SAFER SCHOOL SUPPLIES: SHOPPING GUIDE (PIRG Report)

As reported by the United States Public Interest Group:

Their three takeaways are:

1) Some of these school products contain toxic chemicals that have been recalled. The government mandates that products for children should have less than 100 ppm of lead. If your family owns a water bottle described in this Guide that has been recalled for having above 100 ppm, immediately stop using the water bottle and return it to the store.

2) Some of these school products contact toxics that, while not banned by the federal government, could possibly pose a risk to children. It is legal to have asbestos in crayons. However, scientists and government agencies point out that it is unnecessary to expose children to asbestos. Manufacturers selling asbestos-containing crayons should voluntarily recall the crayons and reformulate the ingredients. Similarly, it is legal to have phthalates in some back to school products, but scientists recommend that children not be exposed to high levels of phthalates.

3) Given that it is often legal to sell products containing these toxic substances, parents can do several things. First, look for the Art and Creative Materials Institute (ACMI) “AP” label, letting consumers know that the product is non-toxic. If there is no AP label, look for the manufacturer’s “children’s product certificate” on the product, which assures parents that the product has been tested in a third-party laboratory under government specifications. If neither of those labels is on the product, parents can reach out to the manufacturers and ask that they start using AP certification, or that they meet the requirements needed for a children’s product certificate.

We have the following recommendations:

* Dollar Tree and Playskool should recall the asbestos-tainted crayons and remove them from store shelves. They should also contact customers to warn them about the crayons.

* Dollar Tree and Jot should recall the 3-ring binder that contained high levels of phthalates and remove them from store shelves. They should also contact customers to warn them about the binders.

* The Board Dudes and Amazon should recall their dry-erase markers that contain benzene and remove them from store shelves.

* Policymakers should maintain the CPSC’s funding and authorities to protect the public and mandate the CPSC to regularly test more children’s products for toxic chemicals.

* Parents and teachers should look for the AP label posted on items by the Art & Creative Materials Institute (“ACMI”). For items not certified by the ACMI, parents should look for a manufacturer’s label certifying that the product meets CPSC guidelines for children.

* Parents should demand that manufacturers without a label start carrying a label, and that the products meet the safety guidelines.

On this day, in Chicano History

1972: San Antonio:
A state report reveals that nearly half of the people in the lower Rio Grande Valley are living in poverty, that most are Chicanos, and that 70% of those in poverty are employed.

Keeping it Tranquilo (maintaining the peace)

In recent weeks and months, Carnalismo have engaged in peaceful dialogue and correspondence with formerly adversarial or strained relationships. These measures have been sought by all parties involved to “bury hatchets”, or to simply just not engage in such negative annoyances any longer.

Although we can with absolute certainty say that everything we have released in our defense; statements on the internet or otherwise have been actual evidentiary truth, we will be taking some statements down in the coming weeks in an effort to rinse out what might be viewed as dirty laundry. Please bear in mind three things:

1) This process may not happen overnight; there are numerous things on numerous sights that may be changed to an “unpublished,” or removed status and this process can be tedious and time consuming. For those this is relevant to, please be patient.

2) Just because these things might become “unpublished,” it doesn’t mean they will be wiped out. Carnalismo has archived everything, but will keep things only for our records.

3) Those who have done things so egregious and outstandingly bad, (like outright slander, libel, death threats, etc.) and who have made no effort toward negotiations with us may NOT have certain entries removed. Such removals or redactions will be at Carnalismo’s sole discretion. In addition, any new bad actors may have the evidence of their egregious behavior published on a myriad of platforms.

Our friends are still our friends, as we continue on with growing support and unifying gestures with new friends and even old friends. This is a great opportunity for us all.

We welcome this new tone within the Brown Beret community with open arms. In the current geopolitical status quo such measures are imperative so that we can all continue on with doing our work, and living on with our lives in tranquility and peace.

Social Media Issues – why I’m not gone

Now we all got issues, right? But here is what we dont like: People thinking they can run rough shod, under our flash, under our patch, and thinking they can run sh*t.
We’re dealing with some SERIOUS situations right now, and the last thing we need is too placate a handful of narcissistic flying monkeys. It’s okay, we won’t name any of you, you pretty much know who you are.
Aside from that, there is so much to be said. But it’s best to say little, and to know that the Carnalismo Brown Berets have been running strong for generations.

