeeded on some level. But, nothing changed at the policy level, at the bureaucratic level, at the level where decisions are made. And by 2008, we found ourselves working to save another building, “the pink building.” It was déjà vu. But this time, we were more prepared. And because we didn’t want to see another historical building come down on the Westside, the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center worked to bring together community residents and non-profit organizations to develop policy regarding historic buildings on the Westside. We wanted to avoid having to save historic buildings one at a time. So we invited Westside community members and folks who once lived in the neighborhood and folks who work in the neighborhood, non-profits like the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, Inner City Development, NALCAB, the Avenida Guadalupe, the Office of Historic Preservation and the San Antonio Conservation Society to come together. Soon, the Westside Preservation Alliance came into existence. In addition to developing policy regarding historic preservation on the Westside, we would “concientizar” the community and power brokers of this city and would work to stop further demolitions of peoples’ homes and communities. However, for all our proactive actions: 2000-plus signatures collected door-to-door and at surrounding churches; meetings with elected and appointed officials and heads of non-profits; creating short testimonio videos of community members requesting that the building be saved; powerpoint presentations; researching historic Sanborn maps; interviewing 90-plus-year-olds who remembered the building or Guillermo Maldonado; and on and on — we still found ourselves in the same place. Internalized racism made some community members insist that it was old and should be torn down. Racism kept the Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) from championing our work and sitting with us to strategize on how to save this building as should be when preservationists work together. We couldn’t even get meetings with the Office of Historic Preservation’s administrative staff. From our research of Casa Maldonado, we learned that the 1986 Villa de Guadalupe Historic Resources Assesment prepared for the City of Antonio had declared 71 buildings from Guadalupe to Tampico to be of social and cultural significance. Unfortunately, less than 20 of those structures survive today. The city approved all of the demolitions. When we had to go before the Historic Design and Review Commission, we weren’t allowed by city staff to present the project. We weren’t allowed the time to explain the historical significance of Casa Maldonado. We were only allowed to have our 3-minute presentation. We barely won historic designation and then lost the battle with the zoning commission and the city council. But we didn’t stop. We pressured the mayor to meet with us. And since there was no big developer or a big corporate powerhouse behind the project, the Mayor found $500,000 to give to the Avenida so that they could preserve the building. We won outside of the system. Finally in the fall of 2012, there was the Univision building… Same story, shorter time frame. By February, 2013 the building was demolished. SO… WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO TO SAVE LATINO LEGACY, HISTORY AND OUR SACRED SPACES? LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 • 5 In 2008 efforts to save “the pink building” on Avenida Guadalupe known as the Maldonado House paid off saving it from scheduled demolition to a designated historic site that was completely rehabilitated. In 2002, the demolition of La Gloria with its historic rooftop dance floor ignited community efforts to save historic sites in the Westside.
1 First, learn from the horrors of Urban Renewal: a) Make sure that the first question asked of every proposal is: How many houses will be lost and where will those families be relocated? b) The second question must be: What impact will this have on the property taxes of other families in the neighborhood and what will be done to keep those families from being driven from the neighborhood? c) And the third question must be: What impact will this have on small and family businesses? It is not enough to say that Zachery and others will make a lot of business or that those construction companies will offer some temporary jobs to our people. THAT is NOT “economic development” — that is “economic exploitation”! As has been noted, we are not people being “left behind” by economic development, we are the ones being robbed. d) A fourth and equally important question must be: What impact will this project have on the buildings that are the “visible reminders” of the cultural and political history of our people? 2 Learn to be Buena gente-good people. What does this mean? a) Greet all your allies with a hello, a smile, a handshake and maybe an abrazo after you’ve worked with them more than a month. I find it hard that after working with some folks for over 5 years that they can totally ignore you, especially if you’re in a meeting trying to save these Latino structures. b) Give us credit for the work we do. As the Westside Preservation Alliance, we discuss and educate ourselves about the issues, we share our knowledge and insights with one another and then strategize and act on those strategies. It is disappointing that although we do so much of the work, we are erased by our government allies in the struggle. c) Remember: most community activists don’t get paid for the work they do, or get paid relatively little — how arrogant for those of you with a government salary to take credit for our work. 3 Learn to work in coalition: a) If partnering with us, then add our names to the list. If the Conservation Society had named all the groups who were working to Save Univision in their paperwork, rather than going it alone, then all named groups would have had standing in