2011 Corazón de Justicia Award Recipients

This Friday evening, progressive grassroots groups will gather at Apollo Middle School to honor leaders in several categories for their work across southern Arizona. The annual Corazón de Justicia Awards gathering is sponsored by the Coalición de Derechos Humanos (Coalition for Human Rights). Here are the 2011 Recipients:

African-American Issues
Billie Laurie
Selected by: NAACP

Art
Raices Taller
Selected by: Coalición de Derechos Humanos

Community Empowerment
Jason Aragon
Selected by: Coalición de Derechos Humanos

Environmental
Nancy Zierenberg
Selected by: Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection

Faith-based
Mary Ellen Kennon
Selected by: Southside Presbyterian Church

Human Rights
Ethnic Studies 11
Selected by: Coalción de Derechos Humanos

Immigrant Rights
Steve Johnston
Selected by: Coalición de Derechos Humanos

Indigenous Issues
Ernest Moristo
Selected by: Alianza Indígena Sin Fronteras

Labor
Vikki Marshall
Selected by: AFSCME Local 449

LGBT
Noel de Tierra
Selected by: Wingspan

Women’s Issues
Alison Hughes
Tucson Women’s Commission

Youth
Elisa Meza
Selected by: Social Justice Education Project

The evening will include dinner and a keynote address by David Bacon, who is an associate editor at Pacific News Service, and writes for TruthOut, The Nation, The American Prospect, The Progressive, and the San Francisco Chronicle. If you’re interested in attending, please check out the Derechos Humanos website for RSVP info. There’s a tax-deductible donation of $35 to attend.

I attended last year and was energized by the networking and words shared by the recipients and speaker. Connecting on-the-ground work to blogging has helped me over the years to stay motivated & optimistic (especially with all the madness in AZ, right?). While it’s not community organizing on the political/partisan level, I thought I’d share in case anyone in Baja Arizona is interested in attending.

paz

 

Corazón de Justicia Awards

Tonight, the Coalición de Derechos Humanos hosted their 7th Annual Corazón de Justicia Awards Dinner in Tucson. It was a showcase of grassroots activism in southern Arizona across a number of communities with a clear message: Education is the answer – real political education that gives a voice to those who often remain voiceless in policy debates at all levels.

The recipients and categories for the 2010 honorees are:

African-American
Francis Miller, for her work with the NAACP

Community Empowerment
Joe Bernick, who invited everyone to next week’s Peace Fair

Environmental
Dan Millis, for his work with the Sierra Club and No More Deaths

Faith-Based
Leah Sandwell-Weiss, for her work with the Pima County Interfaith Council

Human Rights
Dr. Bruce Perkins, for his assistance in upholding humanity within the
Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office

Immigrant Rights
Salvador Reza, for his leadership in Phoenix with TONATIERRA

Indigenous
Jay McKenzie, for his leadership with the Tucson Indian Center‘s
Employment Training arena

Labor
Mary Lou Gonzales, for her organizing work with Tucson Jobs With Justice

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender
Cynthia Garcia, for her leadership as Board President of Wingspan,
Tucson’s LGBT Community Center

Women’s Issues
Ashira Pace +, for her decades-long work with many battered women shelters
across southern Arizona

Youth
Mixelle Rascon, for her commitment and advocacy of TUSD’s Raza Studies Department

The keynote speaker for tonight’s program was Roberto Lovato, representing his life work that has recently included Presente.Org‘s Basta Dobbs campaign, Trail of Dreams 2010 and his soon-to-be-revamped blog Of América. Roberto spoke of the importance of continuing to Dream, especially as the climate toward immigrant and Latino communities gets worse.

During the BastaDobbs campaign, Lou Dobbs referred to him as “a flea” on his radio program and Roberto’s comment tonight was, “We got a bunch of fleas, and pushed an elephant into the abyss.” He remarked that it will become expensive to Dream in the future, that the monied interests flowing from corporations and D.C. conventional wisdom will be funneled toward a so-called “Rational Center” that allows the immigration debate to become more militarized and destructive to our communities. He continued that it is why there’s importance in supporting advocates like Derechos Humanos and other groups represented in the room.

