The independent news hour with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez: on Riverhead/Southampton/Southold/Shelter Island Channel 20: Monday 10 pm Tuesday 11 pm Wednesday 7pm Thursday 6pm Friday 9 pm Saturday - 6:30 am
Friday is the third anniversary of the Katrina disaster.A group of New Orleans musicians and activists are touringto bring attention to the un-met needs of those made homeless after hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast.They stopped last week in Bridgehampton.
Members of the Hot 8 Brass Band, a traditional New Orleans street band performed last week to raise awareness about the slow recovery of areas hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.Their tour is also designed to raise funds for the Gulf Coast Fund which supports grass roots groups working torebuild their communities.
In Bridgehampton they gave a free public concert at the Child Care Center and they played their music and talked with children at the Hayground Camp.
In 2006 the Hot 8 Brass Band started the Finding Our Folktour to cities where Gulf Coast residents had been moved. Benny Pete is the tuba player and manages the Hot8. Pete told us:
“We started traveling all over the states where ever there were misplaced people or people that were directly affected by the storms that happened all along the Gulf Coast not just in New Orleans. It’s going on three years later and we still are finding people and still getting in touch with people.”
The musicians say that one quarter of those displaced have returned.Life is tough for the returning residents. Much of the housing in the areas hardest hit are yet to be restored. New Orleans schools, taken over by the state-operated Recovery School Districtare inferior to those in adjacent Jefferson Parish and in places such as Atlanta where some people have re-settled. There are jobs but it is hard to earn a living with a $5.15 per hour minimum wage and with rents that have tripled.
The population of New Orleans is increasing but many of those moving in arenewcomers, who can afford the new condos being built.
Benny Pete says the newcomers complain of 'noise' when street musicians play.
“There’s a lot of strangers in the neighborhoods, people who would not have been there, especially down in the Tremearea that’s a hot and known area for musicians. You have a lot of people took over and bought property there. But they don’t like the music there so they’ll call the police on the musicians that are making music and say they’re making noise.
Its hard for us as New Orleanians and musicians to keep the traditions and the culture alive when you have peoplejust come and move in because they have money and they are buying up property in New Orleans but they are not standing for what New Orleans stands for and they are killing our culture and buying our land.”
More information on the Hot8 Brass Band including the DVD chronicling the Finding Our Folks tour can be found at www.findingourfolk.org
This report is part 1 of a two part report. It will be broadcast on WPKN 89.5 and WPKM 88.7
Thursday and Friday at 6:30 pm.
In Part 2 of our report, we talk to Monique Harden an attorney representing the Gulf Coast Fund, an organization that works to develop what she calls community driven philanthropy for people to rebuild, return and to fight for the right to do this.
This is Part 2 of a 2 part report. For Part 1 click here
Friday marks the third anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
Last week a New Orleans attorney and activist was in Bridgehampton to educate the local community about problems with the recovery effort on the Gulf Coast.
Monique Harden, an attorney and a New Orleans native, accompanied her hometown Hot 8 Brass Band when they made a stop in Bridgehampton last week. A co-founder of the law firm "Advocates for Environmental Human Rights,” Harden is on the advisory panel of the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health.
Ms. Harden told us:
"Its an organization that was created after Hurricane Katrina to develop and build community driven philanthropy in the Gulf region for people to rebuild, return and to fight for their rights to be able to do those things.”
Harden and the musicians brought along a trailer of the type FEMA supplied for those whose homes were destroyed. She related:
“In the initial stages the battle was to even get a FEMA trailer..as you might recall in the national news – the question was why was there such a long waiting list for people to get a FEMA trailer- when there are loads and loads at an airport in Arkansas ..just being stored there.. So that was battle one."
Harden says Battle 2 was getting FEMA to acknowledge that the trailers they delivered, were unhealthy. In 2006 tests showed un-safe levels of formaldehyde in the units. FEMA finally agreed there was a problem after a Congressional investigation.
But their plan to get everyone out of the trailers by June of this year has failed. OXFAM reported this week that 35,000 people are still living in the trailers. Harden says this has resulted in tremendous hardship for people.
“People haven’t been given adequate alternative housing or even safe housing. So it’s causing people to make that hard decision - do I live on the streets or do I find a way to live with friends or a relative. Some people are living in their cars. It has added to the housing crisis which was already a problem.”