court and we could have made a unified fight. Instead, the Conservation Society, out front on their own, hired a young white attorney with little, if any, experience on historic preservation who argued against the Westside Preservation Alliance. His explanation, in private, was that the Conservation Society is the brains and the Westside Preservation Alliance is merely the “passion” for historic preservation. b) Share resources: (i) Share contacts and entry into state and national folks. With Casa Maldonado, we found ourselves calling various folks at the Texas Historical Commission — and none of them seemed to be the right person to talk to. Or, they weren’t interested in changing their mind once we submitted to them the hundreds of documents we had collected. People offered to set up meetings with the WPA and the Texas Historical Commission but then never followed through. (ii) Share information on potential demolitions, on upcoming meetings and conferences, on changes in policies, and on job opportunities so that we can get folks with more knowledge and skills to do the work (iii) And, if there are funds at any level, share and better yet, contact your connections at those funding institutions to urge them to learn more about our work so that it’s easier to access the limited funds. And sit with us to develop strategies to find new funding for a Latino Historic Preservation Initiative at the federal, state and local public and private levels. (iv) Teach us how the system works. According to the Office of Historic Preservation, none of us should have applied to the Board of Adjustments in the Univision case. If they knew this, then they should have alerted us and we would have followed a different plan of action. c) Stand in solidarity with community-based historic preservationists. Be courageous. (i) Although Univision was eligible for designation under three national criteria — the OHP staff did not recommend approval. If we can’t count on the local Office of Historic Three shotgun houses in the1100 block of Guadalupe were designated historic landmarks in San Antonio in 2021 and efforts continue to preserve and renovate them. In 2012, despite community efforts to save it, the Univision building that was located at a prime location along the SA Riverwalk and housed the legacy of Latino broadcasting as the nation’s first Spanish-language TV station was demolished. LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 • 6
Preservation, who can we count on? (ii) Don’t take money from lobbyists and developers such as Kauffman/Killeen and Greystar to underwrite an event such as Power of Preservation San Antonio. These folks were the lobbyists and developers who were the forces behind the demolition of Univision. Taking money or other resources from these guys separates you from community-based allies. (iii) Hire staff with decision-making power that speak Spanish and are sensitive to community concerns. Learn to speak Spanish as well. Learn about our history. Take Chicano/Latino 101, 201, 301 and beyond. We can also work to identify folks at the various universities who are the best scholars to learn from. (iv) Listen and learn. When community preservationists offer suggestions, take them seriously. For example, when you host a meeting in our communities and we suggest that an elder from the community should be the first to speak, allow it. Don’t ignore us. (v) If you want our help generating interest in meetings, larger gatherings, or tours, let us work with you to develop the idea. Don’t come to us months after you developed the project. Goals and objectives will be different after the fact. We don’t just want to help you bring in the brown folks after the fact. (vi) Tell us about national conferences and then find funds for us to go to national, local and statewide conferences. Since many of us are doing this work as volunteers and/or, often, the organizations we work for do not have funds set aside for travel and registration fees, we can’t attend those conferences. Often, too, partial scholarships for registration may not be enough. Open up spaces for us to speak at these conferences. Don’t simply speak for us. (vii) Get “Passionate!” Remember, when we get jailed, we are preservationists, as well as activists. We are people who do the research, who think, analyze and follow the rules. And when all else fails, we take to the streets and, if necessary, do civil disobedience. Don’t go home to sleep when one of our historic buildings or entire blocks are marked for imminent demolition. Stay with us. Call your attorneys and stay up all night writing and filing the temporary injunctions. Don’t expect us to make noise so that you can step in as the grown ups. It is hard on our bodies and distressing to our families when we have to resist at that level. You can join us and put your lives on the line too. d) Finally, BE SMART … (i) If you want community participation — mail hard copy invitations to community folks. Most of our people are working class and poor. We do not have computers, much less internet. If you’re interested in bringing nuestra gente to the conversation, dollars should be set aside to get them more engaged. For this event (Latino Summit), Esperanza paid for designing, printing and postage of a flyer for 4000 folks from this neighborhood. We weren’t asked to do this, but we noticed that no one else was going to do this and we had to at least reach out in a more accessible way. (ii) Implement guidelines that incorporate vernacular architecture of working class and poor people. And, in San Antonio, we should be focused on Latinos. We were blown away when the City’s most recent design guidelines included German vernacular, but made no mention of Mexican vernacular. (iii) Don’t hire outside consultants who have no understanding of the local latino community and its culture and values — or have barely worked with Latinos and other communities of color. Hire, instead, progressive latino cultural historians in your organizations. 