Soon after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans city officials announced plans to demolish over 4,800 units of the city’s public housing stock. Sam Jackson, May Day founder and a resident of B.W. Copper Housing Complex, along with other public housing residents began organizing to resist these plans. They were joined by local, national and international supporters. Despite their best efforts – which included marches, protests, meetings with city officials, national and international solidarity letters – in April 2008 the city began demolishing public housing complexes. Yet the fight was not over.
During this time, Sam Jackson founded May Day to address the dearth of housing rights organizations in New Orleans that are run and led by public housing residents, as well as to ensure the promised one-for-one replacement, adequate affordable housing options, and greater community participation in the rebuilding plans.
Although Mayday is a relatively new organization, it has been very active and has already had a great deal of accomplishments. In January 2008, Mayday protested against the unnecessary demolition of four public housing developments through demonstrations, letter writing and online video campaigns. When the developments were leveled, it offered support to displaced residents through referrals to legal services and alternate housing options.
In August 2008, Mayday participated in Katrina Commemoration events including a march where members distributed fact sheets and flyers advocating human right to housing positions.
In October 2008, the organization co-sponsored a town hall meeting entitled: “The Need for Public Works in this Time of Disaster” in which Mayday Director, Sam Jackson, spoke on the basic human right to housing.
In November 2008, Mayday presented at the World Urban Forum in Nanjing, China, in which members discussed the challenges facing poor and low income residents of New Orleans.
In June of 2009, Mayday was selected by the United Nations Advisory Group on Forced Evictions to be the local coordinating organization to work with the UN on it’s investigation into human rights violations in New Orleans.
In September of 2009, Mayday was selected by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing to be the lead local coordinator and local media coordinator of the Rapporteur’s visit to New Orleans.
In January 2010, Mayday organized a day of service on Martin Luther King Day in which over 60 university students, along with Mayday members, visited the Iberville housing development. The day of service involved various activities for the children living in the Iberville, including: arts, crafts, games, and discussions about Dr.King and the civil rights movement. More than 100 children participated. As a result of this activity, many of the University students agreed to participate in a Mayday run program to provide ongoing after-school mentorship activities for Iberville children.
Mayday struggles on a daily basis to prevent unlawful evictions and to ensure the right to safe and sanitary housing for all New Orleans’ residents.
The fight is far from over. Please contact us to see how you can join our movement!
“Voices from the Gulf” interviews May Day Board Member Kawana Jasper, who talks about the impact of losing her beloved St. Bernard community.
Democracy Inaction! View this video of our attempts to participate in the New Orleans City Council meeting where they voted to demolish our communities.