When people hear about Arizona these days, what we hear is increasingly disturbing. We hear about extreme anti-immigrant laws. Racial profiling. Mass detention centers where people are subjected to bizarre and humiliating punishments. Violent militias. Attacks on migrant families. Race-based book bans.
But there is another side of Arizona. This is the state, after all, where civil-rights hero Cesar Chavez was born. It’s a state with a long history of community organizing.
And what we don’t see broadcast on the news is this: In neighborhoods all across Arizona, people are working quietly for a healthier, brighter, more-inclusive future.
Just look at Luis Perales, who dedicates himself each day to making life better for the residents of his southside-Tucson neighborhood. He co-founded the Tierra Y Libertad Organization, or TYLO, which invests in new leaders and resident-driven community development. Through the Barrio Sustainability Project, Perales and other community leaders have implemented green solutions that build grassroots power. They have created food gardens and rainwater-catchment systems throughout the Wakefield community. Projects like these bring neighbors together to roll up their sleeves and implement their own visions of positive change. The result is a community that is stronger, more connected and more resilient.
One of the most-important things TYLO does is invest in a new generation of leaders who will continue to work within their neighborhoods—and to advocate at the tables of decision-makers who affect them.
The Tierra y Libertad Organization isn’t alone in its efforts. The group recently joined with the Pima County Re-entry Coalition to form the Southern Arizona Green for All Coalition—dedicated to working with area residents to build a vibrant and inclusive green economy. The coalition is a diverse set of groups and individuals dedicated to a shared vision of building power from the base up. The goal is to usher in an era of sustainable community development benefiting all residents of Tucson.
One shining example is work that’s been done with the Pima County adult and juvenile detention centers to actively invest in detainees so that when they re-enter their communities, they’re prepared to do more than just stay out of prison—they’re ready to serve as leaders and strengthen the fabric of their neighborhoods.
Here at Green for All’s national headquarters in Oakland, Calif., we’re inspired by what we see in Tucson. And we’re thrilled to partner with Luis Perales and the Southern Arizona Green for All Coalition on a series of trainings in Tucson’s Barrio Wakefield. The trainings are designed to support residents and amplify their power—so their voices become a stronger, louder part of the dialogue that decides the future of their neighborhoods, their city and their country.
Street by street and block by block, Tucson residents are forming a strong culture of participatory democracy. It’s not just about voting. It’s about neighbors coming together to help neighbors. It’s about residents taking a hard, honest look at their problems and working together to create solutions. They’re not waiting around for elected officials to solve problems like scarcity of fresh food—they’re planting their own gardens. As Luis Perales puts it, “We give, and we get.”
Amid all of the tension in Arizona, this kind of neighborhood self-sufficiency and resilience is more important than ever.
That’s why we need people on every block in Tucson to follow Perales’ lead. There’s never been a more-important time for folks to step up, whether it’s to start a community garden, advocate for resources or find ways to support their neighbors in need.
If we invest in communities—if we support efforts like the work of the Tierra y Libertad Organization—we can create a healthier, more-inclusive, more-prosperous world. Especially in places like Arizona.
You know what your community needs the most, and Green for All can give you the tools you need to take action. Our work isn’t done, and we need you to finish it. Visit www.greenforall.org for more information on how to make a difference in Tucson, and email julian@greenforall.org for more information on the Southern Arizona Green for All trainings from July 20 to July 23.
This article appears in Jul 19-25, 2012.
I enjoyed reading this well-written, mostly inspirational piece.
But what I must quibble about is when the author cited, Arizona-born, Cesar Chavez as one of her heroes.
Really?
Because from all that I’ve read about the “fabulous” Sr. Chavez is that he had a virulent, irrational hatred for the humble, poor folk that try to sneak across our border.
Which means what?
That the famous Cesar Chavez’s virulent hatred for his south-of-the-border kinfolk has helped birth a taxpayer funded, multi-billion-dollar industry.
Which has been now become so very successful that should it have existed during the era of Sr. Chavez’s grandpa and grandma, it surely would have kept them from ever emigrating up from Mexico.
Hi riorican, thank you for your comment. You bring up a really good point. It’s true that during the time that Cesar was leading the UFW, the union did not support amnesty for undocumented workers. At that time, I believe he thought he was doing what was best for the workers he was representing. I’m grateful our movements continue to grow and evolve. And that more and more we are understanding that injustice for some equals injustice for all. Today, the struggle that migrant families face here in their own land is one that we should all stand behind knowing that peace justice and equality for migrant families means peace justice and equality for all of us.
Rosa, I guess I don’t think what I hear about Arizona is ‘increasingly disturbing.’ Things come, things go, but I just don’t get your fear-mongering. I do see euphemistic references throughout your editorial that point in a certain direction – ‘healthier, brighter, more-inclusive future’, ‘new leaders’, ‘positive change’, ‘inclusive … economy’. Is all this inclusive, new, positive, inclusive to indicate – illegal aliens? The first commenter seems to pick up on it, too. Maybe we’re reading more into this than intended, and if so I apologize. But you refer in your response, to migrant families here in THEIR OWN LAND – are you referring to LEGAL immigrants? If so, I agree with you totally. If not, then I guess I don’t – it just isn’t their own land.