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NOLA Cops Taser, Pepper Spray Housing Destruction Protestors - Democ. Now
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Democracy Now - Dec 21, 2007
http://www.democracynow.org/2007/12/21/new_orleans_police_taser_pepper_spray
Related Link: People's Hurricane Relief Fund
http://www.peopleshurricane.org/
New Orleans Police Taser, Pepper Spray Residents
Seeking to Block Public Housing Demolition
Transcript:
AMY GOODMAN: We are going first to New Orleans. The New Orleans City
Council has unanimously voted to move ahead with the demolition of
4,500 units of public housing. Under the plan, the citys four largest
public housing developments will be razed and replaced with
mixed-income housing.
On Thursday, hundreds of people were turned away from the City Council
meeting. Some of the protesters were shot with pepper spray and
tasered. Inside the City Council chambers, the scene turned chaotic
when police began making arrests.
PROTESTERS: Let the people in! Let the people in! Let the people
in!
PROTESTER: Let those people in! Let them in! Let them in! This is
not Germany! Let those people in! Let those people in! Theres seats
right there! Theres seats right there! Let those people in! What is
wrong with yall?
PROTESTERS: Let the people in! Let the people in!
PROTESTER: Aint no order until the rest our people get in here.
PROTESTERS: Let the people in! Let the people in!
AMY GOODMAN: New Orleans police also tasered protesters inside the New
Orleans City Council chambers.
PROTESTER: Theyre tasering us! Theyre tasering! Stop it! Stop
it!
AMY GOODMAN: Police cited fire marshal regulations to bar many
protesters from attending the meeting, but many housing advocates say
there were empty seats inside the council chambers. Some protesters
began banging on the gates to City Hall to try to get in. They were met
with pepper spray and tasers. Eyewitnesses said one woman tasered in
the back collapsed in a seizure on the ground.
PROTESTERS: Let us in now! Housing now! Let us in now! Housing
now! Let us in! Let us in! Let us in! Let us in! No justice, no peace!
No justice, no peace! No justice, no peace! No justice, no peace! What
do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! What do we want? Justice!
When do we want it? Now! Let us in! Let us in! Let us in!
PROTESTER: Stop pu****ng my people!
PROTESTER: [screams]
PROTESTER: Let us in!
POLICE OFFICER: Get back!
PROTESTER: Let us in!
JUAN GONZALEZ: Police say at least fifteen people were arrested on
Thursday. New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley said the force
was needed after protesters tried to tear down the gate to City Hall.
During the hearing, members of the City Council defended their decision
to approve the demolition of public housing. Councilmember Shelley
Midura described some of the protesters as demagogues and terrorists.
Midura said, The choice is to either sup****t redevelopment by
approving demolition or to reject redevelopment by denying these
permits. I am choosing to sup****t what I believe is the reasonable
middle ground, a plan to replace and reform public housing.
AMY GOODMAN: Were joined by three guests right now in New Orleans.
Kali Akuno is the executive director of Peoples Hurricane Relief. We
are also joined by Sess4-5, a community activist. And were joined on
the telephone as well by Howard Robertson; he is a retired major with
the New Orleans Police.
We turn first to Kali of Hurricane Relief. Describe what happened
yesterday and why you were outside and inside the New Orleans City
Council.
KALI AKUNO: Yeah, well, Amy, I was outside, because I was barred entry
to the inside. They made an arbitrary decision yesterday to cut off the
inside, when there were clearly seats that were still available. I was
getting minute-by-minute re****ts as the events were starting, as the
proceedings were starting, that there were still seats available, and
they just made an arbitrary decision to keep those of us"there were
probably about a hundred of us still outside at that particular point
in time"to close the gates and to keep us outside. And from there,
events just really escalated, as they particularly"as the folks who
were on the inside, from what I can see"and Sess can give you a more
detailed account"as the folks on the inside started advocating for us
to be able to actually enter into the building.
So, you know, they made a situation of trying to control it and
basically stifle and cut off any vocal dissent or opposition to their
decision. We knew when we walked in, based on their comments the past
several days and based on how they had been treating this issue the
past two years, that we were going to lose the vote on the basis
primarily of Clarksons new addition to the City Council and that at
the very least it was going to be a four-to-three vote along racial
lines. So we knew what we were walking into. And we just clearly wanted
to make sure that our point was heard, that we disagree with the plan
towards demolition and that we were going to stand fast and fight this
through the courts and through other means as we moved forward. So they
made a decision to basically shut everything down and shut everybody
else down.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Sess, what was happening inside? Obviously, it was a
seven-zero vote, but could you talk a little bit about what was
happening inside?