I want to take this moment to give Victor San Miguel all of my credence, as he is a beacon in guidance, advocacy, action, understanding, patience, and fairness as well as justice. Under his tutelage, I have truly learned a lot (even if I was being a hard head at the time.) When a man (And I’m NOT trying to engender the argument, I’m writing as a man) such as myself looks to a hero, Victor San Miguel is truly one of my personal hero’s I owe a debt to him that I can’t even explain. Being a Carnalismo Brown Beret is the most amazing experience ANYONE could know. Victor San Miguel’s leadership, diplomacy, forgiveness toward adversarial, etc have always amazed me. I’m glad that he has taught me – through suggestion/facilitation, just what it means to be a leader – especially in our capacity.
I am still very proud to be a Brown Beret, and I will NEVER shy away from that title. I will staple gun my beret to my head before anyone tries to de-frock me.

The plauges of liars…”bandwagonisms”

First, this entry is meant to shed light onto the “achievement gap” that exists in the Chicano and Brown Beret community – to illuminate abuses, or “over-dependent” tendencies of Gente to fall back on third party, money mongering websites, and how many disruptive individuals make good efforts at their attempts of exploitive tactics, with regard to “social media.”

We have seen this dynamic in the older days of “myspace,” and truer than true, much of that activity DID lead to an upsurgence of “social media activity.

Fast forward to today, and many people can see how anyone with an email address can launch a Facebook “profile,” and subsequently launch a “Fan Page.”

So here’s where the bad actors attempt to try to “hold court,” or falsely appeal to our gent with a “support page.” This has gone on for so long, that I have to wonder what they will do when Facebook is no longer relevant. that day will come, and people will migrate elsewhere onto the internet.

I wish to also illuminate another fact; These frivolously launched Facebook fan pages can actually diminish the value and the honor of the Brown Berets as a whole legacy – whether being launched as a ham-fisted attempt at undermining others, you’re undermining the values and virtues which Brown Berets have classically held onto as the underpinning of the movement.

Allow me to dumb that down a little: Repeatedly launching disingenuous Facebook fan pages, in an attempt to garner “band wagon” supporters will diminish the movement as a whole. It will actually water down the whole thing, and undermine it’s credibility. Truth be told, there are many bad actors using Facebook currently as a platform, and an attempt to cause disruptive distrust amongst the Brown Beret Community.

I’ll go ahead and water that down some more: Irrelevant or disruptive people who think Facebook is a good place to declare your wannabe, dominant Brown Beret group is a bad idea, because it taints the Brown Beret Community, it de-values yourselves, and it mis-leads the public.

How does it mislead the public? These diatribes spewed by people hung up on “ownership” of the Brown Beret legacy. It confuses people, boffos!

To argue over “originality” is an argument internalized by agitators, or people with motives to self- aggrandize themselves. Como que? Cult Leader types… People who exhibit themselves as a self professed “cult-of-personality.”

What it means is this: Some individuals, of inferior morality basically sit posted up on the internet, trying to formulate strategies to undermine other Brown Beret groups. Much of this continuum appears to stem from middle-aged, Chicano men, with little to zero involvement en el Movimiento, even devoid of  the historicity of their own families.

Watering this down some more, ALL Brown Berets are susceptible to opportunists, who think they can step into the fold, and endow themselves as the determinate of what a Brown Beret is, was, or will be.

Any Brown Beret group that opens itself up to such susceptibilities might want to visit an “Internal Audit” of the personalities they identify with. Honestly, any Brown Beret group that barks about their authenticity ought to do their DUE DILIGENCE on who they vet to bring into their fold.

Wreckless recruitment measures, overly-ambitiousness, or enticement are ALL undertones of a gang, a cult, group-herd mentality.

Herd Mentality is a concept that doesn’t surface in the Carnalismo Brown Brown Berets: We don’t subordinate our own Raza. Carnalismo is an understanding. Some people get it, some people don’t. Carnalismo is a form of understanding, which very, very few people cannot wrap their minds around.

That being said, these other “internet jockey’s,” playing their little games can ride the Facebook wave all they want. When Facebook is no longer relevant, they will blindly (like sheep) scurry over to the next social media platform. And by such junctures, they might have found that ANY sense of their own privacy has been left open.

Discretion and accountability have their merits. NOT Levas who exhibit hidden agendas. We ARE the Carnalismo Brown Berets, and we live by our own merits. And we have been around for a very, very long time.

Brown Berets & AIM CTX continue In “Anti-Bully” Protest

On Friday, May 29, 2015, several members of the American Indian Movement of Central Texas called for a second day of protest at Longfellow Middle School after several threats of violence directed towards 13 year old Deanna Villareal were released on the internet following the May 28th protest.

