Free Palestine 'Unsung Hero of the North America Nakba Tour'

THE UNSUNG HERO OF THE NORTH AMERICA NAKBA TOUR

June 2, 2016 /  info@freepalestinemovement.org  /  Make A Comment  /  Uncategorized  / Edit

Amena and Mariam are the stars of the North America Nakba Tour, and we are very fortunate to have such articulate, courageous and utterly charming spokespersons.  But when Samir Salem offered to drive and film the entire tour, we had no idea that he would become one of our most valuable partners.  It is not an exaggeration to say that he has been as responsible for the success of the project as any of us.

Apart from driving more than 10,000 miles in two months, Samir quickly became an on-site coordinator and problem solver for the tour.  In spite of the floods in Texas, he got the women to their next destination in Jackson, Mississippi on time.  When the Canadian visa was not issued in time, he brought the women to his family home in Chicago.  When the schedule permitted an extra day (on top of two scheduled travel days), he took the women to Yellowstone Park for an unforgettable experience.

TUCSON: Migrant Trail Walk Concludes Sunday at Kennedy Park

Our Vision  The precarious reality of our borderlands calls us to walk. We are a spiritually diverse, multi-cultural group who walk together on a journey of peace to remember people, friends and family who have died, others who have crossed, and people who continue to come. We bear witness to the tragedy of death and of the inhumanity in our midst. Lastly, we make this sacred journey as a community, in defiance of the borders that attempt to divide us, committed to working together for the human dignity of all peoples. La realidad precaria de nuestra frontera nos hace un llamado a caminar. Somos un grupo diverso en cultura y espíritu quienes caminamos juntos en una jornada de paz para recordar a nuestros compañeros, amigos y familiares: los que han muerto, los que han cruzado, y quienes continúan cruzando. Testificamos acerca de la tragedia de muerte e inhumanidad en nuestro medio. Finalmente, en comunidad, emprendemos un sendero sagrado en contra de estas fronteras que intentan dividirnos, comprometidos a luchar juntos por la dignidad de todos. June 3, 2016 Contact: Chandra Russo, Media Team Representative Olivia Mena, Spanish/English Media Team Representative E-mail: azmigranttrail@gmail.com Website: https://azmigranttrail.com     13th Annual Migrant Trail Walk Arrives in Tucson Record Number of Participants Complete Final Day of 75-mile Journey Through the Desert   Press Conference: Sunday, June 5, 2016 at 11:30 AM Kennedy Park, Ramada #3 Tucson, Arizona   TUCSON, Ariz- On Sunday, June 5, the thirteenth annual Migrant Trail, a 75- mile walk from Sásabe, Sonora will arrive in Tucson, Arizona. The event will culminate in a press conference, followed by a community gathering at Kennedy Park. More than 100 participants from across the United States, Mexico, and Central America have made the seven-day trek. Since the 1990s, more than 6,000 men, women and children have lost their lives crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The ongoing human rights crisis of deaths along the border is only one piece of the larger strategy to funnel vulnerable migrants into Arizona's deadly desert. Participants of the Migrant Trail walk not only bear witness to the tragedy of death, but the intentional dehumanization and militarization of border communities.   "Many years ago when we gathered to walk the first time in memory of those who have died in our sacred desert we never imagined that we would still be walking thirteen years later," said Margo Cowan, a Tucson-based attorney who has walked every single summer since the Migrant Trail Walk began. "We walk in memory of thousands of our brothers and sisters who have died horrific deaths as a direct result of our government's policies. We walk for each and every one of them and their families in witness to our government's profound crime against humanity committed daily, in our name, and in our desert made sacred by the blood and tears of the people who cross it," said Cowan. Chyenne Valenzuela, a freshman in Cienega high school in Vail, Arizona, comes to the walk because of her own family history, linked to some of the troubling policies that predated the current ones, such as the infamous Bracero Program. "I am walking this year because it is the same journey that my great grandparents made from Sásabe to the United States 55 years ago when my grandfather came as a bracero worker. If it weren't for them making this journey, I would not be here with the opportunities that I have today," Valenzuela explained. Ruby DeWilde, a seventh grader from Portland, Oregon, will be walking the Migrant Trail with her mother for the second time this year. "I'm walking because I want to bring attention to what is happening here and I want to let everyone know that it is not right. There are families and children just like me who make this treacherous journey trying to escape violence, arriving to the United States only to face criticism, racism, and often more violence," said DeWilde. A coalition of community group sponsors support the walk. This year's sponsors include: The Tucson Peace Center 365 Day Fast in Solidarity with DREAMers BorderLinks Boulder Valley Unitarian Universalists Fellowship Boulder Valley Unitarian Universalists Fellowship Immigration Justice Task Force Cafe Justo (Just Coffee) Casa Mariposa The Colibrí Center for Human Rights Coloradans For Immigrant Rights The Colorado Office of the American Friends Service Committee Franciscans for Justice Frontera de Cristo Green Valley/Sahuarita Samaritans Guardian Angels Catholic Community, a member of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion. Humane Borders Jewish Voice for Peace-Tucson La Coalición de Derechos Humanos Mennonite Central Committee Migrant Worker Solidarity Network No More Deaths Pacific University Peace & Justice Committee of the Mountain View Friends Meeting School Sisters of Notre Dame, Douglas, AZ Shalom House Shalom Mennonite Fellowship Tucson Samaritans University Presbyterian Church, Tempe, AZ Wat Buddhametta Tucson Buddhist Meditation Center The Migrant Trail Walk will begin the final 6.7 miles of their journey at 7:15 am at the BLM campsite on Ajo Way and San Joaquin Road.  Participants will be welcomed home at Ramada #3 at Kennedy Park at 11:30am with speakers, music, food, and testimonies from participants and supporters.  This event non-violent, family-friendly, and is free and open to the public. Participants and organizers of the Migrant Trail call on all people of conscience to stand in solidarity with our migrant sisters and brothers. For more information you can also visit our website: https://azmigranttrail.com ###   http://azmigranttrail.com/

