2000

by Husayn Sayfuddiyn

To the poor - a

mobile home

has new meaning

Life’s Blood on Wheels

Fancier than the

shopping carts

of the ne’er do wells

until SFPD stopped me

as unlicensed to live

illegal necessities

unwanted baggage

to Tow Away

and I saw in his steel eyes

that I was next

on the Tow Away list.

by Staff Writer

To you, Mr. Stelley

a doomed young San Franciscan

Who is now one of my ancestors from Life

Taken down in your Prime

Before you could make your woman your wife.

Before you could procreate a child

Graduate from college

who had made no comittment to create a Crime.

To you who are now a memory

A bad boy memory to the coppers

who shot you down

without a cold-bloodied frown.

Who emptied their holsters

without a breath of hesitation.

Shot down, Like the animals you loved.

But you were her sacred Son.

I Salute You! Mr. Stelley

-Ms. A Faye

by NJ WOLLMAN

We are continuing our battle to get the TIAA-CREF (TC) higher education
pension system to do "positive investing" with a small portion of its
socially responsible "Social Choice Account" (SCA). It can mean up to $300
million going toward such things as loans for low-income area housing and
business start-ups, and venture capital for companies championing a new
socially/environmentally responsible product. Companies thus supported can
become stronger models for other new companies and the very prominent TC
could become a model for other institutional investors. A survey taken by
T-C revealed that 81% of SCA participants want this proactive, positive
approach for the fund.

TC does token low-income housing investment in a different fund of theirs,
and are using that as an excuse for not doing so in the SCA. But, first of
all, the Social Investment Forum (trade association) recommends putting 1%
of a fund's assets in such investment, while the Methodist pension fund
puts in 3-5%. TC's investment in low-income housing is pitifully below such
levels and you might ask them why. And there is no reason they can't do
such investing in the SCA, where it certainly belongs. Additionally, there
are other things we propose that are not being done at all in any of their
funds. A number of socially responsible funds are already doing what we
suggest, so why can't TIAA-CREF. ASK THEM WHY THEY REFUSE TO CONTACT THOSE
IN THE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT FIELD WHO HAVE VOLUNTEERED TO TALK
TO THEM..

Our original effort to get the SCA started took five years, so, after four
years, "We have just begun to fight." We have a long list of prominent
group/individual endorsers and media stories keep coming--Wall Street
Journal, L.A. Times, etc.. But with a group as large as TC ($300 billion in
assets; 2 million participants, etc.), the inertia and paternalism is
strong. We started a tactic that takes a few minutes weekly-- and your
involvement could really help. THANKS, Neil (mark your calendar or ask if
you want brief bi-weekly campaign updates and reminders about
calls--njwollman@manchester.edu)

PLEASE TAKE THREE MINUTES A WEEK TO LEND YOUR VOICE in support of the
proposal for "Positive Investing" for the Social Choice Account: (a)
positive screening looking for more socially responsible companies, such as
those with good labor practices (b) low-income area housing and business
startups, and (c) venture capital for companies championing a new
socially/environmentally responsible product. And ask them to dramatically
increase investment in low-income housing in their TIAA Account, where they
now do a token amount out of $100 billion.

Call John Biggs, their CEO, at.1-800-TIA-CREF (842-2733), ext. 4280.; or
212-490-9000. You'll likely have to leave a message with his secretary, but
do ask for a response if you can. We are creating a weekly "presence" that
will continually remind him of our concerns! And email Mr. Biggs, as well,
or instead of, if you can't make a call:(WWW.TIAA-CREF.ORG, then click
"Contact TIAA-CREF", then "General Information")

If you are interested in getting further involved in the effort, we do
everything from gather signatures for petitions, to "visiting" TC trustees
around the country, to demonstrating at TC headquarters in NYC or at their
local offices around the country. Contact us if you want to get further
involved at your local level or in national strategizing and organizing
(219-982-5346).

--more info:
http://ARES.manchester.edu/department/PeaceStudies/njw/disclaim.html
-PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD

by Chance Martin

As part of the latest wave of human rights abuses directed at poor and
homeless people in San Francisco, Food Not Bombs(FNB) had their 5:30 food servingto homeless people in UN Plaza disrupted by San Francisco Police Department.

This is following the midnight removal of the plaza's benches Saturday,
April 28th in supposed "official reaction" to an investigative report on the
Hearst Corporation's KRON that aired on the previous evening's news. The
KRON newscast was slanted to portray all of UN Plaza's homeless residents as
violent drug addicts.

Subsequent FOIA requests made by the the Coalition on Homelessness revealed
that Mayor Willie Brown's office has been planning the benches' removal
since October, 2000 -- in callous and cynical disregard of the valid needs
and reasonable accommodations for disabled and senior citizens, homeless or
not.

FNB'ers at risk of arrest relocated the serving across Market St. from the
plaza, regrouped, then decided collectively to return to their regular
serving spot in the plaza. Two cops on bikes advised FNBers that they were
in violation of a court order and would be arrested if they did not stop
serving. They did not stop serving and the cops called it in.

Lt. McDonough, SFPD arrived shortly with court order in hand and simply
pointed and arbitrarily said, "you're arrested" to FNB servers and
organizers present. Soon after there were at least 8 police cars, a police
van, and 6 more bicycle cops.

A total of four FNBers were cited, two were cited and released, and two weretaken into custody for lack of proper identification.

FOOD NOT BOMBS NEEDS OUR SUPPORT!!!

THE NEXT SCHEDULED SERVING IS WEDNESDAY, MAY 9TH 2001 AT 5:30PM.
There Will be a press conference at 5:00pm

BE THERE! BRING A CAMERA! BRING A RECORDER! BRING A FEW FRIENDS!!!

EVERYONE TAKE NOTES, NAMES, BADGE AND VEHICLE NUMBERS!!!!

¡¡¡¡BE CREATIVE!!!!

It's time to end human rights abuses in the United States.

It's time to end ONGOING human rights abuses within spitting distance of a
monument to the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING...

by By William T. Hathaway, william.hathaway@ewetel.net

After the savage denouement of Election 2000 we can look back on a campaign that saw Gore sacrifice his principles and Bush sacrifice our democracy, all to the great god Winning. The final debacle agonized but didn't surprise us. With grim inevitability it stripped away the last facade of red, white and blue idealism. Five weeks of political thuggery made it clear that our votes don't count. Bush didn't win this election; he seized power through a legalistic coup d'etat.

We may mourn for Gore, but he wasn't even outraged. A true son of the system, he'd rather sink than rock the boat. Despite some positive qualities, he's not a genuine agent for change. Like Bush, he supports capital punishment, genetic engineering of foods, corporate globalization, and a military build-up. Economically, the two men differ only in the size of their trickle down.

To find the reason for this Tweedledee and Tweedledumb pairing, we just need to look at their mega donors. The soft-money moguls don't want us to have a real choice. Campaign financing shows us that the major parties are just two sides of the same gold coin, two modes of control by the corporate oligarchy.

The economic power base of both parties lies in the business establishment, and they represent two tendencies within it. The Republicans support a fiscal orientation aimed at preserving the value of capital by keeping taxes and inflation low. To them, a moderate increase in the number of poor people provides an anchor on the economy by holding wages and thus inflation down. The Democrats support a mercantile orientation aimed at expanding public buying power. To them, a moderate increase in the number of prosperous people enlarges the customer base. Each party contains more than this, but this is their economic core that keeps their leaders from acting against corporate interests. The alternation of power between them ensures that neither tendency gets carried so far as to destabilize the very profitable enterprise. Given this structure, the changes we need can't come from them.

Through ballot-access laws, matching-fund regulations, and debate policies, the major parties try to shut out other approaches. They're the only game in town, and it's now obviously a shell game with no winners except them.

They and the corporate media have also avoided an open discussion of their economic interests by riveting public attention on the emotional sideshow, the battle of winners and losers. Politics, like the news, has become garish entertainment for an increasingly ignorant populace: we, the people.

Both parties are now calling for restoring harmony, for pulling the country together, for healing the national wounds. But what they really mean is healing the wounds to the establishment.

