[New-imc] OKimc Intro

[Jaime A Bailey]

Hi,
        My name is Jaime Bailey.  I've been involved w/ the okimc now about 2 years.  As an under-grad in Native Ameircan Studies, I think that an independent media source is really what this area/state needs.  Oklahoma has the largest population of American Indians in the U.S.  It's really important to include the tribes/nations/ and communities of Indian people in the IMC, as well as other ethnic communities such as the black and latino communities.  These groups are unique not only becuase of their racial identity, but because their struggle is ignored by the corporate media of this state.  If you haven't heard much about the scandalous/ ultra conservative/ biased nature of the news media in oklahoma, I can tell you that the Daily Oklahoman (a newspaper out of OK city) has been called one of the most conservative newspapers in the U.S., and it has been that way since it began being published.  And I'm sure a few of you can imagine tv newsmedia geared towards white, rural , c
onservative Christians.  
       Since the formation of the OK imc media collective, it seems that the activist community has really started coming together, and now the activist community has a voice through the IMC.  This state is very spread out.  Tulsa is our base area, right now.  On the list, we try to encourage those in other localities to organize meetings in their own areas because it's hard to find the time to drive 120 miles+ to attend meetings.  When Tulsa members of the OKimc have meetings, we generally try to get notes out to the list and to the site so that members/participants who are unable to come can know what's going on.   
        Speaking of members, here are some intros of those that have been involved- but keep in mind that these are not the only people involoved in OKimc:
                          1. Curtis Andrew Beckwith is currently involved witht       
                        the Tulsa Peace Fellowship, the Ok Greens,  
                              OK sustainability network, and he is a        Bio-regionalist 
                       and environmentalist. Curtis is a        Tulsa local.
                           2. Rich Shumberger is the president of N.O.A.H.  which 
                              is an animal activist organization.  NOAH members 
                              help coordinate animal cruelty protests and they help
                              spread awareness about corporations and other 
                              institutions that harm animals.  
                           3. Robert Medoza has lived in may locations in the U.S. 
                              and is currently living in Tulsa.  Robert is a member
                              of the Red Stick Vision Keepers, an organization        devoted 
                       to the environmental betterment of Muscogee/ 
                              Creek communities through garden projects.  Robert 
                              works with Ben Yahola, also a Red Stick Vision Keeper to increase                               sustainability for 
                              the people of the Creek tribe.  Eventually they plan     
                              to extend their work to all the tribes of Oklahoma.  
                              The "vision" in Red Stick Vision Keepers refers to 
                              the visions of the old ways before capitalism.
                           4. Jaime Bailey is a student at Northeastern State        University, 
                               she lives in Tahlequah.  She found out        about Indymedia about 
                               2 years ago and since then has 
                              become more politically focused.  She hopes to        increase 
                              diversity in the okimc through local cultural communities, especially                                                                                          Native American communities.  
                           5. Chris Bryant delivers flowers (flower power!), is an
                              activist and a political reasearcher.  He and Jaime 
                              Bailey began brainstorming about an Imc in OK about 2    
                           years ago.  Growth is slow but things are beginning to take off. 
       
       Indeed, things are beginning to "take off."  In the past couple of months, the focus of the imc has been the peace movement, including demonstrations on college campuses, rural Oklahoma towns, and urban areas.  Okimc has begun to branch out and recruit people through outreach.  We set up a table at a concert for peace at the Unversity of Tulsa in February.  We handed out pamphlets and seemed to recieve some interest.  Also, at other peace activities, as well as community activities we are trying to spread the word.  Groups such as the Tulsa Peace Fellowship, OKRA (oklahom "radical" activists- "radical" still being debated upon for reasons of connotation), and Rural Oklahomans for Peace (OKpeace harvest) have been able to use the imc as a network, a means for reaching out to other like minded people in the state.  
       Okimc has also been focusing on becoming a "real" imc.  At meetings we've spent quite a bit of time discussing the new imc process while practicing formal consensus.  One of the most difficult things about the process is getting people used to this idea.  It's hard to face conflict and come to an agreement.  Thus far there have been few if any very difficult decisions to make.  But, somewhere along the road we will probably hit some kind of wall.  Most of all people try to contribute to the site and to the mailing list.  I know that everyone involved in the imc has more than a few irons in their fires, so sometimes not many people show up to meetings.  People, like myself who don't live in Tulsa where meetings generally take place show up when they can.  I think the best thing to do would be for people in seperate localities to have meetings in those localities, so that the Okimc would really be more like a branched-out network than a closely knit collective.  We didn't 
intend this to be a Tulsa imc- we want the people all over the state to get involoved, and we want to spread the word.    
         All in all, we are extending our efforts and keeping things together.  I am very excited to see the imc grow and blossom into a branched out network of dedicated journalists who have a common goal- to better this world by bettering their own localities, one person, one town, one state, one nation at a time.

 Peace, hope, and truth to all, 
Jaime Bailey


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