“As long as public housing remains in the condition it is in, people who want to take that land and make profits from it have ammunition to say, ‘This is horrible’” and we developers can make something better,” Courtney said. “Then you have City officials that have accepted this model of City development that is very private, corporate oriented and believe their personal reputations will improve if they follow this model,” he continued.
“Race, class, and [sex] intersect in ways that help fuel this gentrification and privatization,” he added.
“It’s not like they just want to hurt people,” Griever said. “But there is a group that they will consider to be acceptable losses. There are no acceptable losses."
"What we’re hearing is ‘We want more affluent people living in the city,’" Beaty said.
It is important for residents of public housing to organize because their numbers could translate into "a great deal of political might," Courtney says.
"Part of the motives [in destroying public housing] is to destroy this political power," he added.
“I think there is an effort to dilute minority voting strength," Beaty concurs.
GETTING ORGANIZED AND TURNING THE HEAT UP
"They’re hoping maybe all the White people will come back from the suburbs and Black people can go away [and] that’s not realistic," Griever said of the AHA plan.
Demolishing public housing will "push people further and further out into the unknown," Courtney said. "Push[ing] people into the first ring of the suburbs that is deteriorating [where there is] no transportation to get to work – that to us is unacceptable."
Members of the AHA Board of Commissioners expressed a willingness to meet with Griever and other activists in order discuss the issue further. “Rather than talking past each other, let’s sit down and see if we can find common ground,” Renee Glover, Executive Director of the AHA, told Griever.
Glover has been invited to an April 19, 2007, meeting on this issue at the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless headquarters but it is unknown if Glover will attend.
Griever talked about "empty promises" after the AHA meeting.
"They have a plan that has the appearance of considering other points of view. [But] they want to serve people who have more money," she told APN.
"These guys are beatable. The people can win," Courtney said optimistically. "You don’t always have to have 100,000 [protesters] in the streets. People do have the power and these forces will back down if there is some resistance put forward."
"There are no acceptable losses and if there are losses, then the very least we can expect is to hold those responsible for those losses accountable," Griever concludes. "We’re not going to go quietly. We’re not going to go away."