For the first time since our defeat in Vietnam, a major crack has appeared in our two-party but one-purpose elite. As they try to patch that crack and restore the cosmetics of democracy, we can expect a media campaign to create good feelings about America. Hollywood will get into the act, as it did after the Vietnam war with films such as PRIVATE BENJAMIN, AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN, and TOP GUN, designed to restore the charisma of the military. The studio execs are probably already conceptualizing a hip, "mock the system at the same time you reinforce it" version of MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON. And George W. Bush will now play Mr. Nice Guy, dismantling only gradually and indirectly the few progressive measures that Clinton was willing or able to implement.
But the crack is there and it can be widened; a wedge can be driven into it and it can eventually be split apart, and this monolith of power can fall and something new and more humane can take its place. Otherwise the establishment wouldn't be trying so hard to patch it up and erase the memory.

Forty-five thousand ballots that antiquated voting machines couldn't read, most of them from poor districts, still remain uncounted in Florida. Paid Republican demonstrators interfered with the counting, Florida officials governed by Bush's brother refused to accept revised vote totals, and the Republican-dominated US Supreme Court insisted on enforcing a deadline that the law itself says is flexible. Due to this coup, Bush won Florida by 193 votes and assumed the presidency against the national popular vote.

We must not forget this! But most people already have because it's too painful.

If the Left can reach those who haven't and turn their alienation into radical engagement, we may yet see a ground swell of political activism that will force fundamental changes. Until that happens, we, the people, will continue to be the losers.

by Takuya Arai

( POOR Magazine released Volume #4 The Work Issue in 1998. In that issue we explored the concept of Unrecognized labor and specifically the idea that Panhandling was, in fact, work)

I was walking down Haight Street in the city of San Francisco with my roommate. After the consecutive cold days of rain and chilly wind, we finally had a nice, warm day. We were approaching Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Shop on the corner, where a group of four teenagers with eccentric attire were begging for change from the pedestrians. When we walked across the street, I noticed that one of them looked at me and turned to her companions to talk about my MTV T-shirt, which I knew looked pretty stupid. They were laughing at me.

"Can you spare me some change?" she said to us with a sneer.

"I am sorry, but I am broke too," I replied, because my financial situation is getting really tight these days.

"No, you’re not!" To my surprise, she suddenly raised her voice, telling me not to lie to her. I think she was just trying to get some fun out of us because it seemed they did not have anything else to do. But I felt offended.

'That's none of your business. Get out of my sight." I did not say that, but I wanted to.

I just ignored her and went to a bookstore to buy my textbook. With the textbook in my hand, we passed Ben & Jerry's again on our way back. They were still there.

"Now you have some change because you bought something." I could not believe how she could have the nerve to say that.

"What the fuck!? I'll give you a penny if you lick the sole of my shoe." I did not say that, but that was my immediate response. Instead, I just stared at her eyes for about 15 seconds as we passed her by. She cast her eyes aside, so I stared at her other companions.

I am Japanese. Haight Street is introduced in the Japanese best -selling tour book "How to Walk the Earth" as one of the hottest spots to visit in San Francisco. Whenever I go there, I encounter several Japanese tourists wearing nice, fancy clothes with GAP shopping bags in their hands (although I have no idea what GAP has to do with Haight community). So I knew how she felt when I told her that I am broke, because I think she knew that I was Japanese and most of the Japanese people she sees on Haight Street can afford to go traveling and shopping.

If you live in a big city, you have a few chances a month to encounter people who ask for change on the street. The other day, I was driving my car and I stopped at a traffic light where a homeless person was standing. It was a cold, windy day. With a brown cardboard sign that said, "Homeless, even a smile would help," this disabled man in his 50's, wearing a torn shirt and ripped jeans, was bending forward and asking drivers in every car that was stopping at the traffic light for change. Although I did not know anything about this person, his shabby appearance immediately aroused a feeling of pity and made me want to do something for him.

At the same time, however, he reminded me of a teenage girl on Haight Street who was basically doing the same thing that this homeless person was doing. Instead of giving her some change at that time on Haight Street, I gave her a contemptuous look. While I was thinking about the difference between the girl on Haight Street and this homeless person at the traffic light, he came to my car. I opened the window and gave him eight quarters. With a big, warm smile on his face, he said, "Oh, thank you. Oh, thank you. Now, you have a pleasant day." He had a hoarse voice, but I felt good. I gave him change because I thought it was worth more to him than it was to me. I guess I gave him money out of compassion.

I wondered if it was the right thing to do. I think I did the right thing because I helped him, even temporarily. But then I wondered if he deserved money that I gave him.

We live in a free-market capitalistic society where money is used as a means of transaction. Money is an officially issued coin or paper note that is legally established as an exchangeable equivalent of all other commodities. It is used as a means of storage of assets and as a measure of comparative values on the market. Therefore, whenever somebody pays money, they get something of equivalent value in exchange.

When I gave the homeless man money, what did I receive in exchange? It is true that I felt good when I gave him money, because I felt like I helped him and he thanked me. But does that mean that I bought conscience? Did I receive good karma? Was he selling misery? If so, is there any demand for the product or service he offers? When he spends money that he received from the pedestrians, how does he feel about it? Does he feel guilty? What if he lived in a society where barter is the main form of commercial transactions? Would he still be begging for food without giving anything in exchange?

According to a dictionary, "work" is defined as physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something. A "job" is defined as a regular activity performed in exchange for payment, especially as one's trade, occupation, or profession. It is a task that must be done, a specified duty or responsibility, and a specific piece of work to be done for a set fee.

Without any guarantee to secure enough money to get by, panhandling on the street for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week must be harder than any type of job we have on the market. But when people are standing on the street begging for change, how are they contributing to the good of the society? What are they producing? What are they trying to accomplish? Are they responsible for anything? Are they trying to give us a signal that the society is not functioning properly? I really do not know if we can call panhandling work.

One thing is true. When I gave him change, it was mutually beneficial. I felt good and he got what he wanted.

by Dee

Walking sticks appear, seemingly from nowhere to dine on tender leaves. The spindly insects resemble trees as they slowly creep up the tail and paws of Hands and Lester.

Hands and Lester look around to find themselves deep in the countryside of North Eastern Oklahoma, It is the year 1839.
Why, lands and Lester wondered, why have we found ourselves in Cherokee country and why did we have to travel the Trail of Tears?
In generations past the Cherokee people come to this area to rebuild their nation after the westward trek from their beloved homelands in the mountainous South - Herded by federal soldiers, the Cherokees took a path in 1838-39 that became known as the “Trail of Tears.”

Why, Hands and Lester wondered? Why have we found ourselves in Cherokee country? Was it to live on the hard scrabble farms dotting the region that many Cherokees continue to live on?

Was it to attend some of the first schools west of the Mississippi for the education of both men and women? Or perhaps it was to work on Oaklahoma first newspaper published in both English and Cherokee.
After all it was only 1839 and again lester and Hands were living another of their nine lives.

That nite Lester had a dream. He dreampt he and and Hands were ill. No amount of Medicine or prayers could heal Lester and Hands in this dream. A native American spiritual leader appeared to lester in Lesters dream.

He told Lester that Native Americans regard their names as essential parts of their personalities. A native persons name is as vital to his or her identity as the eye or teeth.

If prayers and medicine fail to heal a seriously ill person, the spiritual leader tells Lester, then the spiritual leader sometimes realizes that the patients name itself may be diseased. The spiritual leader then goes to the water and with the appropriate ceremony bestows a new name on the sick person.

The healer then begins anew with the patients new name in hope that these measures will bring about restoration and recovery.
Lester anxiously awoke from his dream. He awoke. “Hands, Hands.hands"Lester said, “I’ve found the answer in a dream as to why we have found ourselves in Cherokee County in 1839.” Hands listened excitedly, while quietly purring. Lester continued “We have to find a spiritual leader and most important, ask him to change our names!”
To be Continued.

by PNN staff

On Tuesday, January 16, 2001 the Mission Anti-displacement Coalition (MAC), Senior Housing Action Network and several other neighborhood groups held a rally to support SanFrancisco’s new Board of Supervisors. The rally will call on the new board to vigorously protect our neighborhoods from displacement and promote a progressive agenda that includes more affordable housing, environmental and economic justice, a people’s budget, and community control of city planning-- the spirit Proposition L.

