La Voz - September 2021

September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 San Antonio, Tejas

Elizabeth “!PBreesteinttea¡” Martínez
December 12, 1925 - June 29, 2021

Dr. Elizabeth “Betita” Martinez,

Chicana feminist organizer, author,

activist and educator, has been an

inspiration to the Esperanza Peace &

Justice Center since it opened in 1987.

La Voz de She exemplified our vision of working
Esperanza
in, and with, multiple communities and
September 2021
Vol. 34 Issue 7 issues to make this a better world for all.

Editor: Gloria A. Ramírez She was living ‘intersectionality’ long
Design Elizandro Carrington
Editorial Assistance: Natalie Rodríguez before the term was popularized. Indeed,

Contributors our mentor and madrina, Betita taught

Giselle Barajas, Tarcisio Beal, Antonia Pictured with Betita in 2008 are Amy Kastely & Graciela us much with every cherished interac-
Castañeda, Kayla, Miranda, Tony Platt, Sánchez, Director of the Esperanza. tion. Gloria Anzaldúa wrote what Betita
lived: “To survive the borderlands, you
Yoly Zentella
must live sin fronteras, be a crossroads.”
La Voz Mail Collective
Betita’s trajectory in life led her down many roads—internationally and nationally. She
The Collective is sheltering at home due to the
COVID-19 pandemic but will be returning when embraced all individuals and groups along the way that lined up with her beliefs. When she

their health and safety can be assured. Extra died at 95, she was eulogized from coast to coast in the NY Times, Washington Post, Los
funds are being raised to pay for folding La Voz
Angeles Times and more!
each month during this time.
Betita was always way ahead of her time. Tony Platt noted that “in 500 Years of Chi-
Esperanza Director
cana History, she included a defense of ‘mujeres who love women’ and a resolute critique
Graciela I. Sánchez
of homophobia. She and Carol Hanisch wrote 40 years earlier, ‘Queer-baiting is no dif-
Esperanza Staff
feent from Red-baiting.’ And, in 1990, she chided the NY Times Book Review for failing to
Elizandro Carrington, Kayla Miranda,
Paul Plouf, Kristel Orta-Puente, recognize the writings of Chicana lesbians.” In a 1999 plática at Esperanza, No Taco Belles

Natalie Rodríguez, Imgard Akinyi Rop, Here:Chicana Feminism, 1969-1999 she read from her book De Colores Means All of Us,
René Saenz, Imane Saliba, Susana Segura,
where Angela Davis who wrote the forward stated, “De Colores is not the work of a journal-
Amelia Valdez, Rosa Vega
istic observer of social movements, but rather that of a passionately engaged participant.”
Conjunto de Nepantleras
—Esperanza Board of Directors— Betita best summed up her life saying, “Gains are made through struggle—the heart just

Richard Aguilar, Norma Cantú, Yasmina Codina, insists on it.”
Brent Floyd, Rachel Jennings, Amy Kastely,
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 • Angie Merla, Jan Olsen, Ana Lucía Ramírez, Angelita Tovar Hernández, aka Angie Merla,
Gloria A. Ramírez, Rudy Rosales, was a beloved member of the Esperanza’s Buena Gente. She lost
Lilliana Saldaña, Nadine Saliba, her battle with cancer on August 10, 2021. Born on the West-
Graciela I. Sánchez, Lillian Stevens side of San Antonio on August 2, 1949, she lived in a variety of
places as far away as Germany, but ultimately wound up back
• We advocate for a wide variety of social, in the Westside. As a Corazón of the Esperanza, Angie related
economic & environmental justice issues. her story of growing up in the Westside in the book, Still Here,
Homenaje al Westside de San Antonio with graphic anecdotes
• Opinions expressed in La Voz are not capturing the times of Aquellos Tiempos. As Buena Gente of the
necessarily those of the Esperanza Center. Esperanza, Angie used her considerable skills as a craftsperson
to teach the artes manuales of cutting papel picado and mak-
La Voz de Esperanza ing calaveritas, sugar skulls, for Día de los Muertos. At Peace Market, she made gener-
is a publication of ous donations for the Esperanza’s Tiendita from her array of collectibles and made sure
volunteers were fed breakfast at the annual Paseo del Westside. Our sincere condolences
Esperanza Peace & Justice Center to her querido, Jimmy Kitchen, and to her family and friends, of which there are many.
922 San Pedro, San Antonio, She will be sorely missed, but her spirit of giving and teaching will remain with us. The
TX 78212 irreplaceble, Angelita Merla, presente!
210.228.0201
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Articles due by the 8th of each month 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
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“The Work Said Who I Was”

Elizabeth “Betita” Sutherland Martínez (1925-2021)

By Tony Platt translator, and researcher at

the United Nations (1946-

Editor’s Note: This tribute 1954); an administrative
to Betita by Tony Platt gives us assistant to Edward Steichen
a comprehensive view of Betita’s at the Museum of Modern
extraordinary life. Some of the Art (1957-1958); an editor at
photos relate to her connection Simon and Schuster (1958-
to Esperanza who considers her 1964); and Books and Arts
a madrina (godmother) of the Editor at The Nation (1964).
Esperanza.
During this period, Liz
had one foot in the world of

Elizabeth “Betita” Sutherland upwardly mobile diplomats

Martínez’s hybrid name signals and the scribbling class, the

a great deal about the diverse other in the demimonde of

contributions of a veteran activ- outsiders, leftists, and Lower

ist who lived, as she recalled in East Side rebels. At Simon

1998, through five international and Schuster, she used her

wars, six social movements, insider status to lobby for

and seven attempts to build publication of an extraordinary LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 •

socialism around the world. photographic record of The

“The heart just insists on it,” Movement: Documentary of a

she explained. Betita first visited Esperanza in March of 1992 at 1305 N. Flores speaking for International Struggle for Equality (1964).
Betita is generally rec- Woman’s Day and the opening of the exhibit, Mujeres de Fuerza by Terry Ybañez. It was As a reporter for the Nation,
the year of the Quincentenary celebrating 500 years of Indigenous & Popular Resistance. she sympathetically covered the
ognized today as a founding

member of the Chicano movement and Latinx feminism. But long “youngest revolution” in Cuba,

before she embraced her Latina identity, she was also a committed the struggle for civil rights from the frontlines of the Deep South,

political activist, with roots in international leftism, as well as a and the “great stupidity, not to mention immorality” of the arms race.

fan of the Beatles. In the early 1960s, Elizabeth hobnobbed with cutting edge art-

Betita Martínez grew up between the world wars in the white ists and writers (including Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, Yevgeny

middle-class suburbs of segregated Washington, D. C.  Her father, Yevtushenko, and Diane di Prima), moving easily between the

Manuel Guillermo Martínez worked his way up from a clerk in the “world of Beat poets, junkie painters, and LSD experiments” and

Mexican Embassy to professor of Spanish literature at Georgetown. Fifth Avenue soirées hosted by chic patrons. This ability to func-

Her blue-eyed, American mother, Ruth Sutherland Phillips, taught tion in very different social worlds would serve her well later in life

advanced high school Spanish. Groomed for the fast track to profes- when she had to fundraise for leftist causes and translate radical

sional success, she felt like “a freak brown child” in Chevy Chase’s rhetoric into palatable liberalism for middle-class audiences.

