About
Mission Statement
We (Poets Against Walls collective) reassert and reaffirm an intersectional commitment to ending bordered divisions, those we can see and feel around, within, and between each other. Since our founding in 2017, our collective efforts counter destructive and toxic national narratives that further militarize our communities. Our work centers Borderlands voices, particularly here in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where we live. We celebrate borderland LGBTQIA+ writers and join efforts to dismantle homophobia/ biphobia/transphobia within and beyond our communities.
As a collective, we center Black, Indigenous, and People of Color voices for this necessary work as we continue to denounce border militarization, “migra” violence, family separations, femicide, and discrimination as we speak more forcefully against anti-Blackness, particularly within our predominately Mexican American/ Latinx community and beyond it. We support Indigenous Sovereignty and the original Native peoples of the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, and everywhere.
As a collective, we center Black, Indigenous, and People of Color voices for this necessary work as we continue to denounce border militarization, “migra” violence, family separations, femicide, and discrimination as we speak more forcefully against anti-Blackness, particularly within our predominately Mexican American/ Latinx community and beyond it. We support Indigenous Sovereignty and the original Native peoples of the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, and everywhere.
Team
César L. de León
César L. de León is one of four poet-organizers for Poets Against Walls. His work has appeared in Queen Mob’s Tea House, Pilgrimage, The Acentos Review, La Bloga, and the anthologies Pulse/Pulso: In Remembrance of Orlando, Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands, Dreaming: A Tribute to Selena Quintanilla-Perez among others. He has received awards from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. Cesar’s first collection of poems speaking with grackles by soapberry trees is forthcoming from FlowerSong press in the spring of 2021.
Celina A. Gomez
Celina A. Gomez is one of four poet-organizers for Poets Against Walls. She is a performance poet and educator who coaches performance poetry to young people. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and a graduate certificate in Mexican American Studies. She has performed and won performance competitions published in various anthologies and journals, and participated as a panelist in multiple poetry conferences and festivals. She is a native of the Rio Grande Valley.
Emmy Pérez
Emmy Pérez is the author of With the River on Our Face and Solstice. She served as Texas Poet Laureate in 2020. For her full bio, please
visit her website
visit her website
César L. de León
César L. de León is one of four poet-organizers for Poets Against Walls. His work has appeared in Queen Mob’s Tea House, Pilgrimage, The Acentos Review, La Bloga, and the anthologies Pulse/Pulso: In Remembrance of Orlando, Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands, Dreaming: A Tribute to Selena Quintanilla-Perez among others. He has received awards from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. Cesar’s first collection of poems speaking with grackles by soapberry trees is forthcoming from FlowerSong press in the spring of 2021.
