On the Corner No1

7/28/2019 On the Corner No1

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/on-the-corner-no1 1/8

Vol.1 No.1

On The COrnerCulture and Class Struggle from the streets of Atlanta

Local resident shares concerns about urban renewal and redevelopment.

Summer 2013

1

What Does a NeW staDium

Mean for atlanta’s PeoPle?

An Intro tothe

heAt Index ColleCtIve

nPU SChedUle,WeAther& More

J.o.B.“JUSt over

Broke”

the eMPIre And the

UnderdeveloPedCoUntrIeS

As Atlantans know, the city’s politicians, businessmen

and Falcons management decided the Falcons need anew stadium. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Falcons

and have rooted for them since I was old enough to

know what football is. I don’t go to many games, but

watch on TV instead of paying for overpriced tickets.

I can say for sure, the Falcons don’t need a new

stadium. The Georgia Dome is 21 years old. Stadiums

are designed to last longer than that. It’s not like the

stadium wasn’t renovated a few years ago.

This isn’t about practical need; it’s about money.

It’s about the rich’s quest to have us pay for their

schemes while they destroy communities. HasSummerhill thrived since Turner Field was built?

Has Vine City prospered since the Georgia Dome?

A quick journey through those neighborhoods

provides an honest answer.

Why is our tax money, which is supposed to

be for the benet of us, used to fund a privateenterprise that makes businessmen rich? We had

no say in this decision to spend millions for the

stadium. This is called continued stadium , page 2

written by Keith Johnson



2

What ison the Corner?

We are generally not celebrities, professionals with pedigrees, administrators or

managers of other people’s labor, but we know our labor makes those people rich. This

system—capitalism—has been failing frequently for the past ve hundred years, but

every time it fails, it gets patched it up. We say it’s time for a completely new tire.

Poor and working class people instinctively understand society’s problems. We

know we have the right to food, water, housing, clothing and services like health

care and entertainment. We have our own perspectives about how to get them.

And we have the right to not be harassed, beaten, jailed, murdered, or—God forbid—executed for attempting to do so.

Wisdom is plentiful among ordinary people and we have our own perspectives on

how to run things ourselves. We gure out how to pay the bills, take pride in our craft

even when the boss puts us down, and put those who think they have the right to rule

in their place. When we learn to play an instrument, watch each others’ kids, greet

a neighbor from a foreign land or defend our immigrant friends – we are building

bridges to the new society which will rise from the ashes of the old. We gure out how

to turn the lights back on when we can’t pay, decide what to do about the police, how

to help our friend out of jail and share mutual aid with our gay and lesbian friends.

Based on this collective knowledge, we organize using the model of anarchism;

asserting that true freedom means being free of capitalism and government abovesociety; that our lives must be governed by us—the poor and working class.

Watch out for the truths in the hearsay on the corner. Our words, informally

stated, clarify why those in power continue to abuse all of us, and why their

actions show that a new beginning is near. We recognize this rebirth as emerging

from our own potential. We are neglected, despised, and dispossessed, but when

we come together we nd new ways to organize our economy and govern ourselves;

On the Corner can be one tool we use to accomplish these goals. We need you for

it to happen. Send us stories of you, your family, and friends. You don’t need to

use your real name, just so long as your message is heard.

On the Corner is a

newspaper that recognizes

and records the struggles

of everyday poor and

working class people. It

will gather and reveal

our collective wisdom

for economic planning,

judicial affairs, foreign

relations, and educational

and cultural matters with

the purpose of involving

other working class and

poor folks who have

something to say. The local

organization Heat Index

started the newspaper.Heat Index sees the

importance of protecting

our communities from

the effects of big business,

growing unemployment,

government budget cuts,

gentrication, political

repression, and police

violence. We want to create

new ways to meet our

needs not determined bywealth and warfare, but

that are free, equal and

democratic.

Neighbors who we pass

on the corner, chat with

on the stoop, or under

the street lamp, are not

recognized by the system

as the important people.

“democracy”? Decisions are made without our input all the time

and we feel the effects every day. The stadium is just a large and expensive

example of the kind of scheme we’re all too familiar with. Politicians trumpet

projects like this or pay lip service to community involvement, and then invite

developers to create new shopping centers or condos regardless of the effects

on communities. The Edgewood Retail District (or Gentrication Station)

and the Atlanta Beltline are examples of this kind of scheme.

