Georgia Youth Forced Into Military Testing

Some of you may know that there has been an ongoing effort by AFSC to address the unjust disproportionate recruitment of low income Georgia youth into the military industrial complex. For several decades struggling Georgia youth have been the target of fairly aggressive recruitment tactics that include the promise of well paid post military jobs, the promise of avoiding a combat zone, the promise of a great education, and more. We know that statistically speaking these promises are rarely kept, leaving the majority of young recruits hurt, not helped by their military service.


We have an opportunity to provide safeguards in Georgia, but we need to act
fast, and we need to act now.


Every year tens of thousands of Georgia youth take the ASVAB(Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test), many don't even know what it stands for. There are two lies that perpetuated in regards to this test.


1. It's a test designed to help you decide what career paths might be good for you.


2. It's a mandatory test.



The truth is the test is most certainly designed to see what kind of soldier
you would be, and all of the results are turned over to the local military
recruiter often without your knowledge or consent for one reason, so he can
better recruit you. The test is absolutely not required.


John Barge, Georgia's Superintendent, has been delivered a letter,
 http://www.acluga.org/files/2413/4573/1160/ASVAB_GA_Superintendent_Letter.pdf,to address some of the concerns with the ASVAB test.

To learn more about the privacy concerns around ASVAB, check out this op-ed:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/azadeh-shahshahani/georgia-secret-test-scores_
b_1872306.html 

We believe we can win this important fight if we put real pressure on the
decision makers here.


CAN YOU JOIN US WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH AT 7PM AT AFSC (60 Walton St.,
Atlanta 30303)
Coffee and treats will be provided.  


Our goal is not only to discuss next steps, but also to begin writing
letters to John Barge encouraging him to do the right thing.  The
write-a-thon is co-sponsored by the Student Career Alternatives Program, ACLU Foundation of Georgia, and the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition-Atlanta.


Together we can win!


Tim Franzen
Georgia Peace and Conflict Resolution Program
American Friends Service Committee

Pool, School Supplies, And Paths of Nonviolence

This past Saturday one of AFSC's projects, Student Career Alternatives Program, hosted a back to schools pool party for youth k-12. While there was plenty of food, a pool beat the heat, and steady flow of live hip hop, this party was more then just a good time.

As the school year begins we wanted to create space where young people could not only receive all the school supplies they needed but also explore some of the deeper challenges they are likely to face this school year.




For the young ones the focus was how to treat ourselves and each other, how to love ourselves, and how to stand up for ourselves.

For the older students we explored how to identify systems of violence and oppression in the school system, from military recruiters, drug and gang violence, to underfunded schools in struggling neighborhoods. Every middle and high schools student got a copy of AFSC's, "It's My Life" guide to cool alternative post high school career resources and a DVD of "Before You Enlist", which focuses on feedback from youth recruits returning from Iraq and Afghanistan giving the real deal on military recruitment.

Some of us forget how hard it is to be young sometimes. We forget how much pressure we can feel to get on some sort of post high school path. In lower income communities, this pressure can be pretty intense. The options that are overwhelmingly pushed on students are college, the military, a very low wage job(which isn't easy to get these days), or selling drugs and robbing folks. It shouldn't surprise folks that the more resources someone has, the better their outcome tend to be.

The sad truth is that our society continues to pour resources into pockets, playgrounds, and schools of folks that are already have too much at the expense of everyone else. Military recruitment is a prime example pf America's crisis in economic priority.

Low and middle income youth are targeted for recruitment into a military that continues, year after year, to fight unpopular wars the make the super rich richer at the cost of human lives and tax payer dollars.

All in all the pool party was a success, everyone smile and laughed, most importantly everyone left with something important that they didn't have before.

Military Spending Is Killing Us: Set the Record Straight.

While the Obama administration’s new Defense Guidance document has been portrayed as moving to significant cuts in the Pentagon budget, the President himself tells a starkly different story. At last week’s rollout, he said:

“Over the past ten years, since 9/11, our defense budget grew at an extraordinary pace. Over the next ten years, the growth in the defense budget will slow, but the fact of the matter is this—it will still grow... In fact, the defense budget will still be larger than it was toward the end of the Bush Administration.”

