Hasta Siempre Sally Grace: Another US Activist Murdered in Oaxaca(*)

Posted by Kristin Bricker - September 27, 2008 at 8:05 pm

In my memories of Sally Grace, she looks just like the photograph of  
her that her friends published along with the communique denouncing  
that she was raped and murdered--laughing and smiling with a camera in  
her hand.

Sally told me she was a wanderer who had her strongest ties to  
Arizona. When she arrived in Oaxaca in the summer 2007 to help out  
local organizations in the popular struggle against Gov. Ulises Ruiz  
Ortiz, she published her photos, updates, and translations from the  
Popular Indigenous Council of Oaxaca - Ricardo Flores Magon (CIPO-RFM)  
and the APPO on Arizona Indymedia. When she went back to Arizona for a  
visit in March, she organized fundraising events and reportbacks where  
she showed photos and videos from the streets of Oaxaca and sold  
artisanry woven by CIPO women.

Sally's friends in the CIPO-RFM, Encuentro de Mujeres Oaxaqueñas  
"Compartiendo Voces de Esperanza" ("Sharing Voices of Hope" Gathering  
of Oaxacan Women), Colectivo Mujer Nueva (New Woman Collective), Voces  
Oaxaqueñas Construyendo Autonomía y Libertad (Oaxacan Voices  
Constructing Autonomy and Freedom), Colectivo Tod@s Somos Pres@s  
(We're all Prisoners Collective), and Encuentro de Jóvenes en el  
Movimiento Social Oaxaqueño (Gathering of Young People in the Oaxacan  
Social Movement) say that she helped out wherever needed, be it  
painting banners or murals, performing Arabic dances, organizing punk  
shows to raise money for the organizations she supported, teaching  
women's self-defense classes, or translating and teaching English. She  
also served as an international human rights observer, accompanying  
activists who felt threatened by the government or paramilitaries in  
Oaxaca.

(*) Tomado de Narconews.

The heavy ring of keys jingles too loudly in my pocket. The residents all eye me as I come in the door that first day, as someone allowed to come and go at will, while they are not. The door clicks shut behind me. While this is not a criminal ward, it is still hidden away from public view, a little taboo and full of the contradictions that have always plagued the mental health care system. The residents were interned here by the court system because they were found to be a threat to themselves or others, or unable to take care of their own basic needs. In hearing their stories, I begin thinking that they may inhabit this taboo corner of society because they reflect our culture's instability and fundamental hypocrisies. Many people don't want to see things like this.