Story Archives 2000

by PNN Staff

New York- In a sharp rebuke to the administration of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, federal officials have decided to bypass city agencies in handing out millions of dollars in government money to those who help the homeless. The mayor said the change was motivated by politics.

U.S. Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo said the change is necessary following a federal court ruling that found city officials demonstrated a pattern of antagonism and acted with "retaliatory intent" against a nonprofit service provider that had criticized the mayor. The provider eventually lost $2.4 million in federal funds.

The change means the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will distribute federal money directly to those helping homeless people, rather than using the city as a middleman.

"The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is acting in the best interests of homeless people in New York City, to ensure that the most qualified homeless assistance programs get our funding," Cuomo said Tuesday.

Giuliani accused Cuomo, a Democrat, of playing politics, noting his support of Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate bid and that a regional HUD director under Cuomo, Bill DeBlasio, was recently named Mrs. Clinton's campaign manager.

To miss the connection, "I would have to be extremely naive, and I'm not," said Giuliani,who is expected to seek the Republican nomination to run for Senate. "There's no question that Andrew Cuomo runs a major league political operation."

Giuliani, however, said the city can't fight the change.

"I don't think we can," he said. "It's their money."

Last month, a federal court found that the city downgraded the performance of Housing Works, a nonprofit group that operates two houses for homeless people suffering from AIDS, mental illness and drug addiction, because of the group's public opposition to the mayor's AIDS policies rather than its effectiveness.

The lower rating prevented Housing Works from receiving $2.4 million in federal funds to cover three years of operating expenses for the two residences. The city has appealed the ruling.

"This fully vindicates what we've been saying. He has been using the process to reward his allies and punish others," said Charles King, co-executive director of Housing Works.

Giuliani denied he had any political interest in punishing Housing Works.

Later Tuesday, at a state Democratic Committee holiday party where Mrs. Clinton spoke, Cuomo's wife, Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, stood up and bragged about what Cuomo had done, saying: "Just a few hours ago, my husband pulled up the gauntlet."

She went on to criticize Giuliani's homeless policies and added: "Next time Rudy, pick on someone your own size."

Judges have temporarily stopped Giuliani's plan to evict homeless adults, who refuse to work, from city shelters. POOR magazine staff hopes that Cuomo's action will also impact all of King Giuliani's archaic anti-poverty measures, such as his recent act of ordering police to arrest homeless people who refuse orders to move from sidewalks.

If an upcoming election spurs this kind of event, maybe there should be an election every day in America. Thank-you Mr.Cuomo!!

by Leroy Moore

We have an emergency on our hands
Do you understand
Sisters and mothers
Aunts and Grandmothers
Are crying, shouting and yelling

Help! Please help!
Ignored, oppressed and abused
Disabled women of color
Needs you

On the streets
Can you believe
The state has sterilized me
Divorce from my husband, family and community

Beaten on
Kicked out
Shot up
No sirens, no ambulance, nobody gives a fuck

Emergency, HELP, emergency
98% unemployment rate
Sisters don’t want to relate
Very hard to live in this society

Grown up with violence
Father in my bed
|Billie-club upside my head
The only way to make money is to give head

My father was my first
My cell-mate was my second and

My x was my last
Still waiting for my first love
Caught between two worlds
Limping and pushing to the boarder
Disabled woman an easy target for the INS
Disabled immigrant woman can’t be a citizen of the US

Social promotion
Another year in special education
Can’t read the job application
Race, sex and disability discrimination

Margarett L. Mitchell shot by LAPD
Vijai Rajan rejected by the INS
Ya Fang Li roughed up by SFPD
Can’t you see there is an emergency in our society

Disabled women of color
Living under pressure
We need some answers
Time is ticking and we are sick of waiting

It’s time to take a stand
No more lines in the sand
We need a bulletproof plan
Sisters’ our blood is on your hands

Disabled women of color
It’s time to speak our anger
We need to educate our sisters, brothers and leaders
We can only get stronger if we come together

Living under a state of emergency
Disabled women of color tell your story
We belong to three communities
Listen to our history

Harriet Tubman led slaves to freedom
Fredia Kahlo painted her pain
Alicia Alonso danced through the light and darkness
Wilma Mankiller taught her people community organizing

Disabled women of color
It’s time to plan for our future
Break the silence
We have no time for this nonsense

by PNN Staff

The Hip-Hop Generation Can Call For Peace
by Jeff Chang

This past weekend, as we mourned the countless victims of 9/11 and built
with each other in passionate conversations on what to do next, President
George W. Bush finally and unequivocally declared war.

He ordered a call-up of 50,000 reservists—the first step towards
reinstituting the draft—while preparing Americans for a long, ground war
that could leave many innocent Afghanis dead or displaced. Reversing the
Powell doctrine to seize upon a desire for vengeance, he warned that there
may be no forseeable end to this war, and declared no specific enemy.

This does not bode well for the hip-hop generation. As STORM, the Bay Area
hip-hop activist organization says, "Increasingly, safety at home will
require justice abroad." Bush’s open-ended war could leave us increasingly
insecure, subject to more terror not less, with less justice for all in the
world.

Because of its history, the global hip-hop generation can play a crucial
moral role in the call for peace—peace on the streets where we live, and a
global peace free from terror.

At one time, others dissed our generation by saying that we were privileged,
that we had never been tested by war. [This was before Bush’s father opened
the Persian Gulf War.] The fact is that hip-hop was born under the
conditions of war. It grew and spread as a global alternative to war.

Before hip-hop, during the early 1970s, Jamaica’s bloody tribal wars
fostered a music and culture of defiance in roots, dancehall and dub reggae.
This music and culture—a safe space from the bloody gang runnings on the
street—immigrated to the Bronx—a space so devastated by deindustrialization
and governmental neglect that when Ronald Reagan visited in 1980, he
declared that it looked like London after World War II. In the Bronx, the
Universal Zulu Nation, hip-hop’s first institution and organization,
literally emerged from a peace forged between racially divided, warring
gangs.

As Reagan took office, immigration was rapidly browning the face of America.
The "culture war" was declared—a way to contain the nation’s growing
diversity. Culture warriors went after youth in their schools; they fought
multiculturalism, ethnic studies, and affirmative action. In Congress, they
sought limits on movie and music content.

Hip-hop turned out to be everything they detested—it was real,
truth-telling, unapologetic, and, worst of all, their kids loved it. Imagine
how they felt when Chuck D enlistened millions into the opposition by
rhyming, "They’ll never care for the brothers and sisters cause the country
has us up for a war."

In one sense, hip-hop won the culture war. By the end of the 80s, Public
Enemy and Spike Lee, John Singleton and N.W.A., and other brothers and
sisters had crashed the lily-white pop culture mainstream. Hip-hop became
the single most potent global youth force in a generation.

But the culture war had serious political consequences, too. Right-wingers
manufactured the conditions—moving drugs and guns into the ghetto via the
wars in Central America—for a resurgence of gang warfare. And they succeeded
in stigmatizing inner-city gangs—whose ranks, of course, were swoll with
young, poor people of color—as mindlessly, irredeemably violent and evil.

Hip-hop reveled in the young generation’s diversity. The culture warriors
taught other generations to be afraid of it. When the 90s came, they warned
of a coming wave of juvenile crime, one that would crest with the darkening
demographic surge.