What does that mean? We will continue to spend $2.1 million every minute of every day on the military – an unethical and unsustainable policy. Yet lawmakers are already clamoring to oppose the proposal, suggesting it would hobble US defense, cripple innovation, and cost jobs.

Please write your local paper to set the record straight: Slowing the growth of the military budget is not a cut in a budget that already has doubled since 9/11 and consequently has devastated spending on human needs.

Nearly every other area of federal spending - investing in jobs, health care, affordable housing, and education – has been cut, putting real security more at risk.

Investment in people and communities, increased reliance on diplomacy, and supporting sustainable human security by meeting human needs at home and abroad is what will ultimately make our world more safe and stable.

The Obama administration’s new strategy remains ominously more of the same.

It plans to focus more resources on naval and air power in the Strait of Hormuz to contain Iran and in Asia to manage China’s rise. It envisions the use of more drones and more covert operations with Special Forces. It calls for increased investment in cyber and space war capabilities. It affirms that the United States will continue to be the world’s leader in deadly arms sales and transfers.

After agreeing to increase spending on nuclear weapons by $85 billion, the Guidance document calls for unspecified reductions on this project. It seeks to pass troop burdens to allies, particularly those in Europe.

It envisions fewer wars like Iraq, and more wars like Afghanistan, where coordination between the Pentagon and the CIA is the model. For more on the insidious linkages between the two agencies, see our resources from our Afghanistan 101 blog and the audio from the Legacies of War in Iraq discussion.

Your voice is needed to change the course ahead. Write your local newspaper to remind everyone real security lies not in more military spending, but in more investment in our communities and the next generation.

Wage Peace,

Peter Lems and Mary Zerkel
American Friends Service Committee

Challenging War Where It Starts

Earlier this year we had several talented young film makers following us around documenting some of the work we do. They ended up not only putting together a really amazing snapshot a our work over the course of a few months, they also have stayed involved with our Student Career Alternatives program ever since.

I hope you will take the time to check out the film they made, there's a few real highlights that might inspire you to share it with your networks.

Here's their synopsis of the film:

Last Best Option
A short documentary produced by Georgia State University students Kristy Breneman, T.J. Hicks, Victoria Temple, and Kristan Woolford in collaboration with the American Friends Service Committee's Student Career Alternatives Program (SCAP) and GSU's Peripheral Visions lab under the direction of Professor Niklas Vollmer.

LAST BEST OPTION from T.J. Hicks on Vimeo.

Back To School Block Party!!

This past weekend historic Ebenezer Baptist Church held their annual Back to School Block Party, and this year we were honored to be a part of it. Our Student Career Alternatives Program(SCAP) gave out buttons, Before You Enlist DVD's, and copies of "It's My Life" to high school and middle school aged students.

Our goal at the block party was to promote exciting under promoted non-military post high school career options, plug youth into our free services(SAT classes and career counseling), and connect youth with all the fun events SCAP has planned for the fall.

The vibe was festive and fun with face painting, dancing, music, delicious food, and lots of free stuff from all the vendors.

Our booth was really popular, and we had a ton of folks stop by and ask for a quick explanation for what are table was all about. I found myself say, "We're here to promote really cool under promoted alternative careers, we believe that young folks shouldn't have to participate in systems of violence and oppression in order get get cash for college".

The event was really uplifting and we're excited to explore new opportunities to work with Ebenezer Baptist Church!


Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

SCAP Brings Non-Military Options to Stephenson High

Stephenson High school invited Student Career Alternatives Program to their first spring career fair, which took place today. This marked our second visit to the Stone Mountain high school. One striking thing that we again noticed today that the student body is over 99% African American, which seems to further confirm the fact that Atlanta Metro school have become resegregated over the past 20 years.

We were all impressed with the counseling staffs dedication to the students and their post high school careers. So many high school counselors cave into parents request to hold career fairs after school instead of during school. The fairs that take place during school hours are so much more accessible to students.

We had hundreds of students come talk to us through the course of the fair. Students explored ways to serve their country, travel the world, find adventure, get money for college, develop artistic skills, and other job skills training without out having to join the military.

