San Francisco Bay View

A cry for help from Haiti: ‘They are cutting off limbs needlessly and taking our dignity; the babies need to eat tonight’

mary — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:19:16 +0000

by Ezili Dantò (Marguerite Laurent)

Imagine being one Good Samaritan trying to keep 1,500 children alive – children who are injured, traumatized, hungry and without shelter. Has sending 20,000 U.S. troops and surrounding Haiti with battleships saved these children? – Photo: Eric Quintero, IFRC

Our good friend, a fellow artist and a colleague in the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, Carl Telemaque, just called from Haiti. His number is 3711-1771. I don’t know if he will have resources on his phone for long. But he needs HELP now. If you’re not in Haiti, you can help by asking someone you know who is in Haiti to go lend a hand. Or you can send a money donation directly to Carl through Western Union et al.

“Zili,” he said, “I’m taking care of 1,500 children in Croix-des-Bouquets at zone Li Lavoix along with their families since the earthquake. We need help. We need food, water, medicine, tents and flashlights.

“For medicine, we need anti-diarrhea, antibiotics, hygienic kits and medicine to stop blood clots. (See HLLN’s list of “Urgent Items Needed by the Earthquake Victims in Haiti” at http://bit.ly/aJhBH1.)

“Tell the people something for me,” he says. “Tell them that injured people I send to the Dominican Republic for help have mostly come back with limbs missing. That’s all they are doing: cutting, cutting, cutting and then closing the wound up and releasing the people.

“The doctors there are cutting off EVERYTHING: arms, legs, toes, feet, fingers. You have a cut or a wound and they just cut off the limbs. The people returning from the DR are always missing a limb. They are doubly traumatized and more depressed. Tell the people that for me. This can’t go on like this anymore.

“And the people giving us food are taking all our dignity. They make us run long distances to get the food they are dropping. It’s humiliating. Or they have you standing in long, long lines and give you one bottle of water to share with 10 people. It’s hurtful and very humiliating.

“Can you get us some food to us, Zili? We have babies who need to eat tonight. Really. Some baby food. Some water and milk, maybe.

“But we really need tents. I can’t sleep at night watching over everyone, ‘cause you don’t know who will come in and do what.

“I’m tired,” Carl said. “I’m really, really tired. When the earthquake hit, I only survived because I’m used to feeling the subway rumbling under my feet from the apartment in New York. So I got up from my chair in the studio where I was working and stepped outside. If I hadn’t walked out, I would be dead. Everything crumbled and the chair I vacated was crushed flat.

“It’s a good thing I have my truck. What I do is drive the injured up to the Dominican Republic and then go pick them up. I’ve been doing that since the earthquake and trying to get food for everyone in my zone at Li Lavoix. I’m tired.

“I can’t tell you the devastation. Nothing can describe it, but you’ve been in Haiti so you know. I need an anti-diuretic myself now. I’m really tired, Zili. We need a doctor, doctors. I can’t drive to the DR too much anymore. I’m too, too exhausted.”

“I’ll get the word out, Carl,” I say. “Call the Dr. Lassegue from AMHE at General Hospital. Let him know your situation and that we asked for help for you. Here’s the number. How far is it from you to Father Jean Juste’s old parish at St. Claire?”

“About an hour,” he says. “Ok. I’ll write this up to the Ezili Network and call on everyone who may be near you to come help. If not, go to Plas Kazo and ask for Lavarice Gaudin. He’ll help. Call me and let me know. Kenbe la, pa lage.”

Marguerite Laurent, also known as Ezili Danto, award winning playwright, performance poet, dancer, actor and activist attorney born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, founded and chairs the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, supporting and working cooperatively with Haitian freedom fighters and grassroots organizations promoting the civil, human and cultural rights of Haitians at home and abroad. Visit her website at www.margueritelaurent.com.

Who dat? Dat’s the Super Bowl champs!

mary — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:44:54 +0000

by Dave Zirin

Roy Bradley and friends in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward celebrate the Saints' Super Bowl victory. Bradley, like thousands of his neighbors, had lost his home when the levees broke after Katrina in 2005 and is one of the few who have returned. – Photo: Bachman, NY Daily News

The New Orleans Saints won Super Bowl 44. I can’t believe I’m even typing the words. Five years ago this was the team considered most likely to be moved to Los Angeles. Four and a half years ago, after the levees broke, the concern was not whether there would be a Saints, but whether there would even be a New Orleans.

Remember that after Hurricane Katrina, Speaker of the House Republican Rep. Dennis Hastert said, “It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed.” But now Hastert is on the political scrap heap and New Orleans is the home of the Super Bowl champs.

I’m not sure whether it feels like a dream or positively preordained. If nothing else, it’s an emotional release from all the idiocy that surrounded the big game. From the military cheerleading, to Tim and Pam Tebow’s vapid Focus on the Family ad, to the Who’s halftime act which clearly violated the Geneva accords: None of it matters now. We’ll go back to building resistance to Obama’s wars. Tim Tebow will go back to being the next Eric Crouch. And the Who will go back to Madame Tussaud’s. For right now, it just doesn’t matter because the New Orleans Saints won the damn Super Bowl.

Quarterback Drew Brees will get a lot of love after a 32-for-39 MVP performance. But this was no one-man-band. This was about a head coach in Sean Payton who, with his team down 10-6, exercised a wicked sense of daring and ordered the first non-fourth quarter onside kick in Super Bowl history. This was about a Saints defense that bent but didn’t break, freezing Peyton Manning’s Colts at 17 points. This was about an offense that was crisper than potatoes at the bottom of a deep fryer. This was also about a stadium in Miami that sounded nearly as loud as the Louisiana Superdome.

But most of all this was about a Crescent City that refuses to die. As Leigh, a friend and blogger from New Orleans, said to me: “The energy in this entire town is incredible. People here have been ready for this for decades … but the way the media is treating the Saints as underdogs isn’t a surprise to any of us. The people of New Orleans have been subjected to those attitudes for a long time ourselves, and we still are in too, too many ways, but we’re still here.

“And those who are still unable to return here due to the displacement caused by the storm, or the recession, or other circumstances – they’ll return in one way or another, because this is a town that can teach the rest of this country how to live. It always has, and it always will, despite it all.”

Leigh’s pride runs across NOLA tonight. The same week that Education Secretary Arne Duncan outrageously called Hurricane Katrina “the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans,” the city has delivered a counterpunch to Duncan as well as any and all doubters.

Their ascendancy means that the arduous post-hurricane recovery work has gotten more publicity in the last two weeks than it’s received in the last two years. This is maddening but many New Orleans residents wouldn’t have it any other way. As Saints linebacker Scott Fujita’s wife Jaclyn said, “The people of New Orleans love the Saints not because they provide a distraction from their fall but because they are a reflection of their rise.”

Whether you believe that or not, the proof is in the very vibe of the city. The French Quarter is hopping tonight. The Ninth Ward is hopping tonight. Algiers is hopping tonight. People in New Orleans are feeling damn good right now, and to scoff at that is to scoff at the very resiliency that makes us human.

Community activist and former Black Panther Malik Rahim, who has lived in the city for three decades and still works in Algiers, told me: “I haven’t seen people this happy since Katrina. No question about it.” That doesn’t mean all – or even some – questions about the future of New Orleans are solved by a Saints Super Bowl win. Jobs, housing and the right of return for displaced residents still need to be at the forefront of everyone’s mind.

But it does mean that folks of the Big Easy are feeling fearless tonight. Every last person – from Bush to Brownie – who wrote this city off has to now bend down and kiss the ring. President Barack Obama, who often seems allergic to saying the words “New Orleans,” must now greet the team at the White House and acknowledge both the Saints and the city that bears their name. Even if tomorrow is unbearably hard, we have today. And today feels mighty fine.

Dave Zirin is The Nation’s sports editor. He is the author of “Welcome to the Terrordome: the Pain Politics and Promise of Sports” (Haymarket) and “A People’s History of Sports in the United States” (The New Press). His writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated.com and The Progressive. He is the host of Sirius/XM’s Edge of Sports Radio. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.

Adoptees of Color say, ‘Stop all adoptions from Haiti’

mary — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 22:44:24 +0000

Adoptees of Color Statement on Haiti

The caption for this photo, illustrating a story about Haitian adoptions by ©The Times News Service, London, reads: “UP FOR GRABS: Children queue for food in Port-au-Prince. Aid agencies estimate several hundred thousand have been separated from their families.” – Photo: James Oatway

This statement reflects the position of an international community of adoptees of color who wish to pose a critical intervention in the discourse and actions affecting the child victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. We are domestic and international adoptees with many years of research and both personal and professional experience in adoption studies and activism. We are a community of scholars, activists, professors, artists, lawyers, social workers and health care workers who speak with the knowledge that North Americans and Europeans are lining up to adopt the “orphaned children” of the Haitian earthquake and who feel compelled to voice our opinion about what it means to be “saved” or “rescued” through adoption.

We understand that in a time of crisis there is a tendency to want to act quickly to support those considered the most vulnerable and directly affected, including children. However, we urge caution in determining how best to help. We have arrived at a time when the licenses of adoption agencies in various countries are being reviewed for the widespread practice of misrepresenting the social histories of children.

There is evidence of the production of documents stating that a child is “available for adoption” based on a legal “paper” and not literal orphaning as seen in recent cases of intercountry adoption of children from Malawi, Guatemala, South Korea and China. We bear testimony to the ways in which the intercountry adoption industry has profited from and reinforced neo-liberal structural adjustment policies, aid dependency, population control policies, unsustainable development, corruption and child trafficking.

For more than 50 years, “orphaned children” have been shipped from areas of war, natural disasters and poverty to supposedly better lives in Europe and North America. Our adoptions from Vietnam, South Korea, Guatemala and many other countries are no different from what is happening to the children of Haiti today. Like us, these “disaster orphans” will grow into adulthood and begin to grasp the magnitude of the abuse, fraud, negligence, suffering and deprivation of human rights involved in their displacements.

We uphold that Haitian children have a right to a family and a history that is their own and that Haitians themselves have a right to determine what happens to their own children. We resist the racist, colonialist mentality that positions the Western nuclear family as superior to other conceptions of family, and we seek to challenge those who abuse the phrase, “Every child deserves a family,” to rethink how this phrase is used to justify the removal of children from Haiti for the fulfillment of their own needs and desires.

Western and Northern desire for ownership of Haitian children directly contributes to the destruction of existing family and community structures in Haiti. This individualistic desire is supported by the historical and global anti-African sentiment which negates the validity of Black mothers and fathers and condones the separation of Black children from their families, cultures and countries of origin.

As adoptees of color, many of us have inherited a history of dubious adoptions. We are dismayed to hear that Haitian adoptions may be “fast-tracked” due to the massive destruction of buildings in Haiti that hold important records and documents. We oppose this plan and argue that the loss of records requires slowing down of the processes of adoption while important information is gathered and re-documented for these children.

Removing children from Haiti without proper documentation and without proper reunification efforts is a violation of their basic human rights and leaves any family members who may be searching for them with no recourse. We insist on the absolute necessity of taking the time required to conduct a thorough search, and we support an expanded set of methods for creating these records, including recording oral histories.

This individualistic desire for ownership of Haitian children is supported by the historical and global anti-African sentiment which negates the validity of Black mothers and fathers and condones the separation of Black children from their families, cultures and countries of origin.

We urge the international community to remember that the children in question have suffered the overwhelming trauma of the earthquake and separation from their loved ones. We have learned first-hand that adoption – domestic or intercountry – itself as a process forces children to negate their true feelings of grief, anger, pain or loss, and to assimilate to meet the desires and expectations of strangers. Immediate removal of traumatized children for adoption – including children whose adoptions were finalized prior to the quake – compounds their trauma and denies their right to mourn and heal with the support of their community.

We affirm the spirit of cultural sovereignty, sovereignty and self-determination embodied as rights for all peoples to determine their own economic, social and cultural development included in the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the Charter of the United Nations; the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The mobilization of European and North American courts, legislative bodies and social work practices to implement forced removal through intercountry adoption is a direct challenge to cultural sovereignty. We support the legal and policy application of cultural rights such as rights to language, rights to ways of being and religion, collective existence, and a representation of Haiti’s histories and existence using Haiti’s own terms.

We offer this statement in solidarity with the people of Haiti and with all those who are seeking ways to intentionally support the long-term sustainability and self-determination of the Haitian people. As adoptees of color we bear a unique understanding of the trauma and the sense of loss and abandonment that are part of the adoptee experience, and we demand that our voices be heard.

All adoptions from Haiti must be stopped and all efforts to help children be refocused on giving aid to organizations working toward family reunification and caring for children in their own communities. We urge you to join us in supporting Haitian children’s rights to life, survival and development within their own families and communities.

This statement appears on the website of the Adoptees of Color Roundtable, an organization born out of an informal discussion group of trans-racial adoptees from Korea and Africa meeting in Oakland. They write, “ACR came about because many adoptees of color have worked for years, both struggling against and celebrating the social justice ramifications of the global institution of adoption, yet we were concerned about the lack of an international, unified voice of adult adoptees of color who have a critique of this system.” For more information or to get involved, email info@adopteesofcolor.org.

Venezuela rushes aid to Haiti

mary — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:40:11 +0000

Food, tents, gasoline sent to Haiti; all debts forgiven

Haitians welcomed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as a hero when, on news in April 2008 that food riots had broken out in Haiti because people were near starvation, he had immediately dispatched 364 tons of food by air and set up a $20 million aid fund. Haiti used to grow enough food for its people, but because of U.S. trade policies that destroyed Haitian agriculture, hunger was almost as bad before the earthquake as it has been since. – Photo: VenWorld

In Venezuela, solidarity with Haiti is based on humanistic and historical reasons. Haiti played an important role in Venezuela’s battle for independence, and as the world’s first Black republic it served as an inspiration to Venezuelan patriots. The devastation caused by the Jan. 12 earthquake was a shock to Venezuela, motivating the government to marshal its resources to help the Haitian people in what is one of their most difficult times.

Aid shipments

Since Jan. 13, Venezuela has sent six shipments of food aid, equipment and trained professionals to Haiti to help with search-and-rescue operations, tend to the injured and provide basic necessities to survivors of the earthquake. The shipments have included around 679 tons of food and 127 tons of equipment, including water purification systems, electric generators and heavy equipment for moving rubble, according to the Associated Press.

Gasoline and diesel

On Jan. 17, President Chávez announced that Venezuela would send 225,000 barrels of gasoline and diesel to Haiti for use in generating electricity and in vehicles. The shipment arrived in the Dominican Republic on Jan. 21.

Prior to the earthquake, Haiti consumed approximately 11,000 barrels of oil products per day. Since the earthquake struck, Haiti has suffered gas shortages that have hampered search and rescue operations, the delivery of aid and basic reconstruction efforts. Based on pre-earthquake consumption of oil, Venezuela’s shipment of gasoline and diesel could power Haiti for a full month.

CITGO aid

On Jan. 22, the CITGO Petroleum Corp., which is owned by the Venezuelan state oil company, shipped 20 tons of aid to Haiti in the form of tents, cots and non battery-operated AM/FM radios. The shipment was the first installment in what will be 120 tons of aid aimed at helping between 8,000 and 10,000 Haitians left homeless by the earthquake. The aid is being coordinated with the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Embassy of Haiti in Washington, D.C.

The first CITGO shipment of aid allowed for the construction of the first tent encampment, Simon Bolivar 1, in the city of Leogane, about 35 miles from Port-au-Prince. The encampment will house 800 people, and arrangements are being made to provide necessary services to those living there. The second and third shipments of aid purchased by CITGO will be flown to Haiti by the Bolivian government.

