Rev. Jesse Jackson to East Palo Alto: Fight gentrification
Source: Palo Alto Weekly
East Palo Alto residents must fight to keep their city, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson encouraged them to organize. Otherwise, residents will be pushed out by gentrification, a process that hasn't changed in communities of color since Jackson, 73, began fighting it in the 1960s, he said.
Jackson, a civil rights activist and Baptist minister, took to the podium on Monday to address self-determination in East Palo Alto versus gentrification during a luncheon in the city and a panel discussion at Stanford University's Tresidder Union.
Residents must fight to keep from being displaced even if that means marching by the thousands to Silicon Valley company headquarters to be heard, Jackson said. The valley, with its vast wealth, is putting housing pressures on the region, and should take some responsibility for coming up with a plan for saving and funds for preserving East Palo Alto's heritage and affordable housing, he said.
Jackson met with Silicon Valley leaders after the Tresidder event to discuss ways they can help move East Palo Alto residents forward. Among his ideas: fund a tech-training center in the city to help raise residents' incomes so they can afford to stay in the valley and help create a development bank to build affordable housing and fund minority entrepreneurs.
Read more: http://paloaltoonline.com/news/2015/01/27/rev-jesse-jackson-to-east-palo-alto-fight-gentrification
