Author: mopress

A Phone Conversation with Jay

The vigil outside the T. Don Hutto prison camp for immigrant children was small but feisty Thursday evening, as activists from across Texas joined local citizens calling for an end to child imprisonment.

“Local people in Williamson County are taking an interest and digging in,” said vigil organizer Jay J. Johnson-Castro via cell phone Thursday night following the third vigil outside the Hutto jail since mid-December. He says about 35 people attended the vigil, inlcuding “more local people than last time.”

Next Wednesday, the county’s lease expires with Corrections Corporation of America, and county residents are asking commissioners not to renew it. They will ask again next Tuesday at the scheduled meeting of the Commissioners Court.

“Will the commissioners stand on the side of the children or on the side of Chertoff?” asked Johnson-Castro. Michael Chertoff is USA Secretary of Homeland Security, the agency that ultimately directs the imprisonment of immigrant children.

Chertoff
“Some people left the vigil more outraged than they were before,” said Johnson-Castro. The local community, based on information they are gathering from friends and neighbors, have lately been asking how children are paired with cellmates. Are teenaged children paired with pre-schoolers? Boys with girls?

And some Hispanic residents of Williamson County are concerned that they are not represented among county commissioners who have toured the jail.

Williamson county newspaper reporters were on hand to cover the vigil, as were photographers from larger media markets. Univision anchor Diego Muñoz covered the event for the Austin affiliate. And Latino USA gathered lots of taped interviews for broadcast on National Public Radio (NPR) stations.

On the activist side, the American Civil Liberties Uni*n (ACLU) brought fresh signs. And attorney John Wheat Gibson, who represents two families of Palestinian heritage, drove from Dallas in his Corvette convertible, dressed for the day in an American-flag bowtie. Background music of drums and guitars was organized by artist A. J. Montrose.

At the vigil, people shared stories about other groups that are planning to join the growing movement.

“This is about respecting the rights of children,” said Johnson-Castro. He said it is time for the USA to join the rest of the world in ratifying the international Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“Every right of the child that other countries have ratified is being violated at Hutto,” said Johnson-Castro. “This is international law that the US wouldn’t agree to. The international community has higher standards than the USA. And the reason is so the USA can do whatever it wants with impunity.”

As a result, one toddler child living in the Dallas area, Zahra Ibrahim, has been prevented from seeing her pregnant mother since the two were separated upon arrest in early November. More materials about the Ibrahim family have been archived here at the Texas Civil Rights Review.

“It’s time for Congress to show what they are made of,” says Johnson-Castro. “There is an element within the Republican party committing this atrocity and profiting from it. We’re insisting that it stop now.”

Johnson-Castro will return to the Hutto jail for a fourth vigil on Feb. 12 as part of the Marcha Migrante II border caravan that will travel from San Diego to Brownsville. Border mayors are supporting the caravan, says Johnson-Castro.

The border mayors don’t want a wall, and they are not happy about the Governor’s recent announcement to send 600 armed National Guard for border patrol duties. Johnson-Castro says the border mayors were also dismayed by President George W. Bush’s Tuesday night pledge to double the border guard.

“President Bush and Secretary Chertoff represent the heart of America as much as Governor Perry and Ted Nugent represent the heart of Texas,” said Johnson-Castro.

Videos by Matthew Gossage of the First Vigil to Shut Down Hutto have been posted recently at YouTube, please see links on right sidebar of our home page.

2007 marks the tenth anniversary of the Texas Civil Rights Review. Throughout
the years, our motivation has remained the same. We want to make sure that some
issues and arguments not communicated by the corporate media get represention
on the internet. Along the way we have provided a few stories and perspectives
that make distinctive contributions to the civil rights struggle in Texas. And
a healthier Texas makes for a healthier world. In January we are looking at record-breaking page views (for us, they are record
breaking) making this our busiest month yet. Jay Johnson-Castro has brought an
audience with him, and we can see the difference it makes.

Although the corporate media is nearly unanimously evading affiliation with Palestinian
families imprisoned in Texas, the story of the Ibrahims, Suleimans, and Hazahzas
is nevertheless traveling the globe at the speed of light. How is the word spreading?

