Dear friends and supporters, February 1, 2010, was a
remarkable day. Gabriel ‘s re-sentencing happened at last and the
outcome was a dream come true. A death sentence commuted to Life, with
the possibility of parole. Goodbye to death row and the threat of
execution! This in itself is the greatest happiness for Gabriel and his
wife Carolina, for all of us! But beyond the joy is the need to focus
on the next step. He now has just one year, as from the first, to
prepare a new appeal which will give him the chance to be exonerated.
Now, more than ever, Gabriel needs your donations as soon as possible.
Over the next three months we have to find $25,000 (and that’s just a
start!) so his lawyer can get to work.
For once, the State of Texas did the
right thing. Now it’s up to us to make sure Gabriel gets what he really
deserves. Please donate! The fight goes on! In solidarity, Bev Allan
1- Donate anything you can to Gabriel's Defense Fund 2- Buy "From Death to Life" poetry book by Gabriel: book@gabrielgonzalez.net 3- Host a fund-raising event
For questions, comments, or ideas contact: ontherise@gabrielgonzalez.net
You may wash your hands In my blood But will that cleanse your slate of anguish? Who prescribed death as a balm for your wounded heart? I am a mother’s child A loving father and husband How can killing me make you feel better? How does killing me differ from Killing in general? By Gabriel Gonzalez
"FIRST THEY CAME FOR THE COMMUNIST,
AND I DIDN'T SPEAK UP, BECAUSE I WASN'T A COMMUNITS.
THEN THEY CAME FOR THE TRADE UNIONIST,
AND I DIDN'T SPEAK UP, BECAUSE I WASN'T A TRADE UNIONIST.
AND THEN THEY CAME FOR THE JEWS,
BUT I DIDN'T SPEAK UP BECAUSE I WASN'T A JEW.
AND THEN...THEY CAME FOR ME...
...AND BY THAT TIME THERE WAS NO ONE LEFT TO SPEAK UP."
ABOUT ME, GABRIEL:
I grew up in arun-down, poverty-stricken neighborhood, where gangs, drugs, prostitution and violence were created by social injustice. A place where I had no role models.I had no parental guidance in my life. Drug lord’s gang members looked for and targeted children like me. A place where one develops a false sense of manhood and lives in a perpetual state of fear.
Once veiled by ignorance, my destructive actions were but reflex actions to a hostile social order. Due to this blinding veil of ignorance, the social order of things,though hostile, appeared in no way unnatural to me.
I was born and raised seeing only this reality. Never was I admonished that I was born into a predetermined set of social circumstances, arranged by oppressive forces, and devised to make prison and death row the likely fate of the Latino child. Thus,without awareness I was on a track fated for my current confinement: Texas Death Row.
Fourteen years ago San Antonio County placed me on death row for a crime I did not commit!
There I sat,young, unconscious, and with no idea of where I was or where I was going. That was a decade ago. Today, I can hold my head high and say to the world, “I have embraced the gates of manhood and I am no longer that young, unconscious individual who was sent to death row so long ago under pretentious,controversial, unprecedented circumstances”.
While wrongfully convicted and sentenced to die, I have utilized my time as a beneficially as possible via study: Social, Political, Spiritual and Cultural awareness and implementation, introspection, recognition of mistakes and misconceptions of manhood.
I am a Latino father of three and a husband to a wife who I love more than anything. I am a prison activist involved in many social causes. I’m a poet and artist. I love to read and write. I spend most of my time writing, reading and seeking to extend myself beyond the limitations of this cruel and unusual confinement of isolation, sensory deprivation, and physical and psychological abuse.
They can confine my body, but not my MIND and SOUL.
Solidarity,Action and Transformation
Gabriel Gonzalez
TO CONTACT GABRIEL DIRECTLY, WRITE:
Gabriel Gonzalez # 521992 Bexar County Jail 200 N. Comal San Antonio, TX 78207 USA
OR E-MAIL HIS WEBMASTER AT: ontherise@gabrielgonzalez.net
Please have in mind that due his new status Gabriel will be transferred to a new facility soon.
