by PNN staff

One flyer from Zephyr Realty advises landlords that
they can raise the value of their buildings by 20% if
they sell buildings that are empty of any tenants.
Another flyer lists property bought a few years ago
and then re-sold in the last year at huge profits-the
flyer notes "Come In And Ask About Ellis
Evictions."

These practices, and the involvement of Zephyr
Realtor’s buying buildings, evicting tenants and
converting the apartments to condos was the focus of
a tenant protest and picket at Zephyr Reality in Noe
Valley.

Zephyr is one of the leading players in real
estate speculation in San Francisco leading to
the evictions of tenants for condo
conversions. Their ads for condos often say
"VACANT" or "DELIVERED VACANT."
These condos are being sold empty because
the tenants have been evicted, usually under
the state Ellis Act. Real estate investors are
buying up buildings, evicting tenants under
the Ellis Act, and then using loopholes in the
condo conversion law, the units are sold as
condos-usually for about $425,000 per
apartment (with the real estate speculator
typically getting $500,000 profit per
building).

These evictions-for-condos are the leading
cause of evictions in the city.

Using the state Ellis Act, real estate have evicted
about a thousand tenants in the past year for the
purpose of condo conversion.

Even though the city’s condo conversion law limits
conversions to 200 a year and prohibits senior
evictions for condos, these real estate investors utilize
loopholes in the condo law to convert thousands of
units. The Tenants Union is putting a measure on the
November ballot to bring all types of
"condominium-type" conversions into condo law.
When such a law is passed, all rental units which are
sold as condos will be covered by the condo law,
regardless of how the sale is structured or recorded
on the deed.

INFORMATION:

Ted Gullicken 282-6543

Pager: 791-1528

558 CAAP STREET- SAN FRANCISCO,
CA 94110 - PHONE (415)
282-6543-FAX:(415) 282-6622

Z

by Aaron Shuman

....Stories about provocateurs in the crowd is true, though there's been
some exaggeration about the materials thrown over the fence separating
delegates from the protest zone. black-clad anarchists were pressing against
the fence and giving cops the finger, and the lapd was using "supersoakers"
to douse the crowd with pepper spray to force them back, though don't
know who's chicken, who's egg. police directed protesters out of the protest
zone and up figueroa; then a cavalry of officers on horseback came riding
down figueroa, driving protesters back into the zone. they attempted to
herd protesters against the fence separating them from the delegates and
drive them out one exit. a toronto globe-mail reporter caught up in it
told me it was a "run the gauntlet" type situation, with police lined
along a narrow fenced-in corridor, delivering verbal and physical abuse
(kicks, batons). the protesters emerged onto olympic; some were given
contrasting directions from police lines, told to go east, then to go
west, then to go east again.

by Kaponda

Like a barge on water, the quaint abode plodded
along the narrow, city road. In tandem with the
seasoned vehicle that slogged ahead, it signaled the
last vestige of free will. Its eyes pored in every
direction in search of a piece of parcel on which to
rest. Even an old-fashioned drive-in would provide
sufficient relief to cool its engines.

But the signs posted on most of the streets -- "No
Parking Between 2:00 PM to 6:00 AM" -- represented
the disdain which most residents of China Basin have
towards homes on wheels. Neither will Officer
Swiatco, the code enforcement officer who represents
the San Francisco Police Department at the Bayview
station, show any compassion for this mobile home
in distress. A tacit contract has been put out on
vehicles used for sleeping or camping in California.

Officer Swiatco of the San Francisco Police
Department has been turned loose by the Bayview
Station in San Francisco on vehicles that are used as
homes. He aggressively pursues any vehicle which
exceeds the 72-hour parking law, or that fails to
display the proper registration. Swiatco, however, is
a puppet, dangling from a strategically vast
conspiracy of economics.

Invoking the time-honored proverb, "The love of
money is the root of all evil", these words could have
been written just for planners and developers in
Silicon Valley and other "growing" areas of
California. Not too long ago, inexpensive trailer
courts and mobile home parks were sprawled along
cities from Sunnyvale to Los Gatos. But the real
estate boom in California has curbed the growth of
these mobile home communities. Developers are
literally snatching the ground from underneath
vehicularly housed residents' wheels.

