NEW ORLEANIANS CALL FOR ACTION- PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY





NEW ORLEANIANS CALL FOR ACTION- PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY

Displaced New Orleans Community Demands Action,
Accountability and

Initiates A People's Hurricane Fund

Not until the fifth day of the federal government's
inept and inadequate emergency response to the New
Orleans' disaster did George Bush even acknowledge it
was 'unacceptable.' 'Unacceptable' doesn't begin to
describe the depth of the neglect, racism and classism
shown to the people of New Orleans. The government's
actions and inactions were criminal. New Orleans, a
city whose population is almost 70% percent black, 40%
illiterate, and many are poor, was left day after day
to drown, to starve and to die of disease and thirst.

The people of New Orleans will not go quietly into the
night, scattering across this country to become
homeless in countless other cities while federal relief
funds are funneled into rebuilding casinos, hotels,
chemical plants and the wealthy white districts of New
Orleans like the French Quarter and the Garden
District. We will not stand idly by while this disaster
is used as an opportunity to replace our homes with
newly built mansions and condos in a gentrified New
Orleans.

Community Labor United (CLU), a coalition of the
progressive organizations throughout New Orleans, has
brought community members together for eight years to
discuss socio-economic issues. We have been
communicating with people from The Quality Education as
a Civil Right Campaign, the Algebra Project, the Young
People's Project and the Louisiana Research Institute
for Community Empowerment. We are preparing a press
release and framing document that will be out as a
draft later today for comments.

Here is what we are calling for:

* We are calling for all New Orleanians remaining in
the city to be evacuated immediately.

* We are calling for information about where every
evacuee was taken. We are calling for black and
progressive leadership to come together to meet in
Baton Rouge to initiate the formation of a Community
Oversight Committee of evacuees from all the sites.
This committee will demand to oversee FEMA, the Red
Cross and other organizations collecting resources on
behalf of our people.

* We are calling for volunteers to enter the shelters
where our people are and to assist parents with
housing, food, water, health care and access to aid.

* We are calling for teachers and educators to carve
out some time to come to evacuation sites and teach our
children.

* We are calling for city schools and universities near
evacuation sites to open their doors for our children
to go to school.

* We are calling for health care workers and mental
health workers to come to evacuation sites to
volunteer.

* We are calling for lawyers to investigate the
wrongful death of those who died, to protect the land
of the displaced, to investigate whether the levies
broke due to natural and other related matters.

* We are calling for evacuees from our community to
actively participate in the rebuilding of New Orleans.

* We are calling for the addresses of all the relevant
list serves and press contacts to send our information.

We are in the process of setting up a central command
post in Jackson, MS, where we will have phone lines,
fax, email and a web page to centralize information.
We will need volunteers to staff this office.

We have set up a People's Hurricane Fund that will be
directed and administered by New Orleanian evacuees.
The Young People's Project, a 501(c)3 organization
formed by graduates of the Algebra Project, has agreed
to accept donations on behalf of this fund. Donations
can be mailed to:

The People's Hurricane Fund c/o The Young People's
Project 99 Bishop Allen Drive Cambridge, MA 02139

If you have comments of how to proceed or need more
information, please email them to Curtis Muhammad
(muhammadcurtis@bellsouth.net) and Becky Belcore
(bbelcore@hotmail.com).

Thank you.

Posted: Sun - September 4, 2005 at 11:47 PM            

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