SESS4-5: Well, Ill definitely start with just the process of entering
the City Council chambers. They changed the whole process for this
particular vote. And, you know, upon entering the building, you know,
they just made it hard for all the Africans who was coming in the gate,
who was clearly identified as, you know, not sup****tive of demolition.
And so, they took other measures of, you know, just searching people
and putting you through metal detectors and just winding different
people. And so, we just had problems just entering the building. You
know, they closed the building"they locked the gates at 10:30, so that
the proceedings started at 10:00.
AMY GOODMAN: Sess4-5, were you tasered inside?
SESS4-5: Yes, I was tasered. But just get inside the building before
the proceedings started, you know, we just noticed they had a lot of
seats available, and the number of Africans in there just were very
few. And they just closed it off right after we entered the building.
So we was asking, before they started the proceedings, to let more
people in, because they had a number of seats that was identified
inside of the council chambers, and clearly there are more"if you can
see from the video, you know, it was"they had run all inside, all on
the walls.
And so, when Reverend Sanders, you know, made a plea, after Arnie
Fielkow tried to start the proceedings, he made a plea to let the
people in. And thats when everything really started, by Arnie Fielkow
trying to start the meeting without properly letting all the people
sup****ting us, you know, opposing, inside of the chambers.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Howard Robertson, youre a retired major with the New
Orleans Police Department. From what youve heard and seen of what
happened yesterday, is this unprecedented in a City Council meeting in
New Orleans?
HOWARD ROBERTSON: No, its not. Of course, things certainly got out of
hand yesterday, but this is not the first time theyve had trouble over
this issue in the City Council chambers. And usually when things
get"starting to get riled and unorderly, and they cant hold a meeting
in the normal way"if youre familiar with the City Council meeting,
people take a number, they sign a page that they want to speak in
protest, and theyre allowed to get up, and theres a time limit for
each person to speak. But if people are disruptive and dont allow the
normal process to go, they ask those people to leave. Everyones
allowed to speak that wants to.
In this particular meeting, they set a cut-off, that they were going to
cut off at so many people into the building"I cant tell you what that
number was"and when they did, no one else was allowed. Now, that had
nothing to do with racial lines. If you look at the video, the girl you
were talking about that passed out and needed medical attention was a
Caucasian female. So, I mean, there were a lot of people there
protesting, which they certainly have a right to do.
I mean, I cant speak for the council, but I think the council did
listen to what they had to say, they studied the process, and when it
came time to make a vote, I dont think anyone voted along racial
lines, because I dont think its a racial issue. They voted 7-0. I
mean, it was"everybody thought it was the best thing to do for the
city, for the people, and to get the city of New Orleans back on track.
AMY GOODMAN: Kali Akuno, it was seven-to-zero. It was a unanimous vote.
Can you talk about why you were there, why you want to stop the
demolition of these 4,500 housing units, the four housing projects of
New Orleans?
KALI AKUNO: If I can, Id like to correct one point that Mr. Howard
just made. The woman who was tasered and who went into a seizure never
made it inside. She was outside. And she was tasered in the back,
unaware. She was one of the hundreds of people who were trying to get
inside at that particular point and was omitted from coming. It had
nothing to do with seats being available or anything of that nature.
They made that decision to cut that off.
Now, in terms of myself being there, my interest is basically trying
to"you know, for lack of a better term, Amy"stop this neoliberal
destruction that we see taking place in New Orleans and the complete
privatization of all of the different services within the city, housing
being, I think, the most critical of them, public housing being kind of
the cornerstone of that. But theres an affordable housing crisis in
New Orleans, of which the public housing is just one particular element
of it. Its the most critical element, because public housing will
stabilize rents in New Orleans. And folks should know their rents have
gone up three times since the storm, and its basically pricing, you
know, working people and African people, on the whole, out of the city.
But this is just one particular piece of this whole program.
Public hospitals are also being shut down and set to be demolished and
destroyed in New Orleans. And theyve systematically dismantled the
public education system and beginning demolition on many of the schools
in New Orleans"thats on the agenda right now"and trying to
totally"excuse me, totally turn that system over to a charter and a
voucher system, to privatize and just kind of really go forward with a
major experiment, which was initially laid out by the Heritage
Foundation and other neoconservative think tanks shortly after the
storm. So this is just really the fulfillment of this program.
And I think"you know, I always want to call peoples attention back to
the statements that Baker made shortly after the storm, that we finally
cleaned up public housing; you know, we couldnt do it, but God did.
This is just really the fulfillment of that program.
