Jay Rodriguez
Jay Rodriguez
Tampa 5 rally
On July 12, 30 organizers, activists and community members beat the 105-degree heat and joined in solidarity to seek justice for the Tampa 5, rallying at Dealey Plaza, on the day of the Five’s court appearance.
Several organizations - including UTA Progressive Student Union, National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression - Dallas (NAARPR-Dallas), Austin SDS, Dallas Anti-War Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization - Dallas, Palestinian Youth Movement, La Frontera Nos Cruzo, and the Dallas Peace and Justice Center - spoke in solidarity with the Tampa 5.
Jay Rodriguez of the UTA Progressive Student Unionspoke to the rally, "Protesting against the repressive laws that Ron DeSantis is absolutely justified, and students and activists should continue to do so.
Syd Loving of NAARPR-Dallas said, "We are in a new era of repression and this requires a new era of solidarity, repression is not new, but there are things about this case that are different, usually the charges are dropped but a month later, they added another person and two months later they added three new felony counts, after that they were offered a deal, the deal said that they had to apologize to the officers that brutalized and harassed them and they said ‘hell no!’ We're gonna fight repression with solidarity and we will not allow the Tampa 5 to be the canaries in the coal mine."
Jake Holtzman of the Austin SDS said, "We are going to follow the example of the heroic activists in Tampa, who continue to organize and fight for diversity programs and increases to Black enrollment on their campus at the University of South Florida. Because we know that the only way we ever win demands for the people is by organizing, protesting and fighting back! Because we say: Protesting is not a crime, justice for the Tampa 5!"
Jo Hargis of the Dallas Anti-War Committee said, "When we are attacked by the state, we need to recognize that we are the threat they see us to be to the status quo. And when we come together, and when we are in solidarity across our movements, the people our government sees as a threat. They see the Teamsters as a threat. The Teamsters are probably going to go on strike very soon. We see that they see student organizing as a threat. We see that they see diversity, people standing up for that as a threat."
Cassandra Swart, another member of the Dallas Anti-War Committee said, "The United States does not have a right to clamp to down on human rights violations internationally while clamping down on rights in their country. As a transgender woman I am deeply concerned about the attacks on trans and other rights but the attacks on these rights shouldn't not make us lose hope, we have the right to fight these attacks from Florida to Texas."
Omar Lazcano, another member of PSU, said, "The Tampa 5 told truth and the people are on their side. We know they carry the truth; we are the people, standing beside them."[1]
People's Thanksgiving
According to Cassandra Swart, on Saturday, November 26, 2022, more than 60 activists gathered at the Pan-African Connection bookstore in Dallas to celebrate People's Thanksgiving, a celebration honoring those who struggle against imperialism, capitalism and national oppression.
The event was emceed by Ammar Hussein of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, who gave an opening speech welcoming the many organizations and participants to the event as well as praising the struggle of indigenous peoples for whom Thanksgiving is a national day of mourning.
Jo Hargis of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization gave a speech stressing the importance of opposing the rising far-right movement and their increasing attacks on immigrants and trans people: "I'm so heartened to see so many people here who want to build a better world, in the face of rising attacks on immigrants and trans people - we have to be the ones to stand up and stop the attacks."
Xavi Velasquez of Los Frontera Nos Cruzo, a local immigrant rights organization, stated, "Anti - imperialism and Chicano, Latino, indigenous national liberation go hand in hand,” and “We in Los Frontera Nos Cruzo are fusing anti-imperialism and national liberation into the immigrant struggle, the indigenous struggle and the wider Latino struggle. One day we will have our land back."
Jay Rodriguez of the UTA Progressive Student Union gave a speech discussing the various struggles that PSU has participated in, saying, “We at PSU remind others that their lives are important, that they matter. That here we don't stand for transphobes, fascists, segregationists and sexual harassers. That the fight is still going and it's not gonna stop."
Matt Leslie of the Dallas Anti-War Committee stated, “We stand in solidarity with international movements for self-determination, we stand in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Palestine, the Philippines, Haiti, and all those who are victims of imperialism."
Syd Loving, co-chair of the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression, gave a speech introducing NAARPR Dallas and their leading of massive protests during the George Floyd Rebellion.
The event was called by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression, Dallas Anti-War Committee, La Frontera Nos Cruzo, UTA Progressive Student Union, Malaya Texas, Dallas Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, Palestinian Youth Movement, Texas Organizing Project, Dallas Peace and Justice Center, North Texas Industrial Workers of the World, Communist Party USA Dallas-Ft Worth, and North Texas Democratic Socialists of America.[2]
Stop honoring segregationist administrators
According to Tara Moraghar - in the many decades since the University of Texas at Arlington ended segregation, students have fought long and hard to end the university’s practice of glorifying white supremacy.
From protests against the university’s previous Confederate rebel mascot, to the more recent renaming of the E.E. David administration building, UTA students are continuing the struggle for equality by insisting the school stop honoring two past presidents and blatant white supremacists, Jack R. Woolf and E.H. Hereford.
Over a dozen students from the UTA Progressive Student Union (PSU) were involved in a demonstration on October 19, calling for the removal of Hereford’s name and statue from the EH Hereford University Center, bringing to attention Hereford’s racist policies as UTA’s first president. A large banner, which blocked Hereford’s statue from view, read “Hereford was a segregationist, UTA shouldn’t honor that.”
“The fact Hereford’s been honored for 60 years is a disgrace,” said Jay Rodriguez, the secretary of PSU. “A man who would have done everything to prevent me and my little brother from attending this school is being honored? That’s disrespectful and despicable.”
Justin Bent, the vice president of PSU, emphasized UTA’s hypocrisy, “UTA talks a lot about diversity, but has two buildings named after ardent segregationists. Is that right?” The crowd passionate answered “No!” Another speaker, Mark Napieralski, detailed how Hereford laid the racist foundations that the Woolf administration would continue to expand. “You can’t have ‘Old South Day’ without the Confederate theme.”[3]