Lidia Martinez, Grandmother -- GREAT-Grandmother -- Civil Rights Leader
A victim of Police Raids launched by TX AG Ken Paxton -- BE AWARE AND BEWARE!
Lidia Martinez, an 87-year-old citizen of San Antonio has been living a whole and wholesome life.
Ms. Martinez gait is vigorous; her skin glows with wondrous youth; she is the well-loved Mom of two sons and two daughters; she is a well-loved grandmother.
Ms. Martinez not long ago welcomed into the world her first great-grandchild, whom she loves to hold and nurture.
Ms. Martinez is treasured in her community.
Ms. Martinez has actively registered elderly persons to exercise their Constitutional rights as citizens to register to vote, so the voices of the neglected can be heard at the state level and in the hallowed halls of Congress.
There is much news coverage of Ms. Martinez speaking, which this note will link, and she has a delightful way of self-presentation that tells you on the spot how she became beloved in her community.
A traditional Mexican-American, Ms. Martinez will sit in her home before a painting of the Virgen de Guadalupe:
(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Virgen_de_Guadalupe_con_Juan_Diego.jpg)
In her role with the elderly, Ms. Martinez has been a member of LULAC for 35 years.
LULAC is the League of United Latin American Citizens, which is the oldest civil rights organization under the umbrella of Latin Americans, having been founded in 1929.
LULAC states that its objective is:
Empowering Latinos at every level.
The Mission of the League of United Latin American Citizens is to advance the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, housing, health and civil rights of the Hispanic population of the United States.
* * *
https://lulac.org/about/history/
LULAC History - All for One and One for All
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), founded in 1929, is the oldest and most widely respected Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States of America. LULAC was created at a time in our country’s history when Hispanics were denied basic civil and human rights, despite contributions to American society. The founders of LULAC created an organization that empowers its members to create and develop opportunities where they are needed most.
In 1945, a California LULAC Council successfully sued to integrate the Orange County School System, which had been segregated on the grounds that Mexican children were “more poorly clothed and mentally inferior to white children.” * * *
Since then, LULAC has fought for full access to the political process and equal educational opportunity for all Hispanics. * * *
LULAC Councils have also responded to an alarming increase in xenophobia and anti-Hispanic sentiment. They have held seminars and public symposiums on language and immigration issues. In addition, LULAC officers have used television and radio to protest against the “English Only” movement, which seeks to limit the public (and in some cases, private) use of minority languages.
Below is an account of the struggles that LULAC and its members have had to endure in order to improve the status of employment, housing, health care, and education for all Hispanics in the United States of America. * * *
The mission is noble and is at the center of our American heritage of civil liberties. LULAC professes to work closely with other civil rights organizations, not least, the NAACP.
Please check them out here:
https://lulac.org/about/history/
The importance of the LULAC mission is at the center of our story about Lidia Martinez. Far from a distraction to the narrative, the civil rights history and bravery of LULAC, formed not so long before Ms. Martinez was born (circa 1937).
For, not only has Ms. Martinez been a proud member of LULAC for 35 years, but she has assumed leadership roles for its cause of civil rights.
If you look at LULAC Council #4250, San Antonio, TX 73213, you will find:
https://lulac.org/members/directory/council_4250
Ms. Martinez is the President of this Council.
Moreover, Ms. Martinez is past Vice President of LULAC for Elderly Services.
But there is a fly in the honey.
Ms. Martinez’ adult children have been worried for her and have wanted her to cease working for the civil rights that all citizens, definitely including Latin American citizens, have earned and should enjoy.
Why do Ms. Martinez’ children worry for her and want her to quit her charitable, civil-rights work?
Because of the poisoned atmosphere set by right-wing extremists in Texas, not least, impeached (but not removed) State Attorney General Ken Paxton — who was easily impeached for his foul-stained corruption but muscled his acquittal in the upper chamber through the right-wing’s favorite method — bullying.
So AG Paxton, corrupt himself, has been pursuing an autocratic reign of police invasions, cannot satisfy his appetite for bullying and suppression.
On AG Paxton’s own website, you can read how this bully is self-satisfied that he forced open carry of guns on the state fair:
So, AG Paxton unites with those who love the sight of weapons at public fairs, with the abundance of children and families, now enhanced as it were with men carrying heat.
And since 2022, under the Trump-Deranged election-fraud conspiracies, AG Paxton has long formed an Orwellian-named “Election Integrity” unit within the State Attorney General’s Office.
Even in Texas, AG Paxton’s initial efforts to pursue phantom perpetrators was squelched by the Courts. They had ruled, as Attorney General, State law did not authorize AG Paxton to seek warrants and search houses. AG Paxton must obtain requests from local district attorneys.
Which, of course, is difficult, with places like Bexar County (pronounced “Bear”), which tend to run Democrat.
But AG Paxton obtained a request to investigation “Election Fraud” through the District Attorney of the 21st District, Audrey Louis, Esquire.
