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Sunday, August 16, 2015
The Color Change: White Washing a City - by Dr. Beverly Wright, PhD
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Invitation to All. August 29, 2015, the New Orleans Cultural Heritage Festival. City of Los Angeles, California
Greetings All!
On Saturday, August 29, 2015, the New Orleans Cultural Heritage Festival will be held at Leimert Park Village located at Vernon Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard in the City of Los Angeles, California from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Exactly ten years ago on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the City of New Orleans with devastating consequences. Over 2,000 residents were killed by the storm and thousands more were either missing or displaced from the Crescent City. Many of the displaced residents were forced to relocate to other cities around the nation, including Los Angeles, the City of Angels.
I am a sixth generation New Orleans native. Many of my family members and friends were deeply affected by Hurricane Katrina. My former neighborhood, childhood home, grammar school, high school, and church were all destroyed. Many former residents are deceased or displaced and still in need of assistance. There will be testimonials at the event from those who have survived the storm.
This festival will serve to celebrate the unique culture, heritage, music, and cuisine of New Orleans; featuring second-line dancers, live entertainment, arts and crafts, as well as a variety of Creole, Cajun, Soul, Southern, and Vegetarian food dishes. This will be a ten-year commemoration and celebration of those who have survived one of the most catastrophic events in United States history.
The event is sponsored by the Universal Multi-Cultural Awareness Foundation, Inc. (UMCAF); and endorsed by the Offices of Mayor Eric Garcetti, Council President Herb Wesson, Jr., County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, the Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council (ECWANDC), and the Louisiana to Los Angeles Organizing Committee (LALA).
We hope that you are able to come out and join us in the day’s activities. The program will include testimonies from Katrina survivors, ten years later. The New Orleans Cultural Heritage Festival is both a commemoration of those who have survived that tragic event; and a celebration of the life, times, and victorious struggles of those who have valiantly persevered. In the New Orleans tradition, even through the most difficult of times, our people say; “Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler!” Let the Good Times Roll!
Sincerely,
Ms. Sylvia Jones,
President/CEO, UMCAF, Inc.
On Saturday, August 29, 2015, the New Orleans Cultural Heritage Festival will be held at Leimert Park Village located at Vernon Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard in the City of Los Angeles, California from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Exactly ten years ago on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the City of New Orleans with devastating consequences. Over 2,000 residents were killed by the storm and thousands more were either missing or displaced from the Crescent City. Many of the displaced residents were forced to relocate to other cities around the nation, including Los Angeles, the City of Angels.
I am a sixth generation New Orleans native. Many of my family members and friends were deeply affected by Hurricane Katrina. My former neighborhood, childhood home, grammar school, high school, and church were all destroyed. Many former residents are deceased or displaced and still in need of assistance. There will be testimonials at the event from those who have survived the storm.
This festival will serve to celebrate the unique culture, heritage, music, and cuisine of New Orleans; featuring second-line dancers, live entertainment, arts and crafts, as well as a variety of Creole, Cajun, Soul, Southern, and Vegetarian food dishes. This will be a ten-year commemoration and celebration of those who have survived one of the most catastrophic events in United States history.
The event is sponsored by the Universal Multi-Cultural Awareness Foundation, Inc. (UMCAF); and endorsed by the Offices of Mayor Eric Garcetti, Council President Herb Wesson, Jr., County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, the Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Development Council (ECWANDC), and the Louisiana to Los Angeles Organizing Committee (LALA).
We hope that you are able to come out and join us in the day’s activities. The program will include testimonies from Katrina survivors, ten years later. The New Orleans Cultural Heritage Festival is both a commemoration of those who have survived that tragic event; and a celebration of the life, times, and victorious struggles of those who have valiantly persevered. In the New Orleans tradition, even through the most difficult of times, our people say; “Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler!” Let the Good Times Roll!
Sincerely,
Ms. Sylvia Jones,
President/CEO, UMCAF, Inc.
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Mobile: +1-424-222-1997 Skype; andrew.williams.jr
One Earth, one humanity,and one crisis. Sept 21-25 2015. Join Prayers for Climate Action at the Lincoln Memorial
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Faith Events
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Observe
Yom Kippur 2015
at the Lincoln
Memorial
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Multi-faith Vigil at the Lincoln Memorial
9/23 7:00pm to 9/24 7:00am
The Franciscan Action Network will be leading
an all-night, multi-faith vigil at the Lincoln Memorial because, as
Pope Francis and so many others have pointed out, there's one Earth, one
humanity,and one crisis.
