Burying the Dead and Community Division

Austinites came together at a fundraiser held to defray David Rivas Morales’s funeral expenses. Morales was beaten to death in an East Austin neighborhood holding a Juneteenth celebration while checking on Michael Hosea Jr. after he was hit by the car Morales was riding in.

Contributions of $5 provided participants with home-cooked chicken, potato salad, rice and other food in a take-out container. Generating massive community interest, the donated food continued being served up either until people stopped coming by or it was all gone.

Because Morales had a reputation for instinctively reaching out to anybody who needed help, Pete Castillo, an area resident, said his spirit was honored through tremendous citywide response to the event.

Castillo, I, and many other people had not personally known Morales. However, we were sincerely impressed by his prior documented acts of compassion in a society which is notoriously placing a premium on me-first. Unless you have money or fame, you are not regarded as ‘important’ by many other people outside of your own immediate circle of friends.

These family, friends, and the Austin Police Department have asked witnesses to describe Gonzales’s attackers so future attacks of this kind can be prevented.

On the night of the attack, other people were standing around in the general vicinity but did not intervene to stop the violence. The current reluctance of witnesses to supply evidence understandably continues to upset Morales’s family and hinder the police’s ability to improve community relations and bring the attackers to justice.

Undoubtedly stemming from historically rocky and/or non-existent relationships between the police and local citizens, this silence cannot ever revive Gonzales. It also realistically does not prevent other drivers from running over other people, however accidental.

It only ensures that this case remains unsolved, damaging new Police Chief Acevedo's ability to fulfill his promise of improved community relations, a promise which he made to neighborhoods who are charging that they have been underrepresented and profiled.

In a town where special events are commonplace, this memorial barbecue also stood out for another important reason. It offers up a powerful testament to the nay-sayers and skeptics that Texans can and do want to bridge across our racial and class differences. We are capable of thinking about people other than ourselves.

Our next test, therefore, will be ensuring that Morales’ spirit is honored every day through working towards a united Texas. Closing the wounds which facilitated violence in a community necessitates applying both the antiseptic of dialog and the bandages of improved community infrastructure.