Help Alex to get back on her feet
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Dear Friends and Family:
We are writing to ask for your help for our dear friend and colleague, Maria Alexandra Garcia. The recent months of mobilization against police violence has been an inspiration across the US and the world. Here in New York, the police have recently retaliated with a wave of arrests, violence and intimidation against activists, linked or not to recent protests. For many of us, this wave of repression hit close to our hearts with the police targeting of long-time activist, interpreter and scholar, Alexandra Garcia.
On Friday, December 19, the NYPD raided Alexandra's home, seized her personal possessions, and arrested her. Press, identifying her as Maria Garcia, has been particularly malicious around her arrest, with a wave of false and misleading news articles, including photographs of her and publishing her home address. Since, surrounded by loving friends, Alexandra has been trying to rebuild her life.
The police and district attorney falsely accuse Alexandra of being present during an anti-police brutality protest on the Brooklyn Bridge on December 13th. She denies the allegations and will fight through the court process to vindicate her claim. Our support for her, however, is not reducible to innocence, and extends to others targeted by police. She is a part of the larger racial justice movement that has spoken out against the failure to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner and the systemic racism involved in police brutality against people of color in New York City and across the United States. Even though she was not present at the December 13th march, she is being targeted as a part of a larger strategy to stifle the protest movement that is advancing a conversation about race and the criminal justice system in the US to the mainstream.
We have known Alex for many years through organizing farmworkers, as an organizaer for ACORN and New York Communities for Change, or as an interpreter for the social justice movement. You may also know her through her work at El Museo del Barrio and The Queens Museum, where Alex uses cultural production, community events, and network building as a way to organize Latino communities in East Harlem and Corona and create a network of support for immigrant families.
For those of you who don’t know Alex, she is a smart, warm, and deeply kind person who touches the people that she meets with her passionate enthusiasm and inspirational commitment to both her work, and the social justice movement at large. She is a part of our community, and is always willing to offer her support and experience to fight against the many injustices around her, and to support others in doing the same.
We need your help to make up the considerable financial costs Alexandra faces in rebuilding her life. With the press publication of her address, she is seeking a new apartment. The seizure of her computer and camera prevented her from completing her final papers, a semester's work, delaying her receiving her prestigious fellowship. She faces many other personal expenses in the coming months as a result of this ongoing legal case. She is being represented pro bono by the Criminal Defense Clinic of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, allowing us to put contributions towards Alexandra’s other expenses, rather than legal fees. This money will go towards Alexandra’s personal expenses as she rebuilds her life, including purchasing a computer, paying for a new apartment, and covering regular living expenses until she receives her next fellowship payment.
We are asking you, as a member of Alexandra’s extended communities, political circles, and progressive movements, to make a generous contribution to her expenses. Please donate as much as you are able for Alexandra’s expenses at http://www.gofundme.com/helpalexgarcia, and forward this appeal on to others.
I thank you for your support.
Solidarity,
Alex's Friends
We are writing to ask for your help for our dear friend and colleague, Maria Alexandra Garcia. The recent months of mobilization against police violence has been an inspiration across the US and the world. Here in New York, the police have recently retaliated with a wave of arrests, violence and intimidation against activists, linked or not to recent protests. For many of us, this wave of repression hit close to our hearts with the police targeting of long-time activist, interpreter and scholar, Alexandra Garcia.
On Friday, December 19, the NYPD raided Alexandra's home, seized her personal possessions, and arrested her. Press, identifying her as Maria Garcia, has been particularly malicious around her arrest, with a wave of false and misleading news articles, including photographs of her and publishing her home address. Since, surrounded by loving friends, Alexandra has been trying to rebuild her life.
The police and district attorney falsely accuse Alexandra of being present during an anti-police brutality protest on the Brooklyn Bridge on December 13th. She denies the allegations and will fight through the court process to vindicate her claim. Our support for her, however, is not reducible to innocence, and extends to others targeted by police. She is a part of the larger racial justice movement that has spoken out against the failure to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner and the systemic racism involved in police brutality against people of color in New York City and across the United States. Even though she was not present at the December 13th march, she is being targeted as a part of a larger strategy to stifle the protest movement that is advancing a conversation about race and the criminal justice system in the US to the mainstream.
We have known Alex for many years through organizing farmworkers, as an organizaer for ACORN and New York Communities for Change, or as an interpreter for the social justice movement. You may also know her through her work at El Museo del Barrio and The Queens Museum, where Alex uses cultural production, community events, and network building as a way to organize Latino communities in East Harlem and Corona and create a network of support for immigrant families.
For those of you who don’t know Alex, she is a smart, warm, and deeply kind person who touches the people that she meets with her passionate enthusiasm and inspirational commitment to both her work, and the social justice movement at large. She is a part of our community, and is always willing to offer her support and experience to fight against the many injustices around her, and to support others in doing the same.
We need your help to make up the considerable financial costs Alexandra faces in rebuilding her life. With the press publication of her address, she is seeking a new apartment. The seizure of her computer and camera prevented her from completing her final papers, a semester's work, delaying her receiving her prestigious fellowship. She faces many other personal expenses in the coming months as a result of this ongoing legal case. She is being represented pro bono by the Criminal Defense Clinic of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, allowing us to put contributions towards Alexandra’s other expenses, rather than legal fees. This money will go towards Alexandra’s personal expenses as she rebuilds her life, including purchasing a computer, paying for a new apartment, and covering regular living expenses until she receives her next fellowship payment.
We are asking you, as a member of Alexandra’s extended communities, political circles, and progressive movements, to make a generous contribution to her expenses. Please donate as much as you are able for Alexandra’s expenses at http://www.gofundme.com/helpalexgarcia, and forward this appeal on to others.
I thank you for your support.
Solidarity,
Alex's Friends
Organizer
Gonzalo Casals
Organizer
Jackson Heights, NY