“never-never land.” As a woman who clearly looked Latina, Elizabeth Sutherland

She was the first Latina at Swarthmore College, where she was had to work furiously hard to be noticed and taken seriously by New

deeply and equally affected by news of Nazi efforts to exterminate York’s male, white literati. Unusually for somebody still in her 30s,

the Jews of Europe and of American war crimes in Hiroshima and she cultivated the literary talent of an accomplished editor, the eye

Nagasaki. Graduating with honors in 1946 of a rigorous graphic designer, and the ability to

and in pursuit of a career in the “Eurocentric write passionate prose in sharply chiseled English.

publishing world,” Betita Martínez became Her productivity was prodigious. Between

Elizabeth “Liz” Sutherland (adopting her 1960 and 1963, she reviewed movies for Hori-

mother’s vaguely British middle name) and zon and Film Quarterly, reported on her visit to

plunged into the post-war ferment of New 3Cuba in the Nation and Manchester Guardian,
York’s cultural scene. She worked as a clerk,
wrote about a labor dispute for the Nation, edited

a book of Ingmar Bergman screenplays, translated a French novel, She “looked hard” at the sexism within the Movement and didn’t like

reported in Evergreen Review on her trip to Moscow to interview what she saw: images of “our women/ in postures of maternity, sad-

leading Russian poets, edited a SNCC pamphlet illustrated with ness, devotion/ tears for the lost husband or son/ our women, nothing

Danny Lyon photos, wrote a hilarious column for the National but shadows/reflections of someone else’s existence/ BASTA!”

Guardian about her appearance before HUAC, and sent a letter to With other refugees from SNCC, Elizabeth joined the New

the New York Times criticizing their coverage of the state of Soviet York Radical Women’s collective – a group that included Joan

theatre – and  still found time to do political work with the Fair Play Brown and Shulamith Firestone – and with Carol Hanisch (instiga-

Betita ran for tor of the celebrated protest of the Miss America pageant in 1968)
Governor of wrote “Women of the World Unite – We Have Nothing to Lose but
California on the Our Men!” for the first issue of Notes from the First Year.  From
Peace & Freedom that moment on, there was no separating the political struggle
Party ticket in against racism and sexism. “The two cannot be honestly divided,”
1982, then went she believed.
on to build new
organizations like “I am lonely,” she wrote in 1967 in one of many memos to her-
the Institute for self. “It’s time for me to search for my identity and go home to my
MultiRacial Jusitce
in San Francisco. Mexican-Americans,” even

for Cuba Committee and Friends of though by this time in her

SNCC, and endorse Robert Wil- life she had little in common

liams’ advocacy of self-defense in with Mexico, her father’s

North Carolina’s Black communities. birthplace. In 1968, attracted

In 1965, making a shift from by the Alianza Federal de

reporting to joining the Movement, Mercedes, an organization

Elizabeth quit her job at the Na- led by Reies Lopez Tijerina,

tion and became director of SNCC’s Betita Martínez moved to

New York office. She had already New Mexico to support the

committed herself to SNCC’s Alianza’s struggle to recover

politics, serving as its representa- lands that had once been

tive in a 1964 Wall Street coalition communally owned. She ar-

organized to protest Chase Manhat- rived, she admitted, “totally

tan’s involvement in South Africa’s ignorant of the Southwest,

apartheid regime. It was here that she almost totally ignorant of

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 • dazzled a young Mike Davis, then Chicano culture and life.”

a political neophyte in New York’s But as a voracious reader

SDS office, with her tactical savvy and quick learner, it didn’t

and snazzy outfits. take her long to become

When she wasn’t getting the deeply knowledgeable about

word out and raising half a million Betita in Cuba with her friend, Haydée and Stokley Carmichael of the Student the Southwest and its history,

dollars, she was on the road in the Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) with whom she worked in the 60s. and to feel a cultural con-

South. For at least a year, SNCC offered Elizabeth “a sense of ef- nection that had eluded her all her life. She was 42 years old. “The

fectiveness and a minimum of lies, maximum of truth.” She didn’t ground of my life was shifting, stretching. A voice inside of me

grapple then “with my particular identity, with being half Mexican said, You can be Betita Martínez here.”

and half white,” she recalled many years later. “The work said who Along with Beverly Axelrod, a movement attorney, Betita

I was.” created El Grito del Norte (Cry of the North), a newspaper that

 Beginning in 1967, a conjuncture of three pivotal events included favorable and in-person coverage of Vietnam, Cuba, and

propelled Elizabeth Sutherland in new directions: SNCC’s turn to China that left no doubt about its left politics. Betita herself was the

black nationalism, the compelling presence of a radical feminist first Chicano organizer to visit North Vietnam in 1970.

tendency in New York, and the rise of the Chicano movement in  As Elizabeth Sutherland became Betita Martínez, she made sure

New Mexico. She emerged from this political moment with a new that issues of gender were not put on the back burner. She spoke out

identity and a new name. against sexism and homophobia within the Chicano movement.

Elizabeth quickly moved from a central position in SNCC to the “The super-macho,” she wrote, “is haunted by the need to

status of an outsider. The organization had, as she put it, “an identity prove his manhood.” In 1970, her statement on “Colonized

crisis” and decided it “should be an all-black organization.” Publicly, Women: The Chicana” was published in Robin Mor-

she acknowledged the strategic necessity for nationalism. Privately, gan’s Sisterhood is Powerful, an anthology that became

she seethed at being “classified as white” and told in effect, “Get required reading for a new generation of feminists.

out.” She drafted “Some Thoughts on the ‘Black-White’ Issue” and, When El Grito ended in 1973, Betita moved to

for the first time, signed it Elizabeth Sutherland Martínez. “That’s Albuquerque and with a group of like-minded leftists

4 my full name up there,” she wrote, testing her new identity. established the Chicano Communications Center, a Marx-
For a while feminism filled the space once occupied by SNCC. ist collective. Leading a demonstration at the courthouse in

Albuquerque, Betita “exuded an air of serene authority that I had organizations – The Institute for MultiRacial Justice in San Francis-

rarely seen in a woman,” recalls Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. But her co – and new publications – CrossRoads magazine and War Times.

new political home was short-lived. The Center degenerated into Still ahead were five books, more than one hundred published

internecine battles, wrecked by “vanguardism and sectarianism.” articles, not to mention countless conferences, guest lectures, and

She left New Mexico in 1974, politically defeated and personally public speeches. She also returned to grassroots activism, searching

devastated. As a single parent of Tessa (after her divorce from writ- for ways to bring communities of color together, saying “NO to any

er-activist Hans Koning) and a cosmopolitan leftist “with a horrible definition of social justice that does not affirm our human oneness.”

amount of education and verbal skills,” she felt uneasy with young Without a university base or philanthropic support, she ac-

working-class families, deeply rooted in complished what most academics never

local communities. do in a lifetime: write several books

In 1974, Betita made the third and that leave a deep impact on readers

final major geographical move in her searching for socially relevant, well

life, this time to the San Francisco Bay researched, and thoughtful analysis.