Harden says unfortunately, under federal law, citizens have no rights to recovery after a disaster.
"Should there be a disaster that happens here, no one has the right to demand assistance, even for emergency medical care, no one has the right to expect compensation for property damage or any losses. It's all in the discretion of the President and that's according to the Robert T. Stafford Act on national emergencies and disasters."
Ms. Harden says:
"Contrary to what they may think about our so-called recovery in the Gulf area, Katrina was just one disaster but we have another disaster of political decisions which are making a mess of our lives"
Contributions to the work of the Gulf Coast Fund can be made at gulfcoastfund.org
This report was prepared for broadcast Friday August 29 on WPKN 89.5 Bridgeport and WPKM 88.7 Montauk. WPKN news is heard Monday-Friday at 6:30 pm following Free Speech Radio News at 6pm.
During the months of September and October, high schools will be holding Open Houses for parents. Also during these months, military recruiters will be collecting contact information of students who do not hand in an opt out letter.
Attached to this email is a flyer informing students of their right to opt out - one in english and one in spanish. In the flyer is an opt out letter that parents or students can hand in to their school to ensure their privacy from the military. There is also information (in the english version) about the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) which in actuality is a military entrance exam and is given in most Long Island high schools.
Please use this important flyer to hand out at your district's open house, the date of which can be found on the school calendar or by calling the high school. You can also find out the date the opt out letter is due by calling the school (usually the guidance office) and indicate this date on the flyer.
Help is also needed at highly recruited high schools on September 25th:
Wyandanch and Bay Shore at 7:00pm and/or 9:00pm, and Central Islip at 6:30pm and/or 9:00pm. If you can assist others at any of these schools, please let me know.
Your help is appreciated very much in these days of deceiptful recruiting. Bush announced the return of 8,000 soldiers the day a mother of a soldier spoke at a Veterans For Peace meeting informing us her son was re-deployed that same day.
For everyone concerned about our children -here is something important you can do for them in the next few weeks.
This is the time of year when the new school calendar and packet of school information arrive in your mailbox. Somewhere in there might be a notice about "Release of Directory Information to the Military."
This notice will explain briefly that contact information relating to high school students will be given to the Department of Defense, unless a written statement by a parent or guardian is submitted to the school by a particular date. Once the military recruiters receive the contact information, they can be relentless in their mission to sign up recruits. The Department of Defense relies very heavily upon high school students to fill the major portion of their quota of recruits each year.The DOD goal is to sign up students in the Delayed Enlistment Program and then have the students take the official enlistment step as soon as possible after graduation. Problems: a)Information about the opt-out is not easy to locate either in the calendar or among the manynotices sent and many parents are not even on the lookoutfor it.
b) Some parents may feel uneasy writing a letter to theschool, fearing that there might berepercussions.
Important Action You Can Take
Visit your high school on open school night and distribute copies of the flyer (see attachment) which has questions and answers and a sample opt-out form as well as information about the ASVAB test. Open school night is our best opportunity to reach the most number of parents and students with this information that can actually be a matter of life or death. Check your school calendar or call your school to find out the deadline for the opt-out form in your district.Add that date to the flyer so that parents have that very important information. If you would like additional information or help distributing the flyer, call
for a printable version of this document: email rksrc@yahoo.com
SEC. 9528. ARMED FORCES RECRUITER ACCESS TO STUDENTS AND STUDENT RECRUITING INFORMATION.
(a) POLICY.
(1) ACCESS TO STUDENT RECRUITING INFORMATION - Notwithstanding section 444(a)(5)(B) of the General Education Provisions Act and except as provided in paragraph (2), each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide, on a request made by military recruiters or an institution of higher education, access to secondary school students names, addresses, and telephone listings.
(2) CONSENT - A secondary school student or the parent of the student may request that the student’s name, address, and telephone listing described in paragraph (1) not be released without prior written parental consent, and the local educational agency or private school shall notify parents of the option to make a request and shall comply with any request.
(3) SAME ACCESS TO STUDENTS - Each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide military recruiters the same access to secondary school students as is provided generally to post secondary educational institutions or to prospective employers of those students.
(b) NOTIFICATION - The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall, not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, notify principals, school administrators, and other educators about the requirements of this section.
