Mary Kay Harris – RI Future

September 15, 2016September 15, 2016

Elorza announces plan to address root causes of poverty, panhandling

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One day after a botched press conference on a similar subject, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza brought together a big group of state and city officials, as well as advocates and activists, to announce a new plan to address panhandling, poverty and homelessness in downtown.

“As we see increased homelessness and increased panhandlers, this is a moment to look inside ourselves and ask ourselves what kind of community we want to be,” Elorza said, speaking from atop the steps at City Hall. “Do we want to be the kind of community that cuts resources for mental illness or fails to invest in homeless shelters, or cuts resources for legal services for the indigent? Do we want to be a community that is not complacent in the face of inequality of income and wealth? Do we want to be a community that invests in affordable housing? Do we want to be a community that believes in workforce opportunities? And do we want to be a community that works to address the persistent challenges of racial injustice?”

He added, “We are not interested in simply relocating the issue. We are looking for lasting solutions that balance the rights of the people of our city. We are not going to benefit by pushing people from one street to another. What we are announcing here today is not just a plan. What we are announcing here today is an approach to work collaboratively, compassionately and creatively to make sure that no resident of our city or of our state ever gets left behind.”

Elorza said the city will open a day center for homeless people, provide financial support for Amos House “A Hand Up” program, a jobs program for people who are homeless and/or struggling financially, and offering support to Emmanuel House’s program for helping people with substance abuse problems. Police presence has already been increased in downtown – and Public Safety Commissioner Steve Pare said arrests have increased – and parking meter-like machines will be located downtown so people can give to social services rather than directly to another human being.

“Most importantly,” said Elorza, “we will work with a broad coalition to advocate for the critical resources to provide for mental health, substance abuse, legal services and housing supports to our families and people in need – resources and funding we’ve seen reduced in recent years.”

While Paolino’s press conference yesterday relied heavily on the business community, Elorza’s event featured several state and city elected officials. In attendance were state legislators: Maryellen Goodwin, Josh Miller, Edie Ajello, Aaron Regunberg and Grace Diaz as well as city councilor Mary Kay Harris, Wilbur Jennings, Brian Principe and Michael Corria.

“What we are talking about is ‘One Providence’,” said City Councilor Mary Kay Harris, who represents downtown Providence, echoing the Elorza’s campaign theme. “One Providence includes the rich and the poor. It includes the poor working class and the workers altogether.”

Eileen Hayes, the director of Amos House who champions the plight of people who are homeless, said, “Our fellow citizens are struggling, especially those who are homeless and do not have the financial resources to care for basic needs. Every single business community should find a way to offer a job to homeless person who wants to work. They are good people and they are good workers. We believe that we cannot criminalize behaviors based on people doing the best they can to survive without offering viable solutions including jobs and housing.”

While Paolino’s press conference was held at the Convention Center and was invite only, Elorza’s was the steps of City Hall. Both were disrupted – Paolino’s by angry activists and journalists who couldn’t attend and Elorza’s by a woman who said she needs more social services. Elorza’s press event featured activists who advocate for the homeless, while Paolino’s expressly kept many advocates from attending.

When Elorza was asked if he wished Paolino and more members of the business community attended his event he said, “I’ve had many members of the business community reach out and express their support for what we are doing and I look forward to continue working with anyone who truly wants to address the long term root cause issues.”

January 26, 2016January 26, 2016

Elorza confronted over ‘a disturbing pattern of discrimination’ against homeless

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In the rotunda of City Hall advocates for the homeless gathered to release a new study validating the harassment and discrimination being felt on the streets and to demand that Mayor Elorza immediately instruct the Providence Police to stop their practice of criminalizing homelessness and harassing homeless individuals.

Back in August 2015, advocates held a rally in front of City Hall protesting the treatment of those experiencing homelessness in the city. They had found that with increasing frequency, people experiencing homelessness were being subjected to judicial and extrajudicial arrest, harassment, and discrimination. Additionally, they contended that individuals who were homeless were being treated as criminals for engaging in activities necessary to survival, foremost among them resting and sleeping.