City officials and Falcons management plan to locate the stadium on

land occupied by two long-standing churches. Friendship Baptist has been

there since 1880, but traces back to a group of newly freed slaves who were

kicked out of white churches during the Civil War. Mount Vernon Baptist’s

history also anchor’s the community. The congregations of both are in

negotiations with the city and are reportedly being offered millions to

move. I’m not religious, but I appreciate the sense of community churches

provide, and the services to poor, homeless, and hungry folks. Does moving

these churches make the neighborhood stronger? Does it foster a greater

sense of caring and togetherness?

Vine City already has the Georgia Dome on its periphery. Folks have been

dealing for 21 years with the disruption, trafc, etc. that comes with having

a sports arena. A new stadium will only compound this. The future of the

stadium



3

the eMPire & theUnderdeveloPed

CouNtries:Who Are the BACkWArd oneS?

PArt 1

Georgia Dome is also undecided. It’s possible that they’ll contend with two in-use arenas for

a while. One of the most obvious questions is: Why do businessmen who don’t live in Vine City get to

decide what happens there?

If we let these politicians and corporate titans keep imposing their will on neighborhoods across

Atlanta, soon there will only be strip malls and million dollar condos. All of us will be gone. That’s just

how they’d have it, but only if we let them.

What is empire? Broadly, an empire is a series of

relationships that question conquered people’s

capacity to govern themselves directly. Empire

is essentially military domination, economic

exploitation, and cultural subordination of one

nation by a foreign power.Imperialists – those people who spread empire – often

depict conquered peoples as having little capacity for

cultural, technological, and economic progress. They

say conquered people are primitive, barbaric, and

savage, backward or underdeveloped when compared

to modern capitalist societies.

Military domination that helps bring about empire,

whether through foreign armies intervening in other

nation’s affairs, occupying other’s land, or bombing

them, is degradation of the worst sort.

Economic exploitation happens when foreigners

rather than the local people, control the economic

planning of a nation and seize the people’s mineral

wealth, natural resources, and means of production

The conquerors decide who the people can tradewith and severely restrict their labor’s possible

wages. Often, multinational corporations, nancia

institutions, and the imperial governments that serve

them, control the economic structure of marginal

nations, in exchange for foreign aide

Cultural subordination happens when a foreign

nation decides cultural norms for a conquered people

by mis-educating the world about their essential ethica

character. This leads

stadium

Part of the working class governing ourselves means we must develop our own foreign relations. Local

struggles are not the only struggles, and we know that our local struggles can link up with international

struggles if we take the time to understand what is going on abroad. The Empire and the Underdeveloped

Countries: Who are the Backward Ones? Is a two-piece installment about what empire is, how it impacts

working class folks across the world, and why and how we can build our own foreign policy.

continued empire , page 5

written by Emerson Sharp



4

J.o.B: Just over BrokeHustlin’ On POverty Wages

Poor folks have a tradition of turning to a hustle to

make some extra cash. The products we sell on theside come in all shapes and sizes. We hustle clothes,

food, drugs, and services of all types; from car

washing to prostitution. It’s all about making that

extra cash to survive.

Net income is rarely considered actual income, but

it’s what decides the reality we all live in. I bring

home less than 10% of what I earn from a local

manufacturing plant. My paycheck comes into my

bank account and goes straight back out into the hands

of my landlord, Georgia Power, Atlanta Gas Light,

Atlanta Department of Watershed Management,Progressive Insurance Company, AT&T, Shell and

BP and Kroger. Thank God I ain’t got a car note to

pay. And how could I ever forget our grand ol’ man,

Uncle Sam with his taxes for wars overseas and

over-development in my neighborhood?

When I nally get down to the money I have left

for my own mental sanity, it will only get me a night

out at a cheap bar on an empty stomach and that

don’t sound like an entertaining evening to me.

What’s left for me to do but what other poor folks

have done for centuries? Hustle. I spend the littlecash I have left over on guitar strings, shirts, ink,

anything to make my hustle more legit. In town gigs

usually bring in enough extra cash to last me until

pay-day, out of town gigs break even if I’m lucky.

Ask any artist or musician, let alone the thousands

of hustlers on the street, and they’ll have a similar

story. It ain’t easy. And all the while you got Uncle

Sam, Jim Crow, and their brutal police breathing

down your neck. Pursuit of happiness, my ass.

