marjorie says...
I've been on the road since Friday with almost 100 people from New Mexico, on the "People's Freedom Caravan" heading to the US Social Forum in Atlanta. We're stopping in a number of cities along the way, where other community groups are sharing their history and current realities with us, not to mention taking great care of us! Yesterday we had an incredible day in San Antonio. We toured the communities surrounding Kelly Airforce Base, which have been incredibly polluted by the base and Union Pacific railroad. We then had a great rally at the Alamo for immigrant rights...which really made me happy. I grew up going to the Alamo pretty regularly...it's a big (problematic) part of Texas history. So it was great to return in this context. After the rally we marched to Senator John Cornyn's office to protest his racist "enforcement only" stance during the current debates on an immigration bill. Before we left, we made sure he knew some of the names of those who've died trying to cross the desert they've been pushed into by the militarization of our border:
After we had our say, we went to San Pedro park for barbecue and relaxation, then later had a great dinner at Ruta Maya coffee shop near the river walk. It's been a long time since I spent time in San Antonio. What a great city...it was very nice to be back.
In the coming week, I'll mainly be putting up posts at Swopblogger, but I'll also try to keep m-pyre posted as well. Now we're on the road to Houston, with a third bus from San Antonio having joined us. By the time we get to Atlanta we'll be 8 buses strong with many cars and vans with us. Over 75 community based organizations from the southern U.S. are participating, and there will be almost 1000 of us when we drive into Atlanta.
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