To begin with, Austin-area activists called a
Dec. 16 vigil ouside the T. Don
Hutto prison camp for immigrant families. Then Del Rio entrepreneur Jay Johnson-Castro
heard about it and volunteered to walk from the Capitol to the vigil, which he
did, mostly alone.

Then Juan Castillo of the Austin-American Statesman wrote a story reporting that
the Hutto jail was populated with people who had entered the USA illegally.

Castillo’s report prompted Dallas attorney John
Wheat Gibson to fire off an email pointing out to the reporter that some
families in the jail had in fact entered the USA legally. Johnson-Castro distributed
that email, we posted it right away, and we have been collecting materials about
the Palestinian families since then. (Even though, I don’t think the Statesman
has mentioned the Palestinian families yet.)

IndyMedia has been a very important space for distributing news about this story.
And editors at CounterPunch, Dissident
Voice, Electronic
Intifada, and Uruknet have been very supportive with their re-postings of our work.

Then came Marisa Treviño’s Dec. 19 overview
at Lista Latina. From there
the story has spread to important websites such as Infowars, XicanoPwr, Aztlan
Electronic News, and blogs such as Texas
Kaos and PhoenixWoman.

Jesse Salmeron’s
video of the Christmas Eve vigil has been warmly linked around
the blogosphere. When the woman from Dallas introduces the child she has
brought with her to the vigil, she reaches right into your heart. And everything
changes.

Last but never least is Flashpoints host
Dennis Bernstein who moderates a wonderful program for KPFA and Pacifica
affiliates. Audio
links to his progam help complete the package
of materials available for people finding this news for the first time.

Of course, the trouble with thanking people in a crowded room is that you are
sure to have failed to mention all who deserved it. So please take the names
as indicators of a spirit that is not at all limited to the entities named above.–gm

Alumni of Camp Casey (the first) will surely remember Annie and Buddy Spell who put their organizing and legal experience to work in the bar ditches of Crawford, Texas, supporting their friend (and our hero) Cindy Sheehan. So we’re sharing a press release that brings news of the Spells’ excellence in civil rights–gm

COVINGTON NAACP BRANCH WINS STATE AWARD

THREE LOCAL MEMBERS ALSO RECEIVE INDIVIDUAL HONORS

BATON ROUGE, LA The Greater Covington Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was recognized in Baton Rouge on Saturday afternoon with the “Outstanding NAACP Unit Award” by the Louisiana NAACP. The award, which acknowledges the local group’s community activism in the ongoing civil rights movement, was accepted on behalf of the membership by Branch President James A. “Gus” Davis. Davis, a decorated Viet Nam veteran and long time community activist who only recently assumed leadership of the unit, also received individual recognition by the state organization and was presented with the “Community Service Award”.

Also receiving individual honors from the state were local attorneys and branch members, Annie and Buddy Spell. Mrs. Spell, the immediate past president, received the “Emmit F. Douglas Memorial Award” in recognition of her valuable contributions to the Louisiana NAACP. She received national attention when she was elected two years ago as only the second white, female branch president in the history of the national organization. Under her leadership, the local group established itself as an activist branch both regionally and nationally for not only civil rights actions, but also within the antiwar movement.

Her husband and law partner was honored with the “M. Joy Clemmons Legal Service Award” for his assistance to the state organization in connection with various direct actions addressing criminal defendants’ right to counsel, Katrina relief, and voters’ rights over the last year.
BACKROUND ARTICLES:

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2005-05-24/news_feat.html

http://www.countercurrents.org/us-spell250706.htm

http://peacefile.org/wordpress/?p=232

CONTACT:

Annie Spell

(985) 264-7752 P.S. Smudge the Peace Cat is “good,” says Buddy.

Williamson County Commissioners not only renewed the one-year lease with Corrections Corporation of America, they made it a two-year lease. The Austin American-Statesman rushed to the web with the news, which was a service in two respects. It was a quick report, and it reminded us why we prefer to cover activists, not authorities. Or, to put it in the paradigm of the Gospels referenced below, we’d be much more interested in covering Jesus, not Pilate, you know, that Jerusalem commissioner who washed his hands of the matter, muttering something about it being Rome’s business, not his. Anyway, here’s an email from Jay J. Johnson-Castro, including activist accounts of what happened today–gm

Hey Jessica…and Jane…

Thanks to both of you for the eyewitnesses accounts ( below for ) what transpired today at the Williamson County Commissioners Court. Many have wanted to know.

