New Orleans Still Flooded With Bad Policy Following 05 Storms

HUD scheduled to demolish 5,000 units of public housing, preventing thousands from returning to New Orleans

Emergency Action Alert (by GGJA)

New Orleans, LA -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is scheduled to demolish over 5,000 units of public housing in New Orleans- a move housing advocates in New Orleans say is the latest in a long string of bad policy decisions that defy common sense and have left more than 12,000 people homeless.

The demolitions planned for Monday December 18th appear to contradict the city's slogan following the storms of 2005, �Bring New Orleans Back.���According to the Stop the Demolitions Coalition- a broad national alliance of advocates, residents, and supporting groups, over 3,400 families, most of them African American, will be prevented from returning to New Orleans as a direct result of the destruction

of the public housing units. Instead of a place to live, the thousands of families whose homes will bedemolished will be offered rent vouchers that do not cover security deposit, first months rent, or moving costs.

"The city of New Orleans, HUD, and HANO have left these units to rot instead of repairing them and bringing the families that used to live there home," says Kali Akuna, an organizer with the Coalition. "These demolitions are a disgrace. They need to re-open the units so all New Orleans residents can come home, not just those who can afford it. Vouchers aren't the answer. There's a better way."

Advocates say the answer is Senate Bill 1668: The Gulf Coast Recovery Act, which preserves pubic housing units where feasible, requires replacement where preservation is not feasible, and provides additional resources for the enforcement of fair housing laws. The bill has been blocked by Louisiana Senator David Vitter, but could be voted out of committee and onto the senate floor if the Senate Committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs takes immediate action.

The decision to demolish the five largest public housing developments in New Orleans was finalized lastThursday, when the Housing Authority followed HUD�s June announcement of the demolitions with the approval of nearly $31 million in redevelopment contracts to tear down the public housing units to make room for what it calls �mixed income� neighborhoods.

"Everybody knows that mixed income means getting rid of New Orleans' poorest to make room forfolks with money," adds Akuna. "Demolishing public housing is like putting black families in front of the wrecking ball. The city has a responsibility to stop the demolition and use the public housing it has to place families in stable, affordable housing now."

The Stop the Demolitions Coalition says they will do whatever they can to prevent the demolitions from taking place.

"Take it from a resident who was there 27 years, there were such good things about publichousing," says Kawana Jasper, 27-year resident of St. Bernard Parish. "We lived like normal people who own homes, on holidays we got together as a family. We'd barbeque, we'd have block parties to watch movies and have DJs spinning. Around the holidays it was always decorated. We had our differences but we were a community, a family. We have to fight to protect that."

Contact| Karlos Schmieder | (c) 505-363-4952 | (work) 510 444 0640 x 333| karlos@youthmediacouncil.org

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Sample Letter

Senator David Vitter
United States Senate
516 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
VIA FACSIMILE (202) 228-5061

Senator Vitter,

Grassroots Global Justice (GGJ) is a national alliance of 60 community and labor organizations working for social justice and human rights. We represent thousands of people in 21 states, including Louisiana, and the District of Columbia.

We are outraged to learn that this week 4 large public housing complexes are to be destroyed in the city of New Orleans. We understand that this represents the demolition of over 4600 homes, while only 744 units are expected to be rebuilt. This comes at a time when 52,000 families throughout the Gulf Coast region are about to be forced out of trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

For two years, federal, state and local governments have not lived up to their responsibilities to the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless or exiled. Instead of receiving the infrastructure and services to allow for the safe return of Gulf Coast residents, the region remains in ruins, peoples’ livelihoods destroyed and entire communities displaced. Thousands of people in the Gulf Coast will not celebrate this holiday season, but confront the specter of once again being forced into the streets. This is simply unjust. Our members will be taking actions throughout this week to support the demands for preservation of peoples’ homes.

Passage of the Gulf Coast Recovery Act (SB 1668) could be a crucial first step in realizing a just reconstruction of the region, it could also prevent the destruction of public housing in New Orleans. We understand that the bill is in the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and needs your support.

