Faith Leaders to Unite at #TentCityATL

On Tuesday evening at 6:30 pm, faith leaders from different communities in Atlanta will hold a prayer session  for Georgia State University and Carter Development at #TentCityATL (755 Hank Aaron drive). On the days following Easter, faith leaders will pray that GSU and Carter respect the NPU-V community members and include them in development of Turner Field and the surrounding parking lots. They will pray that development projects not drive-out longtime residents as they have before. They will pray that Carter and GSU include community voices in a binding social contract that will ensure development benefits everyone in the community. On April 1st residents of the area marched to the site formally known as Turner Field and set up a tent city. Residents have been staying there in an act of civil disobedience for 18 days through extreme weather and police intimidation. Our ask is simple; include longterm resident voices in the development of the area and so far Carter and GSU has refused to respond to numerous requests for a meeting. “For years, we have met with residents across Peoplestown, Summerhill, Mechanicsville and Pittsburgh to develop a Community Benefits Agreement to ensure that any development on the 80-acre turner field property benefits the community and our future generations,” explains Deborah Arnold of Mechanicsville who has been camped out since April 1. “More than 1700 of us have participated in community meetings to develop this CBA since the Braves announced they were leaving, but Carter Development and GSU have refused to meet with us, and instead have slandered us and pushed forward plans for development that doesn’t meet community needs.” “We’re drawing a line in the sand. We won’t allow GSU, Carter of any other developer to extract wealth from our community. After suffering through multiple mega developments that promised economic development and delivered broken promises this is our last stand for a community we want to be able to stay in,” says long-term resident and Housing Justice League member Alison Johnson and an organizer of the #TentCityATL. “We no longer have anything to lose. If they aren’t developing with us, they aren’t developing for us.” Since the #TentCityATL began thousands have signed an online petition to bring Carter and GSU to the table and the story has been covered nationally. Online petition: https://start2.occupyourhomes.org/petitions/support-a-community-benefits-agreement-for-the-turner-field-communities

Turner Field Neighbors and Students Unite to Fight GSU/Carter Development Sponsored Gentrification

Press conference before council meeting

On Tuesday, Jan.17^th, one day after Atlanta celebrated MLK day, Turner Field Community Benefits Coalition (TFCBC) residents and students packed City Hall to speak out against Turner Field stadium purchasers. On Dec.31^st, 2016, Georgia State University and its development partners closed a purchase deal to acquire Turner Field stadium and its surrounding lots. This deal, however, did not include the detailed Community Benefits Agreement TFCBC has researched and arranged over the past two years. GSU and Carter Development have taken a stance of non-negotiation, and no-CBA, despite active outreach by Turner Field residents to the contrary. The refusal to include a Community Benefits Agreement in the purchase deal, first through the sale by the City, and later in the purchase by GSU, has created a climate of non-negotiation. Without a CBA, there is no guarantee that development in and around Turner Field will not displace families, nor economically benefit residents who remain. The welfare of the Turner Field Neighborhoods, and especially its most low-income residents, has been dramatically de-prioritized by the City of Atlanta, and their future neighbor, Georgia State University.

Students join residents at the MLK march the day before

In response to these actions of disregard, on Tuesday, residents and students spoke out. Protest began when Mayor Kasim Reed took the podium at City Hall. Dozens turned their backs in silence to Reed, who has overseen the stadium’s sale and its subsequent (mis)allocation of purchase funds. They remained standing throughout Reed’s speech, physically filling most of the audience space. Reed exited the council, but not TFCBC’s protest. 

Community members turn their back as Mayor Reed speaks

Residents and students again took the floor during public comment. For nearly four hours, Morehouse and Spellman College students, Peoplestown residents, GSU students, NPU-V district chairs, and Housing Justice League organizers spoke out against the CBA’s absence in the Turner Field purchase deal. Senator Vincent Fort detailed the history of the Turner Field neighborhoods, and how the purchasers’ refusal to sign a CBA was only the latest in a string of unfriendly developments. “The residents of Peoplestown and beyond have been put under the thumb of developers for far too long. Their priorities for their community need to be raised up. The Turner Field Neighborhoods demand a Community Benefits Agreement that acknowledges their humanity. No CBA, No Deal!”

“Without the CBA in the sale of Turner Field, the community was not promised safety, not promised job security, not promised the right to stay in their homes. It is violent that the City of Atlanta would undertake such a sale, in complete disregard of residents’ welfare,” noted Agnes Scott activist Idil Hussein.