We’re all disappointed…of course…but not surprised. Nonetheless … however it would have turned out today … we all should know that we were going to win … and win handily. This flies in the face of all true lovers of freedom and justice. We have simply seen a much finer demarcation between the champions of the children, of morality, and of democratic freedoms in this country, and those that … will not defend them.
I heard Ex Governor of Arkansas and presidential hopeful, Huckabee, say last night…that we have two Americas . It becomes no clearer than on the imprisonment of innocent children…for corrupt, greedy and obscene profits. Are you against imprisoning innocent children? One America . Do you approve of children in cells for 22 hours a day in a prison camp on the pretense of national security? Another America .

One thing for sure. Williamson County …and Taylor , Texas …is going to suddenly wake up and find itself in the national and international spotlight. Anyone ever heard of Auschwitz ? Yet…I also believe that the majority of citizens of Taylor and Williamson County will show the spirit of the American Constitution…that of “We the people”.

How often have we heard…and said it ourselves…”It’s all about the money”? Commissioners that would sell out innocent children for a buck a day…are little different than a court of Judases. A political elitist like DeLay who would take $100,000 from CCA is a criminal. An administration that would funnel $7000 a month of American tax payers’ money to a CCA, GEO or Halliburton to imprison a 2-y-o innocent child is a criminal administration. Every decision maker who is complicit in this international crime should have to live as these children have been living.

If there is any metal in this new Congress…it should be shown here and now…on this very issue. There is no other like it in our modern history. If the new Congress wants to be recognized as a champion of democracy…let them act now…and free these children and their mothers. Who cares where they go. A wrong cannot be corrected by an evil.

For the sake of Texas and the American dream…the children MUST be freed…NOW!!! The Ibrahim and Suleiman families MUST be released to go back to their lives as productive immigrants…NOW!!! They must not be deported.

Again…I ask. Where is our national media? Where are the Governor of Texas and the legislators? Where is the Congress? Where are the champions of the innocent? You know why Lou Dobbs isn’t speaking about this…and defending the actions Chertoff and ICE on this. His real strength of character couldn’t hold up. If he tried…he’d be mocked off of CNN by the viewer-ship. Come on Laura Ingram, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh. Take a crack at it. I’d be glad to debate this American tragedy with you. I’m just a grassroots guy. No techno tower tricks. Real dialogue.

Hey Nancy Grace? How about these kids?

All the more reason for Vigil IV on Feb 12th. I’ll be in touch…

Jay

P.S For those with a Bible based faith…how did Jesus treat the little children? JJJ

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes I got a chance to speak. We were limited to 5 speakers. The place was packed! We got our say – I must say that our defense was strong, articulate and full of passion… but it was fruitless…. they agreed to renew the lease for 2 more years.

They on the other hand had a conspiracy theorist who stated that “Mexicans” were planning to take over Texas . Kidnap women and steal stuff and take them back to Mexico . The surprise of the day was Mrs. Ella Jez, Taylor City Council woman from Taylor who spoke “in favor” of the prison. She painted a pretty rosy picture of the facility…. it almost made me want to plan my next vacation there.

No one has had a chance to read the new lease as it was not offered for review.

Sincerely;
Jose Orta

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jessica wrote:

Hello all, just a little addition to Jane’s email.

….The woman representing CCA is Laurie Shanblum. I believe she was actually the person in charge of preparing the prison to become a “residential facility”.

After the vote, many gathered outside the court. Sherry and I observed a man asking many specific, hard hitting questions about the facility. His name is Mark Smith. He is an I-TEAM producer from WFAA – TV in Dallas . He has been following a story of Dallas residents that have relatives in the facility. Tomorrow night they are running a piece on the family and he is interested on keeping up with what is going on at TDH. He has information that those being held are given 24 minutes to eat…they can shower between 6-6:30am…twenty children share 2 toy cars to play with…guards tell residents that if their children don’t behave they can send them away. The rebuttal from CCA is that ICE has the decision making ability to separate families if there are any problems. It is a privilege, not a right for families to be together. If there is a problem woman can be in one facility, men in another, and children with a CPS like facility.

