I travelled to Ft. Hood with Desiree Fairooz, who organized the action, and Nel Labar. We stopped at the Crawford Peace House to meet up with a few more people on our way to Killeen.
It was a warm, muggy, overcast day when we arrived. We parked at an abandoned gas station lot on one corner of the T-intersection leading to the East Gate of Fort Hood, with a wide 4-lane bricked roadway and a huge decommissioned tank perched at the entrance to welcome us.
Shortly after we arrived we were visited by 3 police squad cars. The polite young police officers asked us what we were doing, how long we would be there, pointed out the specific areas where we could and could not stand and told us what we could and could not do: don't impede passage on the sidewalk or streets, no more than 6 participants at any time ( more than that requires a permit), no soliciting of funds, no distribution of literature in the roadways.
Ft. Hood property lines were pointed out, and the city police told us that if we were to stand along the roadway beyond a certain point that we would be on Ft. Hood property and would then have to deal with their security people.
The traffic was light, this being a major holiday, but it was fairly steady throughout the day. Channel 6 from Waco came and interviewed several of us early in the day. I was carrying an upside-down US flag, generally recognized as a "signal of distress. This did receive a small number of shouts from passers-by, telling me to "fix that flag."
One man shouted at me from across the street to do just that. He crossed the street to confront me and the cameraman followed him. The young soldier in casual civilian clothing, maybe in his late 20's or early 30's, angrily shouted at me that I was disrespecting him and the flag and his military service by displaying it in such a manner. While the cameraman filmed this exchange, I quietly replied that is was a recognized symbol of distress and would remain that way the rest of the day. The young man walked away angrily.
related link: http://www.codepink4peace.org/ Feature continued on newswire >>
I thought that Memorial Day in Denton [Texas] should mean something more than just a temporary forest of flags sprouting in the downtown business district, so I did something about it.
A few days before the holiday, I emailed another Veterans For Peace guy here in town, with a copy to the local VFP chapter president about 30 miles down the road in Carrollton. I asked if they were interested in doing something public to show the flag a bit on Memorial Day?
I suggested that we stand by the freeway to be seen by as many people as possible. I was pleasantly surprised when the one or two guys I expected to show up turned out to be a dozen men, women, and children willing to spend a couple hours in the steamy Texas sun to share our message.
We had a couple of large VFP banners showing the logo and the website address. There were assorted signs, and maybe half a dozen US flags. I even turned my flag right side up on the pole for the first time in four years. I would be soliciting donations on this day, so I did not need the distraction of my inverted flag as a guaranteed conversation starter.
related link: http://www.veteransforpeace.org Feature continued on newswire >>
As soon as the order is signed by the Governor, troops will move to the Mexican border "as quickly as possible."
The Texas National Guard and the Governor's Office have been working up preliminary plans for deployment of troops to the Mexico border, and both offices are expecting the Governor to sign a Memorandum of Agreement in the very near future that would put the troop deployment into action.
The preliminary planning has involved five chiefs of the National Guard border sectors, including Laredo, El Paso, and Marfa. And their preliminary plans call for deployment of expertise in "linguistics, engineering, and transportation" says Chief Moncada of the Guard public affairs office in Austin.
A spokesperson for the Governor's office says the operation is in "final stages of planning" and that the memorandum of agreement "has been drafted and is being finalized for signatures".
"We hope to get personnel to the border as quickly as possible," said Rachael Novier from the Governor's press office.
related link: http://texascivilrightsreview.org/ Feature continued on newswire >>
--On Thursday, May 4, two sisters from Women in Black were the subjects of a Homeland Security sting in front of the Federal Building on Houston Street .
We had stood in front of the building every Thursday for several weeks, without incident when three Homeland Security cars zoomed onto the scene and officers handed out citations for blocking the entranceway when we were six feet from the door. We returned the following Thursday, May 11, at our regularly scheduled time.
In a week’s time, word had circulated and an action of two became a cause for many. We were joined by an ACLU observer and members of Code Pink, Camp Casey Alumni, Pax Christi, Veterans for Peace, the Dallas Peace Center, Camp Casey Dallas, North Texas for Justice and Peace, Richland College Institute for Peace, Cathedral of Hope and the Peace and Justice Center-Arlington. The Veterans for Peace bus, driven by Jim Goodnow, literally made the rounds for the duration of the vigil.
related link: http://dallaspeacecenter.org/?q=node/968 Feature continued on newswire >>
Common Ground Collective co-founder Scott Crow has recently come under investigation by the FBI as well as the ATF.
