The phrase “I can understand Spanish, but I can’t speak it” is uttered often in the Rio Grande Valley. This is not the case just for Winter Texans and other people visiting, but for people who’ve lived here their whole lives as well. Read about what some of the English monolingual twenty percent of the RGV population experience in a majority bilingual community.
The problem of abuse within policing and the larger prison system has been a prevalent force historically. The combination of a culture of impudent behavior and complicity, and an alleged government coverup were the standout characteristics in the case of the “animals” of the McAllen PD, which garnered national attention.
One thing Juan Carlos Lopez remembers about growing up during the ’80s in McAllen, Texas, was the lack of ramps. Lopez uses a wheelchair and recalls that many of his childhood experiences were limited by the inaccessible built environment of public spaces such as parks.
In 2020, the Center for Disease Control released data showing that overall HIV rates in the United States had gone down by 6%, but for Latinx people, in particular, rates increased by 14%. And while in the state of Texas, rates have usually been higher in San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston, the Rio Grande Valley follows right after.
Open air markets gained popularity because of the COVID-19 restrictions placed on indoors spaces. They became a lifeline for many but now the City of McAllen is cracking down on these temporary events. Read more on how vendors are organizing to have their voices heard.
The transgender community has been oppressed by society for decades and even in 2022, the challenges they face seem unrelenting. At just the start of the year in February, Texas governor Gregg Abbott ordered that families and providers of children seeking gender-affirming care be criminalized and investigated, which was then followed by 15 other states with similar agendas.
The lack of transparency by local governments and negative impacts on the surrounding natural ecosystems and endangered wildlife are but a few ways in which Space X has ensured a legacy of recolonization of the RGV.
Trucha in support and collaboration with GENTex, RGV Trans Closet, and South Texas Equality Project (STEP) launched a campaign to “Give Transphobia the Boot and Protect Trans Youth!” Read more about the campaign and how to support!
For the past 16 years, federal border authorities have deployed surveillance and policing technologies along the U.S.-Mexico border in an attempt to “strengthen” border security. Nicknamed the “smart wall”, this digital barrier is composed of a variety of experimental tools including robot dogs, aerial drones, sensors, surveillance towers…
One day, it was just there: Elon Musk’s face set against the planet Mars, looking out over downtown Brownsville like a cowboy ready to lift the Rio Grande Valley up by its bootstraps. The original commission had only asked for the red planet emblazoned with the name of the SpaceX photography show, “Boca Chica to Mars,” at the Livery Gallery next door, but adding Musk was all Pop Culture.