Soon after the rally, in September, Mayor Jorge Elorza met with the advocates and declared that the harassment and discrimination happening was not in line with his Administration’s policy. At that time advocates asked him to make a public statement expressing that and to focus on solutions to homelessness rather than criminalizing the homeless. Fast-forward to now, four months later, and nothing has come out of the Mayor’s office.

To make matters worse for the Mayor’s office, advocates released results of a public spaces survey which show a clear and disturbing pattern of discrimination against those experiencing homelessness in downtown Providence.

“As an outreach worker I have both heard, and personally witnessed this kind of conduct, and it disgusts and enrages me,” said Megan Smith of House of Hope CDC.

“Essentially, only homeless people and formerly homeless people are being arrested for these activities,” said Dr. Eric Hirsch. The activities include, sitting, panhandling, standing, sleeping and talking, all of which are perfectly legal.

Eileen Boarman was homeless in Providence on and off for over two years. She has personally witnessed and been the victim of police harassment and abuse. She talks of being beaten, spray with water hoses, and having her arm twisted. She was treated as having no value and no rights. Her experiences are impossible to justify.

Several years ago, Providence City Councillor Mary Kay Harris and others spearheaded the creation of the Providence External Review Authority (PERA), a civilian lead police oversight board. In light of Dr. Hirsch’s findings, the re-establishment of this board in a must.

We need, says House of Hope CDC outreach worker Kate Miechkowski, “to address the cause of people having nowhere to go and nowhere to sleep, rather than arresting and harassing those who suffer from the effects of our failed economic policies.”

In November, Providence College students conducted a public spaces survey of random pedestrians in the Kennedy Plaza/Burnside Park areas of downtown Providence. The results were striking. Just over half (52%) of those surveyed were homeless or formerly homeless, but 95% of the citations and 94% of the arrests were experienced by homeless and formerly homeless persons.

Answers to other questions on the survey such as whether law enforcement had asked them to “move on” or to leave a particular area, how often they were asked for identification; and how often law enforcement searched their belongings without their permission show the same pattern of disproportionate harassment of homeless and formerly homeless persons by police. Other potential reasons for such targeting such as race, ethnicity, or age were not found to be relevant.

“It was stunning to see the degree to which homeless Rhode Islanders are subject to harassment by the Providence Police Department,” stated Dr. Eric Hirsch, Professor of Sociology and author of the Public Spaces Survey. “It was the only factor relevant to why someone was ticketed or arrested for everyday activities such as sitting, lying down, etc.”

Kate Miechkowski, Outreach Worker for the House of Hope CDC confirmed the findings of the survey stating, “This past summer and fall I had the opportunity to interview dozens of people experiencing homelessness about their interactions with Providence police officers. I was horrified by their experiences of degradation, humiliation, and blatant profiling. There was almost no one I spoke to who had amiable experiences with police officers. I personally witnessed multiple incidents in which people were told that they had to move for doing nothing except occupying a public sidewalk.”

Advocates point to the fact that Rhode Island was the first state in the country to enact a “Homeless Bill of Rights” formally banning discrimination against Rhode Islanders experiencing homelessness and affirming their equal access to housing, employment and public services and believe the police’s targeting of people based on their housing status is illegal.

The Rhode Island law asserts that Rhode Islanders experiencing homelessness have the right to use public parks, public transportation and public buildings, “in the same manner as any other person and without discrimination on the basis of his or her housing status.”

In the original letter to the Mayor, advocates stated:

Criminalization is not a solution to homelessness. It is incredibly cruel to those experiencing homelessness, dehumanizing the individuals and making it harder to connect to advocates and services. It also costs the system more by spending taxpayer dollars on court costs and incarcerations rather than on housing, medical care, and other long-term solutions.

The group asked the Mayor to implement the following action steps to address the current situation:

1. Instruct the Providence Police Department that they may not order people to move from public property, nor threaten arrest for the failure to move, absent reasonable suspicion that they are committing a crime.

2. Ensure that this order is followed by:

a. Re-establishing the Providence External Review Authority (PERA);
b. Establishing a designated hotline to report harassment or illegal arrest and regularly reporting on calls received;
c. Adding content on Rhode Island’s Homeless Bill of Rights to the training police cadets receive at the Academy and incorporating this material into re-training of current officers.