An article in the San Jose Mercury, dated Thursday,
June 1, 2000, by Laura Kurtzman, states the
deplorable extent to which developers will push for
the love of money. According to Kurtzman's article, a
91-year-old woman, Antonia Telles, a former migrant
worker who lives on $830 a month from her late
husband's Social Security, was given an eviction
notice after having resided for 50 years at the
Campbell Trailer Court in Campbell, California. To
further accentuate the evil visited upon her in the form
of the notice to vacate, according to Kurtman's
article, Ms. Telles' space is beside the cemetery plot
of her deceased husband.

In Los Gatos, Doug McNelly, owner of Los Gatos Mobile
Home Park, admits that it would be very difficult for a
person to find other housing in the California runaway real
estate market. McNelly has put a moratorium on renting
spaces and has negotiated the buyout of every mobile home
resident on his property. He has cleared the way, along
with the hopes and aspirations of many poor people whose
only resort is to find housing in mobile home parks, to sell
his land to a developer, Barry Swenson. Again, both
McNelly and Swenson will probably earn huge amounts of
money in view of the real estate boom in California. But
their financial gains will displace poor and low-income
people throughout Silicon Valley, because most cities are
not creating space for vehicularly housed residents. Santa
Cruz, however, is an exception.

As of May 23, 2000, the first reading of legislation to
decriminalize sleeping in vehicles or outdoors at night was
approved by the Santa Cruz City Council. For years, Santa
Cruz had had a draconian sleeping ban. According to the
June edition of the Street Spirit, in an article written by
Robert Norse of Homeless United for Friendship and
Freedom (HUFF), so severe was the Sleeping Ban,
"...that the City1s own Interfaith Satellite Shelter Program
(ISSP), which has had homeless people sleeping on the
floors of churches for 13 years, is itself illegal in the City
(since churches are not considered domiciles under the
law)."

The recently approved proposed legislation is the product
of a combination of aggressive protests by Campaign to
End the Sleeping Ban (CESB) and bold actions by HUFF.
According to Norse's article, the new law, if sanctioned at
the second reading, scheduled for June13, 2000, "would
throw out entirely the Blanket Ban, which now bars
covering up with blankets at night...". It would also
"...establish legal areas to which the police could direct
homeless sleepers, giving everyone (in theory) a legal
place to sleep within City limits. For those without
vehicles, that would be on thin strips of pavement unless
private property owners granted them access to industrial
lots. Private property owners would be freed for the first
time in 22 years to allow sleeping anywhere on their
property, provided the activity does not create a public
nuisance or violate zoning laws."

The cause of the vehicularly housed was taken on by
activists such as Robert Norse, Becky Johnson of HUFF
and David Silva of CESB. These individuals
single-heartedly committed themselves to the struggle
against the injustice thrust upon one-third of the homeless
population in the City of Santa Cruz. They braved the
mean-spirited attitudes of the people and leadership of
Santa Cruz to gain this historic victory.

by Kaponda

The melodic sound waves from the Xylophone and
Gardigan instruments did not, alone, inspire the expressions of exultation.
Nor could the warmth of the brilliant sun claim all the credit for the
joyous faces. The groundbreaking ceremony and commemoration of the 23rd
anniversity of the eviction of Asian tenants from the International Hotel
fashioned the smiles on the faces of the many people at the juncture of
Kearney and Jackson streets.

"One of the things that we are very committed to
do is to make this happen, come hell or high waters. Many
individuals died because of the International Hotel." Supervisor Leland
Yee was very emotional as he expressed his thoughts during an interview
with me after he had addressed the predominantly Asian-Amercian audience.
"There memories cannot go in vain. The reason it is important to build
this project is so that their memory and legacy will live on from now
and into eternity." Although the Housing and Urban Development had awarded
$7.7 million and the Mayor's Office of Housing had committed another $5.5
for construction of an affordable housing project, there was still a tone
of skepticism in Supervisor Lee's voice as we talked. I asked if a groundbreaking
of the new building at the site where the International Hotel had been
located would occur during the Fall of 2000? "This is a done deal to the
extent that all of the plans and all of the agreements are there, but
we have still not somehow pulled it all together yet. But somehow and
some way we've got to make it happen. There are still some last glitches
in terms of right-of-way and so on that will be dealt with."

