Take Back the Land Announcement

The Pan-African Perspective: Take Back the Land

URGENT: Take Back the Land Needs Help

Greetings:

You have heard people say it and now it is being done: The Center for Pan-African Development, along with several other dedicated organizations and individuals, have taken over a vacant parcel of publicly owned land and will build a shanty town to house the homeless.

As you are aware, South Florida has suffered under a critical shortage of affordable housing. However, instead of creating more affordable housing, local government officials have been busy decreasing the number of affordable housing units, through bad public policy, such as the HOPE VI project, which destroyed 851 units of public housing, replacing it with 80 units; and the intentional vacancies in public housing. Following a series of media reports detailing practices of stealing from the poor to deliver to the rich, county officials have given virtually nothing to the community to compensate for the lost housing, stolen money or broken trust.

The reality is this: far from providing a solution to the housing crisis, Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami officials are exacerbating the crisis. Poor Black people in need of housing are suffering disproportionately and unnecessarily, just so that a few officials and developers can line their own pockets. Therefore, the Black community can no longer depend on the government to provide basic human services for us. Consequently, we must provide it ourselves. We must 'Take Back the Land' so that we can circumvent the problem and implement our own solution.

As of 3:00pm today, Monday, October 23, 2006, we are attempting to liberate the land on the corner of 62^nd St. and NW 17^th Ave. in the Liberty City section of Miami, and build a shanty town to feed and house the homeless and those living in squalor.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Come out RIGHT NOW to support the drive for community control over community land. Your support could be the difference between success and failure. We need people there now to show support for this important and historic effort. Do your part to ensure this land belongs to the community, and is not given away to wealthy developers. With your support, we will be there all night, all week, all year, providing basic food and shelter for the homeless.

We need your help. Come to 62^nd St. and NW 17^th Ave. in Liberty City now and all of this week.

Forward,

Max Rameau
Center for Pan-African Development
afrimax@gmail.com