Paseo Por El Westside 2023 May 6, 9-3pm Rinconcito de Esperanza • 816 S. Colorado St. May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 San Antonio, Tejas
La Voz de Esperanza May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 Editor: Gloria A. Ramírez Design: Elizandro Carrington Cover Art: Mary Agnes Rodríguez Contributors Richard Arredondo, Antonio C. Cabral, Ariban Chagoya, Lupito Conjunto, Nephtalí De León, Rachel Delgado, Christie L. Goodman, Rachel Jennings La Voz Mail Collective ...is sheltering at home due to COVID-19 but will return when it is safe. Extra funds are being raised to pay for the folding of La Voz. Esperanza Director Graciela I. Sánchez Esperanza Staff Angel Cantú, Sherry Campos, Elizandro Carrington, Kayla Miranda, 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, Jan Olsen, Ana Lucía Ramírez, Gloria A. Ramírez, Rudy Rosales, Lilliana Saldaña, Nadine Saliba, Graciela I. Sánchez, Lillian Stevens • 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 Letters with intent to slander individuals or groups will not be published. Josephine Merla Martin, presente! November 28, 1930 – April 1, 2023 “Whenever they paved the streets, we would chew pieces of it like gum. Chapapote. My brother would touch the fuse box and all of us would hold hands and see how long we could hold on. (laughs) We followed the mosquito truck, playing in the cloud of DDT.” —Still Here, Homenaje al Westside de San Antonio To look at Josie, one would never guess that her roots were humble and that she grew up poor in the Westside of San Antonio. Elegant, and well-spoken, her eyes were kind and compassionate. When she first came to the Esperanza’s Casa de Cuentos she was clear about her mission: she felt that she had deprived her daughter and granddaughter of knowing who they were and where they came from. She met with other elders at Casa de Cuentos for pláticas and cafecitos sharing memories of the Westside that evolved into the Corazones de Esperanza with the specific goal of sharing common cultural practices including recipes of foods they enjoyed as they grew up. Sharing their photos evolved into the project Fotohistorias del Westside with photo banners hung throughout the barrio telling the stories of Westside families. Josie was central to it all—she was one of the sabias of the group, transmitting and caring for the cultural capital of the Westside. Her only daughter, Cynthia Spielman became a key figure in neighborhood politics and her granddaughter, Katie Merla Watson became an Associate Professor of Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Josie’s mission to claim her heritage and share it with her family was completed when she was one of the stars of the book and performance of Still Here: Homenaje al Westside de San Antonio. Her presence will continue to be felt at Esperanza’s Paseo Por El Westside and at the Peace Market where she made international friendships. She will be missed but always remembered. Now she has “un rinconcito en el cielo” with her beloved ancestors. The Esperanza staff, board and Buena Gente express our gratitude to Josie’s familia and we grieve her passing with them. May she rest in peace/ Que en paz descanse. This month we celebrate Paseo Por El Westside on May 6. As usual, articles appeared serendipitously for the May issue of La Voz de Esperanza on topics of preservation and cultural practices in the Westside of San Antonio. Lupito Conjunto sent in poems with the theme Mi Barrio No Se Vende. Rachel Delgado, a sabia of the Westside, sent in her radio script about the effort to drive out birds in Elmendorf Park. We also have an article by Ariban Chagoya on the practice of midwifery, or How to Pick a Doula. Interestingly, parteras or midwives were common practice in the Westside of San Antonio. La Casa de Maternidad that existed at 315 Matamoros was run by Romana R. Ramos who practiced midwifery in San Antonio in 1911 in el Barrio Laredito with other parteras. Her daughter took it over for several years more. Antonia Castañeda wrote about this history in Midwives and Healing Traditions in the September 2010 issue of La Voz. Thanks to all who made this issue possible. Send literary contributions to: [email protected] –Gracias, Gloria A. Ramírez, editora of La Voz de Esperanza LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 • 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 Since pre-Columbian times midwives have assisted mothers in birth. Josie and her daughter Cynthia
A Walk in the Park A walk in the park should be a pleasant experience… People come to enjoy the peace and beauty of nature… The sweet fragrance of the mountain laurel, palo blanco, and other blooms. The sounds of birds chirping and water fowl diving into the water. The sound of laughter from people picnicking….. Maybe even the distant music from an ice cream truck. But when you’re out for a stroll, you don’t expect to hear an air cannon or other noisemakers. Certainly not the nauseating smell of pesticide sprays. Luckily that stopped after the spray was making park goers sick…. That’s what’s happening in at least two of our parks today. Trees are being cut down to prevent birds from nesting. Some people say there’s too much poop on the paths…and in the water. Also, that the birds flight patterns interfere with aircraft. So, while some people enjoy having the birds in the parks, others are determined to drive them away. I think it’s ironic that the sign at the entrance of Elmendorf Lake Park features an egret, one of the very birds that is being chased away. Here in San Antonio, wildlife are happy to share the park and the outdoors… But at the end of the day….the visitors will go home…. While the birds are already home. —Rachel Delgado script for Radio Esperanza Mi Barrio No Se Vende Mi Barrio no se vende, our homes are not for sale This sacred ground we live on—is more than just a shell All you see are dollar signs, but to me, I see my home It's where my parents raised me, it's all I've ever known You come to try to take it, you try to buy us out We see what you're doing and we know what you're about It's time to heed our warning and we're putting you on blast It's time to get out of my barrio before I kick your fucking ass I know that you don't understand us and that is okay Because My Barrio No Se Vende and that's the way it's gonna stay. — Lupito Conjunto Mi Querido San Anto Mi querido San Anto, my heart weeps for thee As the gentrifiers take you away from me From the east side to the west side, they strip away our homes, all in the name of greed, they viciously roam The politicians in power make backroom deals To take what little we have left, it's all so surreal Taxes keep rising, S.A.W.S. and C.P.S. too While their top guys get paid, what are we to do? Is there any hope left, a glimmer of light? For those who call San Anto home, with all their pride We hold onto our memories, of what once was And fight to keep our city, from being sold off So, let us come together, and make our voices heard For San Anto is more than a city—it's our home that we deserve It's a community, a cultura, & a way of life And we'll fight to keep it, even if it costs us our lives. — Lupito Conjunto Rachel Delgado reads at the 2022 Paseo Por El Westside LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 • 3
