SWOPblogger

This was produced by 4 incredible young women who spent their summer here at SWOP planning, shooting and editing this film, not to mention building consciousness. They were a part of the Summer Youth Intern Program with 4 other young women working to build our Take Control Campaign against military recruitment.

If you want to see more of the great work that came out of this year's summer program come to Coronado Mall on Saturday (tomorrow 8-9-08) at 2:00pm (don't be late or you'll miss it!)

Or you can meet us at the press conference at 6400 Uptown Blvd at 3:00pm. See ya there! But for now, enjoy!

Labels: counter recruitment, Iraq, military recruitment, SWOP internship, SWOP youth

To hear the audio click here: Take_control_action.mp3

August 8, 2008

Albuquerque, NM - New Mexico youth organizers plan a surprise demonstration at the Coronado Mall Saturday to help high school graduates understand the options they have open to them - besides joining the military. The demonstrators argue that military recruiters too often target minority and low-income high school students, who fail to see the other avenues available to them.

Tracy Chacon recently graduated from Highland High, and she says it's a message that doesn't reach all students.

"Where I grew up, there really aren't a lot of people telling you that you have options and that you can go to college. You hear more about the military than you do about going to college."

Chacon says she considered enlisting, but when she read the fine print, she changed her mind.

"The military does have options for you go to college, but more and more my friends are getting sent to Iraq. I wondered how they are going to go to college in Iraq? I realized that's not what I want for my life."

The rally organizers say there are plenty of scholarship, loan and job training opportunities available to young people. Military officials deny targeting recruits by race or economic status.

The demonstration begins at 2:00 p.m. and will be followed by a press conference across the street at the offices of the Albuquerque Public Schools.

Eric Mack/Don Mathisen, Public News Service - NM

Labels: counter recruitment, military recruitment, SWOP, SWOP youth

For Immediate Release: Press Advisory –August 9, 2008
Contact: Monica Cordova, SouthWest Organizing Project, 505-385-6590


Albuquerque, NM- On Saturday August 9, 2008 at 2:00pm young people in Albuquerque will demonstrate at the Coronado Mall against the war and military recruitment on high school campuses.

Military recruiters currently have enormous access to students on high school campuses due to requirements in the federal No Child Left Behind Act. SWOP received permission in 2007 from the APS School Board as well as acting Superintendent Linda Sink to enter high school campuses to distribute educational material providing alternatives to military service. Since that time, principals and activities coordinators have blocked our efforts, either by being unavailable or simply refusing to allow our information about the military to be handed out.

“The red tape and bureaucracy we have endured the last year and a half has been ridiculous. It’s imperative that young people have the information they need in order to make informed decision about their future,” states Emma Sandoval, SWOP youth intern.

With the number of US soldiers deaths reaching 4,134, these are life or death decisions. The overwhelming majority of students targeted to risk their lives are low-income youth of color.

“I am sick of being racially profiled and harassed by recruiters not to mention watching my friends make uninformed decisions because they feel there are no alternatives,” explains Aurea Cardiel, Highland High School Senior.

“We want youth to know there is hope and that their skills and talents are best utilized here in our community. There is no need for them to risk their life for a chance to get college paid for,” States Monica Cordova, SWOP Youth Coordinator.

SWOP has been educating young people about, among other things, the New Mexico Lottery Scholarship, which is accessible to New Mexico residents with a GED who maintain a college 2.5 grade point average; trade schools and apprenticeship programs; and community based organizations with resources for young people which are all free.

“Teachers and parent must ensure every young person has equal access to information to make informed decisions,” proclaims Roberta Real, parent of an Albuquerque Student. The youth of the SouthWest Organizing project are adamant that their Albuquerque peers get informed not recruited.