Their apocalyptic predications began a dramatic shift in juvenile justice,
away from rehabilitation towards incarceration. 48 states made their
juvenile crime statutes more punitive. Dozens of cities instituted curfews,
anti-cruising laws, and sweep ordinances (which were ruled unconstitutional
by the Supreme Court but have reappeared in many cities).

Especially after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, as urgent gang truce work
forged peaces across the country, the new laws were implemented at a
feverish clip and enforced with a heavy hand. Juvenile arrests and detention
populations skyrocketed, even as juvenile violent crime rates plummeted.

Local police, the FBI, and private companies began compiling gang databases.
Every young boy or girl of color who fit the profile—sagging, baggy jeans,
athletic shoes, hip-hop swagger—became fodder for the gang databases. In
Cook County, IL, the gang database was two-thirds black. In Orange County,
CA, 92 percent of those listed in the gang database were of color. Angry
Black, Chicano and Latino parents in Denver, CO, learned that eight of every
ten young people of color in the entire city were listed.

Postmodern racial profiling was invented for the hip-hop Generation, the
most catalogued and surveillanced in history. Along with the "war on
drugs"—the only result of which has been racist sentencing and the largest
prison population in world history—what hip-hop activists called the "war on
youth" left a generation staring into a tense present and an insecure
future.

These are the reasons why thousands of hip-hop activists came out to protest
at the Republican and Democratic Conventions last year. They took courageous
stands against the massive profiling and imprisoning of a generation;
against the death penalty; for better education; and for stopping gang
violence. They linked these issues to global struggles for economic and
racial justice.

Now that President Bush has declared an open war with no clear enemy, the
global, multiracial, polycultural hip-hop generation can elevate beyond the
chant of "No justice, no peace"—a cry that, in truth, sounds much different
when uttered by Bush.

If we can understand the history of wars from Israel to Afghanistan the way
that we understand our own generation’s history, we can link what is
happening on our streets with what is happening in our world.

We can call for peace on our streets—to be free from profiling and
imprisoning, to be free from the cycle of violence that causes us to kill
each other needlessly.

And we can call for peace in our world—to be free from the kind of terror
that strikes our bodies and our hearts, to be free from the cycles of
violence driven by geopolitical posturing and economic greed that cause us
to kill each other needlessly.

Everyone deserves a better, safer future. Hip-hop has already survived many
wars. Time and again, we have learned how to react to crisis by forging a
principled peace. As we stand on the brink of the biggest war we have ever
faced, let us come together to find the most powerful, lasting peace yet.

[Reply to: cantstopwontstop@mindspring.com]

9-11 ATTACKS: STORM’S FOUR MAIN POINTS IN RESPONSE
TO THE BOMBINGS OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER
& THE U.S. PENTAGON
by STORM (Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary
Movement), Bay Area activist group with deep hip-hop roots

1. Oppose terrorism, and build people’s power: We mourn the loss of life
and the great pain endured by those who have suffered as a result of these
attacks. Those of us who desire a world free from exploitation and
oppression must rely on the consciousness, capacity and confidence of
working class and oppressed people to carry out our own liberation. There
are no shortcuts in this process. Acts of terrorism against civilian
targets do not advance this process, but retard it. We oppose the use of
terror tactics - especially such tactics against civilian populations – as
destructive to the fundamental aims of the liberation movement. We must
organize our people to liberate themselves with the clarity of their own
minds, the courage of their own hearts and the work of their own hands.

2. Oppose the narrowing or elimination of the people’s democratic rights:
The U.S. government must stop using the suffering of the victims of these
attacks as an excuse to narrow and eliminate the people’s democratic rights.
We oppose any and all efforts to increase the funding and authority of U.S.
police and intelligence agencies as a "solution" to this crisis. We are
disgusted by the present attempts by the U.S. security and surveillance
establishment to use this tragedy to orchestrate a cynical power grab and to
cash in on the pain of the victims. We oppose any efforts to wipe out the
people’s fragile and precious privacy rights; we oppose any efforts to
curtail the people’s basic First Amendment rights to assemble, speak,
publish, protest and organize free from government harassment and
surveillance. We must now be extraordinarily vigilant against threats
directed against the people - not from underground cells, but from the
highest levels of government.

3. Rely on global justice to deter future attacks: The system, in the
United States and worldwide, has continually denied peaceful, "legitimate"
attempts by those seeking justice and freedom. Through its own reckless,
violent and oppressive actions against poor people and people of color, the
United States government has fueled frustration, grief and outrage here and
across the globe. Just as we mourn the pain and the loss of life stemming
>from these recent attacks on U.S. soil, we continue to mourn the pain and
the loss of life that U.S. military and economic domination inflicts on
people worldwide. Suffering under this oppression, people throughout the
world are becoming more and more desperate. Neither police repression at
home nor U.S. bombs abroad will ease this fundamental despair; to the
contrary, such actions will only continue this vicious cycle of frustration
and violence. Ordinary people in the United States can best deter future
attacks by insisting that the U.S. government abandon its oppressive role of
keeping down workers and dominating poor nations around the world.
Increasingly, safety at home will require justice abroad. Intensified
police crackdowns at home and military savagery abroad are not the answer;
the answer is justice. We must not allow the United States to respond with
bombs for Third World people and continued support for repressive
dictatorships and rapacious corporations. Instead, we demand that the US
respond to this crisis with efforts to meet the legitimate demands of the
majority of the human family.

4. Oppose racist, anti-Arab bigotry: The media is already feeding the
frenzy of anti-Arab hysteria. We cannot allow U.S. racism to blind our
minds or cloud our hearts. Stereotypes and scapegoating will not lead us
out of this crisis. Solidarity and compassion will. All people – and
especially African-Americans, Asian/Pacific-Americans, Latinas/os and Native
Americans – must stand in solidarity with our Arab and Muslim sisters and
brothers.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL STORM/Standing Together to Organize a
Revolutionary Movement, 510.496.6094

*WHERE IS HIP HOP? RIGHT HERE!*

by Davey D

Over the past week, I've had a number of discussions and read a number
of emails with people pointing fingers demanding to know what the Hip
Hop community is going to do and where does the Hip Hop community
stand on the WTC Attacks? The questions have been asked in such a way
as to imply that many of us have removed ourselves from tragedy and we
have not been effected. It implies that even at this sad moment cats
are running around drinking crystal and trying to keep it 'gangsta'.
I wanted to take some time out to give props and perhaps set the
record straight.

First, many Hip Hoppers were upset, traumatized, worried and now
grieving like everyone else...When the attacks first occurred many
people were concerned about family and friends. 'We're they safe?'
'Did they witness the horror?' 'Was anyone they know missing?' This
drama was complicated by the fact that many in the Hip Hop community
were still grieving over the loss of Aaliyah who had perished less
than two weeks prior to the WTC attacks. Y'all recall seeing cats
like DMX break down? Others like Q-Tip and Damon Dash were
devastated. Candlelight vigils were being held all over the country.
Grief was in the air from coast to coast. Here in the Bay Area people
were not only dealing with that loss but also the sudden fatal car
accident that resulted in the deaths of two popular Bay Area artists.
This happened a week after Aaliyah died. The funeral for Cougnut was
scheduled the day of the attack. Cats all over the Bay had heavy
hearts. All this was being processed when the attacks occurred.