And,
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/26/us/texas-latino-voting-rights-investigation/index.html
AG Paxton readied the large team police squads for Tuesday Morning, 20 August 2024, at 6:00 AM to simultaneously raid the homes of five LULAC Leaders, including Ms. Martinez.
On Monday, 19 August 2024, Ms. Martinez had been driven home by her daughter, after treatment for respiratory conditions and, not least, Covid.
Right at 6:00 AM the next morning, Tuesday, 20 August 2024, Ms. Martinez was awakened out of the fog of deep morning sleep by relentless pounding on her front door.
There was nothing for it. Ms. Martinez had to rush to the front door.
So, Ms. Martinez grabbed the first-available night robe and ran to her door, letting the visitors know she was coming.
Ms. Martinez was shocked to open her front door in the dark of the morning to no fewer than nine policemen (7 men, 2 women) in uniforms and armed with rifles.
The lead officer demanded to be let in.
Upon inquiry, the officer produced a search warrant.
Ms. Martinez asked why she was the subject of a search.
The officer replied that there were allegations of election fraud. Ms. Martinez had to scratch her head, and she asked if there were still issues lingering about a distant election, like 2012?
The officer said the allegations related to recent events, without specifying much further.
At their request, Ms. Martinez let the uniformed, armed team of police into her house.
Ms. Martinez asked, since she was now hosting a squad of police in her home, could she change into day clothes.
The officer bluntly told Ms. Martinez she could not change.
Now, reader, let us halt for one moment here.
Irrespective of the merits of the “election fraud” — more than questionable, more like risible in this writer’s view — let us pause for one brief moment at the scene.
An 87-year-old woman, who has reared a family of four children, been involved with civil rights over the past 35 years (after her own children grew up), now has a new great-grandchild, been a leader of civil rights for the past decades, is forced to stand in underwear in front of nine uniformed, armed cops.
One has to ask: Why cannot an 87-year-old woman even determine that she would present in dignified, day clothes. What compelling state concern required her to stand in her underwear?
Ms. Martinez was standing in her underwear, only because she had the courtesy to answer the rude door-poundings immediately.
Supposing, instead, she had taken a quick moment to dress in greeting-clothes? Would that small delay have caused the cops to break down the front door and burst, like a paranoid army platoon, with arms and shouting in each of the elderly-lady’s rooms of the small San Antonio home?
What purpose, indeed, to require Ms. Martinez, 87-years old, to stand humiliated in her underwear before uniformed armed police of the State?
Intimidation.
This humiliation of a civil rights leader is part of the humiliation of the State of Texas.
This is the same proud Lone-Star State of Texas that builds a barbed-wire drowning-trap in the Rio Grande to catch and drown a mom and her little child that does nothing to stop or even delay the child-handlers or drug-peddlers Governor Abbott parades as his excuse for tyranny against Latinos.
Now it extends to search and seizure of homes of elderly, Latino citizens.
So any pretext of “protection” ceases.
Naked power: Forcing an 87-year old woman who is honored by the community to stand in virtual undress before brutal uniformed, armed invaders of her home.
For the next hours, the police invaders turned upside down every drawer — including underwear and wash — disrupting, even seizing, all of her papers and phones.
For a half-hour, the police made the underwear-clad but Grand Lady of 87-years stand outside to the glare and voyeuristic view of curious neighbors who gawk at police raiding Ms. Martinez’ garage and her living room.
In the end, the police have interrogated Ms. Martinez for fully three hours.
When the whirlwind has finally swept the house and taken with it the cops, Ms. Martinez, deprived of her calendar (with medical appointments!) and her iPhone, she sits bewildered in a house with her stuff and papers all over the floor.
Ms. Martinez had all telephone numbers on her iPhone.
As luck would have it, Ms. Martinez recalled one telephone number — that of a daughter.
Whom she called and who helped Ms. Martinez organize and who contacted all of Ms. Martinez family.
The saga continues, because the five victims of similar raids — at least three of the victims, including Ms. Martinez, were women over 60 — were all leaders in LULAC.
Leaders of LULAC called a news conference on Tuesday, 27 August 2024:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6sKkyEEnsQ
The main speakers included Roman Palomares, President, LULAC, Gabriel Rosales, State Director (LULAC), and, not least, the eloquent speech of Ms. Lidia Martinez, herself.
Mr. Palomares and Mr. Rosales recited a good deal of the history of the police and brutal tactics of State AG Paxton, much in the manner of the above narrative.
Both LULAC officials emphasized the fundamental right of the citizen to vote, and emphasized that all voter registration efforts by LULAC strictly comply with State Law of Texas.
Ms. Martinez in particular helped voters know where to obtain applications or ballots but did not handle or witness the documents, since her involvement was only informational.
But what was emphasized was that LULAC has made it a priority to engage the battle directly with the State Attorney General’s Office over the Office’s violation of Federal civil rights of LULAC leaders.
Accordingly, Mr. Ramon Palomares has lodged a complaint against the State Attorney General with Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice.
