PROTESTERS CALL 'ONE-STRIKE' EVICTION RULING UNFAIR FOR BLACKS

Rally In Front Of Offices Of Housing Authority

OAKLAND -- A "one-strike" policy against drugs in public housing is unfair
and racist, according to East Oakland activists who rallied Monday in front
of Oakland Housing Authority offices.

"This is a blatant disregard for the rights of blacks and other oppressed
people," said Bakari Olatunji, president of the Oakland chapter of
International Peoples Democratic Uhuru Movement. "Mostly black people live
in public housing in Oakland."

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public-housing tenants can be
evicted for their relatives' or visitors' drug activity on public property,
even if the tenants didn't know about it. The ruling upheld the one-strike
policy for federal subsidized housing operated by the Department of Housing
and Urban Development and local housing agencies.

The law was challenged by four Oakland tenants, all of whom are African
American. The Oakland Housing Authority estimates that 79 percent of its
tenants are black.

A half-dozen picketers showed up at a Housing Authority property at 1619
Harrison St., where one of the four tenants who challenged the regulation
lives.

"Blacks are already victims of a drug economy they do not control. The
government has used the drug economy to lock up black men, and now this same
government wants to use the presence of illegal drugs to justify making
families homeless," said Olatunji. "President Bush lives in public housing
and his daughters have used drugs. Is he on the streets?"

The protesters carried signs and shouted, "One strike is Jim Crow, the
government has got to go..."

Officials say race is not a factor. "It just so happens that the four
tenants (in the lawsuit) were African American," said Lily Toney, a
spokeswoman for the agency. "But this applies to all of our tenants and
these (four) are not truly 'one-strike' cases because each of them were
given multiple warnings."

The agency is now reviewing each of the four cases. No other cases are under
review at this time, Toney said Monday.

There are more than 11,000 Section 8 tenants whose rents are subsidized.
And, in 3,300 conventional public-housing units, there are an average of 3.5
tenants in each unit.

Nick Jones, a Housing Authority police officer, showed up at the
demonstration with his dog Stash. Jones said he made a drug bust at a
tenant's unit last year, at 1619 Harrison. Administrators are in the first
three floors and tenants in the upper floors, he said. "It took us six
months to get the person out after we found the drugs."

Asked how much drugs he has found during the past five years, Jones said, "a
lot...cocaine and marijuana." He said he hopes the court ruling will curb
drug use.

One public housing tenant who has lived at 1619 Harrison many years also
showed up for the rally. "It's not fair," said the man, who declined to give
his name. "Someone who doesn't like you can plant drugs and call the police,
and I don't trust the police."