Tú Mandes: How to Pick a Doula or Who do you want at your Birth? By Ariban Chagoya I had a new mama and daddy come to the office last week and I advised them to meet other doulas before making a decision. And the question came up about how does a mama pick somebody to help her at the birth? Of course, it’s nice and cheaper if you can get a trusted Tia or Grandma to help you on this awesome journey of childbirth. And it would be nice if she was knowledgeable about hospitals and has the ability to help you process all the feelings that may come up. However, she can’t be more scared than you. I’ve been at births where the mama asked that her own mother be away from her for that reason alone. As a doula or the Señora in the village or barrio, if I am at the birth and your favorite family member comes in to help, I know when to step away and let them help because it’s about you deciding how you want to birth your child. First, it should always be the mama’s decision on who, what, the when that she wants at the birth of her child. A woman in this society never gets asked how she wants to birth her baby. She gets told how to deliver and to submit; she is usually taught to never question anything. And mostly she hears the horror stories of birth. Rarely do we hear the best birth stories. My favorite story is about how I almost caught the baby at a park in Austin. When I arrived to the mama’s house, she was having contractions almost every minute. I said, “We need to go!” On the way to the hospital she kept yelling, “ I’m not kidding you guys. I am gonna push!” I said, “If you do, it is ok. But I think you will make it.” In my mind, I am scanning where to pull over and it’s a woodsy park. I see the parking lot of the park but in that split second, I decide to try for the hospital. When we arrived, she was immediately wheeled into the room and a nurse yells, “ She’s about to have her baby!” A group of nurses wheel her and place her into a delivery bed quickly. Once she’s in bed, she raises her leg open but before that she yells, “ I want an epidural!” And the baby comes out like as if on a slip and slide! I whisper the mama’s name and softly say, “The baby is on top of you.” The baby was a 9 lb. boy. The mother was tiny woman under 5 feet. This was my quickest birth—a lil bit nerve racking, but a beautiful birth. One never knows how a birth will turn out. Luna, my doula friend, says births are like snowflakes. They are all the same but different. I’m glad that the mom picked me for her birth. When you pick a doula or plan for your birth, you need to trust them. Somebody told me that they picked me as their doula because I look like I mean business. She said she felt safer. Pick a doula that is fierce but not angry—angry at her own birth trauma—angry at the doctors. She has to have the ability to help you fight for your right to birth your child in the way you want to. She has to be suavecita meaning she has to graceful and respectful of medical staff but also has the ability to make your wishes clear. You want a doula who can take care of you emotionally, physically and mentally. She will protect you and watch over you to make sure your wishes are supported. And although she may not agree with you, she will allow you to make the final decision on all matters. It’s your body. It’s your birth. With my 17 year old client, I especially used a phrase all mamas need to hear, “ Tú mandas.” At any age, a pregnant mom needs to hear she has options and choices. You need a doula that has worked on her own trauma around birth. Because at the time of a birth, everybody’s trauma around birth, including the doctors and nurses, are all getting triggered, and it becomes about time and how much pain we can stand to see a mama go thru. Worse birth I went to wasn’t bad , but it was a totally unLA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 • 4 Ariban Chagoya pictured with two of her babies. At left and right direct massage with hands or rebozos help mothers relax.
necessary c-section. The mother was so terrified that she asked to be completely out during the cesarean. I tried to explain to her what she would miss out on but again it was her choice. Her biggest regret afterwards was that she didn’t get to experience or be able to hold her baby till the next day. But if a woman doesn’t have a good birth, there is still healing that can happen after a birth, too. Every mama needs healing after a birth no matter the outcome. This is why it’s important to support mothers after a birth. We can help with postpartum, too. This is where birth stories are helpful. Mama has to tell her story over and over. And so does Daddy and anyone else at the birth. I still love telling the story of how loud my voice was when I yelled out, “He is big, Luna!”, at my godchild’s birth 22 years ago. I often ask myself when did birth get so terrifying? Birth is a serious life changing spiritual, physical and emotional experience. We are talking Life, right? What happened to make the experience frightening? Luna, the other Doula with 7th Generation Birth Services, said King Louis started putting women in stirrups—maybe that’s why. In my own training as a doula, I almost had an emotional breakdown at a birth where forceps and an episiotomy was done. Later, I ask my mother about my birth in 1960. She said that I was a small baby and that she was given some drug. Then she added, “ Me cortaron. They cut me. I don’t know why? You were little, only 6 lbs. Y me cortaron at every birth. All 5.” It was common practice to experiment and disregard women of color/poor women birthing at a hospital. We swallowed the idea that the hospital was the best for us and that we would be treated well despite racism. And we know from statistics that Black woman having a college degree doesn’t guarantee that her child birth will be a safe one. Aside from racism, the oppression of women didn’t leave out my white sisters. They, too, are taught to submit and carry on the grief of what was done to our bodies. White women are just as terrified of birth as women of color. I imagine when we were tribal and connected to the earth more that we didn’t need a test to know if we were pregnant. We didn’t have a doctor to tell us how far along we were before the child was to be born. I suspect that we knew intuitively if we were pregnant or not. We probably had a wise experienced elder that was known for being helpful in childbirth and pregnancy—that a mother was not left alone, with her feelings. That she intuitively knew her body and what she could and could not do. And that daddy was present to support her, overwhelmed with excitement. That she felt safe with the people that would be there during the birth. That she wasn’t terrified that she was gonna be mutilated or violated or die. That she was confident she could bring this baby into the world and nobody around her doubted her. That she knew how to trust her body and herself. Birth is painful and no doubt it’s a lot of work. It doesn’t come like clockwork. A woman will face everything she’s been avoiding during this time. It probably was assumed that she would live to mother that baby. Above all, that no one at the birth was terrified for her. The tribe was confident that a new member of the tribe was arriving. And waiting with so much hope for this child. Only the best for the next generation coming. When a woman is supported—that baby will want to birth their own babies in a loving and supportive way. And that grand baby will have a peaceful loving birth of their child and so on for the next 5 generations. In the future, I trust that our children will birth in a hospital or home without fear. In the meantime, me and my sisters, Luna Wood, Jennifer Alvarado, and midwife, Yesenia Guzman at 7th Generation Birth Services and the American Indians of Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions in San Antonio, Texas are helping to improve the maternal death rate in Texas. Our services are free for expectant parents, adopting parents and parents of children under 3 years of age. We offer diapers, wipes and we have a free clothing closet. Most of all, we offer a cultural connection with our pláticas-talks, that allows our parents some relief. It is totally possible to take back our right to birth —how we want to birth our children. According to the 2022 Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Committee and Department of State Health Joint Biennial Report in The Texas Tribune by Eleanor Klibanoff on December 16, 2022, the report estimates 90% of maternal deaths could have been preventable. Give us a call, let’s change the statistics for all women and let’s set up an appointment. The Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee report, delayed by more than three months, estimates that up to 90% of the deaths may have been preventable and we can be part of that. BIO: Ariban Chagoya is a 21st century Indigenous Elder curandera. She considers herself a helper not a healer. Something else does the healing. She is also a Doula or Childbirth Companera/ Comadre and works at the American Indians of Texas at the Spanish Colonial Mission: San Antonio Fatherhood Campaign: 7th Generation Birth Services in San Antonio, Texas. She is also in private practice as a sobadora/ curandera in San Antonio, A writer, a poet and artist. She is Chichimeca and a mestiza mix of culturas. Contact: [email protected] LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 • 5 Ariban contemplates the miracle of birth.