Last December’s election of a progressive slate of district supervisors
culminated a year of community organizing and movement building by MAC, SAN and other community groups across the city. Everyday people tired of the

corruption at city hall won a clear mandate for an independent Board of
Supervisors, one that will enact a progressive agenda to safeguard San
Francisco as a city for working people.

The rally of several hundred San Franciscans will serve to celebrate our
electoral victory as well as to remind the supervisors that we will be
actively participating in the legislative process. Speakers from various
neighborhoods and constituencies will be present along with community
members, supervisors and their staff.

by Leroy Moore

Do Black disabled people have a history? You wouldn’t think so when Black History month comes around. For ten years I have been on a search for Black disabled people’s contributions to the mainstream society, as well as to Black and disabled communities, but it is almost as if we do not exist.

Black disabled people are beginning to tell their stories, but in writing our history, we must overcome many barriers. Under slavery, having a healthy mind and body was the key to survival. Masters viewed disabled slaves as a burden and usually killed them, so disabled slaves hid their disabilities to stay alive. Today, I wonder if we black disabled people are still hiding part of our identity.

There were disabled slaves who did survive on the plantations. The most famous was Harriet Tubman, who escaped and helped others to do the same. Tubman’s disability is part of our hidden history. I had to dig to learn about the brain injury that caused her to have seizures and blackouts. Perhaps this inspired her to found the Harriet Tubman Home, sheltering disabled and elderly slaves within her own home.

Black disabled people do have a recorded history in an unusual kind of profession. Books by Rosemarie G. Thomson (Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring physical Disability in American Culture & Literature) and Robert Bogdan (Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit) report that freak shows employed a high population of Black disabled people. Today we think of freak shows as disgraceful, but in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some Black families entrusted their disabled children and young adults to freak shows because they provided paying jobs for people who could not get other employment.

Among them was Joice Helth, George Washington’s nursemaid. Thomson describes her as an old, toothless, blind, crippled slave woman. Thomson goes on to explain that several physically and mentally disabled Black men were displayed as "What Is It?" exhibits in freak shows

At the other end of the entertainment spectrum, remember George Gershwin’s opera, "Porgy & Bess?" This first Black opera portrayed a disabled Black man as a main character. The story was based on DeBous Heyward’s novel about a real Black disabled beggar, Samuel Smalls of Charleston, South Carolina.

These are some of the stories that must be remembered if Black disabled people are to have a sense of their own history, and if everyone is to understand what has really happened.

Today, disabled African Americans are finding and using their own voices. Locally, disabled artists have exhibited their artwork in Oakland and San Francisco during Black History Month for the past three years. Last year, four Black disabled artists, poets and lecturers presented their artwork and talked about their lives at local bookstores. This year, Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization (DAMO) presented "Breaking the Silence on Disability in the Minority Community," with a panel on issues that touch disabled minorities, spoken word and a video presentation on February 17th at the San Francisco Main Library.

There are a small number of recent books by Black disabled authors, including "Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black & Deaf in the South" by Mary Herring Wright. Idell Wilson, author of "Dream Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces" and Leroy Moore, author of "Black Disabled Man with Big Mouth & High I.Q." are two local Black disabled poets, activists and lecturers They read from their new books on February 16th at the Family Resource Network of Oakland.

We of the Black and disabled community are becoming more visible. David Patterson, a blind New York state Senator, has taken disability issues to the political arena. Curtis John Pride made history for being the first Black, deaf, professional baseball player. "Becker," a new sitcom on ABC, includes a Black blind character. Here in the Bay Area, organizations such as Harambee Education Council, a state wide organization of and for parents and advocates of African American youth and young adults with disabilities, and DAMO are looking forward to a bright future. To get involved with the second annual Harambee Oakland conference in June of 2001, call Sonia Jackson Ricks at the Family Resource Network @ (510) 547-7322.

Disabled African Americans have a rich history, varied talents, and fresh voices with which to chronicle rarely shared experiences that deserve to be heard. If we are going to celebrate Black History, lets celebrate the history of all Black people. For more information contact DAMO at (415) 695-0153

Black Disabled Trivia by Leroy Moore & Gary Gray of DAMO

1) This slave rescued other slaves and brought them to freedom. Who is she? What was her disability?

2) This famous soul singer in 1997 he wrote a book called Truly Blessed, about his life before and after his accident. Who is he?

3) This African American is the first deaf professional baseball player. Who is he?

4) This Black actor is an inspirational speaker who played in Boyz N in the Hood. Who is he?

5)A 1992 comedy show, ‘In Living Color’, introduced the first Black disabled hero. Who was it?

6)This Black amputee, 1984 Olympic skier and author was the first Director for President Clinton’s Human Capital Issues on the National Economic Council. Who is it?
------------------------------------

Black Disabled: Trivia Answers

1) Who was Harriet Tubman

2) Who is Teddy Pendergrass

3) Who is Curtis John Pride

4) Who is Reggie White

5) Who was Handiman

6) Who is Bonnie St. John Deane

by Joseph Bolden

According to Michael Welmer, a forensic psychiatrist and the creator of the "Depravity Scale", his invention is a scientific way for judges, juries, and others to measure evil acts.

Mr. Welmer’s Depravity Scale has 26 categories, divided into three subcategories: intent, actions, and behavior. Unfortunately I can’t go through these categories or I’d be plagiarizing Mr. Libaw’s work. Lets just say crimes committed based on race, sexual orientation or religion all have their place on the scale. Torture, murder, or harm with intent not to kill though seriously hurt and/or maim are all on the depravity scale, which someday all victims and jurors may use in court.

Mr. Welmer has worked most of the glitches ‘n gremlins out of his prototype, so when testing begins, he should be able to pass all the tests he’ll be given by various law enforcement officials.

To Know the Evil Deeds we are all capable of is a burden I don’t want, but if it forces us to examine and improve ourselves, then bring on this evil and depravity contraption. So far we’ve only been guessing at what constitutes pure evil or a bad seeds, leaving Old Nick to tell us if our souls are weak.

I hope there are also ways to measure goodness too, someday only then will Mankind have both weighed equally.

Please donate what can to Poor Magazine or C/0 Ask Joe at 255 9th St.Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 USA.

For Joe only my snail mail:
PO Box 1230 #645 Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
Email: askjoe@poormagazine.org

by Suzanne Rostler (courtesy Homeless People's Network)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many of the programs set up to
help elderly people afford food are not reaching those in need,
results of a study suggest.

According to researchers, nearly one quarter of about 1,000
disabled women aged 65 years and older said they could not afford
food. But less than 3% received home delivered meals, less than
5% attended group meal programs and only about 19% were receiving
food stamps.

``Despite national programs targeted at reducing nutritional
deficits in the elderly, particularly the frail elderly, many
older disabled women still appear to be having difficulties
obtaining adequate food,'' Dr. Lisa M. Klesges, from the
University of Tennessee in Memphis, and colleagues report. Their
study is published in the January issue of the American Journal
of Public Health, journal of the American Public Health
Association.

Minority women were more likely to report financial barriers
to receiving food, the report indicates. Nearly 50% of non-white
women compared with just over 13% of white women reported
financial difficulty obtaining food.

The authors suggest that this
finding reflects ``the depth of
poverty in non-white women.''

In other findings, women who were depressed were more likely
to report financial difficulties, and those who reported
financial problems were more likely to be diagnosed with anemia.

``Given the high prevalence of nutritional problems reported
in older disabled women, especially urban blacks, nutritional
screening programs in health and social agencies need
consideration,'' Klesges told Reuters Health. ``Methods to increase
the availability and acceptability of nutrition programs to older
Americans should be considered to prevent potential ill-health
and early demise.''

SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health 2001;91:68-75

**In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.**

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by Leroy Moore

The title of this essay, "Buried Alive not Dead," is a metaphor for the unspoken and unwritten connection between Black history and disability.
In this essay I will concentrate on two major historical events that shaped the future of African Americans: the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and slavery. So far my research into these two periods reveals a sharp connection that links early African American history to disability. You will see that although disability has been intertwined with African American history, it has been overlooked, put on the back burner for the sake of "bigger issues." This history has been buried alive, but the history and contribution of Black disabled people is not dead.