Area, a site of leftist ferment. By now As a writer, always a writer, Eliza-

she was a committed Marxist, looking beth Sunderland and Betita Martínez

for an organization that would transcend established a unique voice. Her 1965

identity politics, take women seriously, book, Letters from Mississippi, was an

and demand full-time commitment. important chronicle of the struggle for ra-

Her new organizational home was the cial equality. Her first-person account of

Democratic Workers Party (DWP), a Le- revolutionary Cuba (The Youngest Revo-

ninist organization led by women, with lution, 1969) had an impact on activists

a world-systems framework and a wide such as Angela Davis, who appreciated

variety of projects. Betita quickly moved her anti-imperialist perspective and

into a leadership position and kept up “careful eye.” Her two books 500 Years

a furious pace of activity. She designed of Chicano History (1976) and 500 Years

and edited the party’s newspaper and ran of Chicana Women’s History (2008) res-

for Governor of California on the Peace onated with a new generation of Latinx

and Freedom Party ticket in 1982. activists, whom she tirelessly mentored

By 1984, the DWP, as well as the as though their lives depended on it. 

rest of the Marxist-Leninist left in the In 2000, she received an honorary

United States, had imploded, leaving in Betita was at the Esperanza multiple times to do presentations on doctorate from her alma mater, but not LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 •
its wake a sense of impotency and bitter-
ness among former cadre. When Betita her 500 Years’ books and De Colores Means All of Us. Pictured in the private pension, home ownership,
2008 signing 500 Years of Chicana Women’s History.
and other perks that typically crown an

Among the plethora of books and articles written and edited by Elizabeth Sutherland Martinez were these four: Letters from Mississippi, 500 Years of Chicano History
in pictures, 500 Years of Chicana Women’s History and De Colores Means All of Us—most of which have been published more than once and are still relevant today.

finally slowed down enough to think deeply about how she academic career. Comrades and friends returned her devotion to the
had spent the last decade of her life, she realized that “in Movement by establishing a fund for her health and basic needs.
the name of fighting for freedom, many left collectivities
organize with great un-freedom. Experience indicates that During the last decade of her activism, before the limitations of
democratic centralism tends to become all centralism and age and illness took their toll, Betita began to look more deeply and
no democracy.” honestly into the self-inflicted wounds that can’t simply be blamed
Most people at Betita’s age, then close to 60, would on “the man.” Back in the 1960s, she recognized that “the enemy
be satisfied with four decades of political activism, pun- is within as well as without,” but she kept this concern private. It
troubled her that “sometimes/in this here movement/you go down,
ishing work routines, and almost no time for a personal life.
But there was no stopping her now. She helped to build new 5down, down/dragged by the smallness of people,” but she was care-

ful then not to wash the Movement’s dirty laundry in public.

Later in life, returning to her feminist roots, the showing of The 400 Blows and Brigitte Bardot

she felt a duty to speak out on these issues. For too movies. In the USSR in 1962, she hung out with

long, she said, the Chicano movement was seen as a dissident poets rather than party apparatchiks. In 1989, she wel-

subsidiary of the African American movement; that women in SNCC comed the pro-democracy movement in China, siding with demon-

and Chicano organizations were typically considered subordinate to strators in Tiananmen Square.
“male warriors” and assigned housewifely duties; that in the name of
Despite long bouts of personal depression and political despon-
fighting for a “humanist society,” revolutionary Marxist groups treated
its cadres callously and other progressive organizations with sectarian dency – “feet chained deep in shit and no wings,” as she wrote in a
venom. While she gave all to her 1971 poem – Betita retained an affinity for the singing landscape,
political family, she regretted “ne-
glecting another identity: being the road that glitters, and opti-
the mother of a young daughter.” mism of the heart. “Hey,” she
once responded to my politi-
Betita’s extraordinary experi- cal melancholy, “I just finished
ences in five decades of move- watching a documentary about
ments for social justice are a the Donner Party and, believe me,
window into the American left, things could be worse.”
with all its passion, sacrifices,
missteps, and contradictions. Her Comrades remember her
dressed to the nines in her mini-
own political worldview was skirts and bold fashion sense in

New York; her silver accessories,

a complicated mix of Lenin- bright red lipstick, and Go-Go boots

ism, civil libertarianism, and in New Mexico; dancing, swilling

populism. She joined vanguard gin Martinis, and having a ruckus of

organizations in the belief that a good time in California. She was

structural change in the “belly of the toughest leftist I’ve ever known,
never without a sheaf of leaflets, but
the beast” is only possible with she was also delighted by how the
Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night cel-
steeled cadre in hierarchical, qua- Betita with Esperanza staff & buena gente after her plática on 500 Years of Chicana ebrated the “sweet parade” of life
si-military organizations leading History on March 18, 2008. Staff assisted in finding photos for the book. The art – “parading the streets, trail ing their
coats, bowling along and living!”
the way. Yet, her experiences exhibit, Ofrenda, by Liliana Wilson, graced the walls of Esperanza at 922 San Pedro.

in these organizations left her

highly critical of the lack of internal democracy and abuse of cadres.

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 • She defended communist and socialist regimes in the hope that one Bio: Tony Platt is the author of ten books and more than 150 essays
day the world system would tip in their favor. Yet, there wasn’t one and articles on race, inequality, and social justice in American
state socialist regime that she really admired. Visiting Cuba soon af- history. A longtime friend and colleague of Betita, his blog can be
ter the revolution, she felt a “unity with the Cuban night,” not Fidel, accessed at: goodtogo.typepad.com/tony_platt_goodtogo/
and was glad to see that a “tolerant spirit” still prevailed, including

Letter to the Editor Hello Gloria,
I feel so good as I read your letter to Tony
6 Platt here. My mother loved The Esperanza
Betita was especially close to her only child, daughter, Tessa Koning- Center, loved visiting you all en San Antonio, it
Martinez, an actor, writer and educator living in the Bay area. was a place and people very dear to her. Betita
knew many more folks than I could have ever
kept track of, but this I did for sure know,
that Esperanza Center held a big place in
her heart. I often used to pick her up at the
airport when she returned to San Francisco,
and she was always real happy after being in
San Antonio!
Tessa

A Bad Penny Always Turns Up

By Kayla Miranda

As I watched new councilwoman, the unthinkable. The reason for the

Terry Castillo, of District 5 sworn special session was stated, a supposed

in, the moment she raised her lawsuit that they claimed would lose

fist in solidarity with the people the city millions if the project was

she had fought for, I cried out in not pushed through. Former Council-

pride, relief and hope. For me, she woman Shirley Gonzáles, a supporter

is a beacon of light and hope for of the project had called District 9’s

the low income, people of color Councilman Courage a racist during

in the Westside. Our voices were the recorded meeting a week prior

finally heard, when so many tried when he questioned the affordabil-

to silence us. We were finally free ity of this project. With District 9’s

from a developer-friendly gentri- councilman changing his position,

fier that we had had in office. It they approved the vote. We were all

was a great day. shocked! That very same council-

The day before she took office, Jessica Guerrero, the outgoing chair of San Antonio’s Housing Commission, woman who fought to demolish our
I participated in public com- homes at the Alazans and displace
speaks during a press conference/rally regarding the city’s housing.