Manifest Destiny Alive: Mexico Under Threat Again By Antonio C. Cabral, San Antonio, Texas The Nazi propaganda minister, George Goebbels, said if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. Several U.S. Congressmen are implementing this theory by repeating lies about Mexico’s President Manuel Lopez Obrador and the spread of drugs throughout the U.S. (None talk about the U.S. drug cartels who warehouse, pack and distribute cocaine and fentanyl to all U.S. cities). To his credit, President Biden and his Administration have remained above such malicious campaign of deceit. The U.S. Right Wing in general and the Republican Party in particular hope that their misinformation campaign will convince the U.S. public to support their proposal to send U.S. troops or use weaponized drones to attack Mexican territory. Their real ultimate goal is to destabilize Mexico, discredit Obrador’s anti-corruption reforms and to prepare Mexican voters for a U.S. financed massive publicity campaign to support a specific candidate in their 2024 election. In other words, the U.S. extreme Right wing want a candidate loyal to U.S. corporate interests and who will reverse all the progressive reforms implemented by the Obrador Administration since 2018. These are the facts: Since his term of office began in December 1, 2018, President Obrador has sent Marines to control ports of entry including the major seaports like Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas. He did that upon discovering that all those ports were under the control of violent gangs and had been throughout the presidency of Felipe Calderon and other past presidents. Those presidents were elected through documented electoral fraud and while in office sold many of Mexico’s natural resources including mines, transportation, gas and oil, telephone systems, etc to foreign buyers. Most of the billions of dollars paid by those foreign interests ended up in those presidents’ pockets. That fact has been proven repeatedly through the years. Nevertheless, U.S. Representatives Dan Crenshaw (R. Texas) and Michael Waltz (R. FL) shamelessly and publicly said that allowing President Lopez Obrador to continue reforming the electoral system in Mexico would undo the governing systems established by those corrupt presidents. Just one concrete example: Representative Crenshaw has told various U.S. media that the U.S. must send troops to “destroy the cartels” as if Mexico is some type of U.S. colony. He has also sent a televised message to the cartels promising that “…we are coming for you, your mansions and your money…..”. In addition he has defended previous presidents, particularly Felipe Calderon, for, according to Crenshaw, carrying out a war against the cartels and being an honest president. Felipe Calderon’s well-documented corrupt actions are too long to list here but an example of Crenshaw’s lies that Calderon fought the cartels was exposed on February 21, 2023, when a New York City jury found Genaro Garcia Luna guilty of drug trafficking and taking bribes from drug cartels. He was charged with receiving around $274 million dollars in cartel bribes from 2001 thru 2012 when he was the head of the Federal Investigative Agency, the equivalent of the FBI, under President Vicente Fox of the PAN party, another corrupt president, and then as the secretary of public security under Felipe Calderon. To this date, Felipe Calderon has refused to admit knowing anything about Garcia Luna’s collusion with the drug cartels, but he has been travelling all over the world supposedly to avoid arrest by U.S. or Mexico’s federal agents. In their malicious attacks against Mexico’s much needed reforms, Right Wing Congressmen like Crenshaw, and others keep praising Calderon and other corrupt presidents with allegations based only on lies and/or convenient ignorance of the facts. Like novelist Robert Hanlon explained: “Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity.” The unmitigated hypocrisy of those congressmen has also infected Democratic Senator Bob Menéndez (D.NJ), the chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, who told the LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 • 6 : Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador rebuked calls from some U.S. lawmakers advocating military action in Mexico against drug cartels, describing the proposals as threats to Mexican sovereignty. Major General Gideon Pillow’s division Attacks of the Mexican strongpoint at Chapultepec during Major General Winfield’s Scott’s final drive on Mexico City, 13 September 1847, as depicted in James Walker’s 1848 oil on board, Pillow’s Attack Advancing Through the Woods of Chapultepec. (Army Art Collection) Continued on Page 11
By Christie L. Goodman, APR EDITOR’S NOTE: The Esperanza Peace & Justice Center celebrates IDRA’s 50 years of advocacy for children’s education impacting bilingual education, parenting programs, equity and funding and many more issues. The San Antonio-based “think tank” continues to research and publish papers impacting education on all levels in Texas and throughout the U.S. See: bit.ly/idra-highlights Demetrio Rodríguez, lead parent plaintiff in the original Texas school finance suit in 1969, said simply: “I wanted to have adequate schooling.” By 1994, his dream having slipped away for his children and his grandchildren, he still held out hope: “I want my great-grandchildren to have adequate schooling.” Rodríguez was among the Concerned Parents Association who filed suit against the Edgewood school district and five other districts in Bexar County. The parents’ concerns were sparked by students who walked out of schools across south Texas, including Edgewood students. They protested curricula that pushed them away from college and toward manual labor, and they protested crumbling facilities and inadequate funding. The parents’ concerns also came from seeing their children’s experiences in school that fell dramatically short of their dreams for their families. The parents went to court in 1968. IDRA’s founder, José A. Cárdenas, Ed.D., was appointed superintendent of Edgewood ISD in 1969. He offered to testify on the family’s behalf and to support their case. He worked with them and their attorneys, advising them to redirect the case. Instead of suing other nearby poor districts, who (1) were in the same boat and (2) had no influence on the state’s school funding system, the parents shifted to take on the State of Texas. A few months after the lawsuit was filed, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ six-day hearing in San Antonio on the civil rights issues of Mexican Americans. The hearings highlighted the low levels of education for students of color with averages of only 6.2 years for Latinos and 8.7 