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Open Letter to the Ministers of State and the Public Societies of Canada-US-Mexico
The Law of Exceptions
Open
Letter to the Ministers of State
and the
Public Societies of Canada-US-Mexico
NAFTA and
the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
October 27, 2011
Greetings. Today the
ancient arc of pilgrimage of the Nations and Pueblos of the Indigenous Peoples
of Anahuac, Turtle Island and Abya Yala [the Americas] purposefully intersects
once more with the trajectory of the government states whom you represent on
our continent. Today the traditional representatives
of the Wixarika Nation bring the case of the Defense of Wirikuta, sacred heart of Mexico, to the
fore of the national, international and global agenda of discussions on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the Rights of Mother Earth.
As Nican Tlacah, we are on a pilgrimage of purpose to generate the
collective understanding necessary among all human society for the sacredness
of life itself to be lived, to be celebrated, and to be protected in the
homelands and sacred shrines of the Indigenous Peoples.
Today in Mexico City, and at the Canadian Embassy in Mexico
a petition demanding respect and protection for the sacred sites of the
Wirikuta is being delivered to the Mexican and Canadian governments. We here-now,
Nican Tlacah
Izkalotecah,
extend our solidarity and commitment to rectify the historical and social
injustices that have created the immoral and illegal complicity among corporate
interests and government officials who should be defending the common good and
not acting as agents of corporate profits.
Context
Within the provisions of the 1994
North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) among your governments, each
nation-state reserved the right to deny investors rights or preferences
provided to “aboriginal peoples”, “socially or economically disadvantaged
minorities”, or “socially or economically disadvantaged groups” in from two to
five designated areas. These provisions
of exception are cited in Annex II, as follows:
· “Canada
reserves the right to adopt or maintain any measure denying investors of
another Party and their investments, or service providers of another Party, any
rights or preferences provided to aboriginal peoples,”
· “The
United States reserves the right to adopt or maintain any measure according
rights or preferences to socially or economically disadvantaged minorities,
including corporations organized under the laws of the State of Alaska in
accordance with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act,”
· “Mexico
reserves the right to adopt or maintain any measure according rights or
preferences to socially or economically disadvantaged groups,”
In reference to these
provisions of exception of NAFTA,
professor Valerie J. Phillips correctly stated, “All three nation-states
remembered indigenous peoples, but only long enough to put them in their place.
All of these exemptions simply continue the ongoing nation-state subordination
and marginalization of indigenous peoples.”
The terms subordination and
marginalization are only the skin of the beast.
The actual process which has been ongoing since October 12, 1492 is
genocide and colonialism, implemented via trade agreements and economic
development policies that favor the process of colonization by European American “white”
elites continentally and their corporate accomplices. The Niña, the Pinta, the Santa Maria, the
Mayflower: the NAFTA and the NARCO.
The invasion of Turtle Island Abya Yala
continues, yet our resistance, as Indigenous Peoples is also unbroken. We resist and rebel, we regenerate and call
out once more today for rectification and clarity, purpose and solidarity as
children of the Nations
and Pueblos of Mother Earth.
Clarifications:
From the United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the UN General
Assembly September 13, 2007:
Article 32
States shall consult and cooperate in good
faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative
institutions in order to obtain their free
and informed consent prior
to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other
resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or
exploitation of mineral, water or other resources.
It is evident that the
of lack of processes and accountability for violations of the Right of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent for Indigenous
Peoples is a fatal flaw not
only the consultations which led to the NAFTA as a regional commercial compact,
but for the actual ongoing implementation of the agreement. The case of Wirikuta in Mexico is mirrored in the crisis of the Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada and Mt. Tenabo in Nevada as well as scores of other development
projects impacting Indigenous Nations across North America including the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona. The violation of the right of
Free, Prior and Informed Consent extends across the entire spectrum of economic
development programs that are promoted and protected with preferential policies
by the governments of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) regime.
The violations of the Right of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent is systemic under the neoliberal policies of these states, as is their complicity
in the criminal exploitation and expropriation of the natural resources and labor of our Nations and Pueblos. This is a grave
foreign policy issue of crisis that must be addressed under the standards of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the UN General
Assembly on September 13, 2007.