The Internatinoal Hotel was built during the 19th
century on the corner of Kearney and Jackson streets. Its occupants were
single Filipino and Chinese men who worked as longshoremen and seamen.
Due to its proximity to the wharf, the International Hotel provided a
convenient location for the Filipino and Chinese community. Since a single
room rented for $45.00 per month, it provided affordable housing as well.
Between 1960 and 1977, during the golden age of the Kearney street corridor,
the Filipino community stretched more than four blocks. This enclave was
dubbed, "Manilatown" and the International Hotel would play a key role
in the Asian Community.

Like a shark in a frenzy from the scent of fresh
blood, in 1968, commercial developers sensed huge profits along the Kearney
Street corridor. Since that time, construction of buildings such as the
Holiday Inn, Transamerica and Bank of America have taken place. In 1968,
notices to vacate were given to nearly 200 residents of the International
Hotel. It was learned that a permit to demolish the hotel was issued,
so that construction of a multi-leveled parking lot could began. The tenants
-- most of whom were elderly -- were only given until January 1st of the
new year of 1969 to pack up and move out. That eviction notice was the
catalyst of a cohesiveness that would propel a fierce, nine-year battle
in the Asisan community over racism and civil rights.

After nine-years and three mayoral administrations
of legal gridlock, on August 4, 1977, at three o'clock in the terror of
the morning, the elderly and all other tenants of the International Hotel
were forcibly evicted from their homes. It was a night when injustice
and racism bellowed every aspect of their tyrannous power. The forced
evictions would result in the dispersal of the historical and cultural
roots of a first-generation of Filipinos whose origin went back to the
beginning of the 20th century.

A resident of the International Hotel in 1977,
Emil De Guzman, who is now affiliated with the Manilatown Heritage Foundation,
a community-based organization formed to assist in the development of
a new Manilatown Center, shared with me his first-person experience of
that night. "On August 4, 1977, 200 police, sheriffs and firemen forced
their way through thousands of protesters into the International Hotel.
The San Francisco Fire Department trucks were used to hoist policemen
onto the rooftop of the International Hotel. People were dragged out of
the building."

The Reverend Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial called
the hole in the ground where the International Hotel had been, "The most
important civil rights' issue in San Francisco." Furthermore, he went
on to state as he spoke on the raised platform at the 23rd anniversary
of the forced eviction, "We have to make sure this will never happen again."

I remembered the words of Gandhi, "If the cause
is right, the means will come," when I heard Nancy Hom of the Kearney
Street Workshop, encourage the crowd by stating, "When the cause is right,
the human spirit will prevail....Its what's in the heart that matters."
Many people were in the audience who were personally involved in the struggle
from its beginning.

Bill Sorro, an organizer, activist and former tenant
was married at the International Hotel. He had lived there since May of
1970. Bill did not disguise his frustration while discussing his feelings
with me. "Quite frankly, more and more people need to say, 'screw you,
I ain't leaving' [to any future landlords with plans for gentrification].
I know a lot of people who were there and were hurt. During the
'70's, horses were a legal weapon used to control crowds, and so policemen
came into the crowds on horses wielding billy clubs."

Peter Rubin of Local 261 acted as a member of a
security team outside of the hotel that helped form the barricade around
the hotel to deter the police from storming the building on the night
of August 4, 1977. Many members of Local 261 were sympathetic to the people's
struggle to resist the vacate notices by the owners of the International
Hotel because the members of Local 261 understood the nature of the struggle.
According to Peter, "The sheriff himself came down here and smashed in
some of the doors to get to the tenants who were locked inside their rooms.
When we found out that the police were coming we set up our barricade
around the building. It was six-people deep around the building. The police
came from Washington Street. The San Francisco Fire Department occupied
the adjacent parking lot so that police units and sheriffs could successfully
occupy the roof. The police were pretty violent. Police were riding on
horses, swinging their clubs"

Marshall Werner, a part of the San Francisco community
at-large, shared her thoughts with me about the night of August 4, 1977.
"It was not just activists who were involved. Rather, it was a citywide
effort that saw people from all of the Bay Area providing support to tenants
of the International Hotel. This act [of eviction] by the hotel owners
was viewed as a precedence for developers in San Francisco to seize land
from tenants and the working class for commercial development. Looking
back, historically, it has become true. In addition, the emergence of
greed began to gain politically power among local politicians. We are
no longer able to form the alliances to stop the rapid displacements in
all of the districts in San Francisco. "

As the band, Scratch Pickles, filled the air, I
watched Pearl Ubungen and Wailana Sim Cock interpret the International
Hotel eviction through a dance performance on the barren sidewalk filling
the atmosphere with hope, resistance and revolution.