After CCA squirmed and ran, I moved on to the warden to listen to what he had to say. He speaks off the record. His information was there are about 400 currently being held and half that number is children. There is a physician and a physician’s assistant from I believe he said the US Public Healthy Services. Once a week, women who need prenatal or gynecological care go to a clinic.

The decision to renew this lease was clearly made in executive session. Today Judge Gattis made a motion to renew the lease with a few considerations provided by “lawyers” without discussion. Lisa Birkman, fearing for her seat, made some statements that was supposed to make us feel better…there are no US Citizens being detained, she stated classrooms were comparable to classrooms in Round Rock, and a few other remarks to make her seem less blameworthy for her vote to renew. I believe the action of the Commissioner’s Court violates the open meeting rule. Again, I contend that this decision was made behind close doors without public access.

As I was leaving the Annex, KLBJ was reporting that Williamson County had voted to renew the lease. This story is growing daily. Thank you Jose, Sherry and Jane and all of the others who have brought this to the attention of the public. It is sickening that Williamson County is participating in this abuse of rights and making themselves lackeys of evil.

As Jim Stauber pointed out when he spoke, Valerie Covey said a prayer that she was thankful enjoy the freedom of this country and that she prayed God would help them make good decisions for Williamson County. Jesus would slap the shit out of them….

Oh and Jane, even though it says you can contact the warden for a tour, the warden would refer

you to ICE.

Jessica

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On 1/30/07, Jane L Van Praag wrote to Jay:

Perhaps one or more of the attendees who got to their computer before I did has already told you that the WC Commissioners’ Court did vote to let the CCA contract continue; I do think I heard Judge Gattis say something to the effect of ‘with modifications as discussed today’ but don’t bank on it because my hearing is really deteriorating. Jose Orta, on behalf of LULAC had called for several improvements at least during the interim and that may be what the Judge was referring to but I am copying Jose and all the others named herein to make sure.

The five speakers opposed were a lady from Round Rock whom I had not met before and I couldn’t hear much of what she said including her name, etc. Then Peter Dana spoke, followed by Jose Orta, Jim Stauber, and Frances Valdez of the UT Law School Immigration Clinic. Before the convening I’d also placed a copy of a letter Melissa Irion wrote on each court member’s portion of their dais.

I think only 3 people spoke for the facility; one was this staunch Constitutionalist Party guy who just ran for governor and received around 300 votes from the Florence area, a woman from Taylor who was able to tour the facility and reported favorably, and another woman whose name I didn’t catch but she’s the Austin liaison for CCA and presented a broad background working in juvenile justice. However, three pews were almost filled with young men and women dressed in the CCA uniform. I guess they were prepared to speak or just to make a showing, don’t know.

In addition to the above named and myself, also present were Efrain Davila, Billie Reaney, Jessica Stempko, Tracey Storie, Richard Torres, and I may be overlooking one or two others.

Soon I am going to contact TDH and arrange to tour the facility now that I see it’s so easy to do.

Good luck on your trip,

Jane

******************

The following email was circulated separately–gm

Jay,

KXAN Austin was at the Commissioners Mtg and did a fair report at 6 and will probably repeat it at 10. I didn’t get the call letters of the Spanish language TV station that came late but its channel 60. Lisa Ogle from the AAS was there and Ben Trollinger from the Williamson County Sun . The media had a press release in their hands on the approval of the contact BEFORE the meeting ended.

The woman from Taylor who spoke glowing of the conditions in the prison is Ella Jez. She is a rich Republican Taylor city council member. I have it on good authority that Judge Gattis, head of Williamson County Commissioners Court , spoke to her at the Taylor Chamber of Commerce Banquet last Thursday and asked her to get info and present at the commissioners court. Warden Liles and other CCA people were at the Banquet but I don’t know if she got her tour before or after Gattis asked her to speak. I think I can get more information soon.

According to Commissioner Birkman, the rest of the Court wanted the contract to remain in effect indefinitely but she got them to change it to a 2-year contract.

Progress is slow but definitely heading in the right direction.

Sherry