We also provided students that were considering military service with our new DVD, "Before You Enlist" which breaks down the realities of the enlistment contract and interviews young people coming back from Iraq/Afghanistan. We weren't the only folks tabling at today's career fair. In addition to dozens of colleges and a cosmetology school, there was two tables staffed by Army recruiters.

We're excited at the prospect of building a relationship with Stephenson high staff. There's already talk of a summer program collaboration with SCAP!


Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

"It's My Life" Visual Art!

So we're still putting the poetry, music and video submissions onto the internet, but for now we're gonna go ahead and post all the lovely photos, paintings, graphics, and collages that students entered into the "It's My Life" youth art contest.

Keep in mind that the gallery will be up until April 15th and much of the art is still for sale with all the proceeds going to the artists.

We will also be hosting a closing Friday April 15th from 6-8pm at the AFSC office, 60 walton street, Atlanta 30303.


Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

Student Parent Privacy Act drops in state house and senate!

Because of No Child Left Behind, all public high school students' contact information is sent to military recruiters by default, without their knowledge or consent. Students can technically opt out of this, but they are not informed of that fact so most don't know how to do it, or even that they can at all, and so it doesn't happen by the deadline. Their private information is handed over--then they start getting call after call from military recruiters, sometimes daily.

HB 567, the Student Parent Privacy Act, would allow students an opportunity to opt out of having their info sent to recruiters. The simple bill, only a few paragraphs long, would require schools to notify students and parents that their info will be sent to recruiters unless they choose to opt out. On the same form, they could indicate their wish to opt out; they could then return the form to the school, which would forward it to the board of education, causing those students' info to be kept private. The bill was introduced in both the state House and state Senate this week and is currently in the Education Committee of the house and the Education and Youth committee of the Senate.

It is a violation of privacy to hand over minors' contact information, essentially to advertizers, who will then pester them nonstop.

Please call your state representative and state senator to tell them to support HB 567. You can go to Congress.org and type in your address to find your state legislators' contact information. If your legislators start hearing from their own constituents it will make a huge difference! The bill is so common sense, it would be hard for any legislator, Republican or Democrat, to oppose: how can you object to informing people before giving out their phone numbers?

Please call your legislators and urge them to support HB 567. Here's an example of what you could say:

"I'm a constituent of ________, calling to urge them to support HB 567, the Student Parent Privacy Act. The bill would prevent students' contact information from being given to military recruiters without their knowledge or consent. It is important to protect minors' privacy. It would be a simple matter for schools to send a form home with students giving them this important notice and allowing them an easy way to control their private information. This bill is just common sense. Can I count on him/her to vote yes on HB 567?"

If each legislator gets even a few calls from their own constituents, that will be a huge step toward getting this bill passed.

Below is a list of the phone numbers of every member of the Education committees of the house and senate. They are supposed to represent the entire state when acting as committee members, so they need to hear from you too! Pick one on the list or call a few:

State Senate

Education and Youth Committee Members

Fran Millar (Chairman) (404) 463-2260

William Ligon, Jr. (Vice Chairman) (404) 656-0045

Jesse Stone (Secretary) (404) 463-1314

John Albers (404) 463-8055

Vincent Fort (404) 656-5091

Donzella James (404) 463-1379

Freddie Powell Sims (404) 463-5259

Horacena Tate (404) 463-8053

Lindsey Tippins (404) 657-0406

Tommie Williams (404) 656-0089

Bill Jackson (404) 651-7738

Chip Rogers (404) 463-1378

State House

Education Committee Members

Brooks Coleman (Chair) 404.656.9210

David Casas (Vice Chair) 404.656.0254

Tommy Benton (Secretary) 404.656.0177

Tom Dickson 404.463.2247

Kathy Ashe 404.656.0116

Rick Austin 404.656.0287

Paul Battles 404.656.0152

Amy Carter 404.651.7737

Mike Dudgeon 404.656.0298

Terry England 404.463.2245

Hugh Floyd 404.656.0314

Wayne Howard 404.656.6372

Jan Jones 404.656.5072

Margaret Kaiser 404.656.0265

Edward Lindsey 404.656.5024

Howard Maxwell 404.656.5143

Rahn Mayo 404.656.6372

Randy Nix 404.656.0177

Ann Purcell 404.656.5139

Barbara Massey Reece 404.656.7859

Ed Setzler 404.656.0177

Willie Talton 404.656.5116

Rashad Taylor 404.656.0220

Sam Teasley 404.656.0177

Brian Thomas 404.656.0220

Andy Welch 404.656.0109

Congress.org: get your legislators' contact info.
Read the bill on the legislature's website.