ment for the Housing Trust against the Friedrich Development. over a thousand people in the process approved this horrible project

This “affordable” housing complex has 358 units, of which giving millions to developers on her last day and was being consid-

only 14 are set aside for people earning 60% AMI (Area Me- ered for the Chair of the Housing Position. And got it. 

dian Income) or below. For those not familiar with AMI, HUD The saying, “Always comes back like a bad penny” comes

calculates an AMI that is used as a guide for income levels in to mind. We had just broken free in District 5, only to be thrown

your area. San Antonio is clumped together with San Marcos back into Gonzáles clutches citywide! This causes so much con-

and New Braunfels, which raises our income. 60% AMI for a cern. Not only because of previous projects championed by her, LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 •

single person is $31,140 a year, or $14.97 an hour. I say single but also because due to the passing of Prop A, the housing bond

person, because the apartments that will be at 60% are studio that will now be a hot topic in the city. The need for real afford-

and one-bedroom apartments. The remaining units will be set at able housing has never been higher. We need people in office and

higher rates, including almost half at market rate. The 14 units on boards who will fight for us instead of for developers. There

are not affordable to the City of San Antonio’s own Parks and are many ways that the real estate industry abuses these funds and

Recreation employees, who start at $9.79 an hour. The proposed it is up to us to be vigilant. We must take a stand. We must use

“affordable” rental rate for the studio our voice. If not us, then who?

(0 BR) is $767 a month, and the one-bedroom is $822 a If you are interested in joining the fight, you can go to Face-

month, higher than many normal market rate apartments. In book and like the pages of Coalition for Tenant Justice, Mi Barrio

exchange for these 14 units, the developer gets tax free land for a No Se Vende and the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. Also,

period of 75-99 years, (millions of dollars a year.) check out my blog: www.westdefender.org or email me at organiz-

The meeting [email protected]

started late with Bio: Kayla Miranda,
Jim Plummer, the resides at the Alazán
attorney for the trust Apache Courts with her
who wrote the tax children and organizes
credit law loophole in the Westside of San
with developers, Antonio around housing
calling them directly and other issues.
into private session

forcing the public

to wait. After over The Friedrich Development group

20 community claims “affordable” housing staus,
members spoke out but the complex has 358 units, of
against this develop- which only 14 are set aside for
people earning 60% AMI (Area

ment as not afford- Median Income) or below—about 7
able, the board did $31,140 per year or $14.97 per
hour.

The complicated history o

By Giselle Barajas ABORTION L

In light of a now conservative majority in the Supreme Court, different states have 1973
attempted to pass anti-abortion legislation in hopes of chipping away at the infamous ROE V WADE
Roe v Wade (1973) case. Notably, Texas has made numerous attempts to pass anti abor- The right to an abortion balances
tion laws. Recently, they’ve been able to pass a trigger law, making abortion illegal in against the state’s interest in pro-
the state if the courts were to ever reverse Roe. The city of Lubbock was even able to tecting “the potentiality of human
successfully ban abortion. Now, there is a heartbeat law that will go into effect in the life.” In the first trimester the state
entire state, September 1st. However, heartbeat laws and legal challenges to Roe are not cannot regulate abortions. In the
something new. Infact, by anti-abortion activists slowly challenging Roe year by year, second trimesterthe state can
they have been able to weaken Roe overtime. impose regulations. In the third
trimester, the state can regulate
Despite abortion still being “legal,” women and people with uteruses still struggle to abortions or prohibit it entirely
get abortions. Here we are 40 years after Roe, and in an even worse state of reproduc-
tive justice than we were back then. 

That being said, I decided to compile a list of the progression of abortion law since
the inception of Roe to help illustrate how it has changed since 1973.

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 • Roe v Wade (1973) 2016
• Established that the right to privacy (Griswald v Connecticut) protects a pregnant WHOLE WOMAN’S HEALTH V.
HELLERSTEDT
woman’s choice whether to have an abortion. However, her right to an abortion bal- it is unconstitutional for the state
ances against the state’s interest in protecting “the potentiality of human life.” of Texas to require admitting
privileges within 30 miles for a
• Established the trimester framework physician performing an abortion.

• In the first trimester, the state cannot regulate abortions

• In the second trimester, the state can impose regulations on abortion that are reason-

ably related to the health of the woman

• In the third trimester (the point of “viability”), the state can regulate abortions or

prohibit it entirely, except when the life or health of the woman is in danger

Essentially what Roe established was that abortions for women are a constitutional
right. However, once a fetus is “viable” the state may completely step in (except when
the health of the woman is in danger). At this point, it’s muddy what the term “vi-
able” even means. As medical advances are made, the point of “viability” may become
blurred. 

Planned Parenthood v Casey (1992) SEPTEMBER 2021
• Creates a new standard that a state can regulate abortion before viability as long as “HEARTBEAT BAN” *
TEXAS SENATE BILL 8 (S.B. 8)
the regulation does not impose an “undue burden” on the woman seeking an abor- Abortions banned as early as 6
tion. weeks (when a fetal heartbeat is
detected).
• Two examples of regulations that passed the “undue burden” test in Casey was the *Currently being legally challenged

24 hour waiting period, and a minor needing consent of a parent or guardian for an
abortion.

What you can see here is that Casey added the “undue burden” test on abortion regula-
tions. Thus, making it easier for a state to place regulations on abortion. As a result,
since then, 26 states have added 24 hour waiting periods for women seeking an abor-
tion, between when they initially seek counseling for abortion to when they can receive
the abortion. Although the Supreme Court may consider a waiting period as not being
an “undue burden,” I respectfully disagree. A waiting period may make it more difficult

8 to obtain an abortion for poor people, rural residents, woman of color, and disabled
folks. 

on the battle for abortions

AW TIMELINE Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016)
• Using the “undue burden” test, it was established that Texas House Bill 2’s provi-

sion placed a undue burden on a woman seeking an abortion. The provision required
that a physician performing an abortion must have admitting privileges at a hospital
within 30 miles. Hence, it is unconstitutional for the state of Texas to require admit-
ting privileges.

While it may seem like a win that admitting privileges failed the undue burden test, it’s
evident that abortion rights are constantly under scrutiny and attack. In this case, if the
admitting privileges would’ve been allowed then about half of Texas’s abortion clinics
would’ve been forced to close. Just a few years after Whole Woman’s Health, the state
of Louisanna attempted to pass admitting privileges as well, but their attempts got
struck down by the courts once again in June Medical v Russo 2020. 

1992 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health (2022)
PLANNED • The state of Mississippi attempts to completely abolish the “viability” standard from
PARENTHOOD V CASEY
a state can regulate abortion Roe and go further than the undue burden test from Planned Parenthood v Casey
before viability as long as the
regulation does not impose an • The courts are being asked: “Whether all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abor-
“undue burden” on the woman
seeking an abortion. tions are unconstitutional?” 

