Category: Uncategorized

Each year, 65,000 undocumented students graduate from our nation’s high
schools. Brought by their parents as young children, many have grown up
in the United States, attended U.S. K-12 schools, and share in our
American culture and values. Some have little memory of their homeland
or their native language. Like their U.S.-born peers, these individuals
share the same dream of pursuing a higher education. Unfortunately, due
to their immigration status, they are typically barred from many of the
opportunities that currently make a college education affordable –
in-state tuition rates, state and federal grants and loans, private
scholarships, and the ability to work legally to earn their way through
college. In effect, through no act of their own, they are denied the
opportunity to share in the "American Dream." If passed, the “Development, Relief, and Education for Alien
Minors (DREAM) Act,” S. 2075, a bipartisan federal proposal led by
Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and Richard Lugar
(R-IN), would facilitate access to postsecondary educational
opportunities for immigrant students in the United States who currently
face barriers in pursuing a college education. The “DREAM Act” would
also allow hardworking immigrant youth who have long resided in the
U.S. the chance to adjust their status, enabling them to contribute
fully to our society.

The “DREAM Act” was introduced in the U.S. Senate in November
2005. Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) is the sponsor of the bill, and the
lead Republican cosponsors are Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Richard
Lugar (R-IN). The Senate Judiciary Committee must now consider and
approve the “DREAM Act” before the bill can be considered for a vote by
the full Senate. Similar versions of this bill garnered significant
support from both Democrats and Republicans last Congress when it was
approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee with a 16-3 bipartisan vote.
In addition, last year, 48 senators and 153 representatives signed on
in support of the “DREAM Act” and its companion bill in the U.S. House
of Representatives. The House version of the “DREAM Act”, which has
been championed by Representatives Chris Cannon (R-UT), Howard Berman
(D-CA), and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), currently awaits
reintroduction.

NCLR Position

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
urges passage of the “DREAM Act,” S. 2075. The “DREAM Act,” which
provides a path to U.S. citizenship for hardworking and talented
immigrant students who have been raised in the U.S., is critical to
improving the pipeline from high school to college and providing
meaningful employment for Latinos.

I was standing outside of my friend [G’s name withheld by editor]
house. She lives two or three duplexes away from me. I saw
a suburban pull up to a stop sign. The officers pulled in front
of it. They all got out. One of the officers yelled, "don’t
run Ricky." A person ran. It was a young boy,
tennager. I didn’t see him. A female officer took off after
the one who ran. About a minute later she brought him back.
The female officer was wearing shorts. She had blond hair.
She walked back from by the Suburban, he didn’t make it that far.
I’m sure it was the same person who ran. The other officers were
with the other guy in the Suburban. He was still in the Suburban,
in the driver’s side. They were standing on the driver’s
side. The blond officer was on the passenger side with the other
boy. She was the only female officer out there.

She was by the stop sign and she put the boy down. Me and [G]
were walking back towards my house. We were by a metal
fence. The metal fence meets up with the stop sign sort of.
I live across from Quicksilver. We were on the opposite side of
the street from where the Suburban was.

Det. Walker asked me if I saw a fight or struggle. No, I saw the
officer holding the man with one hand, the left, and she had her gun
with her right. All I could see was his shoulder that she had him
by. I couldn’t tell which shoulder. Then her gun fired
once. She was standing up, kind of hunched over, and he was
already on the ground. I saw the fire come out of the officer’s
gun….

Signed and notarized June 10, 2005

As we are waiting, [Y] said a brown suburban had pulled up and [X] had
come out and went up to the brown suburban and was making the
deal. Both the brown suburban and the [description withheld by
editor] truck leave [X’s] house. We were waiting for [Y] to call
the deal but we missed the take down. Sgt. Doyle follows the
brown suburban and [A & B] follow the [description withheld by
editor] truck. The suburban goes south on Bluff Springs to
Quicksilver. [Y] had given the license plate on the
suburban. The plate comes back to an address on Vinehill.
We were thinking it was the same people from the Honeybee area.
We knew Sgt. Doyle was already following the suburban so we were going
to intercept the vehicle by going down south on on Pleasant Valley to
Quicksilver. [Y] came up on the radio and asked if we had written
the license plate down and I had written the license plate on my hand
and Michelle was running it on the computer.