“After the 2006 marches, the moneyed interests polled-away the humanity and morality of the immigrant. We have to continue to dream and demand that it be central.”

Using powerpoint images of his parents and telling stories of their struggles in El Salvador prior to immigrating to the United States, Roberto spoke passionately against the corporate influencers who are pouring endless amounts of money into reinforcing the idea of sovereignty and citizenship while they reap the fiscal benefits of exploiting various parts of the world. It was a powerful message and tied in perfectly with the work that is being done by the honorees and the grassroot groups they represent.

 

6th Annual Migrant Trail Announced

Crossposted from The Sanctuary

The Migrant Trail:
We Walk for Life
May 25-31, 2009

Our Vision:

The precarious reality of our borderlands calls us to walk. We walk together on a journey of peace to remember people, friends and family who have died, others who have crossed, and people who continue to come. We walk to bear witness to the tragedy of death and of the inhumanity in our midst. Lastly, we walk as a community, in defiance of the borders that attempt to divide us, committed to working together for the human dignity of all peoples.

In 1994, the U.S. government under the direction of President Bill Clinton, instituted Operation Gatekeeper that provided funds and personnel to militarize the border between Baja California and California. The campaign was specifically designed to divert the wave of humanity inland:

The purpose of the new plan was to stem the tide of illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico into the United States and to shift the remaining traffic eastward, where the Border Patrol believed it enjoyed a strategic advantage over would-be crossers. This new approach to patrolling the border was named “Operation Gatekeeper.” Since the plan’s launch in 1994 at Imperial Beach, the same operational concepts have been implemented at the remaining stations in the San Diego Sector, beginning with Chula Vista – the station immediately east of Imperial Beach – and continuing in an easterly progression station by station to the San Diego Sector’s eastern border.

USDOJ.gov (emphasis mine)

Eastward.

Triple-digit heat. Non-existent sources of water. Desolation. Death.

“Strategic advantage” indeed.

The above graph comes from a 2007 policy brief and study, authored by Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, M. Melissa McCormick, Daniel Martinez, and Inez Magdalena Duarte, through the University of Arizona’s Binational Migration Institute. It shows the explosion of death wrought in the Tucson Sector – part of that “eastward” mentioned by the Department of Justice – in the aftermath of Operation Gatekeeper.

Those of us who call la frontera home have not remained silent in the face of this humanitarian crisis. Grassroots organizations have mobilized to build coalitions of neighborhoods, church congregations, elected officials, student groups, and others to raise awareness of the disastrous end many of these economic refugees suffer in the desert.

From May 25-31st the 6th Annual Migrant Trail will bear witness to the humanitarian crisis that marches unimpeded, even under a new President. This 75-mile trek spans the distance between the communities of Sasabe, Sonora, México and Tucson, Arizona. Details on how to support this endeavor below the fold.

Monday, May 25th, 2:00pm:
Sásabe, Sonora:
Join us for the sending forth ceremony and the 4.8 mile walk to our first campsite on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge

Sunday, May 31, 11:30am:
Tucson, Arizona:
Join us for the welcoming celebration as participants complete the 75-mile journey, bearing witness to the gauntlet of death that has claimed more than 5,000 men, women and children on the U.S.-México border.

For more information, please contact: migrant_trail@yahoo.com or call 520.770.1373

The Migrant Trail is sponsored by the following groups: Migrant Trail Walk Committee, Coalición de Derechos Humanos, BorderLinks, Mennonite Central Committee US, Catholic Relief Services – Mexico Program, No More Deaths – Phoenix and Tucson, 8th Day Center for Justice, Coloradans for Immigrants Rights, Frontera de Cristo, Humane Borders, American Friends Service Committee, JPIC Office of the St. Barbara Province Franciscans, Shalom Mennonite Fellowship, Casa Maria, and Church of the Good Shepherd.

“The Migrant Trail is an important spiritual witness to the challenging reality of our borderlands today,” says Brother David Buer, a Franciscan brother serving in Tucson. “It is a moral imperative that we embrace our desperate migrant brothers and sisters with more humane policies and action.”