Throughout the comment session, speakers gave statements of high intensity that directly addressed the City and GSU’s failure to negotiate with residents. Spellman activist Eva Dickerson indicted City Council representatives as unsatisfying black female role models, and highlighted the need for non-official black woman activists to take on leadership and direct political change. GSU activist Sam Hogan recorded dissatisfaction with Georgia State University and Carter Development for continuing to undercut residents. HJL staff member and tenant organizer Sherise Brown demanded greater transparency from the City in its development negotiations. “The City only met with a few residents from Summerhill during the purchase negotiation…and the same with GSU and Carter. This hand-picking of residents does not give other neighbors the opportunity to voice their concerns…and it leads to purchase deals like this one, with no CBA.”

Morehouse activist and ATL is Ready organizer Avery Jackson noted during public comment, “This loud, clear-spoken collection of students standing alongside black communities against city-wrought gentrification…this is the new unchained, unregulated politics of 2017. We are not here to ask questions or demand change. We are here to re-set the negotiation table so that community voices can never not be heard.”

Public officials and development stakeholders have often argued that any Community Benefits Agreement negotiation is cost-prohibitive. But, they fail to acknowledge that the investments and priorities addressed by the CBA could be funded entirely from the sale proceeds of Turner Field.

“The sale has thus far generated at least $30 million in revenue, but has been invested into another corporate-sponsored stadium rather than the Turner Field Neighborhood communities. Eminent domain law has been used as a tool of urban gentrification, allowing the City to land-grab from the Turner Field neighborhoods,” noted Housing Justice coordinator Tim Franzen and PRC president Columbus Ward. Short of revising the eminent domain ruling and regaining land, TFCBC members seek to orient the development process in ways that would benefit the community. Repaved streets, better insulated schools, and more fresh produce-carrying grocery stores would all be small examples of such a process, and indeed, are the objectives of a CBA.  

Students sit-in during City Council meeting

After the speakout ended, students took to the chamber floors for a sit-in. They broadcast a Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King speech as councilmembers conducted their affairs, twirled car keys, drew silent attention to Councilwoman Carla Smith, and altogether unsettled business as usual. This creative resistance will amplify if and as the Turner Field purchase deal moves forward without a Community Benefits Agreement. TFCBC activists are redoubling their commitment to stop inequitable development in their community.    

Sign and share the online petition!      

Residents and Students Unite to Ensure GSU Does Right by Community

               

 On Wednesday, September 7^th at noon on Georgia State University’s Library Plaza, the Housing Justice League joined forces with the Turner FieldCommunity Benefits Coalition(TFCBC) and Georgia State University students to demand conversation about the University’s purchase of Turner Field stadium. Current action has engaged thousands of Turner Field residents in developing a draft Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) that ensures new development benefits long-time residents. The Wednesday noon action advanced local talks to GSU’s doorstep, and initiated conversation with Pres. Becker and power brokers on campus. 

                The Library Plaza March included a large, intergenerational crowd of GSU students and local Turner Field residents. Solidarity and community was strong between the two groups. As part of the opening statements, Turner Field resident Jane Ridley noted that conversation with GSU was necessary to ensure the NPU-V community did not face further gentrification. “We’ve faced problems with the Braves Stadium, and it looks like we might have more with this one… we need conversation to protect ourselves. The neighborhood can’t face further evictions.” Her words echoed the Liveable Centers Initiative, that any future development in Turner Field remain transparent and inclusive to the community.

                Students and residents marched together to President Becker’s office, chanting songs like “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Us Around.” The crowd swelled along the way as more students and school staffers joining the rally. Marchers congregated in front of Centennial Hall to determine appropriate steps forward. Movement eventually continued peacefully into the building, and to the Administrative Office on the fifth floor.  

At President Becker’s Office, State Senator Vincent Fort, joined demands that the GSU president make time for community members and students, and meet residents face-to-face. “He’s not too busy for us,” Fort retorted, “and if he is, then he isn’t doing his job.” Organizer and resident Sherise Brown headed conversation with President Becker’s secretary, passing along the letter demanding conversation with the president. The crowd of students and residents stood firm to rejection and backed Sherise’s negotiation. Though no meeting was confirmed, Sherise exchanged information with Becker’s secretary and pressured for more communication. The delivered gave president Becker 7 days to respond to the request.