(c) EXCEPTION - The requirements of this section do not apply to a private secondary school that maintains a religious objection to service in the Armed Forces if the objection is verifiable through the corporate or other organizational documents or materials of that school.
(d) SPECIAL RULE - A local educational agency prohibited by Connecticut State law (either explicitly by statute or through statutory interpretation by the State Supreme Court or State Attorney General) from providing military recruiters with information or access as required by this section shall have until May 31, 2002, to comply with that requirement.
It's your child…It's a matter of life and death…
Shouldn't you be in the loop?
Q. Can you answer this question correctly?
By law, schools are required to release information about your son or daughter to:
a) Colleges and universities
b) U.S. military recruiters
c) Telemarketers
A. The correct answer is b. As early as 9th grade, your son or daughter's name, phone number, and address are given to the military. It's part of the 'No Child Left Behind' law. Not obeying this law can result in your school losing it's funding. In other words, the schools have no choice.
Q. Shouldn't I have a say in the matter?
A. You should have a say, and you do.
Q. How?
A. First off, if you are comfortable with your son or daughter being contacted by the military, then you do not have to do anything - though you might want to check out sources to learn more about how military recruiters operate.If you do not want the military getting information about you child, this is your right, and there is a way to prevent it. You, or your child, need to write a letter to your school's principal stating that your child's information should not be given to the military. It is that simple. It's called "opting out." (We recommend you write a letter at the beginning of each school year.) We have attached a letter you can use in this brochure.
Q. Why am I just now finding out about this?
A. That's a hard question to answer. Perhaps school districts are just so busy taking care of other matters. Perhaps they are still figuring out how to deal with this fairly new legal requirement. Perhaps you missed the fine print in a handout that came home at some point. And, let's face it, perhaps the schools are a bit intimidated when the U.S. Military comes knocking at their door. Whatever the reason, we think joining the military is a decision of life-or-death importance. That's why we thought we would share this information with you. We hope you will pass on the favor by spreading the work to other parents - anywhere in the U.S.
Q. Who are we?
A. We are concerned parents and citizens like you. For further information, contact the Suffolk Peace Network at 631-875-8647 or email spncr@active.ws
Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery(ASVAB)
About 14,000 high schools nationwide give a test to students — administered by the US military — ASVAB. It is an admissions and placement test for the US military. All persons enlisting in the US military are required to take the ASVAB. It determines whether a potential recruit is considered qualified for the military and certain jobs.
Schools are NOT required to give the test that is offered by the Pentagon at no charge to the school.
What they tell you: ASVAB is a voluntary test that "will help you make career decisions."
What it really is: The ASVAB test is a way for military recruiters to get information on students taking the test, for recruitment purposes.
Why would someone take this test? You will be told it will tell you what career skills you have, however, there are no connections between ASVAB scores and civilian career skills
Before taking the ASVAB test: Students must sign a document. Scores will not be processed unless it is signed. Even though most of the students who take the test are minors, the military considers their signature legally binding. This signature releases all of the students’ personal information: name, address, phone number and social security number, into a computer listing used for recruitment.
**CHOOSE OPTION 8** If you do not choose Option 8, then all your information will be given out to the military. Recruiters don’t mention Option 8, but when taking the ASVAB, Option 8 protects a student’s personal information from the military recruiters. All schools that offer the ASVAB have Option 8 for students to choose. Schools can also use Option 8 to Opt-Out the entire school.
COMPLETE THIS FORM TO EXERCISE
YOUR FEDERAL RIGHT TO PRIVACY
Section 9528 request
I, _____________________________________________, hereby exercise my federal right, granted me by the Congress of the United States under Section 9528 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (andany other applicable state, federal, or local law or any school policy), and hereby request that the name, address and telephone listing of
__________________________________________ (name of student),
a current student at
_________________________________________(name of school),
not be released to military recruiters without prior written parental consent. I do, however, consent to the disclosure of such information to institutions of higher education other than military schools.
Note to students/parents: This certificate can be signed by either a student or a parent. A student does not need parental consent to submit this certificate. Any secondary school student, regardless of age, can sign this certificate and is authorized by law to submit this request. Parents can also sign this certificate for any secondary school student. When completed, submit this form to the school's administration office.
Note to school administrators: You are required by federal law to comply with this request.