Updated, "Before You Enlist" DVD's Arrived Today!

When I came in my office today I was greeted by a box of AFSC's new and improved, "Before You Enlist/!Antes De Alistarte!" DVDs! 200 hundred of them! The packaging looks great and if you haven't seen the updated version, you should.

We are of course offering both Spanish and English versions free on youtude but our experience working with young people is that handing them a DVD is more effective than telling them to look up something on the internet.

In order to be able to give the DVD's away at schools and keep them in stock we will be selling them here at the office and at events we table at for $5, which is a great deal considering the amount of work and research that has gone into producing and updating this material.

Here's the youtube vids:
English-


Spanish-



Stop by and pick one up today or email tfranzen@afsc.org to arrange to have a few mailed out to you! It's an easy way to support the work we do in Atlanta!


Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

SCAP Teams Up With GLAHR!!

Student Career Alternatives Program has had a three year relationship with Cross Keys High School and we make it a point to visit the school at least once a month. Over the years we've observed one overwhelming obstacle that students are forced to face when considering their post high school options; their legal status as citizens.

Often times students, who may have been brought to the US as small children, don't understand the full implications of their legal status until they're Juniors or Seniors and it's time to start thinking about next steps after graduation. Cross Keys High School has on of the largest undocumented student body percentages in the state of Georgia. Faculty are often heartbroken when they're faced with students who they have grown to care for yet are unable to help.

After our recent commitment to the national Migrant Youth Voice Project through American Friends Service Committee, SCAP has been more motivated to build alliances with organizations like the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights and the Georgia Dreamers. So we were REALLY excited that after our meeting at the GLAHR office this past Monday that Gina Perez and Eva Cardenas, both with GLAHR and the Georgia Dreamers, agreed to come out to Cross Keys with us and table outside the lunch room. Our afternoon at the school was extremely productive for all of us. Gina and Eva got to practice their outreach skills with high school students, Josie and I got to hype the 2011, "It's My Life" art contest, and we were all approached by someone on the counseling staff that invited us to present workshop next Tuesday on career options for undocumented students.

So next Tuesday brings collaboration #2 for SCAP and GLAHR and we're all super excited! I feel like 2011 is the year we all stand together, the year we go beyond making the connections in our minds, the year we go further, the year we meet in the street, on the campus, picket line, and in our communities.

To learn more about SCAP visit:
www.scapatl.org

GLAHR:
www.glahr.org

Georgia Dreamers:
http://www.gadreamers.org/

Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

Antes de Alistarte! (Before You Enlist!)

Antes de Alistarte! es un conoce el contrapunto racional a las practicas de reclutamiento atractivas y enganosas que a menudo son usadas por reclutadores militares de EEUU.



In 2005 American Friends Service Committee produced a 14 minute DVD entitled before you enlist. We're excited that the DVD has finally been updated to reflect changes in the enlistment contract, and the large number of new recruits being sent to Afghanistan. We're also really exciting that the new version is in Spanish as well.

If you've seen the original then you will notice a lot of new footage in the update. It would be really great if you could share this with folks, especially anyone struggling with the decision of where they're going after high school.

You can get your own copy of the DVD through AFSC Atlanta for just $5.
The DVD's are free to High School students.




Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee
tfranzen@afsc.org

Youth Inspire AFSC staff in Lagrange Ga!

This Past weekend Anton Flores, of Alterna, invited us to present an info sharing session at their 5th annual Three Kings Celebration in Lagrange, Ga.
Anton thought that a session that would highlight non-military post high school options for undocumented Latino youth would be valuable for younger attendees. This was honestly a pretty tough session to put together and in some ways it was pretty depressing. Th fact is that there's so many great under promoted non-military options out there that require a social security number, thus making them unavailable to anyone who's undocumented.

We did find that there are dozens of scholarships available and that many Ivy League schools except undocumented students. Most college counselors seem really open to help undocumented students navigate admission as well.