4 Help us preserve our communities but avoid the potential gentrification that tends to take place post historical conservation of neighborhoods. 5 Help us move new policies forward that don’t just landmark latino historical buildings, but also work to find funding for our low socioeconomic and working-class folks to fix up their home. And again, don’t post the application forms on-line because we won’t know that this funding is available. Make sure it’s written in English and Spanish. And hire someone to do community outreach so that people know that the resources are available to them. Our communities fear historical designation because they feel that our neighborhoods will be gentrified and taxes on our homes will go up. And they’re right. So, how do we create policies that don’t create that scenario? We lost La Gloria, the Municipal Auditorium, KEDA, Univision and thousands more. But the work continues…. Hemisfair Park, the HEB at Nogalitos, and designating the entire near Westside as historic. Don’t avoid us and go talk to other Latinos who will agree with your point of view. We need to have the difficult conversations and grow. We need to accept that racism is still alive and that communities of color are generally ignored and suffer from selfdoubt and all of the other maladies of internalized racism. Don’t be afraid of us. In general, we’re on the same side. Will you work alongside us or against us? Respect and honor our work and we will save Latino history and U.S. history. u LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 • 7 Isabel Sánchez at 910 Santiago in San Antonio’s Westside, another photobanner.
LA VOZ Sat. May 4th, 9-3pm, 816 S. Colorado St., SATX de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 • 8 PASEO POR EL WESTSIDE
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 •SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 9 15th Anniversary of Paseo Por El Westside: Our Quinceañera!
By Kayla Miranda I was 19 when I got pulled over for the first time. A Medina County sheriff had parked somewhere with the lights all off. I suddenly saw flashing lights in my mirror. I was working three jobs because not only did I live on my own, but I wanted a truck and finally saved enough for the down payment on a brand new GMC Sierra, fresh off the lot. I had just worked 16 hours straight. I was exhausted and just wanted my bed. The officer came back to my window after running my license. He said, “ I could let you go with a warning since you’ve never gotten a ticket, but I need you to learn your lesson.” I don’t remember the exact words he used next, but it was something along the lines of just because Daddy buys me a truck or something like that… I was offended. I worked three jobs, lived on my own for two years and I had earned everything I had. Minimum wage was still $5.15 an hour. I’m sorry if you had a chip on your shoulder but I worked hard. A few months later, I went to court. I didn’t have the money for the ticket. Between rent and bills, car payment and insurance, plus employer-based health insurance, there was nothing left. I literally was living off of old gas station hot dogs just to eat. They reset the court date. I repeated this process several times until I moved to Dallas and couldn’t go in person anymore. Payment options were not available—only full payment was accepted. I had offered to pay a little each month—but no dice. I also offered community service or just sitting in jail a few days. No. They wanted $250 ( ticket plus court costs). The same as my monthly rent. At the time, nothing was online, in small towns they didn’t even have high speed internet yet. It was still dial-up. So that ticket went into the Omnibase system. I haven’t had a valid driver’s license, since. I’ll be 41 at the end of May. Texas Center for Justice and Equity states: The OmniBase “Failure to Pay / Failure to Appear Program” places a hold on a person’s driver’s license or renewal if that person fails to pay fines and fees or fails to appear in court, usually for traffic offenses. To date, roughly 400,000 Texans are unable to legally drive due to the program, hampering their ability to get to work, school, or medical appointments. While OmniBase’s goal is to increase court compliance and collections, there is no evidence of these outcomes – with no correlation between use of OmniBase and revenue collection – while courts’ resources are being wasted. For many, including myself, it’s not really the first ticket that causes the issue. I got that first ticket and didn’t receive another for over five years. It was once my driver’s license was denied renewal—that everything became a real problem. My license is not suspended or revoked. It’s simply expired. I cannot renew it until I am out of the OmniBase system. Once my license expired, I started getting pulled over frequently. In 2009, I was pulled over 52 times. Sometimes they gave a ridiculous excuse: low tire pressure, dim third brake light. Another excuse was that a vehicle matching the description of my vehicle was doing something in the area I was stopped. Sometimes, they wouldn’t say anything at all, just look around my car and take off. Working gas stations, police hang around and you talk. I asked them about the situation many times and they were honest: Something must have come up on your plate. Later, after having been arrested many times over the years for tickets, I saw the system first hand. The officer was driving me to the magistrate and I was cuffed in the backseat, but I kept seeing his screen flash red. I asked him about it. He explained that as he drove, plates were automatically running and when someone has warrants or doesn’t have insurance, the registration is expired, etc. it flashed red. I also asked how he knew to stop me driving to work in my dad’s truck. He said that known associates are attached to registrations. It explains a lot