Houston mural highlights Americans detained abroad
HOUSTON - Independence Day in Houston was marked with the unveiling of a new mural that calls attention to Americans being detained in foreign countries, and denied their freedom. The project is sponsored, in part, by WNBA player Brittney Griner, who was detained in Russia for nearly 10 months.
For drivers heading into downtown, on Westheimer, through the Montrose neighborhood, the collection of 15 faces, staring back from the side of a building, are hard to miss. That's the point.
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The Bring Our Families Home campaign is a collection of dozens of families, with loved ones being held in foreign lands on, often, dubious charges. Among them, well-known Houston activists Marc and Debra Tice, who fight for their son, journalist Austin Tice, to be released from 11 years of captivity in Syria. But there are so many others.
Meera Shahin stands under the mural with her fiancé Joshua Karam, and just wants her father home, "We're getting married in 18 days, and my dream is to have my father walk me down the aisle."
Houston businessman Zack Shahin has been held for 15 years in Dubai, convicted of financial crimes that international investigators have found baseless.
Meera says these shared experiences of other families are powerful.
"We were fighting the fight for so long by ourselves, and getting to meet these other families, we have a sense of hope and strength that we're not fighting alone anymore," she says.
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Kay and Frank Denman are the parents of Luke Denman. The former Green Beret from Austin who was caught up in a plot to overthrow Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in 2020. As questions remain about Denman's arrest and imprisonment, his parents have become focused on the fight for his release.
"I wish I could let each one of these people know how much we care about where they are and what we're doing for them," says Kay.
"The mural is part of the fight to amplify the voices and concerns of families who live with the absence of loved ones, on a day that freedom is celebrated," says artist Isaac Campbell.
"We need the people of Texas to feel connected to this issue, because it's a Texas issue; it's an American issue. What better way to connect to the issue, than to look directly into the eyes of the folks who are currently being held hostage," he says.
When Houstonians see the faces staring back at them, families hope the mural is met with demands that these Americans come home.
To learn more about Bring Our Families Home, click here.