Breakin' Walls - Show Your Support!

Breaking Walls

“ empowering our youth ”

Graffiti Art Showdown

September 15, 2006

1416 E Commerce @ 6pm to 10pm

$5.00 includes Barbeque Plate

Music and Break-dancing by

DJ Dish1 and the B-BOYS

“ Breaking Border Walls ”

The time is near for the first Border Social Forum and we want your participation in this important event taking place in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua on Oct. 13-15, 2006. With a backdrop of over 400 brutal assassinations of working young women and the rampant militarization of the US-Mexico border, the Border Social Forum will be an ‘open space’ for youth, that allows discussion of social justice issues in your community and region. Break the walls of injustice! ‘Another world is necessary and with you it is possible’.

For Tickets and Info Contact: Sandra or Monica

210-299-2666 e: monica@igc.org or ylo myspace

Gobernadores Escuchan Estamos en la Lucha!

Perry: Governors share 'common border, common future'

U.S.-Mexico leaders vow to expand trade while securing the border

By Juan Castillo
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, August 25, 2006

In two languages, leaders of U.S. and Mexico border states embraced one vision Thursday, pledging at the 24th Border Governors Conference at the Texas Capitol to develop mutually beneficial policies to enhance border security and economic development.

"We are bound together not only by a common border but a common future," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said at the conference's opening ceremonies in the Senate chamber.

Perry, flanked by the leaders of eight other U.S.-Mexico border states, said the governors face new challenges in a new era.

"We can't return to a Sept. 10 mind-set in the face of a continuing threat from a determined enemy without a total commitment to our security," Perry said.

"While we have great sympathy for the migrants who come here for economic purpose, and indeed we welcome that they come in accordance with our immigration laws, it would be both naive and dangerous to believe there are not also those who come here to cause us great harm," he said.

Later, Juan Bosco Marti, head of North American affairs for Mexico's foreign secretary, said the United States and Mexico share responsibilities to strengthen border security and reduce illegal immigration.

"Let me stress that Mexico in no way encourages illegal immigration," said Marti, adding that his country is making strides to stimulate its economy so that its citizens don't have to migrate north.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the lone conference member absent Thursday, is expected to join the second day of meetings today.

Governors and their staffs are conducting most of their business in meetings closed to the public and news media.

McAllen Mayor Ricardo Cortez, who participated in one of those meetings Thursday as a representative of a coalition of border mayors and county judges, said the group called on governors to work for policies that do not harm commerce, the border's lifeblood.

"We believe it's critically important to have border security, but you can't choose border security at the expense of just breaking down all the economics that's been built on the border," Cortez said.

Also at Thursday's ceremonies, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff hailed recent border security crackdowns, which he said had dramatically reduced illegal immigration from Mexico.

Chertoff spoke the day after declaring an end to a so-called catch-and-release policy of illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico. The policy had been blamed on a lack of detention beds.

Earlier, under a blistering sun, about 30 protesters stood on the south steps of the Capitol, chanting and holding signs, including one that read, "No to the Criminalization of Immigrants."

Demonstrator Che Lopez said the governors were crafting policies that create "a low-intensity war against migrants, against working-class people that are trying to make a living in the United States."

And as the governors neared the close of their day, more than 100 protesters lined the sidewalk across from the rear entrance of the Governor's Mansion.

Genaro Rendón of San Antonio, co-director of the Southwest Workers Union, said the conference has excluded the voices of people who would emphasize economic issues rather than increasing militarization of the border.

"It's a runaround getting the voices and real participation of communities in this," he said.

An hour into the protest, one protester followed a counter-demonstrator north across 12th Street, saying in Spanish: "Out, out, out, you jerk." Once the pair reached the north side of the street, the counterdemonstrator pulled out a tear gas canister and pointed it at the protester, who ran back across the street.

The counterdemonstrator, holding an American flag on a wooden pole, declined to identify himself. He acknowledged wielding the tear gas, saying the protester had called him a racist.

"I'm not a racist," the man said. "I'm a patriot."

Rebecca Forest of Austin, among fewer than 10 counterdemonstrators, said that Americans need to realize that citizens are "being raped, murdered, stabbed and assaulted by people here illegally. Not all of them are coming here to work."