really. No, it wasn’t that first ticket that hurt me. Eventually, I paid it off when I had the money. It was OmniBase and the snowball effect. The majority of the time I was pulled over, I got tickets. Since they already had me pulled over, might as well make it worth their while, right? I forgot to change out the new insurance card (now it shows so it’s no longer an issue). My cell phone was in my lap so I must have been texting and driving ( as many times as I’ve been arrested, the second I pull over I call family and leave it on speaker). My kids would get scared and jump the seat—so they must have not been wearing seat belts. That officer knew well there wasn’t a screaming, crying child on my lap squeezing my neck when he pulled me over—but I still got a ticket. If I had been driving with a kid on my lap, it wouldn’t have been a ticket, but child endangerment and an arrest. Their excuse is always the same, tell it to the judge, you’re not admitting guilt just agreeing to go to court. A meeting with a local municipal court judge last month proved everything I’ve been saying. I gave my story, asked if there were any questions. No, she shook her head. But right at the end, she pulled up my record and flat out attacked me, making the mistake of assuming my guilt or circumstances without asking anything. Then she brought my kids into it, trying to justify mistreatment by the police, courts and the OmniBase system saying that my kids were in danger. Once anyone crosses that line with me, they get the other side of me. Not the logical, reasonable side that attempts to be polite and wellmannered. Exit Omnibase LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 • 10 At19, I got pulled over for the first time. My inability to pay in full landed me in the OmniBase system.
The tickets she was referring to were dismissed, I didn’t have to pay anything because they were ridiculous. Sometimes you get a reasonable judge. She just saw they were closed, didn’t have the details on screen, she ran with her assumptions and she played her hand badly. We are talking about minor traffic violations, not reckless driving or DWI or anything endangering the public. Nothing that would result in a suspension of license. Once you are in the system, it’s hard to get out. There have been many changes in the last few years that have opened the door for some to get their licenses back. I have been going through that process, I even got to the DPS office twice only to find out a different old ticket popped up in OmniBase. I have been arrested too many times to remember, often having my car towed and spending up to 18 hours in jail at the magistrate. Sometimes my kids were with me, and those times I was threatened with CPS if someone didn’t come pick them up. I’ve been denied jobs not only because my license is expired but because of the number of arrests. I’ve been denied apartments and twice I’ve been terrorized by the police. The first time in Houston when I was pregnant with my youngest daughter and my two older kids were four and one years old. The officer didn’t speak Spanish. He pulled up talking to their father who only speaks Spanish. He didn’t understand and by the time I stepped out of the truck to help, we were surrounded by five police cars, guns drawn. My oldest then came running out of the truck, scared and could have been shot. The second time, not much later, my youngest daughter was two weeks old, I was heading back to Houston from San Antonio, after having visited my parents and still in a lot of pain from the C-section. An officer saw us leave a gas station and followed us, pulling me over on the side of the highway at 2am. He kept me and my kids on the side of the highway for three hours, while he tore apart my van and ran drug dogs. He was convinced that I was up to no good. At the end of the search he said: I can’t believe I didn’t find anything —so disappointed because he really thought he was going to make a huge bust. He told me over and over that if I had had my license he wouldn’t have able to do all this. My story is pretty tame in comparison to others. People have lost jobs, housing and had to deal with CPS because they got arrested for a ticket on the way to pick up their kids from school. If no one showed up to pick the kids, CPS would take them away. Cars that were towed have been lost in impound. If you can’t pay the money to get it back after 14 days it goes up for auction. The eighth amendment of the U.S. Constitution says Excessive Bail shall not be required, nor Excessive Fines imposed, nor Cruel and Unusual punishments inflicted. Yet a ticket as low as $50 can cost you everything. What is not considered is how individuals are affected by omnibase. People with money will just pay the ticket and be done with it. When you don’t have the money you end up in this horrible system that attacks low income and people of color communities. Texas Appleseed has put together a document with Texas Center for Justice and Equity called Driven by Debt, the Failure of the OmniBase Program. “Even drivers in compliance with the court and working to pay down their fines are unable to renew their licenses until the full debt is paid”. This puts them at risk of receiving additional tickets which then get sent to OmniBase and drag out the process. “ Selfreporting data from over 800 active B municipal courts across Texas indicates that no relationship exists between the use of the OmniBase program and revenue collections. To the contrary, the average collection rate for active courts that use the OmniBase program is $45.44 less than active courts that chose not to use the program.” So why would courts use a program that actually brings in less money and has less compliance? Warrants are issued at the same time a ticket is entered into Omnibase, so it doesn’t force people into the courtroom any more than those courts that don’t use it. It is a means of forcing payment from those who can’t afford