Letter from a Grantee: Esperanza for Free Speech
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| Esperanza at the Free Speech Injunction Hearing Press Conference |
The Esperanza Peace and Justice Center (San Antonio, TX) is one of Astraea’s Movement Building Initiative grantee partners. Amanda Haas sent us the following update on the important work of the San Antonio Free Speech Coalition, of which Esperanza is a leading member. In 2007, the city council passed a law requiring activists to pay large fees to stage street marches. Outraged, Esperanza and other activists formed a coalition and launched a lawsuit and community organizing campaign to challenge the law’s constitutionality. In January, the coalition drew over 200 people to the "Whose Streets? Our Streets!" plática at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. Over the last fifteen months, the campaign has gained momentum and attention nationally as a precedent-setting case that could affect free speech and use of public space across the country. They are determined to overturn the unconstitutional law.
Hi Namita, Mai, & Everyone at Astraea,
I wanted to update you all on what is going on in San Antonio with our lawsuit against the City and the ongoing community organizing work.
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| Amanda Haas |
On January 15th, we had a pre-trial conference with Judge Xavier Rodriguez, where we expected that we would simply discuss the details of the upcoming trial. Instead, Judge Rodriguez announced that he would be recusing himself from our case. This will obviously create additional delays for the lawsuit. Fortunately, because of the support of the Astraea, we were able to build a strong outreach team that is committed to continue community organizing efforts in the coming weeks and months, while we wait for the new court date to be assigned.
The January 10th Community Plática and the January 17th Mock Trial were also very successful, with over 200 people at the plática and about 50 Coalition members at the Mock Trial. The plática was also recorded by Texas Public Radio and will be airing closer to the trial date. The full recording of the plática is available on the Free Speech Coalition website: www.esperanzacenter.org/freespeech.
Funding from the Astraea also helped us to receive additional funds to support this work – including emergency grants from Funding Exchange and Coyote Phoenix. Thank you again for the ongoing support of the Astraea.
Hope you are all doing well – talk to you soon!Amanda
Esperanza Peace and Justice Center
922 San Pedro Avenue
San Antonio, TX 78212
www.esperanzacenter.org