years for Black students. The disparities in per-student funding glared. In 1970-71, Edgewood ISD could spend only $418 per pupil while Lipscomb CSD, a property-wealthy school district, spent $7,332. And Edgewood wasn’t even the lowest. That moniker went to nine other districts down to Myrtle Springs at $328 per pupil. These low-wealth districts were forced to tax at much higher rates than property-wealthy districts to even generate what little they could. (IDRA 1973) Students experienced the effects of these funding disparities every day. Demetrio Rodriguez’s son Alex recalled that the third floor of his elementary school was condemned. When it rained, water poured down the stairs. Several students had to share a single old textbook. (Barnum, 2023) Albert Cortez, Ph.D., IDRA’s former director of policy until his retirement, recalled his days as an Edgewood ISD student in the 1960s and early 1970s: “I remember being in a typing class, and there were not enough typewriters for all the students who were taking the class. The keyboard was painted on some of the desks for those students who couldn’t work with a typewriter.” The three-judge federal court panel issued its ruling the day before Christmas Eve in 1971 when schools and institutions were closed. Rodríguez vs. San Antonio ISD had been a sleeper case until that moment – until the ruling declared the Texas system of school finance unconstitutional, and by implication and precedence, most other state systems of school finance. Dr. Albert Cortez explained, “The State of Texas didn’t do a very good job of defending something that frankly was indefensible.” The federal judges saw all the evidence that was presented and agreed with the plaintiffs – the families – that education and access to educational opportunity was a fundamental right under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The court also ruled Families Insist on Equitable School Funding – Rodríguez v. San Antonio ISD Ruling 50 Years Ago Has Lasting Effects “The Rodríguez decision is seen by many legal scholars as one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in the last century and a real betrayal to the promise of Brown v. Board of Education,” said Celina Moreno, J.D., IDRA President & CEO. LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 • 7
that the level of inequity that existed in the state of Texas was unconstitutional, essentially mandating the state to make major changes. The chairman of the State Board of Education, Ben Howell, stated: “What the federal court gave us on December 23 was no Christmas present; it was a bomb. In fact, it was an atomic bomb!” (Cárdenas, 1997) Dr. Cárdenas reported that much of the reaction was hostile: “The Texas tradition, at least among the individuals and groups with the greatest wealth and political power, is to detest interference by the federal courts in ‘the way we run our schools.’” (1997) But in other circles, he says this period was “characterized by extensive activity, interest and optimism. It seemed that everybody wanted to know what the court decision implied.” Thus, he gave countless interviews and made frequent presentations about the school finance system, the court case and recommendations to achieve equitable funding. He and the families made such a stir that a superintendent from a high-wealth school district “had been asked to inform me that if I could get the plaintiffs and the district to back off from the Rodríguez case, I would be guaranteed a long, successful and lucrative professional career in the high wealth districts of Texas.” He responded by asking if he could take the 24,000 children of Edgewood with him. Crickets. (1997) But finally, the media, public officials and the general public started to see the disparities affecting students. Then came the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal: a 5-4 ruling that, despite the observation that the Texas system was “chaotic and unjust,” it did not violate federal equal protection requirements. The ruling left it up to states to decide if all students should have well-funded public schools – a task that states did not rush to do. The ruling effectively shut down pending school finance cases in other states like California and New Jersey. “The Rodríguez decision is seen by many legal scholars as one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in the last century and a real betrayal to the promise of Brown v. Board of Education,” said Celina Moreno, J.D., IDRA President & CEO. Less than a month later, Dr. Cárdenas reluctantly submitted his resignation as Edgewood ISD superintendent to pursue full-time what was to become a multi-decade quest for school finance equity. He reflected: “When I started with Texans for Education Excellence in 1973 (which soon became the Intercultural Development Research Association), many people in positions of power – the Texas governor, legislators and school superintendents – said they would be happy to change the school finance system but did not want the federal government shoving it down their throats. Naive in my heart, naive in my soul, I figured in a few years, two maybe four, that we would devise a system that everybody would support and that the problem would be solved quickly. It was not until about four or five years later that it started to dawn on us that it was not going to be as easy as we thought.” (Romero, 2001) María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, Ph.D., IDRA President & 1997 Archives: Dr. José A. Cárdenas (right) presents a copy of his new book, Texas School Finance Reform: An IDRA Perspective, to Demetrio Rodríguez (left), lead litigant in the Rodríguez vs. San Antonio ISD case, with Dr. Albert Cortez (center), IDRA director of policy and school finance expert. The textbook is out of print but is available from IDRA free online: https://idra.news/TSFRbook For years and years, IDRA led efforts to achieve school finance equity and was instrumental in the state-level Edgewood court cases, litigated by MALDEF and others, that followed the Rodríguez case. LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 • 8 Demetrio Rodriguez with his sons outside Edgewood Elementary School. Photo: Courtesy of Patty Rodriguez
