Alliance for Global Justice [ http://afgj.org/ ]
Introduction to Border Militarization – Chapter One [ http://afgj.org/border-militarization-study-guide/introduction-to-border-militarization ] of the Border Militarization Study Guide [ http://afgj.org/border-militarization-study-guide ]
IMPORTANT ACTION COMPONENT!
A bipartisan Senate committee and the White House have both put forth immigration reform proposals, finally breaking the silence on this important issue in the halls of government. However, their proposals have several weaknesses, including the continuance and advancement of border militarization. It is vital that we let the Senate and the White House know that border militarization kills, and must not be increased as a part of immigration reform. Rather, border militarization must be brought to an end.
Click here to send an email to the White House.
[ http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/7315/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=12721 ]
Click here to send an email to your Senators.
[ http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/7315/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=12718 ]
„Something Else You Can Do: “
The Border Militarization Study Guide [ http://afgj.org/border-militarization-study-guide ]
The Alliance for Global Justice, Derechos Humanos Coalition and the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras are releaseing, chapter by chapter over the next 12 weeks, the *Border Militarization Study Guide* [ http://afgj.org/border-militarization-study-guide ]. The guide not only provides important educational material but also a basis for action and community organizing. Yes, you can study the guide online as an individual. But we strongly encourage people to think about organizing a study group in your home communities, schools, churches, unions and wherever people gather. Study groups can lead to vital mobilizations to demilitarize the border and advocate for just immigration reform. For more information, please send an email to james@afgj.org or call 202-544-9355, ext. 3.
Following are a couple of samples from *C**hapter One–an Introduction to Border Militarization* [ http://afgj.org/border-militarization-study-guide/introduction-to-border-militarization ]*,* including an interview with Derechos Humanos Coalition founder Isabel Garcia, and a poem by human rights activist Leilani Clark.
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djYRGH3pAm0&feature=player_embedded ]*Click here to watch interview with Isabel Garcia [ http://afgj.org/border-militarization-study-guide/introduction-to-border-militarization ]*
Photo by David Bacon
To Honor Lives Stolen [ http://afgj.org/border-militarization-study-guide/introduction-to-border-militarization ]
by Leilani Clark
To do the work we do is to honor those lives.
To educate and inform,
to articulate and paint a picture for you
All that goes on in this state,
In these deserts.
To do the work we do is to honor those lives lost in them.
Josseline Janiletha Hernandez Quintero
Milka Lopez-Herrera
Lourdes Cruz Morales
Desconocido
Desconocida- Unknown name, unknown age
-this woman.
Maybe she, a young twenty-two year old, went through what I am living through
and she came up north to run away and start all over again.
To break free from the bounds suffocating her body brought by sexual violence.
But now there she lies.
Her once laughing body
now so cold.
Placed inside a cold metal freezer of the same consistency
of the cold metal barrier you need around your heart to work at the Pima Medical Examiner’s Office.
There she lies,
pieces of her beautiful body providing the vivid sensory of smell to visitors coming from all over the country to get a firsthand glimpse of what goes on in Arizona.
The one state where to learn the scent of a sun-dried corpse is to learn the reality of failed border policies.
This all dawns on me while I write this, dressed in black- about to go to my auntie’s funeral.
All the weight of the world in the very fact a funeral is a golden privilege.
Like the work AFGJ is doing? Please support us today. [ https://afgj.org/afgj-donations ]
Quick Links
*Send an email to the White House: No Militarization of the Border!* [ http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/7315/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=12721 ]* *
*Send and email to the Senate! [ http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/7315/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=12718 ] *
*Click Here to See Chapter One of the Border Militarization Study Guide* [ http://afgj.org/border-militarization-study-guide/introduction-to-border-militarization ]