Additionally, CITGO is conducting a fund-raising campaign aimed at increasing the help to the people of Haiti. This campaign involves CITGO’s 3,600 employees and more than a thousand energy companies, suppliers, marketers and owners of CITGO branded service stations, as well as non-governmental and non-profit organizations, especially those with which CITGO is partnering in various social development initiatives.

Furthermore, the Simón Bolívar Foundation is also matching dollar for dollar up to $600,000 in monetary donations by CITGO employees, which could add $1.2 million to the total aid being provided.

If you have any questions about the CITGO effort or would like to offer your support, contact Daniel Cortez at (832) 486-5557 or Gustavo Cardenas at (832) 486-1740.

Foreign debt and additional assistance

On Jan. 25, President Chávez announced that he was forgiving Haiti’s debt to Venezuela, which amounted to $352 million – or roughly one third of Haiti’s total debt.

In making the announcement, reported by Agence France Presse, President Chávez said, “Haiti has no debt with Venezuela. On the contrary, it is Venezuela that has a historic debt with Haiti.”

ALBA and Petrocaribe assistance

Along with members of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA), Venezuela has shipped an additional 5,248 tons of food aid to Haiti. President Chávez also proposed that ALBA create a $100 million Humanitarian Fund to strengthen sanitary, energy, financial and educational aid and assistance to Haiti.

Additionally, doctors from ALBA member countries – including Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda and St. Vincent and the Grenadines – have performed 23,000 medical consultations, 2,000 operations and 7,000 vaccinations in 16 mobile hospitals, according to ViveTV.

Since 2007, Haiti has been a member of Venezuela’s PetroCaribe initiative, through which countries receive preferential financing arrangements on oil purchases. As a member of the initiative, Haiti has received 1,000 barrels of oil per day – 10 percent of its daily consumption – at savings of over $225 million, which is available to be invested in social development projects.

Additionally, through PetroCaribe Haiti has seen the installation of three power plants (60 megawatts), in locations of Carrefour, Cap Haitien and Gonaives; the reconstruction of a market in Port au Prince, adding 50 new warehouses; the provision of 23 vehicles for solid waste management and the construction of housing for 128 families in the Cite Soleil neighborhood.

For more information visit www.embavenez-us.org/ or email prensa@embavenez-us.org to reach the Venezuelan Embassy Press and Communications Unit.

Editor’s note: CITGO just celebrated the fifth anniversary of the CITGO-Venezuela Heating Oil Program, which has provided warmth for 200,000 U.S. households in 25 states, 248 Native tribes and 245 homeless shelters. For more information and to find a CITGO gas station near you, visit www.citgo.com.

Skater world: an interview wit’ pro skater Karl Watson

mary — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:13:29 +0000

by Minister of Information JR

Karl Watson

The middle schoolers of today are fast becoming known in the hood as the skater generation. Skate culture, born in the U.S., is a phenomenon around the world in Black, Brown, Asian, Red and white communities, no matter where you go. Partakers in the culture have their own way of dressing and different genres of music that they listen to, and these are just two of the ways that they can be distinguished.

Bay Area based pro skater Karl Watson has been skating for over 20 years, and he has been all over the world on his boards. I got with the homey for this Q&A interview, because skating is getting bigger currently with youngstas, so we adults in the Black community need to know about what’s going on around us and what the young people are into.

M.O.I. JR: Karl, how did you get into skating?

Karl Watson: I got my first skateboard on Christmas day in 1987. Started skating in front of my house, and eventually started using my skateboard as my main means of transportation.

M.O.I. JR: What inspired you to stay with it? Who inspired you?

Karl Watson: I started when I was 11 and at age 12, I went down to the Embarcadero – which was the epicenter of skateboarding at the time – at the end of Market Street in San Francisco. My friends there were all the inspiration I needed because they were all so much better than me.

Download this conscious roots reggae mixtape at organikaskateboards.com.

Also, pros like Ray Barbee and Tommy Guerrero filled that role model figure that we all long for as youngsters. I’d say my inspiration for sticking with the sport is the joy you get from learning – cheating – a new trick.

M.O.I. JR: At what point did you decide that you were going to make this a profession?

Karl Watson: Becoming a professional skateboarder was never a plan or a dream for me; it just kind of happened. Skateboarding, to me, has always been more a lifestyle thing than anything else. I think building your skills, doing unique and original tricks and being in the right place at the right time are key elements to becoming a pro skater. Oh, and also a good attitude.

M.O.I. JR: How do you make money off of skating?

Karl Watson: Skaters get paid a monthly salary from each of their sponsors. Some skaters get paid a little; some get paid a lot. It’s funny because kids often assume that since someone is pro that they are rich. The perception of being a pro means so much more to the kid than it does to the pro. I mean, a pro skater can have $20 to his name, go to a skatepark and have hundreds of kids asking for his autograph. It’s just so funny to me.

M.O.I. JR: What has been your biggest accomplishment as a pro skater?

Karl Watson: Being able to start Organika Skateboards in 2001 and having success with it. Check out Organikaskateboards.com.

M.O.I. JR: How would you compare skate culture when you were growing up to skate culture today?

Karl Watson: Good question. Skate culture today is entirely different than when I was younger. Today it’s all about getting sponsored and who can go the biggest and almost kill themselves the worst. There are still creative elements in skateboarding but not as much as when I was younger.

The era I grew up in was the nebula of skateboarding. There were hundreds of tricks and techniques learned in the ‘90s and, like I said before, San Franciscos EMB (Embarcadero) was at the epicenter of the skateboarding nebula.

M.O.I. JR: What do you think made skating the international phenomenon that it is today?

Karl Watson: The freedom of the art – or sport. When you ride a skateboard, you are only in competition with yourself. It’s only you, your board and your will power. That’s what has attracted so many.

M.O.I. JR: Where do you see skate culture going? Is it a trend like hyphy or do think it has staying power like rap music?

Karl Watson: Skateboarding trumps the hyphy trend 10 fold. I know for a fact that skateboarding is here to stay. When I get an email from someone telling me that they went to Rwanda and saw a kid with my pro model deck, I think that means we are here to stay.

M.O.I. JR: What are you working on now?

Karl Watson: Working on commercials for Organika Skateboards and also the new LRG skate video, “Give me my money, Chico,” will be premiering in March.

M.O.I. JR: How do people stay up with what you are up to?

Karl Watson: Check out the Kayo site at Thekayocorp.com, the Organika Skateboards site at Organikaskateboards.com and the LRG site at L.R.G.com. Peace! Thanks, JR!

Email POCC Minister of Information JR, Bay View associate editor, at blockreportradio@gmail.com and visit www.blockreportradio.com.

Tu wa moja watu (We are the people)

mary — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:33:35 +0000

by Ikemba S. Mutulu

A father holds his baby as he watches and waits for opportunities to ensure his family’s –and his people’s – survival nine days after the Jan. 12 catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti. – Photo: Reuters

Dear Bay View readers, and especially my fellow convicts throughout the country, I send this call out to you to join with me in showing some love to the Haitian people. Yes, we all have problems. I too have many of my own. But they all pale in comparison to what’s happening in Haiti: over a hundred thousand estimated dead and missing after a 7.0 earthquake destroyed what little infrastructure the people had. Tens of thousands more injured, left with no medical support, and forced to sleep in the streets with no food or water.

Long before this great tragedy, though, the Western world has been shitting on the people of Haiti. And Amerika has ignored the plight of Haiti long enough. We in Amerika, especially Blacks and Browns, have a responsibility to stand with our Haitian brothers and sisters.

For the young Gs and Sistas who don’t know, because the schools lied to you and hid the truth: Prior to the European invasion – or arrival – of Christopher Columbus in 1492, a single island nation occupied the island of Hispaniola, now shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It was inhabited by the Carib and Arawak Native tribes who were all but killed off after welcoming the Europeans, who staged brutal massacres, during which they raped and murdered both women and children.

As in Mexico and South America, African slaves were brought in by European colonists to supplement the enslaved Natives, sick and dying from European diseases. They were brought to dig for gold and cultivate crops etc., which were then shipped out to the European rulers.

Under the leadership of African and Native warriors, they were able to break their chains and escape into the mountain jungles, where they organized raiding parties to free the people and to build an army. Best known of these leaders was an African named Toussaint L’Ouverture. Together the Africans and Natives waged war, over many years, to eventually repel these European invaders, defeating their great armies and declaring independence from European rule in 1804.

And if not for the blood and courage of our ancestors there in Haiti, we here in the U.S. would not have our freedom today, as it was the example of Haiti defeating the great powers of Europe that sparked numerous other rebellions against slavery and oppression – in Mexico, South America and here in the U.S. Nat Turner knew about Haiti, David Walker, Harriet Tubman and countless other freedom fighters knew of and were empowered by our people in Haiti.

The schools tell you Abraham Lincoln is the father of freedom, that he freed the slaves. But if you want the real, look at Haiti. And in solidarity with our brothers and sisters there today, all of us – convicts and comrades reading these words – donate what you can. If you have no money, write to your loved ones and ask them to donate. You can send your extra stamps to the Bay View and they’ll make sure they go to the cause. I personally am pledging $40 and will be organizing a stamp drive here in my unit.

In the Nevada prison system, 10 percent of any monies we receive is taken and placed in a savings account up to $200. We are not allowed to spend this money, as it is used to bury us when we die, or it is our gate money when we leave. But if you are broke and you wanna donate to a known nonprofit charity to help the brothas and sistas in Haiti, per A.R. 258 (page 2), you may submit a DOC-515 form for approval to do so. I’ve asked the Bay View to list the name and address of a legitimate charitable organization for you to donate to.

Tu wa moja watu (we are one people)!

Editor’s note: The Bay View heartily recommends the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, which was founded by Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover and attorney Walter Riley, who heads its board and, incidentally, is the proud father of Boots Riley of The Coup. HERF has a long track record of aid and solidarity with the people of Haiti’s grassroots, who are often passed over by other organizations. Make your check or money order payable to “Haiti Emergency Relief Fund/EBSC” and mail it to East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, 2362 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704. Or donate online at http://www.haitiaction.net/About/HERF/HERF.html. All donations are tax deductible and will be acknowledged.

Send our brother some love and light. Write to: Ikemba S. Mutulu, s/n Marritte Funches, #37050, ESP, P.O. Box 1989, Ely, NV 89301.

I call it murder

mary — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:19:46 +0000

It’s Black Resistance to Police Terrorism Month, marked by five events in two weeks – four in Oakland, one in Los Angeles – described in these three fliers; be there and get involved!

by Cynthia McKinney

Click on these fliers to enlarge, print and distribute. Bring your friends and family; get everyone involved in resisting police terrorism.

They shot this Black man in his genitals and in his back. It sounds like a hate crime to me. How else could one describe it?

Well, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it was self-defense. But how many times have we heard self-defense by cops used as a cop out?

Well, what about Amadou Diallo? Amadou Diallo was murdered on Feb. 4, 1999, by New York Police Department cops who mistook a wallet for a gun. They claim that they thought he was going to shoot them and so they shot him in self-defense. One officer fell as if he had been shot. Forty-one bullets later, Amadou Diallo had been shot 19 times.

Young Amadou was only 24 years old. He could survive the itinerant life of an African trading family, moving from Africa to Asia, but he couldn’t survive the mean, racist streets of America. And the killer cops went free. Diallo’s mother and step-father settled with the City of New York for $3 million in a lawsuit alleging wrongful death, racial profiling and violation of Amadou’s civil rights.

Kathryn Johnston was 92 years old when she was murdered by Atlanta Police Department (APD) officers who claim that they shot her in self-defense after narcotics officers broke into her home on Nov. 21, 2006, using a “no-knock” warrant. Police forced their way into Johnston’s home and claimed to have found a stash of marijuana there. The APD officers claimed that she had injured them with her rusty revolver.

Sadly, it was all lies. Later, it was learned that the Atlanta police officers were actually injured by friendly fire after discharging their firearms 39 times, that they planted marijuana in the Johnston basement, lied on the drug warrant authorizing the raid, invented an informant justifying the raid and pressured an actual drug informant to lie for them. Atlanta’s lying killer cops did serve time – either for manslaughter, conspiracy to violate Johnston’s civil rights resulting in death, or perjury. The three officers were also required to reimburse the Johnston estate the $8,000 cost of her burial.

In the wee hours of Nov. 25, 2006, Sean Bell was murdered in a hail of 50 bullets fired by officers in the New York Police Department. Bell was celebrating his upcoming wedding and was leaving the club where he had just held his bachelor party. Police opened fire after they suspected the victim had a gun. Bell was struck four times in the neck and torso and died from his wounds. When no gun was to be found, they concocted a mystery witness who could possibly have had a gun. New York’s killer cops were acquitted on all charges.

Although Diallo, Johnston and Bell were Black, Blacks in the United States are not the only ones who can be victimized by murderous U.S. law enforcement. While on a visit to Cuba, I had the opportunity to meet and apologize to the widow of Filiberto Ojeda Rios, a leading Puerto Rican Independentista.

Wanted by U.S. authorities for actions stemming from his belief that Puerto Rico was a U.S. colony that should be independent, Ojeda Rios was murdered on Sept. 23, 2005, shot by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at his home. An FBI press release stated that Ojeda Rios opened fire on the FBI and that the FBI retaliated, but that claim was not substantiated by an inspector general’s report that noted that the FBI opened the attack on Ojeda Rios with a “flash bang” device. Ojeda Rios shot 10 times and the FBI fired 100 times. Ojeda Rios was struck in the lung by a single sniper’s bullet, fell to the floor and bled to death over 12 to 15 hours with no medical help allowed to save his life.

The United States government wanted to investigate the Aryan Nations, a white supremacist organization in the United States, and solicited Randy Weaver to become an informant. He turned them down. After a series of incitements and retaliations, federal agents trespassed on Ruby Ridge, Weaver’s home in Idaho, incited a response from the Weavers, two of whom left the house to see what was happening, and by the end of the ordeal, Weaver had lost two family members: his wife, Vicky, and his 14-year-old son, Sammy. His dog was killed, while another family member, Kevin Harris, had been wounded.

Randy Weaver was shot in the back. Justifying its attack on the Weavers, the U.S. government claimed that Weaver and Harris had fired at a government helicopter. At trial, the jury believed that federal agents shot and killed the Weaver dog, then shot and killed Sammy, prompting Harris to shoot and kill one of the agents.

The government awarded Randy Weaver $100,000 and one million dollars for each of three children. Although Harris had killed a U.S. agent, for which a jury had acquitted him of murder charges because he had fired only after having been fired upon, the federal government awarded him $380,000 in settlement.

Neither before nor since BART police murdered Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day 2009 in Oakland has Mayor Ron Dellums dealt forthrightly with the issue of police violence, to the surprise of Cynthia McKinney, his former colleague in Congress.

Now, although examples are rife in the Black and Latino communities of ordinary citizens finding themselves at the wrong end of a police muzzle for minor or no infractions, it should be clear that as long as government officials are out of control, no one is safe. That’s why we all should be outraged about excessive force and make our outrage public no matter where it happens or who the victim might be.

Pack the courtroom for the trial of Minister of Information JR Valrey on Monday, Feb. 22, 8:30 a.m., 1225 Fallon St., Oakland, in Courtroom 11. Out of the Oakland 100 – 165 people arrested during the Oakland rebellions following Oscar Grant’s murder – charges were dropped against 162. Only journalist JR and punk rock artist Holly Works still face charges. – Photo: Malaika Kambon

That’s why I support the young people who are still facing charges from the fallout from the Oscar Grant New Year’s Day murder. Remove police violence and one would not even have an Oakland 100. And quite frankly, with Oakland under the leadership of my former colleague, Ron Dellums, I’m surprised that this issue had not been more forthrightly dealt with prior to Grant’s murder.