What: Direct Action/Press Conference
When: Saturday August 9, 2008 Direct Action-2pm at Coronado Mall Food Court/Press Conference- 3pm APS Office 6400 Uptown

Labels: anti-military recruitment, military recruitment, SWOP youth, war

Hi Swopista’s, Allies and Friends,

This summer has been amazing! We had 8 energetic young people working on two dynamic projects that focused on organizing against the militarism in our schools. One is a direct action and the other a short film. Both are key in helping to move forward our Take Control Campaign which promotes young people having all the information and resources necessary to TAKE CONTROL of their lives and future so they don’t get recruited without knowing the truth about the military.

Mark your calendar for Saturday, August 9, 2008 at 2pm. The SWOP youth have organized a Direct Action in the Coronado Mall food court and your presence and the presence of all young people you know is vital to helping our campaign. Be there to support it, we promise it will be exciting. Immediately following the action, please join us at our press conference at the APS office across the street on 6400 Uptown at 3pm.

Please pass this e-mail on and the attached flyer. Also check our blog next week to see the GREAT film the youth put together!! For more information call SWOP at 505-247-8832.

Labels: counter recruitment, military recruitment, SWOP internship, Take Control, war

Hello we are Cheyenne and Romilly. We are youth interns here at SWOP this summer and we have been learning a LOT about the military and wanted to share some of that information with you.

Do you know exactly how many people have died since the war? Well we do. Approximately 4,116 troops have died since the beginning of the war in Iraq (antiwar.com). Would you want to be that parent that gets a call at 2 o’ clock in the morning from your child’s commander saying that your child has just been killed in combat? We certainly wouldn’t want to hear that about someone we love nor would any other parent.


- Congress has decided to increase the total size of the army by 74,000 by 2010 but now they increased that number to 574,000 active duty reservists AND national guard.

- Roughly about 30,333 US soldiers have been wounded since the beginning of the war
(antiwar.com).

- The military doesn’t mention that 1 out of 8 soldiers suffer a long term health problem
called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

- The civilian deaths in Iraq are estimated to about 1,236,604 (antiwar.com)


In 2005, the pentagon announced in the federal registration the existence of the Joint Advertising Market Research Studies Database (JAMRS), a massive registry of 30 MILLION Americans between the ages of 16 and 25 for the military purposes. This branch is devoted to maximizing military recruitment efforts (nyclu.org)

Part of their campaign involves a database, which has information about millions of people over 17 years old or in the eleventh grade and contains their contact information. This can only be kept for 3 years, but that’s enough time for recruiters to contact hopeful soldiers. The JAMRS database can have your name, birth date, gender, mailing address, e-mail, race, ethnicity, telephone number, high school name, graduation date, grade point average, college intent, military interest, field of study, and the ASVAB Test score.

You can choose not to have your information used by opting out at the following links below or by talking to your school. As high school students, we are being targeted daily by recruiters. They come into schools giving presentations that glorify war and the military. This gives the impression that the military is the only way to go in order to avoid college loans. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) has recently released a report demanding the reduction of military recruitment of young people. They want to end the JAMRS and create an option of giving information to the military only if the individual wants to, instead of opting out. As youth we need to be protected and our information needs to be kept safe. Protect your children and tell your friends and family about opting out. TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR FUTURE, GET INFORMED!!

Links to OPT out:

http://milrec.nyclu.org/2a.html
www.militaryfreezoneorg/opt_out
www.leavemychildrenalone.org/emergency.html

Labels: counter recruitment, military recruitment, SWOP, SWOP internship, youth

Our Summer Youth Intern Program has officially started and so far it's been a huge success! We have 8 great young women building relationships, in trainings, and inspiring the rest of us to keep up! Here's a blog from one intern Tracy. Keep on the look out for more through the rest of the summer.

**************
Hi everyone my name is Tracy Chacon, and I’m an intern at SWOP this summer. Life isn’t always easy. Take it from me I have been on my own since I was 14 years old and I have had to learn a lot. All through high school I was on my own and it was really hard finding information about college. But I have always known about the military and I always heard they would pay for college. So I had to TAKE CONTROL of my life and I decided I wanted more information about college instead. It’s kind of sad that a 15 year old had to go out and get information about college on their own whereas the military recruiters come find you.

