Date Published:
September 13, 2005
The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM), a national New Afrikan (Black) human rights organization, calls on every sector of the Black community, including civil rights organizations, human rights activists, workers organizations, religious communities and civic and cultural groups to UNITE in solidarity with Our Sisters and Brothers who have survived Hurricane Katrina.
Poor Black people didn't "choose to stay behind," they were intentionally left behind. They were left behind way before Hurricane Katrina hit the shores of the Gulf Coast. The same Black people suffering today as a result of Hurricane Katrina, are the same Black people who were disproportionately suffering from poverty, police terrorism, inadequate healthcare, insufferable housing, hunger and a pathetic education system long before the Hurricane occurred.
This is a critical time in the history of New Afrikan (Black) people. We have been presented with an opportunity to rebuild a self~determining community, out of what has been a broken existence since our arrival at the shores of this land. The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement is committed to rebuilding a self-detennining Black nation, one community at a time. We must prepare ourselves, and our communities for the "natural" disasters, infrastructure breakdowns, and acts of "terrorism" as well as war that are occurring with more frequency because of the insatiable drive of United States imperialism.
We seek your solidarity and request your support to meet the immediate needs of our people - to help save, protect and preserve life, while strategically planning for long tenn self determination. We must connect and organize businesses, organizations and institutions into an economic and social network to create the social fabric that supports self-sustaining communities.
To meet the immediate needs of our people devastated by Hurricane Katrina we are making the following demands upon the United States Government and the Governments of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and all states upon which Survivors have been relocated. We are asking everyone who supports these demands to add your name to the petition and spread it far and wide to other organizations in and out of our communities to strengthen the mobilization of our people and hold the United States government accountable.
The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement also stands in solidarity with other oppressed peoples affected by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast region, including the undocumented, the Mexican and Latino communities, the Vietnamese and Asian communities, and the Native American communities. We maintain that the demands articulated herein also be unequivocally be applied to aU of these oppressed peoples.
Immediate Demands:
- That the martial law applied to New Orleans and various regions of the Gulf Coast be lifted immediately.
- That the curfews in New Orleans, Biloxi and other cities and regions in the Gulf Coast be suspended immediately.
- The immediate removal of all foreign and domestic mercenary and white vigilante forces currently terrorizing Black and other oppressed communities in the Gulf Coast states, including Texas.
- The suspension of aU of the relief and reconstruction contracts unfairly awarded to the cronies of the Bush government like Halliburton and its various subsidiaries.
- Immunity for all survivors charged andlor convicted for crimes of theft, property destruction, and assault.
- Information on the whereabouts and status of all of survivors including incarcerated persons, immigrants, persons relocated and deceased persons.
- Community Control over the relief process, including direct oversight over the relief operations of FEMA and the Red Cross.
- The honoring of all insurance claims resulting from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
Fundamental Demands:
1. The Right of Return.
The Black survivors from the Gulf Coast regions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama possess the fundamental human right to their homelands, as well as the right to reestablish their lives and rebuild their communities as they see fit.
2. The Right to Organize.
The Black survivors in the Gulf Coast region possess the inalienable right to organize themselves and to control the decision-making processes that effect their welfare and livelihoods.
The Black survivors have the right to form governing councils, labor unions, commercial and community cooperatives, and other institutions that serve the political material interests of New Afrikan (Black) people.
3. The Right to an Income.
The Black survivors have a right to an income provided by Federal and State governments to ensure their overall well being and that of their families and communities.
4. The Right to Living Wages.
Black survivors have the right to be compensated at living scale wages for their labor in the relief and reconstruction processes in the Gulf Coast States.
Black survivors have the right to be provided a living wage in the states upon which they have been relocated.
5. The Right of Access.
Black survivors have the right to control the reconstruction funds and contracting processes of the Federal and state governments.
Black survivors have the permanent right to access all of the lands of the affected Gulf Coast region.
6. The Right to Education and Health Care.
Black survivors have the inalienable right to free quality education and health care including counseling and psychological therapy.
7. The Right of Self-Determination.
Black survivors have the fundamental right to determine the long-term redevelopment of the Gulf Coast region.