3. Provide an appropriate location and budget for a day center in the City.

4. Publicly support the hundred million-dollar bond ask and ensure that the City’s programs to rehabilitate vacant homes (such as Every Home) results in apartments that are affordable to very low income renters.

Nationally, there is increasing recognition of the need for cities to shift away from criminalization and toward a right to housing. In its report No Safe Place, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty details the ways in which criminalizing ordinances are damaging both to individuals experiencing homelessness and to the cities that enact them. It also found that, despite a lack of affordable housing and shelter space, cities across the country are essentially making it illegal to be homeless with laws that outlaw life-sustaining acts, such as eating and sleeping, in public spaces.

Key findings/conclusions from the report are:

Homeless people are criminally punished for being in public even when they have no other alternatives;
The criminalization of homelessness is increasing across the country;
Criminalization laws violate the civil and human rights of homeless people;
Criminalization laws are costly to taxpayers;
Criminalization laws are ineffective; and
Criminalization laws should be replaced with constructive solutions to ending homelessness.

The Seattle University School of Law recently published a series of briefs exploring the monetary costs of criminalization and placing these laws squarely within the shameful tradition of Jim Crow, Anti-Okie, and Ugly laws. Earlier this summer, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a Statement of Interest arguing that it unconstitutionally punishes homelessness to make it a crime for people to sleep in public when there is insufficient shelter.

Rhode Island’s Homeless Bill of Rights stands in complete contrast to this trend causing advocates to be dismayed by the growing complaints from those experiencing homelessness that the police are not respecting their rights.

The Homeless Bill of Rights sets an important foundation for Opening Doors Rhode Island, the state’s plan to end homelessness, which states as a core value that “there are no ‘homeless people,’ but rather people who have lost their homes who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.”

Opening Doors Rhode Island outlines a plan that significantly transforms the provision of services to Rhode Islanders experiencing homelessness. Consistent with the new federal plan to end homelessness, the plan seeks to sharply decrease the numbers of people experiencing homelessness and the length of time people spend homeless.

“Rhode Island has the potential to be a model for how to end homelessness,” concluded Megan Smith, Outreach Worker for House of Hope CDC. “We can do this by collaborating to provide safe, affordable, permanent housing and engaging with and educating our community. It is not done by harassing and further marginalizing our city’s most vulnerable neighbors.”

Mayor Elorza was invited to speak at the rally, but declined. His office issued the following statement:

“The Mayor is committed to working with our service providers, advocates and community partners to address the social and economic challenges these resident face. We have spoken previously with the Chief of Police and he has directed his officers not to target those who are struggling with homelessness.”

[Portions of this are from a joint RICH and RIHAP press release]

November 2, 2015November 3, 2015

Black Major Movement demands diversity among high ranking police in Providence

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Nearly 100 people attended the Black Major Movement demonstration outside the Providence City Hall Monday afternoon. Organized by community activist Kobi Dennis, the point of the protest is to balance the lack of police officers of high rank in Providence. Currently a “black police officer of high rank is non-existent on of current police force,” says Dennis. The demonstrators are asking Mayor Jorge Elorza to appoint a veteran black police officer to the rank of major.

Elorza is on board with the sentiment, at least in theory, saying in a statement that, “I am committed to finding new and innovative ways to support officers of color as they advance through the ranks” and that he, looks forward to “a diverse range of Officers being promoted and assuming the highest leadership roles in the Department.” Elorza notes that the new police academy class is “the most diverse in the City’s history” but also realizes that, “recruiting diverse new officers alone is not enough.”

2015-11-02 Black Major Movement 002 — Kobi Dennis

Dennis is more pointed, asking, “If it’s okay to recruit black officers, why isn’t it okay to promote black officers?” Changes in the way the Providence Police Department operates are necessary, says Dennis in a statement, because, “The unrest in our country between law enforcement and the Black community is quickly becoming an epidemic.”

City Council President Luis Aponte stopped by in support of the demonstration, as did Councillors Mary Kay Harris and Wilbur Jennings, Jr. Jennings told me that he’s “definitely down with the idea behind the black major movement.”