You see, I have 5 brothers and none of them have finished high school much less even thought about college and neither of my parents have gone to college. That’s exactly why young people like me need other information made available to them so that we know that the military is not the only option. I know for a fact that the reason military recruiters target people of color is because they know we don’t have money for college and some of us would do whatever it took to get there, even risking our lives.

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said from his letter from Birmingham jail, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” For me it is unjust for my personal information to be automatically given out to military recruiters without my consent. Why don’t they send it to colleges or universities instead? That’s why we have to TAKE CONTROL and get educated, youth must be involved as much as possible to make sure our schools have the information we need to get to college. It is up to us as young people to make a difference and to demand equal opportunities for all. We are the leaders of now.

Labels: counter recruitment, military recruitment, SWOP, SWOP internship

See more from SWOPBlogger on military recruitment.

From IPS news:

WASHINGTON, May 13 (IPS) - Pressed by the demands of the "global war on terrorism", the United States is violating an international protocol that forbids the recruitment of children under the age of 18 for military service, according to a new report released Tuesday by a major civil rights group that charged that recruitment practices target children as young as 11 years old.

The 46-page report, "Soldiers of Misfortune", which was prepared by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for submission to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, also found that the U.S. military disproportionately targets poor and minority public school students.

Military recruiters, according to the report, use "exaggerated promises of financial rewards for enlistment, [which] undermines the voluntariness of their enlistment." In some cases documented by the report, recruiters used coercion, deception, and even sexual abuse in order to gain recruits. Perpetrators of such practices are only very rarely punished, the report found.

"The United States military's procedures for recruiting students plainly violate internationally accepted standards and fail to protect youth from abusive and aggressive recruitment tactics," said Jennifer Turner of the ACLU Human Rights Project.

Keep Reading

Labels: APS, Equal Access, military recruitment, No Child Left Behind Act, youth

After news broke from the Journal this morning about a mandatory assembly held by military recruiters. Albuquerque High denied SWOP from entering campus to provide military recruitment alternatives. This does not look good APS, not good.

It's important to note that APS has an Equal Access Policy that is enacted when a controversial issue arises on campus. It means that organizations on both sides of the issue must be allowed to present to students. So that's obviously not working.

But APS also has to follow the No Child Left Behind Act, better known as the No Child Left Unrecruited. "...buried deep within the law's 670 pages, is a provision requiring public secondary schools to provide military recruiters not only with access to facilities, but also with contact information for every student -- or face a cutoff of all federal aid." Full article here.

Hurry up APS, you got 2 fights to fight. One, to get your schools to implement Equal Access appropriately and two, putting an end to NCLB. What are you waiting for...
*********************************

For Immediate Release: Press Advisory-December 6, 2007
Contact: Emma Sandoval-489-7332
Monica Cordova-385-6590
SWOP Office 247-8832

Albuquerque High Denies Alternatives to Military Recruitment Presentation

Albuquerque - Today at Albuquerque high the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP) was turned away from setting up a table during lunch today to provide students with information regarding alternatives to the military and how to prevent military recruiters from calling them at home. SWOP was clearly denied after Journal headlines broke of a mandatory assembly at which military recruiters were pushing their agenda of pro-war and military. Albuquerque High officials cited the Journal article published today as the reason for changing their decision at the last minute.

“On Tuesday of last week we set up an appointment to present alternatives during lunch. Being denied today after the pro-military mandatory assembly proves that APS is not enforcing equal access policy district wide,” stated Emma Sandoval, a SWOP youth intern.

After being denied access SWOP was told to come back next year.

SWOP received a letter from Rigo Chavez, Director of APS Communications, on August 30, 2007 with approval by the Superintendent stating we have permission from the Albuquerque Public Schools Communications Office, “to visit and distribute literature to schools in the APS school district.” The letter further stated, “Linda Sink and Eddie Soto have sent a memo on behalf of the superintendents to all high and middle schools reminding them that your group and similar organizations must be provided with equal time and opportunity provided to the military.”

