4th of July Parade: Alameda Section 8 tenants march to resist eviction

by SF Bay View (repost)

Fri, Jul 9, 2004 9:04AM

Red like a river of blood, co-mingling with a dark bruise blue flattened against glaring, headlight white - so much white ... in the houses, on the curbs, spilling out of trucks and draped over horses. It was the 4th of July in the richest country in the world. The air was filled with popcorn, barbecue sauce, marching music, horse hair and the sounds of hundreds of families facing eviction.

"No justice, no peace! Don't throw families in the streets!" we shouted as we walked in a 4th of July parade in the city of Alameda, recently in the news for responding to HUD’s draconian cuts in Section 8 rental assistance by notifying hundreds of tenants they would be cut from the program and evicted.

Mothers and fathers and their children relying on Section 8 to be homeful in this inflated housing market, tenant organizers from the Campaign for Renters Rights, union folks in solidarity with the cause to keep families housed locally and nationally, and babies - so many babies leading our chants for economic and human rights. We marched down the main street of Alameda, the test case for Bush's new homeless policy, i.e., how to MAKE thousands of families enrolled in HUD's Section 8 program homeless in less than 100 days.

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http://www.sfbayview.com/070704/resisteviction070704.shtml

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