AMY GOODMAN: He was a state legislator, a Louisiana state legislator
who said that.
KALI AKUNO: He was a state"yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask Howard Robertson: why do you think this is a
good thing, the destruction of the 4,500 units of public housing?
HOWARD ROBERTSON: Yeah, let me explain this, because I think this is
really im****tant. Prior to the storm, I think everyone in HUD was
attempting to close down the public housing and build new housing prior
to the storm. It had nothing to do with the storm.
And I think everyone will agree that"we had the St. Thomas housing
project, that was"there was probably a murder there at least once a
week. There was somebody shot there almost every day. Drug dealing was
rampant. Half of the buildings were boarded up. And a lot of it has
nothing to do with the residents that live there. You know, the drug
dealers come in, use the projects for a breeding area. Now, when they
tore down the St. Thomas housing project, they built"and I say they,
I mean the government built"new townhouses that blend in very well with
the neighborhood. The same residents moved back in. It was much, you
know, nicer housing. Its all clean, its all fresh, its all new,
where the old public housing was boarded up, graffiti everywhere. It
was"I just think its a higher quality of living for everyone. And
theyve done this with two of the projects already and have made
tremendous success.
I know its going to take years to get this done, and everyone is
worried about stabilizing rents, because rents have skyrocketed since
the storm. Its hard for anybody to find a place to rent now, without
paying at least double what they did prior to the storm.
JUAN GONZALEZ: But Id like to ask Kali Akuno: but isnt the number of
low- income units that will result from this far lower than what
existed under currently with these public housing units?
KALI AKUNO: Yes, its far lower. And to go back to the St. Thomas
example, it was falsely stated that the same residents moved back in.
Some of the residents moved back in, but the vast majority of them were
displaced and put on Section 8 and scattered throughout the city.
Thats the same process by which theyre proposing now with all the
developments, but particularly with the Lafitte and the St. Bernard,
this whole notion of a mixed-income, you know, neighborhood, which is
basically just going to scatter working-class people all throughout the
city on primarily probably Section 8 vouchers, even if those are
allowed to continue in a number of different ways.
And people are having a hard time in New Orleans right now, who are on
those, finding places to rent, because theyre basically being
discriminated. Folks dont want people who have been stigmatized as
being from public housing there. And the same thing which is going on
with the vouchers right now. So people have vouchers, but because of
that, theyre not being"you know, theyre not finding places to be able
to use them or to exercise them, and not finding, you know, rental
units.
So this whole mixed-income notion, you know, its really more of a
notion which is protecting other interests, other than African and
working-class interests in the city. So it may work fine for some folks
to deal with certain aspects that they find undesirable in the
community, but its not going to really work for the residents who are
being displaced and then, you know, really have very few options as to
where they can go, particularly right now with the housing shortage and
the housing crisis in New Orleans.
AMY GOODMAN: Its interesting that for the first time in the last
election, the New Orleans City Council was voted"is now a
majority-white City Council. But I wanted to end with Sess4-5. You grew
up in public housing in New Orleans. What are your plans now? It was a
unanimous vote. They say that the public housing units, as they stand
now, will be destroyed in New Orleans. What are you planning to do as a
community activist?
SESS4-5: Myself, Im going to continue to fight. We dont honor or
validate the decision made by the City Council. We think it was
illegal, and were going to go to, you know, court and file a lawsuit
against those guys and just keep continuing to fight. And they had a
number of people asking for, you know, a sixty-day moratorium. You
know, Nancy Pelosi, a lot of people sent, you know, letters to the
President. You know, Obama and Edwards even stood out, you know, on
this issue. And just the whole proceedings was illegal by locking, you
know, the people out of"locking people out from having access to even
enter the building and speak their piece. So a lot of those things that
transpired today"yesterday were illegal. And so, we dont honor that
vote or that decision. We dont validate that in any shape or form. And
so, were just going to continue on in using our resistance measures
and galvanizing the people and mobilizing the people. And just like we
got a lot of national attention on it, were going to keep pressing
this issue. And its not over. Thats my biggest pledge, is to let the
people know its not over.
AMY GOODMAN: Sess4-5, I want to thank you for being with us, a
community activist; Kali Akuno, the head of the Peoples Hurricane
Fund; also, Howard Robertson, former SWAT commander in New Orleans.
Also, special thank you to Jacquie Soohen, Mavis Yorks, Broderick Webb
and Luisa Danta and Michael Boedigheimer of JoLu Productions for
providing us with video footage from New Orleans, Jacquie Soohen of Big
Noise Films, and to WLAE, the Public Broadcasting in New Orleans for
hosting our guests today.
*
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