July 1st March In Piedmont To Demand Multi-Millionaire Stop Profiteering

Posted By Lynda Carson:

For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Anya Svanoe, asvanoe [at] calorganize.org, 510-423-2452

Hundreds of Low-Income East Bay Residents To March to Piedmont Home of Multi-Millionaire to Demand He Stop Profiteering at the Expense of Black and Brown Communities and Instead Help Finance a Just Recovery for All

CALIFORNIA - Fed up with decades of economic exploitation, and a pandemic that threatens the lives of essential workers and has left millions out of work and at risk of becoming homeless - low-income Black and Brown Californians on July 1st will flood the richest neighborhoods around the state to demand California’s millionaires and billionaires share the wealth they’ve accumulated to pay for a just recovery for all. While far too many Californians nervously worry about when they will be able to return to work, how to pay rent or feed their children, California’s 161 billionaires have added more than $181 billion to their collective net worth since the start of the pandemic in mid-March.

What: Car Caravan and Press Conference Outside of Phil Tagami’s House

When: Wednesday, July 1st, 5pm begins caravan, 6:30pm press conference

Who: Renters, workers, and community/labor leaders of AFSCME 3299, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), SEIU USWW, Unite HERE Local 11 and UAW 2865

Where: Press conference at 1012 Ashmount Ave, Piedmont

Community members and workers will also stage COVID-safe protests in some of California’s wealthiest zip codes around the state that same day outside the mansions of some of California’s prominent billionaires and millionaires, including Elon Musk of Tesla, Bruce Karsh of Oaktree Capital, Irwin Jacobs of Qualcomm, Angelo K. Tsakopoulos of AKT Development, Mark Friedman of Fulcrum Property and Phil Tagami of California Commercial Investment Group. Phil Tagami has used his political influence and power to fight the City of Oakland to build a controversial toxic coal terminal in West Oakland which many believe will jeopardize the health and well-being of residents of Oakland’s historically Black neighborhood.

They are demanding that they respect the lives of their workers and tenants, and pay their fair share in taxes to invest in programs desperately needed by Californians struggling in the face of the COVID 19 pandemic, such as affordable housing, access to healthcare, support for public education, and workplace protections.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit working people and communities of color the hardest, further exposing the legacy of structural inequality in this country that has always limited access to health and wealth along lines of race and class.

July 1st marks the next round of rent payments due. The July 1st action builds on the ongoing nationwide #CancelRent movement, and coincides with current protests against police brutality and systemic racism.

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