Protesters enter Hutto prison with toys for children

Protesters enter Hutto Prison with toys for imprisoned migrant and refugee children

Texas Civil Rights Review
Photo of two girls imprisoned in Hutto, photographed during happy days at home. The girls spent two months in prison with their parents and older brother and were deported.

By Greg Moses
Sept. 16, 2007
TAYLOR, Texas -- About 100 people protesting the imprisonment of immigrant families at the T. Don Hutto Prison in Taylor, Texas on Sunday evening marched across a parking lot to the front door of the prison and then entered the prison lobby with toys and wrapping paper. Jaime Martinez, National Treasurer of the League of United Latin American Citizens called for the march shortly after 5:30. Carrying a bullhorn, Martinez informed the protesters that prison officials had made a promise to come out and get the toys at 5 p.m.
When Martinez called for the people to take the toys to the children, the crowd pressed forward across a yellow line painted on the driveway marking official prison property.
"Bring the toys!" called Martinez from the prison door as volunteers grabbed boxes and bags of toys along with rolls of wrapping paper and rushed to the prison door. http://texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1127

NCAI urges Senate probe of US banned pesticides impacting Indigenous Peoples

By Brenda Norrell

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

DENVER -- The National Congress of American Indians adopted a resolution of the International Indian Treaty Council's North-South Indigenous Network Against Pesticides.

The resolution urges the halt of the exportation of banned pesticides by US corporations. The action follows illnesses and deaths of Indigenous Peoples, including Yaquis in Sonora, Mexico and American Indians in Alaska, where banned pesticides are used in agricultural fields and toxic chemicals are carried by water and winds.

The resolution states that the health and subsistence foods of Indigenous Peoples in Northern regions such as Alaska are affected by these contaminants which are transported through the air and water. Further, the harmful toxins bio-accumulate in the food chain and in the bodies of humans. The use of dangerous pesticides in the United States increased 33 times from 1945 to 1995 and pesticides used today are now up to 10 times more toxic. Many pesticides are transferred to developing babies though the placenta, and after their birth through their mother's milk, resulting in birth defects, learning and developmental disabilities.

Read article:

http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2007/12/ncai-urges-senate-probe-of-us-banned.html

Photo: Yaqui gathered in Potam Pueblo, Sonora, Mexico, to urge the halt of banned pesticides resulting in illnesses and deaths for Yaqui working in agricultural fields, and living near the fields. Photo Jeff Conant.

Floyd Westerman, photos by Hopi photographer Larry Gus

Special thanks to Larry Gus for allowing us to share these photos for a limited time: lawrencegus@att.net

Next Generation of Indigenous Youths Attend Climate Meeting in Bali

By Indigenous Environmental Network
BALI, Indonesia -- Today marks the end of the 13th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 13) in Bali. Navajo and Mohawk representatives of the Indigenous Environmental Network leave with frustration about the outcomes of COP 13 but also inspiration from Indigenous leaders. Jihan Gearon, from the Dine’ (Navajo) Nation and Benjamin Powless, from Mohawk, Six Nations, have been participating in the climate conference in Bali for the past two weeks. Gearon says, “What scares me most about this COP isn’t that we came out of it with no targets or plan for post-Kyoto. It’s that the atmosphere of the discussions seems to focus less on stopping climate change and more on how money can be made from the climate change problem, at the expense of Indigenous People.” Read more ...
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2007/12/next-generation-of-indigenous-youths.html