In a remarkable symbol of the injustices of post-Katrina
reconstruction, hundreds of people were locked out of a public
New Orleans City Council meeting addressing demolition of 4500
public housing apartments. Some were tasered, many pepper
sprayed and a dozen arrested.
Outside the chambers, iron gates were chained and
padlocked even before the scheduled start of the meeting.
The scene looked like one of those countries on
TV that is undergoing a people’s revolution - and the similarities
were only beginning. (See video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMBWAXfGsc4)
Dozens of uniformed police secured the gates and
other entrances. Only developers and those with special
permission from council members were allowed in - the
rest were kept locked outside the gates. Despite dozens
of open seats in the council chambers, pleas to be allowed in
were ignored.
Chants of “Housing is a human right!” and “Let
us in!” thundered through the concrete breezeway.
Public housing residents came and spoke out despite
an intense campaign of intimidation. Residents were warned
by phone that if they publicly opposed the demolitions they
would lose all housing assistance. Residents opposed to
the demolition had simple demands. If the authorities
insisted on spending hundreds of millions to tear down hundreds
of structurally sound buildings containing 4500 public housing
subsidized apartments, there should be a guarantee that every
resident could return to a similarly subsidized apartment.
Alternatively, the government should use the hundreds of millions
to repair the apartments so people could come home. Neither
alternative was acceptable to HUD. A plan of residents
to partner with the AFL-CIO Housing Trust to save their homes
was also ignored.
Outside, SWAT team members and police in riot gear
and on horses began to arrive as rain started falling.
Those locked out included public housing residents, a professor
from Southern University, graduate students, the Episcopal Bishop
of Louisiana, ministers, lawyers, law students, homeless people
who lived in tents across the street from city hall, affordable
housing allies from across the country and dozens of others.
Inside the chambers, Revered Torin Sanders and
others insisted that the locked out be allowed to come and stand
inside along the walls - a common practice for over 30
years. No one could recall any City Council locking people
out of a public meeting. The request to allow people to
stand was denied. The Council then demanded silence from
those inside. Those who continued to demand that the others
be let in were pointed out by police, physically taken down
and arrested. Some young men were tasered right in front
of the speaker’s podium.
This
was a meeting the council had repeatedly tried to avoid.
It was only held after residents (100% African American and
nearly all mothers and grandmothers) got an emergency court
order stopping demolitions until the council acted. The
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced
long ago it was going to demolish 4500 public housing apartments,
despite the Katrina crisis of affordable housing, no matter
what anyone said. HUD had no plans to ask the council
or anyone else for approval. The judge said otherwise,
so the meeting was scheduled.
Leaders of the U.S. Congress, Nancy Pelosi and
Harry Reid, asked that the decision be delayed 60 days so they
could try to move forward on Senate Bill 1668 which would resolve
many of the demolition problems. This request was backed
by New Orleans Congressman William Jefferson, Louisiana Senator
Mary Landrieu and Presidential candidates John Edwards and Barack
Obama.
Opponents cited the affordable housing crisis in
New Orleans. Homeless
people are camped across from City Hall and for blocks under
the interstate. The number of homeless people has doubled
since Katrina. Thousands of residents in FEMA trailers
across the Gulf Coast
are being evicted.
(More on the reasons to oppose demolition can be
found here.)
Solidarity demonstrations opposing demolition were
held in Washington DC,
New York, Oakland,
Minneapolis, Houston,
North Carolina, Maine,
Philadelphia, Cleveland,
New Jersey, and Boston.
Thousands of people across the country contacted city council
members. Dozens of community, housing and human rights
groups petitioned the Council not to demolish until there was
an enforceable requirement of one for one replacement of housing.
But hours before the meeting began, a majority
of the council publicly announced on the front page of the local
paper that they were going to approve demolition no matter what
people said at the meeting. The paper, the developers
and others were delighted. Residents and affordable housing
allies were not.
Inside, the council started the meeting surrounded
by armed police, National Guard and undercover authorities from
many law enforcement agencies.
Outside, the locked out could see the people who
had been arrested on the inside being dragged away to police
wagons. A few of the protestors then pulled open one of
the gates. The police started shooting arcs of pepper
spray into the crowd. A woman’s scream pierced the chaos
as police fired tasers into the crowd. Medics wiped pepper
spray from fallen people’s eyes. A young woman who was
tasered in the back went into a seizure and was taken to the
hospital.
Inside and out, a dozen people were arrested -
most for disturbing the peace. They joined another dozen
who had been arrested over the past week in protest actions
against the demolitions.
The City Council meeting continued. Supporters
of demolition were given careful, courteous attention and softball
questions by council members. Opponents less so.
Despite
pleas from displaced residents, dozens of community organizations
and federal elected officials, the New Orleans City Council
voted unanimously to allow demolition to proceed. In their
approval the Council did promise to urge HUD to listen to residents
and to work for one for one replacement of affordable housing.
Several city council members read from typed statements about
their reasons to support demolition: the deplorable state of
public housing, the lack of available money for repair, the
oral promises of all, the federal government and developers,
to do something better for the community.
After the meeting, residents vowed to continue
their struggle for affordable housing for everyone and to resist
demolitions - putting their bodies before bulldozers if
necessary.
The struggle for affordable housing continues as
does the campaign to stop demolition until there is a real right
to return and one for one replacement of housing. Residents
and local advocates applaud and appreciate the support of allies
from across the nation. Critics label national supporters
as - outside agitators - exactly the same charge leveled,
historically, at civil rights activists. But people understand
that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Public housing residents and local affordable housing advocates
welcome the humble participation of social justice advocates
of whatever age, of whatever race, from whatever place, who
join and act in true solidarity.
Residents vow to make sure that the promises made
by the Council and the Mayor are enforced. For example,
the Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, announced that he would
not allow HUD to demolish two of the four housing developments
until HUD gave documentation of funded plans including one for
one replacement of the housing demolished and details of the
developments and their plans.
The Senate will continue to be lobbied to pass
SB 1668 - which would really guarantee one for one replacement
of housing. It is currently stalled in the Senate Banking,
Housing and Urban Affairs Committee because of opposition by
Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter.
Litigation is still pending in state and federal
courts to enforce Louisiana and U.S. laws that should protect
residents from illegal demolitions. Investigations into
the legality of locking people out of a public meeting, the
legality of a law passed at such a meeting, the indiscriminate
use of tasers and pepper spray, are all ongoing.
Padlocked and chained gates will only amplify the
voices of the locked out calling for justice. Pepper spray
and tasers illustrate the problems but will not deter people
from protesting for just causes. Bulldozers may start
up, but just people will resist and create a reality where housing
is a real human right.
Stephanie Mingo, a working grandmother who is one
of the leaders of the residents, promised to continue the resistance
after the meeting: "We did not come this far to turn back
now. This fight is far from over. We are not resting until
everyone has the right to return home.
Those wanting additional information should look
to: http://www.justiceforneworleans.org
or http://www.defendneworleanspublichousing.org
BlackCommentator.com Columnist Bill Quigley is a human rights lawyer and
law professor at Loyola University, New Orleans. He has been
an active public interest lawyer since 1977 and has served as
counsel with a wide range of public interest organizations on
issues including Katrina social justice issues, public housing,
voting rights, death penalty, living wage, civil liberties,
educational reform, constitutional rights and civil disobedience.
He has litigated numerous cases with the NAACP Legal Defense
and Educational Fund, Inc., the Advancement Project, and with
the ACLU of Louisiana, for which he served as General Counsel
for over 15 years. Bill is one of the lawyers
for displaced residents. Click
here to contact Mr. Quigley.