Focusing in on the US context
of the issues, Anthony Bothwell, remarks that the European taking of America
involved “the most extensive land fraud and the largest holocaust in world
history”. He argues persuasively that,
within the United States, the Supreme Court distorted international “laws” or doctrines regarding conquest and
discovery to “rationalize white supremacist
usurpation of Indian nation sovereignty, even while conceding that the great
injustice may have violated international law principles”. Bothwell goes even further than the mere
analysis of then-existing international laws to assert that the taking of
America violated
binding treaties, the law of nations as recognized in the U.S.
Constitution, as well as the Supremacy, Commerce, Takings, Contracts, and Fifth
Amendment Due
Process Clauses of the U.S. Constitution.
Yet, in spite of these assessments
and predictions of the Master’s Narrative, today
the Wixarica
speak to the World once more from the ceremonial ground of Mexico
in pilgrimage of purpose and clarification. The Cuachichilcameh
Izkalotecah respond and relay the following message, once more:
Continental Proclamation
Abya Yala
Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues
Fifth Period of
Sessions May 15- 26, 2006
United Nations NY, NY
Recalling the memory, will and
spirit of our ancestors of time immemorial, they who gave origination to we the
Indigenous
Nations of the Continent Abya Yala,
Reclaiming the power of destiny
as Peoples
of Humanity,
In safeguard of the Rights of the
Future
Generations of our Nations of Indigenous Peoples,
Invoking the ancestral mandates of
our Continental
Confederation of the Eagle and the Condor, and the respective
pronunciations ratified in Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples in Quito,
Ecuador 2004, and in Mar de Plata, Argentina 2005,
WE HEREBY PROCLAIM
Presenting ourselves as Nations
of the Indigenous Peoples of our continent Abya Yala before this Fifth Period
of Sessions of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues of the United Nations,
and upon being received as such by the convoking authorities on the floor of
the General
Assembly,
That the Papal Bull Inter
Caetera of Pope Alexander VI (1493) is hereby ANNULLED,
as well as whatever Doctrine of Discovery
proceeding from which that pretends to deform the relationship of Harmony,
Justice, and Peace of we the Indigenous Peoples of Humanity in its entirety.
May 18, 2006
CONCLUSION
We call upon the ministers of
government at all levels of Canada-US-Mexico and the public
constituencies of their respective societies to address without
prejudice or discrimination the above clarifications. We assert that these
clarifications command rectification of the crime of colonialism
and a moratorium
on all NAFTA economic development projects impacting the territories of the Nations
and Pueblos of Indigenous Peoples until the right of Free,
Prior and Informed Consent of the Indigenous Peoples is fully
recognized, respected, and protected in the spirit of the UN Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as follows:
“Affirming that
Indigenous Peoples are equal to all other peoples,…..”
NAHUACALLI
Embassy of Indigenous Peoples
www.nahuacalli.org
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Boston. 100 Resilient Cities. May 19, 2015
http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/default.aspx?id=20127
Mayor Walsh and the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities Host "KickOff" Workshop Marking Beginning of City's Participation in Innovative Global Urban Resilience Initiative
Workshop Brings Together Key Stakeholders to Develop City's "Roadmap to Resilience"; Hiring of Chief Resilience Officer Will Ensure Strategy Responds to Overarching Issues Facing Boston
For Immediate Release May 19, 2015 Released By: Mayor's Office | For More Information Contact: Mayor's Press Office 617.635.4461 |
BOSTON – Tuesday, May 19, 2015 – Mayor Martin J. Walsh today joined 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) - pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation - to kick off the process of developing a comprehensive resilience strategy that will enable the city to better survive, adapt and grow no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks it experiences. The workshop brought together local officials and civic leaders, as well as engineers, architects, economists, faith leaders, academics and urban planners from around the city to participate in discussions on shared priorities and the essential elements for our preparedness plans.
“Thanks to 100 Resilient Cities and The Rockefeller Foundation, Boston has a real opportunity to address lingering social and economic impacts of our history,” said Mayor Walsh. “This workshop is a first step towards creating a tremendous resource and will move Boston towards a stronger, more resilient future.”
Boston’s initiative includes a unique focus on social resilience. Forty years after the busing crisis, Boston remains a city affected by divisions of race and class that undermine community cohesion. Gaps in health, educational and economic outcomes are evidence of how these fissures weaken resilience. The goal of the 100RC Initiative is to find ways to infuse the principles of resilience into all aspects of local planning, ensuring the city's ability to weather and recover from the physical, social and economic crises that are increasingly prevalent in the 21st century.