Shortly after the attacks, I saw an email circulating from my man Yoda
of the pioneering group The Crash Crew letting folks know his cousin
was missing. I'm not sure of the end results. Hopefully tragedy
didn't strike his family. Another email circulated indicating that
rap star Dana Dane who worked at the World Trade in the computer field
was also MIA. For several days people were concerned. Fortunately,
there was a happy ending. Dana Dane was found alive and well. He
wasn't at work that fateful morning. Many other artists and Hip
Hoppers found themselves on the road stranded from their home base.
If you lived in NY and was outside of NY it was damn near impossible
to get phone calls through. I know for myself I was on pins and
needles for several days as I waited anxiously to hear back from
family, friends and loved ones that were on my list who I couldn't
reach from 3000 miles away. It was mad hectic and continues to be for
many within Hip Hop.

With that being said I have to be honest when I say we have to give
major props to many in the Hip Hop community who have stepped up big
time in the aftermath of last week's terrorist attacks. First we have
Dr Dre who has dug deep into his pockets and donated 1 million dollars
to help relief efforts and rescue workers. His fat donation was done
in conjunction with a larger relief effort being put forth by Los
Angeles' Power 106 radio station. Other artists like Snoop Dogg,
Warren G, Shaq and Jay-Z who was stuck in LA for the past week have
also chipped in... Big Boy [another Hip Hopper] who hosts Power 106's
popular morning show set a goal of raising 1.6 million dollars. It's
an achievable figure if each of Power's listeners donate 1 dollar
each...

Wyclef Jean who recently lost his father a week or so ago, in a freak
accident will be participating in tonight's [Friday] TV Network
telethon 'America A Tribute to Heroes". Others like Busta Rhymes and
Run DMC are participating with the 'We Are Family' benefit project
which is being put together by producer Nile Rogers who is bringing a
number of other artists together to re-record the Sister Sledge
classic of the same name. The Wu-Tang Clan has donated 10 thousand
dollars to Hot 97s Hip Hop has a Heart Foundation. DMX and his Ruff
Ryders crew will be doing a special concert to raise money for relief
efforts.. There are dozens of others who are have been contributing
money.

P-Diddy stepped up and chipped in with his parent company Arista
Records to donate 2 million dollars to relief efforts. Other groups
like the Da Beatminerz have put on charity events like the one they
did last night [Thursday Sept 20th]. The Arsonists have pledged to
donate 50% of their album sales. FUBU clothing has donated 25
thousand bucks. Last week Michael Franti and Spearhead did not one,
but two free concerts to show support and solidarity with Arab
Americans who have suddenly become the victims of vicious hate crimes.

The day after the bombing, Bay Area Hip Hop organizations like Lets
Get Free, Youth Force Coalition, STORM, and Underground Railroad
teamed up with community based organizations and held the first of
several Anti-Arab solidarity rallies drawing more than 500 people.
They felt it was important that communities of color in Oakland come
together and make a statement. Everyone from local artists to poet
June Jordan came through and represented.

Dwayne Wiggins gathered up dozens of local poets and artists and had a
huge event at his Java House Coffeeshop where folks spoke out about
the recent attacks.. BET actually had a crew on hand to cover it.. I
have no idea when it will be shown. So many people came through that
folks wound up having to stand outside to listen.. Local artists
Company of Prophets, Underground Railroad and Loco Bloco are helping
organize a solidarity March and Rally Against Racism and this
Saturday, September 22 at Delores Park at 11 am..

Many Hip Hop writers and journalists have been stepping up and writing
compelling pieces dealing with this event from various angles. For
example, Hip Hop writer Jeff Chang has penned an incredible article
called "The Hip-Hop Generation Can Call For Peace". Author Ferai
Chideya of Popandpolitics.com has a number of articles on her website
dealing with before, during and after the event. Yvonne Bynoe of
Urban Think Tank which is a hip hop think tank and publishes Doula
Magazine, has a reflective essay about how she became 'more American'
after the attacks. Hip Hop photographer Ernie Paniccioli has also
penned some deep words in an essay which is being widely distributed.
Cedric Muhammed of Blackelectorate.com continues to drop all sorts of
knowledge on the ins and outs of Middle East politics and culture. He
clearly explains all the challenges that we as a country will be
facing.

Producer/ artist Kwame Anku and his Urban Campfire project which does
a lot of work with Chuck D has been traveling the country from
Connecticut to San Diego holding townhall meetings and providing young
people with an important forum to express their views. In a recent
radio interview he pointed out that a lot of people are being brought
to the table to speak on all these issues. What has been missing our
the voices of young people and the Hip Hop community. He noted that
whatever solutions are laid out, this audience should have some sort
of perspective out there being considered. He has been doing what he
can to ensure that happening. The Urban Campfire project will be
doing a big townhall next week during The Congressional Black Caucus.

All this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many are doing what they can
under what are some extremely stressful and mind boggling conditions.
I've witnessed Hip Hop and mixshow DJs taking time out to educate
themselves so they speak intelligently on the air about this
situation. Others have been launching projects ranging from blood
drives to on air fundraising efforts..

I thought I'd share some of this information because lots of people
who stay glued to CNN and MSNBC have arrogantly stated that they have
not heard from the Hip Hop community.... Mmmm Did they expect artists
to be sitting up there on CNN next to Chris Mathews? Did they expect
artists to be offering expert opinions alongside Katie Couric on the
Today show? There are many within Hip Hop who certainly could speak
on the issue. Many have traveled around the world. Many have
political perspectives. The question is 'did they get the call to be
invited on these shows?

I saw rappers speaking out at some of the solidarity rallies. I saw
cameras there. I saw newspapers there. I even saw some of them being
interviewed. However, when it came time to showing the final cut on
the evening news the artists were missing. It was like they weren't
even there even though they played a major part in both the organizing
and participating. Hence because of the narrow casting in news
coverage, the average person has no idea what Mos Def, Common, Talib
Kweli or KRS-One is thinking.

There are many Hip Hoppers with national name recognition who are of
Middle Eastern descent who stay abreast of international politics.
Why not get a guy like King Tech of the Wake Up Show or famed producer
Fredwreck to offer their unique perspectives on all this? There are
many artists within Hip Hop who are Muslim. Let's get their
perspective. Are they being attacked? Harassed? Accused of being
unpatriotic? Last week we had a number of local Muslims Hip Hoppers
on our airwaves talking about their take on things. It was a powerful
show in which they spoke about the true meaning of Islam. They broke
down how there were people from all races who practice Islam and they
also loaned critical insight to some of the political happenings in the
regions where were are about attack. I know our audience got a lot
out of it. Too bad we couldn't hear these same Hip Hoppers on some of
other news outlets.

We continuously make the mistake of thinking if they ain't on the
local TV show in the local paper or heard on the local radio station
then they don't exist. I always suggest to people, instead of asking
what have the rappers been doing. Ask local reporters have they
gotten a perspective and insight from the Hip Hop community. If I
can sit up here and watch TV shows go out and get opinions of actors
like Arnold Shwartznegger, George Clooney and Julia Roberts, then
certainly they can go out and seek the opinions of Chuck D, KRS-One or
even Ice Cube.

