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The BAP-Baltimore Condemns Baltimore Water Crisis As Gross Negligence

The BAP-Baltimore Condemns Baltimore Water Crisis As Gross Negligence

The Black Alliance for Peace-Baltimore Condemns Baltimore Water Crisis As Gross Negligence

For Immediate Release:

Media Contact

communications@blackallianceforpeace.com

(202) 643-1136

October 5, 2023—The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) condemns Baltimore City’s Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore City’s City Council President Nick Mosby, the entire Baltimore City Council, Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW), and Baltimore City Health Department (BCHD) for their gross negligence in handling the Cryptosporidium parasite in the Druid Hill water supply contamination crisis.

Five days ago, a “routine” test of the Druid Lake Reservoir found levels of the Cryptosporidium parasite inside the uncovered reservoir. The drinking water is used by Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Howard County Maryland citizens. City council member Mark Conway posted on X (formerly Twitter) that this microorganism can “potentially cause gastrointestinal issues in those who are immunocompromised, elderly, or children.” The Department of Public Works (DPW) released a statement, just before noon, with the same information and a graphic. No mention of when citizens should look forward to the water being decontaminated, but just continuing the narrative that the parasite will only potentially cause gastrointestinal problems for those who are “immunocompromised, elderly, or children.” They further stated to “please rest assured that the drinking water remains safe for the general public.” Mayor Brandon Scott has released zero statements outside of one quoted post and a couple of re-posts from DPW on X. Zero press releases from the Baltimore City Council, public pages or websites.

The BCHD shared a fact sheet and re-shared the DPW’s FAQ but no information about where to get free water and when this issue could possibly be fixed. It mirrors a similar scene from last September during the E.coli outbreak. The city waited two days to notify the public after water tested positive for contamination, and even then many residents had to find out from friends and neighbors. In March of this year, it was found that Baltimore City officials violated the federal and state public notice rules for E.coli contamination. The parasite found in the water impacts us all, as the “immunocompromised, elderly, and children” are our neighbors, friends and family. In addition, the COVID-19 virus can weaken immune systems, and we are currently in a surge without mask mandates, meaning many citizens could experience health problems from the parasite before they realize they are at risk. Again, Baltimore City officials are performing an illegal act to its citizens and the rest of Marylanders by not properly informing, educating and providing bottled water for its affected citizens. 

This crisis is in a larger context of continued neglect of Baltimore’s aging infrastructure, including in other systems. For example, the city is refusing to expand a program to help residents clean sewage backups again caused by neglect though it is under a modified consent decree by the EPA and has been directed to do so by state and federal regulators. Instead the city chooses to pump money into bloated police programs such as the “Deadly Exchange” program, a massive exchange between the U.S. and Israeli police. Recently, the city is proposing a new $330 million joint training facility for Baltimore’s police and fire departments on West Baltimore’s Coppin State University campus. Even more, routinely half of Baltimore’s discretionary annual budget is allocated to police such that Baltimore spends the most per capita of any major city in the United States on policing. Rather than spending on absurd police budgets that do not increase public safety, resources should be prioritized to fix the city's debilitated infrastructure. 

The city’s trusted government officials and departments are continuing to be neglectful and misleading the majority of its citizens to believe that only a certain community among them would be affected. In Baltimore, resources are only rapidly mobilized to provide cover for police malfeasance. Similar to the government's messaging on COVID, the city downplays the actual dangers of the situation and does little to protect its citizens. Instead, we demand accurate information be dispersed in a timely manner across platforms that reach majorities of city residents, resources, including water, be accessibly distributed across affected neighborhoods, and city resources directed to improve utilities. Given that there was a problem with the water supply last year around the same time, city leadership should also have a preventative plan to address safety and cleanliness of the city’s water supply permanently.

Sources:

DPW Baltimore:

Mayor:

City Council President:

CDC:

BCHD:

BAP Articles:

Baltimore pushes back against EPA order to cover more sewage backups

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/environment/bs-md-baltimore-sewage-backups-disagreement-epa-20230726-cmvjhplddba65ks2k3smnx3sli-story.html

Baltimore Won’t Expand a Program to Help Residents Clean up After Sewage Backups

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25072023/baltimore-sewage-backups-epa/

Aging water infrastructure at the root of Baltimore E. coli contamination, city officials say

The city received positive tests of bacteria in the water system on Saturday, Sept. 3, but residents didn’t learn about the contamination until two days later, on Labor Day morning.

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-power/local-government/aging-water-infrastructure-at-the-root-of-baltimore-e-coli-contamination-city-officials-say-OWQ4VB3FKREYBBLQPYN6DRBGA4/

A Look at Environmental Justice Issues in Maryland

Black Americans in Baltimore are disproportionately impacted by water affordability issues, as water rates have risen more rapidly than the national average, partly due to failing infrastructure. Studies show that by 2022, the average annual water bill for Baltimore citizens will be triple the national average of 2010 water bills. 

https://climate-xchange.org/2022/01/14/a-look-at-environmental-justice-issues-in-maryland/

BALTIMORE’S CRIME NUMBERS GAME

Baltimore spends the most per capita of any major city in the United States on policing.

https://therealnews.com/baltimore-police-spending-violent-crime-statistics 

Despite 'defunding' claims, police funding has increased in many US cities

An ABC analysis of state and local police funding and overall violent crime data in the U.S. between 1985 and 2020 found no relationship between year-to-year police spending and crime rates. An analysis by the Washington Post found similar results from 1960 to 2018.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/defunding-claims-police-funding-increased-us-cities/story?id=91511971#:~:text=An%20ABC%20analysis%20of%20state,results%20from%201960%20to%202018.