to pay. “Conflating court compliance with collection rates can cause courts to prioritize revenue collection and create a regressive taxation scheme that disproportionately affects Black, Brown and low income communities subjected to disparate police presence and arrests.” The document cites the 2014 killing of Michael Brown by Missouri Police. The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) released Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department, in which the DOJ addressed the dangers of a local court overly focused on fine and fee collection. The investigation explained that the Ferguson Municipal Court suspended drivers’ licenses and would not lift the suspension until paid in full. When unpaid, additional fines and fees were assessed for each missed payment or meeting, and only reluctantly considered ability to pay in determining the amount of fees or alternative methods of compliance. Additionally, the court’s instructions regarding fulfilling penalty obligations were unclear. These fines and fees snowballed into mass surveillance and arrests. In one year, the Ferguson Municipal Court disposed of three warrants per resident. It is a danger when courts seek only to collect revenue, and in the DOJ’s view it undermines the court’s ability to act as arbiters for fairness. It is the experience of most individuals I know affected by OmniBase that the courts are not unbiased. Judges automatically take the written report of a police officer over the word of a person as I experienced last month. When I pointed that out, the judge’s response was that she has no control over the police department. The fact remains that OmniBase only hurts people who would otherwise never see the back of a police car or the inside of a jail cell. It causes so much “collateral damage” that it actually violates our 8th amendment rights, yet local courts across the state still participate in this program even though it is not mandatory. It is completely voluntary. So, it is up to all of us: the residents, the voters, the community to stand up and say EXIT OMNIBASE! BIO: Kayla Miranda, a housing justice advocate organizing in the Westside of San Antonio, resides at the Alazan/Apache Courts with her family. LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 • 11 I got to the DPS office twice only to find out a different old ticket popped up in OmniBase. OmniBase only hurts people who would otherwise never see the back of a police car or the inside of a jail cell.
The millennial use of the terms “Satan,” “Devil,” “Beelzebul,” “Prince of Darkness,” and other expressions found in the Holy Scriptures has been an attempt to explain and even to justify flagrant abuses of human life, power, and freedom. The references to Satan as the evildoer and the creature behind the most horrible crimes committed by human beings, especially by those who hold full power and control over society, were already typical of the magicians of the ancient world, and were used by the writers of the Old Testament, then adopted by the authors of the New Testament as an explanation for major disobedience of God’s orders and commandments. In Genesis 3: 1, the serpent tricking Eve to eat the forbidden fruit of the primeval garden is a symbol of the devil, of Satan, the “Prince of Darkness,” the all-powerful adversary of the Lord God. The Greek term “Satan” was adopted by the biblical authors of post-exilic Israel (since the mid -7th century), when evil and punishment were no longer attributed to the Creator. In 1 Chronicles 21: - 1, Satan is blamed for convincing David to order that a census of Israel should not include the tribes of Levi and Benjamin. The Book of Job, a didactic poem written by an anonymous author approximately seven centuries BC, imagines God dialoguing with Satan: One day when a number of the faithful presented themselves before the Lord, Protector of the Suffering and Persecuted, the Lord said to Satan: ‘Whence do you come?’ Satan said: “From roaming the earth and patrolling it. Then the Lord ordered Satan not to use his powers to harm Job, although recognizing he could do it: “All that he (Job) has is in your power; only do not lay a hand upon his person” (Job 1: 6, 11-12). In Zechariah 3:1, Satan accuses the high priest Joshua of wrongdoing while “the angel of the Lord rebukes him.” In Ezekiel (chs. 38 & 39), a prophet who lived in Babylon in mid6th century BC, the devil is referred to as Gog/Magog and painted as the source of evil and wrongdoing (chapters 38 & 39). Even more often and more clearly than in the Old Testament, the New Testament makes references to the devil, but often with a clear meaning as the personification of the crimes and sins of human beings, especially of those in power. In Matthew 12: 25-32, after Jesus cures a demoniac (a blind and mute person) and astounded the crowd, the Pharisees countered: “This man drives out demons only by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” Jesus then explained it all: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste; and no town or home divided against itself will stand. And if I drive out demons by the power of Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. And, whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” In Luke 8:12, Jesus cures the Gerasene demoniac who wore no clothing and lived in the cemetery and in desert places. When Jesus asked him what was his name, he replied “Legion.” Acts 13: 8-10 relates how the apostle Paul reprimanded Elymas, the magician who tried to prevent the apostle Paul from taking the Gospel to the Proconsul of Cyprus. “You son of the devil, you enemy Evil and the R Evil and the Reality of Satan eality of Satan LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 • 12 By Tarcisio Beal Adam and Eve temptation by the serpent mediaeval painted panel on wooden nave ceiling Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire, England—photographed by David Lyons in 2014.