“We need a police department that reflects the diversity of this city,” Jennings said. “That person doesn’t have to be black, but definitely a person of color.”

The demonstration lasted for three hours. Early on it was hoped that Mayor Elorza might step outside and address the crowd, but he did not make an appearance. The Extraordinary Rendition Band arrived and played for the demonstrators and passersby. The size of the demonstration ebbed and flowed, but gained new vitality in the last hour when over a dozen young people arrived with bright Black Lives Matter signage.

Despite the noncommittal response from Elorza, organizer Kobi Dennis took to Facebook to declare that this fight is not over, telling supporters to, “Stay tuned for PHASE 3 of the BLACK MAJOR MOVEMENT.”

September 19, 2015

DARE challenges PVD Public Housing Authority on inmates’ right to fair housing

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On Friday evening the Behind the Walls committee at Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) hosted the launch party for their Fair Housing campaign, which will challenge Providence Public Housing Authority (PHA) policies that uniformly exclude applicants based on past arrests and convictions.

The proposed policy would prohibit denial based on misdemeanors and arrests, protect applicants from long “look back” periods into their records, and would create a panel to review the qualifications of applicants with records. The Behind the Walls committee plans to present their proposed policy to the Housing Authority in the coming weeks. PHA Board member and city councilwoman Mary Kay Harris has written an official letter of endorsement for the campaign.

“Too many people have been denied a safe and stable home with their family because of something they did 10 or more years ago,” said John Prince, campaign organizer with Behind the Walls, in a statement. “Sometimes parents can’t go back and live with their kids because of an arrest, when they were never even convicted of the crime. That’s just wrong.”

According to Behind the Walls, “In 2014, 61 percent of all PHA denials were due to criminal record, and fewer than 1 percent of appeals were successful. Each year 1400 people are released from the ACI to Providence, 48 percent of which will return in their first 3 years home.”

“The idea that rehabilitation can work without a path to reintegration back into the community is a cruel and fraudulent hoax. One crucial way to help an individual return successfully to the community is to provide access to public housing,” said Judge Fortunato in a statement.

The launch event included soul food, spoken word performances by local poets including Franny Choi, Vatic Kuumbal and others. State Representatives Aaron Regunberg and Edith Ajello were in attendance as were Providence City Council Members Kevin Jackson and Mary Kay Harris.

Community members also celebrated the launch of the national community-driven report “Who Pays: The True Cost of Incarceration on Families” by the Ella Baker Center. John Prince, along with Sheila Wilhelm, were two members of DARE who traveled to Center in Oakland California to help develop the report. The report found that:

People with convictions are saddled with copious fees, fines, and debt at the same time that their economic opportunities are diminished, resulting in a lack of economic stability and mobility. 48 percent of families in our survey overall were unable to afford the costs associated with a conviction, while among poor families (making less than $15,000 per year), 58 percent were unable to afford these costs. Sixty-seven percent of formerly incarcerated individuals associated with our survey were still unemployed or underemployed five years after their release.

Many families lose income when a family member is removed from household wage earning and struggle to meet basic needs while paying fees, supporting their loved one financially, and bearing the costs of keeping in touch. Nearly 2 in 3 families (65 percent) with an incarcerated member were unable to meet their family’s basic needs. 49 percent struggled with meeting basic food needs and 48 percent had trouble meeting basic housing needs because of the financial costs of having an incarcerated loved one.

Women bear the brunt of the costs—both financial and emotional—of their loved one’s incarceration. In 63 percent of cases, family members on the outside were primarily responsible for court-related costs associated with conviction. Of the family members primarily responsible for these costs, 83 percent were women. In addition, families incur large sums of debt due to their experience with incarceration. Across respondents of all income brackets, the average debt incurred for court-related fines and fees alone was $13,607, almost one year’s entire annual income for respondents who earn less than $15,000 per year.