Also I'd like to add this for us to think about. Hip Hop is a lot
larger than the artists we see in videos and hear on radio. Hence
there are a number of people and organizations that people can get
insightful well understood perspectives. I'd love to turn on CNN or
even my local news show and see or hear sitting at the table a Kevin
Powell, Michael Franti, April Silver, Ferai Chideya, Jeff Chang,
Cedric Muhammed, Yvonne Bynoe, Harry Allen, Boots, Van Jones, Kwame
Anku, Cheo Choker, Raquel Lavina, Dominique Diprima, Adissa Banjoko,
Bas-1, Hodari Davis, Akiba Solomon, Will Power, Najee Ali, Kuttin'
Kandi, Christie Z Pabon, Bambaataa, Fabel, Crazy Legs etc. The list
goes on. There are lots of folks within Hip Hop who are out and about
organizing, speaking out and making things happen. Lets not act like
cats aren't around doing things. The Hip Hop community has responded
big time. From Dr Dre to P-Diddy to Company of Profits to Michael
Franti. Hip Hoppers have rose to the occasion. Lets make no
mistake. And the Hip Hop community does not need to be subjected to
some sort 'patriotic' litmus test.

Lastly let me say this.. There are dozens of Hip Hop radio shows and
publications all over the country. I would certainly hope our
'leaders' take advantage and use those mediums to reach out to that
large audience. I know for myself, my very popular Hip Hop shows have
been blessed with lots of insightful, heartfelt discussions.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee blessed our airwaves this past weekend as
did Boots of The Coup. Calls are out to Reverend Al Sharpton,
Reverend Jesse Jackson and Cornel West to name a few. The doors are
open and the opportunity is there for them to speak. Whether or not
they do so is on them at this time. I would encourage such leaders to
speak directly to our audience and provide the insight and expertise
they have worked so hard to achieve. To not do so is to widen the
communication gap and leave all of us scratching our heads asking
'Whats up"?

So where is Hip Hop and What has Hip Hop been doing? Hip Hop is
right here alongside you doing their part and trying to deal with what
was once seen as unimaginable. Now Hip Hoppers have to deal with not
only their grief, but also the the prospect of war that will change
their world forever and certainly involve them. It's a lot to
shoulder, but I'm certain we will do the right thing.

THE WTC ATTACKS

by Ernie Paniccioli

First, before anything keep in mind the loss of life pain and
suffering of the victims and the survivors. The impact of this day
will be felt for generations. No religion, political party, belief
structure, cause or grudge can justify or condone this beast like act.
Our lives will not be the same in America or any other place in the
world. The financial loss alone will be felt even in the poorest
shantytown in the Third World. Anywhere else in this world especially
Japan, the Presidents, and CEO s of the hijacked airlines would have
been on TV apologizing and offering to resign for allowing not one,
but possibly five planes to be hijacked. To my knowledge, this has
not yet happened.

A sad coincidence or irony is the airlines involved were American and
United and now every minute we hear the call for a United America.
Were the hijackers trying to tell us something like using 9-11 (911)
as the day to commit this crime? Many folks slept on prophecy and
when what they though was the millennium had passed they snickered at
scripture and prophecy. If the millennium is the celebration of the
2000th birthday of Christ, then it must be celebrated in 2001. Does
Revelation 18 refer to the World Trade Center; I for one suggest it
does and further it talks of New York City as well. We must now go
from the spiritual to the political and ask what does the future hold
for our youth and the so-called Hip-Hop generation. Try these on for
size to see who benefited from this crime against humanity.

(1) Forced induction into the military.

(2) A vast erosion of civil rights and civil liberties.

(3) Possible Martial Law.

(4) Widespread layoffs and financial hardships including a stand still
of the airline, hotel and tourism industries.

(5) Massive deportation of thousands of undocumented aliens who have
committed no crime being poor, hungry and having the desire to work
and feed their families.

(6) Racial and ethnic profiling, both by the government and misguided
"patriotic Americans".

Experience has taught me nothing happens in a vacuum, the week before
the horror America, Zionism and Israel were being skewered at the
Conference On Racism, America was being asked to pay reparations which
would amount to billions of dollars. All signs and the stock market
indicated America was headed into a recession and the tensions in the
Middle East were at the boiling point Americans were divided over
whether or not we had witnessed a Coup d etat and a stolen
presidential election. There are voices even now that suggest this
horror might be the second phase of that Coup d etat or another phase
of the activities of the establishment of The New world Order.

We must never feed into the Zealot mind set. Never believe as so many
do that we alone are the chosen people, that our religion our God is
the only valid form of worship. That our way is the only way or that
God has put you on this Earth to shame or civilize the heathens.
Fundamentalism, zealotry and racial bigotry will create wars and
hatred for generations to come. The worst enemies of peace on this
planet are the zealots and fundamentalists, they can be found in every
religion. They all worship some musty book and not the creator it is
supposed to represent. They all feel they are the chosen of God, that
they are somehow wiser, more enlightened more sacred, more holy, than
other people who share the Earth. They all have scapegoats, the
filthy Jews, the dirty Arabs, the dumb niggers, those honkies, those
stinking dot-heads, those porch monkies, etc., etc., etc. Remember
the words of Haile Selassie as sung by Bob Marley "Until the
philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is
discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war ."

Lets analyze this Osama bin Laden scenario carefully, he is an avowed
enemy and hater of America, and if he were to admit or boast about
having committed this horror he would become the terrorist "super
hero" and poster boy. If he did it, one of the most heinous act of
modern history why would he not take credit for it? A great rule of
thumb is that whenever anything important happens turn on the VCR and
record every news flash. I taped about 24 hours of events that
happened too fast to be filtered or censored. One amazing item I
"caught on tape" was "someone called the Secret Service on Air Force
One, had their phone numbers and secret codes and said we re coming
for you now" while Bush was in the air fleeing Washington. Either
these assassins had "inside" help every step of the way or else all
the money we have poured into defense and security has been wasted,
stolen or misused. If "angry, red blooded Americans" are seeking
justice by killing and beating up Arabs, Muslims and other "Middle
Eastern" types did they do the same when the Oklahoma City bomber was
revealed to be a blonde haired, blue eyed good ol boy ?

On a more personal note I visited the fantastic restaurant Windows On
The World at the top of the World Trade Center for my daughters
birthday just a couple of weeks before the explosions and felt sick
with dread, told my family we ve got to split and saw dead people
dancing in the club. I have been in those building hundreds of times
and never before experienced anything like that premonition. My
daughter saw the plane crash into the second tower and the buildings
crumble from her window at work.

Lastly I suggest those of you who read to please check out "Rule By
Secrecy" by Jim Marrs and to check out www.rense.com. These may help
you explore other insights into what happened and where we may be
heading in the next few weeks and months. My heart aches and I
suggest this is a powerful time for unity as human beings on this
Earth. We need reason, calm, hope and prayer to get through this
together. This is a good time to be kind and gentle to folks, you
don t know if the person next to you lost a love one, a friend or
their job or is just in shock or denial.

Peace Ernie Paniccioli

Send comments, questions and concerns to

mailto:misterdaveyd@aol.com

mailto:mrdaveyd@aol.com

The FNV Newsletter

written by Davey D

http://www.daveyd.com

http://www.rapstation.com

c 2001 All Rights Reserved

by Ace Tafoya/PoorNewsNetwork Community Journalist

Promise me everything, and give me nothing

Give with one hand

Smile and Grin; then take Back with somebody’s else Hand

Prop N! My Friend, No! No! No!