“I feel like APS is pushing the military down students’ throats. Students deserve to hear about alternatives to the military so they can make informed decisions. APS must adhere to their policy and allow groups other than the military to talk to students,” stated Sandoval.

What is Albuquerque High afraid of? Parents and the public need to demand that APS provide alternatives to military recruitment of Albuquerque youth. We should have the same access to students as recruiters, especially given that we follow all APS rules and protocol.

A meeting is scheduled Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at 6pm at Albuquerque High School. Interested students and parents should attend.

###

Labels: APS, Equal Access, military recruitment, No Child Left Behind Act

By Zsombor Peter
Journal Staff Writer

Hardly a week goes by that Nathaniel Matthews-Trigg, a senior at Albuquerque High School, doesn't receive some bit of promotional mail from this or that branch of the U.S. military.

Bruce Trigg, Nathaniel's father, thought the form he signed barring Albuquerque High from sharing the family's contact information with recruiters would at least spare his son the school's involvement.

But when a cadre of uniformed Army officers showed up last week for a mandatory assembly on how to choose the right goals in life, he changed his mind.

The Army and school insist the assembly was not a recruitment drive. But some Albuquerque High parents say it was just that, only "thinly veiled" in the guise of a motivational talk to get around limits on student access.

They want the district to let students opt out of such assemblies and give groups that promote alternatives to military service an equal stage.

"I support the Army," said Jill Gatwood, whose son and daughter attend Albuquerque High. "The National Guard in particular can do some good things."

"The issue to me," she wrote on Duke City Fix, a Web site for public discourse on issues affecting Albuquerque, "is the dishonesty and the hidden agenda.

"If parents or students sign an opt-out form to keep the recruiters away, the public school should ... not sponsor mandatory assemblies to give recruiters access to students as a captive audience."

"It's manipulative and dishonest," Trigg agreed. "Who are they kidding?"

The Army actually did not run the assembly. That job fell to Planning for Life, which also visited three other high schools this semester: Highland, Manzano and Rio Grande.

On its Web site, the group says it is "a toolkit that helps students like you to better prepare— academically, physically, emotionally and financially— to further your education and plan for your life."

The only sign of any military tie is a small Army logo in the bottom left corner of the site's home page.

Planning for Life takes a holistic approach to student development, touching on everything from eating right to studying for standardized tests, said Emil Hill of the public relations firm Weber Shandwick. The New York firm represents Planning for Life.

"The Army does this to demonstrate community support," providing a free public service for cash-strapped schools, he said. "It is in no way a recruiting program."
The officers never ask the audience to enlist, Matthews-Trigg said.

"Absolutely no recruiting took place," Gabriel Gonzales, Albuquerque High's activities director, said in his reply to an e-mail from Trigg.

But the Army pays Planning for Life's bills— upward of $3 million a year— out of what Hill called its annual $250 million "advertising" budget.

The Web site for March 2 Success, meanwhile, the free test prep program that Planning for Life promotes and the Army pays for, has tailored four links of frequently asked questions for students, educators, parents— and recruiters.

The site repeatedly notes that students who sign up for the 45-day course have no obligations to the Army, but adds that students can use what they learn to improve their scores on military entrance exams.

It notes that the Army has no plans to release the results of individual students, but adds that results from the course will be used to "develop statistical profiles for the Army."

Gatwood, Trigg and others aren't asking schools to keep recruiters away entirely. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools have no choice, unless they want to forgo their federal funding.

But the law also lets parents request that their children's contact information not be given out if the military asks. Parents like Gatwood and Trigg believe that also should apply to school assemblies.

Hill said the group gives a presentation by invitation only.

In his e-mail to Trigg, Gonzales assured him that the visit was cleared by the district's communications office. Communications Director Rigo Chavez said that never happened.

Labels: APS, military recruitment, No Child Left Behind Act

I encourage you to read the entire article, it's amusing to read the JROTC instructors response throughout the entire thing.