• This case will be decided in 2022 LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 •

Notably, Dobbs attempts to abolish the previously muddy “viability” standard from
Roe. Even though Planned Parenthood v Casey already allows restrictions on abor-
tion pre-viability. Currently, constitutional law only allows pre-viability restrictions if
it passes the undue burden test. In Dobbs, Mississippi is attempting to completely ban
abortions after 15 weeks (pre-viability), claiming that “a fetus can feel pain after 15
weeks.” With a current conservative majority in the court, there’s reasonable worry that
the court will rule in favor of the state, further restricting women in getting an abortion.
Not to mention that Jackson Women’s Health is the only l­icensed abortion clinic in Mis-
sissippi. Women seeking its services often have to travel hundreds of miles to obtain an
abortion. By shortening the time period a women can seek an abortion, it can become
even harder for women. That being said, at this point we now have an abortion case that
will further restrict the possibility to get an abortion once again. It begs the question:
how far will the courts go one day?

2021-2022 “Heartbeat ban” Texas Senate Bill 8 (S.B. 8) 9
DOBBS V. JACKSON WOMEN’S • Goes into effect September 1st, 2021
HEALTH
The courts are deciding whether • Abortions banned as early as 6 weeks (when a fetal heartbeat is detected). 
all pre-viability prohibitions on
elective abortions are unconstitu- • The burden is on the citizens to report illegal abortions with a reward of a minimum
tional or not.
of $10,000
BIO: Giselle Barajas is a student at
Augustana College studying Multime- • Currently being legally challenged 
dia Journalism and Political Science
with a minor in Women Gender and By this point it can be easily deciphered that abortion becomes harder and harder to
Sexuality Studies. A multimedia intern obtain overtime, with more and more legal challenges. SB8 is unique however, in that
with Esperanza for the summer. Giselle it places the burden on citizens to report abortions past 6 weeks. This unique provi-
has also written for The Augustana sion was arguably an attempt from the state to make it harder for a legal challenge to
Observer, and Women’s Republic. arise. The onus being on the citizens also creates some worrisome dangers for women
in Texas. Particularly, placing the burden on the citizens can lead to the rise of femi-
cides. It’s uncertain whether or not anti-abortion protestors may use SB8 as an excuse
to commit violence against women, and it may even fuel more misogynistic anger and
animosity towards women.

MISINTERPRETING
and POLITICIZING

the EUCHARIST

By Tarcísio Beal, S. T. L. Ph. D.

The one sacrament that spells out the central meaning of Chris- Felipe Alves, a newly-ordained priest, was celebrating mass. In

tian discipleship is the those days, the churches’ interior was constructed with a genu-

Eucharist. Yet it has been traditionally misinterpreted by a flectory (a kneeler, or barrier, separating the altar area from the

literal reading of the Scriptures and now turned into a political congregation) where the faithful had to come and kneel to receive

weapon by a large number of American bishops and their far-right the Eucharistic bread. Well, communion time arrived and Rev.

followers. Until Vatican II, Catholics were led to believe that, Alves came to place the host in the mouth of the communicants.

after the priestly consecration during mass, the species of bread As he approached a young lady with a beautiful bosom some-

and wine are turned into the body and blood of Christ so that they what exposed, his hand trembled and he ended up dropping the

could not be touched by any lay person and that even the priests host into the woman’s bosom. What to do now?!? He told the

could only touch them while wearing a sacred stole; communion, lady to stay there and not to touch the host that he would pick up

that is the reception of the eucharistic bread in the mouth, could and place on her tongue after the end of the mass. After mass,

be received only after a minimum of eight-hours fasting from food Rev. Alves came down with a small towel and, closing his eyes,

and water, and most adults were advised to make a sacramental grabbed the host from the woman’s bosom and placed it on her

confession before receiving the Eucharist. Fact is that in the Let- mouth. Up in the choir, the young friars looked stunned, hardly

ters of Paul and the practices of the early Church, the Eucharist believing what they had just witnessed.

was a gathering of the community to share the bread and the wine Now, in 2021, quite a number of American bish-
as sacramental symbols of the presence of Christ to empower ops, still viewing the Eucharist merely as cleri-
them lo love and care for one another.

Major changes in the understanding of the Eucharist came cal, male monopoly, have fully politicized the

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 • during the 4th century, when the Church became increasingly Eucharist by proposing that it be denied to all
associated with the power of the Roman empire, especially during Catholics who are pro-choice (a woman’s right
the pontificate of Damasus I (366-384), who gathered the Council of abortion), highlighting it all with the case of
of Constantinople (381). In fact, in the New Testament, and
President Joseph Biden.
especially in the Letters of Paul, the followers of Jesus are never

divided between what later, after the second century, came to be Led by Los Angeles’ Archbishop José Gomes, Secretary of

called clergy and laity. the American Bishops Conference, and contrary to the position

I took my first communion at the age of seven along with
some 25 other children. That morning, after the nun in charge of taken by Pope Francis and of the CDF (Congregation for the
the preparations finished all the instructions, she voiced one final Doctrine of the Faith), these hierarchs want to make President
question: “Did any of you eat or drink anything after yesterday’s Biden their main target as an example of their anti-Democratic
campaign. A faithful Catholic, Biden supports all pro-life
midnight?” One little girl raised her trembling hand and said:
“Yes, Sister, I drank some water this morning after washing my legislation, but also the right of abortion in some cases. The Far-
teeth!” – “I’m sorry, child, but you cannot receive communion to- Right crowd is funded by wealthy evangelicals and by Catholic
day!” The poor girl was taken away from the group in tears. And billionaires such as Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News televi-
the rest of us, children, stood there stunned, wondering what sin sion channels and financial contributor of the EWTN (Eternal
had she committed to be denied the joy of her first communion… World Television Network) and of the Napa Institute, two well-
known archconservative, reactionary Catholic organizations.
This kind of magic interpretation of the Eucharist was a
Besides Archbishop José Gómez, the following are among the
constant in the education of the clergy until Vatican II. I recalled
watching an old French movie that exemplified such a view of the most prominent prelates who stand up against President Biden:
Eucharist: A priest suspended of his duties by his bishop was dining Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, Samuel
in a Paris restaurant when he decided to use the powers received in Áquila, Archbishop of Denver, Joseph Naumann, Bishop of
his ordination. He “consecrated” the bread and wine served at the Kansas City, Thomas Holstead, Bishop of Phoenix, and Thomas
table, saying “This is my body,” “This is my blood.” Immediately Paprocky, Bishop of Springfield, Illinois. There is no surprise,
then, that these hierarchs have been supporters of former Presi-
both the bread and the wine began bleeding profusely, horrifying
dent Donald Trump, especially because of his supposed pro-life
the witnesses, as if they were the body and blood of Jesus..
In 1962, while a student of Theology with the Franciscans of stance and his moves to free the churches from taxation. Sadly
notorious has also been Joseph Strickland, Bishop of Tyler, Texas,
10 Southern Brazil, I was playing the organ up in the church’s choir who publicly contradicted Pope Francis and the Vatican on the
on a Sunday morning, surrounded by three other friars, while