Earlier in the day, other protesters had gathered outside a fundraiser for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, rallying against what they called political corruption.

Two Different Groups Discuss Border Issues

Great job everyone...

Here is a link to CBS news in Austin about the Alternative Border Conference:

Watch the Video

Two Different Groups Discuss Border Issues
Aug 23, 2006 10:11 pm US/Central

Keith Elkins
Reporting

(CBS 42) AUSTIN There are two different conferences underway discussing issues affecting the U.S-México border.

Governor Rick Perry’s official border conference is closed to the public and another in East Austin is being sponsored by grassroots coalitions begging the public to attend.

The two conferences are about as different as the people who attended each event.

At the Capitol, governors from 10 border states are meeting behind closed doors for the next few days with border security topping their list of concerns. While the alternative border conference attendees are speaking out for human dignity, equality and respect.

While border governors huddle under the granite dome discussing ways to stem the flow of illegal immigration, and better protect our borders from potential terrorists, different concerns and priorities are being voiced across town.

Community group leaders from many of the same border states have converged on East Austin talking about human rights.

They say the real issues should be health care, education and a lack of suitable living conditions, not more military muscle and what they call racist prosecution of those who get caught.

“This is a chance for people all over those states, which is California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas, to hear what is really happening at the community level with the whole issue of immigration,” said Susana Almanza with People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources.

Governor Perry disagrees calling border security everyone's top priority.

“We can't sit here and wait for Washington to act while we have drugs being smuggled across the border, kidnappings, murder and extortion--other violent crimes that are being committed on our citizens," Perry said.

About the only thing the two groups seem to agree on is that building a 2,000 mile wall or fence to try and keep people out would be a waste of time and money.

Alternative conference members have requested a chance to meet with the border governors at the Capitol to present their issues for consideration, but so far say they have heard no response to their request. But they say they refuse to be silenced and have scheduled a news conference and outdoor rally for Thursday afternoon. They say they are determined to add their voice to the discussions as well.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Border Communities Demand Justice

Grassroots organizations from the southwest US and northern states of Mexico affiliated with the Southwest Network for Environmental & Economic Justice converge to demand justice on both sides of the border at the2 ^nd Border Peoples Alternative Summit in Austin, Texas. Our letter to the governors:

August 23, 2006

Esteemed Governors:

While you are meeting behind closed doors, discussing the future of the border region, we, the people, communities, migrants, workers, and indigenous nations of the border are living with the devastating effects of the border policies that you support. We are the ones affected by your support of international trade agreements like NAFTA, the militarization of the border, and the criminalization of immigrants. These policies don’t work! We demand an end to band-aid approaches to much more fundamental problems. Your so-called solutions have brought nothing but death, environmental disasters, and misery to our communities and workplaces. It is time you listened to the voice of the people, we live in these communities and we have something to say about how they should be run.

We, the 2^nd Border Peoples Alternative Summit, call on the 24^th Annual Border Governors Conference to pass resolutions calling for the following:

The removal of failed border enforcement policies known as Operations Gatekeeper, Hold the Line, Rio Grande, and Safeguard, which have included the construction of walls, stadium lights, drag roads, and checkpoints

• An end to the deaths of migrants along the U.S.-México border
• An immediate halt to the construction of walls between the U.S. and México
• The immediate removal of the U.S. National Guard from the U.S./México border
• An investigation of the effects of border enforcement policies on border communities, particularly from an environmental and health perspective
• The creation of an independent entity, with full investigatory powers, to look into allegations of abuse by law enforcement officials under the Department of Homeland Security
• An alternative to NAFTA that protects the environment, workers rights, and human rights

We appreciate the attention given to this document in hopes that these resolutions are included in the work of the working groups developed within the framework of the Border Governors Conference. We demand justice for the communities in the border region. With your support we can achieve it.

News Coverage
News 8 Austin
CBS 42 - Two different groups discuss border issues

Ramp May Reduce Traffic Snarls

Once again the Port Authority of San Antonio is using tax dollars to make unilateral decisions about the future of the Kelly community without their voices.

Michelle Mondo
Express-News Staff Writer

Construction on a new ramp connecting Frio City Road and General Hudnell Drive could begin in December now that an interlocal agreement between the city and Port Authority of San Antonio has been approved, according to Joe Saenz, director of engineering for the Port Authority.

