The following articles, written in 1997 and 2000, are a tribute
to Demetria Martinez and her life craft. Martinez book, Mother
Tongue, documented the reasons at the foundation of the
Sanctuary Movement, founded in Tucson. They Hang Poets Don't
They "Silencing the Mother Tongue" By Brenda Norrell When
Demetria Martinez was on trial, charged with administering
illegal assistance to El Salvadoran women at the United States
border, her poetry was used against her in court. The trauma
silenced the voice of the writer. Acquitted on first amendment
grounds, Martinez later attended a poetry reading which
unleashed a new voice within. It was El Salvadoran refugee Jose
Luis, fleeing torture in his homeland. The book became the
award-winning "Mother Tongue." When ten women were hanged in
Iran for refusing to recant their belief in the Baha'i Faith, to
deny their belief in the oneness of God, religion and humanity,
Khomeini's Revolutionary Guards hoped to silence their voices.
Instead, the noose that brought an end to th