CBS5 interviews Bay Area Black Builders: ‘The only thing this country understands is violence’

Bay Area Black Builders meet Saturday, Feb. 20, noon, 1099 Sunnydale, San Francisco

by CBS5 News

Joe-Debro-Bay-Area-Projects-on-Hold-Over-Racism-Charges-021210-by-CBS5, CBS5 interviews Bay Area Black Builders: ‘The only thing this country understands is violence’, Local News & Views “This is a critical situation,” says Joe Debro, president of Bay Area Black Builders, a new organization that joins the forces of Black contractors, workers, jobseekers and design professionals to stop the lockout and win contracts and jobs in the construction industry by any means necessary, in an explosive interview broadcast Feb. 12 on CBS5 News.

“I’ve been doing this for 40 years. Everything’s the same. Nothing has changed,” says Debro. “You’re not suggesting they (young jobseekers) use violence,” asks the reporter. “Yes, I am! This country responds to violence. It doesn’t respond to anything else. We’ve begged. We’ve pleaded. We write the mayor. He doesn’t respond. Nothing happens.

“The only thing this country understands is violence. If that’s necessary, so be it,” concludes Debro. Joe Vasquez, the reporter, puts Debro’s challenge in context, “This area, Bayview Hunters Point, has a 20 percent unemployment rate, twice the rate of the rest of the city.”

To get involved in this movement for economic equity that’s sweeping the country, as Black people everywhere find themselves locked out of construction work – even the stimulus-funded projects that were supposed to help those communities most in need – come to the Bay Area Black Builders meeting Saturday, Feb. 20, noon, at 1099 Sunnydale in Visitacion Valley, San Francisco.

Joseph Debro is president of Bay Area Black Builders. He is also president of the Visitacion Valley Community Development Corp., co-founder of the National Association of Minority Contractors, a general engineering contractor and a bio-chemical engineer. He can be reached at transbay@netzero.com.

Watch the explosive CBS5 video

We’re trying to obtain the code to post the CBS5 video to sfbayview.com. Meanwhile, this link will take you directly to the video at CBS5.

http://cbs5.com/video/?id=61763@kpix.dayport.com