Will progressives fight for public housing? As goes New Orleans, so goes the nation. In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina many of the buildings that survived were public housing units. Even so, many residents were denied the right of return and their own personal property. In the years since thousands of public housing units in buildings minimally damaged have been destroyed. Homelessness has doubled and new development is in the form of high-end hotels and condominiums, not housing for those in need.

Tonight on GRITtv we discuss the fate of public housing in New Orleans and beyond with Judith Browne-Dianis Executive Director of Advancement Project, Rob Robinson Housing Campaign Organizer for Picture the Homeless, Dr. John Derek Norvell a Human Rights specialist with the NYS Division of Human Rights, and Sam Jackson a public housing activist and member of May Day New Orleans.

We also have an in studio performance and interview with Ned Sublette, author of The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square. Sublette, a 2005 Tulane Rockefeller Humanities Fellow, talks about the competing imperial struggles that shaped New Orleans, the African slave trade, and the musical traditions that have become so central to life in the Big Easy. Listen to Sublette’s live performance and to the full interview here.

Finally we have videos from Red State Road Trip, Color of Change’s Voices from the Gulf Project, and BRICKS from JoLu Productions LLC. Our week of special programming continues and tomorrow’s show will stream live. We’ll be taking your calls and questions. Stay tuned.