Take Back the Land on ABC World News Tonight 04-12-09

Greetings:

The current housing crisis is unlike any we have seen in generations. Sometimes a crisis occurs because there are too many houses and not enough families to move in them, deflating values and creating ghost towns. Most often, though, there are not enough homes to meet the needs of people and we demand more houses be built. In this crisis, however, there is a surplus of both vacant homes and families looking for vacant homes. Take Back the Land has been matching homeless people with people-less homes.

Find out more here:

• ABC World News Tonight reported on Take Back the Land and our efforts to liberate housing on the April 12, 2009 broadcast. Follow the link below to see the story:

      http://takebacktheland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74:abcworldnews041209&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=60

• Also check out the New York Times story on the growing trend of squatting and other utilization of vacant foreclosed homes, including Take Back the Land:

      http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/us/10squatter.html?_r=2&hp

• In addition, check out this video of Take Back the Land moving the Conley-Trody family back into the home from which they were evicted:

      http://www.justnews.com/news/18779255/detail.html#video


Take Back the Land asserts that housing is a human right and that it is immoral to keep homes vacant while there are human beings living on the street. This moral outrage is only compounded when one considers the banks who own these houses have already been paid billions of dollars for those homes already in the form of tax money from the same people who need homes in the first place.

A growing movement of organizations and individuals across the US are making good use of vacant houses by placing or defending the right of families to remain in foreclosed homes. Housing must fundamentally be about homes for human beings, not profits for corporations. Take Back the Land is inspired by the courageous families fighting for their right to housing and making a new more humane world possible.

A movement is building and we urge you to support and advance the struggle to elevate housing to the status of a human right.

Keep up to date at our website: takebacktheland.org. For regular (but not too frequent) email announcements, join our list-serv at
http://groups.google.com/group/take-back-the-land/

For those so inclined, you can support the work of Take Back the Land with a financial contribution. We ask that you make contributions to Serve the People, the not-for-profit which allows Take Back the Land and other organizations use of office space and other resources. Serve the People is a 501(c)3 organization and all contributions are fully tax-deductible. Support our work by contributing at www.takebacktheland.org and click on the "Donate" button.

forward,


Max Rameau
takebacktheland@gmail.com
takebacktheland.org

Take Back the Land on Good Morning America 04-11-09

Greetings:

Below is a link to the video of Take Back the Land featured on Good Morning America.

http://www.takebacktheland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73:gma011109&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=60

If you have not already seen and read the NY Times piece on Take Back the Land, you can read it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/us/10squatter.html?_r=1

Keep up to date and support Take Back the Land at our website, Takebacktheland.org and join our list-serv at http://groups.google.com/group/take-back-the-land/

forward,


Max Rameau

--
takebacktheland.org
takebacktheland@gmail.com

Take Back the Land in the New York Times 04-10-09

Greetings All:

Please check out the Friday, April 10, 2009 edition of the New York Times, reporting on the growing necessity and trend of liberation housing in the US. This is the beginning of a real US land struggle and the social justice movement must come to grips with our relationship to that struggle.

As part of that story, the Times covers two families placed by Take Back the Land in Miami.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/us/10squatter.html?_r=1&hp

Please follow our progress at Takebacktheland.org and join our list-serv at http://groups.google.com/group/take-back-the-land.

forward,

Max Rameau

--
takebacktheland.org
takebacktheland@gmail.com

Fwd: Take Back the Land Liberates Another Home- Feb. 23 at 12noon

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Max Rameau <afrimax@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 11:48 AM
Subject: Take Back the Land Liberates Another Home- Feb. 23 at 12noon
To: afrimax@gmail.com

Greetings:

At 12:00 noon today, February 23, Take Back the Land liberated a vacant house in order to move an extended family of 12, including six minors, back into the home they lost to foreclosure on Friday, February 20^th. The foreclosure was a result of a fraudulent refinance scheme by a predatory lender.