I make a right on Quicksilver from S. Pleasant Valley and at the same
time Sgt. Doyle is on the radio and he said he had not made a stop on
the vehicle. I see the suburban and Sgt. Doyle is in his white unmarked
vehicle behind the suburban. I backed my car up and saw them come
to the stop sign. I told Michelle I was making the stop. I
decided to come in diagonally on them. My intention was not to
block them but to make it as safe as possible to make the stop. I
hit my emergency red and blue dash lights. Michelle was getting
out of the car and at the same time I used my spotlight and lit up the
inside of the car. I saw four people in the suburban. One
driver, one front seat passenger, one left rear passenger and one right
rear passenger. The right rear passenger got out and jumped a
privacy fence. I had yelled "[C name withheld by editor]" to the
guy that scaled the fence. I knew I had no chance of catching him
but yelled this anyway to let him know I knew who he was. I don’t
know if this other guy was [C]. I heard Michelle say, "Rocha,
Rocha stay in the car." The spot light was lighting through the
car and I immediately recognized Daniel Rocha. Rocha was in the
second row. He had scooted over near the right rear passenger
seat. He had been sitting across from the guy who fled. I
knew who he was because we had been looking for him and I knew he had a
theft from person warrant. I had spoken to [D name withheld by
editor] and the case was about Rocha taking a ladies wallet from her
possession at a McDonald’s. I knew there was a get away car
involved in the theft from person case but I don’t remember what kind
of car it was. I had no information that Rocha was associated
with the suburban that we just stopped. Michelle had gone to the
driver’s side but I was completely focused on Rocha. I don’t know
what happened to the front passenger.

I went to the rear passenger door. The stop sign is behind me and
there is a curb in between the suburban and the sidewalk. I’m
pretty sure I open the rear passenger door. I’m thinking I need
to contain him inside the vehicle because I don’t want him to fight and
run. I’m trying to keep him in the suburban. Both my hands
are empty. I usually carry a small flashlight in the cargo pocket
of my pants. I had opened the door and was leaning inside the
vehicle. He had scooted to the spot nearly behind the front
passenger seat. There is no doubt in my mind that he knew I was a
cop and no doubt in my mind that he knew I knew who he was. I
don’t remember exactly what I was telling him. I said his name a
couple of times. I think I told him he had a warrant. I
went to feel his body, initially he was relaxed and cooperating and he
was raising his hands and asking me what was going on, he was also
moving into me and toward the door. I was definitely blocking the
door. All of a sudden he tenses up and then he lunged at
me. The fight is on. He was grabbing at my chest and
body. He is using his force to try to get past me. He was
doing everything he could to get past me by muscling me. I wear a
police vest that has POLICE on the right upper chest area. There
are two velcro pockets on the front of the vest. In my right
pocket I have my taser that is Velcro’s in and in the left pocket I had
my badge pinned to the outside and a blue folding knife in it.
Rocha had his hands up near my head and upper body when he tensed up
and started fighting. The fight was happening while still inside
the vehicle. I’m trying to keep him in the vehicle and he
overpowered me and he got his legs out first. He spins out toward
the rear of the suburban as I’m still trying to hold onto him. I
saw Sgt. Doyle run up from the rear and grab Rocha’s back or right
side. Sgt. Was on the opposite side I was on. Rocha was
fighting very hard. Sgt. was trying to get control of Rocha’s
torso while I was trying to get control of body too. My back was
to the suburban and both Sgt and I were trying to get Rocha onto the
ground. It’s been my experience that if we could get him to the
ground it was to our advantage to get the person handcuffed.
Rocha and I are on the ground and we are fully engaged in a
fight. I was on my knees and I have bruises. By this time,
Sgt. Doyle was no longer engaged with Rocha. I think Sgt. Fell
and ended up to the far left of where Rocha and I were. I would
describe it as a fight and wrestling match. His arms are on the
inside of me and I could feel him grabbing at my vest and waist.
He [w]as in my upper body and arms. There was no time to get the
handcuffs out or anything else because we were fighting so hard.
I remeber thinking two of us can’t even get this guy to the ground and
we were fighting so hard with him.

Sgt. Doyle was off to the side. Rocha’s body comes off me and
lunges toward Sgt. Doyle. I’m pawing at my vest to look for my
taser I was still on my knees as I was looking for my taser. I
was looking for it to use on Rocha. Rocha’s body was off to my
left side but now he was on top of my boss. I could see Sgt.
Doyle and Rocha fighting. Sgt. Doyle had on blue jeans, dark
shirt and police raid vest. I think Sgt. Was tilted back or on
his side. I couldn’t see Sgt. Face. He was to the left of
Rocha. I was scared for my life and for my boss’ life. I
was worried about Rocha using my taser and using it on my boss and
taking his gun. I have been in a number of fights before and
never have I felt this scared and afraid. I was focued on Rocha’s
white shirt. I felt for my taser and it was gone, I couldn’t see
Rocha’s hands as he was fighting with Sgt. Doyle. Instinctively I
grabbed for my gun and shot him once. I think I shot him in the
back left shoulder. I only shot him once. Self-preservation
took over.

