Press release: Brownsville Environmental Activist Faces Trial for Anti-SpaceX Graffiti Charge

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Monday, August 21, 2023 

Contact: freergvbekah@gmail.com

Brownsville Environmental Activist Faces Trial for Anti-SpaceX Graffiti Charge

BROWNSVILLE, TX – Today, about a dozen Rio Grande Valley residents, all wearing green, gathered inside the Cameron County Courthouse-Judicial Building with banners and signs supporting Brownsville environmental activist Bekah Hinojosa. They urged the court to drop the politically-motivated Class B Misdemeanor charge against Hinojosa. Inside courtroom 5, Ms. Hinojosa and her attorney Sara Stapleton-Barrera appeared before the Judge and requested a trial by jury. The Judge set the trial date for November 13, 2023. 

Hinojosa and supporters are outraged that she has been the subject of unjust and overly zealous actions by Brownsville police and now former Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez, due to her vocal opposition and activism against Elon Musk’s SpaceX project. Last year, Hinojosa was violently arrested by Brownsville police who broke into her home, took away her prescription glasses, and imprisoned her for 26 hours, all on the basis of a single alleged charge of graffiti that read “gentrified / stop spacex” below the controversial “BTX” mural in downtown Brownsville. Shortly after her release, Brownsville’s Mayor Trey Mendez took the extraordinary step of publishing Hinojosa’s mugshot on his official Facebook page, a move community members have described as doxxing. In Mayor Mendez’s post, he also published the name of Hinojosa’s employer in a malicious attempt to harm her ability to earn a living. 

“For the last year, our community has taken action by delivering over 2,000 petitions, making public comments at city meetings, and packing the courthouse to urge the District Attorney and the City of Brownsville to drop the charge against me. We demand that our elected officials stop targeting me and address the serious issues in our community, like the SpaceX industry threatening our environment and skyrocketing housing costs,” Bekah Hinojosa remarked to supporters at the rally outside the courthouse. 

“It is a scary day in our society when a person is targeted and treated in the way Bekah has been for their beliefs. We, the citizens of Cameron County, deserve better and will persevere in order to protect our rights,” Sara Stapleton-Barrera, Hinojosa’s attorney, added. 

Highlighting additional environmental and financial harms that SpaceX has inflicted on Brownsville and surrounding communities, leaders from the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas and other community members reiterated their support for dropping the charge against Ms. Hinojosa. At the conclusion of the rally, supporters delivered nearly 300 additional petitions to the District Attorney’s office, adding to over 2,000 petitions that have already been hand-delivered to ask Hinojosa’s charges be dropped.  

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