On Sunday, October 18th, I headed out to Inglewood to the Chuco Justice Center for an Art Meeting regarding the Alex Sanchez case put together by the We Are Alex Campaign (www.wearealex.org) and members of the center. I was only able to stay for a few hours but was really excited to be in that space of youth energy, creation and art based on education, empowerment and resistance.
As soon as I got there we worked on fixing up the parts of a huge paper mache bear that was started as part of the art class for an alternative high school at the center. The center had a graffiti expo the day or 2 before and even the bear had been hit up so our first job was to paint over the tags on the bear and make the various parts look cohesive again so it would actually look like a bear in the end.
After only a few hours… what we thought started to look like big boulders, then maybe a rat, turned into a perfect paper mache political action piece for Alex’s bail hearing. In the end the bear looked like a real teddy bear and bore signs that said “We can’t bear this” and “Free Alex Sanchez.”
Other Xeroxed masks of Alex were made so that we could all wear them and connect with the theme that “We are all Alex.”
Overall the art component created by people from ages 3 to 33 were very useful for the rally and press conference on the date of the Bail hearing on Monday, October 19th.
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THE BAIL HEARING
Walking up to the sight of the bail hearing rally, I was a bit rushed and pretty apprehensive. I knew in my heart that Alex should be free, and that he is a good man doing good things, with so many important supporters and allies across the nation. Still, knowing first hand from my families involvement in issues with political prisoners, I felt that perhaps even after everything we are doing, art, events, fundraisers, outreach, promotion and organizing… there are bigger hands and dealings at stake. And I was right…
After a few statements by key We Are Alex supporters including Alex’s brother, and gang intervention workers from Northern California as well as a prayer led by a movement veteran, a few were allowed into the hearing. The group of supporters was pretty varied from youth, to elders, activists to gang intervention workers as well as artists and families.
I left, thinking the best I could do now is pray and let people know what is going on. Later that night… facebook posts of all things, informed me that Alex’s bail had been denied…..and all I could do was cry….out of anger, of empathy, and of justice being denied. From my families experienes, I feel I first hand know some of the struggle and life of political prisoners, and was getting to know the great work that Homies Unidos was doing first hand… all I could think was how unfair this was and that there were hands and dealings up above that were making this happen.
Sure enough youtube videos shared with me the truth from the mouth of Tom Hayden and Alex’s brother who shared the almost insane shenanigans that took place within the court room. Please check out the videos posted here for yourself to hear more on the lack of justice and biases.
VIDEO AFTER THE HEARING with Tom Hayden and Alex's family.
More than anything, my heart is heavy because of Alex’s bail denial but also because of its part in the bigger picture of injustices that are happening across the world and even in our own back yard. This work and connections with the people involved in Homies Unidos and We Are Alex has reinvigorated some of my passion to work towards justice and to get working on some creative ways to support the movement.
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