The initial protest, which took place across the street from the entrance of the school, brought about an ugly reaction from the student body leaving campus. Many pre-teens were seen giving protesters the middle fingers, shouting vulgarities, or holding up notebooks with messages such as “suck my a**”. According to Melissa Villareal (Mother of Deanna), she waited at a police station for over two hours before speaking to an officer about the cyber threats that followed. SAPD told the woman that it was simply a matter of her daughter “sucking it up”. However, the message that Melissa Villareal delivered to the school the following day was definitely heard by the faculty & staff of Longfellow Middle School who were telling student to ignore protesters.

4 Brown Berets, along with several members of the “Armor of God” Motorcycle Club, were present on the second day of action against bullying at Longfellow Middle School to support AIM CTX. Personal Security for Deana Villareal was provided by 2 Brown Berets, while the others focused on the building up and documenting the protest.11219230_1599886036937600_7339828403263325793_n The message of the protest was directed towards the educational facility to demand accountability on behalf from the school that has known about this particular bullying incident for over 4 months. Our mission statement (commitment to non-violence & education) was repeated over a bullhorn along with chants such as “BULLIES PROTECTED, VICTIMS NEGLECTED” so that students, parents & faculty didn’t feel as if they were caught in a crossfire between an angry mom & the school. It wasn’t until a woman who had been observing the crowd from across the street walked over and thanked us for the protest, that we knew the battle against bullying was in our favor. According to the woman, who immediately burst into tears after security personnel from AIM CTX & Carnalismo Brown Berets let her near Melissa & her daughter, many children (including her own) face bullying at Longfellow Middle School.

The protest ended with Deanna & her parents meeting with school officials to discuss a solution. Overall the 2 day protest was highly charged, but kept organized & peaceful at all times.

For more information about the American Indian Movement of Central Texas please visit:

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CHICANO POWER!

STOP the bullying in our schools

Bullying culture, as it stands is bad enough. But suppression of our rights as individuals is just as bad. Such has been the case of Longfellow Middle School, in San Anto, Texas. In this instance Longfellow Middle School, and the local school district have been complacent in addressing issues of bullying. And though the school district receives money from a non-profit organization that claims to tout spreading bullying awareness, we can see how this really is just a “cash cow” steeped in subsidies.

Bullying is a systemic problem, often bolstered by institutions operating from a “colonized” mindset. For our part on the particulars, Carnalismo Brown Berets are synergizing with AIM Ctrl. TX to show awareness, and to affirm ALL of our rights as people.

For those who can make it, a demonstration will be taking place.

Though some may NOT be able to make it, please spread the awareness as you can.

Though some may NOT be able to make it, please spread the awareness as you can.

BBNO further bolsters their hostile controversies

We underscored it earlier, in previous posts, how the “BBNO” continually operate from a duplicitous agenda – we have been demonstrable from that regard. In many respects, we put together a digital diorama, which shows just how much to rapacity clings to ownership of the Brown Beret persona, as well as Brown Beret level activism.

These hostile grab ups can be paraphrased here:

 

How the BBNO sought to remedy the strife can be watched here:

 

It should be addressed here NOW that our movimiento as Carnalismo Brown Berets has always sought PURO genuine involvement. Thus has been the ONLY capacity at which we have operated. To regale ANYONE to false promotions is merely a maligned, mal-adapted and fake psychological exchange – an exchange we continually witness being put into practice. We continually and painfully see this as a by-product of colonization; a continuum of “puppies an followers.”

Much of our gente are seduced by the movida to follow indiscriminately, such as the examples can be presented here. But leadership is actually an abstract concept, riddled with the power of discerning thought. Those incapable of discernment are those who lack a capacity to thinks for themselves – and as as painful of a plight they may undergo, we KNOW, that  those so incapable are lost, in the respect that they need some sort of guidance. They are incapacitated toward intellectual thought. They have a thirst to be lead, rather than a drive to facilitate  others toward leadership. In other words, some people know nothing outside of being led. Just watch the vids, they seek to explain the tenets of “independent thought.”

 

Causa Unidos Brown Berets continue to deal with BBNO unrest

The Causa Unidos Brown Berets have had to continually deal with the rapacious BBNO, and their actively offensive motives to undermine activists  en Tejas

The Causa Unidos Brown Berets have had to continually deal with the rapacious BBNO, and their actively offensive motives to undermine activists en Tejas

The BBNO, in its’ newest incarnation (a post Jon Burns era) have again resurfaced, with obvious ambitions toward rapacious grab ups for BOTH recruitment and expansion. Their eminent self implosion surfaced itself in the Autumn of 2011. They enjoyed a really big hype around 2010, when their “leader” appointed Jon Burns (A.K.A. Juanito, A.K.A El Gitano) to their second in Command. His title was then Chief of Staff, and there exist screen shots of BBNO proudly hailing this. But not only was Jon Burns ousted as a sexual miscreant, (who continually calls out hits on people) but he also tainted that 2010 incarnation of the “La Causa” patch.

