*Poor folks pitted against the not as poor in Baton Rouge *How to Help the Black Community Directly
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by Dee/PNN Poor folks pitted against the not as poor in Baton Rouge, La
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Two weeks after rallying a The waits at gas pumps are daunting. Grocery stores The ripples of Katrina seem to have left no one Crystal Brown, a lifelong resident of Baton Rouge, is "You hate to complain because you know you are so No one knows exactly how many Katrina survivors are The economics worry Brown the most. "A lot of people who came in are from New Orleans and The displaced have picked up on the subtle changes in Only about 80 miles apart, Baton Rouge and New Charles Watts, who's living in a Red Cross shelter in "People look at us like they think we have always "This is a storm that did this," he said. "People Geraldine Walker, who evacuated New Orleans and is Some in Baton Rouge fear that a host of urban ills After Katrina, word spread through Baton Rouge that Nevertheless, many believe the newest residents make "New Orleans is a major urban center with a pretty In fact, Baton Rouge has become inundated with so Many believe the city simply will have to pull "You can tell the city is tense," said Elle Burton, a "You can tell it's a real burden on our city," she Community Advisory - A few ways to help the Black Community directly Sisters & Brothers; As many thousands of Black people, African people evacuate the disaster of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans many are coming to Houston with literally the clothes on their backs. Thousands are here staying with family members/friends, others in over 20 shelters at church's etc. and many thousands at the Houston Astrodome. Families, local media, artist and community groups are stepping forward in this emergency migration of people. As we are aware the major relief agencies are providing aid, however the level of need is so great grassroots groups must and are coming forward. Houston as one of the largest major cities closest to New Orleans and having strong family ties to the entire state of Lousianna must come forward to help our people. We are calling on our communities across the country for help to meet this need! More people are coming and are not likely to return to New Orleans anytime soon. The following are grassroots organizations and activities taking place in Houston, Texas for relief and aid. These are only some of the furry of activies taking place, these groups have a proven track record of consistent work in our communities. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY! Some groups/efforts need volunteers call them directly. HIP-HOP RELIEF/AID Friday, September 2, 2005 9pm - Until Coordinating with similar relief efforts in Florida to support Houston displaced persons Hurricane Katrina RELIEF/AID DRIVE Saturday, September 3, 2005 Beginning 8:00am throughout the day ONGOING EFFORT Shrine of the Black Madonna Pan African Orthodox Christian Church ONGOING EFFORT New Black Panther Party - Houston Chapter ONGOING EFFORT S.H.A.P.E. Community Center OTHER St. Peter Clavier Catholic Church New Black Panther Nation SPECIAL REQUEST Reknowned Poet Activist Kalaamu Ya Salaam & family staying with family in Houston From Kalamu. If you wish to send contributions to NBUF- Houston earmarked for Hurricane Relief we will insure that funds/assistance gets directly to one or more of the above mentioned efforts and/or directly to those in need. National Black United Front -Houston Chapter (NBUF) NEWS Dr. Imari Obadele & Sister Johnita Scott-Obadele (RNA & NCOBRA) living in Baton Rouge, LA are okay. Not much damage in city. Evacuation has placed many people in city. Refute scattered reports that prisoners have taken over prison. Forward, ************************************************** ***************** *DISABLED FOLK IN HURRICANE KATRINA NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA--While some of those who were "I prayed like I've never prayed in all my life," "It was horrible, and it's still horrible, but I'm Charlotte Goodwin, 62, who has diabetes, high blood "I'm wondering if I'm going to make it," she said. "Where am I going to go?" he asked the Times-Picayune. "They were supposed to pick us up and take us to the Many people with disabilities who survived the wind Several reports described how many of those initial There was one piece of good news: Twenty-five babies The babies' parents had been ordered to evacuate and Provided by Leroy F. Moore Jr. *Banned Pregnant Graduate Walks Anyway MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- A pregnant student who was banned from graduation at her Roman Catholic high school announced her own name and walked across the stage anyway at the close of the program. Alysha Cosby's decision prompted cheers and applause Tuesday from many of her fellow seniors at St. Jude Educational Institute. But her mother and aunt were escorted out of the church by police after Cosby headed back to her seat. "I can't believe something like this is happening in 2005," said her mother, Sheila Cosby. "My daughter has been through a lot and I