Join Eken Park Resistance to speak out against F35s

Hey neighbors –
The threat of F35s being based at Truax field remains high. A group of our neighbors have worked together to form the Eken Park Resistance. You may have noticed some of the awesome bright yellow posters in neighbor’s windows! Earlier this year, the EPNA voted against the F35s being based in Madison and have even written letters to our representatives at the city and in congress voicing our displeasure with this decision. The Eken Park Resistance (EPR) has published the letter that we will post below. If you’d like more information about the Eken Park Resistance, please email ekenparkresistance@gmail.com

8 August 2020
Dear Community Leaders,

In April, our neighborhood learned that we face a bleak future––one that will disproportionately impact those of us who are people of color, low income, and children, and leave our homes “incompatible for residential use.”

F-35 Joint Strike Fighters will soon rip through the place we live and love: Eken Park.

We know from personal experience that there is reason to be very afraid. When the current F-16s takeoff or maneuver overhead, our children cover their ears and scream. The aircraft are dangerously loud. Everyone agrees, even the Air Force, that the F-35s will be worse.

It isn’t our small homes, backyards, swing sets, neighbors, or kids that are incompatible for residential use. We do have a corrosive force in our community––but it isn’t us.

The Air National Guard violates nearly every value our progressive community claims to uphold. It is everything we strive to overcome.

It has polluted––perhaps permanently––our lakes and drinking water with PFAS “forever” chemicals. The DNR has found it in violation of spill and environmental remediation laws.

With at least six instances of sexual assault and harassment against female members of the 115th Fighter Wing’s Security Forces Squadron, the Air National Guard is a hive of violence against women. When someone tried to stop it, they were met with retaliation and reprisal.

And now, the result of a disgracefully undemocratic process, Madison may be subjected to a squadron of immoral machines, monuments to mass violence and corporate power. At this moment of pandemic and economic collapse, each of us knows the F-35s are a tragic misuse of resources. We need that money for the health of our families, community, and planet.

Neighbors: let’s stand together to stop this blight. The F-35s are not inevitable.

Community leaders: this is a test of your progressive values. Do everything you can. Creatively and vigorously use our collective power and resources––legal, financial, and otherwise––to protect us.

The Air National Guard is incompatible for residential use. It’s time we tell them to leave.

Please email Eken Park Resistance organizers with questions and follow-up: ekenparkresistance@gmail.com

Sincerely,
Eken Park Resistance
co-signed by multiple members of neighboring neighborhoods