The Bible

In the Old Testament disability was seen as a sin, or a punishment from God. Sometimes disability was seen as being possessed by evil. In the New Testament Jesus healed the lame, sick, blind and crippled, or in today's terminology, ìpersons with disabilities.î

But also in the Old Testament we find a prophet of God who performed some amazing feats without changing his physical stand. This prophet comes up again and again throughout the history of Black Americans, from African slaves to Martin Luther King. I'm talking about Moses in Exodus.

In Exodus, Moses was chosen by God to lead the Israelite slaves out of slavery in Egypt and into freedom in Israel. When God came to Moses and gave him this dangerous assignment, Moses doubted his own abilities to lead because he was slow of tongue. Another way to phrase this is to say Moses had a speech impediment.

But God didn't cure Moses' "speech disability" (as Jesus did to his followers in the New Testament). God gave Moses an accommodation, his brother Aaron, to speak for Moses. Moses and Aaron were a team together. Moses had the leadership skills and Aaron provided the voice.

The connection between Moses and African slaves was the strong hold of religion in the Black community. The Black church expressed a rich spirituality that sustained slaves and freed people through hard times. Although White masters taught their slaves to be Christians by preaching the New Testament, slaves were interested in the Old Testament because it spoke of their lives, and gave them hope of a new and better world. Moses was a hero to African American slaves, inspiring them to sing, "Go Down Moses."

Slavery & Disability

Although slaves looked to Moses as a role model, Moses' speech disability did not translate into positive attitudes toward disability at that time. We can say that Moses' disability did not affect his ability to perform physical labor, so it was placed in the background of his life. In slavery times, the main link to being a successful slave was the ability to perform physical, manual work on the plantations.

Many Africans did not survive the long boat ride to America because of the inhumane, abusive conditions of the slave ships. The slaves who were sick and physically disabled from the conditions of the boat ride and the physical torment from the White settlers were tossed overboard and left to drown. Is this where my history stops, at the bottom of the sea?

The harsh treatment of slaves produced a high rate of physical and mental disabilities. One historian linked mental illness and insanity among slaves to the separation of families. In 1863 a slave woman went insane because her sons were sold and sent to the trader's jail.

Disability had to be hidden away for a slave to stay alive. African slaves who were born physically disabled were put to death by their White masters or even their own parents because these disabilities made them useless on the plantations. When a slave woman gave birth, the first thing she was concerned about was the infant's physical condition. As time went by, the mother forced the baby to stand and walk.

I'm reminded of a short story titled 'Black Diamond' by Afi Tiomble A. Kambon. The story starts out in a small village in Africa and talks about the White invaders who brought the African villagers to the New World. The story concentrates on a slave woman who gave birth to a lovely girl who sparkled like a diamond. The only problem was the baby girl's legs were thin, and she was unable to stand and walk. At the end of 'Black Diamond,' the master dropped, kicked and stomped the baby until it was dead.

Pages 133 and 136 of American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a
Thousand Witness describe the slaves' masters' views on disability as follows:

Old Slaves:
They're seen as a tax to the Master, it would be in the best interest to shorten their days.

The Incurably Diseased Maimed:
It would be cheaper for Masters to buy poison than medicine.

The Blind, Lunatics and Idiots:
They're seen as a tax to the Master, it would be in the best interest to shorten their days.

The Deaf, Dumb and Person Greatly Deformed:
Such might or might not be serviceable to the Master, many of them would be a burden and many men throw their burden away.

Feeble Infants:
Would require much nursing, the time, trouble and expense necessary to raise them would generally cost more than they would be worth as working animals.

This document goes on to give estimattions of 1600 slaves who were deaf and dumb, and 1300 blind slaves, in 1830. The directors of the American Asylum produced these numbers for the Deaf and Dumb of Hartford, CT.

On many plantations there were hospitals for sick slaves, but these were not healing places. Slaves in these hospitals had to work while recovering. In a personal narrative, Mr. George A. Avery describes the treatment of sick slaves as "revolting!" The same book reads, "If no cure was found for the sick slave then death was ordered with no compensation to be made, but if cured a bonus up to $300.00 was to be given" (336). Nine times out of ten, when a slave was really, really sick, he was left in an empty room alone for days or even months to die.

All disabled slaves were not killed! Many slaves lived and worked on American plantations with their physical and mental disabilities by making adaptive equipment to make them seem 'normal'. Mentally disabled slaves leaned on the slave community to hide their illnesses. These slaves were watched closely by their Masters to make sure they were not dangerous to themselves and others.

The bodies of the slaves were on display for auction, and slaves and their Masters tried to hide flaws, weaknesses and disabilities. Still, slaves' masters continued to use harsh torment and physical abuse, causing physical and mental disabilities.

Harriet Tubman, who led the famous Underground Railroad, was beaten so badly that she experienced black outs and seizures. Ms. Tubman's health made it difficult for her Master to find her a new Master. In 1857 Harriet
Tubman brought her parents to freedom. Her parents were too feeble to walk, so she hired a wagon to accommodate them. In her journey to lead slaves to freedom, Ms. Tubman would leave her company hidden in the woods while she herself went into towns in search of information. After freeing slaves, Ms. Tubman watched over their welfare, collected clothes, and organized the free slaves into societies. She also raised funds to build a house for her parents.

During her days of the Underground Railroad, one of Ms. Tubman's disguises was to look so stupid that nobody would suspect her of knowing enough to be dangerous! She, like Moses, led slaves to freedom, and her disability, like Moses', was and is played down or looked upon as a pity in the history of Black Americans.

As you can see, disability was a part of slavery. Although disability among slaves often equaled death, many disabled slaves contributed on the plantations, helped free other slaves, invented adoptive equipment and gave encouragement to the slaves' population.

After the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves went to war to fight for their freedom. What happened to the soldiers who returned home disabled? What happened to disabled slaves after slavery? Did Black disabled free people enjoy the benefits of the Black Reconstruction? What happened in the sixties to Black disabled people?

The two histories, African American history and Disability history, do mention Black disabled people and their contribution, but it is buried alive. The connection between African American history and Disability history needs more attention and research in a positive light.

by Leroy F. Moore, Jr.

In 1916 Jesse Washington, a Black , mentally disabled, young adult, was hauled out of court and dragged through the streets of Waco, Texas. He was then stabbed, mutilated and finally burned while 10,000 men, women and children cheered. What happened to Jesse Washington is not an isolated case and we can't chalk it up to history; we are still healing from the 1998 dragging and killing of a Black, disabled man, also in Texas, named James Byrd. Since the dawning of day individuals with disabilities, especially those of color who are poor, have had to and still are fighting to stay alive.

People with disabilities are not excluded from the brutal history of this country, a history that is still being played out today. Systematic discrimination and harsh brutality by individuals, institutions and the state against people with disabilities has, until very recently, been glossed over. The state has played and continues to play a big role in the physiological, mental and physical abuse of people with disabilities, especially disabled people of color. Look at the days of slavery, the Eugenics Movement, institutionalization to deinstitutionalization, and now the US Supreme Court is looking at the debate over state executions of mentally disabled prisoners. All of the above examples have one key component in common and that is they had the legal backing of the state. When the state institutions have the legal platform to end a person's life or to help create an environment that leads to brutality, it makes it harder for individuals to fight against this injustice because it is institutionalized.

Since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated, thirty-four mentally disabled prisoners have been executed in the United States. The website of LOST SOULS STOP KILLING MENTALLY RETARDED, www.geocities.com, reports that many of the prisoners were and are people of color. Since the state of Georgia mistakenly executed Jerome Bowden, a Black, mentally disabled prisoner, the state has issued a ban on executions of the mentally disabled. This case helped the campaign to gain momentum, especially as it won the support of the American Bar Association. Now Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee and Washington have also banned the practice.

Even Florida's own Attorney General Bob Butterworth, historically one of Gov. Jeb Bush's strongest advocates for speedier executions, supported the bill sparing persons with mental retardation from capital punishment. However, the bill did not pass and now Florida is the next state targeted by the campaign to end execution of mentally disabled prisoners.