We strongly urge you to exercise your leadership and influence to help make this bill law and to intervene to prevent the destruction of public housing. It could mean that thousands of families in New Orleans will not become homeless in the coming weeks. Poor and low-income people of the Gulf Coast have suffered enough. It is time for them to have a home. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Michael Leon Guerrero
On behalf of the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance

Residents join in social activism

San Antonio Express-News
Michelle Mondo

George Valdez often has wondered what it takes to be a social activist. The first U.S. Social Forum this month gave him a close-up look.

Valdez had bought a house near the former Kelly AFB that sits on land he now believes is contaminated.

"I didn't believe (other neighbors) when they first told me, but then they showed me tests," he said, referring to long-term environmental studies of soil and underground water samples at the former air logistics center.

Valdez, 49, said that once he became influenced by the Kelly AFB environmental testing, it changed his way of thinking. He joined the ranks of the socially active on the South Side.
That's why he also joined 50 other San Antonians who recently took part in the People's Freedom Caravan that traveled to Atlanta to participate in the inaugural U.S. Social Forum. The Southwest Workers' Union — a local grass-roots, membership-based group — helped to organize the trip.

The Caravan left San Antonio on June 24 and traveled five days, visiting several cities along the way until it joined approximately 10,000 other social activists in Atlanta for the Forum on June 28-30.

The event brought together political activists from across the nation and around the world to discuss immigration, climate change, poverty, trade agreements and social inequality, according to its Web site.

It was the first Forum of that size that Valdez and several others on the trip had attended.
"Everyone had their struggles," Valdez said. "It was eye-opening; it was mind-boggling; it was a lot of things."

The Forum was a first-time trip for Marsha Womack, 18, who never had been outside of Texas. Womack said she decided to get involved because she thinks young people need to make their voices heard. The immigration debate is one of the topics she wanted to learn about on the trip.
But Womack said she learned much more.

"The caravan was awesome — I loved it," Womack said. "Going to all those places and helping all those people, it's really cool."

But it also left her feeling that much more needs to be done.

"When we went to New Orleans to clean up the projects, I couldn't believe that place was still like that after two years. It's like the government hasn't done anything to move people back in there."

Another surprise for Womack was the support the volunteers got when they arrived in the various cities, including Jackson, Miss. While in Jackson, the group protested at a local Wal-Mart.

"In Mississippi, there were 400 of us there, and I didn't know that there were so many protesting around the world or in the United States," she said.

For Eulogio Contreras Jr., social activism has been a passion since he was young. His father fought for Chicano rights while Contreras was growing up. Contreras said he feels it's his duty to continue that fight, especially now that immigration is being debated.

"When we were having a discussion on (immigration) in Atlanta, we found out the reform bill had been turned down and there were mixed emotions," Contreras said. "There are two points of views, and it's kind of sad because now you have a division between the same race saying some wanted it but others did not. Now it's dividing people instead of uniting them."

He said, on one hand, the trip to Atlanta reinvigorated his passion for social activism. But on the other, it saddened him.

"It was exhausting," he said. "We visited the (Lower Ninth Ward) in the aftermath of Katrina and that really had an impact on me personally. What really got to me was a little girl stating she had no home, and her tears.

"It was more of a sad trip to realize what has happened to a lot of people in this nation. Poverty-wise, it was everywhere."

Freedom Caravan Across Nation

For Immediate Release:

May 25, 2007

Contact: Genaro Rendon 210.286.6271 (SWU)

JoAnn Gutierrez Bejar 505.247.8832 (SWOP)

Brenda Hyde 601.982.6400 (S Echo)

Kimberly Richards 504.722.3213 (NOLA)

Freedom Caravan Across Nation

Bringing a new grassroots vision and innovations to overcome the democracy divide

In remembrance of the courage of the first Freedom Ride that met racist violence in Jackson on May 25, 2006, community leaders again will unite on the People's Freedom Caravan to promote a new vision of democracy. This is a vision based on human rights, a vision that bridges racial, geographic and cultural divides and moves beyond the status quo 'pay to play' politics. From Boston to California, Chicago to Florida, people are getting on buses, vans and cars to share their story as they make their way to the 1^st United States Social Forum in Atlanta, Ga. Every one person is a story and the masses of voices are bringing solutions to issues of violence, racism, pollution and poverty. As the freedom riders of the 1960s brought a new vision for the South based on desegregation, the People's Caravan will demonstrate that another US is possible, one that is based on equality, living wages, sustainability and human rights.

