community voices heard

Big business has been meddling with the Gulf Coast long before BP. Industrial runoffs from factory farms have invaded the Gulf and fostering the growth of algae which produces lifeless or "dead" zones of the water. While these problems have been overlooked, they have come into our water and food supply, most commonly in the form of pesticides. David Kirby, expert on factory farming and author of "Animal Factory" joins us in the studio to tell us how Americans' longing for cheap food and cheap gas leads to expensive consequences. Currently, there are six million public housing units for nine million people in need of public housing. Right to the City presents "We Call These Projects Homes", an interview of Anne Washington from Community Voices about the need to empower public housing communities to express this need to the government. Ultimately, the government and the public will need to quench the negativity surrounding the public housing community to guarantee a greater right to housing. Are housing rights the new civil rights? Even though critics claim that housing shortages are crosses to bear, one can't solve foreclosures without first investigating problems behind public housing and homelessness. Protests and community empowerment actions such as "live-ins" akin to the "sit-ins" of the Civil Rights illustrate the growing need of Housing as not a government controlled entity, but an essential human right. Max Rameau, author of "Take Back the Land Movement" and Vince Warren of the Center for Constitutional Rights join us in the studio to discuss the current actions working to secure housing as a human right. Laura's F Word covered the the results of the primary in Pennsylvnia, and how the AFL-CIO's grassroots support contributed.