Despite their often-limited resources, families are the primary resource for housing, employment, and health needs of their formerly incarcerated loved ones, filling the gaps left by diminishing budgets for reentry services. Two-thirds (67 percent) of respondents’ families helped them find housing. Nearly one in five families (18 percent) involved in our survey faced eviction, were denied housing, or did not qualify for public housing once their formerly incarcerated family member returned. Reentry programs, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations combined did not provide housing and other support at the levels that families did.

Incarceration damages familial relationships and stability by separating people from their support systems, disrupting continuity of families, and causing lifelong health impacts that impede families from thriving. The high cost of maintaining contact with incarcerated family members led more than one in three families (34 percent) into debt to pay for phone calls and visits alone. Family members who were not able to talk or visit with their loved ones regularly were much more likely to report experiencing negative health impacts related to a family member’s incarceration.

The stigma, isolation, and trauma associated with incarceration have direct impacts across families and communities. Of the people surveyed, about one in every two formerly incarcerated persons and one in every two family members experienced negative health impacts related to their own or a loved one’s incarceration. Families, including their incarcerated loved ones, frequently reported Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, nightmares, hopelessness, depression, and anxiety. Yet families have little institutional support for healing this trauma and becoming emotionally and financially stable during and post incarceration.

The report suggested three critical reforms:

Restructuring and Reinvesting: Following the lead of states like California, all states need to restructure their policies to reduce the number of people in jails and prisons and the sentences they serve. The money saved from reducing incarceration rates should be used instead to reinvest in services that work, such as substance abuse programs and stable housing, which have proven to reduce recidivism rates. Additionally, sentencing needs to shift focus to accountability, safety, and healing the people involved rather than punishing those convicted of crimes.

Removing Barriers: Upon release, formerly incarcerated individuals face significant barriers accessing critical resources like housing and employment that they need to survive and move forward. Many are denied public benefits like food stamps and most are unable to pursue training or education that would provide improved opportunities for the future. Families also suffer under these restrictions and risk losing support as a result of their loved one’s conviction. These barriers must be removed in order to help individuals have a chance at success, particularly the many substantial financial obligations that devastate individuals and their families. On the flip side, when incarcerated people maintain contact with their family members on the outside, their likelihood of successful reunification and reentry increases, and their chances of recidivating are reduced. For most families the cost of maintaining contact is too great to bear and must be lowered if families are to stay intact. Removing cost and other barriers to contact is essential.

Restoring Opportunities: Focusing energy on investing and supporting formerly incarcerated individuals, their families, and the communities from which they come can restore their opportunities for a brighter future and the ability to participate in society at large. Savings from criminal justice reforms should be combined with general budget allocations and invested in job training and subsidized employment services, for example, to provide the foundation necessary to help individuals and their families succeed prior to system involvement and upon reentry.

September 4, 2015September 12, 2015

10 PVD city councilors voted for exclusionary zoning last night

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The Providence City Council voted 10-3 to modify the zoning code to add exclusionary zoning restrictions on student housing on Thursday night. Under the provision, persons defined as “college students” would not be able to live more than three to a house in zones 1 and 1A (map), despite reports in The Projo that many of the homes in question have as many as five bedrooms.

Zoning laws in Providence must be passed by City Council twice, and either have a veto-proof majority or be signed into law by the mayor. The measure, if passed a second time, would be a challenge to housing affordability and transit-oriented design. The upshot is that the 10-3 vote is very fragile. Just one turnaround would allow Mayor Jorge Elorza to veto the zoning change. I am contacting Mayor Elorza’s chief-of-staff Brett Smiley for comment, but by publication time it is unlikely that I will have word on the mayor’s position. Keep your eyes peeled for updates!

The tempest-in-a-teapot in Ward 5 started around student noise. Councilwoman Jo-Ann Ryan has tried proposing other methods of shunning students, including additional fees on student housing, but decided to settle on this zoning measure, according to reporting done in The Projo.

Changes in density affect transit. Transit viability is affected along an exponential curve, rather than a linear progression, based on density. So small changes in density through exclusionary zoning can have large reverberating effects on transit frequencies, and those changes disproportionately hurt low income people, especially time-poor low income people, like those with multiple jobs or children.