morality and necessity Brazil, reminds us that the
of the Covid-19 vaccine. prayer of the Offertory of the
Strickland also appeared on a Catholic mass (“This bread we
video arguing that one cannot offer, which earth has given and
be a faithful Catholic and human hands have made”) clear-
also a Democrat and, this past ly indicates that the Eucharist is
December, at the “Stop the a social sacrament that brings the
Steal” rally, in Washington, D. community together to celebrate
C., echoed Trump’s and the the presence of Christ, who uni-
republican party’s false claim fies and activates the faithful by
that the presidential reelection the power of the Spirit.
was stolen by the Democrats.
Theologian Ched Myers
To say that Christianity (Binding the Strong Man – A po-
in America is in deep crisis is to state the obvious. Even worse litical Reading of the Gospel of Mark – Orbis, 1991, p. 364) notes
is to politicize the Eucharist in the name of an interpretation that that the last time Jesus met with his disciples around the table has
misrepresents its profound spiritual and social meaning. It is noth- become the center of the Catholic liturgy, namely, the Eucharist.
ing short of tragic that some Catholic and Evangelical leaders and However, Mark’s narrative of the Last Supper is not – as the words
their followers make up the legion of hatemongers of the Jewish, of consecration during mass seem to imply - a memorial, a back-
Black, and Asian Americans and continue to support policies ward -looking remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice by the apostles and
which betray Christian, democratic ideals, and the value of each future generations – but rather a call for forward-looking action:
human life, besides misrepresenting the grand ideals of the Found- “Mark articulates his new symbolic center, and overturns the last
ing Fathers. The use of the Bible in order to justify discrimination stronghold of symbolic authority in the dominant order, the high
and hatred, or violence against human life, is never justified. holy feast of the Passover. In place of the Temple liturgy Jesus of-
fers his “body,” that is, his messianic practice in life and death.”
In the Eucharist, the faithful gather in love and solidarity to Let’s hope that the Conference of American Bishops stop
receive the bread and the wine, the mysterious and visible sym- contradicting the Vatican , follow the example of Pope Francis,
bols of the real and mystical presence of Christ in the midst of the and that their final “Instruction on the Eucharist,” which Is due
community. It is essentially a communal, social rite/sacrament. In in November, will stay away from the partisan politics that they
order that he have life, Christ gave his own. Our modern society have been playing these last five years. The Eucharist is and must
has constantly failed to denounce social, structural sin, and most be gathering of the Christian people
religious denominations center their attack on individual sin, In the presence of the Trinitarian God
arguing for the need of individual prayer and repentance. But the
New Testament denounces “the sin of the world in its structures: Bio: Tarcisio Beal, S. T.L., Ph. D. Is author of four volumes on
the synagogue, the empire, slavery, that is, the sin which today
is committed within socio-political and economic structures Christianity and is currently finishing a volume on Latin Ameri-
that marginalize and victimize millions of human beings. Pedro
can Catholicism to be published in both English and Spanish.
Casaldáliga, ex-Bishop of São Félix do Araguaia, Mato Grosso,
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 •
Lauryn Harold Farris July 8, 1956 – July 27, 2021

Lauryn Farris, a dedicated queer activist and voiceless. They will continue to extend love to all no matter their
Esperanza buena gente touched many lives. race, sexuality, religion, or gender expression. A beloved
In her lifetime, she saw same sex marriage Nana, parent, child and activist, Lauryn’s legacy
legalized allowing her and her wife, Kerry Far- will live on in those that can still get in good
ris, of 39 years to be legally married in 2015. trouble.The family has requested that dona-
Locally, Lauryn worked on the passage of the tions in her memory be made to the Esperanza
San Antonio Non-discrimination Ordinance in 2013 and worked Peace and Justice Center, PFLAG San Anto-
with groups like PFLAG San Antonio, the Transgender Education nio or the Transgender Education Network
Network of Texas, CAUSA and the Queer Corazones of the Espe- of Texas. The Esperanza staff, board
ranza Center. A lead organizer for Son Tus Niños También: Trans and buena gente extend our heartfelt
Kids Back To School, Lauryn facilitated discussions between sympathies to Lauryn’s family and
teachers, parents and their children on how best to work with trans community. Her spirit will endure
children in the schools. As buena gente of the Espeeranza, Lauryn in all whom she touched and her
helped out at the annual Peace Market, the Big Give Campaign shining light will not be diminished.
and the monthly Noche Azul concerts. ¡Lauryn Harold Farris, presente! May
Lauryn’s wife, Kerry, and their children, Mark and Harold, and she rest in power and pride!
two grandchildren, Austin and Theo, will continue Lauryn’s legacy
of activism fighting for those who have been silenced or felt

y más! 11

Book Review byYoly Zentella

Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa

Against the Loveless World characters and settings based on Palestinian reality. Abulhawa

takes the reader into the tells the story of several Palestinian women and men and their

spaces of Palestinian women entwined lives, while focusing on the main character, Nahr. In

living both in a colonized solitary confinement for 16 years, Nahr narrates her child and

apartheid society where they adult desires and dreams of love and marriage. She describes

face brutality by the state her traditional culture through the communal spirit of the olive

of Israel, and experiencing harvest, the love of the land, the Palestinian sense of stew-

sexism within a Palestinian ardship, while sadly and angrily acknowledging the fragility

patriarchal culture. Abulhawa of their culture as the presence of settlers and military grow

graphically describes the re- in numbers, and land continues to be confiscated. She tells

alities of women living within of familial attachments, befriending a pseudo-madam who

this complex duality. This introduces Nahr to the exploitative world of party girls for

novel appeals to the general privileged men, a traumatic experience, and a painful, difficult

audience and those willing to secret. After much disappointment and horrific experiences,

ATRIA Books, 366 pages, hardcover, hear a stark description of life, she falls in love with Bilal, who is very much in tune with her
$27.00 ISBN 978-1-9821-3703-8.
Published 2020 love, and state punishment sensitivity and radical political thinking. Activism leads Bilal

within the context of struggle to elude the military and for Nahr, solitary confinement in

against the occupation of the cube, an inhuman technology, designed to isolate, humili-

Palestine. It is also a novel that can be read in conjunction with ate, degrade and control. The cube is parallel to the walls and

works addressing survival in apartheid prisons, for example checkpoints built around Palestinian areas, that have become

Naidoo’s book on South Africa, Women Surviving Apartheid’s indoor prisons.The novel ends as Nahr, released from prison,

Prisons, recently published by Just World Books. holds a letter that brings a joy she is willing to feel, despite the

Susan Abulhawa, a Palestinian-American novelist and toll on her body and the murder of her soul while in the cube.