You can view the whole letter here:
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/files/lulacs-letter-to-doj.pdf
Particularly poignant is the narrative here:
The CNN report on the matter is damning of the State Attorney General, the Honorable Ken Paxton:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/26/us/texas-latino-voting-rights-investigation/index.html
Paxton has been accused of using intimidation tactics before.
He took up the voter fraud cause after President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, filing a federal lawsuit to overturn the results in four key swing states. The US Supreme Court threw that suit out and the State Bar of Texas sued Paxton in 2022 for misrepresenting claims of substantial voter fraud.
Earlier this year, Paxton took aim at an El Paso nonprofit that helps migrants, accusing it of facilitating illegal entry to the United States, alien harboring and human smuggling, before a judge halted his efforts to “run roughshod” over the group “without regard to due process or fair play,” the judge’s decision said.
He’s pursued the medical records of transgender youth – including those that some say are protected by patient privacy laws – seeking gender affirming care at out of state clinics.
And under the state’s strict abortion ban, he publicly named both a patient seeking an abortion and her doctor in an open letter threatening potential first degree felony prosecutions and civil penalties of $100,000.
At a news conference Monday outside the attorney general’s office in San Antonio, members of LULAC and Democratic activists condemned the raids and criticized Paxton for launching what they called a campaign of intimidation against Latino voters.
“Attorney General Paxton is using his position of authority to harass and intimidate Latino nonprofit organizations, Latino leaders, and LULAC members,” Palomares said. “This is point-blank voter intimidation, and LULAC will fight for the right of very Latino to exercise their right to vote.”
Those whose homes were raided included Cecilia Castellano, a Democrat running for a state House seat, as well as a 73-year-old woman and an 80-year-old woman, LULAC said. Castellano is one of 12 Latinos in three south Texas counties targeted by Paxton, according to LULAC.
“You don’t go after our grandmothers. You don’t go after our great-grandmothers,” said Domingo Garcia, another leader at LULAC. “And you don’t go after them because they are just trying to vote.”
Castellano told CNN’s Laura Coates on Monday night that her phone was taken during the search of her home.
“I was shocked. I’m still shocked. … I’m more mad because my son was a few feet away,” Castellano said.
As of this date, despite trampling on the human rights of five civil-rights leaders in the State, no charges or indictments against the five have issued. No charges have yet arisen out of the invasive searches and seizures.
There has been tremendous reporting from a variety of media on these shocking invasions of personal privacy protected by the U.S. Constitution.
High among those with reliable, well-written accounts include CNN’s Ashley Killough and Ed Lavendera, cited above, and not least, from the Texas Tribune, great reporting from Kayla Guo and Alejandro Serrano:
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/23/texas-ken-paxton-vote-fraud-investigation/
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/26/texas-latino-leaders-ken-paxton-voter-fraud/
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/24/ken-paxton-vote-harvesting-raid-lulac-cecilia-castellano/
https://www.texastribune.org/about/staff/kayla-guo/
https://www.texastribune.org/about/staff/alejandro-serrano/
And, from HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA – A Service of the University of Houston —
Other:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/25/us/texas-latinos-democrats-raids-paxton.html
LULAC, The League of United Latin American Citizens, believes if injustice affects one, it affects us all.
It is in that Spirit that I tell this story here.
This is outrageous. Thank you for bringing this to everyone’s attention. And I agree with Diane - the Harris campaign needs to read this. Paxton is a criminal and needs to be dealt with.
OMG. Paxton is an evil criminal and must be locked up. This needs to be stopped. Thank you for your work Armand. God bless Mrs. Martinez 💔
"LULAC is the League of United Latin American Citizens, which is the oldest civil rights organization under the umbrella of Latin Americans, having been founded in 1929.
https://lulac.org/
LULAC states that its objective is: Empowering Latinos at every level.
The Mission of the League of United Latin American Citizens is to advance the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, housing, health and civil rights of the Hispanic population of the United States.
AG Paxton readied the large team police squads for Tuesday Morning, 20 August 2024, at 6:00 AM to simultaneously raid the homes of five LULAC Leaders, including Ms. Martinez.
Ms. Martinez was awakened out of the fog of deep morning sleep by relentless pounding on her front door.
So, Ms. Martinez grabbed the first-available night robe and ran to her door, letting the visitors know she was coming.
Ms. Martinez was shocked to open her front door in the dark of the morning to no fewer than nine policemen (7 men, 2 women) in uniforms and armed with rifles.
The lead officer demanded to be let in.
Upon inquiry, the officer produced a search warrant.
Ms. Martinez asked why she was the subject of a search.
The officer replied that there were allegations of election fraud. Ms. Martinez had to scratch her head, and she asked if there were still issues lingering about a distant election, like 2012?
Ms. Martinez asked, since she was now hosting a squad of police in her home, could she change into day clothes.
The officer bluntly told Ms. Martinez she could not change.
One has to ask: Why cannot an 87-year-old woman even determine that she would present in dignified, day clothes. What compelling state concern required her to stand in her underwear?"