I can just imagine him talking out the side of his mouth. If anyone has had an experience with military recruiters you KNOW what they are like. You KNOW deceptive sweet talk is a part of their repertoire.

He also contradicts himself saying that recruitment isn't targeted to poor young people. But then at the end of the article he states, that of course young people who have college paid for wouldn't think of going into the military. What's that percentage? And how many of them go to Rio Grande!

The SWOP youth and Another Side have taken on an intense battle to fight the structural racism here in Albuquerque around military recruitment. They will soon be on campuses exposing young people to various opportunities available to them. It's time for change, and they're making it happen!

Viva los jovenes!

***************
News Feature

Military Brats
Waging a war against recruitment at Albuquerque’s public high schools

By Kate Trainor

In Albuquerque’s high schools, students are more likely to sign up for military service than join the student senate. The armed forces are as popular as any school sport and, on many campuses, military recruiters and the JROTC are a more prominent presence than college or career scouts.

Since the beginning of the Iraq war, a group of Albuquerque-based activists has rallied for “balanced” representation of post-secondary opportunities in New Mexico’s public schools. The military, they say, is selling students on the service with sugarcoated stories and deceptive sweet talk.

Statistics indicate the sales pitch has been a success. Since 2005, military recruitment in New Mexico is up by 23 percent, reports the National Priorities Project. Conversely, college enrollment has stagnated. According to the 2005-2006 Report on the Condition of Higher Education, published by the New Mexico Department of Higher Education, “Enrollment at New Mexico’s public institutions of higher education is relatively flat … [and] will remain flat.”

Still, Sgt. Stephen Standifird, public affairs representative for Recruiting Albuquerque, denies any dishonesty in communication with students. “I don’t think there are a lot of blatant lies told to kids,” he says, though he acknowledges that “a recruiter has to gear their spiel to a particular kid.” Standifird says there is competition among the various military academies and that, occasionally, one will slander another to win a recruit. Otherwise, he says, recruiters are straightforward.

A year ago, the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice partnered with the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP) to form Another Side, a campaign to lobby for the availability of “balanced” information about military service on APS campuses. Another Side contends that military recruiters are given preferential access to students over other groups, specifically those that advocate for peace. The group itself says it has had difficulty gaining access to the schools. By law, a school must allow military recruiters on its campus if it receives federal funds.

Casandra Stewart, now a youth intern with SWOP, graduated from West Mesa High School in 2003. Stewart recalls military recruiters calling her “at least once a week,” she says. “They would say that I needed to contact them. They were very manipulative, very knifing. I felt really targeted.” Stewart surmises that most students join the military for the promise of financial security. But, she says, “They need to know that alternatives exist.” While in school, Stewart says, she didn’t see any college or career recruiters, but felt the military was “always in [her] ear.”

To read the rest of the article click here: Weekly Alibi

Wanna Opt Out
The No Child Left Behind Act requires school districts to release student names and contact information to the military, though the law also stipulates that school districts notify students and their parents of their right to opt out of this information sharing. However, Another Side claims that students are seldom aware of this provision, as school districts fail to inform them of it. Rigo Chavez, director of communications for APS, says opt-out information is provided during student registration and through a variety of school communications, such as newsletters.

Students and parents who wish to withhold their information can download the opt-out form online at www.militaryfreezone.org/opt_out.

Labels: APS, Equal Access, military recruitment, youth

APS POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING TODAY 5PM
6400 UPTOWN Blvd. NE (Next To Coronado Mall) DeLayo Martin Community Room


Is the APS school system only capable of producing criminals and soldiers? This is a question that needs to be posed to the school board of the Albuqueruqe Public School system.

Of course the answer from board will be NO, but then why do we need military recruiters and armed police officers on our campuses? The criminalization of our young people here in Burque needs to stop!

The tragedy at Virgina Tech was avoidable, as was Columbine. If the students involved had been reached out to instead of marginalized and made to feel like social outcasts these tragedies could have been nipped in the bud.