Amen.

 

Prayer Vigil Tonight at El Tiradito

From the inbox:

Prayer Vigil for Renewal and Action on Immigration

Thursday, February 19, 2009
7:00 pm
El Tiradito Shrine
400 S. Main Ave.
Tucson, AZ

Join the weekly vigil that has met at the El Tiradito shrine for over 8 years and be part of a national campaign for reform organized by the Interfaith Immigration Coalition during the first recess of Congress!

Pray for

• Protection for immigrants

• Empowerment of people of faith and conscience to speak out more boldly for immigrants

• Moral courage for Members of Congress to show leadership in enacting humane immigration reform

For more information, contact
BorderLinks at: 520.628.8263
Derechos Humanos: 520.770.1373

 

Piñata Pr0n Extraordinaire Jon Justice

There is no greater promoter of human rights and advocate for migrant families in Baja Arizona than Isabel Garcia. She was a recipient of the 2006 Premio Naciónal de Derechos Humanos, presented by the Mexican government for the first time to someone who wasn’t born there, in order to get an idea of the scope of work she’s done. Rather than accept the award, however, she took the opportunity to call a press conference and demand that the affluent and elite south of border do more to promote economic justice among the working classes. It was a perfect example of Isabel’s work to keep the focus on the underlying roots of human migration and exploitation, rather than on herself.

Isabel is one of the major driving forces behind the Coalición de Derechos Humanos, headquartered in Tucson, and that’s just when she’s wearing her organizer hat. She also serves as one of Pima County’s leading Legal Defenders, which has Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s pink underwear in a snit since apparently the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America does not apply to those who serve in government.

You see, Sheriff Joe came to town recently to sign copies of his new book that blames all the ills of society on “illegals”. Well, that type of thing isn’t received the same way in Tucson as it is north of the Gila, so a protest was organized in conjunction with Sheriff Joe’s appearance. A piñata created in Arpaio’s likeness, wearing his trademark pink boxers, was…well, it was a piñata, so you can imagine.

In response to the whole thing, Arpaio and his friends in the racist right’s media empire took to the airwaves in the ironically named radio station 104.1 The Truth in an effort to get Isabel fired from Pima County. The station’s radio personalities spend a majority of their time and advertising money on equating undocumented workers with terrorists, drug dealers, disease carriers, and invaders of the Homeland™ – pretty standard fare for a radio channel that also features Bill “Falafel” O’Reilly, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, etc etc etc.

One of the local gasbags on 104.1, Jon Justice, filmed a “webisode” of his show where he carressed and fondled a piñata intended to be the likeness of Isabel Garcia. Members of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos released the following statement:

Since last Friday, our office has received numerous hate calls, and Jon Justice has posted a YouTube video of himself with a piñata with Isabel’s likeness, caressing it and making comments about “wanting to take it home with me,” among a few other comments about “chorizo” and “viva la raza.” You can see this video at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk8pa5GYraQ

We ask you, as community allies, to step up with us in defending Isabel Garcia, demand accountability from 104.1FM and KGUN 9, and that hate speech not be given a platform in our communities.

It is our First Amendment Right, and our duty as members of this society, to denounce anything that goes against the basic human and civil rights that ALL posess. To try to silence those that would condemn torture and raciscm is contrary to the rights of us all!

The YouTube video has since been removed of Jon Justice’s sexual escapades with the piñata, the message says that “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Journal Broadcast Group” – pretty ridiculous when you consider that it was filmed and distributed as a “webisode” from Jon Justice and his staff. Apparently they realized that they crossed the line where their money flow could be endangered.

Speaking of money, here is the list of advertisers for 104.1 The Truth. There is a massive letter-writing and phone call campaign underway to call these businesses to withdraw their support to these racist and xenophobic messages being broadcast on the airwaves of Baja Arizona:

So far, the following previously listed sponsors have informed us of their intention to immediately withdraw their support of 104.1 FM:

• Main Gate Square
• Patio Pools & Spa
• The Auto Body Shop
• Advanced Recon
• Aung Foot Health Clinics
• Sol Cars
  

Interestingly, many of them were not even aware that their “package” deal with Journal Broadcasting Group meant advertising on 104.1 FM, and most were not aware of what they were supporting, and would not choose to support intolerance.

