We will be having a indigenous ceremony for our Friend Tim Smith at El Centro Cultural Techantit on Thursday April 7th  at 6:30 AM. You Are welcomed to come.

668 S. Bonnie Brae

Los Angeles, CA 90057

Phone:  (626) 500-3604

In Alley: Between Bonnie Brae and Burlington

On March 31, 2011 Homies Unidos lost a very special friend. His name is Tim Smith, an anthropologist of Urban Studies professor at Cal State Northridge.   He was 79 years young and had so much more to give to this world. Hi life has inspired many to continue his legacy.

Eva, Tim’s wife of over 25 years said about when they meet:

“Were compatible with each other, He showed love for humanity, arts and others was what attracted her to Tim.”

He expressed his caring through the art sculptures made of stone. They were done with such love and caring and this was what he felt with everyone he met. He was a traveler; he went to Paraguay, El Salvador Philippines, Africa, and his last trip to the Middle East, Turkey he almost did not make it. His body was already weakening. Eva mentioned that in the last two months of Tim’s life. Tim’s body had taken a toll and he expressed that he was ready to go. A noble thing to say by a man who was an adventure and to someone you love, from a man that was always in a road of discovery. This was his time to go and discover we will all go but never come back to tell anyone, what we all only imagine. Tim is on that journey now.

The love for humanity and people from all races was how to stumble on to Homies Unidos. His dedication for social change was what inspired me and young men and women to fight for what was right for us in our community. He stuck through the bad times when we became under attack by LAPD officers. He went to the police station and demanded answers. Officers did not understand why this older white man was demanding answers.

Tim was able to help me deal with the stereotypes I had of all white people. I for years distrusted people that were not my color. But this white man was the one who took me back to my roots when he was the first to invite me to participate in an indigenous ceremony. I had never participated nor had any clue of what a Sweat Lodge was. I was transformed after that experience. He taught me that there good people in all races and sometimes we are our own oppressors.

Today we celebrate Tim’s departure from our world to this new road of discovery he went on. Life is an adventure and Tim lived it as one.

Forever in our thoughts,

Alex Sanchez, Homies Unidos Board Members and the Homies…..

Fri, Jan 14 – Hip Hop Concert
Sat, Jan 15 – Indigenous Dancers, speakers, food and community award ceremony
Sun, Jan 16 – Mayan Ceremony

Details below:

FRIDAY – January 14, 2011

- HIP HOP POR LA PAZ -

8:00pm-12:00pm

@ Women’s Building

3543 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94110

$10 donation

Performing:

Reyes del Bajo Mundo – O.N.S. El Sonador – Amazon Blew – Geo Kiburym – Rap Squad – Santos – Inner City Dwellers Conflikto Armado – El Comandante Izalco – Wanako – Kingz & Marmota Fu – Browny Loco – Lirico Dios

Also included:

Alex Sanchez-Executive Director of Homies Unidos live via Skype, – Homies Unidos Callejeros Graff & Visual Art – Coperativa Cuscatlán via www.ustream.com

TV Channel/Cooperative Cuscatlán Radio Subersivar – Cinema Feliciano Ama – Question Everythink  – Tigres Y Violetas  – El Jorge

SATURDAY – January 15, 2011

- SPIRIT OF MEMORY –

14^TH Annual Commemoration of La Matanza

2:00pm – 7:30pm

@ Women’s Building

3543 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94110

$6 donation

After the tragic events of La Matanza in 1932, an unknown number of Salvadoran indigenous people perished, estimated between 10,000 and 30,000 people.  As a result, native communities in El Salvador took their ceremonies and culture into hiding.  78 years after these events, communities have re-emerged and are being recognized officially by El Salvador’s government.  We gather our collective Spirit of Memory with our Bay Area community and utilize it to discuss traditional culture and bi-nationality through discussion, song, and ceremonies.

Program:

Opening Prayer – JR Leywa, Wailaki, Round Valley Indian Reservation – Lenca-Poton Passage Song – Guanajuato Purepucha Dancers – Lenca Emplumado Dancers – Film: ‘Discovering Dominga’

Presentations:

• Julio Leyva—Comite de Izalqueños
• Dra. Concepcíon Saucedo-Martinez, Comisión De La Verdad 1932
• Dra. Robin Maria DeLugan, Assistant Professor-Anthropology, UC Merced

Community Honorees:

• Miguel “Gavilan” Molina – KPFA Radio “La Onda Bajita”
• Lizbett Calleros – Central American Resource Center (CARECEN)
• Tory Canby, Teacher & Artist
• Alejandra Calderon – former Executive Director, HOMEY

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday, January 16, 2011 (9am)

- Mayan ceremony -

Conducted By: Pascual Yaxon Saloj & Maya Caqchiquel

@ Pine Lake Park – Sloat Blvd & Vale Avenue, San Francisco (by Stern Grove)

Free

************************************************************************************************************

As the New Year approaches I have reflected on the past 12 years since Homies Unidos first opened its office in Los Angeles with the dream of helping youth affected by war and gang violence.  We developed programs specifically for these youth hoping that they may find empowerment in positive action, the support to transition out of gangs and a platform to address and change the inhumane treatment of the immigrant community.