of all that is right, full of every sort, full of every sort of deceit and fraud.” Paul was unwelcomed by the early Christian community of Corinth which celebrated the Eucharist with a lot of drinking, kept its poor members away from its gatherings, and even indulged in religious prostitution (2 Cor 11: 17-22). He points out that like ¨Satan masquerades as an angel of light, false apostles masquerade as apostles of Christ” (2 Cor 11: 12-15). In the Epistle to the Hebrews, Paul says that Jesus, through his death, destroyed the power of death, that is, the devil.” He also emphasizes the meaning of Incarnation and of Jesus’ crucifixion: “Surely he did not help angels but rather the descendants of Abraham; therefore he had to become like his brothers in every way” (Heb 2: 14-16). In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul warns the faithful against the tricks of Satan: “Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil because our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens” (Eph 6: 11-12). Revelation, the latest book of the Bible, written during the first century AD, has been often misinterpreted. It spells out the author’s visions, so its content is mostly symbolic and allegorical; it uses the metaphor in defining pagan Rome as the new Babylon, the “Great Harlot” (Rev.17: 9), as he describes Rome’s bloody persecution of Christians during the reign of emperor Domitian (81-96 AD). It also relates the persecution of Christians and evil in the world as the work of the “Seven-headed Dragon” of the sky and the two Beasts that exerted authority over the world (Rev, chs. 12 & 13). Implying that some Christians were trying to escape persecution by stating that they were just Jews, the author says: “I know the slander of those who claim to be Jews and are not, but rather are members of the assembly of Satan” (Rev 2: 9). Whether or not we believe that the devil really exists, the undeniable fact is that it is people who abuse their freedom and their power to carry out evil deeds. In the days of Jesus, the work of the devil was carried out by the people who controlled religion and society: Roman emperors like Domitian and Nero, King Herod and his wife Herodias who had John the Babtist beheaded, Pontius Pilate, Caiaphas and the pharisees (cf. Lk 16: 14, Mt, chapter 23). Both Herod and Pilate at first found Jesus not guilty of misleading the people and of advising the people not to pay Caesar’s taxes, but later, pressured by the pharisees, declared him guilty (Lk 23: 14-18). In the modern world we know that it was not Satan, but Hitler who ordered the genocide of the Jews; the mass killings of Central Africans was carried out by bloody dictators and their military; the killing of hundreds of thousands in unjustified wars, including the massacre of up to 50,000 Muslims by the Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina; the “Dirty War” in Argentina; and the constant killing of civilians by drug-selling gangs in Mexico and Central America. In the United States, there were the massacres of the Californian Indians, the frequent massacres of blacks during the years of the Confederacy. The present Israeli-Hamas/Palestinian conflict in the Middle East and the killing of more than 50,000 civilians in the still ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine are the latest examples of how the rulers of some States do what has been called “the work of Satan,” although those responsible can be easily identified. Now, we all know that, since the 2016 election of Donald Trump, the American Republic has been in serious jeopardy, not by the tricks of the devil but by identifiable politicians and right-wingers intent on carrying out their agenda. If you think that Trump and his cohorts are not plotting to destroy the most prominent features of American democracy, look at their methods and their goals. In a quite revealing article in The Nation (“Trumpism 2.0:” March 2024, p. 6), Robert A. Borosage summarizes the specifics of the Trumpist agenda as planned by the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025.” Trump himself has been publicizing his plan on how to turn the American Republic into a centralized, imperial government controlled by the racist MAGA right-wingers. As usual, his major supporters paint the democrats and other opponents as socialist or Marxist. Paul Dans, director of “Project 2025,” declares that it is necessary to do away with the Marxist indoctrination that has led to sexual orientaLA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 • 13 STOP PROJECT 2025 Rally across from Heritage Foundation at Triangle Park along Massachusetts Avenue between 2nd and D Street, NE, Washington DC on Saturday afternoon, 27 January 2024 by Elvert Barnes Photography Continued on Page 15