In addition, the following companies have expressed concern about this issue, and have assured us that they will be looking into the matter immediately:

• El Parador
• Allstate Insurance
• State Farm Insurance
  
• The Wildcat House
• Maloney’s Tavern
• Progressive Plumbing
• Axiom Drafting and Design
• Integrity Automotive

More information at Derechos Humanos, including sample letters.

Enough is Enough. Please take the time to contact local Pima County officials in support of Isabel Garcia, as well as call on the advertisers of 104.1 “The Truth” to end their support for racism and hate. Gracias.

[UPDATE] The Wildcat House has pulled their ad sponsorship

[UPDATE the 2nd] Here’s the infamous Piñata Pr0n Webisode:

 

More Bodies Found Along La Frontera

David Teibel of the Tucson Citizen has done southern Arizona and the global community a great service by providing an update on the growing body count of border crossers along la frontera. 109 by their count, 128 by Derechos Humanos for the current fiscal year. While heads explode among the trolls in the comments sections (“they asked for it” and “good riddance” is common), these types of news items should be featured regularly in traditional and non-traditional media sources.

Teibel’s article today deserves mentioning because he did not do the journalistic lazy move by juxtaposing drug bust incidents with this separate facet of border news. It is solely about the human rights crisis that unfolds and grows year after year in the Sonoran Desert. The fact is, the vast majority of crossers are economic refugees; but due to fork-tongued pundits like Lou Dobbs, Tom Tancredo, the Minutemen vigilantes, and lazy journalists, the perception of border crossers usually involves shading their identities with drug runners and terrorists.

It’s all part of the cycle of dehumanization that makes it convenient for government personnel to treat human beings with less dignity than animals. This does not just pertain to border crossers, but rather any person in the United States who finds themselves lacking the paperwork necessary to earn money for their families. A recent example is the workplace raid that occurred at a meat-packing plant in Postville, Iowa. Dr. Erik Camayd–Freixas who was one of the federally certified interpreters assigned to assist the workers has shared his story with The Sanctuary and it will be posted following a New York Times article that is slated for Friday. The link to the entry will be here.

The human aspect of the broken immigration system is an inconvenience to those who salivate at the continued practice of Operation Wetback 2008, where any undocumented worker is deported without a blink of an eye. Never mind children or spouses who may be citizens, they are merely collateral damage to a populace that is so fixated on war that they see enemies even among those who have the audacity to simply work. Even lower on the “why should I be bothered” list, are the walkers who head to El Norte from all across the world.

Increasingly alarming are the high number of unidentified human remains recovered. Of the 35 female remains recovered, 21 are still unidentified, and 51 of the 86 males have yet to be identified. All in all, 72 of the 128 remains recovered are unidentified, and not enough of the remains of six of these individuals were recovered to even determine gender; this speaks to the anguish that family members suffer as they wait to hear of their loved ones, and the reality that some might never know what became of them.

While the Border Patrol continues to applaud their efforts to control the border, men, women and children are pushed into more harsh, isolated areas, where humanitarian aid and detection is less likely. This is, in fact, an intentional strategy that has proven deadly as more than 5,000 men, women and children have died on the U.S.-México border. And through this, there is no evidence that these militarization efforts have done anything to affect the numbers of people crossing the border.

Coalición de Derechos Humanos (.pdf warning)

Imagine the outrage if numbers like this were stacked up among U.S.-born Americans.

 

Migrant Trail 2008

Crossposted from The Sanctuary

Starting on Monday, May 26th, human rights activists will gather for the 5th Annual Migrant Trail under the banner “We Walk for Life”. Starting in Sasabe, Sonora, Mexico, participants will travel 75 miles through the desert to Tucson, Arizona, USA, to raise awareness of the unconscionable numbers of deaths of border crossers that seems to rise each year.