This all brings me to the Jan. 30 report on the murder by the FBI of a Detroit Black man who was also an imam. The case seems to have all of the ingredients of the worst of the above cases: the use of informants, law enforcement claims of self-defense or firing in retaliation for being fired upon, and failure to call for medical assistance after a fatal shooting. The FBI also refuses to release what kind of weapon the imam had.

And more troubling is the autopsy that reportedly shows that Imam Abdullah was shot in the genitals – a vintage, racist attack on Black men used by White men during the days of U.S. slavery and even after the U.S. Civil War – and in the back. I suppose that was self-defense, too.

Some shocking details of an autopsy of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah were revealed Jan. 30, three months after he was murdered by FBI agents. The FBI describes him as a radical with ties to Imam Jamil al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown. – Photo: Ron Foster Sharif

Imam Abdullah, with the help of an FBI informant, was led to a warehouse where he was shot by the FBI 21 times. At a press conference, FBI Special Agent Andrew Arena commented: “I take full responsibility for what occurred that day. And I have to be judged: I’ll be judged by you. I’ll be judged by the community. I’ll be judged by my bosses in Washington, D.C., as far as the Justice Department and, quite frankly, God someday.”

The sad fact of the matter is that too many killer cops are still walking around free. Sadly, many continue to serve as law enforcement officials, able to carry out their crimes against the community again and again.

Yes, they all will face God’s judgment when they die, but it would be nice to get some justice here on earth, too. The Obama Justice Department has the opportunity to exact justice on behalf of communities besieged by rogue, killer cops. The verdict is not looking good, unfortunately, on whether the Obama Justice Department will serve the American people much needed, long delayed justice or whether certain perpetrators and their law enforcement departments will be given yet another White House pass.

For news from, by and about Cynthia McKinney, former Georgia congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate, check these websites: http://dignity.ning.com/, http://www.enduswars.org, http://www.livestream.com/dignity, http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction, http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction, http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun, http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney, http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney.

Cynthia McKinney to receive ‘Peace through Conscience’ award from Munich American Peace Committee

McKinney will accept the award at a peace conference in the same city as NATO’s Munich Security Conference, which will address the war on Afghanistan; Greens contrast McKinney’s ‘deserved’ award with Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize

Washington, D.C. – The Green Party of the United States congratulated former U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney after an announcement that she will receive the Peace through Conscience award from the Munich American Peace Committee (MAPC). McKinney was the Green Party’s 2008 nominee for president of the United States.

Cynthia McKinney inspired the crowd at the Black Dot Cafe during her Triumph Tour in August 2009 with a report on her efforts to break the blockade in Gaza. - Photo: Kamau Amen-Ra

McKinney has been invited to participate in an International Peace Conference scheduled to take place in Munich, Germany, from Feb. 6 to 7, coinciding with the Munich Security Conference, which will address NATO strategy towards Afghanistan, including President Obama’s planned troop escalation. A long-time proponent of abolishing NATO, McKinney is scheduled to speak on Feb. 6 at a rally in protest of the NATO conference. After the rally, she will participate in the conference.

MAPC will present the award to Cynthia McKinney during ceremonies of the Munich Peace Conference on the evening of Feb. 6. The MAPC Peace Prize is normally awarded by the previous year’s winner. In McKinney’s case, the award will be presented by André Shepherd, a U.S. Army specialist who applied for asylum in Germany after objecting to the wars in Iraq.

“I am humbled to be so recognized,” said Cynthia McKinney. “Clearly, the MAPC gave more thought to the significance of those whose struggle for peace is based on principle and an unshakeable commitment, despite the personal sacrifices required, than did the Nobel Peace Committee that rewarded our president for war.”

Commenting on the decision to grant President Obama the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, McKinney said, “In this way of thinking, peace is now war, lies are now truth and ignorance is strength.”

Ms. McKinney has urged Americans across Germany to gather in Munich and protest U.S. and NATO war policies, noting that Germany has sent its own troops to Afghanistan. She will meet with American expatriates while in Munich.

“We are very proud of Cynthia McKinney’s work for peace and human rights in the U.S. and internationally,” said Dr. Justine McCabe, co-chair of the Green Party’s International Committee. “Ms. McKinney has led the demand for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and strongly criticized President Obama’s announcement of a troop surge in Afghanistan. She has challenged NATO’s global expansion of military operations and demanded its abolition.

“Last June, after President Obama urged humanitarian aid for people in Gaza, Ms. McKinney and other Free Gaza activists tried to deliver medical and construction supplies and other relief. They were illegally intercepted by the Israeli navy in international waters and jailed, while the White House remained silent. Unlike our president, Cynthia McKinney deserves a peace prize.”

In a presentation at the 8. Internationale Muenchner Friedenskonferenz (Eighth Munich International Peace Conference), McKinney will discuss chances for a civil and nonviolent U.S. foreign policy, the need to end the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. policies regarding Colombia and its neighbors and efforts toward a nuclear-free world. She will pose the question “What should governments and the politicians at the Security Conference do to promote peace and justice?”

Learn more about the Green Party of the United States at www.gp.org.

Somali ‘pirates’ support Haiti

mary — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:17:48 +0000

by Agencia Matriz del Sur

“Somali ‘pirates’ want to send loot confiscated from rich countries to Haiti” is the translation of this story’s headline as published by Aporrea.org.

Jan. 21, 2010 (Aporrea.org) – Spokesmen for the so-called Somali “pirates” have expressed willingness to transfer part of their loot captured from transnational boats and send it to Haiti.

Leaders of these groups have declared they have links in various places around the world to help them ensure the delivery of aid without being detected by the armed forces of enemy governments.

The “pirates” typically redistribute a significant portion of their profits among relatives and the local population. In their operations, the “pirates” urge transnational corporations that own the cargo confiscated to pay back in cash, as banks cannot operate in Somalia.

“The humanitarian aid to Haiti cannot be controlled by the United States and European countries; they have no moral authority to do so. They are the ones pirating mankind for many years,” said the Somali spokesman.

Somalia, located at the eastern end of the Somalia Peninsula adjacent to the Gulf of Aden to the North and with the Indian Ocean to the east is located in a very important position in the communication routes between Asia, Africa and Europe and the Pacific.

This story originally appeared in Spanish at http://aporrea.org/internacionales/n149313.html. The English translation appears at http://www.metamute.org/en/somali_pirates_want_to_send_loot_confiscated_from_rich_countries_to_haiti. See www.sfbayview.com for more coverage on the Somali “pirates.”

Somali ‘pirates’ support Haiti

The military uses racism to justify the destruction and occupation of another country

mary — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:51:45 +0000

"Those who send us to war do not have to pull a trigger ... They need soldiers who are willing to kill and be killed without question."

“Our real enemies are not those living in a distant land whose names or policies we don’t understand. The real enemy is a system that wages war when it’s profitable, the CEOs who lay us off our jobs when it’s profitable, the insurance companies who deny us health care when it’s profitable, the banks who take away our homes when it’s profitable. Our enemies are not 5,000 miles away. They are right here in front of us.” – Mike Prysner

For a transcript of the entire speech, visit http://dotsub.com/view/749fb533-dad3-4105-a56e-565e3f6d0972/viewTranscript/eng.

To support veterans who speak out this boldly, visit http://www.ivaw.org/ and www.antiwar.com.

As of Feb. 5, 2010, this video had been viewed on YouTube 337,352 times. Watch it, pass it on and repost it before it’s removed! It was posted to YouTube by ThePhaedrus83.

Haiti: Still starving 23 days later

mary — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:13:50 +0000

by Bill Quigley

Hungry people demonstrating in Port au Prince Wednesday say, “We are starving!” In many places, people have received no aid whatsoever in 23 days. – Photo: AFP

You can walk down many of the streets of Port au Prince and see absolutely no evidence that the world community has helped Haiti.

Twenty three days after the earthquake jolted Haiti and killed over 200,000 people, as many as a million people have still not received any international food assistance.

On Feb. 4, the U.N. World Food Program reported they had given at least some food, mostly 55 pound bags of rice, to over a million people. The U.N. acknowledges that it still needs to reach another 1 million people. The 55 pounds of rice are expected to provide a two-week food ration for a family. Beans and cooking oil are scheduled to come later.

The Associated Press reported that people in Haiti at small protests were holding up banners reading, “Help us, we’re starving.”

Over a million people are displaced. About 10,000 families are in tents. The rest are living under sheets, blankets and tarps.

One of the people living under a sheet is a brand new mother with her 1-day-old baby. The New York Times reports that Rosalie Antoine, 33, and her 1-day-old baby were living in a neighbor’s yard with puppies and chickens under a sheet in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Port au Prince.

Haiti and the United Nations estimate 250,000 children under the age of 7 are living in temporary housing. Most need vaccinations.

Flavia Cherry of the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action this week witnessed a pregnant double amputee give birth on the ground in one of the tent camps without any medical assistance at all. “This poor mother had nothing: no milk, no clothing for the baby, nothing!”

Even people who can afford to purchase food are having a difficult time. A 55-pound bag of rice costs 40 percent more today than it did before the earthquake. Dr. Louise Ivers, a Partners in Health physician in Port au Prince, reports a 25-kg (55-pound) bag of rice that sold for $30 U.S. dollars (1,207 Haitian Gourdes) before the quake now costs $42 U.S. dollars (1,690 Haitian Gourdes).

The World Food Program reports prices are still rising and people outside the earthquake zone are having difficulty meeting their basic food needs.

Twenty three days after the quake.

Bill Quigley just returned from Haiti. He is legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights. His email is Quigley77@gmail.com.

Death toll in Haiti now stands at over 200,000

mary — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:42:21 +0000

Early Monday morning, Aristide Foundation buses picked up people from several neighborhoods and headed out to Titanyen, where their loved ones lie in mass graves, for a funeral mass. Respect for the dead is so important in Haiti that the monuments they build in the cemeteries are often more elegant than their homes, and the mass burials with no accounting for the identity of the thousands buried intensifies survivors’ grief. – Photo: Rospide Petion

Havana, Cuba, Feb. 3 (ACN) – Haitian Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive confirmed on Wednesday in Port-au-Prince that the number of deaths as a consequence of the earthquake that devastated that nation’s capital and several neighboring cities on Jan. 12 has increased to over 200,000.

During his speech before the Senate, he pointed out that the figure doesn’t include the corpses that are still under the rubble or the victims buried by their own families, the Prensa Latina news agency reports.

Bellerrive also told the legislative chamber about the need for changing the government’s structure, in order to be able to face the crisis derived from the earthquake, as reported by several websites.

He expressed that the government – as it’s now constituted – can’t contribute results and proposed the creation of an emergency executive with a redefinition of the mission of ministers, or to leave the cabinet as it is and additionally create a National Committee for Crisis.

The earthquake, of seven degrees in the Richter scale, left over 190,000 people wounded – many of them with amputations – 1 million orphans and 3.5 million victims.

The disaster, considered the worst in Haitian history, destroyed everything from emblematic buildings like the Presidential Palace and the main buildings of the Parliament and the Archbishopric to hundreds of thousands of houses, schools and hospitals, among other facilities.

As a consequence of the destruction, over half a million people had to abandon Port-au-Prince and take refuge in rural areas.

For thorough and sensitive coverage of the Haiti earthquake and its consequences, visit ACN Cuban News Agency.

Cuban-trained U.S. doctors on their way to Haiti

mary — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:39:23 +0000

Benefit concert for Haiti at Riverside Church, NYC, Friday, Feb. 5, 8 p.m., for IFCO/Pastors for Peace Haiti Medical Relief Fund (details below)

by Ellen Bernstein and Lucia Bruno

These young doctors, recent graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba that trains students of color to practice in communities with the greatest need, are packing medicines into their backpacks and heading to Haiti. – Photo courtesy of IFCO Pastors for Peace

U.S. graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine are prepared to alleviate the pain and suffering of thousands of Haitian people.

The young physicians come from Harlem, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island in New York City, from Houston and from Minnesota. Two of them are currently working in Oakland, Calif.

The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), which administers the scholarship program for U.S. students, is raising funds and collecting medical supplies to support the young doctors’ mission.

“These dedicated and skilled young doctors are ready to serve. They received their M.D. degrees in Cuba, and they are uniquely prepared for the multiple challenges of this urgent mission,” said Rev. Lucius Walker Jr., executive director of IFCO. “We will send them to Haiti with backpacks full of medicines and supplies.”

All of the doctors are graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba, which was founded as part of the Comprehensive Health Plan for Central America and the Caribbean that Cuba established in response to the devastation of Hurricanes Mitch and Georges in 1998.

Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Mirta Roses commended the work of the Cuban medical teams in Haiti on Jan. 24. “The Cuban teams were already in Haiti – before the quake took place. They were the first responders treating earthquake victims.”

PAHO reports that Cuba’s direct medical assistance to the Haitian people in the first 72 hours after the earthquake was critical. Cuban doctors have attended tens of thousands patients and performed thousands of surgeries. Cuban doctors working in 21 improvised health centers including 14 operating theatres with 16 surgical teams. Most recently they set up a tent hospital with ultrasound and x-ray equipment – on the site of an amusement park in Port-Au-Prince.

More than 100 specialists from many countries – Venezuela, Chile, Spain, Mexico, Colombia and Canada – are also working with the Cuban health professionals.

A Cuban medical brigade of 350 physicians plus other medical personnel has been on the ground in Haiti for the last 10 years, working in remote communities where people had no other access to health care services. More than 6,000 Cuban doctors have served in Haiti as part of that brigade. Four hundred young Haitians have also received full-scholarship medical training at the Latin American School of Medicine and are now attending the wounded in Haiti.

The Latin American School of Medicine is now training students from 49 different nations of the Americas, Africa and other regions. Among the graduates are 33 young people from the U.S.

The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) is the administrator of the scholarship program at the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba for U.S. students.

Since 1967 IFCO has worked for racial, social and economic justice. For more information, including photos and video clips, visit www.ifconews.org. Contact IFCO at 418 W. 145th St., New York, NY 10031, (212) 926-5757, email ifco@igc.org.

Fear No Frontier’s Symphony of Dreams Haiti Memorial Benefit Concert

Over 100 of New York City’s finest musicians will come together to present a once-in-a-lifetime performance of the venerable Brahms Requiem at the majestic Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Drive, in Manhattan on Friday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m.

For tickets, call 888-71-TICKETS. They are $15 in advance, $10 for seniors and students and $20 at the door. Representatives from IFCO will be on hand to accept tax deductible donations.

There will be an encore performance the following night, Saturday Feb. 6, also at 8 p.m., at Our Lady of Refuge Church in Brooklyn.

The New Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir will be conducted by Maestro Joseph Jones, who has appeared with the MIT Summer Philharmonic, the Moscow Symphony and the Orchestra Sinfonica de Coyo in Argentina.

Fear No Frontier’s Symphony of Dreams performance of Brahms Requiem also features soprano Michelle Trovato, winner of numerous national and international awards from Albania to Washington – including the Metropolitan Opera National Council – and baritone Austin Larusson, with a special guest appearance by deSouza, an a cappella family singing group from Australia with music sales and fans spanning the globe.

Sponsored by IFCO/Pastors for Peace (http://ifconews.org), Fear No Frontier’s Symphony of Dreams is presenting this memorial concert benefit not only to commemorate those lost in the Haiti earthquake tragedy, but to also help get medical support to those still living who need it now.