As a researcher and writer on race and disability, I have noticed that the concepts of race, sex, disability and class have not been discussed in the executions of people who are mentally disabled. There are cases like Anthony Porter's and Earl Washington's, both Black men who are mentally disabled and poor. Both were on death row for crimes they didn't commit but confessed to because of their inability to understand what they were confessing. Both men were cleared by DNA testing and other evidence that was buried in their first hearing. Anthony Porter served seventeen years and Earl Washington had to wait until the beginning of this year to be released from custody. Many advocates are working on this issue but I don't see disabled, race and class advocates and organizations coming together with one voice on the execution of people who are of color, poor and have a mental disability.

"Crimes against people with development disabilities, i.e. mental disabilities, have reached epidemic proportions. Although it is similar to elder abuse, child abuse and domestic violence, it remains largely invisible and unaddressed." This statement comes from a report entitled "An Epidemic of Violence: A Collective Challenge", by Daniel D. Sorensen. Sorensen works at the California Victims of Crimes Committee which sponsored the federal Crime Victims With Disabilities Awareness Act. The Act requires the National Crime Survey to begin collecting data on crimes against people with disabilities. It also requires the US Attorney to issue a report on crime and violence against people with disabilities.

This committee helped convince Governor Gray Davis to establish the Crime Victims With Disabilities Initiative. This is the first permanent state government program that addresses the issue of crime against people with disabilities. Although the above accomplishments are helping to get the issue of crimes against people with disabilities out there in the public, it is a taboo subject for many in the disabled community and in the general public.

Is there justice in the US justice system for people with physical and mental disabilities? Many studies have found that individuals with disabilities, especially people with mental disabilities, who become involved in the criminal justice system, are more likely to face injustice if the system does not consider their disabilities and capabilities. According to www.geocities.com's story "Stop Killing the Mentally Retarded", most attorneys, judges, law enforcement officers and juries lack the knowledge and skills necessary to ensure that people with mental disabilities obtain equal justice. It goes on to say that appropriate investigations and expert testimonies are costly. The fact is that individuals with mental disabilities lack the resources and income to get a fair trial.
A good example of how money can shape justice in the criminal justice system is Wanda Jean Allen, a poor, disabled, Black lesbian in Oklahoma who was executed in January for the murder of her lover. Wanda's family approached Bob Carpenter to handle the case. Since Mr. Carpenter believed that the case was not a capital case he agreed to represent Wanda for $5000. Wanda's family gave an initial payment of $800. However, the state charged Wanda with third degree murder and announced it would seek the death penalty, refusing Mr. Carpenter's request to drop the case.

In the end Wanda was left with an attorney who had never tried a capital murder case before and had a lack of resources to investigate her mental disability and other key elements in the case. In fact, Mr. Carpenter was quoted in the Associated Press and in the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty's website as saying that he had only learned about Wanda's disability after the case.

Although Allen did kill her lover, did the justice system kill Allen because her family's economic status instantly created an obstacle to her receiving equal justice? Right up until her execution, Wanda maintained she had shot her lover in self-defense, but the scar on her face from her lover's assault and the weapon that made that scar were not included as evidence of self-defense in her case.

The same is true for Michael Manning, a Black disabled young man who is fighting for his life in Pennsylvania's criminal justice system in a self-defense that is detailed on-line at http://michealmanning.homestead.com. For the past three months, I have been e-mailing Michael's parents to get his story. Their e-mail is mannfam@pnpa.net.

For almost four years the Manning family has been trying to receive media coverage and justice for their 30-year-old, physically disabled son, who is serving a 12 to 30 year prison term in Pennsylvania for what the justice system defined as first degree murder. But Michael and his lawyer, Salvatore Vito, have clearly demonstrated a case of self-defense. On September 15, 1999 a jury of nine women and three men (not his peers) of Monroe County, Pennsylvania convicted Michael Manning for the third degree murder of Harry Burley Jr. on June 16,1997.

Michael, friends, co-workers and family all took the stand and came to one conclusion—he acted in self-defense. According to Michael's lawyer and his parents, on June 16, 1997 Michael was on his way to pick up his mother from work. Noticing he needed gas, Michael pulled into a gasoline station. Michael also noticed he was being followed and subsequently endured an unexpected knife attack by two men. One was Michael's stepsister's boyfriend, Harry Burely, and the other was a drug dealer well known to the Court of Monroe County. After a few minutes of Michael struggling to defend himself, Burely fell to the ground.

The real tragedy began with the investigation and trial. The DA and Detective Thomas Lynott cleared Michael of any charges. However on November 5, 1997 Michael was arrested even though the fingerprints on the knife at the time didn't match Michael's. During Michael's case, justice was nowhere in courtroom. Firstly, there was the lack of fingerprints, and secondly, there were the instructions from the DA to the jury to bring back a verdict or he would have to sharpen his jury selection skills. Although the accomplice in the attack was proven to be a well-known drug dealer who had previously lied in another police matter and was currently on parole, he was allowed to testify.

To completely close the door on justice, Michael's parents found out that Judge Ronald E. Vican made a racial remark at another self-defense case of a Black man, stating, "I suspect this goes back to the cultural thing." He then invoked Michael's name and spoke of the case. The DA made derogatory remarks about Michael's disability after he demonstrated his walk to the jury. These remarks and the lack of awareness of Michael's physical limitations are stunning when you consider that Judge Ronald E. Vican has a noticeable disability and his wife is a physical therapist.

Now it is 2001 and the Manning family is still trying to find justice and media for their son. The latest news is that on April 5, 2001 Michael was scheduled for an evidentiary hearing with a new judge. The judge has a reputation of being a "man of justice". I pray for justice for Michael but he and his family need you, i.e. the Black community, the media, and his disabled brothers and sisters all across the country.

Through e-mail, the Manning family has reaffirmed why I do what I do. Michael's parents have contacted many disabled organizations and on-line disabled groups, but haven't gotten any support. The same goes for certain Black organizations. For example, Michael's parents contacted the NAACP, Jesse Jackson's Rainbow-PUSH organization and the Reverend Al Sharpton. The only response the Manning family has received is from Jesse Jackson, plus the Black media.

Our disabled brothers and sisters of color are fighting to stay alive but we can't do it alone! Here are some resources for more information on how you can get involved in helping rescue people with disabilities who are searching for justice and fighting to stay alive:

For family members who have a loved one on death row who is mentally disabled:
The United Nation Economic & Social Council campaign to eliminate the death penalty for persons who are mentally disabled. Information is available on-line at www.geocities.com in "Stop Killing Mentally Retarded" or go to your local Association of Retarded Citizens (ARC). The US Senate will vote on it next session.

For families with disabled youth in the juvenile justice system contact:

The National Center on Education, Disability and Juvenile Justice
University of Maryland
1224 Benjamin Building
College Park, MD 20742
(301) 405-6462
www.edjj.org

Protection & Advocacy
100 Howe Ave. ST 185N
Sacramento, CA. 95825
(916) 488-9955

Victims of crime contact:

International Coalition on Abuse and Disability
www.quasar.ualberta.ca/ddc/ICAD/icad.html

Office for Victims of Crime (provided funding to the National Organization for Victims Assistance (NOVA) for the project Working with Crime Victims with Disabilities, www.ojpusdoj.gov/ovc/, they offer grants and other funding)

Crime Victims with Disabilities Initiative
State Department of Mental Health
1600 9th Ave., Room 100
Sacramento, CA. 95814
(910) 654-6567 - Lisa Bowman

Justice for a Few
Update on Fighting to Stay Alive

Executions of the Mentally Retarded:

Texas : Last year Gov. Bush voted against a bill banning executions of the mentally retarded. He also refused to talk about the highly visible Johnny Paul Penry case. Now Gov. Rick Perry was quoted in the Houston Chronicle of May 31, 2001 as saying, "Texas already has safeguards against putting the mentally ill to death." In the same article he is further quoted as saying during a speech that we (Texas) do not execute the mentally retarded. Has he forgotten about the six mentally retarded Texans put to death since 1982? While the new governor of Texas is hesitating about signing the bill, legislators and the House of Representatives are moving ahead to pass a ban on executions of people who are mentally retarded.

