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Meeting Minutes:

Human Rights & Justice Committee – 12.13.2018

Thursday, December 13, 2018
La Madeleine (3072 Mockingbird Lane, Dallas
6:00-7:15 pm

Participants included: Angelica Andrade, Diane Baker, Don Dillard, Paul Dille, Jose Espericueta, Joyce Hall, Youssef Hassan, Nick Hernandez, Hadi Jawad, Shahrukh Kureishy, Bill Maxwell, Patricia Murphy, Jeff Robinson, Aftab Siddiqui, Hisham Syed and our two guest speakers: Rick Halperin and Leslie McMurray

* Our first guest speaker, Dr. Richard Halperin from SMUs Embrey Human Rights Program presented two “asks”:

1. Human Rights-Dallas Campaign: Backed up by introductory remarks by Hadi Jawad,

Rick reminded the group that the HR-Dallas has been already been doing some preliminary work to have Dallas declare itself as a “Human Rights City.” This included distributing the draft of the proposed “City of Dallas Human Rights Proclamation” to all 14 City of Dallas Council members. The feedback to date is that at least 6-8 district members seem to be receptive to the proposal. Rick also mentioned that only 5 U.S. cities have made the declaration to date (Austin, Texas; Eugene, Oregon; Washington, D.C.,; Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; and Tulsa, Oklahoma) and that it would be significant, given its size, if Dallas could become the next one to do so.

Therefore, the first “ask” of the night was to have our HRJC spearhead a “campaign” to obtain this end-goal. A motion to do so was made by Jose Espericueta, seconded by Hadi Jawad, and was accepted unanimously. Jose Espericueta and Bill Maxwell volunteered to be the be the co-chairs of this campaign; Angela Andrade volunteered to assist them, and Paul Dille and Patricia Murphy expressed an interest to be campaign team members.

2. Death Penalty Event in January: Rick began this ask by noting that on the night of our meeting one of the last executions of the year was taking place in Florida and also by focusing our attention to the fact that Texas still has the worst record for the death penalty (13 of the 25 executions that took place this year happened in our state). He expressed the hope that, with a new DA on board in January, change is possible. This comment was followed up with the suggestion that we schedule a meeting with the DA once he is in office and Don Dillard said he was willing to help make that happen. The second formal “ask” of the evening was that our committee help plan a public event in January that would highlight the need to abolish the death penalty (e.g., explain what the death penalty is and isn’t, etc.). Hadi stated that he is willing to be the lead organizer for the event.

* Our second guest speaker, Leslie McMurray, from the Resource Center: empowering lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning communities and all people affected by HIV, shared her personal story of being a transgender woman in the United States. She connected it along the way with examples that highlighted the fact that there are little or no protections for the transgender community here in areas such as employment, housing and health care, among others. She also talked about the fact that barriers still exist in at least some areas of our country in terms of voting rights because the names and pictures for transgenders on identification cards are not always a match. She also talked about the need for a better understanding by the general public that transgenders are not a safety threat (e.g., in bathrooms) and, in fact. are the ones whose safety in general is often at risk (e.g., if they are forced to use a bathroom that reflects there birth gender), citing statistics about hate crimes. She concluded by stressing the idea that transgender people are not looking to take away any other people’s rights, they just want equality/ equal rights. She then fielded some questions about the Resource Center and referred people to their Web site, i.e., https://www.myresourcecenter.org/ , for more information.

* Hadi Jawad: Fiscal Sponsorship: Santos Vive Project. This agenda item needed to be tabled because the meeting went over the usual time limit.

* Input from members re. key focus areas, guest speakers, events, actions, etc. for our HRJC in 2019: There was no time for verbal input for this agenda item, but hard copies of a survey were distributed and those present were requested fill in out and either hand it that night, or bring it to the DPJC board meeting or get in touch with Patricia Murphy for other alternatives.

* Announcements: Joyce Hall passed on information about a gun control event that is being planned for April 4, 2019, the anniversary on Dr. MLK, Jr. death. It’s being hosted by the Texas branch of Moms Demand Action For Gun Control in America, but they are looking for other like-minded organizations to be cosponsors. Bill Maxwell volunteered to present a request to the DPJC board that we be one of them.
*
* The next meeting for our HRJC was set for Thurs., Jan. 11 from 6-7:00 pm at the same location. The group was also reminded that the DPJC Stakeholders meeting is scheduled of the next day, i.e., Jan. 12 at the Mix. at 9:00 a.m.

Respectfully submitted by
Patricia Murphy, HRJC Co-Chair

Supporting Documents:

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“The progress of LGBT rights is often directly tied to—sometimes through indirect routes
—multiple fights for human dignity and freedom.”
-Michael Bronski, Global Gay: How Gay Culture Is Changing the World
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Meeting Minutes:

Human Rights & Justice Committee – 10.11.2018

October 11, 2018
La Madeleine (3072 Mockingbird Lane, Dallas
6:20 pm

Present: Don Dillard, Leslie Harris, Carolyn Bentley, Joyce Hall, Bill Maxwell, Hadi Jawad, co-chair, José Espericueta, co-chair, Mavis Belisle, Hisham Syed, Aftab Siddiqui, Essam Ashereafi, Paul Dille, Nubia Torres (guest speaker).

1. Nubia Torres, of Catholic Charities Dallas, spoke about services CCD provides for immigrants including legal services, visas, for those who are victims of different types of crimes, citizenship workshops, and informational sessions for host families of unaccompanied minors, to help them understand the legal process surrounding their situation. They assist with DACA applications and provide disaster relief across the country. CCD sees about 400 clients per week in one capacity or another and employs about 34 people.

2. She spoke about proposed legislation before congress that would allow those who are currently applying for a green card to be denied if they have used food stamps.

See story:
https://www.vox.com/2018/9/24/17892350/public-charge-immigration-food-stamps-medicaid-trump

Ms. Torres recommended visiting regulations.gov to find more about this (I was unable to find specifics on the proposed legislation while writing these minutes).

3. Hadi Jawad, co-chair, spoke of the upcoming meeting at the Mix Sunday October 21. Initial recruitment for youth legislative training in DC. Santos Vive Project update: 9am meeting at city hall to discuss the name change of the rec center at Pike Park. Hadi also spoke about Human Rights Dallas's current issue: passing a city resolution to declare Dallas a Human Rights City. This is an issue HR&J committee will continue to monitor.