"By virtue
of its nature, change must occur. Whether a radical or positive force
effects that change depends on you......" Kaponda, August 8, 2000.

by Kaponda

The zephyr bored through the thin layer of protective
shelter and pelted the young lad as his eyes opened to
the dawn of another school day. It carried the noxious
elements of the naval shipyard to woo the uncorrupt
lungs of the middle school senior. Yet, Jimmy has
known for quite awhile that his generation has had to
endure the brunt of unfulfilled commitments by
virtually every institution of America.

The sparse surroundings of Jimmy's bedroom
bounced off his eyes through the mirror, as he
prepared to encounter another struggle at Luther
Burbank Middle School. In an effort not to frustrate
his schoolmaster, Jimmy had begun his journey at the
customary time. Looking at the abutting structures
from the window, Jimmy watched as his house
drowned in the distance, as the bus accelerated past
the density of drab houses. He mused over whether
anyone within that enclave of southern migrants --
from which he, too, is a proud product ñ- has ever
enjoyed anything other than substandard living
conditions since their arrival to the Bayview-Hunters
Point District at the height of World War II.

As he expectorated the noxious residuals from the
wind that had earlier swirled around his residential
community, Jimmy peered at a rodent, which bolted
off into a separate entrance of the Luther Burbank
Middle School. His eyes made a futile search of the
halls for anything that had not been riddled by decay.
The first battle for Jimmy will be to find a seat after
he enters his classroom, as there are not enough to
accommodate each student. There will not be a need
for him to check his coat because it will help insulate
him from the extremely cold classroom due to the
broken heating system. Jimmy has always focused on
completing his studies and passing his advanced
placement examination to continue his education at a
competitive university.

The substandard learning and living conditions to
which Jimmy is exposed may pose a threat to his
plans to further his education. For example, the
curricula offered at schools such as Luther Burbank
do not adequately prepare Jimmy for advanced
placement examinations. In addition, his problems are
compounded by a sense of inferiority, which affects
the motivation of a child to learn. These wretched
conditions were not hatched over night. Rather, they
are the result of years of Federal and State neglect.
Furthermore, these substandard learning conditions --
in which Jimmy must struggle to realize his hopes ñ
violate the laws of California, which require the State
to ensure the delivery of basic educational
opportunities for every child in California and vest the
State with ultimate responsibility for the Stateís public
elementary and secondary school system.

Neglect by the State of California to improve substandard
learning conditions in schools for people of color can be
traced as far back as the early 1950ís, when the majority of
schools for people of color were far inferior to the schools
of their white counterparts. The neglect of the State of
California to provide equal access to public education
regardless of race, color or national origin is rooted in the
May 17, 1954, Brown v. Board of Education, unanimous
decision, read by Chief Justice Earl Warren of the Supreme
Court.

In California, schools in economically disadvantaged
communities were underserved so severely that on May
17, 2000, the 46th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of
Education, civil rights groups and attorneys in California,
coordinated by the American Civil Liberties Union, lodged
a historic class-action lawsuit on behalf of students in 18
schools. The lawsuit charges that California has failed to
provide the "bare minimum necessities" required for an
education. According to the Complaint, the state of
California has allegedly "...reneged on its constitutional
guarantee to provide all students with at least the bare
essentials necessary for an education...."

The indictment of gross negligence underscores the reason
that supports the probability that Jimmy will never achieve
an education comparable to that of his white counterpart.
Furthermore, people of color in schools throughout
California have been subjected to the following conditions
as part of their everyday educational experience, according
to the Complaint:

• Lack of Materials and Basic Resources;
• Inadequate Instruction; and
• Massive Overcrowding.

