To protest CCA, or not to protest CCA

	CCA stands for Corrections Corporation of America, a Tennessee corporation and the current tenants at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center. The landlord to the property in Taylor, Texas, on the same area where the T. Don Hutto Residential Center is CCA Prison Realty Trust, a Maryland real estate investment trust. The lease agreement was signed on July 18, 1997, between the two parties and expires on July 17, 2009. The annual rent is $2,541,000.00 for the area at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center. Notice the CCA T. Don Hutto Residential Center sign outside the private property line. It takes great pride in its abbreviation of CCA before the T. Don Hutto Residential Center name. If I was able to find the lease agreement online, what else can we find out about CCA? On Saturday, May 24th 2008, many roadblocks were set so that we could get lost in Taylor, Texas. In trying to reach the T. Don Hutto Residential Center, a railroad filled with railroad cars blocked Sloan St. to get to Welch St. where the demonstration was at. We had to figure out how to get there by crossing a highway bridge and going through the backsteets of cornfield mazes. This obstacle was intent by the people in Taylor, Texas, who don't want us there. The next physical barrier was this white van who blocking the main entrance to the parking lot of the T. Don Hutto Residential Center. Inside this van was CCA guards who were videotaping us as if we were being watched by the FBI. The obstruction with this van blocked the entrance to where people entered and exited the building. This is why I decided to picket outside the concrete area entrance and walk along the grass with my protest signs along a 150 foot distance parallel to the facility. It makes no sense that we block the area where vehicles come and go, even though our numbers bunched up together to antagonize the white van. Something told me that the picket line was out of the question. To protest without being told by authorities to leave their private property or being arrested is to keep moving in a picket line on public sidewalk. I think I blazed a new public sidewalk as I protested outside from 1pm to 5pm in the hot sun. My family was with me as well. I read about the right to picket in an ACLU handbook at one time at UTSA, its policies and procedures for showing public demonstrations due to past cases the ACLU investigated. I did not correct anybody cause everyone is entitled to free speech, and if they felt in their heart to defy CCA, then so be it. I was told by Lulac members not to antagonize the CCA guards, as if their advice will help me in the long run. I don't antagonize, I make a point. To protest or not to protest is the question. I once believed that many people would change and help the common people if given a high position in an organization for civil rights. This is not the case for the National Treasurer of Lulac, Jaime Martinez who has a union background with the IUE. How naive can a man be for accepting funds from CCA for who knows for how long, and still be protesting CCA T. Don Hutto Residential Center? The greatest act of protest against CCA is give the thousands of dollars back that was given to National Lulac by CCA. How much are we talking about? An indistinctive amount was given to National Lulac throughout the years. In 2007, Jaime Martinez emailed people saying he is returning the check back to CCA. Who knows if this is true or not? His photo was found at the National Lulac website, but not the CCA funds that were donated to National Lulac. To accept funds or not accept funds is the question. We all know too well the outspoken Latin woman Rosa Rosales, President of National Lulac. It was her who inspired me to get involved with children being detained at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center. I read an article in the San Antonio Current in which she went to Taylor, Texas, in 2006, where she went during the Christmas holidays to deliver toys for the children being detained. Now, it is May 2008 and National Lulac needs to draft up a resolution to protest CCA, and give back all the blood money to CCA from the previous years. Not one penny less, nor one penny short. It would really help bring back National Lulac's image and its respect back to them. I can't make a case any stronger than what I am saying; however, people in power have limited power and have to wait till their national conventions or board meetings. To give back every penny, or not give back the last penny is the question.