I yelled to Sgt. "I shot him, I shot him." Sgt. Went to Rocha and
turned him over. When I shot him, Rocha lunged forward and then
fell. Rocha was face down. Sgt. rolls Rocha over and said
something to him. Sgt. got on the radio and called for
assistance. I walked around and ripped my vest off and laid it on
the trunk of my car. I put the gun on the trunk of my car and I
don’t remember re-holstering my gun. I remember feeling for my
gun and couldn’t find it and later [Y] told me it was in the front seat
of my car. I remember seeing my gun on the driver’s seat of my
car. I don’t remember if an officer came up and took the gun from
me. They must have taken it off the trunk of the car. I
remember putting it on the trunk and just remember wanting to put it
down.

Very quickly everyone was there…..

Signed and notarized June 10, 2005

By Greg Moses

Indymedia Austin / Counterpunch

On a hot day in July the chamber of the Texas Senate turns out to be a
great place to catch some A/C and think about how there are two
monuments to Confederate heroes on the front lawn of the Capitol.

Read that Southmost monument carefully. The
only reason they lost that war, explains the marble script, was because the Heroes were outnumbered six to
one. It never was a fair fight, and the monument testifies that the Heroes never lost it.

The Heroes put 400,000 lives on
the line, but so did the Northern Aggressors, so the Heroes had not
another 400,000 to waste, but the Northern Aggressors did. Jesus,
what a bloody mess. In 1901, they were not at all ready to let that one
go, so they built another monument on the South Capitol lawn.

And even today, over my bar-b-que lunch I see a fellow
diner in a Confederate flag
t-shirt. Here we are at Ben’s Long Branch Bar-B-Que on East 11th Street, where they
serve Soul Food Wednesdays. And in walks this confederate
flag. Do
these fights never go away?

To comment on this article please go to the comment blog.
These are the things you can ponder as you stare at the chandeliers
round about 1:30 PM Thursday, as the titans of the Democratic Party
huddle on the Senate floor, having no company to keep with
Republicans who were huddled somewhere out of sight.

In the huddle that you could see, there were, among others, Gonzalo Barrientos, the long-time survivor from Austin; John
Whitmire, the filibusterer from North Houston; Royce West, the
education whip, hobbling around with a kind of cast on his left
leg no less (it was West wasn’t it with the cast? if I’d known that was
going to be the best image of the day, I’d have taken notes); and
Eliiot Shapleigh, the one who will tell you plain out
that Texas would do much better having an income tax.

Other than that, all we see in terms of Senators is one guy on the Right side of the aisle cruising
Google Earth in search of various properties that we up in the gallery
suppose that he owns.

Everybody could see that these hapless pols weren’t part of the back-room deal making that,
by day’s end, would be sure enough promised to deliver the Senate this time once more,
yeah sure, to successful conclusion on education policy.

When Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst walked out to rationalize for
the press, you could see that it was gonna be a little more talk and a
lot less action. Not a bad time to get a
Starbuck’s coffee, read the New York Times article about Rumsfeld in
Baghdad, and cross your fingers about mid-term elections next year.

It also
helps to sit near lobbyists. "There she
goes back to her office," said two well-heeled suits at the same time,
indicating a well-placed staffer who smiled briefly into the galleries
before disappearing. "It’s going to be awhile," they agreed.

But can you believe it? Not one, but two monuments to the Confederacy out
front? The history of this legislature is surely written in
granite priorities outside.

I had time to mosey through the monuments Thursday morning, being as how I
was early to the Latino Coalition’s press conference, and even after
circling both Civil War monuments, I was still early enough to catch the
MALDEF team standing alone at the South Steps.

David Hinojosa, Luis Figueroa, and an intern were staking out the
territory for this morning’s announcement of a six-point plan–a simple
way of reminding Texas what a good education bill would look
like–one that wouldn’t require court intervention either.

"They say we’re out of ideas and we only oppose bills," said
Figueroa. "So we’re here to show them the ideas that we’re for."

