Texas ObserverFeatured, from our magazine: April Maria Ortiz has a troubled history with her adopted home, and the #racism and segregation she experienced there. Yet when she researched its actual #history, Castroville turned out to be even more complex than she expected. https://www.texasobserver.org/time-comes-for-castroville/
Featured story: “It’s showing that the government is willing to literally waste billions upon billions of dollars to make these useless walls … instead of taking that exact same money and making sure that everybody has housing or clean water and food and education.” https://www.texasobserver.org/trump-border-wall-rio-grande-valley/
#border #immigration #Trump #politics #USpol #news #SouthTexas #Texas
After 20 Years of Resistance, Trump Is Walling Off the Rio Grande Valley
Even sites once protected by Congress, including a butterfly refuge and a historic church, are slated for fencing funded by the “one big beautiful bill”—while the river itself is transformed by a floating barrier.
"Truly, there’s something timeless about Castroville—though time comes for every town. It is a storied place, too, though not all stories are equally remembered."
https://www.texasobserver.org/time-comes-for-castroville/
Our top story: "In 2022, as I researched #Texas civil rights history to write about Uvalde, where I lived at the time, I came across a startling reference to a 1970s 'sawed-off shotgun killing of Richard Morales by Frank Hayes, the police chief in Castroville.'" https://www.texasobserver.org/time-comes-for-castroville/
From 2023, for #Trans Day Of Visibility: "It strikes me, and may strike you, as a bit crazy to come out as #transgender in an essay like this. I’m publicly revealing myself to be a member of a marginalized community in the midst of a moral panic targeting our very existence." https://www.texasobserver.org/i-am-a-trans-texan/
#LGBTQIA #politics #USpol #culture #Texas #SouthTexas #rural
April Maria Ortiz once wrote a scathing indictment of her town while applying for Junior Citizen of the Year.
But, to her surprise, she found herself drawn back to the place that once rejected her, and to its complicated history: https://www.texasobserver.org/time-comes-for-castroville/
#history #politics #USpol #culture #Texas #SouthTexas #racism
Out today: "Castroville, 'the Little Alsace of #Texas,' was founded in 1844 by colonists from that region of France. The 'native sons' as I’ve heard them called, occupied a caste to which I, a Puerto Rican and Greek ... from the city, would never belong." https://www.texasobserver.org/time-comes-for-castroville/
#culture #history #politics #USpol #news #SouthTexas #racism
New, from our magazine: April Maria Ortiz has a troubled history with her adopted home, and the #racism and segregation she experienced there. Yet when she researched its actual #history, Castroville turned out to be even more complex than she expected. https://www.texasobserver.org/time-comes-for-castroville/
“The Department of Homeland Security is not being clear intentionally about what their plans are, what they’re deploying in the region, and so it’s up to us in the community to track and document and report on it. This is how we fight back.” https://www.texasobserver.org/trump-border-wall-rio-grande-valley/
#DHS #SouthTexas #border #immigration #HumanRights #politics #USpol #news #Trump
After 20 Years of Resistance, Trump Is Walling Off the Rio Grande Valley
Even sites once protected by Congress, including a butterfly refuge and a historic church, are slated for fencing funded by the “one big beautiful bill”—while the river itself is transformed by a floating barrier.
A construction contract was awarded Mar. 18, using money from “One Big Beautiful Bill,” to build wall through the National Butterfly Center and the Santa Ana refuge, among other once-protected sites.
Our top story: https://www.texasobserver.org/trump-border-wall-rio-grande-valley/
#Trump #border #Texas #SouthTexas #politics #USpol #news #immigration
After 20 Years of Resistance, Trump Is Walling Off the Rio Grande Valley
Even sites once protected by Congress, including a butterfly refuge and a historic church, are slated for fencing funded by the “one big beautiful bill”—while the river itself is transformed by a floating barrier.