Registration can be done via the Coalición de Derechos Humanos website at www.derechoshumanosaz.net.

Here is the vision, as outlined by organizers of this powerful event:

The precarious reality of our borderlands calls us to walk. We walk together on a journey of peace to remember people, friends and family who have died, others who have crossed, and people who continue to come. We walk to bear witness to the tragedy of death and of the inhumanity in our midst. Lastly, we walk as a community, in defiance of the borders that attempt to divide us, committed to working together for the human dignity of all peoples.

Information such as Participant Agreements, Liability forms, Medical Information forms, and other related topics can be found at this link.

 

Southern Arizona Human Rights Organizations

Here are some grassroot organizations that are doing admirable work in the southern part of the Grand Canyon State that relates to the human rights facet of immigration and border policies in the U.S.:

Border Action Network

Border Action Network formed in 1999 and works with immigrant and border communities in southern Arizona to ensure that our rights are respected, our human dignity upheld and that our communities are healthy places to live. We are a membership-based organization that combines grassroots community organizing, leadership development, litigation and policy advocacy.

No More Deaths

No More Deaths is an organization whose mission is to end death and suffering on the U.S./Mexico border through civil initiative: the conviction that people of conscience must work openly and in community to uphold fundamental human rights. Our work embraces the Faith-Based Principles for Immigration Reform and focuses on the following themes:

• Direct aid that extends the right to provide humanitarian assistance
• Witnessing and responding
• Consciousness raising
• Global movement building
• Encouraging human immigration policy.

Humane Borders

Humane Borders, motivated by faith, offers humanitarian assistance to those in need through more than 70 emergency water stations on and near the U.S.-Mexican border.

“They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.”

— Isaiah 49:10

Coalición de Derechos Humanos

Coalición de Derechos Humanos (“The Human Rights Coalition”) is a grassroots organization which promotes respect for human/civil rights and fights the militarization of the Southern Border region, discrimination, and human rights abuses by federal, state, and local law enforcement officials affecting U.S. and non-U.S. citizens alike.derechos humanos logo

Our goals include:

* Strengthening the capacity of the border & urban communities to exercise their rights and participate in public policy decisions.
* Increasing public awareness of the magnitude of human rights abuses, deaths and assaults at the border resulting from U.S. policy.
* Seeking changes in government policies that result in human suffering because of the militarization of the U.S. border region.

Samaritan Patrol

Who or what is it? Samaritan Patrol ( a.k.a. Samaritans) are people of faith and conscience who are responding directly, practically and passionately to the crisis at the US/ Mexico border. We are a diverse group of volunteers that are united in our desire to relieve suffering among our brothers and sisters and to honor human dignity. Prompted by the mounting deaths among border crossers, we came together July 1, 2002, to provide emergency medical assistance, food and water to people crossing the Sonoran Desert.

Feel free to add to the list in the comments below and I will update the post.

 

Corazón de Justicia Awards Dinner

A true celebration of progressive activism.

Corazón de Justicia Awards Dinner
Sunday, March 2, 2008
6:30pm

Dunbar Cultural Center (click for map)
325 W. 2nd Street
Tucson, Arizona 85705

This year, the Corazón de Justicia Awards will have the privilege of Gerald Lenoir, Coordinator of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration as our keynote speaker. BAJI has done an incredible amount of work to engage African Americans and other communities in a dialogue that leads to actions that challenge U.S. immigration policy and the underlying issues of race, racism and economic inequity that frame it.

Please join us on Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 6:30pm at the Dunbar Cultural Center (325 W. 2nd Street) as we honor the strength and courage of these inspiring community members in the struggle for justice and human rights in our community.

RSVP Information and Award Recipients listed here

 

Día de los Muertos Pilgrimage

237…

Día de los Muertos Pilgrimage

Please join us this Saturday as we honor the 237 individuals whose bodies were recovered on the Arizona-Sonora border this past year.

Saturday, November 3, 2007
8:30am

From St. John’s Church
(12th Avenue and Ajo Way)
to
San Xavier Mission
Tucson, Arizona

Sponsored by Coalición de Derechos Humanos