"People have asked whether no bill would be better than a bad bill," said Hinojosa. "But what about a great bill?"

A great education bill would:

(1) Equalize Funding so that all children would share the wealth regardless of where they are born.

(2) Make sure facilities are up-to-date, a need that remains unmet in
many of MALDEF’s client districts in the
latest round of education litigation.

(3) Fund realistic "weights" for the education of English Language
Learners (15 percent of all students) and Low Income Children (50
percent, yes half of all Texas Students are Low Income). These
students need a forty percent increase right away.

(4) Pay teachers good wages. The Southwest Workers Union was on
hand Thursday morning with signs asking, "Living Wages for School Workers",
and a huge banner demanding: "Mandamos Justicia".

(5) Accountability without high stakes testing. As the press kit

explained, many students take tests that assume they have been taught the
material in the first place by obedient if not qualified teachers.

(6) And finally (because there are only really five things that the
legislature refuses to do, not six) why not give the kids of Texas a
chance to excel in
education. Give them the education they need to rank among the top
tiers of their
globalized peers. Wouldn’t that be the kind of thing a state
would want for its kids? Isn’t this the kind of things heroes
fight for?

But what does any of this have to do with tax cuts, you ask?
And aren’t tax cuts the one thing that legislators have to bring back
to their voters this year? The MALDEF team
takes no official line on taxes, but they have noticed that cutting
taxes is much more important to this legislature than doing six (or five) good
things for education. But who hasn’t noticed that?

The message of the Latino Coalition is crisp and bright. But it ain’t a
cheap message, that’s for sure. And Texas voters are having
difficulty rising to level of maturity required to say: children first.

By afternoon Thursday, it’s not clear that any of this Latino Coalition
sunshine has penetrated into the carpeted hush of Senate chambers where
up at the gallery level children come and go quickly with their
vacationing parents. It’s not a bad space to be walking around or
sitting around as the July sun climbs up the ladder outside.

A dozen blocks away at City Hall I tug on the first door handle, my
body looking forward to the whoosh of chilled air, but what’s that
noise? Turns out that door handle is unauthorized entrance and I’ve
just set
off an intruder alert. A guy is wagging his finger at me. I don’t
wait for him to finish his sentence. I step back out into the
heat. Great. Shows you how well I know
City Hall these days.

Okay so back out the door and around through the metal detector and
x-ray, probably a video tape, too. Here I don’t set off any
alarms, so I go stand by the Chief of Police for a second while I
search for a seat.

Councilmember Brewster McCracken is looking over the freshly drafted
city budget and trying to come to grips with the fact that the city is
headed toward a police state far as the eye can see. Of course,
that’s not the way he says it exactly. But he notices that the
police portion of the city budget is up to 75 percent and
climbing.

Give us a decade, and we’ll all be working for the
police union, while not doing jobs like librarian, park maintenance,
after school programs, health care–you know, all that socialist
nonsense that we began to finally outgrow round about 1980.

So I’m not unhappy to go out and join the socialists, anarchists,
greens, poets, artists, and possibly even Democrats who have gathered
along Cesar Chavez Street this aftern

oon to protest the killing of
18-year-old Daniel Rocha, who, according to the sign I was holding, was
shot in the back at point blank range. He was unarmed at the
time, although possibly guilty of having smoked a reefer two hours
earlier, if you believe the revised toxicology report, which folks out
here with signs aren’t really wanting to to.

And even if Rocha had
been stoned two hours earlier, so what? I mean you go around
killing previously stoned people in Austin, Texas? No wonder
Willie is keeping a heavy touring schedule these days.

Back inside the building, Councilmember Danny Thomas wants to know how
police get a 2.7 customer satisfaction rating? Those are the
kinds of questions you can sincerely wonder about in there with your
air conditioners humming, behind your security screens, as you pass out
an award to the cop who killed a mentally deranged woman who was
threatening someone with a knife. Today it is official, that the
cop has been cleared by the feds, so he is a hero, he saved a
life. Now on to the Rocha killing.

And, um, I forget, what
was that question you asked Mr. Thomas? Oh right. Why are people who
are not federal agents or Councilmembers not impressed with police
today? And I know you didn’t ask this, but why won’t they–even
in the face of what a police state looks like–raise taxes for
education?

"Money for jobs and ed-u-ca-tion. Not more po-lice
oc-cu-pa-tion." I put down my sign and make a note of this
chant. Sort of sums up my day. Two standing monuments to Confederate Heroes, can
you believe it?