Changes in zoning like this also negatively affect housing affordability, not only for students, but for everyone. You might find yourself saying, “Who cares what happens to college students?” It’s not like someone is being discriminated against on the basis of race, or gender, or sexuality. Being a college student is just a stage in life, and it’s not even a stage in life that everyone goes through.” But the students who are most affected by this type of rule will be disproportionately those students who are riding the razor’s edge of affording school. Upper class students will shrug this off, and perhaps not even notice it, or be annoyed by it for lifestyle reasons.

Students who can find housing will. When students overflow from housing they may have previously been able to occupy, they may outbid others with less money looking for apartments. While sometimes this outbidding process can lead to greater housing development, resolving the imbalance, the zoning ordinance itself stops an increase in zoning density, and actually reduces densities below their existing levels. The price increases here are also not due to people’s increased desire for a neighborhood–which is at least a mixed blessing–but by artificial regulations that will just keep certain people out. The process of using zoning to limit housing is one of the things that has most affected displacement of working class families from homes. It tries to shape our cities into an imagined ideal of single-family homes that never existed except in the imagination of someone like Frank Lloyd Wright. This means that housing will become expensive, but with none of the attendant positives of that process–a kind of “stagflation” of housing policies.

Who are the people who voted for exclusionary zoning?

Councilman Kevin Jackson, Ward 3, Mt. Hope (my councilman)

Mr. Jackson narrowly won his last election against a write-in candidate, Marcus Mitchell, who started a write-in campaign for his seat just before Election Day. The election went to a recount. I have contacted Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Jackson on this issue, but as yet have not heard back, but multiple previous conversations I’ve had with Marcus Mitchell have centered on his involvement with RhodeMap, which opposes exclusionary zoning.

Councilwoman Jo-Ann Ryan, Ward 5, Elmhurst

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Councilwoman Ryan voted for her own bill. She is a new councilor.

Councilman Michael Correia, Ward 6, Manton

Councilman John Iggliozzi, Ward 7, Silver Lake

Councilwoman Carmen Castillo, Ward 9, Elmwood

Council President Luis Aponte, Ward 10, Lower South Providence and Washington Park

The Councilman’s vote for exclusionary zoning shocks me, because he has frequently been a voice for tenant’s rights and an acceptable if not perfect voice for transit-oriented development. This is a misstep for the Council President, and we hope he’ll change his vote.

Councilwoman Mary Kay Harris, Ward 11, Upper South Side

Councilman Bryan Principe, Ward 13, Federal Hill and the West End

I have to report disappointment on this vote by Councilman Principe, as I’ve found him to be a very urbanist-oriented councilman much of the time. I hope that residents in my old neighborhood of the West End will speak out to Councilman Principe, and that he’ll change his vote next week.

Councilman David A. Salvatore, Ward 15, Elmhurst and Wanskuck

Councilwoman Sabina Matos, Ward 16, Olneyville

Many of these councilpersons represent districts that ought to be unified in their opposition to exclusionary zoning for one reason or another.

Councilmen Yurdin, Zurier and Jennings voted against the measure. Councilmen Narducci and Hassett were not present at Thursday night’s meeting. Councilman Zurier’s hands haven’t exactly been clean. In his own district he has worked to make apartments and other types of multifamily housing less easy to develop.

Please contact your city councilor–and indeed, please contact the entire Providence City Council–and let them know that Providence is not supportive of exclusionary zoning policies. And ask Mayor Elorza to veto any vote next Thursday that isn’t over the veto-proof margin of 10.