The access ramp will connect from Quintana Road to eastbound General Hudnell Road, allowing greater access for truck traffic between Port San Antonio and the East Kelly Railport, which is being constructed by Titan Industries.

Saenz said without the ramp, schools, churches, businesses and residents on Cupples Road would have to deal with even more traffic congestion.

March 2008 is the estimated completion date, he said.

"The East Kelly Railport will be able to operate rail services without trucks carrying freight going through community streets," Saenz said.

The East Kelly Railport is a $35 million redevelopment project that the authority is hoping will turn the city into an international transportation distribution center.

The total cost of the ramp project is estimated at nearly $2.5 million. The authority will build the ramp and oversee bids, but the city will do the inspection and review the plans, according to City Council documents.

The agreement allows for a transfer of $1.9 million in capital improvement funds from District 4, Councilman Richard Perez said. The authority will pay the remaining $600,000 and reimburse the city a maximum of 7 percent of the construction costs for the work the city will do, including construction management assistance and the inspection, also according to City Council documents.

The ramp construction also will include work to address drainage problems at Quintana Road.

"I think the effect will be positive," Perez said. "It will cut down on truck traffic through the area."

Genaro Rendon with the Southwest Workers' Union, a grass-roots organization in the area, said the increase in traffic as a result of the railport will negatively affect the community regardless of the new ramp. He also said the community wants more input on such projects.

"I'm glad the city is investing money, but I question how," Rendon said "I think this is again the same situation we've been dealing with — resources are going into the Port Authority but our community is without sidewalks and has horrible drainage problems."

Perez said he understands the concerns of residents but added that the city has to weigh economic development with infrastructure improvements.

"We need to be able to provide job opportunities for our citizens so they can improve their quality of life," the councilman said.

"This coming budget there is an additional $10 million for streets and additional $3 million for sidewalks. I think we are hitting Genaro's priorities in the best way we can."

CONGRATS YLO GRADS!!

Ashley, Diana and Sandra graduated from the Youth Leadership Organization summer internship program. The youth, all from the neighborhoods near Kelly Air Force Base brought music, art and theatre to SWU events, creating 2 original plays and several songs. The YLO took charge of outreach and propoganda for the March for Community Lives and Conference Against Military Contamination and Militarism.

Thanks for all your hard work and dedication this summer.

Sandra's Reflection:

Hi, my name is Sandra. I am shy and scared of trying new things. So, when SWU-YLO went to my school to talk about what they do, I found it cool! I wasn't sure what they did, but, I was interested in finding out more information. When the internship started, I wasn't one of the interns. My friend Diana was an intern. She kept me informed, and told me what they were about. They talked to youth, and educated them in thier communities and how they can make a difference. She also informed me about the community I live in. Specifically, how Kelly AFB had been dumping toxic waste in the water and in the land for years. This is where I live! So I asked " Can I volunteer???" I was volunteering by Friday! It was a rush! I was so nervous, but excited.

My first protest was against Boeing and it's noise pollution against the neighboring community. What Boeing does, is that it test it's engines towards the community for about 45 minutes! Can you believe 5 planes a day, one after another!?! While we were protesting, five planes took off, and their engines were very loud. So, I understood that if they test each plane, and aim it towards the community, the sound is constant and makes the houses and the windows rattle. Later, after the protest, I practice for a play or Teatro, in which I would have to perform in a week in front of strangers! I immediately learned my lines. This is when I became an intern at SWU. I was able to perform in front of youth and more than 100 people from around the world.Scared of forgetting my lines, I imagined other things. Phew.. I told my self that was one busy week!

It had slowed down in the office, but that didn't slow me down! I had just completed one week with SWU, when they told me I was going to Cd. Juarez in Chih. Mexico, for the Border Social Forum meeting. It was a new experience for me. I had never been anywere that took longer than 3 hours. I am now a member of the Youth Organizing Committee in Cd. Juarez! Wow! When I went back to San Antonio from Cd. Juarez, a day later I went to Austin, for a Border Governor's meeting with an organization named PODER. I was excited tomeet other youth!

