Press conference:
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
4:00 p.m. CST outside the Reliance Center at Kirby and McNee

New Orleans Black Community Leaders Charge Racism in Government Neglect of Hurricane Survivors
= Press conference to announce plan to save lives and demand role in rebuilding effort =

HOUSTON - A national alliance of black community leaders will announce the formation of a New Orleans People's Committee to demand a decision-making role in the short-term care of hurricane survivors and long-term rebuilding of New Orleans.

Community Labor United (CLU), a New Orleans coalition of labor and community activists, has put out a call to activists and organizations across the country to work on a "people's campaign" of community redevelopment. Organizing efforts will take place across hundreds of temporary shelters.

Not until the fifth day of the federal government's inept and inadequate emergency response to the New Orleans' disaster did George Bush even acknowledge it was `unacceptable.' `Unacceptable' doesn't begin to describe the depth of the neglect, racism and classism shown to the people of New Orleans. The government's actions and inactions were criminal. New Orleans, a city whose population is almost 70% percent black, 40% illiterate, and many are poor, was left day after day to drown, to starve and to die of disease and thirst.