Author: mopress

On Sunday border Wall-ker Jay Johnson-Castro became the border talker in a three-way conversation between activists on the USA side of the border wall, Mexicans on the Mexican side, and a troupe of USA Congresspersons who were escorted to the scene by the Border Patrol.

It was at the end of Johnson-Castro’s border wall-k in protest of the already-built walls in California. Protest wall-kers were chatting through the wall with Mexicans on the other side, when up comes a delegation of seven Congresspersons, including Rep. Ciro Rodriguez of the Rio Grande Valley.
“How is it your government lets the new, modern KKK roam free and harass us?” asked the Mexicans through the wall to the Congresspersons.

Johnson-Castro, who has just completed a caravan from “sea to shining sea” along the length of the USA border with Mexico, pledged to the activists, the Mexicans, and the Congresspersons that we will see the day come when the wall between the USA and Mexico is torn down.

“We feel that we can have the rejoicing that people felt when the Berlin wall came down,” said Johnson-Castro. “We the people have to take action.
I even told the congressman that.”

Johnson-Castro says he was touched by the sight of Mexicans stranded “up against the wall” and separated from friends and family.

“They subject themselves to indignity of our country to be with their families or just to feed their families,” said Johnson-Castro via cell phone from California. “This just has got to stop. But we don’t have a government at this point that will stop it. Not even Democrats will stop it until we raise enough hell.”

“You know, it was Clinton who first had the wall put up in San Diego. Democrats and Republicans share this warped mentality of barriers. And they’re building it as fast as they can.”

We look forward to receiving a full report from Johnson-Castro via email. He had a busy weekend protesting the wall and double-checking the mass grave at Holtville, CA.

Stay tuned….

Clipped from the White House Press Briefing of Feb. 13, 2007

Q I wanted to ask you, there have been some stories lately about an ICE detention facility outside of Austin, Texas, where asylum-seekers have been kept in prison-like conditions — it is a converted prison, although the bars are not kept closed, as it would be in prison. Women and children are kept in garb that is likened to prison outfits. Is the President comfortable with the idea that asylum-seekers, particularly children, are kept in conditions —
MR. SNOW: Well, as you probably know, in the past, children had been separated from their families. What we’re actually trying to do is to keep them together. We also have been concerned about making sure that they’re kept in humane and sanitary conditions and they’re clothed and fed. And all that is as you would expect. But one of the things we’re trying to do is to keep families together. When you have a large number of people in a facility like that, it does create challenges, and we’re trying to do our best with it.

Q Wouldn’t it be better to find another type of facility?

MR. SNOW: Such as?

Q Dormitory —

MR. SNOW: Sports stadium?

Q — I don’t know.

MR. SNOW: The point is, it’s difficult to find facilities, and you have to do the best with what you’ve got.

Q Thank you, Tony.

END 12:32 P.M. EST

By Greg Moses

CounterPunch / ElectronicIntifada / DissidentVoice

Tasting the food that Suzi Hazahza cooked for him on that first Thursday in November, Reza Barkhordari couldn’t have been more joyful. He went to Suzi’s house every night after work, to sit with her whole family. And each night, the wedding drew a day closer.

“We met at a local Middle Eastern coffee shop in Richardson, Texas called the Al-Afrah,” recalls Reza over the telephone. “That’s where I saw her for the first time, and it was instant connection. It was so strong that Suzi’s mother noticed and helped in connecting the two of us. Shortly after that Suzi and I both realized it was something that was meant to be, and we would be spending our whole lives together. That was on August 6, 2005.”
“I proposed to her on August 6, 2006, our first anniversary. My mother encouraged me to do it, and she sent a diamond ring to Suzi. We were to be married over the Christmas holidays.”

In preparation for the wedding, Reza invited the Hazahza family to move closer to his home in Plano, where it would be easier to keep everyone in daily contact. On the first Monday in November, they were to close on a home in Frisco. What American dream could have seemed more complete?

The first Friday of November, however, found Reza driving to the Dallas offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in search of the love of his life. Suzi and her entire family had been rounded up at gunpoint.