We have maintained our doors open to serve over 6,500 youth and their families from the Los Angeles Pico Union’s Central American community.  What, began as a dream has become a reality and today Homies Unidos stands as a nationally recognized organization at the forefront of gang violence prevention and intervention.

As we witnessed through this last election cycle, our immigrant communities have once again become the scapegoat and trigger point for political fear tactics and gangs have been framed as the scary poster child of this debate.  Over the past two years there has been a 23% increase in suppression in our immigrant community by ICE, FBI and local law enforcement agencies, leaving countless families separated from each other and children parentless.

With the assistance of your generosity, Homies Unidos has successfully developed exceptional programs to challenge the effects of this violence. The Epiphany Project, Libertad Con Dignidad and Family Wellness programs brings together youth and their parents, affected by gang violence or deportation, to advocate for their rights. Together we helped strengthen their ability communicate and improve their family relationship to over 130 family members this year.

“Homies Unidos has helped me change my life around and has giving me the opportunity to give back to other youth, I now volunteer in organizing the Art activities and outreaching to over 15 artist so far”, Said Juan Canizales, a former graduate of our Epiphany Project program.

We are convinced that through Epiphany Project classes we our helping to create a new generation of peacemakers committed to a building a better world. The process of those transitioning into a better life is not simple; after completing our 12 week program, graduates endure a minimum of 6-10 laser tattoo removal treatments to shed the last of their former lifestyles off their bodies.

In the past year, our ongoing programs have expanded and include a youth leadership and art program as an alternative to gang activity. We have developed these programs for inner-city youth and young adults as we also embark on a campaign to bring awareness of immigration and criminal justice issues affecting our community. Th e “Hip Hop for Peace” was launched on December 7, 2010 and will continue throughout 2011 with a series of events, bringing together local artist in music and art.

In these critical times, your support will greatly help in the success of our youth. Your ongoing support allows us to continue to provide our youth and their families with the skills and tools needed to overcome the obstacles they face in our community. As a non-profit organization, we rely on the generosity and compassion of our donors, like yourself, without whom we would not have the capacity to create peace in the schools, and keep families united in the community we serve. Please join us as a partner in making 2011 a better and more successful year for Homies Unidos.

Homies Unidos wishes you have a joyful holiday season,

Sincerely,                                                                                                                   Sincerely,

Alex Sanchez                                                                                                            Troy Garity                                                                              Executive Director                                                                                                Board Chair

Learn more about the Alto Arizona campaign here.

And sign the Presente.org – Shame on Arizona – petition here.

LOS ANGELES. Jan. 13. U.S. Judge Manuel Real granted Alex Sanchez bail after a closed ninety-minute session with law enforcement and civic officials today. The former gang member and founder of Homies Unidos is expected to be freed in ten days after posting $2 million property and sureties.

A beaming Oscar Sanchez, the younger brother of Alex Sanchez, praised the ruling by Real, which he said “underlines the judge’s finding that Alex is not a danger to the community nor a flight risk. We believe he is in fact a great asset to communities like ours across the country.”

Supporters of Sanchez, organized as wearealex.org, were jubilant in many cities where pressure campaigns have been mounted. The decision was seen as a victory for gang intervention workers, many of whom have attended the LA proceedings since June.  Read more…

I often hear older activists asking where activism has gone. Where are the Martins and Malcolms of today? They may not have heard of Karina Vargas, Annie Loya, or the youth behind the immigrants’ rights marches. But they should know these youth are part of vital, evolving movements that are going places where prior movements could not go. And given the challenges this next decade will lay at their feet, they’re going to need to go even further. These young people might not fit the traditional mold of “activist” and that might be the best thing about them.

Around this time last decade, I was wading through clouds of tear gas and dodging rubber bullets from the Seattle Police Department. I was 24, it was the World Trade Organization (WTO) protests and a moment that I thought signaled the inauguration of a new youth activism that would hit the ground running with the new millennium.

I was right about the arrival of a new political engagement of young people for the decade, but wrong in my presumption that it would look and feel like the activist movements in America’s past that I had read about. I thought young people, 16 to 24-year-olds, were going to continue what my generation did — fight for inclusion, to be part of the ongoing struggles over civil rights, immigration and the environment. Instead, they decided to lead them. They did so by redefining what it means to be an “activist,” who could be one, and new ways to get the job done. They made history in the process, and did so on their own terms.

In Seattle, I was part of a “youth of color contingent.” In a mainly older, white anti-globalization movement in the United States, to define and pronounce ourselves was important. Our fight was just to be part of the fight, and that’s exactly what we did. Never before had we known what it felt like to completely take over city blocks, to make global financial powers nervous, or to freeze a major international convening. Emboldened as to what was possible, some stayed in the anti-globalization movement (a term that admittedly seemed horribly ahistoric at this point) but most of us returned to the places where youth activism would really be cultivated, our local communities. Read more…