The problem is that poor folks and working folks rarely

have the funds, the capital, to invest in such projects.Where are we left to turn? Theft. Many of the

products and services that are offered on the

street hustle today are boosted, paid for under the

table, or pirated from the internet. But how is this

different from what the rich do everyday on a scale

that involves transnational markets and entire

governments dedicated to oppressing, suppressing

and repressing the working class.

How is it that wealth accumulates in so few hands

when so many of us work for a living, got a hustle

or both? How do the rich do it? As far as I can see,it’s deliberately selective. The wealthy control the

economy and the governments that control our lives

When they want something one way, you better

believe that’s how it’s gonna be. So boosting t-shirts

or jeans from a store that you know damn well has

insurance on everything they sell, will land your ass

in jail because you’re black or poor and didn’t have

the help of NATO to take the shit.

The connection is real: we got it bad because a

small group of folks got it made.

When we take our wages and splurge on somet-shirts to sell on the side that is our wages we’re

spending; the payment for hours that we have

already worked, products we have already made

or time we have already spent behind the counter

For us, it’s a pay-check. For our employer, it’s an

investment. The company makes money straight off

our labor and re-invests it in more goods and into

more of our labor; as long as our wages remain the

same, the boss’ prots will grow and grow. For the

written by Cullen “Slim” Brown



5

the conquered people to question their own heritage

based on their own self-reliance.

While this basic outline of empire appears valid, we

have to keep asking questions in order to expand our

outlook. From the outlook of empire, conquering has

almost always been linked closely with white supremacy

The United States has almost always participated in

the conquering or denial of self-government to people

of color nations. This began with the Native Americans

but has also included the Philippines, Puerto Rico

Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Congo, Grenada

Nicaragua, Guatemala, Vietnam, Venezuela, Korea

(the list never ends). However, empires have not always

been race based. They also have a history in Africa

Latin America, and Asia independent of European

intervention. And, in other cases, Europeans have

conquered each other.

We are often told that imperialism – the policy of

empire – is based on the search to control valuable

economic resources. But there are two problems with

this idea. First, it’s not always about oil or diamonds

Cuba (cigars), Ghana (cocoa), Grenada (nutmeg), and

Vietnam (rice) never had a major commodity to offer, bu

they were still conquered. This highlights that empire

is primarily about the struggle for world mastery not

just the desire of Big Business to accumulate wealth

more exclusively with the help of imperial states.

Second, gender often plays a central role in how

empire tries to convince people who live in more

modern, industrialized nations that conquering

either directly or indirectly, can be progressive. In

the media we constantly see the patriarchy (male

domination) of marginalized nations paraded

before us. We are told that Muslim women are

oppressed by the veil. We are told about female

circumcision in West Africa and gang rape in India

and the Congo without any cultural context.

Not all women who wear blue jeans in the U.S. think

of their own self-reliance in the same way. Why would

this be the case in other

last thirty years, we have been sinking deeper into

poverty, forever hustling, forever trying to makeends meet, and forever making bosses richer.

There is more to a rich man’s hustle than just

turning a prot. In order to make more, they need

to steal more from us; that means land, labor, and

commodities. Low-income housing and poor renters

and homeowners have got to go in order to make

room for the new, wealthier, and whiter residents,

and new retail outlets. It’s Atlantic Station all over

again. Cha-ching!

The tension rises as white yuppies support the

rich folks’ hustle, and poor folks get frustrated andtired. But the media tells this story differently. The

rich folks’ news programs like Channel 2 (ABC) or

Channel 5 (FOX) talk about our neighborhoods like

they’re war zones run amuck with gangs and street

criminals. Must be the heat. Naturally, the police

presence is beefed up and more stories of arrests,

beatings, and harassment are heard on the corner

and at the kitchen table.

Meanwhile, these same fat-cats push legislation to

keep our wages low (if they don’t do it directly on the

shop oor), raise our taxes, close our schools, and sendour children to ght for oil halfway across the planet.

It seems like they are physically trying to run us out.