There was father Radi, a 60-year-old refugee from Palestine–a proud provider who had seen better days as a banker in Jordan–now working as a state-certified car inspector. And mother Juma, the one who had steered her daughter toward love, and who shared Suzi’s delicate preferences for freshly-cooked food.

There was sister Mirvat, a 24-year-old newlywed who still lived at home because the religious rites for her marriage had not been completed. She had graduated with honors from North Lake Community College and was running the office of a local insurance agent.

There was brother Hisham, a 23-year-old sales whiz and prized manager for a cell phone company who was moving rapidly from management into ownership, on the verge of opening his own store. And there were younger brothers Ahmad and Mohammad, ages 17 and 11.

Like two other Palestinian families in Dallas, all of them had been rousted from bed at gunpoint and marched out the door in their bedclothes. They were locked away, Reza was told. He could not see Suzi on Friday.

On Saturday, Reza drove again to Dallas ICE, hoping to see Suzi and her family. But no, that was impossible. Then on Sunday ICE gave Reza a little hope. Suzi had been moved to the Rolling Plains Detention Center in Haskell, Texas along with her two oldest brothers, her sister, and her father. Visiting hours lasted until 4:00 pm. If Reza could get there before 4:00, said ICE, then he could see Suzi.

Reza headed West in his car, calling a friend on his cell phone to get directions as he drove into afternoon sun. It was already past noon, and he had a four-hour drive in front of him. If he went just a little bit faster, he could make it in time, and he did, pulling into the immigration jail at 3:45 pm. But it would take ten minutes to get Suzi, explained the guards. And despite Reza’s begging, they told him the visit would not be worth the trouble. Dejected, Reza drove back home.

For the next five weekends Reza planned his visits to Haskell carefully. He drove from Dallas on Friday night and visited with the Hazahza men on Saturday. Then on Sunday he met his beloved Suzi.

One week he recalls Suzi came to the meeting with a fever and cough. She explained that she tried to get medical help but without luck. So Reza made some phone calls and complained. When Suzi’s younger brother reported blood in his urine, Reza called about that, too.

After making complaints to ICE, Reza completed his fifth week of visits. He had no way of knowing that after the fifth visit, things for Suzi would suddenly get worse. She called from Haskell begging her fiancé never to come see her again.

After the fifth visit from Reza, Suzi Hazahza had been subjected to a full body-cavity search.

To this day, Suzi Hazahza refuses all visitors. She will not see the love of her life, Reza. She will not see her mother Juma, recently released from the T. Don Hutto jail in Taylor, Texas. Nor will she see her baby brother Mohammad who was released with Juma. She will not risk another visitor because she is determined to never again let the guards at Haskell prison search her like that again.

New York attorneys Joshua Bardavid and Ted Cox will return to Texas next week to file federal habeas corpus motions in behalf of Suzi Hazahza and her family. The motions they filed for the Ibrahim family in early February worked very well, proving that ICE had no good reason for taking them to jail. Not only were all the Ibrahims freed from Hutto and Haskell both, but Juma and Mohammad Hazahza were also freed from Hutto, two days before a press tour there.

In the coming weeks, as a protest movement grows around the issue of children in prison, let us not forget that 20-year-old Suzi has been wrongfully imprisoned, too. To quit the terror of Suzi Hazahza, she and the rest of her family deserve to be immediately freed.

What is it like for Reza to think about Suzi these days? He takes a call from her every night. Last night he put her on the line with Juma and Mohammad in order to continue this interview.

“You have to understand, this is not your standard strip search,” explains Reza. “What they do makes her extremely uncomfortable.” And how did that chilling phone call from Suzi make him feel, when the love of his life begged him to visit no more? “I felt like I was on fire,” he says. “There’s so much pain. Just to be honest with you, I am literally sick to my stomach.”

And with each night’s phone call from Haskell to Dallas, the marriage of Reza and Suzi, the meant-to-be lovers, slips further away….

