This press release was just sent to me a couple of hours ago, and I'm still crying:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS CONFERENCE
Sunday, April 9, 2006
12:00 p.m.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
710 S. Sultana Ave., Ontario, CA 91761
Louise Corales, whose 14 year-old son, Anthony Soltero, died on April 1 after committing suicide, will speak to the community and ask for a prayer for her son this Sunday, following the 11:00 a.m. mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Ontario, California.
Eighth grader Anthony Soltero shot himself on Thursday, March 30, after the assistant principal at De Anza Middle School told him that he was going to prison for three years because of his involvement as an organizer of the March 28 school walk-outs to protest the anti-immigrant legislation in Washington. The vice principal also forbade Anthony from attending graduation activities and threatened to fine his mother for Anthony's truancy and participation in the student protests.
"Anthony was learning about the importance of civic duties and rights in his eighth grade class. Ironically, he died because the vice principal at his school threatened him for speaking out and exercising those rights," Ms. Corales said today. "I want to speak out to other parents, whose children are attending the continuing protests this week. We have to let the schools know that they can't punish our children for exercising their rights."
Anthony's death is likely the first fatality arising from the protests against the immigration legislation being considered in Washington, D.C. Anthony, who was a very good student at De Anza Middle School in the Ontario-Montclair School District, believed in justice and was passionate about the immigration issue. He is survived by his mother, Louise Corales, his father, a younger sister, and a baby brother.
Ms. Corales will speak to the community after mass on Sunday, April 9, 2006 at 12:00 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. She will ask for a prayer for Anthony, whose funeral and burial are scheduled for Monday, April 10 in Long Beach, where he was born..
I talked to the family representative, and he is fielding a lot of press calls right now - this looks like it will be a pretty big story by the beginning of the week.
Let's hope that no more of our children are threatened by school officials for exercising their first amendment rights.
*UPDATE* - I did not post this story to be a flame war about who is responsible, who should be strung up, or why or if anyone could have prevented this. No one needs to be called or e-mailed right now.
Please respect that a child died, and if this community can send healing thoughts and prayers, I'm sure it would be most appreciated by the family.
And if you are so inclined, feel free to send cards of condolence and/or flowers to the church for Sunday:
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
710 S. Sultana Ave., Ontario, CA 91761
2nd UPDATE: I understand concerns people might have about the veracity of this press release - I did not see anything on the internet, but I did talk to a family representative who did not give me the impression that this is fake.
In light of concerns that some of you might have, I would suggest unrecommending this diary - go to the right and hit the same button you hit to recommend. Also, if you e-mail me, I will send you the e-mail addressof the person who sent out the press release, so you can do your own verification.
Again, it is not my intention or desire to decieve anyone, nor do I feel that is the intention of the person who put out the release.