"We are going to Atlanta to build a unified voice of the people! We want to make connections across the country to create a domino effect of action and organizing," said Agnes Rivera, Community Voices Heard Leader from New York caravanning to the USSF. "On the caravan and at forum, we will discuss social safety net, jobs, and public housing, learn from each other, and strengthen our work for 'another' world."

The southern part of the People's Freedom Caravan will take off in Albuquerque where organizations are protecting sacred sites and bringing clean water and solar power to unincorporated communities. 100 people will journey to San Antonio to meet another 100 leaders and march for a living wage for all and call for a just, peaceful border. Continuing to Houston, the hub of the oil industry, the group will promote a clean renewable energy for marginalized neighborhoods that struggle against pollution and sickness.

"The stories of Houston will be on the bus, promoting our right and everyone's right to breathe clean air and live in healthy communities. With 250 people joining us here, the local people can share their vision with this social forum on wheels and get their voices to Atlanta," explained Bryan Parras of the Southern Human Rights Organizing Network in Houston.

With over 4 buses, the caravan will stop in Lake Charles, La. to promote education instead of incarceration and protect communities from contamination. In New Orleans, 4 buses will join to highlight the commitment to rebuild, the protection of the right to return, promotion of affordable safe housing and human rights for all workers. The caravan will split as some buses head down the Gulf Coast, tracing the path of the hurricanes, while other head to Jackson to remember the legacy of the civil rights movement and the steps needed to achieve true equality. Converging in Selma, Alabama, the caravan representing young and old, indigenous, migrants, Latinos, African-Americans and Asians will call for a renewed struggle to overcome the democracy divide and recognize the human rights of all people. As over 1000 people head the Atlanta, they will launch the USSF with a march into the city.

"The People's Freedom Ride is our opportunity to find the wisdom in a united struggle for justice. Post-Katrina life in New Orleans has shown that there is no recovery of the Gulf Coast, but only a massive a privatization scheme that takes away our homes, communities, and human rights. Any hope for displaced hurricane survivors to return to our homes with dignity and justice relies on a mass movement that begins with the People's Freedom Ride to the US Social Forum," said Monique Harden, Co-Director of Advocates for Environmental Human Rights.

Route and stops:

• June 22^nd – Albuquerque, NM 505.247.8832
• June 23^rd – San Antonio, TX 210.299.2666
• June 24^th (afternoon) – Houston, TX 318.514.9924 / (evening) Lake Charles, LA 504.606.8846
• June 25^th – New Orleans, LA 504.301.9292
• June 26^th (morning) – Jackson, MS 601.982.6400 / (evening) – Selma, AL 617.880. 9208
• June 27^th – March on Atlanta to USSF

Participating Organizations:

Action for Community Education Reform, Mississippi

Activists With a Purpose, Grenada (MS)

Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, New Orleans (LA)

Ashe' Cultural Center, New Orleans (LA)

Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, New Mexico

Circle of Love Center, Selma (AL)

Citizens for Education Awareness, Mississippi

Coalition In Defense of the Community, Houston (TX)

Committee for Environmental Justice Action, San Antonio (TX)

Community In-Power Development Association, Port Arthur (TX)

Concerned Citizens for a Better Tunica County, Tunica (MS)

Concerned Citizens of Greenville, Greenville (MS)

Enlace Comunitario, Albuquerque (NM)

Elwood Community Church, Selma (AL)

Federation of Child Care Centers of Alabama, Montgomery (AL)

Fourth World Movement, New Orleans (LA)

Friends and Families of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children, Lake Charles (LA)

Fuerza Unida, San Antonio (TX)

Georgia Stand Up, Atlanta (GA)