CEO from 1992 to 2019, stated: “When it comes to education, in America we have a society that still tolerates ‘separate and unequal.’ How else can we explain why school districts around the country with the most student poverty, have the least funding per student? In Texas and around the nation, high-poverty schools are under-resourced schools. They are most likely to have overcrowded classes, weak curricula, under-trained teachers, low test scores and high dropout rates… But the promise of quality education is America’s promise not to the privileged few but to all our children. The success in keeping our word is America’s success.” IDRA emerged as the only entity in the state at the time dedicated consistently to the reform of the public school finance system. IDRA conducted the necessary research to substantiate the claims made earlier by the plaintiffs in the Rodríguez case. IDRA provided state agencies and others with extensive information on the need for reform; prepared and distributed materials; and awakened educators, lawmakers, government officials and the general public to the inequities in the system of school finance and their implications for students’ educational opportunities. For years and years, IDRA led efforts to achieve school finance equity and was instrumental in the state-level Edgewood court cases, litigated by MALDEF and others, that followed the Rodríguez case. IDRA’s research, legal strategy, expert witness testimony, legislative advocacy and community activism provided a blueprint for those interested in bringing about future reform in schools and other social institutions. Dr. Cárdenas literally wrote the textbook on Texas school finance (1997). “What is good for the children of the most powerful in our society must be the expectation we set for all students,” said Celina Moreno. Prior to IDRA, she served as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s trial and appellate co-counsel in the challenge against the inequity and inadequacy of the Texas school finance system. “While the Supreme Court hasn’t recognized education as a fundamental right, we know that it is a human right. And a series of Supreme Court decisions, from Brown v. Board of Education to Plyler v. Doe, reflect its importance” (2020). In 1987, a Texas state court found that the state’s unequal school finance plan did in fact violate the Texas constitution. In the historic Edgewood vs. Kirby case (which came to be known as Edgewood I), the state’s supreme court required Texas to modify its school funding plan in a way that provided every school district equal return for equal tax effort, instituting a process for equalizing school funding throughout the state. But it would take more lawsuits and political LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 • 9
shenanigans to push the state to get serious. Dr. Cortez described one of the times he testified in a school finance trial: “I remember the state’s lawyer hammering away at me, asking how close to equity is close enough? ‘How close to equalization would you all be willing to accept’ – to, essentially, settle for. I told the lawyer: It’s either equal or it’s not. It’s either an equitable funding system or it’s not.” He added: “It was insulting to be asked how many children you are willing to sacrifice so that you can ‘compromise’ to reach a reasonable settlement. At IDRA, we were never interested in being reasonable. As a matter of fact, we were often called unreasonable and unrealistic because we had the audacity to believe that it was possible to have an equitable school funding system for all kids. I believe that. I still believe that. I still think it’s possible.” In the last five decades, IDRA and many with us have learned the critical importance of persistence. It has taken persistence in the courts and in the state capitol. It has taken the persistence of organizations like IDRA, MALDEF, the Equity Center and Every Texan. It has taken the persistence of school board members, superintendents and advocates. And, most importantly, it has taken the persistence of families – mothers, fathers, grandparents – and students who insist that the state do its job to fund schools fairly and provide an excellent, college-ready education to every student. There’s nothing unreasonable about that. BIO: Christie L. Goodman, APR, is IDRA’s director of communications. Contact her via email at: [email protected]. Angel Rodriguez-Diaz December 6, 1955 - March 31, 2023 Artist Angel Rodriguez-Diaz, “un hijo del pueblo Latino”, passed on March 31 at age 67. An eminent artist who distinguished himself and achieved renown in the national and international art scene, Angel was especially notable in the San Antonio community, who came to know his art not only in museums, galleries and special exhibitions, but in his distinctly impressive public art, in particular his outdoor sculptures, such as the “Beacon”, a metal obelisk on Blanco in Beacon Hill. I first met Angel in 1995 through his partner and spouse, Rolando Briseño, an established artist in his own right. I got to know Angel better when I was on the arts committee for the renovation/restoration of San Fernando Cathedral, and asked him to submit his perception for a painting of “Las Tres Marias” at the tomb of the resurrected Jesus. Using three local strong Latina women as models and portraying them in his own unique and vivid realistic style, Angel’s large painting demonstrated his mastery of portraiture, for which he was well known. His work was selected over all the other submissions, and it became a permanent icon among all the sacred art in the Cathedral. In 1998, Angel asked if I wanted to be a model for his new body of work, “Santos y Pecadores”. The result was not only a reflection of my sensibilities to the theme, but the painting also expressed various allegorical aspects on an ethnic, religious and philosophical level, aspects that permeated much of his artwork . I remember Angel voicing his very strong convictions regarding socio-political ethnic and racial inequities, which were always underlying themes in his artwork. He also upheld a firm advocacy and voice for the LGBTQ community, in particular, subjects related to homosexuality and those still challenged by HIV. Culturally, Angel was proud of his Puerto Rican heritage and the Latino community. I remember him being awestruck by a beautiful woman, and emotionally exclaiming: “ que bella es nuestra raza”! When his health showed signs of decline, Rolando asked some of his friends to assist in caring for Angel. We shared special moments when we went for a walk and enjoyed a meal at Mi Tierra. I will miss Angel… “hijito del pueblo Latino”. —Richard Arredondo EDITOR’S NOTE: The Esperanza board, staff & Buena Gente note the passing of an iconic artist whose humanity shone through in all of his artwork and actions. Our condolences to his husband, Rolando Briseño, his family and many friends. ¡Que en paz y poder descanse! ¡Angel Rodríguez -Diaz, siempre presente! “Las Tres Marias” was on exhibit at the San Fernando Cathedral and featured local women who posed for the portrait. Above, Angel at 17 years old was a budding artist. Below, a self-portrait years later. Angel’s public art sculpture, The Beacon, shines on night and day in the Beacon Hill neighborhood.
