Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA)

Quick Details:

A coalition of South Asian community members, agencies and allies is hosting a vigil to remember the life of Seetha Vemireddy. One of the many victims of Lakireddy Bali Reddy, she died of carbon monoxide poisoning on November 24, 1999.

November 20th Action
Time: Noon
Location: in front of Pasand Restaurant (2286 Shattuck Ave. near downtown berkeley BART station)

Action: The rally will gather for 20 minutes and then march to Bancroft to the building where Seetha (also referred to as Chanti) died, for a memorial and press conference. (please NOTE we will NOT be traveling to city hall)

This article has appeared in India West and The Voice of the Turtle.

Very American Crimes
by Raj Patel and Maninder Kahlon

This April, we witnessed that increasingly rare thing in Californian politics -- a good day. On Wednesday 7 April, the mostly African-American and Hispanic residents of Inglewood in Southern California were faced with a ballot measure sponsored by Wal-Mart, an attempt by the corporation to buy its way around democracy, and drop a "supercenter" into the center of Inglewood's community. The community said, overwhelmingly, no. On the same day in San Francisco, in Courtroom #9 of the U.S. District Court, we saw a rather more muted community victory in a civil suit against Lakireddy Bali Reddy. In 1999, when Reddy was Berkeley's richest landlord with an estate valued at $100m, Chanti Pratipatti, a 17 year old girl whom he had trafficked into the country, died of carbon monoxide poisoning in one of his properties. On 7 April, the suit brought by Pratipatti's estate was settled for an undisclosed sum.