We ask you once again to join Color of Change in it’s activism of behalf of our communities.

Three years after Hurricane Katrina, there’s finally a bill in Congress that will give all Katrina survivors a fair chance to rebuild their lives. But it won’t become law if your representative doesn’t stand up to support it.The Gulf Coast Civic Works Act would hire 100,000 Gulf Coast residents and evacuees, providing them with training and jobs to rebuild their homes and communities. It started as nothing more than a good idea, but after thousands of ColorOfChange.org members called on Congress to support the plan, and after years of persistent activism from students and Gulf Coast organizations, it now has a real chance of bringing some justice to the Gulf.

Even though it’s come this far, it will take massive public pressure on each member of Congress to get the bill passed. If we want justice for Katrina survivors, we need to make our voices heard now as the media focuses its attention on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Please join us and call on your member of Congress to co-sponsor the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act, then ask your friends and family to do the same:

http://www.colorofchange.org/gulfcoast/?id=1829-173305

It’s the right thing to do

The Gulf Coast is still struggling, suffering from a lack of jobs, affordable housing, and basic infrastructure.1

For the last three years, we’ve seen public officials accept–whether out of hopelessness or carefully concealed joy–that post-Katrina New Orleans will be a smaller, whiter and wealthier city. We’ve seen politicians support plans that will push Black and poor people out of the Gulf, amplifying race and class inequalities and permanently gentrifying the area.

The Gulf Coast Civic Works Act represents a powerful shift from that path. The plan calls for hiring 100,000 Gulf Coast residents to rebuild New Orleans and the surrounding region. They’ll be provided with temporary housing and job-training and will build and repair houses, schools, parks, and other civic buildings.2

It’s been done before

The idea behind the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project is not new. During the Great Depression, the federal government believed it had a responsibility to ensure that those hit hardest did not fall through the cracks.3 It also knew that those Americans wanted a hand up, not a handout. So, in 1935, Congress created a program to hire out-of-work Americans to get things done to benefit their communities. Within 2 weeks of launching this unprecedented project, over 800,000 people were hired; within 2 months, 4.2 million were working to build bridges, roads, libraries, schools and other public facilities. If we could put 4 million people to work in just 8 weeks in 1935, why can’t we immediately put 100,000 people to work rebuilding the Gulf Coast?

It’s a plan that makes sense–for displaced survivors, for the communities of the Gulf Coast, for the nation as a whole. It provides an opportunity to invest in Americans while reversing the most glaring problems that plague current rebuilding plans: gentrification, government waste, and massive corporate profiteering. It would revitalize the Gulf Coast’s economy while rebuilding its infrastructure, and it’s a model that could be applied to solve similar problems across the country.

ColorOfChange.org members should be proud that we’ve supported this plan since long before it was a bill in Congress. Getting it introduced as a bill was a great victory and a huge step forward, but it’s going to take even more public pressure to get it voted on and passed.

Please join us and call on your representative to co-sponsor the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act. It only takes a minute:

http://www.colorofchange.org/gulfcoast/?id=1829-173305

Thanks and Peace,

– James, Gabriel, Clarissa, Andre, Kai, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
August 20th, 2008

References:

1. “Three Years After Katrina,” New York Times, August 11, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/5ahh23

2. “Gulf Coast Civic Works Project”
http://www.solvingpoverty.com/Project_Proposal.htm

3. “Works Progress Administration,” Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Projects_Administration

BERNIE MAC’S FINAL MOMENTS: Sister-in-law says family was at bedside; funeral scheduled for Friday, friends release statements.

*A sister-in-law to late comedian Bernie Mac has opened up to People magazine about the entertainer’s final moments at the hospital with his wife, Rhonda, and their 30-year-old daughter, Je’Niece.

Community activist Najee Ali says a candlelight vigil for Mac, as well as Isaac Hayes, will be held at 6 p.m. tonight in Los Angeles at 5th Street Dicks coffeehouse in Leimert Park (4305 Degnan Blvd.)

read more

The New Media Institute is a virtual workshop series, new media production, and conference teaching new advances in new media production and distribution.

