British Petroleum Is Not Paying The Claims Of The Poor

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Jan. 25, 2016 - PRLog -- As we near the 6 year mark since the devastating manmade disaster of the BP Oil Spill, which spilled hundreds of millions of gallons of oil into the ocean, it is unfortunate that BP has not paid the underserved and underrepresented including poor minorities, business owners and churches. Shortly after the spill BP requested that Art Rocker and his delegation including; Actor, Comedian, and Human and Civil Rights Activist Dick Gregory and National Congress of Black Women, Inc., President, Dr. E. Faye Williams, gather claimants and organize those who could possibly slip through the cracks. BP indicated that they did not want to leave out the poor individuals and small churches out of the claims process, recognizing that these individuals had been affected by this devastating act. BP is now stalling and has not paid the poor minorities, individuals, churches and small businesses who are the backbone of the BP corporation as BP is located in many of these communities.

According to Art Rocker, Sr., Chairman of Operation People for Peace, Inc., “They wanted black ministers to organize and we organized hundreds of them and now we have turned in over 10,000 claims to the federal court.” Dick Gregory was jailed twice advocating for this group. According to Gregory, “We went to BP headquarters in London, England, and the Global President of BP, Mr. Bob Dudley told us to return to America and we would get all of our claims paid.”  Dr. E. Faye Williams traveled all throughout the Gulf Coast region meeting and working with women and others to gather their claims. According to Williams “Mr. Minge, President of BP North America has indicated that he wants to pay these claims through the courts and not provide any grants.” Yet, to this day BP has not authorized their lawyers to pay these claims.

The ministers and churches within our organization are frustrated. BP has and is paying the “have’s” but not the “have not’s.”Our ministers are complaining why AT&T, a National Company, is receiving claims payments and other major firms are being paid claims payments?  How are they losing money and we all still pay our bills to these corporations during the spill?

Representatives from Operation People for Peace and this delegation are available to speak to the press by phone or in person if available. We have local ministers and organizations that are involved and can speak with local media. Please contact Art Rocker at 850-450-1982 or 850-610-0164 or Jessica D. Rocker, Vice President of OPFP, Dick Gregory, or Dr. E. Faye Williams for interviews regarding this matter.