Proceeds will immediately go to provide medicine and other relief supplies for doctors and medical personnel in Haiti. Visit http://symphonyforhaiti.org. Fear No Frontier’s trust-bond is to raise awareness of worldwide suffering and injustice and to take action to help correct these conditions.

For more information, contact IFCO at http://www.ifconews.org or (212) 926-5757.

Hiero World: an interview wit’ Tajai of Souls of Mischief and Hieroglyphics

mary — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:13:38 +0000

by Minister of Information JR

Souls of Mischief has been one of the major architects of the Bay Area sound in rap music since the early ‘90s. “93 til Infinity” off of their debut album shot the group to meteoric success on the national radio charts and got them booked all over the world for concerts.

After leaving their label, Jive, Souls of Mischief not only left as the kings of “backpacker” hip hop, they were also cyber-pioneers, being some of the first in the genre to bank on pushing their independent music careers through the internet – and succeeding. Today, the group is part of one of the Bay’s biggest independent rap empires, Hiero Imperium, which has released music from Del the Funky Homo Sapien, Hieroglyphics, Souls of Mischief, Pep Love and Casual, among others.

Let’s hear what Tajai, one of the four members of Souls of Mischief, has to say about their newest release, “Montezuma’s Revenge,” and Hiero business in general.

M.O.I. JR: Let’s go back in history. How did you start rapping, Tajai? And how did Souls of Mischief and Hieroglyphics come together? When was this?

Tajai: I started rapping because my best friend, A-Plus, and I were into hip hop and rapping was the only free thing we could do. Djing was too costly, we were little kids, so graffiti was not an option, and I am not a great dancer. Thus MC it was. I started rhyming at age 8, in 1983. So I have been rapping for 27 years, professionally for 17 years.

We (Hiero) all grew up in East Oakland walking distance from each other. We all had a mutual interest in hip hop, so we began to clique up in junior high. When Ice Cube signed Del, Del put us all on.

M.O.I. JR: Souls of Mischief changed the sound of what people thought came out of Oakland. Was that intentional?

Tajai: We grew up with the concept of being original at the core of hip hop. Almost all artists came out sounding different, and if you didn’t, you were a sucker MC. Thus we were intentionally trying to be different from everybody, not just from Oakland rappers.

M.O.I. JR: Why did Souls and Hiero go independent? What has made you guys as successful as you have been online?

Tajai: We got dropped from our labels, and Domino had the foresight to get us in the studio instead of trying to go back to the label sharecropping system.

Once the product was done, we hit the streets instead of begging labels to validate our music. I think our success comes from the fact that we are accessible.

Plus we were online about five years before the internet even started bubbling outside of colleges etc. Thus we could connect directly with our fanbase and book shows, find out what they want and tailor-make campaigns for our products. This all seems like regular everyday business now, 15 years later, but back then it was pretty revolutionary. To this day, our fans give us crazy support. We dropped a limited-edition shirt yesterday and it sold out in hours.

M.O.I. JR: Has going independent affected your sound? What kind of equipment do you guys use in the studio?

Tajai: There is so much more access to good sounds and equipment now, so technology has made it possible to expand our sound.

However, digital sounds are kind of crispy and not as muddy as when we were recording on 2-inch reels. Sometimes we dump music back down to tape reels to get that dirt back. But we basically use a Mac, Protools, SP1200, MPC2000, Nord Leed, Moog, ASR10, Reason and a really good mic and compressor.

M.O.I. JR: Is it harder to serve an international audience being independent artists? Is the extra money you make on the indie level worth the extra time that you have to put into your career?

Tajai: Absolutely not (harder). Much easier because of no label politics. We can put distro deals in place in every region and get checks from them all! Indie is worth it for us because we had the major startup, so we had millions in fans before going indie. I don’t know if it is the best route for bands who are starting out and need exposure.

M.O.I. JR: What has made the Hiero brand as recognized as it is?

Tajai: Our logo, period. It is recognized worldwide, from Asia to South America and everywhere else.

M.O.I. JR: Can you tell us about the new Souls of Mischief album? What makes it different from past works?

Tajai: The new Souls album is great. It was produced mainly by Prince Paul (Stetsasonic, De La Soul, Gravediggaz, Handsome Boy Modeling School) and also has tracks by Domino, A Plus and Opio. This is the first time we let an outside cat run the show. He gave us exactly what we needed. Ask the fans!

M.O.I. JR: Recently everybody from Souls except Phesto have released solo albums. What’s going on internally?

Tajai: Phes is finishing his up. Since we are indie, we can put out whatever we want, so we exercise our creativity on the solo tip. No breakups or anything though. Our camp is the same as it always has been.

M.O.I. JR: Can you talk a little bit about your imprint, Clear Label Records? How does the music you put out through it differ from Hiero Imperium?

Tajai: Clear Label Records is an indie. I started to expose people to all of the good stuff available out here, not just “backpack rap” or even just rap.

It is my way of bringing the next generation of musicians into the game and making their path easier than mine. My deals are straightforward, and I am accessible to all my artists. Plus with the partnership I have with PTB (ClearBeat); I have access to the hottest street cats too.

Thus I have artists like League510, FAMSYRK, Baby Jaymes, Chris Marsol, Deep Rooted and JC on my label, plus Beeda Weeda, D-Lo, Shady Nate, Sleepy D, G-Wett, Dj Fresh and hella others. I only stress quality, not type of music or content.

M.O.I. JR: What’s up with the rest of Hiero?

Tajai: They all chilling. Casual has like three albums ready, Del drops a new album it seems like every three months and Pep Love is working hard on his next album, “Reconstruction.”

M.O.I. JR: Where is Hiero going in 2010 and beyond? When is the fashion line coming out?

Tajai: We want to keep dropping good music. That is the base of our business. Plus we have some gear coming: jeans, New Era fitteds, backpacks – hey, we’re backpackers, right?!? – and some other top-secret items in store. We just want our fan base to grow as it has, continuously.

M.O.I. JR: How do people keep up wit’ y’all online?

Tajai: www.hieroglyphics.com – 15 years and running – and www.clearlabelrecords.com. “You need to come see us …”

Email POCC Minister of Information JR, Bay View associate editor, at blockreportradio@gmail.com and visit www.blockreportradio.com.

Humanitarian relief in Haiti: Some shocking facts

mary — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:57:35 +0000

by PSLweb.org News Bureau

Is this what humanitarian aid looks like? People can’t eat or drink guns; doctors can’t use them to save lives. Out of every dollar spent on U.S. “aid” to Haiti, 33 cents go to the U.S. military, while only 9 cents pay for food and another 9 pay for food transportation.

The U.S. government dispatched more than 12,000 troops and $379 million in “aid to Haiti” after the earthquake. As many as 250,000 people have died. The train of misery is growing daily.

The phrase “aid to Haiti” might not be entirely accurate.

For every dollar spent in the “aid” effort, 33 cents pay for the U.S. military force that has taken control of the country. In contrast, the U.S. government is spending only 9 cents of every dollar on food and another 9 cents to transport the food. The military expenditures in Haiti are on top of the annual U.S. military budget.

The statistical breakdown of how U.S. earthquake aid is being spent was undertaken by a review conducted by the Associated Press and reported by AP on Jan. 27. AP also reports that Haitians are being hired at meager wages to assist the U.S. efforts.

“The Obama administration is putting 5 cents of each dollar into efforts to pay survivors to work. One program already in place describes paying 40,000 Haitians $3 per day for 20 days to clean up around hospitals and dig latrines,” according to the AP report.

The U.S. military immediately took control of the airport and ports in Haiti following the earthquake. The U.S. priority was to land contingents of what will be a 12,000-plus military force. This prevented humanitarian aid from reaching Haiti.

After not being able to land for days, the World Food Program was finally allowed access to the airfield, according to another report in the New York Times. The group had been denied access to the airstrip for days so that U.S. troops and military equipment could land.

The $379 million that the U.S. is spending on Haiti is less than the cost of one day spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan occupation. That number is approximately $480 million each day.

This story first appeared on PSLweb.org, the website of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Are they that sick? Did U.S. weather weapon destroy Haiti?

mary — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:33:51 +0000

by Junious Ricardo Stanton

Was the earthquake that destroyed Port au Prince, capital of Haiti and home to 2 million Haitians, that killed 200,000 and caused tens of thousands to lose limbs man made? Did a U.S. weather weapon trigger it to secure Haiti’s vast riches in gold, silver, copper and oil? – Photo: Shaul Schwarz, Getty for TIME

“The military has had about 20 years to work on weather warfare methods, which it euphemistically calls weather modification. For example, rainmaking technology was taken for a few test rides in Vietnam. The U.S. Department of Defense sampled lightning and hurricane manipulation studies in Project Skyfire and Project Stormfury. And they looked at some complicated technologies that would give big effects. ‘Angels Don’t Play This HAARP’ cites an expert who says the military studied both lasers and chemicals which they figured could damage the ozone layer over an enemy. Looking at ways to cause earthquakes, as well as to detect them, was part of the project named Prime Argus, decades ago. The money for that came from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA, now under the acronym ARPA). In 1994 the Air Force revealed its Spacecast 2020 master plan, which includes weather control. Scientists have experimented with weather control since the 1940s, but Spacecast 2020 noted that ‘using environmental modification techniques to destroy, damage or injure another state are prohibited.’ Having said that, the Air Force claimed that advances in technology ‘compels a reexamination of this sensitive and potentially risky topic.’” – “The Military’s Pandora’s Box” by Dr. Nick Begich and Jeane Manning, www.haarp.net

Recently I wrote a piece detailing why Haiti is so poor, how the U.S. and its European allies have conspired since 1804 to choke and strangle the people and economy of this island inhabited by the descendants of Africans. Haiti is peopled by the sons and daughters of the Africans who soundly defeated France, Britain and Spain to gain their independence and freedom, to become a beacon of possibility for freedom-loving people in this hemisphere.

The whites have never forgiven those Africans or their heirs for debunking the feeble notions of white supremacy and superiority. The U.S. elites and New World Order devotees still hold a deep seated animus towards Haiti and the Haitian people to this day.

Immediately following the “earthquake” that hit Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, I started seeing reports that the earthquake was not a random occurrence or happenstance. These were the same rumblings I heard following Hurricane Katrina.

After the devastation of Katrina I started seeing reports about HAARP, High Frequency Active Auroral Research. I did some research and discovered HAARP is an extremely high frequency radio transmitter military operation located in Alaska and Puerto Rico. HAARP is a military project both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force have signed on to for conducting experiments and tests using high frequency electromagnetic waves.

The U.S. military has been using HAARP to slice the earth’s ionosphere, stab into the oceans in search of submarines, penetrate deep into the earth’s core and impact all life on the planet. Some speculate the U.S. and Russia have engaged in stealth weather warfare for decades.

The U.S. government is tight lipped about HAARP and its clandestine uses. However if you do some cursory research, you will discover alarming but not surprising facts, that for me confirm what the Last Poets said is true, “The white man has a god complex.”

This is the HAARP Research Station in Gakona, Alaska. HAARP’s official website, www.haarp.alaska.edu, states its purpose: “HAARP is a scientific endeavor aimed at studying the properties and behavior of the ionosphere, with particular emphasis on being able to understand and use it to enhance communications and surveillance systems for both civilian and defense purposes.”

“HAARP is part of the weapons arsenal of the New World Order under the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). From military command points in the U.S., entire national economies could potentially be destabilized through climatic manipulations. More importantly, the latter can be implemented without the knowledge of the enemy, at minimal cost and without engaging military personnel and equipment as in a conventional war,” writes Michel Chossudovsky in “Washington’s New World Order Weapons Have the Ability to Trigger Climate Change.” Chossudovsky is professor of economics at the University of Ottawa and the author of “The Globalization of Poverty.”

He continues: “The use of HAARP – if it were to be applied – could have potentially devastating impacts on the world’s climate. Responding to U.S. economic and strategic interests, it could be used to selectively modify climate in different parts of the world resulting in the destabilization of agricultural and ecological systems.

“It is also worth noting that the U.S. Department of Defense has allocated substantial resources to the development of intelligence and monitoring systems on weather changes. NASA and the Department of Defense’s National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) are working on ‘imagery for studies of flooding, erosion, land-slide hazards, earthquakes, ecological zones, weather forecasts, and climate change’ with data relayed from satellites,” Chossudovsky writes.

The U.S. has three known HAARP transmitting stations (and the operative word here is “known”) – two in Alaska at Gakona and Fairbanks and one in Puerto Rico near the Arecibo Observatory. The U.S. actually admits HAARP has been used to probe the earth for natural gas and oil.

Keep this in mind: Haiti has oil. In fact the Atlantic Richfield Co. is a major developer of patented HAARP technology as are E-Systems and Raytheon, two major defense contractors (a euphemism for the warmongering military industrial complex).

What if the HAARP transmitting station in Puerto Rico was probing for oil in the Caribbean near Cuba or Haiti and set the signal frequencies too high? What if this aggravated a pre-existing fault line on the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic and resulted in the earthquake?

Or what if they already knew Haiti had oil off its coasts and near the mountains and deliberately ignited a HAARP beam in order to generate enough instability to create an earthquake in order to ethnically cleanse and depopulate the region?

Louis Joseph Valentine lowers his mother, Therese Theodore, 76, into a casket after she died Jan. 20, eight days after the quake. Valentine, whose home was leveled in the quake, says his mother didn't get medical care in time. Her casket was carried to the nearby Central Cemetery. The world now knows that countless thousands died in Haiti because U.S. relief and aid was too little and too late. Is the U.S. also responsible for causing the quake? – Photo: Carolyn Cole, LA Times

Now before you call me crazy or say I’m a “conspiracy kook,” remember this is the same U.S. military that dropped two atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, two non-military targets, when they had no idea how much damage they would cause! This is the same military that dropped tons of lethal chemicals, defoliants and herbicides in Vietnam – sometimes on U.S. forces (friendly fire?).

This is the same military that uses depleted uranium in Iraq and unmanned drones to kill innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan today. The U.S. is waging proxy and low grade resource wars all around the planet. You get my drift? The U.S. military is capable of unspeakable atrocities.

Let’s not forget the U.S. government’s genocidal policies: giving smallpox laced blankets to the Native Americans, the infamous Tusgekee syphilis experiment. Don’t forget about slavery and the U.S. government standing idly by as thousands of Blacks were lynched and terrorized during the 19th and 20th centuries.

So if you are a student of history or you are half way sane, my HAARP scenario is not far fetched at all. Why has Obama reacted to Haiti just like Bush reacted to Katrina? Why the delay in mobilizing aid?

Why a military response as opposed to a humanitarian one? Why so many obstacles placed in the way of supplies and humanitarian aid given by other countries, just like FEMA erected obstacles to aid from neighboring communities and states and volunteer first responders in New Orleans? Why is the corporate media focusing on the alleged looting and the need for police and security rather than the way native Haitians have pooled together to help one another?

Junious Ricardo Stanton

This is a redo of Katrina. Actually, when you consider the U.S. government’s abysmal response to Hurricane Katrina and the recent Haitian crisis, you have to conclude they are: 1) callous and heartless, 2) totally inept or 3) deliberately engaged in ethnic cleansing and genocide.

I suspect the latter, and one of the reasons is oil. Let us not forget: Haiti has oil! Oil is one of the main components of the American g.o.d.: gold, oil and drugs. They will do anything for their god. The media is now playing up the scramble to help Haiti by Americans as a cover for what really went down and to keep people thinking the earthquake was a “natural disaster” when in fact HAARP created it either deliberately or unintentionally. This is my theory. Like the title of Charles Barkley’s book, “I may be wrong, but I doubt it.”

