Miami Dispatch J20: March on the Mayors Conference

View the March on the Mayors photos at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/82285926@N00/sets/72157605736230317/

Skeletons danced in the sky above the restless crowd gathered in the parking lot of the Bethel A & E Church in Overtown, the historic African-American neighborhood in Miami. Over 350 resident representatives of seven U.S. cities bore cardboard coffins with their cities' name blazing in red paint across the side. A NOLA second-line, To Be Continued?, blared out old standards pushing the crowd forward. As the March on the Mayors took the streets in Miami, uniting urban struggles for racial and economic justice from across the country under the demand for a democratic human Right to the City, the sky opened. But oceans of rain could not drown the spirit of the crowd.

Marchers and residents from seven mega-metropolitan regions in the United States, carried umbrellas painted with their messages. From community control of land and stopping slumlords, to queer rights and the right to return for Katrina and Rita Survivors the messages all converged expressing a growing movement for racial justice, economic justice, and self-determination in U.S. Cities.

Bringing up the rear of the march was the Katrina Rita Ville Express, a FEMA trailer touring the country over the next year to raise awareness of the ongoing nature of the crisis in the region, and the continued lack of coherent government action to rebuild the region, particularly to rebuild in a manner that meets the needs of its poor and residents of color.

When the march reached the InterContinental Hotel representatives of different cities took the stage. The rain came down heavier and the sea of umbrellas tightened up creating a common shelter from the driving storm. Spirits and hope remained high and the familiarity of the moment wasn't lost on the dripping crowd.

Ursula Price, of Safe Street / Strong Communities (New Orleans) took the stage "I ain’t going to drown on that levy, and you ain’t going to break my back," she called. The crowds roared thunderously, and like the movement they are building, they stood stronger together against the storm, defiant and fighting.
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* SUSHMA SHETH of the Miami Workers Center and DENISE PERRY of Power U Center wrote an editorial piece for the Miami Herald. Titled “Reclaim cities”. You can view it at http://theworkerscenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=121&Itemid=49

* The Miami Herald also wrote an article “Disparate voices converge” about the Mayors Conference and the “Rights to the City” march on the mayors. You can view the article at http://theworkerscenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=120&Itemid=51