Help, House the Homeless! No

Help Cripple the homeless, and throw them out not off the streets

An excerpt from Contract Law(Lies) By A. Faye Hicks PO’ Poet Laureate/POOR Magazine

On the corner of Van Ness and Market St. last Monday afternoon, I saw a disturbing figure. A figure of a person lying on the street with a yellow blanket pressed tightly over their body. "Hell!," I said as I was ‘shocked and awed’ at the sight!... This country is spending billions of dollars on an unnecessary war. Billions that can make a difference in services all over the country.

I was part of a demonstration on Thursday, April 17, 2003 at the Next Door Shelter sponsored by the Coalition on Homelessness, POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights), POOR Magazine as well as many other agencies. Supposedly a model shelter for the city of San Francisco, Next Door which has a capacity of roughly 250 beds, was handing out eviction notices to clients in response to Proposition N or Care Not Cash initiative last week "I don’t like them (the eviction notices)," JoAnn Sanders a homeless advocate said to me at the rally. "I’m not sure if they are warranted. It’s amazing that the major politicians (Gavin Newsome, Willie Brown) plant their platforms on the backs of the poor and homeless."

Roughly 50 – 70 people turned up to speak out and let their voices be heard on the corners of Geary and Polk Streets. Even eggs that were thrown from across the street in our direction could not deter us from our protest.

Ed Willard and Marisa Franco from POWER led the people and the chants on the streets of the Tenderloin. We marched from the Coalition on Homelessness on Turk Street to 1001 Polk – Next Door Shelter. 

"Shelter Bed and $59

That’s Not Care –

That’s A Crime"

We want to let the City, Department of Human Services (DHS); the Board of Supervisors know what they are secretly doing behind closed doors in reference to Prop. N is not acceptable. "I think it is wrong giving out eviction notices to people who are on GA (the city’s welfare assistance program). This is only the early stages," Darrell Godbay from Shout said to me at the protest.

Reps from POWER have three simple demands for DHS, Trent Rhorer and the other co-horts: NO EXPULSIONS OR EXCLUSIONS FROM SHELTERS; HOUSING NOT CUTS AND NO FINGERPRINTING IMAGE MACHINES AT THE SHELTERS.

"People who most need the services (from the city) will be displaced," Garth Ferguson, a member of POWER said to me at the rally. A. Faye Hicks of the Po’ Poet’s Project of POOR Magazine let her lovely voice come through strong on a beautiful piece of poetry she recited. I tried to get a few comments from people who live at that shelter, but they uttered silence. "We aren’t going to put our fingers in your damn machines," warned Juan from Housing Not Borders. "The real crazies are the people like Trent (Roher, DHS). The war is here on the floor!," MC from Caduceus Outreach Services said at the podium.

Postscript;

After protests from the city’s poor and their advocates The Next Door Shelter later rescinded the eviction notices- and at this point the effort is to overturn Prop N through the courts and The San Francisco Board of Supervisors- To get involved in this effort call POWER at 415-864-8372. To read more about Prop N resistance scroll down this page and read Economic and Racial Cleansing #101

by Mission Resistors

They say the universe was created by the destruction of another in a Big Bang. I know mine was destroyed and created by 2 Big Bangs. When I was 26, I was in and out of situations where I was getting free housing. My parents were going to my grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary so I stayed at their place in Alsea, Oregon for the weekend. This place was a typical doublewide mobile home with medium brown false wood walls and burnt orange carpets. I invited my friend Jon Smyth over to watch a movie. We watched “Tomb Raider” all the way through and started “Fire Birds.” We wandered around, in and out watching the movie and doing other stuff. He went to the bathroom and wandered into my parent’s bedroom and came out with the “Hand Rifle”--my father’s .44 magnum revolver. He said, “’J’ sit down.” I looked and saw him with the gun. He repeated, “’J’ sit down.” It took me a moment to process what was going on and in the mean time the First Big Bang occurred to destroy my old universe and send things speeding in millions of directions. He had fired a warning shot across my bow. My hands went up in surprise. The shot went through my left pointer finger, the tip of my right pointer finger, opened my right middle finger at the first knuckle, and continued through my right thumb and hit the lamp on the other side of the wall. I had to look down to know all this. Again he said, “’J’ sit down.” I sat down. He walked over to the phone. I asked him, “Why are you doing this?” He answered, “Because life sucks.” In response I said, “That doesn’t mean you have to hurt me.”

“I do not intend to hurt you," he retorted.

I concluded, “You already have.”

He did not answer. I said, “I need to go to the bathroom.” He nodded as he picked up the phone to make a call. I went to the restroom and washed off my hands to see how bad they were damaged. They looked like hamburger. During the same instant I was doing this my friend was asking for a girl by name. When she answered he said, “This will teach you to mess with men’s hearts.” And then he fired one last shot. I knew this was his final act. This was the second Big Bang. As tragic as this was it was the action that started my new universe. From this point forward, things started to slow down and recoil less. I went into the front room and saw my friend laying face down on the floor in the exact position he used to sleep, in a face down fetal position. It was still so obvious that he was dead that I did not need to check for vital signs. The next thought that went through my mind was whether or not I should see if the girl was still on the phone and help her. I decided it was more important that I get help for myself. I hung up the phone and called 911. I waited for the local E.M.T. when they got there I was very grateful that I was in a small community and knew all the E.M.T.s. When they wanted to keep me talking I told them I needed to talk as little as possible so I could concentrate on keeping conscious the pain was so great. They transferred me to the main ambulance and they took me to the hospital to start my road to healing. Later when I was asked how I got though it all I could say was, “It happened, nothing I could do about it.” And that is how my new universe started.

Things like this in my life and the lives of others start hidden disabilities. These disabilities are the kind that other people that don’t have them can’t see. This is a major problem because it is these kinds of disabilities that are hardest to overcome. So it is nearly impossible to get help because nobody will admit that we are in need of help.

by Queennandi XSheba & RAM

This was the 14th annual national day of protest against a plague of legal lynchings that if the Sssystem was true to its’ citizens, would never exist - po’lice terror.
This was the national day that fallen comerades & leaders such as Idriss Stelley, Cameron Boyd, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Bobby Hutton and Chairman Fred Hampton were remembered. For some of us at the march, it was an almost-new experience, but for those such as myself, It was a wound re-opener and a slap-in-the face fact that regardless of our heroes and sheroes waterfalls of bloodshed, The struggle continues. Painfully, I listened to the mother of our SBP (Slain By Pig) brother, choked up with emotions speak on her child. “He was a father, a brother-my son!” The pictures of Asa Sullivan, Idriss Stelley, Anita Gay, and many, many more shone away on this beautiful day as if the sun was their spirits, sending their warm blessings to inspire us to keep on fighting, and not to forget them.

All of us in the crowd jeered and booed when learned that the change of venue in SBP brother Oscar Grant’s Case was granted, for we all believe that if the crime was committed in Oakland, it should very well stay there. How is it that a pig like Johannes Mehserle can murder a man in cold blood, and his so-called right to be tried by a jury of his peers be handed to him on a gold platter? The foundation of the venue change is made of racism, cover-ups, political bootlickin’, back room shady deals, and of course, the pig’s right to a jury of his peers, so definitely the trial will be held on copland territory.
Fellow comerade, and “Man on the cross”, Brother JR spoke with fire:

“Wherever the trial goes, we will go! We will organize and educate the people ( in the area that the trial will be taking place) and enlighten them on the seriousness of po’lice brutality and murder!” Brother JR himself has been nailed to the cross for his souljah role in seeking justice for Oscar Grant. (JR’s court date is set for Oct 30th in Oakland) His unbroken spirit opened eyes and restored faith in the fact that the only way to justice is in the hands of Just Us.

