South Bend, IN – BLVD Capital Investments, the firm owning Miami Hills Apartments, is an enemy of it’s poor and working class Black residents. Local activists and organizers affiliated with a new local movement called “Fix It Forward” came to our people’s defense, taking pics of the conditions that our people have been forced to live in. Nearly 140 families live in this slump where there are no working showers, leaking pipes, mice infestations, mushrooms growing through the cracks of walls, and untreated mold spreading throughout the guts of the complex.
Organizers notified the property management company who clearly dgaf! They even offered to volunteer their skills and labor in order to fix the apartments! Still no response, the organizers turned to a local news station ABC57 and the acting Council member, Jake Teska, to make the public aware of the situation.
Because of the people’s public outrage, the property management company was forced to respond. Activists called a press conference so that the owners could address the conditions. It was reported by local newspaper The South Bend Tribune that 6 apartment units inspected by a city code enforcement inspector, all failed inspections with one apartment condemned.
Because of the outrage of our people, the property management company began making “repairs”, however it was discovered that the contractors hired to paint the buildings were covering untreated mold with paint. Organizers then took the struggle to social media, where they have 2300 followers in their Fix It Forward Facebook group, to inform our people about these acts of genocide.
The organizers are forming a tenant association and drafting a set of demands for residents to provide to the owner. Black Hammer salutes the members of Fix It Forward as they fight for the human right to safe and affordable housing for working class masses! It is through the power of the organized masses that we can overturn our colonial conditions.
Forward the African Revolution!
Black Hammer is an organization focused on building Black Power. Under the leadership of the African proletariat, our mission is to use our collective building power to strengthen all sectors of the African Nation. Currently, our physical and intellectual labor is being coerced to build for the capitalist white colonial state, but it can be redirected to a noble cause. We will organize our labor to be of service to our people. Our symbol, the Black Hammer represents breaking the chains of imperialism and building a sustainable future for all African people worldwide.
By: Simphiwe Sankara