Junious Ricardo Stanton is a freelance writer and internet radio host on www.harambeeradio.com and can be reached at jrswriter@comcast.net. To read his commentaries regularly, subscribe to the Sons of Afrika listserve at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SOA/.

Military, scientific and legal experts worldwide question whether 200,000 Haitians were sacrificed for gold and oil

by Mary Ratcliff

Junious Ricardo Stanton is not alone in questioning the cause the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti. Significant voices around the world are joining the speculation.

And whether the quake was triggered, either accidentally or intentionally, by human intervention or is a natural disaster ripe for exploitation, the world’s major powers appear to fear sovereign control by Haiti over its vast reserves of oil, gold and other minerals that are only now being widely revealed. Haitian sovereignty, after all, was born in the world’s only successful slave revolution.

Knowing the Haitian people guard their independence as fiercely as ever, world powers don’t want to contend or compete with another Venezuela, an oil-rich country that owes its independence to Haiti’s support for Simon Bolivar. When, on Jan. 25, President Hugo Chavez announced he was forgiving Haiti’s $352 million debt to Venezuela – one third of Haiti’s total debt – he said: “Haiti has no debt with Venezuela. On the contrary, it is Venezuela that has a historic debt with Haiti.”

“The Russian Navy reports that the U.S. created the earthquake in Haiti,” reports Pravda on Jan. 21, “through one of its earthquake weapons.”

Pravda suggests that the earthquake in Eureka, Calif., on Jan. 9 was caused by a U.S. Navy test in the Pacific. And it reports that the Russian Navy has diagrammed a series of quakes “identical in depth and linearly on the same fault” in Venezuela on Jan. 8, Honduras on Jan. 11 and Haiti on Jan. 12 – all at the same 10 km depth.

A Russian Navy report, according to Pravda, notes that “it is ‘more than likely’ that the U.S. Navy had ‘full knowledge’ of the catastrophic damage that this test earthquake could potentially have on Haiti and had pre-positioned its deputy commander of the Southern Command, Gen. P.K. Keen, on the island to oversee aid work if needed.”

“Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez Wednesday accused the United States of causing the destruction in Haiti by testing a ‘tectonic weapon’ to induce the catastrophic earthquake that hit the country last week,” reports Press TV Jan. 21, adding, “President Chavez said the U.S. was ‘playing God’ by testing devices capable of creating eco-type catastrophes.”

“Venezuelan media have reported that the earthquake ‘may be associated with the project called HAARP, a system that can generate violent and unexpected changes in climate,’” according to the Press TV story, which concludes, “Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen in 1997 expressed concerns over countries engaging ‘in eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves.’”

This map from Eurasian Minerals Inc. shows a “Gold-Silver-Copper Mineralization Belt” running across the island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, highlighting major mineral discoveries in Haiti.

In a Jan. 28 email to the Bay View, geoscientist Leuren Moret writes: “The Soviet Union and the U.S. co-developed HAARP during the Cold War,” supposedly “to prevent development of weapons to use against the environment or to use the environment as a weapon.”

“On Jan. 12 Haiti was hit with tectonic warfare by the U.S. from our HAARP facility at Arecibo, Puerto Rico,” Moret asserts.

Why? “Canadian mining companies (tied to City of London bankers) have been mining gold, silver, zinc and copper since 1975 in the Dominican Republic. Now that they have mined and know the estimated yields – $54 billion from just ONE old volcano – they are going for the blood of the Haitians who would not allow mining.

“Three years ago, Eurasian Minerals Inc. bought as much as 20-25 percent of the mining rights in Haiti,” which is shown on its home page as the location of one of its five largest projects. “All of the five projects are located near a HAARP facility. On Dec. 8, 2009, Eurasian Minerals applied to IFC (World Bank) for funding to mine Haiti in a formal proposal.”

Even without a trigger as esoteric as HAARP, human-triggered quakes are well documented. The Wall Street Journal, in a June 25, 2009, story titled “At Fault: Does Drilling Cause Earthquakes?” reported: “The idea that human activity can cause seismic activity is widely accepted in the scientific community. A 2000 paper in the journal Oilfield Review – published by the oilfield services giant Schlumberger Ltd. – noted that the connection between oil production and earthquakes dates back to at least the 1920s, when geologists in South Texas noted faulting near the Goose Creek oil field.”

Both drilling for oil and gas and a technique that involves “injecting water into the ground to fracture rock formations far beneath the surface,” which is also used for accessing renewable geothermal energy, have been blamed, according to the Wall Street Journal. A geothermal project in Switzerland “was shut down in 2006 after [the water injection technique] was blamed for a magnitude 3.4 quake – enough to cause quite a stir in an area not accustomed to temblors.”

“The New York Times reported Wednesday [June 24, 2009] on concerns that a geothermal energy project about to begin near San Francisco could trigger quakes in the seismically active region,” reports Ben Casselman, writer of the Wall Street Journal story. The developer of the San Francisco project says “they’ve improved the method and won’t cause serious quakes. Residents aren’t so sure – one told the Times the project was ‘terrifying.’”

On Jan. 29, attorney Marguerite Laurent of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network posted a new story to her website that begins: “I wrote Part 1 of ‘Oil in Haiti as the economic reason for the US/UN occupation’ back in October 2009. After the earthquake I questioned whether oil drilling could have triggered the earthquake (‘Did mining and oil drilling trigger the Haiti earthquake?’).”

She quotes from a Jan. 26 Bloomberg BusinessWeek story: “Haiti Earthquake May Have Exposed Gas, Aiding Economy”: “The Jan. 12 earthquake was on a fault line that passes near potential gas reserves, said Stephen Pierce, a geologist who worked in the region for 30 years for companies including the former Mobil Corp. The quake may have cracked rock formations along the fault, allowing gas or oil to temporarily seep toward the surface.”

The Bloomberg story cites a 2000 report by the U.S. Geological Survey that estimates “at least 142 million barrels of oil and 159 billion cubic feet of gas” in the Greater Antilles, which include Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and their offshore waters.

Marguerite Laurent

Laurent writes, “According to Haitian scholar Dr. Georges Michel (in ‘Oil in Haiti‘), the U.S. has known there’s oil and natural gas reserves in Haiti since 1908 and did their explorations in the 1950s and locked up what they found as ‘strategic reserves for the U.S.’ to be tapped when Middle Eastern oil became less available.

“I’ve been writing for years now that the U.S. has been trying to get rid of Haiti’s democratically elected government since 1991 so they could get to ‘their’ strategic reserves without any fear of a populist president nationalizing the oil and gas reserves to benefit the miserably poor majority in Haiti as has been done in Venezuela or elsewhere in Latin America. (See, ‘Haiti is full of oil, say Ginette and Daniel Mathurin,’ where these scientists say there’s more oil in Haiti than in Venezuela.) …

“Don’t fall for this hoax. The powers that be are already drilling and, for years, HLLN has been pointing to the Lavalas white book detailing Haiti’s resources as part of the reason for ousting President Aristide and putting in Haitian puppets to empire. …

“Just yesterday I was called CRAZY for saying Haiti had oil and substantial mineral resources. But today, today, if the white man says it, it must be true! [She’s referring to geologist Stephen Pierce in the Bloomberg story.] Don’t fall for the empire’s latest spin and cleanup job. Two many defenseless people are still dying behind this earthquake and classquake. Too many long-suffering flesh and blood who won’t get rescue, recovery, relief and rebuilding, but the cold steel of military occupation.”

On Jan. 30, in a Global Research story called “The Fateful Geological Prize Called Haiti,” journalist, historian and economic researcher F. William Engdahl describes the behind-the-scenes tug of war between world powers over what oil geologists call a “Super-giant oilfield” in Cuba and reserves in Haiti that may equal or exceed it. “In an interview with a Santo Domingo online paper,” Engdahl writes, “Leopoldo Espaillat Nanita, former head of the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (REFIDOMSA), stated, ‘There is a multinational conspiracy to illegally take the mineral resources of the Haitian people.’ Haiti’s minerals include gold, the valuable strategic metal iridium and oil, apparently lots of it.”

The Lavalas “white book,” “Invest in the People,” compiled under President Arisitide as a catalyst for Haitians to discuss and determine their own development destiny, contains this map detailing the locations of Haiti’s mineral resources.

Under the subheading “Aristide’s development plans,” Engdahl continues: “Marguerite Laurent (‘Ezili Dantò’), president of the Haitian Lawyers’ Leadership Network (HLLN), who served as attorney for the deposed Aristide, notes that when Aristide was president – up until his U.S.-backed ouster during the Bush era in 2004 – he had developed and published in book form his national development plans. These plans included, for the first time, a detailed list of known sites where the resources of Haiti were located. The publication of the plan sparked a national debate over Haitian radio and in the media about the future of the country. Aristide’s plan was to implement a public-private partnership to ensure that the development of Haiti’s oil, gold and other valuable resources would benefit the national economy and the broader population, and not merely the five Haitian oligarchic families and their U.S. backers, the so-called Chimeres or gangsters.”

In a footnote at that point, Endahl adds: “The Aristide development plan was contained in the book published in Haiti in 2000, ‘Investir dans l’Human. Livre Blanc de Fanmi Lavalas sous la Direction de Jean-Bertrand Aristide,’ Port-au-Prince, Imprimerie Henri Deschamps, 2000. It contained detailed maps, tables, graphics, and a national development plan for 2004 ‘covering agriculture, environment, commerce and industry, the financial sector, infrastructure, education, culture, health, women’s issues and issues in the public sector.’ In 2004, using NGOs and the U.N. and a vicious propaganda campaign to vilify Aristide, the Bush administration got rid of the elected president.”

‘There is a multinational conspiracy to illegally take the mineral resources of the Haitian people.’ – Leopoldo Espaillat Nanita, former head of the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (REFIDOMSA)

To conclude his story, Engdahl writes that according to Laurent, “under the guise of emergency relief work, the U.S., France and Canada are engaged in a balkanization of the island for future mineral control. She reports rumors that Canada wants the North of Haiti, where Canadian mining interests are already present. The U.S. wants Port-au-Prince and the island of La Gonaive just offshore – an area identified in Aristide’s development book as having vast oil resources, and which is bitterly contested by France. She further states that China, with U.N. veto power over the de facto U.N.-occupied country, may have something to say against such a U.S.-France-Canada carve-up of the vast wealth of the nation.”

VoltaireNet, the non-aligned press network, reports that the swiftness of the U.S. troop deployment to Haiti “can be easily explained since these troops were already pre-positioned in the context of a military exercise. Under the orders of Gen. P.K. Keen, military deputy commander of U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), they took part in an exercise simulating a humanitarian operation in Haiti after a hurricane. Keen and his staff had arrived a few days earlier. At the precise moment that the earth shook, they were already sheltered in the U.S. Embassy, built in compliance with anti-earthquake norms.”

Bay View editor Mary Ratcliff can be reached at editor@sfbayview.com or (415) 671-0789.

On the ground in Port au Prince

mary — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:06:45 +0000

Haitians are helping Haitians

by Bill Quigley

A grandmother feeds her grandsons nine days after the quake. Food had reached them, though they were still living on the ground with only sheets for shelter. – Photo: Reuters

Hundreds of thousands of people are living and sleeping on the ground in Port au Prince. Many have no homes, their homes destroyed by the earthquake. I am sleeping on the ground as well – surrounded by nurses, doctors and humanitarian workers who sleep on the ground every night. The buildings that are not on the ground have big cracks in them and fallen sections so no one should be sleeping inside.

There are sheet cities everywhere. Not tent cities. Sheet cities. Old people and babies and everyone else under sheets held up by ropes hooked onto branches pounded into the ground.

With the rainy season approaching, one of the emergency needs of Haitians is to get tents. I have seen hundreds of little red topped Coleman pup tents among the sheet shelters. There are tents in every space, from soccer fields and parks to actually in the streets. There is a field with dozens of majestic beige tents from Qatar marked Islamic Relief. But real tents are outnumbered by sheet shelters by a ratio of 100 to 1.

Rescues continue but the real emergency remains food, water, healthcare and shelter for millions.

Though helicopters thunder through the skies, actual relief of food and water and shelter remains minimal to non-existent in most neighborhoods.

Children cling to adults as they push forward in a food handout line in Port-au-Prince. – Photo: Carolyn Cole, LA Times

Haitians are helping Haitians. Young men have organized into teams to guard communities of homeless families. Women care for their own children as well as others now orphaned. Tens of thousands are missing and presumed dead.

The scenes of destruction boggle the mind. The scenes of homeless families, overwhelmingly little children, crush the heart.

But hope remains. Haitians say and pray that God must have a plan. Maybe Haiti will be rebuilt in a way that allows all Haitians to participate and have a chance at a dignified life with a home, a school and a job.

One young Haitian man said, “One good sign is the solidarity of the world. Muslim doctors, Jewish doctors, Christian doctors all come to help us. We see children in Gaza collecting toys for Haitian children. It looks very bad right now, but this is a big opportunity for the world and Haiti to change and do good together.”

Haiti – hell and hope

Smoke and flames rose from the sidewalk. A white man took pictures. Slowing down, my breath left me. The fire was a corpse. Leg bones sticking out of the flames.

Four days after the earthquake, a man feeds a fire he set to burn the body of a friend, a street vendor who had been killed when a cement block fell on her in downtown Port au Prince. Survivors feel they have no choice, because bodies haven't been picked up and the stench is overwhelming. – Photo: Carolyn Cole, LA Times

Port au Prince police headquarters is gone, already bulldozed. A nearby college is pancaked. Goverment buildings are destroyed. Stores fallen down. Tens of thousands of buildings destroyed. Hundreds of thousands homeless.

Giant piles of concrete, rebar, metal pipes, plastic pipes, doors and wires.

Corpses are still inside many of the mountains of rubble. No estimates of how many thousands of people are dead inside.

Electrical poles bend over streets, held up by braids of thick black wires. On some side streets the wires are still down in the street.

Buildings take unimaginable shapes. Some are half up while the other side slopes to the ground. Some like collapsed cakes. Others smashed like children’s toys.

Everywhere are sheet shelters. In parks, soccer fields, in the parking lot of the TV station, tens of thousands literally in the streets and on sidewalks.

Thousands of people standing in the hot sun waiting their turn. Outside the hospital, clinics, money transfer companies, immigration offices, and the very few places offering water or food.

Troops and heavy machinery are only seen in the center of the city.

After days in Port au Prince I have seen only one fight: two teens fighting on a street corner over a young woman. No riots. No machetes.

Hope is found in the people of Haiti. Despite no electricity, little shelter, minimal food and no real government or order, people are helping one another survive.

A scrap collector pulls a bwet, a wooden cart laden with wood he will use for cooking fuel, through the streets of downtown Port au Prince. – Photo: Brian Vander Brug, LA Times

Men and boys are scavenging useful items from the mounds of fallen buildings. Women are selling mangoes and nuts on the street. Teens are playing with babies.

Beautiful hymns are lifted as choirs call out to God in every sheet camp every evening. People pray constantly. The strikingly beautiful tap tap cabs trumpet “In God we trust” or “Merci, Jesus” in bright colors.

Everyone needs tents and food and medical care and water. But when you talk to them, most will lead you to the ailing great grandma or the malnourished child.

What should outsiders do, I asked Lavarice Gaudin? Lavarice, who helps the St. Clare community feed thousands each day through the What If Foundation, said: “Help the most poor first. Some who labored their whole lives to make a one bedroom home will likely never have a home again. Haiti needs everything. But we need it with a plan. Pressure the Haitian government, pressure USAID to help the poorest.”

International volunteers who work hand in hand with Haitians are welcomed. Others not so much.

