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· · -· ··- ••••• _ _ _i._ _ ·- --· · - . We a r e here tonight to tell Atlanta, Georgia to STOP treating poor people in the housing pr oj ects like slaves. STOP making mo thers in Grady.Homes leave their babi es at s ix in the mo rning and go tak e care of the rich white man's children in Buckhead. STOP paying those maids only 30 dollars a week and raising their rent. .! STOP making men in Perry Homes work fo r slave wages, ~'1'.. 0 P ., .. evicting their families or dimming their lights when they can't get the rent on time . STOP making them pa_y fines they don't deserve and bills they are . ,1 ..,' 1""; .j
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not resp onsib le for.
STOP conditions in Carver Homes that let rats go after children.
STOP lying to people about not having their applic ations.
And STOP , Atlanta, bragging about what you are doing for poor
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people, because you aren't. Atlanta, you don't even have Grady Homes,
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Perry Homes and · Carver Homes.
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You have Grady Slums, Perry Prisons,
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and Carver Ghettoes! And that's where hungry children, unemployed men,
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and poor mother s live.
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We s ay to Atlanta, Georgia, that if you don't STOP all this, we are
going to STOP you from doing it. SCLC ci.ncl the Tenants United For Fairness
-- - that means TUFF - -- are going to get tough with you, and we mean everyone from Mayor Ivan Allen on down.
WE DEMAND the BHl of Rights for Public Housing Tenants. We
' a re sick and tired of the Mayor an d th e Board for t)1e Atlanta Housing Authorit y delaying action on our Bill of Ri ght s.
The injus tices to poor people in the
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-2 hous ing projects have been going on fo r years and year s, and we will not
stand for more dela ys and more s tudi es . \Ve have studied the Atlanta
Housing Author ity, and we have found that the Atlanta Housing Author i ty, s tarting with Mr . Satterfi eld (the director) ha d better get right or get
lost. And the Boa r d needs som e new blood tha t represents poo1..· P"'ople,
not baiL'l{e r a 8.nd r eal estate inter es ts.
We e specially dem4nd that the Atlanta Housing Authority tell us
exactly why it do es n't reduce rents instead of raising rents. WE DEMAND
that the y tell us what they are doing with ever y penny of poor people's money
for secur ity d eposits when they move into housing pr oj'ects·. Vlhere is the
money? Do the banks get it? The white banks? What does the Housing
Authority do with the poor people's money? Do they get interest on the
money and reduce r ents? NO! Do they fix up the housing projects? NO!
the tenants have to pay for that. Do they provide more electr icity and heat?
NO! they dim the lights and the homes get cold. Do they use the money to
buy more slum properties? Do they use the money to pay their own salaries?
WHERE IS THE MONEY? We dem and that the money be controlled by the
tenants a' nd used as the tenants determine for improvements in their homes.
WE ALSO DEMAND that p;1blic ho '. i sing he turned over to the tenats
so tha t the tenants can manage their own hom es and control admissions, discipline, fines, clean-up, and hiring for maintenance. Do, you know that this
has been done in proj ects in Baltimot'e, Maryland, and Cleveland, Ohio?
Why not Atlanta, if Atlanta is so great and so _pr og1~essive?
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-3WE ALSO DElVIAND THAT each ho using pro ject have a hearing
panel - - made up of tenants and management , and controlled by the tenahts .
This panel must have the po wer to veto the r ul es of the Atlanta Housing
Authority. This panel co:1 ld decide who m an,.._ges their project a nd who gets
jol:Js in m a nagem e nt and custodia l work.
TLe tena nts t hems2lves ·\1ould have
firs t choice. That is a way to really fight poverty by giving poor people
jobs.
Housing pr ojects do~1' l ne ed managers who come from other commu-
nities . We don't nee·d mangers who dig up the flower gardens that the poor
people pJ.anted , as they did at one proj ec t here in Atlanta. Vie don.' t need
m anagers and gover nment emp~.oyees breaking in.to homes and searching
prop-2 rty when the tenants aren' t there. Vile don't want dictator managers
fi ning us and putting us into the streets with out money for rent or food.
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WE ALSO DEMAND that the Atlanta Housing A uthority recognize
TUFF as the official bargaining agent for tena nts and stop intimidating people
in tufL.
These ar e our demands , and we want sim1)le a ns,vers -- like
YES or NO - - and we want answers NOW.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Da vid Abernathy started fight-
ing for poor pe ople and black peopl.e 14 yea rs ago i n Mo ntgomery, Alabama.
They have assassinated Dr o King, but if anyone thin\s I am going to l et
them forget ab out it
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stop fighting fo r my brothers and ststers -- they
got a l esso n to l earn, s tarting right here in Atlanta, 0 2orgiao
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