WASHINGTON - September 23 - In the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina, Community Labor United (CLU),
a coalition of over 40 grassroots organizations
working for justice and an end to the
exploitation of oppressed peoples in New
Orleans, has established the People’s Hurricane
Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition with the
major goals of meeting the needs of those
impacted by Katrina and insuring that there is
local, grass-roots leadership in the relief,
return and reconstruction process in New
Orleans.
“We need to really put pressure on local and
national government to begin the process of
bringing people home,” stated Malcolm Suber, a
long-time member of CLU and still working in the
New Orleans area. “Tens of thousands of workers
are being imported when there are tens of
thousands of New Orleanians who can do the work
of the clean up. We need a seat at the table and
to demand that people from New Orleans be given
jobs so they can begin the process of returning
home.”
People’s Hurricane Relief Fund Raises $150,000
The People’s Hurricane Fund was established with
the focus of guaranteeing local relief and
control of money raised for hurricane relief.
With the help of organizations such as the
Vanguard Foundation and True Majority, the
People’s Hurricane Fund has already amassed over
$150,000.
Muhammad and Rahim to Speak at DC Anti-War Protest
Curtis Muhammad of Community Labor United, and
Malik Rahim, who helped open the Common Ground
Relief Center and Health Clinic in Algiers, New
Orleans, will speak at the massive national anti
war rally Saturday in the nation’s capitol.
According to Mr. Muhammad, “We have to be here.
Martin Luther King, Jr. built a poor people’s
movement while denouncing the war in Vietnam. We
need to stop both wars: the war in Iraq which is
killing our soldiers, depleting our resources
and devastating another country, and the war
against poor people and people of color here at
home. Never has this been more clear.”
CLU/People’s Fund Plans Meeting in South Carolina
The following weekend, from Friday September 30,
2005 through Sunday October 2, evacuees and CLU
supporters from throughout the country will meet
at a weekend-long planning meeting at the Penn
Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, to
develop immediate and long term plans for
supporting the determination of evacuees to
oversee their own relief, recovery and
reconstruction, including the critical question
of family reunification.
According to CLU representative Malcolm Suber,
Executive Director of the after school program
Urban Heart, “The weekend retreat presents an
opportunity for activists from New Orleans and
around the country who are concerned about a
people’s response to the crisis created by
current and continued government inaction in
relation to Katrina. We are especially concerned
about the right of the people who have been
scattered throughout the country, who are very
poor with no resources, to return to their homes
and reunite with their families. We will
pressure FEMA to transport them back home or to
where there families are.”
The coalition has also maintained a constant
presence in the New Orleans area since Katrina
struck on August 29th. Members of the coalition
have established a local office and collection
point for the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund at
long-time New Orleans resident Mama Dee’s house,
located at1733 N. Doregenois in the Treme
neighborhood of New Orleans. Other members have
helped to set up the Common Ground Relief
Center, located across the Mississippi River
from New Orleans, in order to provide free
medical care and supplies to those who are in
need.
Community Labor United (CLU), a coalition of
over 40 community and labor organizations based
in New Orleans, is working to build and maintain
a coordinated network of community leaders,
organizers and community based organizations
with the capacity and organizational
infrastructure to help meet the needs of people
most impacted by Katrina, and facilitate an
organizing process that will demand local,
grassroots leadership in the relief, return and
reconstruction process in New Orleans.
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