Essay: The women journalists who fought for suffrage and freedom
This originally appeared in the Houston Chronicle. Jovita Idar stood in front of the building that housed the equipment of El Progreso, the Spanish-language newspaper where she worked as a reporter. A contingent of Texas Rangers was on its way. It was 1914 in the border town of Laredo and the paper had recently published an editorial critical of President […]
Ramadan in the quiet spaces
This originally appeared in the Religion News Service. On the first night of Ramadan this year I visited my local mosque’s Facebook page and watched a 15-minute sermon by the imam. He scanned the room as he spoke, looking right and left, as though engaging a real audience, although there was none. He was addressing an empty prayer hall as […]
What I’ve witnessed at the border
This originally appeared in the Houston Chronicle. Asylum seekers at the border have always been just a step or two away from complete disaster. Sickness, crime, desperation, and heartless immigration policies have taken their toll. But I never expected a virus to be the ultimate threat. Since last July I have been volunteering with Team Brownsville, a nonprofit organization that […]
Remain in Mexico
This poem originally appeared in eMerge and was inspired by my volunteer work at the southern border, and the impact of the “Remain in Mexico” policy on asylum seekers there. there is the Rio Bravo, a green viper you could ride away from the tent city but for remembering Oscar’s failed swim baby girl tucked in his shirt, wriggling gulping, […]
A kick that leaves no bruise: A visit to a civil rights museum
On a visit to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta this week I participated in an exhibit that simulates the experience of lunch counter sit-ins that helped integrate restaurants in the 1960s. Museum visitors sit, four at a time, at the counter and put on headphones. They place their hands on the counter and are instructed […]
Of migrants and justice: My trip to Brownsville/Matamoros
In mid-July I volunteered assisting migrants on the Texas-Mexico border, carrying donated items from community members in Houston. I wrote this to thank the donors and describe my experience. As I drove to Brownsville last week to volunteer helping migrants at the Mexican border with Team Brownsville, I only had to glance at the back seat, where bags and bags […]
‘This is our angel now’: Houston community rallies for justice in aftermath of Jazmine Barnes slaying
This originally appeared in The Lily, a Washington Post magazine. The rally began at noon with the clamor of dozens of motorcycles, and ended with the release of purple and white balloons into the afternoon sky. On Saturday, hundreds of people gathered in the parking lot of the Walmart at 5655 E. Sam Houston Parkway, the scene of Jazmine Barnes’s […]