Lavarice saw the Associated Press story that reported only one penny of every U.S. aid dollar will go directly in cash to needy Haitians. “I can understand that they distrust the government, but why not distribute aid through the churches and good community organizations?

“We hope this will help us develop strong leadership that listens and responds to the people.”

“No matter what, we will never give up. Haitians are strong, hopeful people. We will rebuild.”

Bill Quigley is legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights and a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He is a Katrina survivor and has been active in human rights in Haiti for years with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. He can be reached at quigley77@gmail.com.

Kouraj cherie: Dispatches from Port au Prince, Haiti

mary — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:31:16 +0000

by Sasha Kramer

Songs of grief and solidarity

A mother embraces her injured son. Love and mutual support among survivors, not violence, characterize Port au Prince since the earthquake, despite the desperation. – Photo: Win McNamee, Getty

Port au Prince, Haiti, Jan. 17 – Apologies if these notes seem unpolished. That is because they are. We barely have time to write and internet is patchy, so I will do what I can to get out information but I don’t promise eloquence.

Love to you all and know that we are safe and taking precautions. Thank you to everyone who has sent words of love, encouragement and support.

Last night we (myself, Cat Laine, Paul Namphy, Wisnel Jolissaint, Lisius Orel and Baudeler Magloire) arrived in Port au Prince just before sunset. As we came into the city with our truck piled full of water, gas, shovels and food, we got a flat tire. The news reports of looting have been so exaggerated that we were concerned that a mob of people might come take everything before we even made it into the city.

I am pleased to report that, as per usual, reports of violence in Haiti are largely disinformation. Yes, we did hear shooting late last night, and yes, we did see a fight over a mattress at a camp in the city but our overall impression has been sheer amazement at the solidarity displayed by communities.

We drove into the city past the airport and along Delmas 33. Initially it looked like about one in five houses had sustained damage and perhaps one in 20 had completely collapsed. However, as we got father in towards Delmas, the damage looked much more severe with perhaps one in five buildings completely collapsed.

The first night after the earthquake on Jan. 12, people slept in the streets and sang songs of grief and solidarity. – Photo: Reuters

I have never seen anything like this. Honestly, it is hard to even feel. People have not even begun to mourn, as everyone is still in a state of crisis. As we drove by the police station on Delmas 33, we saw someone carrying a severed foot of a police officer out of the wreckage. I barely even blinked. Everything is so surreal.

We went straight to Matthew 25, a guesthouse which remained relatively untouched by the quake. We went to locate our friend Amber who has been helping to coordinate volunteer efforts.

We are so grateful for the way in which we have been received by the guesthouse. They immediately allowed us to remove all of the materials from the car and invited us to sleep in the backyard – no one is sleeping inside, as the aftershocks have continued over the past few days. I was amazed to run into our dear friend Ellie Happel at the guesthouse. She flew in from New York the day after the quake to help with relief.

Once we had unloaded the car, we all went with Marcorel to see his family in Jake. When we arrived, it was already dark and there were people sleeping everywhere in the streets.

As we waited for Marcorel to make his way through the camp to locate his family, we saw several young men from the neighborhood setting up a large light rigged to some batteries. As light flooded the crowd of people they burst into song. Songs of solidarity, songs of grief, songs of thanks that they had survived.

We followed Mako through the blankets and makeshift tents to where his family – eight brothers and sisters and his mom and dad – huddled together on a pile of blankets. They were so happy to see him and we all piled into their bed and Ellie, Paul, Cat and I were each handed a baby. The singing continued in the background as Marcorel’s family told the story of where they each were when the quake hit.

After leaving the camp, we visited the site where Caribbean Market once stood. As I stared in disbelief at the pile of concrete and twisted shopping carts, I remembered my many trips to this market over the years. I remember that Caribbean Market was the first place that I visited on my own in Port au Prince, cautiously walking through the streets in 2004 by myself, not speaking any Kreyol, knowing only the market. To see it in ruins was unimaginable. American FEMA firefighters were still picking through the rubble. They said that they were still hearing voices inside and that they had been working for 30 hours without a break.

By Jan. 13, the day after the quake, people were already setting up camps of makeshift tents in parks, soccer fields and other open spaces – pieces of cardboard serving as mattresses. – Photo: Getty

Around 8:30 we headed back to the guesthouse, where we were incredibly blessed to have access to power and fruit. I could barely blink my eyes, the lids so heavy with exhaustion and shock. After several coordination meetings, we finally tumbled into sleep, all of us gathered in the backyard under the stars, sleeping to the sound of the songs of grief.

Please keep sending your love and prayers. Also you can help us by getting your friends to sign up for the SOIL group on Facebook and follow our posts. Also any fundraising help is deeply appreciated and will go 100 percent towards disaster relief. You can donate online at www.oursoil.org.

Kouraj, cherie

Port au Prince, Haiti, Jan. 19 – This afternoon, feeling helpless, we decided to take a van down to Champs Mars, the area around the palace, to look for people needing medical care to bring to Matthew 25, the guesthouse where we are staying which has been transformed into a field hospital. Since we arrived in Port au Prince, everyone has told us that you cannot go into the area around the palace because of violence and insecurity.

I was in awe as we walked into downtown among the flattened buildings in the shadow of the fallen palace. Amongst the swarms of displaced people, there was calm and solidarity. We wound our way through the camp asking for injured people who needed to get to the hospital.

Despite everyone telling us that as soon as we did this we would be mobbed by people, I was amazed: As we approached each tent, people gently pointed us toward their neighbors, guiding us to those who were suffering the most. We picked up five badly injured people and drove towards an area where Ellie and Berto had passed a woman earlier.

When they saw her, she was lying on the side of the road with a broken leg screaming for help. As they were on foot, they could not help her at the time, so we went back to try to find her. Incredibly we found her relatively quickly at the top of a hill of shattered houses. The sun was setting and the community helped to carry her down the hill on a refrigerator door. Tough looking guys smiled in our direction calling out, “Bonswa, cherie” (Good evening, my dear) and “Kouraj” (Courage).

In one of the makeshift clinics – this one outside the Villa Creole Hotel in Petionville – the injured wait for medical attention. – Photo: AP

When we got back to Matthew 25, it was dark and we carried the patients back into the soccer field-tent village-hospital where the team of doctors had been working tirelessly all day. Although they had officially closed down for the evening, they agreed to see the patients we had brought.

Once our patients were settled in, we came back into the house to find the doctors amputating a foot on the dining room table. The patient lay calmly, awake but far away under the fog of ketamine. Half way through the surgery, we heard a clamor outside and ran out to see what it was.

A large yellow truck was parked in front of the gate and rapidly unloading hundreds of bags of food over our fence. The hungry crowd had already begun to gather and in the dark it was hard to decide how to best distribute the food.

Knowing that we could not sleep in the house with all of this food and so many starving people in the neighborhood, our friend Amber, who is experienced in food distribution, snapped into action and began to get everyone in the crowd into a line that stretched down the road. We braced ourselves for the fighting that we had heard would come but, in a miraculous display of restraint and compassion, people lined up to get the food and one by one the bags were handed out without a single serious incident.

During the food distribution, the doctors called to see if anyone could help to bury the amputated leg in the backyard. As I have no experience with food distribution, I offered to help with the leg. I went into the back with Ellie and Berto and we dug a hole and placed the leg in it, covering it with soil and cement rubble.

By the time we got back into the house, the food had all been distributed and the patient, Anderson, was waking up. The doctors asked for a translator, so I went and sat by his stretcher explaining to him that the surgery had gone well and he was going to live. His family had gone home and he was alone, so Ellie and I took turns sitting with him as he came out from under the drugs.

I sat and talked to Anderson for hours as he drifted in and out of consciousness. At one point one of the Haitian men working at the hospital came in and leaned over Anderson and said to him in Kreyol: “Listen, man: Even if your family could not be here tonight, we want you to know that everyone here loves you. We are all your brothers and sisters.”

Cat and I have barely shed a tear through all of this – the sky could fall and we would not bat an eye – but when I told her this story this morning, the tears just began rolling down her face, as they are mine as I am writing this. Sometimes it is the kindness and not the horror that can break the numbness that we are all lost in right now.

“Listen, man: Even if your family could not be here tonight, we want you to know that everyone here loves you. We are all your brothers and sisters.”

So don’t believe Anderson Cooper when he says that Haiti is a hotbed for violence and riots. It is just not the case. In the darkest of times, Haiti has proven to be a country of brave, resilient and kind people and it is that behavior that is far more prevalent than the isolated incidents of violence.

Please pass this on to as many people as you can so that they can see the light of Haiti cutting through the darkness, the light that will heal this nation.

We are safe. We love you all and I will write again when I can. Thank you for your generosity and compassion.

Fear slows relief efforts

Port au Prince, Haiti, Jan. 22 – To our dear friends and supporters who have been so present through this difficult time, I feel like I have a wall of love and protection around me knowing that you are all holding Haiti in your thoughts and prayers. I apologize for not having written for the past few days. It is partly that life here is so hectic and fast paced and partly because I find that writing about the situation brings all my emotions to the surface and brings me to a vulnerable space that can be rather overwhelming. That said, I so want to be able to share with all of you what we are experiencing and the important difference we have been able to make as a result of your generosity.

The endless but orderly lines that form wherever aid is being distributed should convince aid workers that they have nothing to fear from the people of Haiti, even though many, when this photo was taken Jan. 21, had gone without food or water for days. – Photo: Reuters

When I first arrived in Port au Prince, I spent a day at the U.N. compound by the airport where NGOs, doctors and soldiers swarm around talking on satellite phones and running from meeting to meeting. I learned about the massive amounts of food aid that arrived in the first week and was stockpiled at the airport. I learned of the aid trucks filled to the brim with supplies blocked at the border and sitting idle at the ports.

Since that day I have not returned to the aid compound and have chosen instead to go into the streets, into the camps where people hide from the sun, huddled together under tattered tarps waiting for the food that has yet to come, into the alleyways littered with the rubble of fallen dreams and the spirits of those we have lost.

I know that some of these stories of aid not reaching the victims are beginning to filter into the international media, but I wanted to see if I can shed some light about why this is without casting blame. Everyone who has come here is devastated by this disaster. Everyone wants to help. But the slowness in distribution is not a question of intentions; it is a question of long standing fears and the security structures put in place in response to these fears.

A few days ago, I got an email from Nicolas Kristof of the New York Times asking me to comment on the supposition made by many – not Nicolas himself – that Haitians have received large amounts of aid money over the years and have somehow squandered it. I responded to him by talking about fear, this same fear that is slowing the distribution of aid during this crisis.

For centuries Haiti has been portrayed as a dangerous country filled with volatile and threatening people, unsafe for foreigners. This supposition, this fear and misunderstanding, has very deep implications for foreign aid and cross-cultural understanding.

I have been amazed to visit friends working with large NGOs in Port au Prince only to learn that they are forced to operate under security restrictions that prevent any kind of real connections to Haitian communities. One friend showed me the map, used by all of the larger NGOs, where Port au Prince is divided into security zones – yellow, orange, red.

Red zones are restricted. In the orange zones, all of the car windows must be rolled up and they cannot be visited past certain times of day. Even in the yellow zones, aid workers are often not permitted to walk through the streets and spend much of their time in Haiti riding through the city from one office to another in organizational vehicles.

The creation of these security zones has been like the building of a wall, a wall reinforced by language barriers and fear rather than iron rods, a wall that, unlike many of the buildings in Port au Prince, did not crumble during the earthquake. Fear, much like violence, is self perpetuating.

When aid workers enter communities radiating fear, it is offensive. The perceived disinterest in communicating with the poor majority is offensive. Driving through impoverished communities with windows rolled up and armed security guards is offensive. And, ironically, all of these extra security measures actually increase the level of risk for aid workers.

As I said, this wall of fear is not a new phenomenon and it has had very serious implications for the distribution of the millions of dollars of aid that have been flowing into the country for the past 10 days. Despite the good intentions of the many aid workers swarming around the U.N. base, much of the aid coming through the larger organizations is still blocked in storage, waiting for the required U.N. and U.S. military escorts that are seen as essential for distribution. Meanwhile, people in the camps are suffering and their tolerance is waning.

Over the past five days, I have been grateful to work with a small organization unhindered by bureaucracy and security restrictions. I am so thankful to work with a courageous team of Haitian community leaders and a respectful and fearless group of Americans.

Aid coming through the larger organizations is still blocked in storage, waiting for the required U.N. and U.S. military escorts that are seen as essential for distribution. Meanwhile, people in the camps are suffering and their tolerance is waning.

Thanks to the generous donations of our supporters, SOIL has raised approximately $30,000 for immediate relief efforts and we are committed to providing that relief as quickly as we can get the money into the country.

The most striking thing I have noticed while visiting the many camps throughout the city is the level of organization and ingenuity among the displaced communities. Community members stand ready to distribute food and water to their neighbors. They are prepared to provide first aid and assist with cleanup efforts. All that they are lacking is the financial means to do so.

When the quake struck, people’s savings were buried under the rubble of their former homes. Banks are closed and no one has been able to access their accounts. Food and water are available for sale in the streets but no one is able to purchase them.

SOIL helps communities build toilets that transform waste into fertile soil. This one is near the historic palace San Souci in Milot, Haiti. – Photo: SOIL

Our hope is that SOIL, AIDG (Appropriate Infrastructure and Development Group) and other small organizations will be able to help provide communities with the means to meet their needs in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, bridging the gap during the time it takes for the larger organizations to mobilize.

I am honored to know a network of brave community leaders throughout Port au Prince whom I met during my human rights work from 2004 to 2006, and our team has spent the past several days visiting the camps with them and helping to distribute the resources that we have at our disposal. Each day we have been purchasing water trucks to deliver to camps that have yet to receive water, giving money to community organizers who are then able to purchase food from local businesses and distribute it to the areas most in need, bringing doctors and medical supplies into zones of the city that have none, providing our generator to community cyber cafes so that people are able to contact their families, driving patients from the camps to medical clinics that can receive them.

The magnitude of this tragedy is unimaginable and we are aware of our limitations and our inability to help touch more than a small percentage of those affected. While it breaks my heart to think about those we cannot help, it also fills me with hope to see the impact that we have been able to make. Each day I am awed and humbled by the dedication and compassion of my colleagues, both Haitian and international, and touched by the outpouring of love and support that we have received from around the world. Please keep your love and donations flowing and we will do everything in our power to funnel that love and aid to the communities that need it the most.

Acknowledgements

I want to take a moment to identify some of my committed colleagues who have been invaluable partners during this crisis. Thank you first to the dedicated staff and coordinators of Matthew 25, especially Sister Mary, Patrick and Vivian, who have graciously received us in their home and taken incredible care of us. Thank you to Cat Laine and Peter Haas of AIDG who have been our closest partners in this effort, Ellie Happel and Roberto Francois who came to Port au Prince several days after the quake to lend a hand, Amber Munger and Melinda Miles who have been tirelessly coordinating among the smaller NGOs to develop a coalition, Nick Preneta and Jessica Lozier, who left their jobs in the U.S. to return to Haiti to help SOIL and AIDG with our relief efforts, Leah Nevada Page and Michael who flew in from Spain 30 hours after the quake to lend a hand.

Thank you always to the SOL team – Josapha Augustin, Baudeler Magloire, Eveline Augustin, Marc Orel, Rosie Joseph, Erinol Frederick, Francius Estimable Dauphin, Nica Lagredel, Paul Christian Namphy, Wisnel Jolissaint and Nadine Mondestin – for their guidance and hard work. I thank the SOIL team back home – Sarah Brownell, Kevin Foos, Moira Duvernay, Ashley Dahlberg and Jennifer Benordan – for their love and advice.