Houston Indy Media Collective, Houston (TX)

Indianola Parent Student Group, Indianola (MS)

Latino Health Outreach Project, New Orleans (LA)

League of United Latin American Citizens, Houston (TX)

Left Turn, New Orleans (LA)

Lower 9th Ward Health Clinic, New Orleans (LA)

Mary Queen of Vietnam Church, New Orleans (LA)

Millions More Movement, Houston (TX)

MLK Dream Team, Carlsbad (NM)

Mossville Environmental Action Now, Mossville (LA)

Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Slidell (LA)

National Alliance of Vietnamese American Service Agencies, New Orleans (LA)/national

New Mexico Acequia Association/Sembrando Semillas, New Mexico

New Orleans Workers' Center, New Orleans (LA)

Nollies Citizens for Quality Education, Mississippi

One Torch, New Orleans (LA)

Parents and Youth United for a Better Webster County, Webster (MS)

People's Hurricane Relief Fund, New Orleans (LA)

People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, Houston (TX), New Orleans (LA)

People's Organizing Committee, New Orleans (LA)

PODER, San Francisco (CA)

Project South, Atlanta (GA)

SAGE Council, Albuquerque (NM)

Saving Our Selves Coalition, Alabama

Somos Un Pueblo Unido, Santa Fe (NM)

Southern Echo Incorporated, Jackson (MS)

Southern Human Rights Organizing Network, Houston (TX)

SouthWest Organizing Project, Albuquerque (NM)

Southwest Workers Union, San Antonio (TX)

T.E.J.A.S, Houston (TX)

Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, Houston (TX)

Vietnamese-American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans, New Orleans (LA)

Youth Innovation Movement Solutions, Mississippi

Youth Leadership Organization, San Antonio (TX)

Youth Media Council, Oakland (CA)

Get on the Bus: People's Freedom Caravan

People’s Freedom Caravan

Albuquerque ♦ San Antonio ♦ Houston ♦ Lake Charles ♦ New Orleans ♦ Jackson ♦ Atlanta

For Immediate Release:

May 4 2007
Contact: Genaro Rendon 210.299.26666 (SWU)
JoAnn Gutierrez Bejar 505.247.8832 (SWOP)
Brenda Hyde 601.982.6400 (S Echo)

Grassroots to Caravan across Southern U.S.
Bridging the Democracy Divide, Bringing Hundreds to US Social Forum

Southwest United States – In the spirit of the freedom rides launched 46 years ago, grassroots organizations and activists from Arizona, Alabama, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi are planning the People’s Freedom Caravan to culminate at the United States Social Forum (USSF), June 27 to July 1, 2007, in Atlanta, Ga. Southwest Workers Union, SouthWest Organizing Project, Southern Echo and the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond initiated the caravan to address the democracy divide that plagues communities in the southern half of the US.

“This is a different kind of event that will take on the democracy divide that exists between races, classes, cultures and regions,” says Genaro Rendon of SWU. “We want to connect the struggles and histories of African-Americans, Latinos and Indigenous peoples in the southern US. The Freedom Caravan is a social movement on wheels, giving us a chance to share and strategize towards achieving ‘another’ US.”

The caravan is a rebirth of grassroots politics that will include hundreds of members from community organizations that share a common vision for a more just world. This is a world where education and healthcare are valued over war, incarceration, and corporate welfare; where worker and human rights are respected; and where families live in a clean environment.

By bringing together indigenous nations, displaced peoples of New Orleans, migrant workers along the border, and youth and civil rights veterans in Mississippi, the People’s Freedom Caravan will break down the geographic, political, racial and cultural barriers that have been used to marginalize our communities. Starting in Albuquerque, the caravan will weave its way across the country, converging at cities to highlight local struggles for justice, share cultures and hold media events. The Caravan will arrive marching into Atlanta, where participants will be met by thousands of delegates at the first U.S. Social Forum.