Although Bush is in Washington now, the case of Johnny Paul Penry has fueled the debate on the executions of people with mental disabilities. His lawyer argues that his mental state should bar him from execution, a key element that was overlooked in his original case. In 1979 he was found guilty of the rape and murder of Pamela Mosely Carpenter. Penry has been on death row since 1979 and is White. The June 5, 2001 issue of the LA Times reported that the US Supreme Court overturned Penry's death sentence, stating that jurors were not clearly told to consider Penry's mental retardation as a reason to spare his life. So Penry escapes death one more time, for now. This was not the first time Penry was granted a stay. Last November Penry was hours away from being executed when the court granted a stay.

The official ruling that will consider whether the execution of mentally retarded defendants is always cruel and unusual punishment, and should therefore be stopped as unconstitutional, will be voted on in the fall. More and more states are joining the campaign to ban executions of people who are mentally disabled. Florida has passed a bill, but Gov. Jeb Bush has yet to sign it.

On June 5, 2001 Connecticut became the fourteenth state in the country to exempt mentally retarded criminals from execution. The state didn't stop there. It also wants to establish a nine member commission to study the death penalty, including whether or not there are disparities in prosecutors' decisions to seek death sentences based on the defendants' or victims' race or economic status. Bingo!! These are the issues that I brought up in Fighting to Stay Alive.

I wonder if Wanda Jean Allen a Black, disabled lesbian, as well as many other defendants of color who are poor and mentally disabled have the same access and resources as Penry. Can they get top notch lawyers like his? If you remember from my article, Wanda Jean Allen's lawyer did not discover her mental disability until after the trial. Because Allen's family could not afford to pay the lawyer in full, he could not do a full investigation. Earlier this year Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma denied Allen's request for a stay of execution and a new clemency hearing. Hours later, the US Supreme Court denied her final appeal.

From my e-mails it is clear that many who are fighting to ban executions of the mental retarded haven't consider race as part of the issue. Ummmmm interesting!!!!! This is one more thing to think about my brothers and sisters in California. The LA Times reported on June 5, 2001 that California has the largest population of inmates on death row but has not adopted the ban. In California, because the capital punishment law was approved by a state vote, to ban the executions of people with mental retardation would require a statewide referendum. For more cases of race, disability, class, and the justice system look up Oliver Cruz, Kim Lim, Earl Washington, just a few of the countless cases needing further investigation.

Michael Manning, a disabled, Black man is still locked up on self-defense! In my last article, I laid out Michael's story communicated to me via e-mails with his mother. At the time the article Fighting to Stay Alive appeared, Michael was waiting for his second trial with a new judge. Days after the article, while Ms. Manning was thanking Poor Magazine and me for coverage of her son's situation, injustice was served once again in court. Michael's lawyer appealed the first decision handed down by Judge Ronald E. Vican. The Manning family and Michael's lawyer had had high hopes and had expected that this new judge would notice the blunt injustice of the case. But the outcome was not in Michael's favor and he is still in jail for 12 to 30 years for the June 16, 1997 third degree murder of Harry Burley Jr.

This was not the first appeal that was rejected. A previous appeal was rejected by the Superior Court in 1999. This time Judge Peter J. O'Brian denied Michael's post-conviction appeal in which Michael said he received faulty defense from Salvatore Vito. The appeal also asserted that the questioning of a witness during the trial by Presiding Judge Ronald E. Vican prejudiced the jury against Michael. O'Brien found Vican's questioning "clearly unbiased". Michael's lawyer, Jeffery Velander, said that the way the judge wrote the opinion gives Michael much more latitude in Superior Court. The Mannings are planning to appeal the decision. Michael's new lawyer feels Michael has a very good chance of reprieve when his case is heard in Superior Court. His lawyer goes on to say that it is rare that convictions are overturned in the lower courts.

Media be on the lookout. The Manning family has put together a campaign to inform the media and the public at large of the travesty of justice that their son is enduring. They have contacted Geraldo Rivera at MSN Investigates, Oprah, and various newspapers. While some Americans stand by and watch this injustice unfold, many are closely following Michael's case and helping out in many ways.

Thanks to Michael's family's campaign, a Danish man found out about Michael's case and translated the case into danish and sent it to newspapers and radio and TV stations in Denmark. He also appeared on a Danish TV talk show with the US Ambassador to Denmark and spoke about Michael's case. In addition, Rubin Hurricane Carter's organization took an interest in Michael's case and is looking into the case. Mr. Carter has contacted Michael's attorneys. For more updates on Michael Manning's case visit www.michaelmanning.homestead.com and sign the petition!!!!!

WAKE UP! OUR DISABLED BROTHERS AND SISTERS ARE SCREAMING AND CRYING FOR JUSTICE!

by Joseph Bolden

Is our country blessed, cursed, or have cranky times. A trucker kills himself to make what could have been for legislator’s sudden death.
What is it with us? There are terrorists in foreign lands in particular a millionaire scheming attacks on our land but he’s probably reading a paper, radio, or watching CNN he’s either laughing or scratching his head in wonder that America: The Infidel’s Unholy land is blowing it self up without his agents causing any problems.
From the first American Indian Chief, Africans, Chicano, China, Philippine, Japan, and all other people’s and we native born citizens who’ve been on the receiving end of American history have at one time or another cursed this land and alternately blessed it at the same time.

Most of us in America do not believe in the evil eye, amulets for love or protection; no we’re too sophisticated for that right? I don’t carry dead rabbit’s feet on a chain or nail horseshoes upright so the luck won’t fall out. But do believe there is something to the energy of a dying wish, curse, blessing can create psychic ripples echoing through time.
The question: is America truly cursed or have enough people blessed us an as a nation we live on a balanced edge where departed and living souls cancel out each other?

Mr. Timothy McVeigh comes to mind with help bombed the Alfred P. Murrah on April 19, 1995. 168 innocent people died. He wants to die.
At 1 am. on ch. 9 a show called “Cold Lazarus” starring Albert Finney, about twin boys one, insane the other a writer of novels, television, ect. In time he(the novelist) dies. His head is frozen, over 700 years pass he’s a scientific and television experiment to see life as he lived it. Trouble is he slowly becomes aware of what has happened and is being done to him by researcher’s experimentation. If that’s not hell what is? What if Timothy McVeigh is given his death only to be returned to life just as Mr. Finney’s fictional character was, would this be an appropriate hell for McVeigh? The public would know why, how, and who his helpers were.

Back to Curse and Blessing there was an older City State of civilization, technology, and science and it too was cursed by slaves and
free alike for its callous spectacle in the spilling of human life it was Rome.
Rome rotted from interior opposing forces barbarians helped tip the balance to Rome’s long fall. Is America headed there in its short creation?
I think we’ve always been both blessed and cursed equally.

We forget how really young, lucky, our country has been and though this New World is still young it citizens are mostly oldworld with hybrid American’s [anyone that’s 1st. or 2nd. or more generation]
So far our balance continues California Capital bombed but no one dies.
High fuel, food, rent, a business slipping away? We may never know why he did this but I hate say it; It could happen again anywhere, anytime, and most likely it won’t be foreign citizens but our own that’s our curse and blessing. As for that rich so-called terrorist he can save his money to his mind American infidel’s are their own worst enemy as with vipers among their kind they will eat eggs of their own kind when times get tough.
Killing our own does one thing makes an enemy pause. That is what we all must do Sacramento’s Capitol truck crash is a wake up call...
Too many American’s are left behind, fired, laid off, rent hiked, and falling down. If not recognized... we have 49 more capitols.

Back to Curse and Blessing there was an older City State of civilization, technology, and science and it too was cursed by slaves and
free alike for its callous spectacle in the spilling of human life it was Rome.
Rome rotted from interior opposing forces barbarians helped tip the balance to Rome’s long fall. Is America headed there in its short creation?
I think we’ve always been both blessed and cursed equally.

We forget how really young, lucky, our country has been and though this New World is still young it citizens are mostly oldworld with hybrid American’s [anyone that’s 1st. or 2nd. or more generation]
So far our balance continues California Capital bombed but no one dies.
High fuel, food, rent, a business slipping away? We may never know why he did this but I hate say it; It could happen again anywhere, anytime, and most likely it won’t be foreign citizens but our own that’s our curse and blessing. As for that rich so-called terrorist he can save his money to his mind American infidel’s are their own worst enemy as with vipers among their kind they will eat eggs of their own kind when times get tough.
Killing our own does one thing makes an enemy pause. That is what we all must do Sacramento’s Capitol truck crash is a wake up call...
Too many American’s are left behind, fired, laid off, rent hiked, and falling down. If not recognized... we have 49 more capitols.

by Joseph Perryman

There is an underground fire burning in Hunters Point that will continue to burn for several more years. Nothing, as far as I know, is being done about it. The fire cannot be extinguished and plans have not been made to insure that African-Americans living in that area will have steps taken towards protecting their health.