Update: According to a by Patrick Anderson, Mayor Elorza’s office will support the zoning change, as proposed.

~~~~

December 22, 2014

Voices and video from Saturday’s forum on racism

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Saturday’s forum, Racism, State Oppression, and the Black Community Ferguson Beyond, held at the Southside Cultural Center on Broad Street here in Providence, was packed, with the crowd at its peak reaching nearly 200 people.

City Councillor-elect Mary Kay Harris emceed the event, keeping the panelists and commenters from the audience mostly on point. The panelists were Globe (Jonathan Lewis) of the Positive Peace Warrior Network, Erroll Lomba of roots.media, Monay McNeil, a student at Rhode Island College, Prof. Matt Guteri of Brown University and Steve Roberts, a recent graduate of Rhode Island college and one of the PVD7, arrested November 25th for allegedly trespassing on the highway during a Ferguson protest here in Providence.

The size of the crowd and the resurgent interest in civil and human rights is a welcome counter to what many perceive to be a rising tide of government overreach and police militarization. The links between social and economic inequality are becoming ever more clear, as both panelists and commenters pointed out. We are still in the early days of what seems to be a new civil rights movement poised to oppose the drug war, the prison industrial complex and the “New Jim Crow,” and we are starting to see signs of what this movement is and what it hopes to accomplish.

The event was hosted by the Mount Hope Neighborhood Association, Inc., the Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), the Providence Africana Reading Collective (PARC) and OneVoice RI, in collaboration with Shanna Weinberg of the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University.

i-LK5DTQQ-X2 — Monay McNeil (c)2014 Rachel Simon

As usual I have a ton of video from the event, including the entire 2 hours and 20 minutes as one video (scroll down to the bottom of the page). Photographer Rachel Simon supplied the still pictures for this post.

Errol Lomba, of roots.media, was interested in the questions brought up by nationwide reactions to the incidents in Ferguson and New York, but he also wonders about the answers. “What does a solution look like?” he asks, “How do we win?”

Monay McNeil reflected on the media reports about the Mike Brown homicide. When the shooting was fist reported, news media were taking their cues from social media, and we learned that Mike Brown’s death as a tragic loss: he was young, he was a college student. Soon, the narrative changed, as the media moved to defend the police. Now, Mike Brown is a thief and a thug.

Globe is a student of Martin Luther King and nonviolence. He mused on the divide between the youth driving the recent protests and the older activists who seem to be out of touch with their methods and style. The youth are “not saying they don’t want to learn from you,” says Globe, “they’re asking, ‘What are you going to do for us?'”

Nobody talked longer than Steve Roberts, who is full of ideas on hip hop culture, the history of the civil rights movement and the philosophy that seems to be driving the current unrest. When examining history, says Roberts, “you get this sanitized, dry, boring version of civil rights… People tend to discredit the more radical elements of protest efforts.”

This one is well worth a watch for people interested in understanding what’s really going on.

Professor Matt Guteri of Brown University was quick to give up his academic privilege when joining the conversation. “Just call me Matt,” he said, but he made some important points. “Any crime is used as a justification for death,” said Guteri, explaining how the police and the media blame the victims for violence done to them. he also made some important points about the role of social media in recent events. In the build up to the Iraq War, says Guteri, the media ignored the peace protests, but because of social media, the media is having a more difficult time ignoring the protests that have come in the wake of Ferguson.

After the public commentary, the panelists were given some time to wrap up their thoughts.

“We live in a society where in Detroit, they shut down the water, and old people are walking around with buckets. And it’s not because there’s a drought, it’s because they want more money, because the rich want more money…”

This speaker talked about working within the system to effect change, and he surprised the audience with a big reveal…

“In order for this movement to successful it has to be lead by the most oppressed, and right now I believe it’s the black transgendered youth…”

“Until we have a conversation about racism in this country and the white supremacy that these officers are fighting/uplifting, we’ll never truly find a solution…”

“We have to see the way in which we get punished for speaking out and fighting back. So a modern day example would be how he (Steve Roberts) got punished and tried to be ‘put in his place’ and essentially a call to all the white supremacists to go find him was publishing his address in the Providence Journal. That seems very much like the fugitive slave act…”

Servio Gomez is one of the PVD7. “On the issue of the firefighter getting reprimanded, we need to understand that as a worker issue. We need to understand that a worker was showing solidarity, and they got reprimanded as a worker, using state mechanisms, because the state was their employer, and that’s just how it goes. Workers need to be able to determine how they express themselves on the job and how to best develop themselves…”