Buddy Spell swears it won’t hurt Annie’s campaign if we say we’re for her, so we’re happy to let the world know that Annie made a great bar ditch lawyer during Camp Casey I and she’ll make a fine councilwoman, too. No people’s work too gritty for Annie, we guaran-dam-tee. — gm

CAMP CASEY LAWYER AND CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER SEEKS ELECTED OFFICE IN LOUISIANA

COVINGTON, LA. Civil rights attorney, antiwar activist, and social justice advocate Annie Spell has qualified as the lone Democratic candidate in a field of five seeking two at-large seats on the Covington City Council. “The nation has indicated that it is ready for a new direction”, she said, referencing last November’s elections. “I think my neighbors are as well.”


Running in a traditionally politically conservative area, Spell, who wears the “liberal tag” as a “badge of honor”, claims no ulterior motives for joing the race where she is the only female candidate.It’s a long way from the bar ditches of Crawford, Texas, where she and her law partner husband represented Cindy Sheehan and other protesters in August of 2005, to the tree lined streets of this small community just across the lake and north of New Orleans. And, yet, she claims to be entirely focused.

“The short answer to why I am running for Covington’s City Council is simple,” she told friends and family at her Covington home Friday evening. “I love Covington. It is my home. I have planted roots here and have made a personal investment in the City’s future. It is where we are raising our daughter and I want Covington to be the best possible home town for her that it possibly can be. It is also where I intend to live out the best years of my life and I want to contribute what I can to ensuring that Covington remains a safe, progressive, prosperous, culturally significant, and vibrant community for us all.”

“A post-Katrina world calls for a new, progressive voice on the City Council; a voice which offers new ideas to address challenges, both old and new, which confront us all as we move forward into the “new normal”. I will contribute that fresh outlook which is now required and which will open community debate and thoughtful discussion on the issues we must tackle in the days, months, and years ahead.”

“I have the qualifications, credentials, educational background, and passion to competently represent the good people of Covington. I have successfully participated in private business, public service, political activism, and community organizing. I bring a wealth of real life, relevant experience to the Covington City Council which clearly and concretely sets me apart from the other candidates in the race. As a mom, I am committed to the quality of life of our community and the example we set for the next generations. My record firmly establishes that I am willing to fight for all of the people who cherish Covington and call her home.”

Born to Etta and Don Arata in 1965, Spell graduated from St. Scholastica Academy before going on to achieve a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University. Soon thereafter, she earned a juris doctorate from Loyola University of the South School of Law in 1990. She quickly sat for and immediately passed the state bar exam before launching what would prove to be a successful private law practice.

Following several years as a partner in the law firm of Arata & Arata, she, in 1997, established the law offices of Spell & Spell with her husband, local felony defense lawyer, Buddy Spell, where she holds the title of managing partner. Providing legal services to families and children, Spell quickly became highly regarded as a skilled, fearless, and effective advocate in the courtroom. Generous with her talents, she litigated claims on behalf of parents raising children with disabilities and was recognized by the Nellie Byers Training Institute for her pro bono contributions on behalf of physically and mentally disabled children. She has also successfully defeated State attempts to secure death penalty sentences with her husband in every capital case her law firm has ever handled. Respected by courtroom friends and foes alike, Spell brings valuable and substantial legal expertise to the Covington City Council.

Long before becoming a mother herself, Annie served for several years as the president of Camp Fire Boys and Girls (Towazi Council). Later, when her own daughter, Sarah Jane, came of age, she served as a Girl Scout leader with a troop based out of Christ Episcopal School. An animal lover, she is also a past president of the Washington Parish Humane Society.

She was instrumental in the formation of both the Louisiana Activist Network and the Covington Peace Project where she continues to advocate for sane and thoughtful approaches to issues of war and terrorism. Her activism in this regard is well documented by her important involvement in antiwar actions across America. She was a principal organizer of the Jazz Funeral for Democracy in New Orleans and was a “house lawyer” for Camp Casey in Crawford, TX during the summer of 2005. This commitment to peace and justice has led her to participate in and lend her organization skills to actions in Harlem, Atlanta, Austin, Montgomery, Biloxi, and here at home.

She is well known locally as the immediate past president of the Greater Covington NAACP, only the second white female to hold such a post in NAACP history and the first to finish out her term of office. Under her leadership, the local branch was able to reconstitute itself and become an example of activism throughout the national organization. In that role, she actively resisted discrimination in all of its forms.