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The Santos Vive Project

Santos Rodriguez350

 There will be an "Information Session for Artists" who are interested in applying for the memorial project on
Tuesday, September 25th at 6:30 pm at the Latino Cultural Center
2600 Live Oak St. Dallas Texas 75204


Please help spread the word to local artists!

 

Project Updates:

The events planned to mark the 45th Anniversary of the death of Santos Rodriguez came together amazingly and included a fundraising event in Pike Park, a ceremony at Santos' grave, and two preliminary screenings of the documentary.

The documentary, by award-winning filmmaker Byron Hunter, had a private screening at the Angelica Theater on July 23rd and a public screening at the Texas Theater in Oak Cliff on the 24th.

As reported by Byron Hunter:

"We moved the audience and sent them home determined more than ever to see that the name Santos Rodriguez lives forever in this city. I am sure that the city government is more than aware of the aftershocks felt from what took place at the Texas Theater that night."

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SANTOS RODRIGUEZ was a 12-year-old Mexican American boy who was murdered on July 24, 1973 while handcuffed in the front seat of a Dallas Police car with his 13-year-old brother seated in the back seat. News of Santos’ death was broadcast nationwide, and sparked riots and demonstrations in Dallas in 1973.

Santos’ death shook the city of Dallas, and the nation as a whole.

Since Santos death 45 years ago, the Mexican American population in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex has grown from around 100,000 people in 1973 to around 2 million people in 2018. Yet most Latinos in Dallas have never heard the story of Santos Rodriguez.

The Rodriguez family, including Santos’ mother, Bessie, and his brother, David, who witnessed his brother’s murder, have struggled both emotionally and financially since Santos’ death. The family is currently living below the poverty line and was never awarded nor provided with any substantial compensation from the city of Dallas for Santos’ murder.

The family has also been repeatedly promised the creation of numerous “memorials to Santos” by city of Dallas officials over the past 45 years but nothing has ever materialized.

HUMAN RIGHTS DALLAS has created the “SANTOS VIVE PROJECT” with the goal of honoring Santos Rodriguez in the following ways:

1. To create a memorial to honor the death of Santos Rodriguez to be located in Dallas, Texas. The only current memorial to Santos Rodriguez is Santos Rodriguez Park in Seattle, Washington.

2. To establish a fund to provide financial assistance to cover basic needs for the family of Santos Rodriguez, including his mother, Bessie, and his brother, David.

3. To produce a documentary about the Santos Rodriguez story to air on television and in select Dallas theaters in 2018.

We truly hope that you will donate your time and/or money to this worthy cause, with hopes that this project will educate our youth and help bring a degree of closure to the Rodriguez family after 45 years.

Santos Vive Project 

 

The Dallas Peace & Justice Center is a fiscal sponsor. and Human Rights Dallas is now a legal entity.