Take Back the Land Appeal for Support

Greetings:

In response to a critical crisis of affordable housing for low-income and the homeless, particularly in the Black community, On October 23, 2006 at 3:00pm, a group of organizations and individuals took control of city and county owned land for the benefit of the people.

The 'Take Back the Land' movement is appealing to all people of conscience for your direct support.

The group, convened by the Center for Pan-African Development, took control of vacant land on the corner of 62^nd St. and NW 17^th Ave. in the Liberty City section of Miami, FL, with no permits, permissions or agreements to use the land. After a brief standoff with Miami police, officials recognized our right to public land and left us alone.

Today, the land, which stood vacant for 9 years after the demolition of a low income apartment complex, feeds people every night and houses the homeless in tents and makeshift structures built from wood and by the hands of all volunteer labor. We took control of the land because the government has been actively making matters worse, not better. Therefore, we are forced to provide for our community in a way the government is unable or unwilling to do themselves.

The powers-that-be are not pleased that a bunch of poor people and activists have taken over the land they want to develop for the benefit of the rich. We know they are planning the best way to force us off the property. We, therefore, are asking for your support in two ways:

1.       Send a Letter of Support. Sign our online petition of support, or send one of your own, to the Center for Pan-African Development, Carlos Alvarez, Mayor of Miami-Dade County and Manny Diaz, Mayor of the City of Miami. We only have one demand: Leave us alone. The government has broken enough promises and stolen enough money that we do not want their "help," we only want them to leave us alone as we help our people.

2.       Make a Donation. We are building structures, providing food, some clothing and housing to people at no charge to them with an all volunteer workforce (including the homeless and local residents). There is no other way to put this: we need your financial contribution to continue. Please, make a Paypal contribution to the cause, or mail a check direct to us.

Social movements emerge, survive, thrive and advance through the work of the community and the support of people of good conscious. We need your help now. Thank you in advance.

Forward,

Max Rameau
Center for Pan-African Development

 

Blog
http://takebacktheland.blogspot.com

 

To make a donation:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=afrimax%40niainteractive%2ecom&item_name=Take%20Back%20the%20Land&item_number=TBL1&no_shipping=1&return=http%3a%2f%2ftakebacktheland%2eblogspot%2ecom&cn=Special%20Comments&tax=0&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8

 

To sign onto our petition of support
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/TakeBacktheLand

 

To send your own message in support of the 'Take Back the Land' shanty town to:

City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz
E-mail: mannydiaz@ci.miami.fl.us
Telephone: 305-250-5300

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez
E-mail: mayor@miamidade.gov
Telephone: 305-375-5071

 

Media coverage
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/1583304.htm
http://cbs4.com/video/?id=24699@wfor.dayport.com