The home is located at 849 NW 137^th St. in unincorporated Miami-Dade County. As this message is sent, Take Back the Land is assisting the family in their move back into the home.

Take Back the Land identifies vacant government owned and foreclosed homes and moves homeless people into the people-less homes. The organization has been "liberating" foreclosed homes since October 2007, a year after liberating a vacant government owned piece of land and building the Umoja Village Shantytown, housing homeless individuals until a fire destroyed the community. Take Back the Land has liberated eight (8) homes to date.

After Mary's husband lost his job, the couple and their two teenage children were forced to move back in with her mother. Soon after, the contracting job market forced Mary's adult daughter and fiancee back to the house with their four children, all under 10. The crashing economy ultimately forced 12 relatives, spanning four generations, to cram into Grandma Carolyn's two bedroom one bath house.

Unbeknownst to the families, almost two years prior, Carolyn fell victim to a scam predatory lender. The salesman convinced her that with a new reverse mortgage she would only be compelled to pay the taxes on the house, significantly reducing her expenses as she entered retirement age. When they started receiving the foreclosure notices, it was too late, even with almost every adult in the house regaining employment.

The family was evicted from their home on February 20, upon which they called Take Back the Land requesting assistance. Since then, they have been sleeping together in a van and bread truck in the parking lot of a local supermarket. Local homeless shelters are full and not fitted for families and, therefore, can only split the family between Homestead and Miami and then divide the men and women.

The house itself is in need of repairs and there are at least three other vacant homes on that street and numerous others on adjacent streets. As such, the home is unlikely to be sold or occupied in the next year or even two years and will only contribute to blight and unsafe conditions in the neighborhood. Furthermore, homes vacant for even short periods of time are often vandalized and stripped for valuable parts and fixtures. The vacant house, therefore, does not help the family, the neighborhood or even the bank who owns a structure rapidly decreasing value.

It is inhumane and immoral to evict a family of 12 human beings, who are left to sleep in a truck, and not even fill the house with another family, but leave it vacant, potentially for years to come.

Housing is a human right which is threatened by corporate demands to maximize profits. Take Back the Land calls on people of good conscience to defend their communities and fight for the right of human beings to housing, particularly during this economic crisis.

To continue to receive these email updates, sign up for the Take Back the Land listserve at: http://groups.google.com/group/take-back-the-land. You can also get more information about Take Back the Land at our website, TakeBacktheLand.org.

forward,

Max Rameau

takebacktheland.org

takebacktheland@gmail.com

 

Fwd: Take Back the Land Liberates Another Home- Feb. 23 at 12noon

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Max Rameau <afrimax@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 11:48 AM
Subject: Take Back the Land Liberates Another Home- Feb. 23 at 12noon
To: afrimax@gmail.com

Greetings:

At 12:00 noon today, February 23, Take Back the Land liberated a vacant house in order to move an extended family of 12, including six minors, back into the home they lost to foreclosure on Friday, February 20^th. The foreclosure was a result of a fraudulent refinance scheme by a predatory lender.

The home is located at 849 NW 137^th St. in unincorporated Miami-Dade County. As this message is sent, Take Back the Land is assisting the family in their move back into the home.

Take Back the Land identifies vacant government owned and foreclosed homes and moves homeless people into the people-less homes. The organization has been "liberating" foreclosed homes since October 2007, a year after liberating a vacant government owned piece of land and building the Umoja Village Shantytown, housing homeless individuals until a fire destroyed the community. Take Back the Land has liberated eight (8) homes to date.

After Mary's husband lost his job, the couple and their two teenage children were forced to move back in with her mother. Soon after, the contracting job market forced Mary's adult daughter and fiancee back to the house with their four children, all under 10. The crashing economy ultimately forced 12 relatives, spanning four generations, to cram into Grandma Carolyn's two bedroom one bath house.