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 • activist, is well acquainted with the occupation of Palestine by The strengths of the book are several: the beautiful flow

the superimposition of the state of Israel’s colonial machine. of writing, description of traditions and beliefs in Palestinian

An activist, Abulhawa founded Playgrounds for Palestine, a societies particularly matriarchal circles, a glossary of Arabic
group making possible the building of playgrounds for Palestin- terms, the description of the olive harvest, and of the food
ian children—replacing childhood spaces lost through Israel’s which the author describes in great detail! A map of the places
destruction of Palestinian communities. A supporter of Boy- mentioned, however, placed at the beginning of the book could
cott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) a non-violent boycott have assisted the reader in their conceptualization and familiar-
of Israel in a variety of contexts, Abulhawa, is also co-chair of ity with Palestinian territories and environs.
Palestine Writes, the first North American Palestinian literature
Against the Loveless World, is a stepping stone for readers
festival. Her parents, born in Jerusalem, Palestine, experienced interested in knowing more about Palestine. Through Abul-
hawa’s novels, it is hoped that a sincere engagement between
the occupation and expulsion from their homes by European readers and the current activism in interest of the Palestinian
people, takes place. Definitely recommended.
Zionists, an event known as the Nakbe, 1947-1948—a hellish

experience of theft, destruction and murder. Her parents were

also refugees of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Born in Kuwait

in 1970, Abulhawa’s background and literary intelligence Bio: Yoly Zentella, PhD, a Chicana psychology faculty
motivated several novels, with Mornings in Jenin (2010), as researcher and writer focusing on culture and attachment

her debut work. Since then, she has risen to the status of most to, and loss of place, is also editor of La Plática del Norte
widely read Palestinian.
published in Las Vegas, New
Against the Loveless
World presents fictional Visitors and guards have told me that the cube is Mexico. Contact her at:
a technological marvel, the first of it’s kind. As laplaticadelnorte@gmail.

an almost completely automated solitary cell, it has

made me famous in “security circles” – private prison

corporations, surveillance tech companies, and

12 various ancillary suppliers of bondage.
Against the Loveless World p. 79

West Side Rising:

How San Antonio’s 1921 Flood Devastated a City and Sparked a Latino
Environmental Justice Movement

By Char Miller

Published September, 2021 by On September 9, 1921, a tropical depression grassroots organization, launched a success- LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 •
stalled just north of San Antonio and within ful protest that brought much-needed flood
Trinity University Press hours overwhelmed its winding network of control to often inundated neighborhoods. This
creeks and rivers. Floodwaters ripped through upheaval, along with COPS’s emergence as a
$29.95* the city’s Latino West Side neighborhoods, kill- power broker, disrupted Anglo domination of the
ing more than eighty people. Meanwhile a wall political landscape to more accurately reflect the
Preorder at: of water crashed into the central business district city’s diverse population.
bit.ly/WestSideRising on the city’s North Side, wreaking considerable
* Obtain a 20% discount using damage. West Side Rising is the first book focused
promo codes: squarely on San Antonio›s enduring relationship
Esperanza, WPA or MACRI. The city’s response to this disaster shaped its to floods, which have had severe consequences
environmental policies for the next fifty years, for its communities of color in particular.
carving new channels of power. Decisions about Examining environmental, social, and political
which communities would be rehabilitated and histories, Char Miller demonstrates that disasters
how thoroughly were made in the political arena, can expose systems of racism, injustice, and
where the Anglo elite largely ignored the inter- erasure and, over time, can impel activists to
locking problems on the impoverished West Side dismantle these inequities. He draws clear lines
that flowed from poor drainage, bad housing, and between the environmental injustices embedded
inadequate sanitation. in San Antonio›s long history and the emergence
of grassroots organizations that combated the
Instead the elite pushed for the $1.6 million devastating impact floods could have on the
construction of the Olmos Dam, whose creation West Side.
depended on a skewed distribution of public
benefits in one of America’s poorest big cities. For more questions call
The discriminatory consequences, channeled
along ethnic and class lines, continually resur- 210-228-0201 or email
faced until the mid-1970s, when Communities [email protected]
Organized for Public Services, a West Side

Cien Años de Pura Vida

A member of the Corazones de Espe- gente! Eres una inspiración! May good health and good
friends continue to bless you and your family.
ranza, Jesse Vidalez, celebrated his
Jesse celebrates his birthday by being the first one to take a swing at the first of
100th birthday at the Casa de Cuentos his two piñatas. The gathering at Casa de Cuentos included family & friends.

on Sunday, August 8th. His actual

birth date is September 9, 2021. He

relates his story of growing up on

the Westside of San Antonio in the

book, Still Here (bit.ly/still-here-

book), published by the Esperanza

A dapper Jesse Vidalez on Peace and Justice Center in 2018. An
his birthday at 100 years aspiring singer and songwriter, Jesse,
of age. remained close to his beloved mother

until he finally met his true love, Victoria. Many happy

recuerdos and memories have been part of Jesse’s life and

at, 100 years, his memories remain sharp. ¡Feliz Cumplea-

ños, Sr. Vidalez from the Esperanza staff, board and Buena 13

Isabel Casillas Sánchez,
Westside Advocate and Preservationist.

When Isabel Casillas Sánchez passed hatemongering they disseminated

away on June 14th, just shy of her 97th in radio programs or via print.

birthday, we lost our library, an irre- Instead, with abiding love and jus-

placeable repository of conocimiento y tice, they supported Graciela and the

sabiduría about all things Westside. We Esperanza, lending their inexhaustible

lost our historian, a fount of oral his- cultural knowledge, time, energy and

tory and knowledge about the forces limited resources to the Esperanza’s

that shaped the long arc of the 20th multiple projects and programs. Equal-

century San Antonio neighborhood ly important, in partnership with another

known as the Westside. Westside family, they established the

Isabel would never call herself an Sánchez Fuentes College Scholarship

extraordinary woman, and protested Fund in support of Lanier graduates.

mightily when any of her friends and My interest in women’s history led

admirers did so. How could we call her me to ask Isabel one day about the birth

extraordinary? she asked. She was just of her children. While I was asking

a Mexican American woman from the about the difficulty encountered, or not,

Westside, born and raised there, as was Isabel chose to talk about the econom-

her mother before her. Like most mid- ics of pregnancy and birth. “As soon

20th century women of her genera- as I knew I was pregnant,” she said,

tion, she married, was wife to Enrique “I started saving my centavitos so that

Sánchez for 78 years, was mother to by the time I went to the hospital, we

six children, whom she bore and raised had enough money to pay the doctor

on the Westside, in the house where Graciela Seanchez, Director of the Esperanza, with her and hospital bills. Enrique y yo nunca
she and Enrique still lived when she parents Enrique and Isabel celebrating the passage of the le debíamos nada a nadie.” What

passed away. Non-Discrimination Ordinance in San Antonio, TX in 2013. Isabel was responding to was the negative

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 • What made this dignified, self- stereotyping of Mexican Americans in

possessed and soft-spoken woman so uncommon was her deep general, and of Westsiders in particular. Like the vast majority of

and abiding love for the place where she was born and raised. their Westside community, her family were economically respon-

She prized her working-class origins and the cultural roots she sible San Antonians.

inherited from her grandparents, which she and Enrique care- When friends and neighbors began to leave the Westside as

fully nurtured and extended through the Westside and beyond for job prospects improved, income increased, and housing became

multiple generations. more available—following President Truman’s desegregation of

What Isabel embodied, and with which she treated all she met, the military and civil service in 1948—she and Enrique chose

were the values of the Westside. As a child, Chavelita, learned that to remain. Their families’ histories were in the Westside, their

in her community, nobody had much, and that survival depended ancestral bones buried at San Fernando cemetery. The North-

on caring for one another and sharing whatever one could with side, did not have the institutions in which they were at home,

persons in need. In a city that has historically disparaged the did not offer the foodstuffs to which they were accustomed, nor

working-class, largely Mexican-origin population of the Westside, the cultural expressions they loved. This was especially so with

Isabel exemplified those values with an immense pride of place. respect to the music to which they danced at Westside venues or

Isabel was unstinting in her generosity, was ever kind, com- events. Their children attended neighbor schools, and they were

passionate, and gracious. Where others planted hate, Isabel sowed active participants in their children’s education. The Westside was

love; where she or someone she knew experienced injustice, she home, and home it remained for them.

sought out justice. I recall her telling me about places in San An- After witnessing the 2002 demolition of La Gloria (built in

tonio where she did not venture, because people there were hate- 1928), a Westside cultural space that hosted wedding dances,

ful about her daughter, Graciela, solely because she is a lesbiana. quinceañeras, bodas de oro, días de las madres, and other cultural

She neither retaliated nor railed against them. She simply stated events, in 2009 Isabel joined in the founding of the Westside

that there were places she did not frequent. Preservation Alliance (the WPA), a community-based non-profit

Isabel and Enrique worried about and were fearful for preservation organization dedicated to preserving the tangible and

Graciela’s wellbeing, who as an activist challenged injustice in intangible heritage of the Westside. More than any of her fellow

its myriad forms and structures in San Antonio and was often founders, she knew the meaning of the loss of cultural practices

14 the object of threats and implied violence. Yet, neither she or and institutions, of historic structures, including shotgun houses
Enrique spoke against anti-LGBTQ individuals or groups, or the neither designed nor erected by developers, but rather built one

Notas Y Más Start your 2021
tax deductible gifts
September 2021
Give to the Esperanza in spirit of solidarity so we
Community meetings and art events are currently on hold due can continue to speak out, organize and fight
to the COVID-19 pandemic. Check websites, FB or call 210-228- for our communities for another 30 Years. Your
0201 for virtual meetings and arts programming for each month. support is needed NOW more than ever! Thank
www.esperanzacenter.org you for your gifts!
Send donations to Esperanza
The Latinx Trinity University has
Esperanza Peace
Connect Conference, postponed the Mira- And Justice Center

October 14-16, will flores event for 922 San Pedro Avenue
provide a virtual space September 18th San Antonio, TX 78212
to learn about Latinx celebrating 100 years
identities, cultures, and contemporary To sign up as a monthly donor,
issues. Sponsored by the University since Dr. Aureliano Urrutia came to Call 210.228.0201 or

of Pittsburgh, it is free and open to San Antonio and created the garden email: [email protected]

all. Go to www.diversity.pitt.edu/ park, Miraflores, at the headwaters Visit www.esperanzacenter.org/donate
events/2021-latinx-connect-confer- of the San Antonio River. All other for online giving options.
ence for more information. events at Trinity are also on hold.
¡Mil Gracias!
Survivor’s Network of

those Abused by The Community Meetings column

Priests, meets virtually every 1st and usually listed in La Voz de Esperanza
3rd Tuesday from 7-9pm. Contact
Patti Koo at 956.648.7385 or will be updated and return as soon

[email protected] or Zac Zepeda as COVID abates. Check online for
groups you are interested in.
at 210.317.7511 or zzsnap@

snapnetwork.org

mass at Guadalupe Church, and joined them LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 •

at wakes and funerals. Their very being in-

formed the heritage, tangible and intangible

of the Westside.

We will miss Isabel at our monthly

WPA meetings (on ZOOM). Her knowl-

edge, wisdom, and determination to preserve

Westside history, culture, and structures

continues to inspire, inform, and guide us.

We are ever grateful for her presence among

us, for her unshakeable faith in us and in the

Westside. We will recall her speaking out at

City Council meetings in support of preserv-

ing Casa Maldonado, Lerma’s, the Malt

House, and other historical sites threatened

with demolition. Isabel Casillas Sánchez was

Mujeres La Fuerza de la Lucha/Women Leading the Struggle was the theme for the Internationa Woman’s Day a Westside preservation advocate. We honor
March in 2010 that took place in downtown San Antonio. Antonia Castañeda is pictured at left in a white IWD her life, and the struggles she waged with us.

T-shirt and Isabel Sánchez is second from the left in a beret. She will ever continue to inspire, guide, and

room at a time by working men and women with limited or no remind us that Westside history and culture

access to capital or credit. matter, and that we must do everything in our power to protect

Isabel knew the history of families and buildings. They were and preserve them. Isabel Casillas Sánchez, PRESENTE!

her friends and neighbors; she had attended elementary school —Antonia I. Castañeda y el Westside Preservation Alliance.

with most of them and graduated from Lanier with some of them. Bio: Antonia is a Tejana born feminist historian who received 15
Their children had been classmates to Xavier, Fernando, Bernard, her Ph.D. in U.S. History at Stanford University. The author of
Gustavo, Graciela, and Leticia. Along with their neighbors Isabel numerous publications, she is now retired and active in the San
and Enrique had shopped at Centeno’s, gone to the movies at Antonio community.
the Guadalupe Theater, danced with them at La Gloria, attended

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • September 2021 Vol. 34 Issue 7 •

FaceBook.com/esperanzacenter Get Vaccinated, No Appointment Needed!
YouTube.com/esperanzacenter
Covid-19 Alamodome Drive-Thru Clinic is open
Noche Azul Wednesday – Friday 4pm to 8pm! Call 311 for more info

DLOESL CCAOMRRINIDOOS

Do it for your community, do it for your family!

Esperanza Peace & Justice Center Non-Profit Org.
922 San Pedro San Antonio TX 78212 US Postage
210.228.0201 • www.esperanzacenter.org PAID

San Antonio, TX
Permit #332

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TO CANCEL A SUBSCRIPTION EMAIL [email protected] CALL: 210.228.0201

Add info that event below is postponed due to CO-
VID resurgence. G.

In celebration of Latinx Heritage Month and Fi-
estas Patrias, Azul will be offering a concert that
incorporates history, images, and songs of this in-
fluential music genre of Mexican Culture.

Sat. Sept 18Th (English) @ 8 Pm
Sun. Sept 19Th (Español) @ 3 Pm

Emma Tenayuca Speaker Series 2021 — Westside History Symposium

More In Memory of the 1921 Flood
information

coming
soon!

Postponed due to covid, coming in the spring.

Saturday, September 11, 2021

@ the historic Progreso Drugstore | 1300 Guadalupe St.