If you saw the BEWARE! poster or heard about our campaign to stop Mayor Chavez' Anti-Youth Agenda, you have come to the right place. Go to the SWOP youth home page if you would like to learn more about SWOP youth.

Young people are switching the tables on the police and the politicians down at city hall. The posters are meant to be funny and taken as social commentary - there will be more posters to come. View them here:

Beware: These 'gang's are potentially violent and dangerous

Have you seen this man? He is the figure head of a powerful 'gang'...potentially dangerous and harmful to the future of Albuquerque.

This campaign is about the safety of our communities and justice for young people where we live, work and play.

One of the main concerns about the Mayor's Anti-Youth Agenda by young people is the Albuquerque Police Department's Gang Unit, which is nothing more than a mechanism for profiling young people of color.

Other issues include the Mayor's attack on the New Mexico State Children's Code, his insistence on an unconstitutional curfew for young people and his dangerous and degrading rhetoric that perpetuates negative perceptions of young people.

Hear what the SWOP youth have to say:

• "All I want is to be able to feel safe in my home and in my community without the gang unit being able to shove me into a category they themselves fit. Why does Marty Chavez feel he has to punish our communities?"
  Yesenia Garcia, 2002 Summer Intern
• "Everyone fits into the federal gang description - even the police themselves. Marty Chavez targets us because we're young, brown and proud."
  Brianna Marrufo, 2002 Summer Intern
• "I know that we're going to be made out to be against the cops, but that just isn't the case. This campaign is about putting and end to Marty's anti-youth agenda."
  Celia Fraire, 2002 Summer Intern