The CBA Proposal the resident led TFCBC wishes to discuss with President Becker keeps the community’s needs front and center, and offers a sure path to accountability and development without displacement. The Coalition consulted a wide range of experts, community members, and both local and national institutions to develop a comprehensive Community Benefits Agreement Proposal. The CBA provides opportunities for GSU to both fulfill its general Strategic Plan and incorporate recommendations from the LCI Study which was completed last month. The Housing Justice League stands ready to work with TFCBC and GSU to turn the CBA Proposal into a full-fledged agreement that ensures success and does not leave impacted communities behind.


We encourage folks to sign andshare the online petition encouraging president Becker to meet with community members who will be impacted by the purchase of Turner Field and to insure they have a seat at the table as plans are being made that are sure to have a deep impact on their community and their lives.

Occupy The Classroom

Last week Professor Pete Rorabaugh invited a few of us to speak with several of his classed about what led up to the Occupy movement, and the role wealth desparity plays in forming and shaping the Occupy movement locally, nationally, and globally.

It was exciting to be surrounded by folks that were geniunely curious about the movement, and had not yet engaged with it to date.

One of the classes has the assignment to cover the Occupy movement from a journalistic point of view, we strongly encouraged them, as I am now encouraging you, to come out on Valentines day and show some love for Atlanta's workers!


Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

Take A Bite Out Of Apartheid With One Call/Email!!!

WHAT IS GILEE?

The Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) is a program coordinated by Dr. Robert Friedmann and the GSU Criminal Justice Department. The purpose of the program is to facilitate training exchanges between Georgia police departments and others around the world. While the GILEE program has relationships with several international police agencies,their relationship with the Israeli police is the most intimate and most troubling. Police (as well as other public employees) from across Georgia have attended over a dozen
delegations to Israel in recent yeas to learn
“counter-terrorism” techniques. Likewise,
Israeli police have traveled to Georgia under
the auspices of GILEE to learn drug law
enforcement techniques.

Why should You be concerned?

Israel’s so-called “counter terrorism”
techniques are in reality the protection
and support of an apartheid state. For over
sixty years, Palestinians have lived under a
regime of racial segregation and oppression.
In Palestine-Israel, Palestinians live under:


1. Systemic expropriation of land and property
through laws and unstated practices

2. 5 million Palestinians (not including millions of exiles) can only live in a very small percentage of the land in Palestine-Israel

3. Creation of Bantustans, or Palestineonly ghettos in which Palestinians are deprived of basic survival necessities including food and clean water

4. Creation of Jewish-only areas and roads, which serve to restrict the movement of Palestinians

5. Systematic murders, collective state terror, and mass imprisonment

6. Destruction of Palestinian’s economic means of survival and social infrastructure

7. The ongoing commitment of the Israeli government to continue with racial segregation and ethnic cleansing.

Israeli police are essential
to the carrying out of these
racist and inhumane practices. Their vision
of “counter-terrorism” is a one of torture,
arbitrary arrest and detention, extra judicial
killings, discriminatory profiling of Arabs,
and a military court system that falls short
of international standards for fair trail,
among countless others. The very policemen
conducting these practices in Israel are
teaching them to Georgia police officers so
they can carry them out on Georgia soil.
Georgia International Law Enforcement
Exchange not only supports violations of
human rights against Palestinians, but also
gestures to the goal of implementing them
here in Georgia toward populations already
targeted by discriminatory police practices.
We need not forget that the Atlanta
Police Department has a long and troubling
history of violating citizen’s rights, racial
profiling, and similar though not identical
cases of extra-judicial murder and physical
abuse, with Kathryn Johnston, Tremaine
Miller and Pierre George only a few of the
victims in recent years.*


You Can Help Shut Down GILEE And Take A Bite Out Of Apartheid Right Now!!
We are calling on all of our friends from around the country to take five minutes to do this today, and then tell friends of conscious to do the same!! Let our collective voices amplify into an unstoppable force!

The Movement to End Israeli Apartheid and the Progressive Student Alliance demand that GSU President Becker shut down the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange. We ask that you join this critical national effort to put pressure on President Becker to SHUT GILEE DOWN.

***On Tuesday, October 19th from 9 am to 5 pm please call 404-413-1300, email mbecker@gsu.edu and fax 404-413-1301 with the following message***

"My name is _________ and I am calling from _________. Dr. Becker, I strongly urge you to shut down Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange. With GSU’s growing international reputation, the university cannot afford to be associated with Israel, a country that consistently violates international law. One such example is the May 2010 killing of nine unarmed civilians in international waters carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. I urge you to move toward Shutting GILEE Down and to meet with your students and concerned community members to discuss this matter. Thank you."

