SWOPblogger

by P. Sandoval


The journey begins 6:30am June 22. My bus is leaving in 30 minutes, yeah I’m running late but with fate I will make it on time. I should of set two alarms, my dad’s outside waiting for me, so we jet out to get a fast bite and we’re on our way to the park to meet up with SWOP, we can make it and we did. The sun is up and the people are happy, I know this is gonna be an awesome trip. A life changing experience to say the least, call it destiny. Six months prior I was telling a good friend I wanted to embark on more activist work and to help the community. Now here I am with the sun glistening on my face about to take off on a 13 day adventure throughout the southwest region of the United States to Represent for the people, meeting up with 10,000 strong for the first ever United States Social Forum! I meet and greet with other SWOP members and friends in the park where the two Buses are waiting for us. This is gonna be one fun caravan sticking it to the man! Me, my Dad and Sister Emma say a prayer, then me and Em hop on the bus with the other 80 or so people. I’m glad I’m going with Emma to the United States Social Forum, this will be a great time to bond. With two Buses we head north, our first stop is Carlsbad New Mexico or Carl Is Bad, like some on the bus were saying, we meet up with friends of SWOP at a very nice house and we eat Enchilada’s (yummy). This is a good time to talk to people so I say what’s up to a few unfamiliar faces we snap a huge photo in front of our two Bus’s then its time to leave so we say adios and now we’re heading to San Antonio Texas (my first time going to S.A)! We get there safe and we rest.

The next day June 23rd is a nice morning. I’m still sleepy and we roll in the bus for an environmental justice tour of Kelly Air Force Base. Someone on the intercom tells us about the major pollution that is surrounding the community of people that live near the base. It’s sad and I feel bad for these people that live there, I wish the government gave a shit and cleaned up the chemicals so people won’t get cancer and other diseases. This is one of the reasons we’re going on this tour to show that we, the people, demand a change and we will not be silenced! We then meet up with some local community members at a house and they tell us of the bad situation they’re in because of the AFB chemicals that are going into the community. God Bless the community, they been through so much and I want them to have a clean environment to raise their families in, I hope the people responsible clean up their act before global warming gets worse. We then meet up with the Southwest Workers Union and other folks that are down for the cause and we head downtown to have a rally for comprehensive immigration reform and workers rights. The turn out was beautiful. We marched to the Nazi Senator John Cornyn’s office and rally past the river walk where tons of tourist and people from San Antonio were watching. Most are surprised to see us but greet us with smiles. I had the opportunity to talk to a reporter. She asked me why I was there and I let her know I support equal rights for all human beings and let her know in my opinion if all the migrant workers stopped working for a day the US would fall apart. She was very nice and I was glad I had a little chat with her. We made our voice heard that afternoon. Then we went to the park to have a Delicious BBQ and went for a dip in the free pool. We finished off the day with some of the best carne asada I ever had at a local bar/restaurant with the great vibes of Native American music and dancers.


Sunday June 24th we caravanned to the park and had a fantastic lunch, some excellent chicken I might add. There were lots of speakers there talking on the mic. One of them that caught my attention was a man and woman that got in trouble for chaining themselves to a fence in front of a children prison to show that they don’t want children in the prison. Yes, we are talking about children and it shouldn’t be just no child left behind but no child locked up either (THAT AINT RIGHT), imprisoning kids…come on get real! After that the crew and I left some crosses on the Valero refinery fence letting them know we acknowledge that people are getting sick and we want change in the refinery industry. We demand less pollution, and environmental changes for the future of humanity (I told you we’re gonna stick it to the man). As if the day wasn’t fun enough we then go to Lake Charles, Louisiana. What a blast. We got a chance to chill with the friendly local community people and eat some more top notch food!

Monday June 25th 730am. It’s a little early but today I’m going with others to help clean up some low income house’s that were messed up by Hurricane Katrina. Almost two years later the clean up is not done yet (where did all the federal/donated money go?). It was nice helping out the community but I personally feel sad and wish there was more I could do. When I get back to NM I’m gonna find more ways to help. After the clean up we had a festive time with the local Katrina survivors at Congo square. What a good time, good food, good music, and huge smiles. New Orleans will live in my heart. Later we left N.O and went to Slidell where we ate tasty crabs with the nice residents that were there.

Tuesday June 26th we head to the historic town of Jackson, Mississippi. We go on a tour around the town with Hollis Watkins, a civil rights leader who talked about the struggle of the south and their way to freedom. We then ate with the locals and had a really good lunch! On our way, we stopped to rally against Wally World, aka WalMart the capitalist store who don’t give there employees health care or a fair amount of money to live off of, this experience was so much fun. I think this was the best rally so far. We meet up with other local people and say some LOUD chants. I think the workers inside heard us. I hope Walmart listens to the people in the future and stops depriving their workers. We really let our presence be felt, what a crazy time the vibes where ecstatic!


So we pull up to Alabama and I reflect on our trip thus far. This is an unbelievable experience. The laughter the voices and the fun will last with me forever. Plus the change that is gonna happen as we push forwards towards a better US will be amazing. We haven’t even got to Atlanta, Georgia, yet the journey already has been an adventure. Thank God for the safe bus ride, The people will prevail! Thanks to all those that read so far, this is my first real blog and I hope u enjoyed what I said, peace and love. ¡Si Se Puede!