Unbeknownst to the families, almost two years prior, Carolyn fell victim to a scam predatory lender. The salesman convinced her that with a new reverse mortgage she would only be compelled to pay the taxes on the house, significantly reducing her expenses as she entered retirement age. When they started receiving the foreclosure notices, it was too late, even with almost every adult in the house regaining employment.

The family was evicted from their home on February 20, upon which they called Take Back the Land requesting assistance. Since then, they have been sleeping together in a van and bread truck in the parking lot of a local supermarket. Local homeless shelters are full and not fitted for families and, therefore, can only split the family between Homestead and Miami and then divide the men and women.

The house itself is in need of repairs and there are at least three other vacant homes on that street and numerous others on adjacent streets. As such, the home is unlikely to be sold or occupied in the next year or even two years and will only contribute to blight and unsafe conditions in the neighborhood. Furthermore, homes vacant for even short periods of time are often vandalized and stripped for valuable parts and fixtures. The vacant house, therefore, does not help the family, the neighborhood or even the bank who owns a structure rapidly decreasing value.

It is inhumane and immoral to evict a family of 12 human beings, who are left to sleep in a truck, and not even fill the house with another family, but leave it vacant, potentially for years to come.

Housing is a human right which is threatened by corporate demands to maximize profits. Take Back the Land calls on people of good conscience to defend their communities and fight for the right of human beings to housing, particularly during this economic crisis.

To continue to receive these email updates, sign up for the Take Back the Land listserve at: http://groups.google.com/group/take-back-the-land. You can also get more information about Take Back the Land at our website, TakeBacktheLand.org.

forward,

Max Rameau

takebacktheland.org

takebacktheland@gmail.com

 

AP Story on Take Back the Land

Greetings:

Below is a link to an Associated Press (AP) story on Take Back the Land and the Take Back the Housing campaign, as it appears on the NPR website.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97660799

As a result of the crises of gentrification, housing and now foreclosures, Take Back the Land has been liberating public and foreclosed land and homes since 2006.

Each community has the right to control the land upon which people live, work, play, learn and worship. Take Back the Land is, therefore, asserting the right of the Black community to control the land in our community and use it for the benefit of our community, including, but not limited to, providing housing for our members in need. We urge every community to exercise the same right.

Take Back the Land further asserts it is immoral to maintain vacant homes for the purpose of profits in the future, while human beings are forced to live on the street today. The madness of such a policy is only compounded when one considers the owners of these vacant homes are not other people, but banks, the same banks receiving billions of dollars in bailouts without having to trade in the foreclosed homes for use by some of the people financing the bailouts. Additional government resources, including police and other government agencies, should not be used to evict low income people from homes in order to maintain vacant structures for bailed out banks to profit from some time in the future.

We call on communities to follow the lead of organizations like City Life/Vida Urbana in Boston and others, and defend families against foreclosures and evictions. For more information and to support the work work of Take Back the Land, please visit our website at www.takebacktheland.org.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97660799


forward,

Max Rameau
takebacktheland@gmail.com
takebacktheland.org
takebacktheland.blogspot.com

The Peoples' Bailout- Take Back the Housing

Greetings:

As the government continues to bailout the mega corporations responsible for this economic crisis- by taking our tax money, without our permission, and giving it to the wealthy- some organizations and individuals are moving their own bailout.

Since October 2007, Take Back the Land has been identifying vacant government owned and foreclosed homes and liberating them by moving homeless people into people-less homes- without permission from the government or the banks. This is the real bailout.

So, as this country celebrates the Pilgrims- who took over land without permission from the owner- we must think about using land to benefit people, not just corporations. We assert that our right to housing supercedes the corporate right to profit.

Below are three stories about the Take Back the Housing campaign by Take Back the Land, including a news video from Tuesday, November 25. You can get more information at www.takebacktheland.org.

http://www.local10.com/video/18149053/index.html

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2008-11-20/news/squatters/

http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2008/05/foreclosure-nation-squatters-or-pioneers.html

forward,

Max Rameau

One Year Since Blackwood and Knight Killed by Miami-Dade- Vigil on Wednesday

Greetings:

On November 12, 2007, Miami-Dade police shot and killed two unarmed Black men, surrounded by police while in an SUV facing a dead end. As Frisco Blackwood attempted to put the vehicle in park- following police orders- the car lurched slightly and police opened fire, killing him and Michael Knight and injuring a female passenger in the back seat.