I graduated as a youth intern on Friday, but it's not over for me! I will continue to organize with SWU-YLO! Talk about trying new things! Iam no longer afraid... I can act and so can YOU!

YLO myspace

Blinded with science: news report validates neighborhood concerns

Blinded With Science By: Gilbert Garcia San Antonio Current For nearly two decades, residents of the so-called "toxic triangle" surrounded by the former Kelly Air Force Base have insisted that their illnesses were caused by chemical contaminants used at the military facility. On July 27, a 379-page report issued by the National Research Council on the dangers of trichloroethene (TCE) provided residents with their strongest ammunition yet in a long, wearying battle over the correct interpretation of complex environmental research data. The NRC, an arm of the nonprofit advisory group the National Academies, entered the fray only after Defense Department officials blocked a 2001 draft risk assessment by the Environmental Protection Agency. At the time, the EPA was prepared to raise its estimate of TCE's carcinogenic threat, and to lower the acceptable amount of TCE in drinking water from five-parts to one-part per- billion. The Defense Department raised questions about the reliability of the EPA's findings, and the NRC was brought in as a kind of scientific mediator, to provide an objective analysis of research on the hazards posed by TCE. The NRC did not conduct any research experiments of their own, but by examining data from the EPA, and by incorporating some crucial post-2001 findings, they affirmed a conclusion that the EPA had made five years earlier: TCE is a health threat that must be taken seriously. For Kelly-area residents, who honor neighborhood cancer victims by placing purple crosses in their front yards ["Containment Policy," June 28-July 4, 2006], the NRC report merely emphasizes the need for the Air Force to clean up the plume of contaminated groundwater flowing beneath more than 20,000 homes. "In light of these new findings, we see it as even more important to ensure that we get a real cleanup in the community and address the levels of TCE to make sure they're cleaned up to under one-part-per billion," says Jill Johnston, environmental justice organizer for the Southwest Workers' Union. "It's important that the remediation plans of the Air Force don't just build concrete walls around the problem. We've got to get the toxins out of the community, and we've got to do it even more expediently, because the dangers are real." “In light of these new findings, we see it as even more important to ensure that we get a real cleanup in the community, and address the levels of TCE.” — Jill Johnston, Environmental-Justice Organizer for the Southwest Worker's Union Both the Southwest Workers' Union and the Air Force Real Property Agency quickly responded to the NRC's report. On August 2, the SWU organized a press conference and protested outside the AFRPA's offices, demanding a speedy TCE cleanup. That same day, the AFRPA heralded the progress of its remediation efforts, issuing a press release that concluded: "The Air Force is very satisfied with the progress of the cleanup program at the former Kelly and proud to be a partner in the redevelopment of this area in Southwest San Antonio." While the NRC's report provides a sense of validation for Kelly-area environmental advocates, the very existence of the report illustrates the maddeningly slow nature of the remediation process, and what some residents see as deliberate foot-dragging on the part of the federal government. If the Defense Department had not stymied the EPA five years ago, stricter federal standards for TCE would already be in place. Even if the EPA responds to the NRC's report with great urgency, as EPA officials insist they will, the Pentagon has bought crucial cleanup time for its military bases, which routinely used TCE as a degreaser to clean equipment. While the Air Force has accepted responsibility for the presence of TCE and other chemicals in the toxic triangle, their solutions have often relied on containing - rather than removing - the contaminants with walls and underground filters. "They've been using a lot of passive remediation," Johnston says. "Kelly is one of the largest TCE plumes in the country, so we need to take the lead on cleaning that up - doing it effectively and doing it in a way that involves and integrates the voices of the community into the decision making process." While TCE has been linked to a wide range of illnesses, the NRC found the research on kidney disease to be the most persuasive. "There were some findings post-2001, and the findings generally reaffirmed what we'd seen in the past, that there were concerns in certain areas," says Rogene Henderson, chairwoman of the NRC study. "The greatest concern was in the kidney-cancer area. We did not find as much concern for liver cancer as the EPA document found. "We always want more research, but we wanted to make it clear that there was enough information now for the EPA to make its risk assessment. That was our bottom line. We found that the evidence of carcinogenic risk, particularly for the kidney, has continued to accumulate since 2001. People are being exposed to it and the EPA should complete their assessment and move ahead."