In a final decision Ram Chavez has been expelled from the GI Forum

Today in his final appeal at the GI Forum National Conference in Kansas City, the National GI Forum Board of Directors voted to expel Ram Chavez. In doing so, this action begins the charter re-instatement of the Hector P Garcia Founding chapter and bars Mr Chavez from all GI Forum activities. GI Forum National Director of Civil Rights Joe Ortiz in confirmation from the Convention floor in Kansas City looks forward to the Founding Chapter bouncing back and working in a unified manor to restore the legacy and namesake of Dr Hector P Garcia and the building, at the corner of Morgan Avenue and Bright Street, where activists planned the strategy for the landmark 1968 case Cisneros et. al. v. CCISD, which set the stage for courtordered school integration in Corpus Christi from 1976 to 1982. The building has been under the care of the National Archives & Historical Foundation of the GI Forum, which was set up in 1978 as a fundraising arm of the larger GI Forum - which was established by Dr. Garcia.

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Jaime Kenedeno says:

"Juan Garcia: Here is a HD # 32 victory of defeat in a nutshell.

How you gonna act?

Get busy and show us some progress.

A lot can be accomplished before November.

Productivity with the center is productivity for YOU.

Here it is, I am handing your path to victory.

You can ignore it like you have everything else or you can go for it.

WATT have you got to lose?

Get busy and show us WATT Juan Garcia can do!

Flying around the district and uploadable IPOD videos will not bring victory.

Give us some video of the Clinic being restored give us some plans for the National Archives to start taking a lead in the historical Culrural and Public Policy Areas of our Educational Architecture.

Come on start making productive accomplishments right here right now.

We all win if this materializes."

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Who @ the Caller wrote this Editorial?


Unfinished business for Dr. Garcia's legacy

The Bright Street clinic is in better shape today, but it is a long way from becoming a living memorial to the late civil rights leader.

July 29, 2006

This week's well deserved recognition of the accomplishments of the late civil rights leader Dr. Hector P. Garcia was also a reminder of the unfinished business at the building that once housed the doctor's clinic.

The vacant clinic building is now in far better physical shape than it was a year ago, when its dilapidated condition signified by its overgrown, unkempt surroundings and vandal-scarred and neglected appearance, made it a shameful legacy for a noble and heroic career.

At one point the building was on the verge of being put on the auction block to pay off the mortgage debt to Garcia's widow.

Thanks to a $20,000 grant from the City of Corpus Christi, the building on Bright Street is now secured by fencing, its windows are boarded against vandals and its roof has been replaced.

The building has at least escaped the ignoble end of becoming a blight on the very neighborhood that Garcia so selflessly served.

What remains unfinished is turning to reality the ambitions of creating a living educational memorial to the late doctor.

Those hopes have revolved around a vision of a center where scholarly work on Dr. Garcia's papers could be done, where meeting places for conferences would be available and where the future generations could learn about the Garcia's fight on behalf of the poor and the victims of discrimination.

The chief vehicle for this has been the National Archives and Historical Foundation of the American GI Forum.

The Foundation has a line on a $250,000 grant and is looking for matching grants. But there's groundwork to be laid even before the first dollar is donated, and that's working on the transparency and accountability that the Foundation has long lacked.

The Foundation has in fact received thousands of dollars in the 10 years since Dr. Garcia died. None of that money has ever been accounted for, other than assurances from the Foundation chairman Amador Garcia, a cousin of the doctor, that it's been well-spent.

Almost a year ago, as the clinic building faced foreclosure, Garcia gave assurances to the Editorial Board that he would reach out to the community.

Shortly thereafter, an audit was promised; if that audit has ever been made public, we're unaware of it.

A year later the Foundation is still saying it needs input from community leaders.

To be fair, there has been some new blood on the board. Juan Garcia, a former Navy pilot who is no relation, has been added and is involved in the fundraising effort.

Accountability must be instilled before there will be the necessary trust for donors and the community at large to support the clinic vision. Absent accountability, the dream of a living memorial to a wonderful man will remain just that, a dream.