We found that there are a lot of alternative careers out there that seem open to anyone with the patience and discipline to go through the process of apprenticeship with someone. There's also the several farming and carpentry career paths that leave lots of room to receive a good living, or even start your own business.

We spent a lot of time talking about the Dream Act. It was not a shock that many folks had not even heard of the Dream Act. Everyone was surprised to learn about the evolution of the legislation. Many of the undocumented youth in attendance had a hard time understanding why the public service option was replaced by military service option.

We showed this video:

67% is Not A Choice. from Producciones Cimarrón on Vimeo.

After the session we had several youth that wanted to participate in our Migrant Youth Voices project by sharing their story with us and doing video interviews. I must say it was extremely humbling and inspiring(I think Josie actually teared up at one point) to spend time with these courageous kids. To hear the love and connection they have for a country that fails to recognize their right to exist in it, despite the fact that many of them have no memory of the nation they were born in and have little or nothing to go back to if forced. I couldn't help but think that in some paradoxical way they represent the last real Americans, if there is such a thing.

We're really excited about keeping up with the connections we made in Lagrange, which brings certain future inspiration! We also should tell you know to get ready for some pretty great stories, which we will eventually publish on this blog and a few other sites. We really wanna thank Anton Flores for all the amazing organizing he does all over the state and his willingness to work with us.


Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

AFSC Brings Demilitarizing Strategies And Analysis To SOAW

AFSC's national youth and militarism task force meeting was planned to take place right before this year's School of the Americas Watch(SOAW) because several AFSC staff from other regions planned on participating in the demonstration at the gates of Fort Benning. Knowing that several AFSC staff from around the country were going to be at SOAW this year was exciting, as I was putting together a workshop on how to demilitarize your campus and community that would have a national audience.

I was equally excited that a local Student Career Alternative Program(SCAP) organizers, Josie Figueroa, Jenell Holden, Caitlin Barrow, Molly Mclaughlin, Erica Schoon, and Brett Davidson were all coming as well!

Thanks in part to all the buzz generated by SCAP folks during the day our early evening workshop ended up being standing room only. The workshop covered strategies to develop relationships with local high schools, connecting youth with non-military post high school options, building a student campaign, and how to create local policy changes that limit military recruiters access to youth. A big thanks to Darlene Gramigna and Jesus Palafox from the Chicago AFSC for facilitation help!

My favorite part of the workshop was right after it ended. Conversations were sparked between SCAP organizers and workshop attendees from all over the country. We had several enthusiastic college students that have asked us out to thier campuses over the next few months and we're excited to make those trips!

Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

Peace Recruiters Converge In The ATL pt. 2

So our task over the course of three days was not only to share what we're doing separately in our individual cities, but to attempt to develop a plan for nationally collaborative work. Can we be more then the sum of our parts and what would that look like? Could there be a nationally "branded" effort that would work in both New Orleans and Portland? That was our challenge.

Organizers are managers in a sense, which means we have ideas and experience about what works and what doesn't, we've all developed instincts over the years of our work. This can work for us when we get together in that often times one person can see potential obstacles that perhaps another hasn't experienced. It can also be a challenge to find consensus amongst a group of passionate organizers who have strong ideas about what works in their community and what doesn't.

The second and third day of our meeting was inspiring, and really tough at times. Folks got emotionally and physically burned out, others had lots of questions about the direction of our work. It was honestly the toughest AFSC national gathering I've ever attended. It's also potentially one of the most productive. Perhaps meaningful organizing isn't supposed to be a piece of cake, perhaps that's why we call it a struggle. Maybe the struggle isn't just against the systems of oppression and violence, but also a struggle to organize ourselves and our communities. Sometimes it's a struggle against our old idea and behavior patterns.

The good news is that we developed some pretty amazing plans for the next 12 months. One is really broad and super youth driven, the other deals with something a little specific and policy driven. I'm not going to go into details just yet as we're ironing out kinks but I'm excited that we're gonna see real national collaboration around youth work at AFSC, I believe this will position us to turn up the volume a few notches. This will make us more than the sum of our parts.

Oh, and I did get a few minutes to give a super lazy tour of some of Atlanta's street art, which of course took us to the Krog tunnel. Would have loved to have given a more legit tour of Atlanta. Maybe next time.


Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee