The Street sweeper: Black Hammer Crew Cleans Up the Lou

Black Hammer are hosting a Community Clean Up in the St. Louis region, to help beautify the community. The cleanup will allow residents and local businesses to feel that they can positively impact their neighborhood by simply picking up trash. It will also reassure other members of the community that they are cared for and that the spaces they live, attend school, play and work in are important.This community clean up will also help show the poor and working class community that they can positively influence their environment by organizing and working together.  We’ve already begun meeting to decide which area would benefit most from our first cleanup.

We got a chance to hear from concerned members of the community, even some of our youth spoke about what a clean community would mean to them. Comrade Naila, spoke about how an unclean community affects the livelihood and mindset of its members. Comrade Maisha spoke about the pressing issues in our communities and how a cleanup can begin moving us in the right direction to unite and change our current way of living as colonized people who are oppressed by the capitalist society we live in. A revolutionary shout-out to Oluwadamini who came out to the meeting despite his own struggles. He has also joined us for several conference calls and to Raniyah for helping to facilitate the meeting. Black Hammer understands that we have to lead by example, improvement can be contagious, so we’re in this together! Find out what your neighbors want to do to improve things.

Everyone brings a different skill set to the neighborhood table, so work together to achieve the common goal of neighborhood improvement. This cleanup will cultivate community pride in common areas. We will work together so that nothing slips through the cracks and that areas stay both clean and safe. Together we can break the ties of oppression!