The killings capped a 19 day span during which Miami-Dade police killed four (4) unarmed Black men, including BG Beaugris, a 19 year old shot and killed just yards from his front door while walking home with friends from doing his father's laundry, and Roger Brown, kicked and beaten on NW 79th St. after suffering a mental health crisis.

Join your community in honoring the lives lost to police violence on the one year anniversary of Frisco and Mike's death.

The vigil will be held on Wednesday, November 12, 2008, at 6:00pm, at the location of their death, on the corner of 65th St. and North Miami Ave. in the Little Haiti section of Miami.

Justice for Frisco and Mike! Justice for victims of police violence!

forward,

Max Rameau

BUY THIS BOOK NOW: The Green Collar Economy by Van Jones

Greetings:

I am writing to URGE you to order a new and important book by activist Van Jones: The Green Collar Economy: How one solution can fix America's two biggest problems (Published by HarperOne; ISBN 978-0-06-165075-8)

To order go to: http://www.vanjones.net/page.php?pageid=2

Providing the ultimate in win-win solutions, Jones, the leading voice for a "green economy" with a focus on "green collar jobs" centered in inner city communities, eloquently argues that creating green collar jobs will revive the stagnant US job market, as most of this work cannot be outsourced. As an added bonus, these clean, environmentally friendly jobs will be replacing those which previously contributed to the pollution and destruction of the planet.

You should order this book for two reasons: first, the information and analysis in the book is critical to our understanding of this global environmental crisis, and one of the potential solutions to the problem. As if that were not enough, the "green economy" takes on an even greater significance in the context of the potential collapse of the US financial system. And second, because when an important book is written by a person of conscience, we must support the effort or risk the system blocking future attempts at mass publishing.

In short, if you are one of those who complains about the state of mass media, TV and books and do not buy this book, you have no business complaining, because you are part of the reason they will not publish and promote good books. On the plus side, you will surely enjoy the latest books detailing the inside story of OJ Simpson in jail and Paris Hilton at the club.

To date, no Black author has ever written an environmental bestseller. Here, this long time activist has penned a thoughtful and thought provoking book which will likely provide a roadmap for a growing sector of the US economy in coming years. A Black author writing about the environment, with the Black community at the center of the solution. Help make this a best seller by ordering your book by Tuesday, October 7, shooting this book to the top of the sales charts. It is important on so many levels.

For the record, I know and respect Van, but receive no compensation or consideration for this email or your purchase of the book. I am asking you because I think the book is important and the subsequent opportunities for good political books are immeasurable. Put your money where your politics are and buy this book.

To order go to: http://www.vanjones.net/page.php?pageid=2

forward,

Max Rameau

Krystal Birdsong Remembrance- Thursday October 2 5:30pm

On Thursday, October 2, 2008, you are invited to celebrate the life and contributions of ancestor Krystal Birdsong in two services.

The first service is a mass at the Barry University Chapel, located at 11300 NE 2^nd Ave. in Miami Shores, beginning at 11:00am.

The second event is a community celebration of Krystal's life and contributions to be held at the Take Back the Land office, 6819 NW 15^th Ave., in Liberty City. The program begins at 5:30pm, however, we will be welcoming friends as early as 2:30pm. Food will be provided.

Ancestor Krystal Birdsong was a Barry University grad student and beloved community activist with both Power U Center for Social Change and Take Back the Land. She worked tirelessly for social justice by organizing meetings, protests, service events and building community power.

Krystal's passing is a devastating loss for the community, organizations and individuals she touched. She will be fondly remembered. Come celebrate her life and continue her legacy.

Take Back the Land

Power U Center for Social Change