“Our current pay to play democracy keeps low income families and communities of color down, no matter the issue- Katrina, immigrant rights, youth rights, education, housing, or the prison industry to name a few,” says JoAnn Gutierrez Bejar of SWOP. “The Caravan recognizes that real change will come from the grassroots, and will speak to the issues of those most affected by the changing economy and globalization.”

Route and stops:

• June 22^nd – Albuquerque, NM (SWOP, Sage Council) 505.247.8832
• June 23^rd – San Antonio, TX (SWU, Fuerza Unida) 210.299.2666
• June 24^th – Houston, TX (People’s Institute) 318.514.9924
• June 24^th – Lake Charles, LA (Mossville Environmental Action Network, Friends and Families of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children) 504.606.8846
• June 25^th – New Orleans, LA (People’s Institute, People’s Hurricane Relief Fund) 504.301.9292
• June 26^th – Jackson, MS (Southern Echo) 601.982.6400
• June 27^th (morning) – Montgomery, AL
• June 27^th (afternoon) – March on Atlanta to USSF

De la base ha la caravana por todo el sur de los EEUU
Un puente en la división democrática, llevando a centenares de personas al Foro Social de los EEUU

El sur oeste de los EEUU – En el espíritu de los viajes de libertad comenzados hace 46 años, organizaciones de base y activistas políticos desde Arizona, Alabama, Nuevo México, Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma y Mississippi preparan la Caravana por la Libertad del Pueblo que culminará en el Foro Social de los Estados Unidos (USSF), a celebrarse del 27 de junio al 1 de julio del 2007, en Atlanta, Georgia. La Unión de Trabajadores del Suroeste (SWU), el Proyecto Organizativo del Suroeste (SWOP), el Southern Echo e Instituto del Pueblo iniciaron esta caravana para enfrentar la división democrática que está plagando a las comunidades en la mitad sureña de los EEUU.

“Esto será un encuentro diferente que se enfrentará a la división democrática que existe entre raza, clase, cultura y regiones,” dijo Genaro Rendon de SWU. “Queremos hacer un puente entre las luchas y la historia de los pueblos afro americanos, los pueblos latinos, y los pueblos indígenas del sur de los EEUU. La Caravana por la libertad del Pueblo es un movimiento social sobre ruedas, que nos da la oportunidad de dibujar la estrategia con el fin de lograr “otro” EEUU.”

La caravana es el renacer de las políticas de base que incluirán a cientos de miembros de organizaciones comunitarias que comparten un ideal común por un mundo más justo. Un mundo donde la educación y la asistencia para la salud son valoradas por encima de la guerra, el encarcelamiento y el bienestar corporativo, donde el derecho humano y del trabajador son respetados, donde las familias viven en un medio ambiente limpio.

Al aunar a las naciones indígenas, los desplazados de Nueva Orleanas, los trabajadores emigrantes a lo largo de la frontera y a jóvenes y veteranos de los derechos civiles en Mississippi, la Caravana por la Libertad del Pueblo derribará las barreras geográficas, políticas, raciales y culturales establecidas para marginar a nuestras comunidades. Comenzando en Albuquerque, la caravana se tejerá a lo largo del país, convergiendo en ciudades para resaltar las luchas locales por la justicia, compartir sus culturas y llevar a cabo encuentros con los medios. La caravana llegará marchando hacia Atlanta, donde los participantes serán recibidos por los miles de delegados asistentes al primer Foro Social de los EEUU.

“Nuestro sistema de democracia solo para ellos que puedan pagar la entrada mantiene a las familias de bajos recursos y comunidades de personas de color aplastadas, no importa el tema, como Katrina o derechos de los inmigrantes o el sistema de educaccion” dijo JoAnn Gutierrez Bejar de SWOP. “La caravana reconoce que el cambio verdadero vendrá desde la base, y se dirigirá a los temas que conciernen a los más afectados al cambiar la economía y la globalización.”

Steal from the poor to give to the Rich: the Bush paradigm

Last week, the House of Representative voted in the same session to cut $40 billion from social service programs, like housing subsidies, school lunches and food stamps in the face of 1 million people displaced after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma and give $50 billion in tax cuts to the rich.

enough is enough