The Virginia Tech Shooter was institutionalized by authorities, and instead of taking steps to insure that he was integrated back into campus life he was ridiculed by his fellow students and virtually ignored by administration.

Would armed guards have prevented him from doing what he did? Violent reactions to threats only escalate the violence. It's time that we start investing in our young people.

The military is a way out of dire situations for many young people, especially young people of color from lower economic stratas.

Enlisting in the military is an important decision that should not be gone into without a clear understanding of the sacrifices and reprucussions that go along with it.

The young folks of the Land of Enchantment deserve to go to schools where they don't have to feel like their only options when they leave high school are Prison or War. Our kids deserve to go to college not combat, and it's time that the United States started dropping knowledge not bombs.

Labels: APS, Criminalization of Young People, Gun Control, military recruitment, youth

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Rodrigo Rodriguez 505-620-1476
SWOP Office 505-247-8832

Press Advisory-May 2, 2007

Community challenges APS as a pipeline to the military

School Board scheduled to report on whether students have access to organizations that are providing alternatives to the military.

What: The Albuquerque School Board Policy Committee will be reporting the results of an equal access study that was done by the principals of our public high schools. The study was requested to investigate whether equal access is being provided to organizations that are working to provide alternatives to the military.

Where: 6400 Uptown Blvd NE DeLayo Martin Community Room

When: 5:00pm Thursday May 3rd, 2007

30 dead and counting, New Mexico is paying the price of war with our lives. Fewer New Mexican high school students are enrolling at the University of New Mexico, and after enticing war propaganda and in house military recruiters on high school campuses, military enlistment goals have been met. Organizations like the SouthWest Organizing Project and Another Side have been working to outreach to students to educate them about the harsh reality of the military and alternatives for career and higher education.

APS administrations have consistently denied students the opportunity to hear another side of military enlistment. We have pushed for a study to be done on whether students have access to organizations that are providing information about alternatives. Scheduled to be reported back in January, the study results have been delayed for four months. After SWOP and Another Side demanded the results be heard immediately, the School Board moved the meeting to Thursday, May 3rd.

What people are saying:

* “I feel bombarded with all the info the military pushes on me, even when I don’t put my information out there they still find me,” Says Lucia Martinez, incoming Freshman at Albuquerque High School.

* “The APS High School administrations give us the run around when trying to access students and teachers are scared to let us present alternative perspectives to the military. Now they are looking to arm APS school guards again. Our public schools are run by fear and the perpetuation of violence and that is no place for young people to develop.” Mónica Córdova, Youth Coordinator at the SouthWest Organizing Project.

* “Our students are being recruited and shipped off to fight in a war half a world away and the school board is sitting by idly doing nothing. Our students deserve to be able to make well informed decisions about their futures, especially when it comes to something as life altering as military enlistment.” Rodrigo Rodriguez, SouthWest Organizing Project member and CNM student.

Labels: APS, Iraq, military recruitment, war, youth

MAY 3 2007
5:00 pm
6400 Uptown Blvd NE
DeLayo–Martin Community Room

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR
YOUTH WHO WANT THE TRUTH

For More 411 Contact The SouthWest Organizing Project or Another Side
(505) 247-8832/(505) 268-9557 www.myspace.com/swopyouth

Thus far in the War on Terror 3335 American soliders have died, 29 from the Land of Enchantment. It is also estimated that over 600,000 Iraqi civilians have also died.

The Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has declared the War in Iraq to already be 'lost'. Dubya's approval ratings are at all time lows, the people in the U.S. are taking to the streets VietNAM style.

We're in the middle of an Iraqi Civil War and we're gambling with the highest stakes imaginable, the lives of our brave young men and women.

Congress just passed a bill that would require troop withdrawls to start no later than October 1st. This of course is headed for the inevitable showdown with the self proclaimed "Decider", and an even more inevitable Presidential Veto.