California has recently adopted a system of statewide
educational standards. It entails a criterion that must be
satisfied by each student before being promoted to the next
rung of learning. However, ìofficials of the state of
California charged with carrying out educational
obligations have failed to develop or implement appropriate
procedures to identify and correct the substandard
conditions at the schools attended by Plaintiffs,î according
to the Complaint.

Furthermore, according to the class-action lawsuit lodged
by the ACLU, ìAlthough the State has established
academic standards that students must meet, the State has
failed to meet its responsibility to ensure that schools
provide teachers who are adequately trained to prepare
students to satisfy those standards, has failed to provide
sufficient materials to enable students to have a reasonable
chance to pass tests that measure their performance, and
has failed to provide facilities in which students can safely
learn the materials they need to meet the State-mandated
standards. In other words, the State has established a
system for education but has abdicated its responsibility to
oversee and superintend that system to ensure it functions.

Jimmy was not born during the decision of Brown v.
Board of Education by the Supreme Court. However, the
Board of Education of California continues to preclude him
from any hope of attaining to the same educational level of
equality and justice as his white counterpart. Through
sheer determination, Jimmy may be one of the few among
people of color who succeed in passing the Advanced
Placement examination by rising beyond the seemingly
insurmountable obstacles of inadequate instructions,
massive school overcrowding, too few textbooks, no
access to libraries, as few as 13 percent of teachers with
full teaching credentials, chronically unfilled teacher
vacancies, and substandard living conditions.

by 24 inmates of the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility

>We are 24 male prisoners currently held
at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility for our participation or attempted
participation in the August 1st non-violent direct actions against the
Republican convention in Philadelphia. The carefully choreographed conventions
of both major parties have nothing to do with democracy. They are corporate
sponsored pageants designed to legitimize a system of corporate class
rule that crushes the human spirit and that is destroying the planet.
The criminal justice system of cops, courts and prisons that targets poor
and working class people in general and people of color in particular
is a cornerstone of a system that serves the rich and maintains their
rule. Our actions in the streets of Philadelphia were intended to shine
a light on the incarceration of 2 million people in the U.S., on the systematic
use of police brutality to terrorise whole communities, on the racism
and cruelty of the death penalty, on the many political prisoners, including
Mumia Abu-Jamal, who are caged for their commitment to social justice.
Our actions were aimed at disrupting the Republican convention to the
best of our ability. While weíre sorry any inconvenience we may
have caused the people of Philadelphia, we are proud of what we did to
expose this rotten system.

>From the moment of our arrest we have
experienced and witnessed

the workings of a system designed to dehumanize
people. Many of us were brutalized in the course of arrests. Some of us
were beaten or peppersprayed after we were handcuffed. In jail as many
as nine people were packed into cells designed for two people. People
with dietary restrictions went without food for up to 48 hours. In some
cases our hands and feet were cuffed together and some of us had our cuffs
so tight that we lost feelings in our hands or bled as a result.

>We were denied the opportunity to meet with
our lawyers prior to arraignment and were arraigned in a court room closed
to the general public with the exception of select members of the capitalist
media. We were arraigned with a court appointed public defender serving
as counsel despite our explicitly and repeatedly stated desire to be represented
by our own counsel who were denied access to the proceedings. We were
charged with a variety of misdemeanors and in a few cases with felonies.
Our individual bails have been set at between $10,000 and $1,000,000.
Many if not all of the charges against us are either greatly exaggerated
or completely falsified.

>At Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility
County Jail-we have been placed in a special pod where we have little
contact with other prisoners. While we regard our conditions here as dehumanizing
we recognise that we are receiving special treatment such as extra food.
So far we have not been beaten or physically hurt by personnel here.

>Throughout this process we have sought to
resist and stand in solidarity with each other to the best of our abilities.
Almost all of us have refused to give our names. Many of us have had to
be physically dragged through the various stages of this process. We have
kept our spirits high through singing and chanting and pounding on our
cell walls. We developed systems for communicating with each other and
for reaching decisions by consensus. Many of us ripped the bracelets intended
to identify us off our wrists. We resisted fingerprinting and attempts
to photograph us. Some of us have refused food. In jail we stripped naked
to make our processing more difficult. In the course of all this we have
discovered strengths we never knew we had and have built a wall of solidarity
based on profound love and respect for each other. We have drawn particular
strength from the proud defiance of the sisters whose loud voices we have
heard and whose acts of resistance we have occasionally been able to witness.
While our access to information is restricted we are aware of the efforts
of those on the outside to assist us. We love you all. We are in here
for you and know that you are out there for us.