Banner photo: Baltimore activists protest for the human right to water (courtesy peopledemandingaction.org, David Card)

For Biden Administration, Black Lives Don’t Matter in Haiti!—A BAP Statement on Haiti

For Biden Administration, Black Lives Don’t Matter in Haiti!—A BAP Statement on Haiti

The people of Haiti have been demanding freedom from the succession of U.S.-imposed dictators for decades. One such dictator, Jovenel Moïse, refused to leave office February 7, which marked the end of his term four years after an illegal election. This move catapulted yet another intense episode in the historic struggle of the Haitian masses against colonial intervention. Tens of thousands of Haitians went to the streets demanding democracy and an end to dictatorship. And what was the response from the U.S. puppet regime? Bullets, paramilitary terror, curfews, house raids, beatings and the imprisonment of opposition leaders.

With the election of U.S. President Joe Biden, folks believed this so-called “champion” of fair elections and the rule of law—who had expressed a commitment that “Black Lives Matter”—would rally to the side of Haitians and end U.S. support for the dictatorship.

But that did not happen.

When Moïse announced he would stay in office past February 7, and continue to rule by decree, the Biden administration signaled it supported that decision. Moïse’s rule by decree was made possible because elections were postponed in 2019, which allowed the mandates of most of the representatives to the National Assembly—Haiti’s parliament—to expire.

It did not matter that Moïse ruled by decree, that he violated the rights of his people and that the majority of the people wanted him gone. What mattered to the Biden administration was the purpose Moïse served in U.S. plans for the Caribbean and Latin American region.

In other words, the people must be sacrificed for the larger interests of the U.S. imperial project. These interests that could not be bothered with the trifle concerns about democracy, legitimacy or the rights of the people. Those rhetorical terms are only evoked as expressions of the United States’ so-called “values” when directed at an adversary like Russia, Venezuela, China or any other country the United States is actively attempting to destabilize. But those values cannot be allowed to complicate U.S. interests in Haiti or even in the occupied Black and Brown communities within the United States.

We ask Joe Biden and his supporters, who claim Biden cares about African/Black people: Why does it seem like the lives of African/Black people in Haiti do not matter? Is it that Black lives only matter when they are supporting U.S. and European colonial white power?

In the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), we know the answer to that rhetorical question. Both parties and the U.S. state have demonstrated the lives of non-Europeans mean extraordinarily little. And the values that the United States and Western Europeans pretend to uphold—like democracy and human rights—are dead letters when it comes to the fundamental human rights of the peoples of the global South.

The United States and the United Nations armed and trained Haitian police. Moïse has the full support of these armed paramilitary forces, who are committed to upholding the rule of the Haitian ruling class that serves international capital. That is why the Biden administration supports Moïse. Therefore, Moïse has no legitimacy.

Haiti emerged as a free society in the greatest revolution in human history in 1804, when the people of Haiti established the first Black Republic after fighting and defeating first the Spanish and then the French, at the time the greatest military power on the planet. Since then, the West has tried to destroy Haiti.

Invasions, occupations, death squads, economic plunder, attacks on their culture, political isolation and U.S.-backed dictatorships have exacted a severe price on the people of Haiti. Yet, they have never surrendered. That spirit of resistance is on display today in the streets of Haiti.

We, in the Black Alliance for Peace, will continue to support those efforts by organizing actions throughout the United States in solidarity with the Haitian people.

We are not confused. There is nothing exceptional about the United States, except perhaps its hypocrisy. Declarations made by white-supremacist politicians and heads of imperialist corporations that “Black Lives Matter” have rung hollow, opportunistic and completely in contradiction to the lived experiences of African/Black people in the United States from 1619 to the present.

Stripped of the veneer of liberal-rights discourse, the true core values of the U.S. settler-colonial project are obvious: Glorification of violence, white supremacy, patriarchy, social Darwinism, materialism and extreme individualism. These core values facilitated the land theft that allowed for the creation of the United States, enslavement and the most rapacious forms of capitalist accumulation on the planet.

The abandonment of the people of Haiti affirms once again the United States is committed to white power. Subversion, war and brutal sanctions are just some of the instruments employed to maintain the structures of white colonial-capitalist power.

So, our appeal is not to the conscience of Biden and the neoliberal imperialist Democrats—they only have objective interests. Instead, we call on the people of the United States to demand an alteration both in U.S. policies regarding Haiti and in its relationship with Haiti as well as with all nations that currently find themselves in the crosshairs of U.S. imperialist reaction.