So, who is to blame for this? Who is responsible for this underground fire? Who else, but the United States of YOUR America.

The United States Navy, to be exact, among other entities who have ties into our government. It’s interesting to me that the neighborhood with the highest population of African descendants in San Francisco is right next to the companies that produce most of San Francisco’s pollution, from air to water.

Other things to think about: Almost every populated, African-American neighborhood is within two miles of a freeway and almost every neighborhood has had to deal with lead paint problems and lead in their water pipes. Although these problems pop up all the time, if you pay close attention you’ll see that they’re primarily, ‘so-called,’uproot ing low-income neighborhoods where young children are present.

PG&E, itself, has been known to contaminate its own land and then sell it for low income housing (just to show how far it can go for the right price -- you can break the law, even the laws of life). So why is it that low income neighborhoods are more likely to have health related problems? All deadly problems, as far as I’m concerned. These current issues take us back to days long gone -- wasn’t the same thing done to natives who were pushed off their land and given, in return, the worst land to live? Do you see a pattern?

by Kaponda

A sea of orange jumpsuits leaped for joy when the verdict of the marathon trial of O.J. Simpson was being read. My eyes were also fixed on the television during the final episode of that saga, along with the other predominantly black inmates incarcerated at San Bruno Jail. The black inmates who surrounded the television and exulted after hearing the verdict on that day in 1996, considered it an indictment on the Los Angeles Police Department. It exposed a tight-knight and thuggish mentality within the Los Angeles Police Department.

But the notorious Los Angeles Police Department and its RAMPART Division would be labeled as altar boys if compared to the Philadelphia Police Department. With a history of underhanded law enforcement methods and improper conduct, the Philadelphia Police Department has the dubious distinction of being the only law enforcement agency in America that has been investigated three times in a decade for corruption. The Federal Bureau of Investigation scrutinized the Philadelphia Police Department three time during the decade of 1980. These are some of the reasons that the disciple of John Africa and minister of confrontation for the MOVE organization, Pam Africa, expressed to me during an interview last winter that, “We are at war!”

A rally and march was held last Saturday, May 12, 2001, in support of a prisoner of war, Mumia Abu-Jamal. A swell of supporters of Abu-Jamal gathered at Dolores Park around 11:00 a.m., to help underwrite his legal representation and convey to the Pennsylvania judiciary a message of outrage at its blatant racist policies. The thousands of people of the multiracial crowd listened as the speakers at Dolores Park explained how Abu-Jamal became ensnared in the precarious predicament in which he has been placed. A three-year member of the Steering Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Merle Woo, expressed to me that “We are here today to save a hero, a man whose only guilt is that he is for all of us -- the voice of the voiceless -- the disenfranchised. Millions are celebrating and demanding his full freedom all over the world, today. We are against censorship, and we are for free speech. We are here today to demand the freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a political prisoner.”

The political prisoners in San Bruno Jail in California, where blacks make up only seven percent of the population but an astounding 50 percent of the California prison population, the political prisoners in the penitentiary located at 175 Progress Drive, where Abu-Jamal currently resides on death row, and those political prisoners throughout the industrial prison complex of America, were not physically at Dolores Park last Saturday. But like the clamorous voices of the inmates at San Bruno during the verdict of the O.J. Simpson trial, the unrestrained emotions in support of Mumia by prisoners, and especially black prisoners, were witnessed by guards of prisons.

The beat of the start of the march from Dolores Park to the Civic Center was provided by the San Francisco producer, activist and ragae artist, Pam Pam. Like an inflated balloon, the spirited crowd burst out of their tranquillity as they bounced west on 19th Street, bellowing chants that resonated from the halls of City Hall in San Francisco, through the airwaves of radio transmission into the halls of the Pennsylvania courts where, on May 4, 2001, the legal team of Abu-Jamal filed new evidence in the federal District Court in Pennsylvania that overwhelmingly points to Abu-Jaml’s innocence. The evidence, which consists of four sworn affidavits, has become a part of the official court records.

Rashidi Omari and Brutha Los of the Company of Prophets restored the vitality of the marchers with three of their musical songs as the masses entered Civic Center Plaza for what supporters of the Free Mumia Movement are calling the last dance if the new evidence is suppressed in federal court. The stage was draped in a banner that bore the words, “In Commemoration of the 11 Men, Women and Children Killed in the 1985 Police Bombing of the MOVE House in Philadelphia.” These were some of the people who also were a part of the international protest in 1995 that forced the hand of the executioner from the lever of the death of the former Black Panther and award-winning journalist, Mumia Abu-Jamal. The wide array of support by the masses has been the mainstay and tactical defense of Abu-Jamal. His support includes not only prisoners of war in the United States, but also Nelson Mandela of South Africa, French president Jacques Chirac and members of the British Parliament.

Mumia Abu-Jamal has run his course in the Pennsylvania state courts, where every shred of evidence that provided open-and-shut evidence of his innocence was ruled out by a judge known in Philadelphia as the “king of death row” for handing down more death sentences than any other sitting judge in the United States, Albert Sabo. His case has now come before the lowest federal court in Pennsylvania, the federal District Court, and the sitting judge, William H. Yohn, Jr. Judge Yohn, however, does not have to admit any evidence that was not already a part of the original evidence based on a 1996 law, the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton. I asked one of the four new legal representatives for Mumia Abu-Jamal, Elliot Grossman, to give me an update of the situation of Abu-Jamal.

“We just appeared for the first time in federal court in Philadelphia last Friday, May 4th. We filed evidence, affidavits, which are sworn statements, just like testimony in court, on Friday. New evidence and some evidence that we have found in the files of the previous attorneys that had never before been presented to the court.”

I asked Grossman that this new evidence, according to information I have received, may not make it at the appellate level because Judge Yohn might refuse to admit it based on the Death Penalty Act, is this correct?

“No,” stated Grossman. “I think that is getting ahead of the game. We’ve filed this evidence in court. It is now a part of the official record, and we expect the judge to consider the evidence. What’s done with the evidence remains to be seen. But basically what we’ve got here is evidence that we feel cannot be ignored. This is evidence that proves that Mumia Abu-Jamal is innocent. That he did not kill Officer Faulkner. That, in fact, we have a sworn confession by the man who really did kill Officer Faulkner -- a man named Arnold Beverly -- who says in his sworn confession that he was hired by corrupt elements in the police department itself, and elements of organized crime in Philadelphia to kill Faulkner because Faulkner was interfering with corruption and payoffs in the center city area. We have also filed an affidavit from Mumia himself for the first time presenting his sworn testimony in court explaining what happened the night of December 9, 1981, specifically, “ continued Grossman, “that 1) he did not shoot the officer; 2) he was not involved in that; 3) he was basically in the wrong place at the wrong time; and 4) he was shot down himself,” stated Grossman.

Elliott Grossman went on to tell me that “the reason that he [Mumia Abu-Jamal] did not testify to this effect in the 1995 Post-Conviction hearings that took place after his trial and appeal was over was because his previous attorney, Leonard Weinglass, told him ‘not to testify.’”

“We also have an affidavit from Billy :Cook, Mumia’s brother, in which he testifies that the incident began, basically, when a volkswagon driven by Billy Cook was stopped by Officer Falkner. Billy Cook testifies in his affidavit that there was a passenger in his car with him. This is an interesting fact that the prosecution completely kept out of the trial of Mumia, and in fact, suborn perjury in Mumia’s trial by having one of their witnesses testify that no one else was there when, in fact, there was someone else there at the scene -- the passenger in Billy Cook’s car. What Billy Cook says in his affidavit is that ‘after the incident was over,’ and after Billy was released by the police, when he talked with this man again -- the person who was his passenger -- the passenger told him that ‘he,’ the passenger, ‘had been part of a plot to kill Faulkner. That there was a plot to kill Faulkner.’ The passenger was armed that night and participated in the shooting. Billy Cook states in his affidavit that he was ‘willing and ready to testify in the 1995 Post-Conviction proceedings, and the reason he did not testify is that Leonard Weinglass, Mumia’s previous attorney, told him not to testify.’”

