At about 3pm on Monday Oct. 23rd, a coalition of local Black community organizations, Homeless groups, anti-racist youth and local community members occupied an empty city owned lot at the intersection of NW 17th Ave & 62 St. in Miami's Liberty City. The corner lot, once the location of several public housing facilities and most recently littered with trash is now the home of a growing shantytown for the area's homeless & impoverished residents. In the midst of local political scandals, corruption, mismanagement and a backwards housing policy, locals have empowered themselves to create the housing the city has not. Local political leaders continue to remain stagnant in their abilities to help the city's working class communities of color, so these communities have taken it upon themselves to combat the hardship that face them on a daily basis.
It's been a couple of months since the local newspaper the Miami Herald published a series on the housing emergency called "House of Lies." What local residents & activists have been voicing for years, local politicians finally responded to when a large media outlet cornered them with the facts, photographs and documents of corruption and an at best idiotic housing policy eliminating housing as the demand for it grows. Since the late 1990s local politicians have been giving away millions of dollars earmarked for affordable housing and city & county owned land to luxury condominium developers. Affordable housing becomes scarcer by the week as homes and apartments buildings are razed for the ever-expanding skyline of luxury high-rise condominiums for the city's incoming gentrifiers. A phenomenon not unique to Miami, gentrification is tearing though urban centers across the country and displacing low-income communities of color with more affluent and whiter residents.
Since the publication of "House of Lies," there have been protests, an occupation of a County Hall meeting, sit-ins at different County Commission funding meetings and a list of demands presented to local officials. All have been ignored. Meanwhile the city continues to drop millions into the newly finished Carnival Center of the Performing Arts and pushing to break ground on the Crosswinds luxury condominiums. Both facilities are in Miami's Overtown, once a mecca of Black culture now one of the poorest areas in the entire country. As for the rest of the city, Miami is the third poorest city in the U.S. after the push to displace even more poor people out of the city so that we would no longer be the Number One poorest city in the country.
Meanwhile at the shantytown in Liberty City, the communal circle and fire are being built, more tents are being erected, a children's area is being put together, gardens and trees are making their way into the lot. There is talk of hosting everything from workshops on permaculture, spoken word events and maybe film showings if a projector can be donated. Residents from the surrounding communities, including the Pork & Beans Projects, are coming into the community donating what little time and resources they have in full support of the efforts of the shantytown. While providing housing for those that need it, the shantytown will be training incoming residents in the skills involved in its construction & maintenance so that people can replicate it elsewhere. Volunteers of all capabilities are encouraged to come in and help as much or as little as they can. Residents are sharing responsibilities, space, & food as they get prepared to keep camp for the long haul. What are the demands of the shantytown's residents? The same they have been for years: decent, clean affordable housing for all that need it.
For more information: Max Rameau, Center for Pan-African Development, mailto:afrimax at gmail.com 786-556-6881
Amanda Seaton, mailto:amandaseaton2004 at yahoo.com 305-978-8612
"Donations needed for Shantytown in Liberty City!!!!!!! We need: -sleeping bags and blankets -food (***no dishes or utensils, please, we have plenty) -people or groups to volunteer to taken on a day or two to cook a full meal -construction materials: wood pallets, other good wood scraps, plywood, long nails (3 inch), screws, cinder blocks, rebar -tools -trash cans and/or 55 gallon barrels -spray paint -things for kids' area: toys, art supplies -projector -mulch and soil -large storage containers -chairs -rope -tarps -disposable gloves -drinking water in large conatiners (gallon jugs or bigger, so as not to use so many plastic bottles) -volunteers to cook, build, do child care!!!
Bring donations directly to the site at 17th ave and 62nd st NW or call: Max at 786-556-6881 or Amanda at 305-978-8612