Food Stamp Protest Part I
So que the middle of last week or so, I was contacted by a long-time friend, Lisa Azios. She is a woman with the biggest heart in the world, but don’t ever be on the other side of the table from her because she can tear you a new one. I learned this over the past few days. Hopefully I can get to that on this post. If not, I’ll break it down into parts.
She is a local realtor, but she does much more for her customers than sell them houses. People have come to depend on her for everything from protection against physically abusive cops to filling out paperwork. Lisa told me a few weeks ago that she was getting call after call from people that needed help getting food stamps, and that the system was failing.
Lisa contacted me early this week, that the system was out of hand, and that apart from poor to no service, our Raza was being specifically targeted and being denied service altogether. De facto discrimination via the old runaround. I spoke to someone that I know, and she told me that when she was applying, she heard one of the employees say “how do they expect food stamps if they don’t even want to learn English.”
Lisa introduced me to people who have been waiting nine months for their food stamps, and who have had to return up to thirteen times to the office, and still have no service.
Being the do-for-self nationalist that I am, I am not a big fan of our gente having to depend on the system. In my Dreams of Anahuac, we would take care of our own.
However, we’re not living in my dreams, and Lisa touched a soft spot in me. I am also a father, and she reminded me that we were talking about children who were going hungry. She also pointed out that without proper nutrition at a young age, their brains would not develop properly. In fact, she said, “we are talking about genocide.” Underdeveloped brains create underdeveloped communities.
So being that I don’t have the means to feed them, and I don’t know anyone else who will, I was on board to get the children their food. We’ll work toward self-determination as we go. If anyone can commit to a long-term plan for feeding our own gente, let me know. I’m down. A certain community gardens project comes to mind for next year.
More to come on part 2. We ended up meeting with some “officials” and stuff.
Receive e-mails (no more than twice monthly) about 
I have been trying to re-apply for food stamps since last month. I sent in everything required still Michelle Surgent or her supervisor Pearl Taylor cannot call me back, so I am stuck wondering how this month I will provide food for my children. This is difficult because I am trying to better myself, I am a college student with goals and this is the only assistance that I ask for, and I do everything right still nothing from the Food Stamp office here in San Antonio (on Castroville Rd.) I only ask for a phone call back from them, something letting me know my case is being worked on 7 days and 30 calls and voicemail later…nothing.
Hang in there. I know it’s tough. Check with some of the churches to see if they can find some food pantries in the area. I have a few friends in San Antonio. If you want, I can pass on your information to them to see if they can help. Send me your information on the contact form, and I will get it to them.
Yes, Lisa is an inspiration to us all! I know here personally and came to the rescue here in Wharton Texas when we were bringing to light the injustices here!