At around 8:00 am on Wednesday, April 5th, two FBI agents, one of whom identified himself as Evan Ray, came knocking on his door in Austin, TX, asking many questions including whether Scott was stockpiling firearms. Robert King Wilkerson, former political prisoner, Black Panther and member of the Angola 3 (http://www.angola3.org) who is a guest at Scott’s house, answered the door and informed the two agents that Scott was out of town and refused to answer any of the agent’s questions.
related link: http://www.commongroundrelief.org/ Feature continued on newswire >>
(DALLAS, April 9, 2006) – “Si, se puede! Si, se puede!” the chant rang out, from an ocean of protesters
demanding an end to HR 4437, tough new immigration restrictions proposed in
Congress which, among other things, would make being an undocumented alien a
felony.
Clad in white to symbolize purity and solidarity, and most waving American
flags, the crowds kept growing by hundreds and thousands as people poured into downtown
Dallas to join the MegaMarch for Hispanic Unity – by all accounts the single largest protest in the history of Dallas – which
had been organized by the League of United Latin American Citizens.
The mass of people, who besides chanting “Si se puede” (yes, we can in Spanish, a
reference to the chant of United Farm Workers activist Cesar Chavez) also
yelled “U.S.A.!
U.S.A.!,” and marched through downtown streets for a over a mile,
surpassing all estimates of how many would show up. ---  Read Reports From the Protest: 1 | 2 | 3
 View Photos From the Protest: 1
 Listen to Audio Reports: 1 | 2
 Read Reports From Other Cities: Houston | San Diego | Miami | Portland | Bay Area | New York City | Washington D.C.Also, view the The U.S. Indymedia Resource Page.
Were you at the march on Sunday? Be the media, and publish your story, thoughts, experiences, photos, or videos. --- Feature continued on newswire >>
Although this peaceful but emotional rally didn't technically qualify as a counter-protest, many of the participants were definitely focused on countering the immigrant's-rights march planned for the next day in downtown Dallas, with a few intent on addressing negative public perceptions of their issues.
There were slightly more than 100 in the small but noisy crowd gathered in North Dallas, which was 98 percent Anglos. The rally was organized by the Citizens for Immigration Reform, and they are also planning a similar rally Sunday in the midst of the Immigrants' Rights March. They plan to meet in front of the Morton Meyerson Symphony Hall on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
Individual participants gave a wide variety of reasons for opposing immigrant's-rights, citizenship amnesties, and Latino cultural influences; However, this reporter was strongly impressed by the problem the small minority of reasoning people were having -- they were greatly outnumbered by people who were fearful of "others" in "their" society.
Feature continued on newswire >>
The March to Redeem the Soul of America was launched with a press conferences and march at ExxonMobil Headquarters in Irving, Texas on April 1. The March called on ExxonMobil to work to end the war against Iraq and to spend its $7 billion in 2005 war profits on human needs related to the war and ExxonMobil's operations.
On April 2, the March held press conferences at the County Courthouse and Jail, and, after a march, at the VA Hospital. Speakers highlighted the human and economic costs of war.
Thus began a 120-mile walk that will arrive in Crawford, Texas on Thursday, April 13. The March will participate in "Easter in Crawford" - with President Bush planning to take his usual Easter vacation at his ranch - and the celebration of the third anniversary of the Crawford Peace House and "Easter in Crawford."
March to Redeem the Soul of America
Starts at ExxonMobil Headquarters
See complete coverage with audio (mp3) and photos: http://www.traprockpeace.org/texas_march_april_2006.html
Feature continued on newswire >>
Support grassroots groups lead by people of color/low income communities working on the destruction in the Gulf Coast Region.
As a 'white allied' organizer working in NOLA, it is important to support grassroots groups lead by people of color/low income communities working on the destruction in the Gulf Coast Region.Some of the groups are national, with local NOLA chapters.Many of these groups were doing work in the region before Katrina struck or the leveees broke.
As mostly 'white allied' groups we are asking that groups with access to networks of people/resources please use this to get information out about these groups who could use support in their continued critical work.
Common Ground Collective has benefited from our privilege of access to many resources and want to make sure other groups are not overlooked in this process. Our work in the region is linked to many of these groups; we need to mutually support each other for the rights of dignity and self determination for many historically marignalized communities.
related link: http://katrina.mayfirst.org/ Feature continued on newswire >>
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