>We believe that our experiences so far strongly
vindicate us in our decision to take powerful action to expose the brutality
and injustice of the so-called criminal justice system. As we go through
this process we are learning personally of the mistreatment people experience
every day in this country. As a group of mainly white and mainly middle
class men we know full well that the treatment routinely received by poor
people, people of color, and other marginalized people is much worse than
what we have received.

>While we have had little contact with other
prisoners, that contact has been overwhelmingly positive, they know why
we are here and they let us know in many ways that they support our actions
and respect our commitment and solidarity. In turn we are learning from
them about the workings of the prison and their own traditions of resistance.
They have our respect, admiration and solidarity. So far the efforts of
some personnel to cultivate distrust and antagonism between us and the
other prisoners have failed.

>We are political prisoners:

>We are being held on outrageous charges,
in many cases with no foundation whatsoever in our actual actions; Our
bail figures are far out of proportion even for the crimes we are falsely
accused of; We are here because of our political commitment and because
we dared to defy the corporate powers that be as they were attempting
to give a veneer of popular support to the rule of the few.

>We call on those who support us to continue
to put pressure on the Philadelphia authorities to win our quick release.
We urge you all to continue to organize protests on our behalf and to
write and call the mayorís office, the prosecutors and the prison
authorities to demand:

>1.Our immediate and unconditional release
on our own recognizance

>2. That all charges be dropped and

>3. That prisoners with dietary restrictions
(vegans and vegetarians) be provided with adequate food that they can
eat.

>Call these officials and let them know that
you support our demands:

>District Attorney Lynne Abraham 215-686-8701
Mayor John Street 215-686-2181

>City Solicitor Ken Trujillo 215-683-5003

>30 of us have gone on hunger strike to win
these demands. We want everyone to know that we are in good spirits and
remain strong in our solidarity. We come from a variety of backgrounds
and perspectives, but we are united in our commitment to genuine democracy
and an end to corporate rule in general and to the criminal injustice
system in particular.

>FREE MUMIA ABU JAMAL AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
STOP POLICE TERROR

>TEAR DOWN THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
END THE DEATH PENALTY

>Write to us:

>John Doe ìJDî Professor

>John Doe ODB

>John Doe Wolfman

>John Doe 6010 ìDingerî

>John Doe ìThatís not good
for businessî John Doe Slick

>Camilo Viveiros Jr.

>John Doe 6013

>Christopher Hartley

>John Doe Mac

>John Doe Mango

>John Doe ìB.A.î

>John Doe Sparky

>John Doe Flea

>John Doe ìHank H. Partsî

>John Doe ìWispî

>John Doe Tennessee/Jimnikov

>John Doe Buckshot

>John Doe GOD

>John Doe Switchblade

>John Doe Ms. Pac Man

>John Doe Zeke

>JD Lovebug

>J.D. Kowbone

by Rodessa Garcia

"But it is an emer.....gen.............." the last part of
my sentence was cut off by my own saliva which was
draining into my throat at a rate of three gallons per
second.

"No Miss Garcia, I don't think so"..... the admitting
clerk mistook my choking pause for uncertainty, and
proceeded to start shaking her head from side to side
while she filled the silence with her persistent rant, "
We can only see you if it is a life threatning
emergency, and of course that is only if there is no
other county facilities available."

"I'm.....tell...ing.....you....I can't..... breathe.....It
is an emer....." She was still shaking her head. I
managed to spit out one last sentence. "Can you ask
your sup...ervis..or..?!"

At this point she made a small snort of
frustration/confusion and walked away.

It had been several months since I had had an asthma
attack quite this bad and when I had the last one I
vowed to never go to an emergency room due to an
example of what I call "Hellth-care" which included
sitting in a County funded emergency room for no
less than 16 hours before I recieved any treatment.
Unfortunately illness is an untameable beast which
strikes unexpectantly when you are least
prepared....and for poor people that is always.