am proud of her. She deserved to walk, and she did." The school's guidance counselor delivered Cosby's degree to her house earlier Tuesday, but she still wanted to participate. "I worked hard throughout high school and I wanted to walk with my class," she said. Cosby was told in March that she could no longer attend school because of safety concerns, and her name was not listed in the graduation program. The father of Cosby's child, also a senior at the school, was allowed to participate in graduation. *Hawaii Woman Evicted From Lava-Tube Home WAILUKU, Hawaii -- Karen Mayfield has made quite a home for herself, complete with a table and a canopy bed. But there's just one problem - her domain is inside a lava tube, an underground tunnel formed by molten rock. A judge has evicted her while she awaits trial on misdemeanor counts of illegal camping, disturbing a geological feature and littering. "I really miss it out there," Mayfield said. "I really prefer living an alternate lifestyle where I can hear the wind blow and see the stars at night." Outside court, defense attorney David Cain likened Mayfield to a modern-day John Muir or Henry David Thoreau. "During their time, a lot of people said they were kooky, especially Thoreau, and now his writings are looked at in high school classes," Cain said.
*SSI Recipients at-risk The latest report from the Center on Budget and Policy Congress is pitting the poor against the disabled in Despite the known cuts to the major housing assistance In the latest round of proposed budget cuts, SSI From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: The budget resolutions passed by the House and Senate Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, foster In other words, the House budget plans cuts to While flipping through the New York Times on Sunday I came across a small, one-column article in back of Section A, snuggled between Macy*s and Volkswagen advertisements. The headline read: U.S. Inquiry Re-examining Prison Death. The opening paragraph reads, ?n a rare step, the Justice Department is re-examining its investigation into the 1995 death of a federal prisoner that the victim? family contends was a murder at the hands of the government. Several official inquiries have ruled the death a suicide.?The federal prisoner? name is Kenneth Michael Trentadue. This column relates ?nformation has since emerged that evidence was mishandled or lost, prison officials lied and potential evidence of a struggle in the cell before the death was overlooked.?The Justice Department told the court that it did not yet want to release documents from an earlier inquiry regarding the death due to ?ngoing, related criminal investigation.?Trentadue? family used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain records, which point to the fact that evidence of a suicide was tampered with. The family has been awarded $1.1 million for intentional infliction of pain because the government had failed to explain the state Trentadue? beaten body. A little research finds that Kenneth Michael Trentadue was wrongfully thought to be an associate of Timothy James McVeigh and therefore implicated indirectly to the Oklahoma City bombing. According to the Department of Justice Kenneth took his own life during a 20-minute window of time, between bed checks, in the early morning hours of August 21, 1995. The Department of Justice's official version of Kenneth's death is that he hanged himself from a thin plastic air vent with a bed sheet, but the injuries his body bore do not support that story. Here are some details that the Times did not include in their piece: Kenneth's head had been repeatedly smashed to the skull by blows from a metal baton; his throat was cut; there were burns from an electrical stun gun on his head, shoulder and at the base of his spine, and there were cuts, bruises, and abrasions all over his body. Kenneth had literally been beaten front and back, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. The Department of Justice claims that Kenneth's wounds were either all self-inflicted or that his family mutilated his body. The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner, however, refuses to declare Kenneth's death a suicide. Kenny's family believes that he was tortured and killed by federal agents, and that his murder is being covered up by the Department of Justice. This week Justice Department public integrity section chief Noel L. Hillman re-examines the inquiry of whether the death was a suicide or a murder which was then covered up by prison and FBI employees. www.deathrowspeaks.info - Death Row Speaks www.mvfr.org - Murder Victims?Families for Reconciliation *********************** Getting Recycled By The System - More on Welfare De-form Yolanda Mendez of Long Beach, CA talks about her experience with the welfare system.... "Since 1998, I have been through the CalWORKs ?xpress to Success?job training program three times. When I first went to their job club, they showed us this video of how a housewife became a successful receptionist and can do all these things now, like order in pizza for her kids. In the six months I was in the program, I received no job training. Instead, they did