This year’s NMI will focus on the role of social networking and active citizenship in the creation of a digital Open Letter to the New Administration.

Click on the following link to download a PDF with bios for NMI 2008 project producers:

Producer Bios

NMI 2008 Information Sheet

ONLINE APPLICATION

If you have questions about the New Media Institute, please contact Denise Greene, Director, New Media Institute, at denise@nbpc.tv, or Thabi Moyo at thabi@nbpc.tv.

Urgent!  Leonard needs a diabetes test kit now!

You may recall that Leonard suffers from diabetes.  To date,
his diabetes has been managed by diet but this is difficult to do
when the prison won’t give Leonard a test kit by which to monitor
his blood glucose level.  Two weeks ago, I wrote to the warden at
Lewisburg asking that Leonard be given a diabetes test kit. I even
offered to purchase an approved kit if the prison cannot provide
one. I haven’t received a response from the warden.

Yesterday, Leonard called–later than the norm. He’s suffering with
a severe headache and other symptoms and is in a bad way. When he
was finally able to get tested at the prison infirmary, his blood
sugar measured 300. The highest blood glucose reading should be
less than 180 mg/dL (and that only one to two hours after eating).

We have to see to it that Leonard gets a diabetes test kit so that
he can control his diabetes.  All supporters are urgently requested
to contact:

Warden
USP Lewisburg
US Penitentiary
2400 Robert F. Miller Drive
Lewisburg, PA  17837
Phone:  570-523-1251
Fax:  570-522-7745
E-mail: LEW/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV

Also contact:

D. Scott Dodrill, Regional Director
Northeast Regional Office
US Custom House
2nd & Chesnut Street
Philadephia, PA  19106
Phone: 215-521-7301
E-mail: NERO/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV

Harley G. Lappin, Director
Federal Bureau of Prisons
320 First Street., NW
Washington, DC 20534
Telephone: 202-307-3198

Be respectful, but firm.  The situation is life threatening.  After
many years of high blood sugar, Leonard is at serious risk for kidney
failure and the need for dialysis, blood vessel damage in the eyes
that can lead to blindness, and nerve damage in the feet that could
lead to the need for amputation. Supporters should also remember
that Leonard already suffers from a heart condition. Heart disease
is, in fact, the number one cause of death in people with diabetes.

Leonard needs our help.  Act now.  Write or fax a letter.  Make a
call. Send an e-mail.  Keep doing it until Leonard gets a diabetes
test kit.

Thank you.

Betty Ann Peltier Solano
Coordinator
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
PO Box 7488, Fargo, ND  58106
Phone: 701/235-2206
E-mail: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
Web: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info

Time to set him free… Because it is the RIGHT thing to do.

Friends of Peltier
http://www.FreePeltierNow.org

Peltier Statement for the 2008 Oglala Commemoration

June 26, 2008

Greetings my relatives,

I say relatives because you are all my family.  I am honored,
greatly honored today that you would listen to my words and come
together in this way so that our future generations’ will not forget
what happened here in this land.
Read the rest of this entry »

Call-to-Action from Amnesty International

More than two years into the human rights disaster of Hurricane Katrina, thousands remain displaced because of an absence of affordable housing, with rent increases up more than 40% and the majority of public housing still shuttered. Local and federal agencies reportedly plan to demolish four of the largest public housing developments in New Orleans, which would eliminate the majority of public housing in the city. This could affect thousands of former residents, many of whom are keen to return. Help uphold New Orleans residents’ right to return by ensuring that the Senate passes a bill that addresses housing needs in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Urge your senator to co-sponsor the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act of 2007 (S. 1668), or thank your Senator, if he or she is already a co-sponsor.

The House has already passed its version of this bill, H.R. 1227.

Let your voice be heard!

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