UT-Austin announces round of firings in latest step to comply with Texas’ DEI ban The firings come after state leaders criticized universities for not doing enough to enforce the ban. Students say UT-Austin has already overcorrected. By Annie Xia and Sneha Dey, April 2, 2024 The University of Texas at Austin has laid off dozens employees who used to work in (DEI) diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The university fired about 60 people and some of the offices where they worked are expected to close by May 31, according to a joint letter from the Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors and the Texas chapter of the NAACP. The firings were first reported by the Austin American-Statesman, citing people familiar with the decision. UT-Austin President Jay Hartzell said in an email Tuesday that the school was also disbanding the Division of Campus and Community Engagement, which provided support and resources for “those who may face the most significant challenges in accessing” education, according to the department’s website. The AAUP and NAACP said about 40 of the people who were fired used to work in this department. The changes aim to bring the university into fuller compliance with Senate Bill 17, a state law approved last year that bans DEI initiatives in public universities and went into effect in January. “I recognize that strong feelings have surrounded SB 17 from the beginning and will shape many Longhorns’ perceptions of these measures,” Hartzell said in the email. “It is also important that this continues to be a welcoming, supportive community for all.” Hartzell said student-facing services and jobs will be retained for the remainder of the semester. As for the staff members who were fired, he said employees can apply to other open positions at the university. The AAUP and NAACP said they had “heightened concerns” about the layoffs because many of the employees who were fired had been recently reassigned to positions not related to DEI. The groups’ letter said they will “continue to accumulate information to address what we believe to be potential attacks on First Amendment Freedoms.” The layoffs come as Texas colleges face increasing pressure to prove their compliance with SB 17. Last week, state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, said in a letter to university leaders that colleges could lose millions in state funding if they fail to comply with the law. Last month, Gov. Greg Abbott said more laws will be passed next legislative session to make sure schools are enforcing the DEI ban. The ban represents “a fundamental shift in the operations of our higher education institutions” to ensure “a merit-based environment where every student, faculty and staff member can strive for and achieve personal excellence,” Creighton wrote in his letter. The Senate Committee on Education is expected to hold a hearing in May on how the state’s universities are complying with the ban. Ahead of the hearing, Creighton asked university leaders to provide information about how they were implementing it. One of the questions schools must answer is: “How has your institution ensured that there are no DEI offices or officers on campus, or no individual or organization performing the duties of a DEI office or officer?” Earlier this year, some UT-Austin students said the university’s steps toward complying with the law already felt like an overcorrection. Since the law went into effect, the university has closed down the school’s beloved multicultural center and discontinued a scholarship program for undocumented students. Hundreds of students gathered Tuesday evening in three different locations across campus to discuss the closure of the DCCE. At the start of one of the meetings, organizers asked students if they were in an organization that was affected by the decision. Some attendees responded they were with Longhorn TIES, a group for students who identify as neurodivergent, RGV Familia, composed of students from the Rio Grande Valley, and Women in STEM. “I am one of the staff who was fired,” said one attendee who used to run a study abroad program for low-income students. “Although we’ve been fired, there’s still people on this campus who care about you, despite everything.” The organizers went over ways students can stay informed and involved. They said plans in response to the university’s decision Tuesday would continue being ironed out. “There are holes in all of our plans because we literally came up with this three or four hours ago,” an organizer said. “But let’s just do it. Full send.” Republished from The Texas Tribune, bit.ly/UT-Austin-comply LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 • 14 Students pass in front of the Jackson School of Geosciences and Gates-Dell Complex at the University of Texas at Austin on Feb. 22, 2024. Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune
SECOND SATURDAY MARKET May 11 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm THE SAGA projected onto the façade of the San Fernando Cathedral Every Tuesday through Sunday at 9 PM & 9:30 PM Check individual websites, FB and other social media for information on community meetings previously listed in La Voz. For meetings and events scheduled at the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center check: www. esperanzacenter.org or call 210.228.0201. Anuncios May, 2024 tion, gender identity, abortion, reproductive health; research in the national laboratories must be eliminated, the border militarized and the millions of undocumented immigrants expelled. The project also calls for the US to withdraw from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Paris Climate Accord, and the imposition of the regulating powers of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) so that the oil industry can continue to pollute environment. All these plans will be carried out by extending the political appointments of the President from the present 4,000 to no less than 50,000, gaining total control of the State system. What has greatly facilitated MAGA’s plans is the technological revolution in communication (the Internet and iPhones) that allows corporations and individuals to engage not only in political debate but also in mind control by feeding the base with all sorts of lies and by using the right of free speech and of public protest as weapons against the judges and the jurors who are the evaluating Trump’s actions since he lost the Presidency in January of 2020. The overuse and abuse of the Internet and of personal iPhones are also leading to mental disease, especially of children and young people who are not properly supervised. The multiplication and easy access to guns is resulting in an increased number of killings, including by a five year who murdered his own mother. This past week there were 3 mass shootings of and by children in Indianapolis, Indiana. Furthermore, easy and constant communication with pictures and written messages facilitate and reenforce the support of the political base. This is probably why an increasing number of blacks and Latinos are being blinded and support the Trumpism of the Republican party. Finally, as we pointed out above, the habit of blaming the devil for all kings of crimes and horrors against human beings cannot, as we discussed above, cannot be explained or be justified through quotations from or misinterpretations of the Bible. It parallels the current justification voiced by some republican congressmen who oppose the democrats’ efforts to curtail the production of oil and clean up the environment: that it is God who controls nature; so it is He who sends the earthquakes, the typhoons, the devastating floods, etc. So we pollute the environment, but is God who gets the blame!... It sounds like the guy who did something wrong and laughs about it by saying: “I am sorry! The devil made me do it. BIO:Tarcisio Beal is professor Emeritus of History at the University of the Incarnate Word who has written extensively in La Voz de Esperanza. Main Plaza Summer events Remember your tax deductible gifts Your donation supports the Esperanza! go to: www.esperanzacenter.org/Donate or send check to: Esperanza Peace & Justice Center 922 San Pedro Ave • SA, TX 78212 Become a Monthly Donor! El Mundo Zurdo Conference 2024 Les Atravesades en Comunidad: Coalition Building as Light In the Dark Trinity University, May 16-18, 2024 8:30am – 5pm, Thurs & Fri | 8:30am – 12:30pm, Sat. WELCOME RECEPTION honoring Sonia Saldivar-Hull, 6-7pm UTSA Downtown Durango Bldg. Riverwalk Room CineFestival Call for Entries-Deadline May 5th Go to: filmfreeway.com/CineFestivalSanAntonio LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 • 15 or call 210-228-0201 to donate Your donation helps us advocate for you. Support the Esperanza www.esperanzacenter.org/donate Evil and the Reality of Satan Continued from Page 13
Rinconcito de Esperanza, 816 S. Colorado Street, SATX For More Info, Call 210.228.0201 or Visit Esperanzacenter.org Saturday, May 4, 2024 • 9AM – 3PM See pages 8-9 for full schedule PASEO POR EL WESTSIDE MujerArtes Paseo por El Westide Sale May 4th • 9am to 3pm @ 816 S. Colorado St. Haven’t opened La Voz in a while? Prefer to read it online? Wrong address? TO CANCEL A SUBSCRIPTIONEMAIL [email protected] CALL: 210.228.0201 Non-Profit Org. US Postage PAID San Antonio, TX Permit #332 LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2024 Vol. 37 Issue 4 • ESPERANZA PEACE & JUSTICE CENTER 922 San Pedro San Antonio TX 78212 210.228.0201 • www.esperanzacenter.org At Paseo 2024, Panfilo’s Güera with Belén Escobedo and others will perform Blanca Rodríguez, (Blanca Rosa) of Las Tesoros with Henry Gómez y Mariachi Esperanza return for Paseo 2024 In 2022, Gloria Hinojosa led the children’s games MujerArtes clay artists including Mary Agnes Rodríguez will be selling their creations at Paseo. Laura Ríos Ramírez taught Rebozo Healing in 2022 Preservation of the Westside not gentrification Esperanza Tiendita year-around gifts from local & international vendors Open M-F during Office hours, 10am to 7pm Call 210-228-0201 for info