trainings on how to dress and how to interview for jobs. Their interview training taught us how to sit down politely, how not to chew gum, and how not to put our feet on the boss? desk. It was really insulting...We needed to be taught job skills, not be treated like little children. I went to the job club ever day. They would give us the yellow pages and tell us to call places like Macy? and Pollo Loco. In six months, I had over two hundred interviews. I finally got a job working for a security company at $6.75 an hour. My shift was from 1am to 10am, but the county never paid my babysitter, so she quit, and I had to leave my job. Later, I got a job in the printing office at the Housing Authority that paid $5.75 an hour. The welfare office then cut all my cash assistance and Food Stamps because they said I was making too much." Yolanda is just one of the women whose story is documented in a recent report published by the Race and Public Policy Program, the Applied Research Center. Falling Through The Cracks: How California? Welfare Policy Keeps Families Poor points to systemic violations of the law by the state? CalWorks program. The report documents the experiences of over thirty families in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Alameda counties. Findings illustrate that California? welfare rules and regulations are ?ife with arbitrary decisions, errors, and illegal practices on the part of the county administrators. Even when the system is working as the law mandates, many families remain in poverty due to arbitrary time limits, and outdated method for determining how much income is necessary to match the local cost of living, and a bias against providing families receiving assistance with the means to attain the training and education necessary to become economically self-sufficient and secure." California Department of Social Services Director Rita Saenz has yet to respond to the study. For more information on the Applied Research Center - www.arc.orgCalWORKS or California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids is a welfare program that is supposed to give cash aid and services to eligible needy California families. The program serves 58 counties and it operated locally by county welfare departments. *************************** The Justice System is Not Designed for the Poor Letter from the North Carolina October 22nd Coalition On May 18, 2001, Gilbert A. Barber was killed by a Guilford County Deputy. He was involved The deputy alleged sprayed him with a chemical spray and an alleged struggle Statewide in the last five years,
This lawsuit is of enormous importance, not only for this local case, but will have an
The attorneys of McSurely & Osment, Anita Hodgkiss, of the Lawyers Committee for Civil
Expert witnesses are needed in these Our biggest problem is MONEY and the amount of TIME we have to get it. The cost to The Justice System The N.C. October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Make checks to; Beloved Community Center *, In Memo write; Justice Fund ************************** The Righteous Occupation The US has taken Iraq, Israel is still in Palestine and hundreds of housing activists and their supporters have occupied a section of Montreal? Parc Lafontaine, where subversive and unpatriotic acts are occurring: a Tent City has been constructed and people are enjoying food, drinks, conversation and music. The housing activists are not alone, the police have joined them! How nice. Since the gathering has begun, riot police evicted hundreds of participants at the Tent City inside Parc Lafontaine early Monday morning. At least 40 riot police were already placed inside the large park, and using floodlights in the dark, they proceeded to push back Tent City participants with shields and batons. Many people scrambled to gather their belongings, including their tents and tarps, while others maintained a line in front of the riot police, chanting defiant slogans in defense of the Tent City. According to one legal team member, at least 12 people were arrested in total. The action was organized by the Comit? des sans-emploi (The Committee of the Unemployed), CLAC Logement (the Housing Committee of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence) and the Housing Committee of Ahuntsic-Cartierville -- is in response to Montreal? housing crisis, which is marked by vacancy rates of less than 1%, increasing gentrification of formerly low-cost working class areas, as well as increasing homelessness. Every July, hundreds of Montreal residents with expired leases are rendered homeless by the lack of affordable housing, while potentially thousands more are forced into substandard or unaffordable apartments. The Tent City organizers have three principal demands: Decent housing for all; the end of the criminalization of poverty and homelessness; and the repossession of empty buildings for community use. They are stressing the anti-capitalist nature of their action, critiquing the root causes of the housing crisis in Montreal. According to a flyer being passed out at the Tent City (?ecent Housing for Everyone?: ?ehind the evictions and rent hikes, the homelessness and police, there is a logic ?the