media “…I’m running out of patience…” (with Obrador)…and threatened that the U.S. may “…have to intervene…”. Menéndez, Jason Smith (R-MO) complain that Obrador is not stopping the drugs coming into the U.S., that he is refusing to buy any more corn from the U.S. and they use recent anti-Obrador protests to suggest that “we have to do something” to protect the U.S. Representative Chip Roy (R.-TX) actually introduced legislation that declares Mexico’s cartels as terrorists thus setting the necessary groundwork to justify U.S. armed intervention in Mexico. He was followed by Senator Lindsey Graham (R.S.C.) who said that he “…is prepared to introduce legislation to set the stage …” to invade Mexico. Even the discredited Attorney General under Donald Trump got into the act by telling the media, “We have to deal with this group (the narcos) like we dealt with ISIS…” ISIS is the terrorist group the U.S. used as a justification to invade and destroy Iraq. Note: ISIS still exists but U.S. oil corporations now control Iraq’s oil resources. Here’s why all those agitating and false allegations should be condemned by U.S. voters and the general public: Mexico has arrested, in the past 4 years, the highest number of drug lords than any previous president did. For example, in 2022 President Obrador sent Marines to arrest Rafael Caro Quintero the drug lord who was the most wanted fugitive by the U.S. accused of having killed a DEA agent but had evaded capture by all the previous presidents. . Another important historical fact that all those hypocritical congressmen don’t mention is how their political predecessors in the Republican Party helped create those cartels a fact that was exposed during Iran-Contra hearings. Oliver North and other highranking officials during the Ronald Reagan administration used the CIA to pay millions of dollars for drugs that during the 1980s flooded U.S. impoverished neighborhoods primarily in Los Angeles and the profit went to the Contras who were fighting the Sandinista government that Ronald Reagan wanted to overthrow. (Read the whole shameful history in the archives of George Washington University at nsarchive.gwu.edu). The 1980s Iran-Contra scandal became known in 1996 when journalist Gary Webb kept investigating and writing about it even after receiving anonymous death threats. In 2004 he was found dead at his home and the ruling was that he shot himself twice in the head with a .38 caliber gun. Obrador did issue a presidential mandate prohibiting the importation of corn from the U.S. However, he explained that U.S. corn is toxic because it is genetically modified (GMO) and has harmed the health of millions of Mexican consumers. He proposed funding for small Mexican farms to increase their natural production of white corn that is proven to be safer for human consumption. U.S. environmentalists have been demanding for many years similar changes here in the U.S. but political powerful agricultural corporations like Monsanto have blocked it. Another argument made by the Republican congressmen who want to send troops to Mexico is that a recent protest in Mexico against Obrador’s reforms are opposed by many Mexicans. They cite a November 2022 march against a new law that will reform the Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE). They argue that the law will “destroy” the INE so that Obrador can run for president again in 2024, when in fact Obrador has stated repeatedly that he will not run and the INE reforms will only reduce by 1,200 the 17,000 highlypaid “INE advisors” and will also require the INE count all the votes immediately after the elections and not take days claiming computer failure which has been used in the past to hand the presidency to Salinas de Gortari, to Calderon and other corrupt presidents. According to investigative columnists in Contra Linea, Sin Embargo and also payment receipts presented by the Obrador Administration, organizers of the November protest are groups from the Right that have a well-documented shady history of being financed by the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Here’s some of those organizers and the funds they received between 2018 and 2019 for their anti-reforms actions: • Mexicanos Contra la Corrupcion received $14 million pesos • Mexico Unidos Contra la Delincuencia received over $1 million • Grupo Evalua received $2 million All these facts support the claim made by the 70% of Mexican voters who support the Obrador Administration that oligarchs from the Mexican Right united with and supported by U.S. corporate interests including the oil and gas industries have engaged in a media campaign to destabilize the Obrador Administration and prepare the massive media propaganda campaign to ensure that no other progressive is elected as president of Mexico in 2024 or ever again and that the economic reforms instituted by the Obrador administration will be reversed at any cost. That’s the bottom line. That’s the motivation of Mexico’s Right wing elements and, with the help of the extreme Right in the U.S. Congress, they will continue with their misinformation and lies. U.S. activists and people of conscience who want world peace and for the U.S. congress and presidents to fix the many economic and social crises we have, and the drug trafficking by homegrown U.S. drug cartels, must not remain silent. A good start can be to talk and write the truth. Let’s all live by the advice from Eric Blair (pen name George Orwell): “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” BIO: Antonio C. Cabral, a freelance writer & life-long activist has essays published in the U.S. & Mexico. LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 • 11 After U.S. Representatives Dan Crenshaw (R. Texas) and Michael Waltz (R. FL) called for troops to be sent into Mexico , national figures like Lindsey Graham and former Attorney General Bill Barr began calling for U.S. intervention in Mexico. Manifest Destiny Continued from Page 6
By Rachel Jennings “Yes, but what about the victim?” is often the first question opponents of the death penalty hear when making their case against capital punishment. For supporters of the death penalty, sending a killer to death row means that the victim will receive justice and the victim’s family will achieve closure. Thus, failure to secure a death sentences on behalf of the victim’s family seems cruel and heartless. Ending executions requires countering the belief that the death penalty serves the interests of murder victims’ families. In 1988, CNN’s Bernard Shaw, the moderator of the last debate of the Presidential election, understood the public’s concern about victims’ rights. Seeking a hardhitting debate question, Shaw knew that Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis’ opposition to the death penalty made him politically vulnerable. “Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered,” he asked Dukakis, “would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?” (“Debate”). Opening the debate, coming right after introductions of debaters and moderators, the highly personal question caused reporters in the press room to gasp (Roger Simon). Dukakis replied, “No, I don’t, Bernard. And I think you know that I’ve opposed the death penalty during all of my life. I don’t see any evidence that it’s a deterrent, and I think there are better and more effective ways of dealing with violent crime.” Dukakis pointed out that there had been “the biggest drop in crime” in his state, Massachusetts, where he was governor, “of any industrial state in America” and “the lowest murder rate” (“Debate”) as well. Although Dukakis’ answer was clear, direct, factually accurate, and consistent with his known views on the death penalty, he failed to center Kitty, his wife, in his remarks. In fact, his response seemed “wonky and emotionless” (Brad Phillips). Commentators have offered different explanations, including the possibility that Dukakis was recovering from the flu (Phillips). One wonders, however, if Dukakis’s