If this story is a familiar one, then you already

know what this is all about and you can feel the

pressure building. These rich fucks are hustlin’ us

right out of our own homes and neighborhoods. But

this story is far from over. We can get on the hustle;

we can resist this development; we can show these

fools exactly whose streets these are.

empire

continued empire , page 6



7

“Youth Creates”issues and sOlutiOns frOM edgeWOOd yOutH

On May 19th, the Whitefoord Computer Clubhouse, along with sponsors and community support hosted

“Youth: Creating Purposeful Media.” The event was produced, arranged, directed, and pretty much

completely put together by Edgewood youth of all ages and held at Seven Stages community theatre inLittle Five Points. The event was a display of art created by kids from Whitefoord Elementary, Coan

Middle, and Jackson High. Mediums included song and dance, music video, poetry, video production

and performance art all infused with design and production done completely by the youthful stars.

The fact that all this was being done by local youth was a cherry on top of some of the most complicated

issues facing young people today; subjects including bullying, youth violence, education, and the identity

of manhood and womanhood were all brought to light and explored. More importantly were solutions

to these problems that youth can implement themselves, and the constant reminder to stay positive,

keep your head up, and have faith in yourself and each other.

All of this was held in front of a packed-house of

parents and residents of the area. Refreshments

were served and a sense of pride and accomplishmentwas palpable at the end of the ceremonies.

Successful events like this can help us build stronger

communities, because when the youth care more

about solving their own problems, the attitude

spreads and develops into the new generation!

Congratulations to Edgewood youth!

BLADE Academy Cheer Team

Poetry Series on the questions of manhood

“Subjects including bullying, youthviolence, education, and the identity

of manhood and womanhood were allbrought to light and explored.”



What’s happening

in the neighborhood?

seasonal Weather

For the southeast

NPU-A – 1st Tues – 7:00pm

NPU-B – 1st Tues– 7:00pm

NPU-C – 1st Tues – 7:00pmNPU-D – 1st Tues – 7:30pm

NPU-E – 1st Tues – 6:30pm

NPU-F – 3rd Mon – 7:00pm

NPU-G – 3rd Thurs – 7:00pm

NPU-H – 1st Thurs – 7:00pm

NPU-I – 3rd Wed – 7:00pm

NPU-J – 4th Tues – 7:00pm

NPU-K – 3rd Tues – 6:30pm

NPU-L – 2nd Tues -– 7:00pmNPU-M – 4th Tues – 6:30pm

NPU-N – 4th Tues – 7:00pm

NPU-O – 4th Tues – 7:00pm

NPU-P – 1st Mon – 7:00pm

NPU-Q – 3rd Thurs – 7:00pm

NPU-R – 1st Wed – 7:00pm

NPU-S – 3rd Thurs – 7:00pm

NPU-T – 2nd Wed – 7:00pm

NPU-V– 2nd Mon – 7:00pmNPU-W – 4th Wed – 7:30pm

NPU-X – 2nd Mon – 7:00pm

NPU-Y – 3rd Mon – 7:00pm

NPU-Z – 4th Mon – 7:00pm

8

In 1974 the City of Atlanta divided the city into 25 advisory councils, the Neighborhood Planning Units,

run by citizens, so they could make recommendations to the Mayor and the City Council on zoning, land

use and other planning issues and which allows for citizens to participate in the city’s Comprehensive

Development Plan and give feed back and raise concerns about current and future plans. NPU’s also allow

for citizens to receive information around all functions of the city government. Meetings are held once

a month and you must attend a minimum of twice in a year to be eligible to vote in the meetings. These

NPUs are open to ao who is a resident in that zone and over 18 years of age, as well as to any person,

corporation or institution who owns property within the Zone.

June – Heat will be most intense, mainlyinland, about June 6-10, 14-16, and 21-25.

Showers and thunderstorms most numerous at

4- to 5-day intervals. Locally heavy rain mid-

month mainly along the Gulf, far west and

north. Isolated thunderstorms along the Gulf

almost daily with a small hurricane threat

developing the last week.

JuLy – Many ares will be rather fry this month.

Gardens will need extra water. Hottest weather

July 16-17, 22-26, and 28-31. Rain could be heavy

with a potential tropical storm about July 20-23.

Otherwise, showers and thunderstorms most

likely about July 1-4 and 8-11.

August – Heat will be most intense about

August 1-2, 5, 11-12 and 23-26. Thunderstorms,

especially in west, north and along the Gulf about

August 4-7, 11-13, 16-19 and 27-29. Frequent

isolated storms near the Gulf. Potential for

hurricane is highest August 18-19 and 30-31.

On the Corner No1

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