Grossman concluded his stated by saying that “Faulkner was set up to be hit. We have a confession from the man who was one of the people who did that, and this man says, sworn under penalty of perjury, that ‘Mumia Abu-Jamal had nothing to do with it. That Mumia did not get there until after the officer had been shot. That Mumia had nothing to do with the shooting.’”

I asked Elliott Grossman about the whereabouts of Arnold Beverly, the man who has come forward to take responsibility for his actions 20 years ago?

“We are not disclosing any information regarding his whereabouts,” began Grossman “because he, obviously, is running serious risks of his own personal security by coming forward and presenting this information. Because he has testified that he was paid and he was hired by high-ups in organized crime and corrupt police officials to murder a police officer.”

I asked Elliot Grossman if this evidence is sufficient to compel Yohn to look at the evidence and admit it into the federal District Court, on its face

“We consider that this evidence proves that Mumia is innocent. If he is innocent, then they should overturn his conviction and release him. That is what they should do. We are talking a serious turn of events here. We have clear evidence to exonerate Mumia Abu-Jamal. This man is innocent. There is no reason for him to continue to be in prison and certainly no reason for him to be on death row. That is our position,” concluded Grossman as he walked toward the stage.

by Anna Morrow

There is a pristine cleaniliness

that comes from digging through these mazes

This relentless naughty jungle that keeps hostages

of folks that are mightier and penniless

A purity of soul transcends them

hovers over the sticky hot cement

Posibilities rise up from the sweaty pavement

where people hold there hands out

Working hard barely moving in active

participation of grassroots tithing

Consumed by meakness and hostility

dispising and worshiping themseves -

day after dingy day

The monotony collides with hypnotize:

an unavoidable medititation

of what it is to be without

To be lifted up, to fly away

outside this body that offends some

that most everyone ignores

I might rise up above the masses

confessing the secrets of these trenches

shouting out all of the inadequacies and betrayals

into the wind into the ear of god

You could tell the story of our lineage

how our once humble hearts were belittled

and now are humbled once again

by the history of our grievances

the tale of our common sorrows

Unashamed Unadorned Unappologetic

by by Ka Ponda

My body had convinced my mind that a hot meal and a peaceful
environment would soothe the exhaustion caused by the rigor of the grueling
day. The aroma from a nearby restaurant titillated my palate as my feet
labored down the red, brick path. Suddenly, out of a recess, the sound
of a distressed voice pierced my left ear. Inhaling my cigarette, I paused
to listen to its cry. It was the impassioned plea of a man asking if someone
could help him through the maze of people on the bustling downtown San
Francisco street. Before I could reply, the thunder of a menacing voice
pierced my right ear, "Vacate the premises immediately!!"

I was perplexed as to why the men in blue had directed the glower of
their bigotry at my, for no apparent reason. I then asked, "Why must I
vacate, since I just stopped?"

"Because there is no loitering here" they yelled back to me.

The person for whom I had stopped revived his courage, grumbled some
inaudible gibberish and departed like a bandit. The wind chased the ruddy
ashes of the cigarette to the edge of my lips as the nicotine particles
slowly tumbled to claim their place amid the other debris on the street.
After a quick dialogue of barbs, I tossed the butt of the spent cigarette
and thought it wise to move along. 

"Why are you giving me a ticket?" I asked, incredulously.

Using the ticket as his dagger, the man in blue retorted with a wry
expression, "For littering, have a nice day!"

1997

The morning hinted of
a nice day.

It was the kind of magic in the air that only a crisp day in late December
could produce. I deposited my paycheck and withdrew funds from the bank
and started on my way to work. As I walked east on Golden Gate Street in
the direction of Stockton Street, I stopped to talk with a former co-worker,
Ronnie Eagles. We talked in front of the building out of which Mr. Eagles
had still been employed.

As we talked, a voice blared, "Hey John, are you still on parole?" It
sounded like the hue and cry directed toward an habitual criminal or some
low-life individual and not a civilized person attempting to communicate
with another person.

We turned to see a haggardly,
bleary-eyed person sitting in an automobile staring straight into my eyes,
seething for an answer to his question,. I calmly informed the person that
my name was not John and I had never gone to prison. He then demanded that
I come to his car and show him some identification. He had not shown me
anything representative of an official of the law, nor was he in a San Francisco
Police Department uniform. Since I had just come from the bank, I had no
intention of opening my wallet to a person inside a car behind the steering
wheel with the motor running. As Mr. Eagles and I stood, the two men stormed
out of the car in a frenzy and barreled toward me. I had never seen these
two men in my entire life and was baffled that they pretended to have known
me and wondered about their intent. Once again, I reiterated to them, "My
name is not John, and I have never in my life been in prison." 

One of the two men flashed a badge as he aggressively moved towards
me. When I saw his badge I realized that I had been arbitrarily singled
out for harassment and that my rights, guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment
to the Constitution, had been violently trampled upon by these two agents
of the law. I asked Mr. Eagles to walk inside the office building and get
the staff attorney, Judy Appel. Mr. Eagles returned with a video camera
and documented the incident. He stopped recording and went inside, again,
to get the director, Paul Boden.

The two officers handcuffed and crammed me into the front seat of their
small car while Messrs. Boden and Eagles were coming out. The car was not
designed to transport a six-foot person in handcuffs as I was in a contorted
position during the trip.

At the police station, I was asked to be seated on a metal bench while
still wearing handcuffs. I informed them that I had a bad knee due to an
operation for torn anterior cruciate ligaments and that it was aggravated
by the position in which I had been during the trip in the small car. They
forcibly shoved me onto the metal bench and then began jeering me as though
I had been brought in for some heinous crime. The sergeant, who had no
knowledge of what had happened or why I was there, chimed in with a ludicrous,
stereotypical comment that he was going to send me back to prison, as though
I had already been in prison. 

After they had checked my records, they removed the handcuffs from my
wrists and released me. I called my employer, J. Boragine & Associates,
and explained what had happened and that I was in no physical condition
to report to work. I went to the emergency room at San Francisco General
Hospital on Saturday, December 20th, and was provided with treatment.

by Joseph Bolden

Folks, if you’ve read my work you know the topics I write about run the gambit from stressed out poor families to senior citizens being kicked out of their homes to asteroids hitting Earth, our eventual evolution into Q–humanity or Quantum-like beings with near God/Goddess-like control over the cosmos.

Here’s an example off the top of my head:

When humans learn how to take apart, repair, and reconfigure the very strands {molecular strings}farther down beyond our DNA structure we may just become The Q.[Mr. John de Lancie's character on S.T.T.N.G. and the Voyager series.]

When and if we become Q’s how does one commit the unspeakable act of suicide when no toxic poison, radiation, disease, or accident can harm or kill us because our biological imperative prevents this. This would be the psychological equivalent of the Federation’s Prime Directive… Do No Harm To self, other Q’s, q like beings, Human’s, Vulcan’s, Romulin’s, Klingon’s or other lower sentient beings.

Now, I know many of us are thinking that way, right? That’s why I must constantly monitor myself so my columns don’t turn into whacked out scenarios like the one above. I’m thinking this fiction/factual bleed is telling me that something in my destiny stuff that has to be faced. I hope some of you readers snail mail me to give me suggestions on how some of you faced the same crossroads. What was your decision when your personal crisis arrived?

P.S. If any of us survive to actually become Quantum Humans and can travel back to the good old late 1970’s to 2000's era, please look me up by reading my mind and others’ minds sometimes. I wouldn’t mind learning the ways and rules of Q-life, which might take a few hundred to a thousand years to learn. But if you have the time I can at least be a persistent if slow learning student.

I may be slow but when I get it stays got. The same goes for Alchemists, Wizards, Witch’s, Time traveling mortals or Immortal’s, Alien’s, and pure mental entities with a soft spot for struggling sentient beings like myself.

I really don’t want to die[fate shmate]and do this over and over to get it right.

Until next time Live, Love, Learn, Evolve.

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