Maria Cimini is finishing up her second term as State Representative, after being essentially pushed out by a Democratic leadership that didn’t like her Democratic Party positions. She will be returning to the fight for social justice as an activist. At the forum, she defended the idea of working within the system, at least in terms of being active in state and local politics, in order to achieve social justice goals.

“I’m 21 years old and it took me 21 years to understand my own blackness and understand that I was black as an Afro-Latina…”

Carolyn Thomas-Davis of OneVoice RI wonders if everyone “really understands the reason we are here, today? Do you understand the issues over police brutality? And do you understand how we got to where we are?”

Shannah Kurland is an activist lawyer working as the defense for five of the PVD7. “I want to ask every one of us to show some love for the PVD7, those brave young people who put their lives on the line… they did that for all of us. In terms of older people looking to younger people for knowledge and inspiration, I know they’ve given me some and I know they’ve given a lot of us- by putting their bodies on the line, by putting their safety on the line…”

“Currently have the NBA and the NFL as one of the most lucrative businesses for black and brown people, yet it’s also being used as a [way to control us] by white owners…”

Randall Rose warned the audience not to get too comfortable with social media. It can become a tool with which to identify the troublemakers and oppress us.

Here’s the full video:

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December 2, 2014December 3, 2014

59 years later, Rosa Parks’ fight isn’t over

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Civil rights activists spoke yesterday in South Providence as part of the seventh annual Rosa Parks Civil Rights Day Commemorative. The speakers drew parallels to Rosa Parks’ brave action of 59 years ago when she was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery and the rising protests against racial profiling and the militarization of the police today, highlighted by events in Ferguson.

The speakers highlighted some of the differences in tactics among the various activists and groups, but all agreed that the activism of Rosa Parks and the election of Barrack Obama as president was not the end of the fight against systemic racism in America. There’s still a lot of work to be done.

Malcus Mills is a prominent member of DARE, as well as a member of the Rosa Parks Human Rights Committee and the Peoples Assembly.

“If you look back through history, change has never happened quickly, and never without those who have lost their lives…”

Joe Buchanan is a member of the Rosa Parks Human Rights Committee.

“In 1955 I was three years old when Rosa Parks, this working Black woman got on the bus. She is one of the many great Black women through history…”

Providence City Councillor elect for Ward 11, Mary Kay Harris, is also a member of the Rosa Parks Human Rights Committee.

“It’s very important that we continue to look at human rights, the rights of people, the right for a movement, the right of people to have a voice…”

Native American Ray Two-Hawks Watson gave a fiery speech in defense of last Tuesday night’s Ferguson protesters who blocked the highway here in Providence.

“…everybody was up in arms about it. Oh, it was dangerous and this, that and the other, but to that I say it’s dangerous being a youth these days. Because not only do you have to worry about gangs, not only do you have to worry about drug dealers and all that but you also have to worry about police officers who should be protecting you from those elements treating you like you’re one of them.”

Sheila Wilhelm, of Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) was unapologetic in her defense of the protesters.

“Dr. King said, ‘Riots are the voices of the unheard,” and it’s a shame sometimes what we have to do to get our voices heard, but also, ‘by any means necessary.’ Especially, especially when we’re fighting for our children… Personally, when I saw the actions of last week and the protests, I was humbled. I was honored and I was so, so, so proud…”

Jim Vincent, of the Rhode Island branch of the NAACP was one of the more vocal critics of blocking the highway, but he kept his comments here to Rosa Parks and civil rights in general.

“We’ve always heard things in America like, ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men and women are created equal’ and “justice and liberty for all’ but where has that been over the decades for people of color and black people in particular?”

Lauren Niedel of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats saw the great lady as an example, and said, “Everybody here can be a Rosa Parks.”

Camilo Viveiros of the George Wiley Center tied racial to economic justice.

“Economic injustice has caused many to not have utilities throughout the year…. There continues to be a war against poor people, but many have given up on the war on poverty…”

Freethinker Peter Nightingale, of Occupy Providence and Fossil Free RI, gave a wonderful, and the most radical talk of the bunch.

“We need to change everything to break the chains of predator capitalism… We need degrowth, and we need a four hour workday. Degrowth means shrink the economy. I said it, put it on TV. He’s nuts…”

After the speakers there was a re-enactment of Rosa Parks’ nonviolent resistance on board a RIPTA bus, which was crowded to overflowing with onlookers and news cameras. Deborah L. Wray played the part of Rosa Parks.

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