Thank you to Rosemond Jolissaint, who will be leaving for the U.S. for a fundraising tour in the coming days, and thanks to our colleagues who are organizing his tour: Jimmy Felter in Washington, D.C., Erica Simon in New York City, Jennifer Benordan in San Francisco and Barry Kramer in Los Angeles.

Thank you to the wonderful students who have visited us in Haiti over the years and are now providing support in every way possible from organizing fundraisers to sending out emails to our list – Ann Marie, thank you! Thank you to Peggy and Phillip of Caribbean Express, who have been helping us to get money into the country through their airline. Thank you to my mother, who has been helping to respond to my important emails and working to get money and support through to us and of course the rest of my family who always hold me in their hearts.

And, most of all, thank you to our grassroots partners in Port au Prince without whom we could never do this work: Rea and Dodo Dol, Paul Loulou Chery, Guinette Apolon, Lisius Orel, Fritz Pierre, Daniel Tillias, Jean Ristil Jean Baptiste, Lavarice Gaudin and the members of AVJ, Asanble Vwazen Jakè (Jakè Neighborhood Association).

And my deepest gratitude to you, our international supporters. We love you so much.

Sasha Kramer, who received her Ph.D. in ecology from Stanford University in 2006, co-founded and directs the grassroots Haitian organization Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL), a non-profit dedicated to empowering communities, building the soil, nourishing the grassroots. She wrote these dispatches from Port au Prince between Jan. 17 and 22. To follow her updates, join the SOIL group on Facebook and encourage others to join as well.

SOIL has decided to devote 100 percent of all donations that come in the next month to disaster relief. If you would like to support SOIL’s efforts, please consider donating or helping to organize a fundraiser in your area. No donation is too small to make a difference. You can donate online at www.oursoil.org and follow our blog on the webpage as well. Checks payable to SOIL can be mailed to SOIL, 124 Church Rd., Sherburne, NY 13460.

There’s a new sheriff in town: If Blacks don’t work, nobody works!

mary — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:39:28 +0000

by Joseph Debro

The Bay Area Black Builders are claiming the new Bayview Library. It will be built by Blacks!

There is a new sheriff in town. Joseph Debro was elected president of the Bay Area Black Builders. Willie Ratcliff, vice president. For the first time, Black workers and Black contractors are together. Their deputies are unemployed veterans of our recent foreign wars. They have all returned from fighting terrorists on foreign soil to a home where they are being terrorized by imported labor taking their livelihood. These fighters must now live with the terror of unemployment.

On Jan. 15 at 10 a.m., the Black Builders and friends shut down a pre-bid conference for a library in the heart of Hunters Point. This action was designed to send the mayor of San Francisco a message: If Black people do not work in Hunters Point, no one works here. This notice applies to all of the proposals in the pipeline at Hunters Point.

We requested that the mayor award the $6 million construction contract for the new Bayview Library to a Black builder of our choosing. We would arrange jobs on that contract for Black workers. The City of San Francisco must guarantee the surety bond and it must keep the union off of our backs. We suggested that the city should prohibit general contractors from requiring bonds of their subs on all public works projects.

The city proposed to offer this project to bid to anyone who wanted it. The Human Rights Commission established a goal of 8 percent minority employment. When a contractor sees “minority,” Blacks are the last hired and the first fired. Whenever the word minority is used, Blacks are the last people addressed. We push the envelope for civil rights. For this we are punished and others are rewarded.

No Black workers work construction in Chinatown. No Black construction workers work downtown. Now the city proposes to limit the number of Black workers who can work in Hunters Point. We will establish our own rules of work on our turf. We will enforce those laws. Our deputies know how to bring justice.

The pre-bid conference opened with a presentation by an architect from Oregon. Mr. Nedir Bey, spokesperson for the Bay Area Black Builders, questioned the city about how it bypassed the underemployed Black architects in the city of San Francisco and brought in a white architect from out of state. Charlie Walker, the enforcer for the Black builders, pointed out the unfairness in the city’s policy. This kind of disrespect from the mayor sends the wrong message. If a project starts off with this kind of selection, matters will get worse. Matters got worse in this meeting.

We will establish our own rules of work on our turf. We will enforce those laws. Our deputies know how to bring justice.

City Build, Human Rights and other representatives of the mayor were all dismissed. We wanted to send the mayor a message about other projects planned at Hunters Point, Bayview, Fillmore and Vis Valley. Blacks must be employed. We are no longer playing with unions nor large white contractors. That is your job, we told the city officials.

Our job is to insure that Black people work. We place the responsibility of dealing with your rules at your door.

Our deputies will enforce our employment laws. These laws apply to both sides of the Bay. We are going to send delegations to every jobsite in our neighborhoods.

We are going to ask for jobs by name. Contractors who are not responsive will suffer the consequences. We will be the major builders of the casinos in Richmond. We will be major builders of the Port project in Oakland.

Joseph Debro is president of Bay Area Black Builders. He is also president of the Visitacion Valley Community Development Corp., co-founder of the National Association of Minority Contractors, a general engineering contractor and a bio-chemical engineer. He can be reached at transbay@netzero.com.

Pierre Labossiere on Haiti: ‘This is criminal’

mary — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:24:44 +0000

Haiti multimedia follows: Listen to Kiilu Nyasha, Nia Imara and Minister of Information JR with host Joy Moore on KPFA’s Sunday Sedition Jan. 24 and the speakers at the San Francisco rally Monday, Jan. 25, and watch Cynthia McKinney in ‘Earthquake in Haiti’ by videographer Siraj Fowler and the Block Report

The Bay View is introducing this interview with an urgent action alert from the Haiti Action Committee, co-founded by Pierre Labossiere, urging readers to “stand in solidarity with Haiti” and call the White House, the State Department and their Congress members today.

Haiti Action Committee Action Alert: Rebuilding Haiti with the Democratic Movement

Jan. 27 – In the aftermath of the devastating 7.0 earthquake, Haitian children, women and men are now suffering through a man-made disaster. Over one week ago, Obama promised, “The people of Haiti will have the full support of the United States in the urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble and to deliver the humanitarian relief.” But instead of delivering on this commitment, he has allowed the military response to take priority, resulting in thousands of preventable deaths.

As Haitians organize to rebuild their lives in the midst of an escalated military occupation, we demand that the Obama administration stop its destructive interference in Haiti. Haitians must be at the head of relief efforts and the long term rebuilding of their country. Fanmi Lavalas, the democratic grassroots movement of Haiti, must be at the center of any legitimate rebuilding process.

On behalf of our sisters and brothers in Haiti who have yet to see any relief and are beginning the process of reconstructing their country, we make the following demands on the Obama administration:

The U.S. military must IMMEDIATELY stop obstructing the distribution of water, food and other emergency aid to the survivors urgently in need. Obama must instruct the Marines to stop impeding the relief and rescue efforts of aid workers. They should be delivering food and medical equipment to the Aristide Foundation and other centers where people have gathered for refuge.
Haitians must be free to coordinate and lead the relief efforts and the long term rebuilding of their country.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ousted by a U.S.-backed coup in 2004, must be allowed to return to Haiti immediately and safely.
Lavalas must be allowed to participate in free, democratic elections. The ban on Lavalas in the upcoming elections must be revoked.
The military occupation of Haiti by the United States and the United Nations must end once and for all.

We hold the U.S. government accountable for its role in preventing relief efforts and undermining the Haitian grassroots who are organizing to rebuild their country. To stand in solidarity with Haiti at this crucial time, please contact the following U.S. government officials and your local senators and representatives with these demands.

White House: (202) 456-1111; email through www.whitehouse.gov
U.S. State Department: (202) 647-4000

by Minister of Information JR

At the rally Monday, Jan. 25, at Powell and Market in downtown San Francisco organized by the Haiti Action Committee that he co-founded, Pierre Labossiere a leading voice internationally in the struggle for sovereignty and justice in Haiti, said that the way the U.S. government treated the people of New Orleans after Katrina is the

By the time this article hits the internet, it will be two weeks since the 7.0 earthquake that has caused major destruction in the first Black republic in modern history, Haiti. Since this disaster, a number of opportunists have jumped out of the woodwork to join the Haiti relief feeding frenzy. As the POCC, Block Report Radio show and the SF Bay View newspaper, we see it as our responsibility to the people to expose these social vampires.

So this is Part 2 of an interview with Pierre Labossierre, cofounder of the Haiti Action Committee, where he gives the people a heads up on some of these high level criminals. Part 1 is titled, “Earthquake in Haiti: Under Aristide, Haitians were prepared for disaster.”

M.O.I. JR: Since the earthquake in Haiti, 20/20 and a whole bunch of hip hop media journalists have highlighted Wyclef Jean, a popular rap artist who is Haitian, and many people are star struck into giving to his organization, Yele. Can you give us a history of who Wyclef Jean is, as well as who his family is in Haiti?

Pierre: Wyclef Jean is – everybody knows his background – he’s a talented musician, an artist with the Fugees. At the time he had a powerful message, and he has a foundation called Yele Ayiti, so he is out there. And his uncle is a person who has a different set of politics (from ours) opposed to the people’s movement of Haiti, and his uncle really did welcome the coup d’etat (on Feb. 29, 2004, that deposed democratically elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide, beloved by the vast majority of Haitians, who lives in exile in South Africa) and its aftermath. And Wyclef had taken a position in support on that as well. That is what I know about his history.

M.O.I. JR: Now there are other major people who have been getting publicity around Haiti relief work, that being Red Cross, and many of the people who are reading this today know the history of the Red Cross in terms of dealing with Hurricane Amerikkka, which some call Katrina. Can you speak about two of the other criminals that Obama is working with and what their history is – that being former presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush? They are leading a huge relief effort in Haiti and getting people to donate money to their cause. Can you give the people a history about those two criminals specifically?

Pierre: Well, what had happened under President Bill Clinton, really he was pushing what they call neo-liberal policies, which is basically a policy that government should not provide and should get out of the life of the people and really let the marketplace do its thing. I mean the Republicans are more known for that and they come with it very openly, whereas President Bill Clinton deals with it in a different way.

One of the Haiti Action Committee’s demands on the Obama administration and Congress is that

So what has happened as a result in Haiti, those neo-liberal policies have resulted in a weakening of our government structure, the destruction of our economy, a great weakening of our economy. For example, they were pushing on Haiti privatization of government owned enterprises: What I mean by that is the telephone company, the electric company. These are money-makers for the Haitian government. What it is … is that a government manages the resources of the people as a collective – that is what a government is supposed to do – and provide you with services.

Haiti is a country that has been robbed of its resources, first of all by the colonialists if we go way back, and then after Haiti became independent in 1804, the former French slave owners, in collaboration with the U.S., Britain, Spain – all of the slave owning nations – forced Haiti to pay reparations to the former slave owners to the tune of about $22 billion.

Nia Imara of the Haiti Action Committee emceed Monday’s rally, deeply moving the crowd that braved a heavy rain. In her remarks and an interview after the rally, she spoke about the current abuse of the people by the U.S. military and its previous invasions and occupations of Haiti. – Photo: Kamau Amen-Ra

So from 1826 until 1946, Haiti was saddled with that payment of $22 billion. Monies that should have been building Haiti were actually being sent to former slave owners in reparations for the loss of their property. And what was their property? Us, we the people, our African foremothers and forefathers and their descendants.

So what had happened during that time when President Clinton came in, he was pushing for Haiti to privatize its industries. These industries could be used by the popular government in Haiti: The revenues are supposed to be used to build schools, to build hospitals, to rebuild the country that has been so destroyed over the two centuries of our history.

Not only because of the debt, the ransom, we were forced to pay to the French, but also the dictatorships: first the Duvalier dictatorships and the military dictatorship that succeeded the Duvalier dictatorships, which further destroyed the Haitian economy. And now President Aristide (was) elected by the people of Haiti with a mandate to build schools, to build hospitals, to invest in agriculture, build irrigation canals to give our farmers the tools they need to produce food and also to have better crops.

Now we are being told that we should privatize those industries to the very same elite who are the ones who can afford to buy them and to the multi-nationals who could use them to make more money. So that’s what President Aristide resisted, and it is another reason for the coup. And so President Clinton was pushing that, and Aristide resisted, and there was a serious undermining of his government and an undermining of the program of the people.

The Haiti Action Committee is also demanding that

Now we come to President Bush. When Bush came in, Aristide was again elected by the people, and his thing again was continued pressure on the government of Aristide – economic sabotage – which when they were unsuccessful in toppling this government of the people, it resulted in the brutal kidnapping and overthrow (of Aristide).

It wasn’t just Aristide that was overthrown, it was every elected representative, everyone from the local council members all the way to the president – everybody. That coup resulted in the murder of over 10,000 people according to various estimates, and the destruction of our infrastructure, so that whenever you even have a little heavy rain in Haiti, it is a catastrophe because for our people there is no infrastructure that is in place.

For example, in the absence of government, people have to live somewhere, and they build in places where they shouldn’t be building. And it is not their fault. Because of the destruction of the farms and of the agricultural economy, many people were forced to leave their farms.

They lost their land, moved to the cities, which was part of the plan of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank – to form this large labor pool in the capital city and make them fight over a few jobs. And so people have to live somewhere, so they build wherever they can, and in places where they shouldn’t build. And so any heavy rain that you have, it’s a major catastrophe with loss of life.

Carlito Rivera of the ANSWER Coalition, who hails from Puerto Rico, explained that the quick response by Cuba and Venezuela to the Haitian catastrophe is rooted in history: “Haiti has always been a haven for revolutionary struggles,” he said. His rousing speech concluded with the cries: “All power to the Haitian people! U.S. out of Haiti!” – Photo: Kamau Amen-Ra

And so we have to look at this in the context of this earthquake and the magnitude of it and the massive loss of life, within the context of that broader aspect of the destruction of Haiti’s economy and the destruction of any kind of governmental management, meaning to provide services and to look after the wellbeing of the people. So it’s in that broader context that we have to look at this.

M.O.I. JR: How can people help the Haitian people and how could people get in touch with you?

Pierre: We have the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. This is a fund that is used to directly help the grassroots organizations in the country, not on a charity basis – these are brothas and sistas engaged in rebuilding the country, in fighting for the liberation of our country and sovereignty.

We can be reached at Haitiaction.net and there is a button there to donate and to support the work of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. And people can also call the Haiti Action Committee at (510) 483-7481.

M.O.I. JR: I understand that you put out a call for people to also call their elected officials, right?

Pierre: I understand that what is going down on the ground right now is criminal. It has been beautiful the way that people have responded. I mean I’m overwhelmed by the response of the public here in the Bay Area and throughout the nation. I mean it is beautiful, people to people solidarity. It moves me, and I’ve shared that with brothas and sistas in Haiti, and they are moved.

However, they have told me that all of those resources – the food, the water, the medicine, the medical supplies that they so desperately need – it is stuck at the airport and it is not being given to the people. So people are scrounging. Today, again, I spoke just before the show, I wanted to verify what was going on, and they told me, “Look, they are not providing us with anything, not distributing the food, the medical supplies or the water that people so desperately need.”

What is going down on the ground right now is criminal. The people tell me, “Look, they are not providing us with anything, not distributing the food, the medical supplies or the water that people so desperately need.”

So it is very criminal what is going on right now. Some of them are saying, it appears to be a gigantic experiment that they are doing to see exactly how we will respond and what will be our response. And as people lay dying – I mean the footage is there – it is plain to see that people are not being cared for.

But brothas and sistas in Haiti are resilient. They are coming up. They have organized themselves in neighborhood committees. They are scrounging around for food.