I held back tears as I spoke on the assault I endured when I was seven months pregnant by SFPD’s “finest” officers Miller (ret) and shea. I was slammed viciously on my huge belly, and when witnesses began to gather around to protest, I was punished even more. One officer actually had the “beastly” nerve to put his knee on my back, using all of his weight and I thought for sure that my unborn cub wouldn’t survive. Po’lice brutality has become a generational experience in my family. My mother and younger brother did not survive this hateful wicked Sssystem, and it is up to me, and the rest of us to take a stand to demand of this murderous Sssystem that there will be NO MORE STOLEN LIVES!!!

With that said, I’d like to share a piece I wrote entitled “I AM TIRED OF BEING A SLAVE!”

QUEENNANDI. PNN

by Mari V/PNN Indigenous Peoples Media Project

"I hope I get another opportunity to do this again with you guys. Cuz all of you are great."
 

There I was writing thank you notes to the sponsors of Boys and Girls Club of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe's Native Hip-Hop Workshop. I finished one note, and then opened another to write one to Cassandra Yazzie. Then Robert Ortiz from the tribal newspaper, the Southern Ute Drum came into my office and told me he needed to talk to me about Cassandra Yazzie.
 

I first met Cassandra at my homie Klee Benally's wedding. I asked if I could sit at their table. Little did I know that even though I was on the Navajo Nation, that whole table was around from where I live. I noticed her kids, and her husband Jason Hotchkiss told me all about their organization Four Rivers Institute. It was all about teaching Native American youth about the outdoors and getting job experience. I thought it was a much needed program here in this tribal community.
 

A week or two went by and I thought about Cassandra again. I was planning this media workshop called Native Hip-Hop Workshop and was looking for a photographer. We had music and writing covered, but just needed photo. I talked to Jason again, and he thought it was a great idea. He then gave me Cassandra's number and I gave her a call to ask her to be a photographer for a project  I was organizing media classes that I called Native Hip-Hop Workshop. She told me that was a great idea, but that film was better for the youth. I remember her contacting me by chatting or calling and her wanting to do a film workshop with the youth, and then I remember telling her I couldn't fund-raise anymore money for a third presenter. I remember how shocked I was by her answer, "Don't worry Mari, I'm local. I just want to start doing film workshops with youth. Don't fund-raise for me." Cassandra and I started to form a organizing friendship centered around the youth in the Southern Ute Tribal Community.

I believe Cassandra's spirit knew she had to do a Native Hip-Hop Workshop before she left this world. She had this determination about doing the film even when I was still thinking about photography. It was her first workshop for youth, and she was so excited. She stated, "Like Mari said, um I'm here  with Four Rivers Institute as part of their media connection. This was just a little something I wanted to do, and it was my first time connecting a workshop with some young people. I am very fortunate to be here with all these good people, but I wanted to say thank you to everyone of you who participated in the workshops and to the ones that allowed myself and my little film makers, my lil' peeps to interview you because I know it takes alot of courage to step up and say I'll be interviewed." I remember when she met me and Ras (music presenter) at the casino, she had the biggest smile on her face while networking about the film.
 

Cassandra's selfless spirit was felt by the kids in her film class. I remember how she was a person of her word, and how she kept her promises to the youth. Many times we forget about what we tell our youth, and don't hold ourselves accountable. I remember her emailing me to talk to one of her students because she promised him a clip of the video, and since he couldn't get the video yet, she asked me to talk to him. Her students shared her passion of film, and it showed in their creative media art and investigative journalism.

So there I was at my desk, about to write her a letter, and Robert Ortiz walked in my office. He asked me if I knew what happened to Cassandra. I thought he was going to tell me the film tapes from Native Hip-Hop Workshop were destroyed or maybe that she got the cold or flu. He told me she got in a car crash, and died right away. Three of her and her partner's five kids were in the car. Tears started to drop from my face, and I couldn't believe she was gone. I mean I just talked to her yesterday morning, and we were supposed to meet that morning to go over the film at her house. She told me how she needed to go on a hike on the Animas trail and that she would come to Boys and Girls Club that afternoon so we could look over the film. She never showed up, because she left to the spirit world. Currently, those three children are recovering in the hospital. I still shed tears about Cassandra.
 

The next day, one of her students asked, "Mari, is Cassandra dead or alive? Just tell me." Her students are proud of the film-making process they created, and Cassandra committed to a ongoing relationship to teaching film at our Southern Ute Boys and Girls Club. She was going to teach claymation, and have the kids tell thier stories through that art form. Amada Hotckiss, one of their children and participant in the film class stated, "What I liked about the film is when we all got together and we said what we liked to do. I like to do art, and I hope we can do this workshop again." Amada gave me one of the toughest interviews I have ever seen. She is currently in the hospital healing from her injuries.
 

Many people believe that kids are are not capable of creating media much less getting published. Cassandra held the vision that Native Hip-Hop Workshop should have young peoples as media producers and recognized them as her 'lil peeps', which in the hip-hop world means a very close friend. Cassandra wanted to be a part of creating a world where kids were using film as indigenized storytelling.
 

"As I went through each of these (film) clips I got to see and feel alot of your stories come alive and it was really, really good to see and I got to know each of you in a way, in a more personal way because of your words, because of your music. It was really beautiful to see and I hope I get another opportunity to do this again with you guys. Cuz all of you are great" stated Cassandra Yazzie.
 
 

It is in this spirit of Native Hip Hop Workshop, I am sending
you a digital smoke signal that is filled with the same creative, passionate, indigenous energy you used to create your world everyday.

Rest In Power Cassandra Yazzie.
 

You will always live through Native Hp-Hop Workshop.

by by POOR staff

As part of our Media Studies Program at POOR, we provide extensive media and poverty training for visiting students and professional journalists. One such visitor is Jean McGeorge from New Zealand, who wrote to us to explain why she was interested in visiting POOR magazine. After she had visited our Community Newsroom, our Media Studies interns interviewed her to gain an understanding of her work and her dilemma with mainstream media coverage of poor communities in New Zealand.

Jean first contacted POOR via e-mail:

"Hello, my name is Jean McGeorge and I am a journalist from New Zealand. I became really interested in the media portrayal of poverty while working as reporter on a community newspaper in one of New Zealand's poorest areas. I got sick of reading headlines (in other papers of course) like 'Welcome to the Underworld' and 'Otara as Bad as We Thought.'

I am now putting together a proposal for a research grant to put together guidelines to help improve mainstream media coverage of poverty and poverty-related issues in my country.

The grant I'm applying for allows for travel to go to media organisations overseas that could provide useful models.

I would love the opportunity to come and spend some time observing at Poor Magazine and to talk with you about ways in which these issues can be reframed and addressed better in New Zealand.

If I got the grant, I would probably be traveling in February or March next year and imagine I would need to spend a week or two with you.

Please get back to me, let me know what you think and I can tell you more about New Zealand and the work I would like to do."

In further correspondence, Jean discussed the multi-cultural, and often poor, communities of New Zealand:

"South Auckland, where I worked, has a reasonably large Maori population, and also a high immigrant population. There is a large Pacific Island population (Samoan and Tongan communities) and smaller communities of Indians, Asians and the country's refugee resettlement programme is based here."