Migrant children's prisons in Texas: Hold US responsible for international crimes

By imprisoning migrant children, in violation of international law, the United States has proven to be the world's bully, abusing children who have no one to protect them, or fight for their rights. -- Censored News

Photo: Detainees sleep in a holding cell at a US Customs and Border Protection processing facility in Brownsville, Texas. (Reuters/Eric Gay)

The United States and the United Nations refuse to protect the world's most vulnerable asset -- migrant children -- and refuse to defend its most valuable asset, its children

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

The United States is imprisoning children in migrant prisons, in violation of international law. The imprisonment of migrant children with adult strangers in Texas is an egregious crime against humanity. Further the State of Texas is further violating the rights of humanity by classifying migrant children's prisons as "child care facilities."

This flagrant violation, and the United States ongoing targeted assassinations using drones, combined with secret renditions to foreign countries, torture, and imprisonment without charges in Guantanamo, mandate that the United States be held responsible for crimes against humanity, and be responsible for punitive damages. 

Both the Bush and Obama administrations, and the individuals responsible, should be held responsible for war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

The most recent egregious violation of human rights is the imprisonment of children with adult strangers in a private prison-for-profit in Dilley, Texas.

The prison in Dilley is operated by Corrections Corporation of America. It is one of two privately run detention centers in Texas under contract with the United States government to hold undocumented immigrant women and children.

The other unit, in Karnes City, is operated by the Geo Group. The Karnes City unit can hold about 600 people and has already been issued a state license.

These two prisons-for-profit, both CCA and GEO (formerly Wackenhut), are operating in a criminal manner.

The Texas Tribune reports, "A Travis County judge ruled Wednesday that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services cannot license an immigration detention center as a childcare facility, giving immigrant rights groups a victory in a months-long battle with the state.

"State District Judge Karin Crump said her injunction was needed to protect the women and children being held in the 2,400-bed facility in Dilley, Texas. Crump said current licensing exceptions allow mixed gender detainees to room together and in some cases, force children to share quarters with adult strangers.

“The exceptions allow and have allowed for situations for children that are dangerous,” she said. “And this temporary injunction addresses those concerns.” Read the article: Texas: Judge blocks private prison licensing https://www.texastribune.org/2016/06/01/judge-blocks-state-licensing-detention-facility-ch/

The United States continues to act with impunity, violating international law, with mass incarceration of migrant children, and global assassinations. The United States should be held responsible for violations of the Geneva Conventions. 

Further, during its Periodic Review before the United Nations in Geneva in 2015, the countries of the world made it clear that the United States practice of longterm solidarity confinement in US prisons is torture.

The countries of the world also pointed out that the United States had failed in assuring women's rights and failed to protect blacks and people of color from racist police who use deadly force with impunity. 

At the United Nations, the countries of the world also made it clear that the United States had targeted American Indian communities with poisonous mining and toxic dumping, constituting environmental racism.

The United Nations has shown no willingness to actually hold the United States responsible for war crimes and egregious human rights violations.

The United Nations has revealed that on the issues of the United States war crimes, and crimes against humanity, that the United Nations is a hoax. As Lakota activist Russell Means always said the United Nations is no more than a "dog and pony show," and a puppet to the United States.

While the United Nations grandstands on human rights issues, and postures before the world with its theater, it refuses, and fails to carry out the vital protection necessary for the world's migrants and  people of color.

The United States and the United Nations refuse to protect the world's most vulnerable asset -- migrant children -- and refuse to defend its most valuable asset, its children.

Rosebud Sioux Tribe opposes mascots dehumanizing Native Americans

Statement of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe

Censored News

Dutch translation by Alice Holemans, at NAIS

“The Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council went on record at the May 25th, 2016 council meeting and voted unanimously in favor of a motion that the Rosebud Sioux Tribe stands in opposition to the Washington National Football League (NFL) team using the name Redskins.

Furthermore, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe stands in opposition to any and all racist, derogatory, mascots and their likeness names, etc.., which are meant to dehumanize and belittle Native Americans.

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe will stand against racism and will not tolerate any team mascot claims under the guise that it is a means to honor Native Americans.”