However, we understand our commitment to peace and People(s)-Centered Human Rights, social justice, democracy and self-determination cannot be realized without an organized people who are struggling for power.

The people of Haiti are fighting for power, for the ability to determine their own destiny. Stand with them. Stand with us. Fight for freedom and for a new reality in Haiti and the world.

No Compromise, No Retreat!

More resources on Haiti can be found here.

Photo credit: Chandan Khanna/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

BAP Solidarity Network Demands Biden End War in Afghanistan

BAP Solidarity Network Demands Biden End War in Afghanistan

For immediate release

Media Contact:
info@blackallianceforpeace.com
(202) 643-1136

In response to the Biden administration suggesting it will not complete the withdrawal of U.S. forces, per the Doha Agreement of February 2020, the Black Alliance for Peace Solidarity Network demands the United States end the war in Afghanistan.

The BAP Solidarity Network, comprised of non-African/Black people and organizations who support BAP’s anti-imperialist mission, released a petition (available in English and Spanish) today, calling on everyone committed to peace, human rights and common sense, to demand Biden re-start peace talks; immediately withdraw all U.S. forces, private contractors, and other mercenaries; close all U.S. bases; and respect the sovereignty of Afghanistan.

Nearly 20 years ago, the United States invaded the sovereign nation of Afghanistan, initiating decades of violence and occupation. To date, the war has resulted in the deaths of over 100,000 Afghan adults and children, leaving thousands more injured or permanently disabled.  

“As usual, it is the people of the United States who are forced to fund these imperialist endeavors,” according to Danny Haiphong, co-coordinator of the BAP Solidarity Network. “The financial cost to U.S. citizens has, so far, edged over $1 trillion, much of it lost in a sink-hole of corruption, or spent enriching military contractors and the financial elite.”  

After several months of negotiations, direct peace talks between the Taliban and the U.S.-installed Afghan government finally began this past September. The U.S. news media, Congress, the military-industrial complex, and the foreign-policy community immediately hit out in opposition against Trump’s brokered deal. Now, the Biden administration suggests it will not complete the withdrawal of U.S. forces, which the United States had agreed to when it and the Taliban signed the Doha Agreement in February 2020.

“It is time to stop the lies and for the Biden administration to end this bloody, trillion-dollar war,” says BAP Solidarity Network member Zach Kerner. “The U.S., the most violent country in the world, has been wreaking nothing but violence on the Afghan people for nearly 20 years. But now it is now claiming it cannot move forward on the peace process because of ‘violence.’” 

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The Black Alliance for Peace Solidarity Network is comprised of non-African/Black individuals and organizations that support the anti-imperialist, anti-war and pro-peace positions of the Black Alliance for Peace, an African/Black-led internationalist organization.

Photo credit: Jalil Rezayee/EPA, via Shutterstock

Black Alliance for Peace Demands Biden Administration Abolish 1033 Program

Black Alliance for Peace Demands Biden Administration Abolish 1033 Program

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
info@blackallianceforpeace.com
(202) 643-1136

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) calls U.S. President Joe Biden’s executive order to alter the Department of Defense’s 1033 program because of his supposed commitment to racial justice an affront. The gratuitous militarization of police forces across the United States through this program has helped to turn these agencies into brutal weapons of repression. Therefore, nothing short of complete abolition of this program is acceptable.

BAP has demanded abolition of the 1033 program since BAP’s 2017 founding. It now asks the public to sign a petition (available in English and Spanish) demanding the Biden administration and Democrats commit to abolishing this racist and brutal program.

“Here in the belly of the Deep South beast, we understand the harsh and irreversible effects measures like 1033 have had and continue to have on those who languish in poverty, forced to live in shanty shacks and tenements,” according to Jaribu Hill, executive director of the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights and member of BAP’s national Coordinating Committee. “Our communities are under siege and on dusty back roads, we are accosted and brutalized by the military militia known as the police.”

“Weapons of destruction are used to terrorize our people,” Hill said. “Therefore, we cannot accept band-aid solutions to institutionalized terror under the color of law.”

The National Defense Authorization Act of 1997 that then-Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware) supported and President Bill Clinton (D) signed into law created the 1033 program by expanding on a previous program.

Responding to outrage about the heavily militarized police response to protests after Michael Brown’s murder in Ferguson, Missouri, President Barack Obama enacted a policy in 2015 that appeared to limit the program, but made little difference in any department’s ability to acquire and use military weapons.

Even with the scale-back, the Obama administration managed to transfer a $459 million arsenal to police agencies.

In fact, during the Obama administration, the 1033 program expanded 24-fold (2,400%).

President Donald Trump came into office and reversed Obama’s cosmetic changes. What the Biden administration is now proposing by reversing Trump’s reversal to the Obama policy is not enough, as reverting the policy to Obama’s altered version is not justice.

BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka says what is needed is “demilitarization and an end to the police occupation of colonized Black and Brown communities.”

The Biden administration and Democrats do not admit this program is the latest form of militarized repression deployed to control and contain the Black and Brown colonized and working classes of the United States. If Biden and Democrats were really committed to racial justice, they would support abolition of the 1033 program.

Photo credit: Jeff Roberson/AP