In the months following today’s workshop, the city will continue to engage those stakeholders, resilience experts and 100RC staff in drafting the plan. As part of the process, Mayor Walsh is seeking applicants for the position of Chief Resiliency Officer (CRO) for the City of Boston to ensure Boston's resilience strategy incorporates and responds to the overarching issues facing Boston, including racial and socio-economic inequity, the lack of affordable housing, unemployment and underemployment, violence, climate change, flooding and terrorism. The position is funded through 100RC.
The CRO will report directly to the Mayor and will support the development of a resilience strategy and policy discussion in the city that includes an assessment of our social resilience opportunities and challenges. The CRO will also work with external stakeholders towards a shared vision on economic development, transportation, housing, climate change and the arts. Boston residency is required for this position. Interested applicants can apply at the City of Boston’s website: http://www.cityofboston.gov/ohr/careercenter/
In December 2014, Mayor Walsh announced that Boston had been selected as one of 35 cities from around the world to join the 100RC Network, which supplies its member cities with tools, funding, technical expertise and other resources to build resilience to the challenges of the 21st century.
“City governments are on the front line of dealing with acute shocks and chronic stress,” said The Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin. “Boston is part of a group of cities leading the way on resilience to better prepare for, withstand, and recover more effectively when disruption hits. Through this type of inclusive resilience planning cities can be better prepared for the unexpected. T hey can also realize the resilience dividend, the economic and competitive advantages that come from taking a resilience mindset. Boston’s commitment to resilience thinking, planning and action will set a global example.”
“Boston is helping fuel global momentum around building urban resilience, and leading by example,” said Michael Berkowitz, President of 100 Resilient Cities. “The agenda workshop will clarify the city’s needs, surface innovative thinking, and give us a blueprint for engaging partners from across sectors to bring Boston the tools and resources needed to become more resilient.”
About 100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation:
100 Resilient Cities – pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation -- is dedicated to helping cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. 100RC supports the adoption and incorporation of a view of resilience that includes not just the shocks but also the stresses that weaken the fabric of a city on a day-to-day or cyclical basis. Examples of these stresses include high unemployment; an overtaxed or inefficient public transportation system; endemic violence; or chronic food and water shortages. By addressing both the shocks and the stresses, a city can better respond to adverse events and is more capable of delivering basic functions in good time and bad, to all populations.
The 100 Resilient Cities Challenge was launched in 2013 as a $100 million commitment to build urban resilience. Officials or leaders or major institutions from over 700 cities have applied to the Challenge. The first cohort of 32 cities was announced in December 2013, and 100RC announced their second cohort of 35 cities in December 2014. Information on the Challenge itself is available at www.100resilientcities.org/challenge.
An FAQ can be found at: http://www.100resilientcities.org/pages/100RC-FAQ#/-_/
Media Contact for 100 Resilient Cities: Maxwell Young – Myoung@100RC.org
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Olympics Summer Games in Caribbean, or African Union member nations. Just a dream.
Just a dream.
Selection of Haiti, or an African Union member
nation as Summer Olympic host games. Imagine the physical infrastructure, jobs,
business development that could take place in a country such as Haiti, Cuba,
Barbados, Benin, Malawi, Kenya, Ghana, or any other nation in need of renewal,
and revitalization.
A dream and imagination can make it possible.
Community Stakeholder and Corporate Responsibility. U.S EPA requires California companies to improve oil spill prevention plans
How are spills and environmental concerns planned for in your communities?
BEMA
For Immediate Release: August 5, 2015
Media Contact: Soledad Calvino, calvino.maria@epa.gov, 415-972-3512
Safety-Kleen Systems in Newark and Cargill Corporation in Fullerton fined $135,000
LOS
ANGELES
– Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the resolution of a
series of settlements under the Clean Water Act with Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc.,
in Newark, Calif., and Cargill Corporation, in Fullerton, Calif., for
violations of federal oil pollution prevention regulations. Safety-Kleen will
pay a $90,000 penalty and Cargill will pay a $45,000 penalty to resolve the
violations at their facilities.
“All companies who store oil must comply with federal standards. Facilities are required to prevent spills and be prepared to respond to a worst case oil discharge emergency," said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Preventing spills and protecting our waterways from oil spills is essential.”
Safety-Kleen, a waste oil recycler in Newark, Calif., violated the Clean Water Act’s Oil Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) rules by failing to provide secondary containment around an oil storage area; failing to secure and control access to oil handling, processing and storage areas; failing to use safe containers and good engineering practices, including liquid level alarms, to avoid discharges; and failing to develop a complete Facility Response Plan.