POOR asked Jean, "What, if any, writing groups are in existence with low income folks in New Zealand?"

She replied, "Pretty much none, I'm afraid. The only thing I have found so far is a newspaper in Wellington, our capital, called the City Voice. This uses a large volunteer staff and focuses on issues affecting inner-city people. It also practices advocacy journalism and is run as a collective.

Unfortunately, New Zealand is so small ( 3.5 million people) there is not the market for many niche publications, and most of the smaller community papers which could serve this function have been bought up by the two large multi-national publishing companies operating in New Zealand. Plus, the main media writes ABOUT, very seldom FOR, low-income communities."

An Interview with Jean McGeorge

by Vlad Pogorelov

I remember when, still a romantic young man, I watched the Australian film ìCrocodile Dundeeî a number of times. I had a big world map on my study desk, underneath the Plexiglas. Instead of practicing Algebra or Russian Grammar I would sit there for hours, dreaming of traveling to all those exotic places of the world. New Zealand was definitely one of them. As in the Moody Blues song, ìthinking is the best way to travel,î and so I traveled in my imagination. New Zealand was a place of dangers and adventure, where the native tribes are ready to ambush you at any moment and exotic prehistoric animals are roaming free in the wilderness.

Twenty years later I still havenít made it to New Zealand or Australia, but I am much closer to that part of the world than I was before. Yet after living here in America for the last 8 years and even becoming an American citizen, I eventually had to say good-bye to my romantic notions of the ìNew Worldî that were shaped by the books of Maine Reed and Fenimore Cooper. California turned out not to be the place of Wild West cowboys or Gold Rush miners. It is more prosaic, more regulated and at times inhumane. Keeping that in mind, I prepared for the interview with Jean McGeorge, who came to POOR all the way from New Zealand.

A woman in her twenties, Jean embodies an air of ingrained intelligence and a calm, but firm, self-confidence. For a second she reminds me of portrait I have seen of Florence Nightingale, just arrived at the battlefield of the Crimean War. Jean is sitting in her wooden armchair in POOR’s conference room and is facing a crew of interns, staff writers and other prominent figures of the New Journalism movement. With quiet determination she withstands an assault of curiosity and thorough journalistic inquiry into her life and work.

Having heard so much about her from co-editors Dee and Lisa, I finally have a chance to ask her the questions that Iíd prepared the day before. Knowing that I will not have enough time to satisfy my curiosity about her work and New Zealand, I settle on two questions. As other members of the interviewing group have questions as well, I am confident that we will gather enough vital information to understand the motives behind her mission of reporting on New Zealand’s poor.

Jean, who graduated with a degree in Journalism, could have a bright future as a young and promising journalist of the mainstream media. Instead, ever since her days with Papatoe Toe Otahuhu, a small but influential community newspaper of South Auckland, Jean has reported news concerning poor and underprivileged people. According to Jean, she was “inspired to cover the poor because there was not enough coverage on them in New Zealandís mainstream press.”

Currently, Jean is on a fact-finding tour about news organizations that cover poverty issues here in the US. She received her scholarship to research the broad subject of poor coverage in press thanks to her own energy and enthusiasm as well as the support of some representatives of New Zealandís newspaper industry. After an extensive search on the net, looking through dozens of different organizations that advocate and inform on the subject of poverty, Jean chose POOR Magazine and POOR News Network as the main place where she would learn.

According to Jean, New Zealand has a population of 3 million people, with one million concentrated in South Auckland. The poor and indigenous people are concentrated in the suburbs of South Auckland, areas formerly populated by white working class. Jean tells us of the segments of the population which are most at risk: the Pacific Islanders, the Indians, the Africans and of course the recent immigrant arrivals from variety of countries. Jean writes about the oppression and neglect suffered by these people under New Zealandís conservative Government. “The poverty is portrayed here,î Jean says with a sad smile, ìas if it is because the poor are lazy. And thatís what made me interested in this subject, made me write about them.”

Jean thinks that her Government betrayed her people when it privatized healthcare, reduced welfare or dole, as they call it, and abolished the trade Unions. She tells us that a few years ago her Government started a campaign of harassment against poor people, calling it “daubing dole bludger.” As a result, many poor and disadvantaged people were pushed into even greater poverty. Yet despite obvious class oppression, New Zealand is an apolitical country. “We donít like to make a fuss. Somehow, we see it as embarrassing.” Jean says.

As I hear Jean talking about all the injustices done to the poor workers and indigenous people of New Zealand, I realize how much needs to be done in the US to revert the current situation of unjust welfare reform, reduced social spending and private healthcare. The way Jean describes her now ìindependentî country is so similar to what is happening hereóin Uncle Samís backyard. The fact that a majority of Americans are as apolitical as New Zealanders is not a surprise. It seems that it is very symptomatic for the English speaking post-British Empire worldóespecially if the people who are running the show are not the oppressed, the indigenous, the descendants of slaves or the minorities.

Describing her journalistic work, Jean tells us that big businesses recently evicted seventy families from their homes, in order to expand the motorways. The homes were demolished and the evicted families had no money or political influence to get proper compensation. Despite Jeanís involvement, she was unable to prevent it from happening. ìA lot of dirty dealing was going on,î she says, shaking her head. ìAnd unfortunately there was not enough feedback from the community.î I am wondering if Jean knows about the housing crisis here in the Bay Area, and how thousands of San Franciscans have been evicted due to influx of high-tech money and enormous greediness of the landlords. I personally know a number of people who have been evicted, including myself. And some of them have been thrown out on the street more than one time.

Jean explains she eventually left her newspaper because the company that owned it was uninvolved with the staff and did not provide benefits for the workers. It reminded me my last ìreal jobî as a part time case manager in a chain homecare agency. I was fired for talking about fair benefits for the employees and the possibility of organizing a Union.

I ask Jean if there are other alternative newspapers or magazines in New Zealand writing on the issues of poverty and class oppression. To my surprise, Jean admits that that there are not. Apparently, the subject of poverty and class oppression is not covered very well in New Zealand, and that is why Jean is on her fact-finding tour. “Youíve got a lot of facts to gather, sister,” I think. “And one of them is that you can organize against the System, even if your number is small and you have holes in your pockets. POOR Magazine is a good example of that.”

For more information on POOR's Media Studies/Poverty Scholarship Program, please call us at (415) 863-6306 or email, tiny@poormagazine.org

A Journalist from New Zealand

Takuya Arai

Recently, I broke my rib. Since I do not have a health insurance and cannot afford to have a doctor, I was unable to get a proper medical care for my broken bone. Although I saw a doctor once right after I broke my bone, high medical expense, which was just an astronomical figure to my monthly budget, disqualified me for further medical care. I just needed to stay calm and depend on the natural healing ability of my body. It seems that my bone is healing this time, but I get scared when I imagine myself in a situation that requires more serious medical care, which I basically do not deserve because of the lack of adequate financial resources.

"Pacific Islanders, like Maori, have pretty bad health statistics." Jean answered. "We have a huge problem of communicable disease, such as tuberculosis, diabetes, measles, etc." Issues concerning health are more serious than any other threat to the poor community.