Public opinion including youth are now mostly against the war, but the administration refuses to listen. Since the first enlistment cycle in '03, recruitment goals had not been met. But after propaganda for the war pushes and "in house" military recruiters on high school campuses, enlistment goals were finally met in '05-'06.

According to the National Research Council the U.S. Department of Defense is the nation's largest employer, with 1.2 million active duty personnel and 675,000 civilian support employees.

The military enlists approx. 200,000 new recruits each year. With about 15,000 military recruiters on payroll, their sole purpose is to sniff out, find, recruit, (many times lie to) and enlist young people.

Military recruiters have stepped up their game, the effects of this increase in recruiting are the most visible in schools where the student body is made up of mostly people of color. With a recruitment budget of around $4 billion, young people are constantly being hit with a steady barrage of ads for military service.

The "No Child Left Behind" act allows recruiters access to school records of high school juniors and seniors and allows them access to campus' nationwide.

Recruiters are the salesmen for the military; misleading our youth with bribes of education and a chance to see the world in exchange for the ultimate risk- their lives.

Thats why the young folk over at SWOP have decided to stand against heightened military recruitment targeted at young low-income students of color.

We demand the opportunity for young people to make well-informed decisions about their future.

To ensure this, we demand APS provides access to alternative education to the military.

We might not be able to stop the death quota from being filled for this War OF TERROR, but at least we can make sure that our young people here in New Mexico have all the information they need to make an educated decision about their futures.

STOP SENDING OUR KIDS TO DIE!!!!!

Labels: APS, military recruitment, youth

Attention: APS School Board April 12, 2007

Another Side, a project of The Peace and Justice Center and The SouthWest Organizing Project stand united against the biased system of military recruitment that exists in our public schools today. Recruiters are the salesmen for the military; misleading our youth with bribes of wealth & education in exchange for the ultimate risk- their lives. We stand against heightened military recruitment targeted at young low-income students of color. We demand the opportunity for young people to make well-informed decisions about their future. To ensure this, we demand access to all Albuquerque Public Schools to provide alternative education to the military, specifically those of predominately low-income young people of color.

The “Controversial Issues and Outside Speakers” section of the student handbook states, in accordance with Board policy and the APS student behavior handbook that, “as a public institution the schools have a commitment to objectivity and fairness in the presentation of all sides of an issue”. It has been the experience of both of our organizations that equal access is not being provided to groups offering education and alternatives to military enlistment.

This issue was brought to the attention of the School Board throughout the summer of 2006. It is our understanding that on October 2, 2006 the office of the Superintendant met with Albuquerque Public High School Principals and requested that a study be done on the status of equal access within the schools.
The results of the study were scheduled to be reported on January 25, 2007 in the District Relations Committee of the School Board. The results were not heard and have been consistently postponed throughout the past four months.

The report back was scheduled for the 26th of this month, which once again has been canceled and rescheduled for May 25th. School will no longer be in session at that time. We demand to hear the results of the study today and that steps be taken towards providing equal access immediately. Each day this report is delayed and equal access is denied, young New Mexicans are at risk of making uninformed decisions that will forever affect their lives with serious ramifications for their futures and ultimately their communities.


Julian Moya
On Behalf of The SouthWest Organizing Project

Maria Santelli
On Behalf of The Peace and Justice Center

Labels: APS, military recruitment, youth

1000 protesters gathered at civic plaza today to stand up against the unjust war on Iraq and the economic draft that has targetted young women and men in poor communities of color. "Iraq is eating our generation alive" exclaimed Emma Sandoval a SWOP representative at the rally preceding the march. More than 3000 soldiers have lost their lives, 29 have been from New Mexico.


SWOP youth's campaign focuses on dramtacially reducing the number of military recruiters on school campuses, and putting an end to the pressure they recieve to join the armed forces. Youth need an education and healthcare, what they don't need is to sign a death contract that will profit Bush.

Check out more pictures from the march below.

Labels: anti-war march, Iraq, march 17th, military recruitment, peace-a-palooza, SWOP, youth