Cargill Corporation, which operates a vegetable oil terminal and packaging facility in Fullerton, Calif., violated EPA’s oil pollution prevention regulations by failing to update and recertify its SPCC plan for its Fullerton facility; failing to provide adequate oil containment and drainage controls; failing to ensure that the secondary containment walls of the East Tank Farm could contain spilled oil; and failing to remove accumulations of oil outside tanks and piping, transfer areas and process area collection trenches.
EPA also recently settled with four smaller California companies for violations of the oil pollution prevention regulations at their sites. The four companies are:
Antioch Building Materials
The Pittsburg, Calif. company was fined $2,775 for failure to provide a proper SPCC plan, implement tank inspection and integrity testing programs, and provide documentation of employee training.
JC Greasebuyers
The Riverside, Calif. company was fined $2,400 for failure to provide a proper SPCC plan, for storing oil in improper storage containers and for failing to implement a tank integrity testing program to prevent releases.
Gemsa Oil
The La Mirada, Calif. company was fined $2,250 for failure to provide a proper SPCC plan and have adequate secondary containment for vegetable oil storage tanks.
SoCal Pumping
The Riverside, Calif. company was fined $1,900 for failing to provide a proper SPCC plan, and complete inspection records, The facility also lacked an adequate tank integrity testing program and proper oil drum secondary containment.
EPA’s proposed Clean Water Act settlements for the Cargill and Safety-Kleen cases are subject to a 30 day public comment period and approval by the Regional Judicial Officer and are available at:
The goal of
EPA’s SPCC regulation is to prevent oil from reaching navigable waters and
adjoining shorelines, and to contain and respond to discharges of oil. The
regulation requires onshore oil storage facilities to develop and implement
SPCC Plans and establishes procedures, methods, and equipment requirements to
prevent spills, and to respond properly if a spill occurs.
For more information on SPCC, please visit: http://www2.epa.gov/oil-spills-prevention-and-preparedness-regulations
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BEMA
For Immediate Release: August 5, 2015
Media Contact: Soledad Calvino, calvino.maria@epa.gov, 415-972-3512
U.S EPA requires California companies to
improve oil spill prevention plans
Safety-Kleen Systems in Newark and Cargill Corporation in Fullerton fined $135,000
“All companies who store oil must comply with federal standards. Facilities are required to prevent spills and be prepared to respond to a worst case oil discharge emergency," said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Preventing spills and protecting our waterways from oil spills is essential.”
Safety-Kleen, a waste oil recycler in Newark, Calif., violated the Clean Water Act’s Oil Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) rules by failing to provide secondary containment around an oil storage area; failing to secure and control access to oil handling, processing and storage areas; failing to use safe containers and good engineering practices, including liquid level alarms, to avoid discharges; and failing to develop a complete Facility Response Plan.
Cargill Corporation, which operates a vegetable oil terminal and packaging facility in Fullerton, Calif., violated EPA’s oil pollution prevention regulations by failing to update and recertify its SPCC plan for its Fullerton facility; failing to provide adequate oil containment and drainage controls; failing to ensure that the secondary containment walls of the East Tank Farm could contain spilled oil; and failing to remove accumulations of oil outside tanks and piping, transfer areas and process area collection trenches.
EPA also recently settled with four smaller California companies for violations of the oil pollution prevention regulations at their sites. The four companies are:
Antioch Building Materials
The Pittsburg, Calif. company was fined $2,775 for failure to provide a proper SPCC plan, implement tank inspection and integrity testing programs, and provide documentation of employee training.
JC Greasebuyers
The Riverside, Calif. company was fined $2,400 for failure to provide a proper SPCC plan, for storing oil in improper storage containers and for failing to implement a tank integrity testing program to prevent releases.
Gemsa Oil
The La Mirada, Calif. company was fined $2,250 for failure to provide a proper SPCC plan and have adequate secondary containment for vegetable oil storage tanks.
SoCal Pumping
The Riverside, Calif. company was fined $1,900 for failing to provide a proper SPCC plan, and complete inspection records, The facility also lacked an adequate tank integrity testing program and proper oil drum secondary containment.
EPA’s proposed Clean Water Act settlements for the Cargill and Safety-Kleen cases are subject to a 30 day public comment period and approval by the Regional Judicial Officer and are available at:
and
For more information on SPCC, please visit: http://www2.epa.gov/oil-spills-prevention-and-preparedness-regulations
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