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Please spread far and wide!<br><br>
September 24, 2007<br><br>
Friends:<br><br>
Please share this letter with your friends, family and co-workers, so,
like you, they will not forget the importance of supporting the people of
New Orleans and the Gulf.<br><br>
It may seem like old news, but surviving the reality of the government’s
deliberate abandonment is still a daily trial for the 200,000 low income
Black New Orleanians who remain displaced. It is also an ordeal for the
150,000 who have returned to New Orleans— which still lies mostly in
ruins. In New Orleans, we see apartheid in action. About 20% of the City
which has always been predominantly white—including the famed French
Quarter—is “back in business”. The remaining 80% is a City without jobs,
without housing, with no health care system, and with a school system
that fails to meet minimum standards.<br><br>
Despite the valiant efforts of thousands of volunteers who came to New
Orleans to rebuild, fewer than 20,000 of the 180,000 destroyed homes have
been rebuilt. New Orleans’ housing stock, levees, hospitals and schools
cannot be built with volunteer labor. The federal government must
take responsibility for the reconstruction of New Orleans and the
Gulf. <br><br>
For this reason, we ask you to continue to support the work of Peoples
Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF). Our priority has always been to
pressure the government to guarantee the right of return—especially for
the poor Black people it abandoned. So far, only grassroots political
pressure has prevented developers from razing public housing and
bulldozing the entire Lower 9th Ward so they can turn this once-thriving
Black community into golf courses and industrial parks. For two years
PHRF has persistently organized petition campaigns, demonstrations,
marches and lobbied at the City, state and federal levels. We organized
National Survivors’ Tours, maintain an informative website and most
recently, the International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to
counter the national amnesia campaign perpetrated by the government and
developers. <br><br>
We recognize that the displacement and destitution of New Orleans’ Black
population is only the most obvious assault of a national system of
gentrification, ethnic cleansing, militarization, mass incarceration and
privatization that is laying siege to Black and other people of color in
every US city. The struggle for the right to return and reconstruction is
the challenge of all oppressed people. And it is going to be a long
struggle.<br>
A dedicated staff and committed volunteers are essential to this work.
Since September 15, when PHRF ‘s account ran dangerously close to zero, a
decision to stop paying all salaries was made. But even if staff can
continue to work on a volunteer basis, rent, phones, electricity and
printing costs still must be paid.<br><br>
While other organizations in New Orleans do important work, PHRF is one
of the only organizations that makes’ political struggle its priority.
Our strategic focus is the demand for affordable housing—both for the
49,000 displaced residents of public housing and for New Orleans’
homeless population, which is at twice pre-Katrina levels. We also
continue to pressure the Red Cross—a quasi-governmental agency—to be
accountable for distributing millions of dollars that were donated to
assist hurricane survivors, not the Red Cross bureaucracy. <br><br>
To those of you who understand the importance of this struggle, we appeal
for your financial support of our on-going work. Please visit our
website,
<a href="http://www.peopleshurricane.org/">www.peopleshurricane.org</a>,
for detailed information about this work. Tax deductible donations can be
made payable to PHRF in care of the Vanguard Public Foundation. Mail
checks to 383 Rhode Island Street, Suite 301 San Francisco, CA 94103.
Online donations can also be made at
<a href="https://www.vanguardsf.org/index.php?s=40">
https://www.vanguardsf.org/index.php?s=40</a>. <br><br>
For more information, to arrange a speaker and/or video presentation,
call us at 504-301-0215 or email
<a href="mailto:info@peopleshurricane.org">info@peopleshurricane.org</a>.
<br><br>
Thank you in advance for your support,<br><br>
Kali Akuno,<br>
Executive Director <br><br>
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