For those who don’t know, YES, many Brown Berets wear different patches, and YES, there does unfortunately exist some dispute on the validity of such patches.

However, one thing that can NEVER be disputed is that the Carnalismo patch has never been rife with disruption nor dispute. Carnalismo Brown Berets are far more in keeping with some tenets of the old school, “veterano” Brown Berets, in that we DON’T operate from a place of imposing our will, and that we instead operate from a sense of understanding – in fact, that is what “Carnalismo” means in the first place.

Since we don’t subordinate our fellow Chicanos with egotistical tyranny, it ALSO means that we work closely and strongly and continually with our affiliate patches – those who have humbly organized alongside us.

Such is the case, with the Causa Unidos Brown Berets from El Paso, Texas. Their initiatives, and their works are so much in alignment with us, that in many respects, they are a part of our whole. When they deal with adversity, we sense and feel it.

Since, however (or leading up to) the burial of Reies Lopez Tijerina (a Texan who for Land Grant rights en Nuevo Mexico), we have again seen an uproarious resurgence stemmed from people who lust to own a cause to which they have exhibit unethical ambitions.  With regard to Tijerina, we  WATCHED as so many greedy agencies and institutions made the passing of this defiant Tejano’s death a part of their own causes – how they were exploitative in their nature to gather own ness over the death of this man who in his life stood for justice.

And though Sr. Tijerina had converted himself to another religion for long years passed, we also saw how many people tried to step into his legacy – and to grandstand their own motives for their own perceived ill gotten gains.

Honestly, it was a sick, disgusting affair, to see so many destitute (or despot) organizations squeeze themselves in, for a chance to speak blank words into a microphone, into a camera, or onto the news. It could even be argued that such organizations, such as the BBNO, La Fey, etc. actually garnered more money or more followers for their duplicitous outcries – their false gritos.

As a NATIVE Nuevo Mexicano, whose Abuela was from Del Rio, Texas,  I felt insult coursing in my veins. Much of the embodiment of Tijerina’s work existed in my back yard, a long time ago. In his latter years, Tijerina moved back to his native Tejas, and settled into a humble life – while he was still alive, few people knew him, nor cared much about where he ended up.

But the Causa Unidos Brown Berets DID! They could tell you what his favorite food was shortly before he passed away. They could tell you where he sought solace, in contrast to  a lot of grandiose organizations who so hungrily salivated over owning his legacy. Few people would know his humble road as he sadly departed us all. But the Causa Unidos Brown Berets were there when few paid attention to him.

This “ambulance chasing” attorney out of El Paso has been hastily “promoted,” and emboldened by Jeronimo Blanco, to lead and direct the new incarnate of the BBNO. The hasty “promotions” are reminiscent of the 2010 BBNO, when Burns had been endowed as second in command. Burns only lasted a little over a year.  What credibility lies with a man who barely became a Brown Beret when he was middle-aged, and why he is given so much credence?

The current incarnate of the BBNO have distinctly sought to be rapacious, and to have ownership of the Brown Beret persona. Their enthusiasm shows, since they copyrighted the “La Causa” patch. And for all the flagrantly reckless statements they make on their website, it is VERY ironic that the BBNO used the same gabacho laws they claim to be against in order to copyright the “La Causa” patch – a patch and symbol that has been in use before any of their existent leadership became Brown Berets. None of the “men” who poise themselves as leaders are even originators of the “La Causa” patch. Still, they continually “troll” on facebook, to deceive the public. They flagrantly disrespect other Brown Berets, of other patches, and they try to harass other Brown Berets with “legaleaze,” and false cease and desist threats.

This is the precipice of the problem, as it exists for Chicano activists today; the ego-stroking characters, conjuring fake adversaries, spreading libel, slander, and harassment, and implementing deception to cause unrest and disruption.

To those poor saps who joined the BBNO, drank the koolaide, bought those silly khakis, the canteen belt y todo; Carnalismo feels sorry for you. We have no ambitions to recruit “puppies”, who subject themselves to be lead on a leash. We are comprised ONLY of leaders, NOT followers. And we only encourage independent thought. We challenge one another, and we UNDERSTAND one another. This is why we hold strong – BOTH with our chapters, and our affiliates.

We keep our Movida clean from trolls, never-do-wells, sex offenders, and ego-stroking sycophants. That is what we have always done, and that is what we continually do. And most importantly, we do it from a place of CARNALISMO; compassion, understanding, carino, and shared conciseness – actions which cannot be written in words…