stoicism was simply his way of controlling his anger. Shaw’s question had been not only personal but close to insulting. Naming Kitty Dukakis, who sat in the audience, Shaw’s question framed the death penalty in patriarchal terms, depicting Dukakis, the death penalty opponent, as an emasculated man who would fail to protect his wife if she were to be attacked. Thus, when Dukakis failed to respond with the required passion and heat, pundits opined that Dukakis seemed cold, detached, and devoid of compassion for his own wife, the hypothetical victim. After the devastating fallout from Michael Dukakis’s debate response, almost no political leaders in the 1990s were willing to speak openly against the death penalty and thus appear to disrespect murder victims’ families. Tellingly, when Arkansas governor Bill Clinton ran for the Presidency in 1992, he proclaimed his staunch support for the death penalty. In fact, Clinton left the campaign trail to fly to Arkansas on January 24, 1992, in order to witness in person the execution of Ricky Ray Rector. This execution was memorable for two reasons. First, Rector had been “effectively lobotomized” after suffering a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head that required doctors to remove “about one-third of his brain” (Nathan J. Robinson) Having suffered a “serious learning disability” since childhood, Rector now was even more unable to function. On the night of last meal, for example, “Rector set the dessert aside for later, even though there wouldn’t be a later” (Robinson). Secondly, the execution was botched. A prison staff member, who was not a medical professional, required twenty minutes to find a vein for the lethal injection cocktail (Robinson). Both executions of the mentally disabled and botched executions would haunt the US justice system into our current time. By attending the execution, Clinton wished to signal his tough stance on crime and his support for murder victims’ families. In truth, the death penalty itself has failed victims’ families and loved ones. As a response Ending the Death Penalty: Juan Cotera: “We have no more right to kill than the two young men that killed my son. That is how I feel about the death penalty. I will never change. My son was against the death penalty. We all are.” The Voices of Victims’ Survivors LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 • 12 Martha & Juan Cotera & their son, Juan Javier Cotera (inset)
to deadly violence, capital punishment does nothing to prevent crime; pay the costs of solving cold cases; or address the financial, social, and long-term psychological needs of survivors. Moreover, supporters of the death penalty tend to portray murder victims’ families as a uniform, homogeneous population who unfailingly want offenders to be executed. Assuming that all survivors desire vengeance and retribution, aggressive prosecutors and pro-death penalty legislators peremptorily push for executions without acknowledging that many families who oppose state killing find peace and healing in restorative justice, not in witnessing an execution. Remembering Juan Javier Cotera In mid-summer, 1997, Ahmad McAdoo and Derrick Williams, both seventeen-year-olds, carjacked Juan Javier Cotera, a twentyfive-year-old City of Austin employee, and Brandon Shaw, a twenty-year-old UT-Austin architecture student, at gunpoint in downtown Austin. Another victim, a woman who was robbed, sexually assaulted, and tied to a tree, was able to escape. Forced to withdraw money from a number of ATMs around Austin, Cotera and Shaw were forced into the trunk of the woman’s car, which was pushed into Town Lake, where they both drowned (Juan B. Elizondo, Jr.). At the time of Cotera’s and Shaw’s murders, I was living on Cesar Chavez Street in East Austin, just blocks from where the horrific crime occurred. A long-time Austin resident, I was shocked when I saw on local newscasts that such a vicious crime occurred so close to my home. The news hit hard. In the intricate social web of Austin’s artists, academics, and activists, there are few degrees of separation between any one person and another. Thus, I was slightly acquainted with Juan Cotera’s sister, Maria Cotera, who was in the same doctoral program in English literature from which I had graduated just a couple of years before. Maria’s mother, Martha Cotera, was widely known as a leading figure in the Chicano Movement, a participant in the 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston, and the author of two influential books, Diosa y Hembra: The History and Heritage of Chicanas in the U.S. (1976) and The Chicana Feminist (1977) (Katelynn Dreeze). I was in awe of both her legacy and the equally impressive achievements of her husband, Juan, a prominent Austin architect. Accompanied by a friend, I once visited Martha Cotera at her home. Although she did not know me, Martha Cotera inquired earnestly about my academic work and my activist commitments, a kindness I still remember decades later. When I heard that Juan Javier Cotera had been murdered, I knew the family would be devastated. A capital prosecution would likely have been easy to secure, especially in the late 1990s when capital punishment was at its height of popularity. The Coteras were a socially and politically prominent family in Austin. Moreover, the father of the other victim, Brandon Shaw, was a former NASA astronaut and colonel in the US Air Force (Elizondo). Prosecutors are often diligent in pursuing capital convictions if the victim’s family is well-to-do or well-known. Familiar with the family’s progressive politics, however, I wondered if the murder of the Coteras’ son might cause them to turn away in despair from their radical social consciousness. Would they support a death sentence? After all, few people would blame them or hold it against them if they sought the execution of the young men who had killed their son. Instead, the Coteras pleaded for the lives of the killers. Courageously, each of them “asked the district attorney not to seek the death penalty in a state that leads the country in executions” (Frank Green). Thus, instead of death sentences, the killers received back-to-back forty-year sentences (Green). Although the killers were juveniles when the murders happened, both he and Ahmad McAdoo could easily have been handed a death sentence. In the 1990s, before the US Supreme Court ruled in Roper v. Simmons US Supreme Court decision in 2005, teenaged defendants could be sentenced to death. If the Coteras had not pleaded for mercy, and the Shaws likewise had not expressed agreement with a life sentence (Green), McAdoo and Williams may have been executed. Why did the Coteras oppose the death penalty for the killers of their son? For the Coteras, the question of how to respond to their son’s murder was not a hypothetical debate question as it had been for Michael Dukakis. “We have no more right to kill than the two young men that killed my son. That is how I feel about the death penalty. I will never change. My son was against the death penalty. We all are,” Martha Cotera explained. She added, “I was raised a Christian and it’s just wrong to step in the role of a higher being and make the decision to kill someone. . . I believe in a higher being. I believe that life is precious. It’s not for us to determine who lives and dies” (qtd. in Chris Castillo), she said. She insisted that “there are other ways of addressing the juvenile-justice problem” (Green). While Cotera cites her Christian upbringing to explain her views against the death penalty, she might just as easily have cited her feminist and anti-racist commitments. In the 1960s, the Martha and Juan Cotera participated in PASSO (Political Association of Spanish Speaking Organizations) and farmworkers’ organizing (Dreeze). In the early 1970s, the Coteras “were intimately involved in the founding and structuring of the Raza Unida Party, a third political party centered on Chicano nationalism” (Dreeze). They also helped to found Jacinto Treviño College, which “was developed as a college for Mexican Americans to prepare teachers for bilingual bicultural education programs.” Conscious of the history of Anglo violence in Texas, the Coteras were acutely aware of the deeply rooted racial bias against black and brown men in capital trial cases. One can only imagine how soul-wounding it would have been for these veterans of the Chicano Movement to be a party in the execution of two African American teenagers. As an educator and parent, moreover, Martha Cotera would have comprehended the impulsivity of adolescent brains that can lead to poor decision-making. SupMartha Cotera: “I was raised a Christian and it’s just wrong to step in the role of a higher being and make the decision to kill someone… I believe in a higher being. I believe that life is precious. It’s not for us to determine who lives and dies”. —“Voices of Texas: Juan and Martha Cotera.”, TCADP LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 • 13