AFSC Atlanta is proud to support this effort, we thank you in advance for your willingness to take the time to make the call, to witness for peace, to work against inequities, and build a more just world.

For More Information about the Movement to End Israeli Apartheid's(MEIAG) GILEE campaign visit:
www.meiag.org


*Taken From MEIAG's, "What You Need To Know About Georgia State Universities Involvement With Human Rights Abuses" pamphlet.


*********************************UPDATE******************************************
At 5:11pm today(10/19) Dr. Becker's office confirmed that he will be meeting with students to discuss concerns about GSU's connections to human rights abuses through GILEE! This is a major victory! Thanks to all who added their voice to the choir by calling/faxing/emailing Dr. Becker's office today. This is your victory!!

Be The Change Tour Day 5: Atlanta

So every good thing must come to an end, and I must say that although I was pretty tired rolling into Atlanta, I was also pretty sad that the tour was coming to an end.

I do want to take one more opportunity to speak to how moved I was to get to see AAC perform over and over again. Each poet on the tour poured so much heart, talent, and emotion into their performances. I'm sure everyone has their personal favorite piece to the performance. I really thought Tameka Dean was all sunshine during her, "Reintroduction" piece, Paul Grigsby was heartachingly heartful during his, "Mic Stand Revolution", and Mike Scott knocked the crowd out everyday with, "TV Box".

Anyway, back to our last stop, Atlanta. Thatnks to Dawn Gibson we ended up at the speakers auditorium in the student center at GSU. Awesome space!

Turnout was good with members of campus groups including, Progressive Student Alliance, MESPA, Amnesty International at GSU, Georgia Students for Public Higher Education, CaribSA, and community groups including Cop Watch, Food Not Bombs, the International Action Center, and many others also came out.

The discussion after the performances was lively and insightful, students and community members took turns pointing out the connectings between various systems of oppression and economic exploitation. We then discussed several helpful models for community organizing, campaign development, and movement/issue cross pollenation.

I should mentioned that Eldon Baines, The Dalton State Student that organized our stop there and organized peers to ride up to Atlanta for the Board of Regents meeting the past Wednesday, showed up in a velvet blazer. Eldon was asked to share his experience at the board of Regent meeting to the group, I've posted some of Eldon's reflections on the meeting in below blog posts.

I was happy to see so many people from the audience networking after we ended the program.

Everyone was invited to join us for dinner, after which we all were faced with the tough job of saying goodbye:(

But no real goodbyes. Be The Change Tour was actually just a pilot. A chance to get the performance out in front of folks, and explore what the talk back session should look like. All of us on the tour felt the experiement we really well. So we'll be developing a new audio visial component to the tour, some new companion literature, changing up the talk back session, and hitting the road in a much bigger way next fall......anyone wanna help book a tour stop in you town, or on you campus???

I wanted to give a special thanks to John Reynolds, who jumped on the tour very last minute, volunteering to take pictures, record video, and just help out in general. We would have no picture, and the tour would have been much more difficult with out John, thanks dude!

Check out Johns Site: curiousjohn.com

Here's some footage from the GSU event:




Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

Be The Change Tour! Oct 11th-15th

WHAT IS THE
BE THE CHANGE TOUR?

The Be the Change tour is a State-Wide Spoken Word Tour sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee and Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition.
The Tour features a Live Spoken-Word Performance and talk back session that is provided by Art as an Agent for Change, Inc. The tour is framed around Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1967 speech “Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break Silence"

The performance is divided into four segments. Three of which highlight King’s statement, “Our only hope lies today in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.”

After the performances we will host a brief talk back session designed to explore the intersections between social justice struggles in your community and examine was to unite struggles.


Tour Stops Include:

Monday October 11th:
Dalton State University
7pm, Goodroe Memorial Auditorium

Tuesday October 12th:
12:30pm Kennesaw State University

Wednesday October 13th
7pm Miller Learning Center, room 248
48 Baxter Street
Athens, GA
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159062137445972

Thursday October 14th
12:30pm Georgia College and State University
MSU Dining Hall 231 W Hancock st

Thursday October 14th
7pm Georgia Southern University

Friday October 15th
7pm Georgia State University
Speakers Auditorium
44 Courtland st, Atlanta
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=156269291074619


Come Support and be a part of the conversation!!