Editor,
I am writing to respond to James Burbank's letter in Friday's Daily Lobo. I am interested in knowing the source of his information about Justice For All.
An article published in August on the Justice For All Web site appears to contradict some of the key points Burbank put forth. Justice For All staff members do not get paid a salary, but raise their own support, typically by asking people they know to give them money to allow them to do their work. Similarly, Justice For All does not have a semi-truck to transport the display. Rather, they use a pickup truck to tow a utility trailer.
The barriers they use to surround the display are homemade. Likewise, to keep costs to a minimum, Justice For All staff members try to stay in private homes and ask for meals from churches in the area to feed them while they are at an event.
Justice For All is not a large organization. A phone call to their office confirmed they currently have six staff members. When Justice For All is invited to a campus, there are many volunteers from the area who help to set up and take down the display as well as talk to the people who choose to engage the display. That doesn't sound like an organization funded by the very wealthy, but more like a grass-roots organization funded by many small donations.
Even if Justice For All is funded by very wealthy people, do wealthy people not have the right to free speech through financial support of organizations they value? Otherwise, wouldn't that be censorship based on economic status?
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Ivan Wang
UNM staff