porting death sentences for two juvenile offenders would not be consistent with her beliefs and character. Furthermore, as a feminist who had with other women “established Mujeres de La Raza Unida, a women’s caucus within the party that advocated for the recruitment of women as members” (Dreeze), Cotera responded with a feminist consciousness to her son’s murder. Rather than demanding eye-for-an-eye patriarchal retribution, Cotera as a feminist focused on both healing her family and preventing other African American teenagers from resorting to despair and nihilism. Cotera’s critique of white feminism, in fact, concerned white women’s relative passivity and vulnerability—their lack of “activist experience,” lower levels of “labor participation,” and less “experience with community involvement” (Kira Schwarz). Whereas Bernard Shaw, the 1988 Presidential debate moderator, thought of Kitty Dukakis primarily as a potential victim needing her husband’s protection, Martha Cotera viewed herself and other women as empowered to restore justice and promote healing. Neither Martha nor Juan Cotera desired the execution of their son’s killers in order to achieve closure or peace. Rather than closure, they sought an opening to a more just, more equal, more hopeful future. Wrestling with their sorrow and personal torment, they knew that sparing the lives of their son’s killers could open that door. Works cited can be accessed through [email protected] BIO: Rachel Jennings teaches English at San Antonio College and is active with the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP). Her wish is to see the end of the death penalty in Texas and the U.S. She is also a board member of the Esperanza. Felicidades to Nephtali De León, San Antonio’s new poet laureate thru March 31, 2026. A recognized author, educator and cultural warrior he is also a longtime Chicano activist who wrote several poems commemorating the recent 50th reunion of Raza Unida in 2022 in Austin, TX. Raza Unida Women they’re cool, contained, smart , sophisticated brains, gracious, but no nonsense, not with a chip or an edge, but don’t you mess in their bounds or you’ll get trounced at the anniversary of Raza Unida 50 years más tarde, they were tired, some were snappy, volunteers at unseen labor months of detailing amends candle burning at both ends dog tired women, un-tattered and un-frayed, regal, warrior leaders, majestic, no dismay Chicana Angels de la Raza strong un-frail women made of steel not fierro but acero enough to hold the sky and all cloud nines donde la Raza dreams… they almost kicked me in the teeth -- hyperbole ! ha ha, when I interrupted and I asked if I could celebrate La Raza with a poem but they agreed and I read my poem to the attendees and the women, bless their soul, asked me for a copy so they could post it on the Raza Unida website —Nephtalí De León 2023 Poet Laureate, Nephtali De León LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 • 14 I would like to donate $________ each month by automatic bank withdrawal. Please contact me. For more information, call 210-228-0201. Make checks payable to: Esperanza Peace & Justice Center Mail to: 922 San Pedro, SA TX 78212. Donations to the Esperanza are tax deductible. Name ______________________________________________________________________________ Address __________________________________________________Phone ____________________ City, State, Zip ____________________ Email_____________________________________________ I am donating ___ $1000 ___ $500 ___ $100 ___ $50 ___ $25 $_______ La Voz Subscription ___ $35 Individuals ___ $100 Institutions ___ Other $ ________ Send your tax-deductible donations to Esperanza today! I would like to send $________ each __ month __ quarter __ 6-mos., through the mail. Juan and Martha Cotera, founders of the Raza Unida Party, pictured in 1970 packing up for Crystal City.
Green Spaces Alliance’s Picture Your World Nature Photo Exhibition continues at the Witte Museum thru August 2023. Check: https://bit.ly/ notas-green-space Candlelight Concerts brings Solero Flamenco to the Josephine Theatre on Friday, May 12 at 6:30pm & 8:30 pm. On Thursday, May 11, A Tribute to Juan Gabriel features the Adelaide Band at 6:30 and 8:45 pm. See: https://bit. ly/notas-candlelight for tickets. Centro Cultural Aztlán’s 31st Annual Superhero Exhibition & Contest depicts artwork by students from Pre_K to 12th grade of Real-Life as well as Fictional heroes. It will be on view May 15-25, 2023— Monday thru Thursday, 10am to 4pm. Entry deadline: May 1st. Entry forms can be downloaded at: bit.ly/centroform. Award presentations and a reception will be held on Saturday, May 20th, 2023, 12-3pm. Check centroaztlan.org for more. PFLAG offers free support group meetings the first Thursday of the month. www.pflagsanantonio.org Community meetings and cultural art events are taking place and meeting times and places may have changed. Check websites, FB and other social media for information. Call 210-228-0201 for meetings and events scheduled at Esperanza or see: www.esperanzacenter.org Notas Y Más May 2023 Mother’s Day Sale, May 6–12, 2023 • 10am to 5pm • Rinconcito de Esperanza, 816 S. Colorado St. Visit www.esperanzacenter.org, Facebook.com/EsperanzaCenter or call 210.228.0201 for more info May 17-21 Info @ bit.ly/tejano-festival Start your 2023 tax deductible gifts Give to the Esperanza in spirit of solidarity so we can continue to speak out, organize and fight for our communities for another 35 Years. Your support is needed NOW more than ever! Thank you for your gifts! Send donations to Esperanza Esperanza Peace & Justice Center 922 San Pedro Avenue San Antonio, TX 78212 To sign up as a monthly donor, Call 210.228.0201 or email: [email protected] Visit www.esperanzacenter.org/donate for online giving options. ¡Mil Gracias! LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 • 15
Paletas y Raspas Cuentos Adobe Brick Making Paseos por el Barrio Juegos Infantiles Piñatas Dichos Comidas y Bebidas Limpias y Curaciones Música y Canto Teatro Papalotes MujerArtes Clay Art Plantas Medicinales Noche Azul de Esperanza Voces Acusticas May 20, 2023 • 8pm @ Esperanza, 922 San Pedro Call 210-228-0201 for more info on Noche Azul or go to www.esperanzacenter.org/ Facebook.com/EsperanzaCenter The Unfolding Human Rights Crisis in Guatemala Historical Roots and Contemporary Realities Coming in May For date & time, www.esperanzacenter.org and Facebook.com/EsperanzaCenter • Assassinations• Los Desaparecidos• Genocide • human rights violations•the precarious state of rule of law • cr mi og dna ecil op•stsi vit cal acitil opf o noit azil ani vernment corruption Paseo por El Westside 2023 May 6, 9-3pm Rinconcito de Esperanza • 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 Vote! Election Day May 6 LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May 2023 Vol. 36 Issue 4 • Non-Profit Org. US Postage PAID San Antonio, TX Permit #332 ESPERANZA PEACE & JUSTICE CENTER 922 San Pedro San Antonio TX 78212 210.228.0201 • www.esperanzacenter.org