logic of capitalism. Under capitalism, things are produced, not because they are needed, but because they can be sold for a profit. It? not that there simply isn? enough roofs to cover everyone in Montreal that there is homelessness. There are unused buildings all across the city. But under capitalism, houses are only made available to people who can buy (or rent) them. The poor don? factor into the equations of supply and demand. When landlords evict their tenants, it is because they want tenants who can pay more ?they want more profit out of their property. When police harass, brutalize and jail the homeless, it is in order to raise the property values of the area.? The Tent City website is at: http://tentcity.taktic.org thanks to Indymedia for the newswire *************************** Economic Degeneration: ExxonMobilChevronTexacoPetronas in Africa An oil consortium headed by ExxonMobil Corp backed by the US government and the World Bank, are laying 5,000 pounds of pipeline in the oil fields of Chad and through the rain forests of Cameroon. Contrary to what was promised to locals in these African countries, the jobs that were created due to the ?nergy project?were insufficient in number, low paying and mostly temporary. The exploitation is apparent despite the euphemistic term for what have in the past have profited multinational corporations and corrupt regimes: ?hird World economic development project?he World Bank voted to support the project, asserting it provided "a unique opportunity ... to play a significant role in reducing poverty in one of Africa's poorest regions." This unique opportunity is doing plentyfor the oil companies and a few of the top government officials in these countries and nothing for the poor who live here. In Mpango, a village of about 600 people a few miles from the pipeline's end on the Atlantic coast of Cameroon, the consortium has promised to replace one-room schoolhouse, a termite-damaged, tin-roofed building, to compensate the village for the loss of land to the pipeline and disruptions caused by construction, including pollution of a stream used for drinking water. "The new school is badly needed, and that's what we'll remember most from the pipeline," said Savah. "There have been some positives and some negatives, but the changes have not been great. We thought this was going to be a development project, and that is not what has happened." At a work site near Nanga Eboko, almost all the welders laying one of the last stretches of pipeline were from the Middle East or South America. ExxonMobil says that locals hold four out of five pipeline jobs in Cameroon but few of these are of the highly skilled, highly paid ?ariety? The consortium has a financial incentive to hire Cameroonians because they are paid one-fourth or less what foreign pipeline workers earn. Instead of investing in training for locals, ExxonMobil says it simply can't find enough skilled workers in the country and hires foreigners. Ekani Lebogo, a union representative for pipeline construction workers, said this explanation is unconvincing. "We have had welders on jobs in Angola, Equatorial Guinea and other parts of Africa, but here most of the welders are foreigners," he said. "Tell me how you should feel if you are Cameroonian and see this?" The lack of Cameroonians in skilled jobs has resulted in strikes and protests. Bruce Hayes, an ExxonMobil employee who implements labor agreements in Cameroon, attributes the frustration to unrealistic expectations. "Everyone wants a job, and those that don't get one are upset," said Hayes, whose tan work shirt bore an embossed patch with a tiger giving the thumbs-up sign. "There's nothing we can honestly do to resolve that." The sex appeal of the consortium's social efforts is its compensation plan, which has paid $10 million to thousands of people in Chad and Cameroon. It? a familiar tale: Anyone displaced by the pipeline, or whose farming is temporarily disrupted, is eligible. The oil consortium has also compensated villages that suffered a communal loss, such as the destruction of mango trees. ExxonMobil officials say that the oil company is not a social service provider, and that the two African governments have promised to use their oil revenue to fight poverty. "There's a need to distinguish between the company's role and the governments' role, especially as the government presence has been largely absent," Exxon-Mobil anthropologist Brown said. The ?evelopment project?proves itself environmentally and culturally devastating. The pipeline's southernmost section in Cameroon is its most environmentally sensitive stretch, running near Pygmy villages, through thick forests filled with soaring palms, and ending at the Atlantic Ocean in the town of Kribi. The consortium provided $3.5 million to the Foundation for Environment and Development in Cameroon, which is responsible for establishing two new national reserves and an Indigenous People's Program to improve health, education and agriculture in Pygmy villages. In June 2001, its five-member board, which included an ExxonMobil representative, sent a request to the World Bank and the oil consortium, saying that is would need three times the |