However, there are people who are wounded, who have very serious injuries, people who need help. They need assistance. There is a danger of infection that is going to take place. People need those supplies. They need that food, that water. It doesn’t belong to the U.S. government that is tying this thing down at the airport.

It is from the people to the people of Haiti, from people all over the world, particularly here in the states. And it needs to go to the people and not be kept somewhere so in a few days or so, somebody is going to make a profit out of it selling it on the street or in other countries nearby, such as the Dominican Republic.

So it is very similar to New Orleans’ Katrina what’s going on there, and it has been over a week and people right there in Port au Prince, in the capital city, one mile from the airport, where the materials are, people are not receiving water, they are not receiving food, and they are not receiving the medical supplies. Doctors are complaining about it. I’ve also been hearing that doctors and some field hospitals provided by the people of France were also stopped and turned around. This is criminal what is going on.

Email POCC Minister of Information JR, Bay View associate editor, at blockreportradio@gmail.com and visit www.blockreportradio.com.

Sunday Sedition with host Joy Moore and guests Kiilu Nyasha, Nia Imara and Minister of Information JR, broadcast Jan. 24 on KPFA

Sunday Sedition with guest host Joy Moore – January 24, 2010 at 9:00am

Click to listen

Haiti Action Committee Rally at Powell and Market in downtown San Francisco Monday, Jan. 25, featuring speakers Nia Imara, Robert Roth and Pierre Labossiere of Haiti Action and Carlito Rivera of the ANSWER Coalition

Kamau Amen-Ra interviews Nia Imara following the Jan. 25 rally

‘Earthquake in Haiti’ with former Congresswoman and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney

Earthquake in Haiti from New America Media on Vimeo.

Cynthia McKinney discusses the tragic January 12 earthquake in Haiti.

www.NewAmericaMedia.org
www.YouthOutlook.org

Haiti Action Committee,

POWER’s campaign to clean up dirty developers

mary — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:54:28 +0000

Rosemary Cambra, a renowned leader of the Muwekma Ohlone, whose lands included the Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Shipyard area covered by Lennar’s Environmental Impact Report, speaks at a Jan. 12 press conference organized by POWER. The Ohlone are demanding their legal right to participate in decisions about development, especially of their sacred sites. – Photo: Francisco Da Costa

On Tuesday, Jan. 12, POWER leaders and allies turned in written comments in response to Lennar’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for their proposed development on the Hunters Point Shipyard and Candlestick Point. After nearly two months of reading, study, research and discussion of the over 4,000-page document, we focused on six core issues that are at stake in the environmental review process. These include the carcinogens and radiological contamination at the Shipyard; the dangers of liquefaction; climate change and sea level rise; transportation impacts from the proposed development; the connection of the development to the existing community; and the preservation of historic Ohlone sites.

That same day, POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights) helped to organize a press conference with several representatives from the Ohlone nation, the International Indian Treaty Council, the American Indian Movement West, United Native Americans, the Ohlone Profiles Project and Indian People Organized for Change. We support the Ohlone demands that the San Francisco Planning Department follow the law and contact Ohlone representatives to ensure the preservation of 16 historic indigenous ceremonial and burial sites affected by Lennar’s proposed development.

What’s next? POWER’s Bayview Project is launching a mass media campaign to win broad public support for the environmental justice struggle of Bayview families. We are gearing up for late spring when the Planning Department will release their responses to our comments and begin moving the Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Shipyard project toward the public hearing and approval process before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

The following comments were facilitated by Technical Assistance Services for Communities (TASC), a program that provides independent educational and technical assistance to communities impacted by Superfund sites.

Comments on Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Shipyard Phase II Development Plan Project Draft Environmental Impact Report

by Wilma Subra, Ph.D.

The following are comments prepared after a review of the Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Shipyard Phase II Development Plan Project Draft Environmental Impact Report, primarily Section III.K. Hazards and Hazardous Materials.

Early transfer

The Navy is proposing to transfer ownership and control of the property at Hunters Point Shipyard (HPS) Phase II portion to the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency on an early transfer basis before remedial activities are completed. The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency can then transfer the remedial obligations to Project Applicants [Lennar]. This will ultimately result in construction of the proposed redevelopment and occupancy of redevelopment structures and units while remediation activities are still ongoing at HPS Phase II.

The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency would be responsible for remedial activities from the time of transfer under the terms of the Early Transfer Cooperative Agreement. If the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency transfers ownership to a Project Applicant, the Project Applicant would then be responsible for the remaining remediation under an Administrative Order on Consent.

The early transfer of property in HPS Phase II requires that prior to transfer of the property that is not completely remediated, the Navy must “insure that the property is suitable for the intended use and consistent with protection of human health and the environment.” In addition, the Navy has to complete all radiological cleanup activities on each parcel in HPS Phase II and obtain approved Record of Decisions (RODs) for each parcel prior to transfer. Responsibility for remedial work not performed prior to the transfer would become the responsibility of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and/or Project Applicant. Navy funds would be provided to complete the Navy’s remediation obligations. The Navy retains ultimate responsibility for the site remediation.

Radiological cleanup activities are ongoing at a number of parcels of HPS Phase II. Site investigations and ecological assessments are ongoing at a number of parcels in HPS Phase II.

Parcel B had an amended ROD finalized in February 2009. The draft ROD for parcels C and UC-2 were to be issued in December 2009 and the final RODs are proposed to be signed within 2010.

The ROD for Parcel D (D-1, D-2, G and UC-1) was issued in 2009. The draft Proposed Plan and draft ROD for Parcels E and E2 are expected in the 2010-2011 time frame. Parcel F is anticipated to have a draft Proposed Plan and draft ROD issued in 2012 or 2013. On page III.K-81, the text states that the RODs are expected to be final for all parcels of HPS Phase II by summer 2012. This does not agree with the text for Parcel F (page III.K-26), which indicates a draft ROD is anticipated to be issued in 2012 or 2013. This time frame for the draft ROD, not the final ROD, is based on information from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) data from Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Parcel F and is later than the date presented on page III.K-81.

If the parcels are transferred immediately after the RODs are finalized, then the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and/or Project Applicant will be responsible for developing the Remedial Design document, having the document reviewed and approved, and conducting the Remedial Actions required in the ROD. The remedial work could be extensive on each parcel.

The remedial work being conducted by contractors of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and the Project Applicant will be occurring at the same time and in close proximity to redevelopment work being performed by contractors of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and Project Applicant. The potential exists to contaminate on-site workers constructing redevelopment units, on-site occupants of the redevelopment units and school students, teachers, staff and visitors at adjacent elementary schools.

In addition, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) oversight of remedial actions being performed by contractors for the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and Project Applicants will require additional agency resources and could result in less oversight than is currently occurring with the Navy being responsible for the remedial actions.

Areas of concern with early transfer

1. Exposure of construction workers engaged in redevelopment activities.

2. Exposure of occupants in the redeveloped locations and sites.

3. Exposure to school students, staff, teachers and visitors at Bret Harte Elementary School and Muhammad University of Islam elementary school while remedial activities are ongoing.

4. Potential lack of adequate oversight of San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and Project Applicants contractors performing remedial activities in place of Navy contractors under the oversight of EPA. This could lead to multiple entities with multiple contractors performing remedial activities that could lead to fragmented oversight and result in inadequate remedial activities and potential environmental and human health exposures.

Hazardous materials use

The text indicates that hazardous materials, their “use, storage and disposal, are subject to numerous laws and regulations. In most cases, the laws and regulations pertaining to hazardous materials management are sufficient to minimize risks to human health and the environment, except where site-specific conditions warrant additional considerations.”

In the situations referred to as “most cases,” there is a lack of requirements for adequate oversight and enforcement of the laws and regulations. In the situations referred to as “site-specific conditions” warranting additional considerations, the issues of oversight and enforcement are also lacking. The lack of enforcement of the laws and regulations can result in substantial impacts to human health and the environment. In the case of Hunters Point Shipyard, the issues associated with enforcement are critical to the protection of human health and the environment.

Hazardous contaminants

According to the Environmental Impact Report, “chemicals and radioactive materials are present in soil and groundwater in various locations throughout Hunters Point Shipyard Phase II at levels that require remediation.” The chemicals contaminating Hunters Point Shipyard Phase II consist of radionuclides, volatile organic compounds (VOC: benzene, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, naphthalene, tetrachloroethane and others), semi-volatile organic compounds, petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides, heavy metals (arsenic, beryllium, chromium, chromium VI, lead, manganese, mercury and nickel) and asbestos. The bay fill material at Candlestick Point contains hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, semi-volatile organic compounds, PCBs, chlorinated pesticides, heavy metals (chromium VI, copper, lead, mercury, nickel and zinc) and asbestos.

According to the Environmental Impact Report, institutional controls are “expected to be imposed at most or all areas of HPS Phase II after remediation is complete.” The institutional controls are required in areas where residual levels of hazardous materials remain on the property after remediation. The Candlestick Point area will also have institutional control restrictions due to “the ubiquitous nature of low levels of hazardous materials in Bay Fill that make it infeasible to remediate all of those materials.”

Concerns exist about adequate notification and education of residents, workers and visitors to the site of the restrictions and conditions contained in the institutional controls. In addition, the question of adequacy of enforcement of the institutional control conditions by the oversight agencies also raises concerns.

There is the potential to encounter previously unidentified hazardous materials during excavation for remediation or redevelopment construction activities. The potential exists that the hazardous waste materials will negatively impact the human health of workers, community members and school students, teachers and staff and the environment. This issue could be addressed in the Environmental Impact Report.

According to the Environmental Impact Report, “development and occupancy of some portions of the Project would occur at the same time as demolition and construction would occur in other portions of the Project site. The Environmental Impact Report contends that “relatively few individuals would be exposed to the potential contaminated materials during the initial construction” phase of redevelopment. However, “during later periods of construction … an increasingly greater number of people could be affected by construction activities involving the disturbance of contaminated soils or groundwater.” “This could be a particular issue in the residential portions of HPS Phase II where construction in contaminated soils may occur near occupied residential units.”

Exposure of occupants on the site to hazardous materials remaining on the site after remediation and exposure of the occupants to hazardous materials from demolition and construction activities in the areas occupied by individuals in the developed units is of great concern. Site remediation occurring at the same time as early transfer, redevelopment and occupancy may lead to unacceptable exposure of occupants to hazardous materials disturbed by remedial activities and construction activities.

Schools within one quarter mile of Hunters Point Shipyard

The Muhammad University of Islam (MUI), a year-round elementary school, is located adjacent to the Hillside portion of HPS Phase I. It is within one quarter mile of the westernmost portion of the project boundary. “Demolition or renovation of existing structures in HPS Phase II could result in potential exposure of students, teachers, staff and visitors at MUI to hazardous building materials during construction, without proper abatement procedures.”

Site remediation occurring at the same time as early transfer, redevelopment and occupancy may lead to unacceptable exposure of occupants to hazardous materials disturbed by remedial activities and construction activities.

The Bret Harte Elementary School is within one quarter mile of the Alice Griffith public housing development. Demolition or renovation at the Alice Griffith public housing development could “result in potential exposure of students, teachers, staff and visitors at the school to hazardous building materials during construction, without proper abatement procedures.”

According to the Environmental Impact Report, “to reduce the potential for the school sites to be exposed to hazardous air emissions, the Project would comply with regulations and guidelines pertaining to abatement of and protection from exposure to asbestos and lead.” The school sites are vulnerable to the air emissions and totally dependent on the contractors of the Navy, San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and Project Applicants to comply with the regulations and guidelines and the oversight agencies to ensure compliance with the regulations and guidelines so that the health of students, teachers, staff and visitors is protected.

The Environmental Impact Report could detail a mechanism for immediate notification of the two schools of any failures of the contractors on Candlestick Point and HPS Phase II to comply with the regulations and guidelines and also to advise the schools of measures that can be taken to protect the health of the students, teachers, staff and visitors. A notification mechanism would greatly assist in human health protection at the two schools.

Need for additional procedures

The Environmental Impact Report did not evaluate and assess the cumulative impacts of exposure to human and ecological receptors and the environment as a result of exposure to hydrocarbons, volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, PCBs, pesticides, heavy metals, asbestos and radionuclides.

The Environmental Impact Report also did not establish a mechanism for notification and education of community members and school students, teachers, staff and visitors occupying the property adjacent to the site about the proper precautions and procedures to avoid and reduce their exposure to hazardous materials from remedial and redevelopment activities ongoing at the site.

The Environmental Impact Report also did not develop and provide for dissemination of information on institutional controls and exposure avoidance mechanisms for new occupants on the site, workers constructing development units on the site, and shoppers, workers and visitors at business units on the site. The redevelopment and utilization of the site while site remediation is still underway has the potential to expose members of the public to hazardous materials being remediated. In addition, even after the site remediation is complete, the site will still contain hazardous materials under the surface of the site. Individuals living, working and visiting the site must be aware of the situation and understand the requirements to prevent exposure to the hazardous materials remaining on the site.

The Environmental Impact Report did not evaluate and assess the cumulative impacts of exposure to human and ecological receptors and the environment as a result of exposure to hydrocarbons, volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, PCBs, pesticides, heavy metals, asbestos and radionuclides.

Finally, the Environmental Impact Report did not provide for adequate oversight and enforcement of the terms of the Early Transfer Cooperative Agreement, Administrative Orders on Consent, and the RODs and Remedial Designs for each parcel on the Candlestick Point and HPS Phase II sites. This lack of adequate oversight and enforcement could result in exposure of humans and the environment to hazardous materials on the sites and potentially flawed remedies being implemented.

Contact information

TASC Technical Advisor Wilma Subra, Ph.D., (337) 367-2216, subracom@aol.com

E² Inc. Project Manager Michael J. Lythcott, (732) 617-2076, mlythcott@e2inc.com

E² Inc. Work Assignment Manager Krissy Russell-Hedstrom, Ph.D., (719) 256-5261, krissy@e2inc.com

Who is Dr. Subra?

“For two decades, Wilma Subra, a chemist by trade and environmental crusader by reputation, has helped more than 800 communities – many of them poor towns along the Mississippi River – take on or fend off polluters,” reports the Associated Press in a story dated Oct. 21, 2001. “‘She’s like a champion when she goes into a community,’ says Marylee Orr, head of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, an umbrella of grass-roots groups. ‘She’s larger than life.’

“She is a scientist who has lectured at Harvard, testified before Congress, helped draft environmental laws, consulted on cancer clusters and toxic spills, fought sugar cane growers and landfill operators – and, in return, joined the elite club of MacArthur Foundation ‘genius’ grant recipients.

“Subra says one of the most persistent problems she has faced has been environmental racism – a tendency for polluting industries to locate in poor, minority areas where they think residents won’t put up a fight.”

Dr. Subra’s report was written pursuant to Technical Assistance Services for Communities Contract No. EP-W-07-059, TASC WA No. TASC-2-R9, Technical Directive No. TASC-2-Region 9 Bay View Hunters Point-14. Contact POWER, People Organized to Win Employment Rights, through their website, http://www.peopleorganized.org.

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Comments on Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Shipyard Phase II Development Plan Project Draft Environmental Impact Report

Early transfer

Areas of concern with early transfer

Hazardous materials use

Hazardous contaminants

Schools within one quarter mile of Hunters Point Shipyard

Site remediation occurring at the same time as early transfer, redevelopment and occupancy may lead to unacceptable exposure of occupants to hazardous materials disturbed by remedial activities and construction activities.

Need for additional procedures

The Environmental Impact Report did not evaluate and assess the cumulative impacts of exposure to human and ecological receptors and the environment as a result of exposure to hydrocarbons, volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, PCBs, pesticides, heavy metals, asbestos and radionuclides.