Garza to speak at ACLU conference
June 4, 2008 - 10:47PM
By Laura Tillman, The Brownsville Herald
When Mario Garza created the UTB-TSC Comedy Club two years ago, he had no idea the informal student organization would one day propel him to speak on a national level.



The president of the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College student organization will address the American Civil Liberty Union's annual Stand Up For Freedom conference this weekend in Washington D.C.



As Brownsville learned a border fence would be built along its boundary with Matamoros, the once apolitical Garza began to turn the Comedy Club into an activist force.



"In Brownsville, you don't see too much of anything, activist wise," Garza said. "But when we started the Comedy Club it flourished."



Garza hopes to use his time at the ACLU conference to build a network of national contacts who care about the human, environmental, legal and social impact of the fence.



He will speak for just five minutes, but his audience will include hundreds of grassroots activists, celebrities and politicians from across the country.



Garza was nominated to speak at the conference by Rebecca Burnhardt, a member of the ACLU in Austin whom he contacted last year when he says his protests incited UTB-TSC to warn of disciplinary action.



Elizabeth Garcia, a longtime activist and organizer with Casa Digna in Cameron Park, will join Garza at the conference.



When asked why he opposes the border fence, Garza says that the structure is a solution to a problem that has been fabricated.



"No one reason (to oppose the fence) stands out to me above the others," Garza said. "Except that this is my home, mi casa."



In an effort to genuinely represent the voice of opposition to the fence, Garza invites Valley residents to e-mail him their thoughts on the fence in anticipation of his trip.



Garza can be e-mailed at aninflux@gmail.com.






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