Jean has the same perception as POOR News Network does with regard to the point that issues concerning poverty are only the subjects of the news for mainstream media, which helps create a "sense of isolation" of poor community from the rest of the society. She was a journalist writing for Maori community newspaper called "Papa Toe Toe Ota Huhu" in Auckland, New Zealand, where she became interested in issues of poverty. With her New Zealand English accent, which sounded very fresh to me, Jean willingly answered our questions about the situations surrounding poverty in her country.

"Are minority people organized?" Joe, one of the POOR media studies interviewers, asked.

"There are a number of ethnic communities in South Auckland and very few white people. Pacific islanders, such as Samoans, Tongans, Indians, Muslims, and other Asian Immigrants do not really have political or organized voice." Despite the seriousness of the issues, she never raised her voice or became emotional when she was answering our questions. Her calmness and concise language reflected a sense of intelligence to me.

However, more importantly, what she told us reminded me of my own experience when I first came to the United States 9 years ago. I was 19 years old with full of hope and anxiety (fuan). People, culture, food, climate, everything was new to me. Living in a small city in Ohio and being Asian at the same time introduced me to a lot of unique and eccentric experiences, which I enjoyed so much.

However, being different from everybody around me also caused a lot of difficulties and hardships. (Toriwake) More than anything, my inability to speak English affected me the most in every aspect of my life. Sometimes I was being culled from the community. Stress accumulated when I could not say what I wanted to say when I confronted mean racists who consistently tried to make me the target of public ridicule, and when the same type of things happened a number of times a week over the period of 1 to 2 years until I became relatively communicable and capable of verbally fighting them back.

"In South Auckland, there are a lot of working class people. They do not have enough resources to fight. They have no money. Language barrier is a big factor." Jean explained. Their HAGAYUSA resonated in my mind. "Mainstream media like TV, radio and newspaper do not have consistent coverage of issues concerning poverty. People in poor communities are reluctant to open themselves up to the mainstream media because their experience with media was negative ones in the past." She added.

"How are minorities in New Zealand acting against threats from its government and society?" I asked this question because I was inspired by the news last week that Zapatista rebel leaders in Mexico are calling on the Mexican government to pass the Indian rights law. "A lot of people want their lands back." Jean answered. "Because of the land occupation, minorities are claiming compensation from the government."

by Carol Harvey

On Saturday, August 3 at 1:00 a.m. I emerged wide-eyed from "Signs" at the Coronet on Geary and walked down to Cala Market for an Odwala. In the check-out line was a skinheaded-looking blond guy and his spikey-headed girlfriend.  She giggled, "I have to take out a loan to live in this city."  He commiserated, saying something about her staying at his place for the time being. 

Out on the street with my drink, I passed a hooded young guy on the corner.  A perfectly curved stream gushed copiously upwards from his pants into the street.  His friend, hands slung in pockets, slouched idly a few yards up by the bus stop, waiting.  The golden stream guy finished and stepped past me spritely saying a bold, "Hello!"  "I just peed in front of you in the street, Lady, and you can't do nothin' about it," smirked all over his face."

I walked a few yards East up Geary.  The skinheaded-looking blond guy emerged from the bushes pulling up his zipper.  He joined his girlfriend.  I called as I walked up behind him fast, "Are you homeless?"

"No."  He said, turning.

"They are arresting homeless people for what you just did in the bushes."

"They can arrest me," he screamed. "In fact, you can tell them my name," and he hauled up the front of his shirt.  Blazoned across his very white chest in huge Gothic letters was the word, "Stortz."

"What's that?" I said.

"My name, Bitch!  You can tell the police, and they can come and get me."

"You make it hard on homeless people," I said.

("Note to self: I'm mad enough about the unfairness of this that I am willing to commit the foolhardy act of confronting a nonhomeless skinheaded-looking guy in the middle of Geary at 1:30 a.m. on a dark Friday night.)

He's not alone.  They do it outside the bars in the Marina. Their kids do it behind the trees in Alta Plaza, and in the street next to their cars on Valencia in the Mission.  Some of them are adults, some children.  Most have homes.

So, send out the SFPD with the quality of life citations!   It's "Storz!", folks, and he ain't homeless.  He's a housed San Franciscan, a guy with the Goth tattoo of his name on his chest, over there right now doing his civic duty by watering the bushes. 

And, me, I'm over here trying not to drag it home on my shoes. 

by Jocelyn Y. Steward/LA Times Staff Writer

In her fight for the dignity of homeless people in downtown Los Angeles, Donna Valiente chose two methods: direct confrontation and prayer.

By day she was a firebrand, speaking out at City Hall, and during demonstrations, making her voice heard to officialdom. At night she made her voice heard to God.

At an office on Main Street, between 4th and 5th streets, she and other skid row residents gathered each Wednesday to pray for their community, for the day when those who are now homeless will be able to stand at an apartment window and say, "I used to sleep on those streets."

"Donna had that vision," said Brother James Upshaw, a friend and downtown resident, and she believed both methods would help her achieve it.

On Feb. 13, Valiente was found dead in a skid row hotel of what is believed to be natural causes. Her death comes at a time when the 48-year-old had increased her presence at City Hall and the Los Angeles Police Commission.

"She would come wheeling up the aisle in her wheelchair, I'm sure they were expecting some very quiet voice," said Pete White, executive director of the Los Angeles Community Action Network, a nonprofit group that works on behalf of the homeless and poor in downtown Los Angeles, of which Valiente was a member. Instead "you have this lioness roaring from her wheelchair."

As an activist she joined an anti-domestic violence campaign for downtown women. She also pushed to keep downtown hotels — such as the one she lived in — as affordable housing.

An artist and a poet, Valiente sometimes used her art to express her concerns about the homeless. Earlier this month at a meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission she "denounced police abuse and mistreatment of downtown residents," White said. She read her poem "The Shackles Must Come Off":

What if by some odd chance it was all happening to you?

Would you not stand up for what you know is right and true?"

Born July 8, 1958, in Santa Barbara, Valiente grew up in Ventura and graduated from Santa Paula High School. An entrepreneur, she operated several businesses, including T. Liberty Rose Maid Service, said her daughter, Barbra Marquez. In addition to Marquez, Valiente is survived by her mother, Carolynn Klouse, of Bend, Ore.; a son, Christopher Rader; a daughter, Liberty Rader, and five grandchildren, all of Los Angeles.

About 15 years ago she was driving on the freeway when she collided with a jackknifed truck, leaving her seriously injured. A surgery years later didn't alleviate the problem and "finally she had to be put in the wheelchair because she couldn't walk without being in excruciating pain," Marquez said.

Unable to work, Valiente lost her apartment and ended up in a skid row hotel. Faith had always been important in her life, but sometimes she would fall into drug use, her daughter said. While living downtown she gained sobriety and stayed in the community.

"She felt that's where her calling was, she needed to help people downtown," Marquez said.

On the streets she handed out her poetry or handmade crosses. And when people marveled at her work, she would say, "If I can do it, then others can do it also," said Montgomery Garnett, a friend and resident of downtown Los Angeles. "She would have made a great motivational speaker."

Speaking up on behalf of the homeless was not a matter of radicalism but a by-product of Valiente's simple belief that things could be better. The weekly prayer meeting that she organized at the L.A. Community Action Network office on Main Street stemmed from that belief as well.

"There's a lot of blessed people on skid row," Upshaw said. "Where there is darkness, light that much more abides. It was proven in the life of Donna."

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jocelyn.stewart@latimes.com