[New-imc] OKLAHOMA IMC (introduction)

[Jay]

Hi new-imc list,

Below is the intro we needed from the Oklahoma IMC group.  The rest of 
their information passed through this working group last week or so.  So, 
I'm going to send it along to imc-process.

Jay

At 4/17/2003, you wrote:
>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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