But this day started simply. The sun was cool and
flat....Mountain and ocean breezes from opposite
ends of the sky collided in the San Francisco
atmosphere refreshing my pores. And then......all of
sudden....... a slice of fresh pollen coupled with
several hundred wayward dust mites entered my nose
and mouth.

It began as just a difficulty breathing and proceeded
into a monstrous cough/ wheeze, at that point, logic
and all other normal thoughts disappeared in place of
adrenalin fueled terror and extreme states of anxiety. I
walked into the emergency room of a hospital owned
by Catholic Healthcare West, a private non-profit
corporation, and began an odd sort of battle to prove
the emergent nature of my illness.

The supervisor returned with the admitting clerk who
was still shaking her head, in a permanent state of
no...... "Miss Garcia...we will admit you this time
but....." The supervisor's voice was loud and
smashed through the glass window between us "
because you have no insurance we will have to bill
you...." I thought this was a strange comment from
the admitting nurse's supervisor but somehow it
meant I could be considered "an emergency"

After this 45 minute financial diagnosis I was able to
recieve care. I saw the doctor for four minutes,
hooked up to breathing machine for ten minutes, and
recieved a prescription for an inhaler. Two weeks
later I recieved a bill. It was for several hundred
dollars.

I called the hospital billing office after recieving the bill, "
After a full minute of annoyance laced pleasantries between
me and the billing clerk, I began my tirade, " I told the
admitting clerk I was unemployed and homeless, I told her
I had no money to pay for services...I told her I wanted to
recieve services under the Hill- Burton act......why am I
recieving this bill? "

Many non-profit hospitals have an obligation to provide
charity care because of their use of low interest rate
financing from the federal government through the
Hill-Burton program.Approved by congress in 1946, the
program extends to hospitals and other health facilities
money for construction and modernization. In return,
recipients of Hill-Burton funds are required to provide a
reasonable volume of services to persons unable to pay and
also make their services available to all persons residing in
the facilities area.

"Well Ms. Garcia, we know someday you will be able to
work and until that day we will continue to bill you"

"You are not hearing me...! ...I said I am very low income
and I asked to be treated under the Hill-Burton Program."

"I told you what we will do......click

After that phone call....I began recieving bill after bill, until
the blue and green colored envelopes turned into hues of
pink and red. Billing turned into collection....and
eventually collection locked in my cycle of poverty
culminating with a landlord refusing to rent to me because I
they thought I was a "bad credit risk"

Despite the growing numbers of medically uninsured San
Franciscans, the city's three largest private hospitals (St
Mary's Medical Center and St Francis Memorial Hospital
of Catholic Healthcare West and California Pacific Medical
Center of Sutter Health reduced their rate of charity care
spending by 15.7 percent during the past four years. In
1998, the three hospitals spent less than half of one percent
of their revenues on charity care- approximately one-sixth
the national average for tax exempt hospitals. Together
these hospitals control more than half of the city's licensed
hospital beds.

All hospitals --for profit and non-profit alike-- have an
obligation to serve the sick and uninsured. Tax-exempt
hospitals are further bound by a basic social contract with
the general public due to their tax-exempt status. In
exchange for receiving millions of dollars in tax breaks,
tax-exempt hospitals are expected to provide charitable
services to poor and uninsured patients. Tax-exempt
hospitals' tax breaks include exemptions from property and
income taxes, access to tax-free bonds issued through
government agencies, and access to tax-deductible
donations from the public.

PT 2 HEALTHCARE..!!!

On June 26, 2001 At the Board of Supervisors Health Committee Hearing, Sup. Sophie Maxwell who has been working with SEIU local 250 on this issue, introduced an ordinance that requires private hospitals to notify patients of their right to apply for charity care. The ordinance also requires hospitals to file an annual report with DPH describing how many people applied for charity care, received charity care and were rejected, as well as cost info, etc. The ordinance establishes financial penalties to be levied against hospitals for failing to comply.

This ordinance will help hold hospitals accountable and is a first step towards establishing greater public accountability.

The ordenance was passed by the full board on Monday, July 2, 2001

"Charity Care Policy Reporting and Notice Ordinance"(print this and keep it with you, poor folks!!)

I. Purpose: According to the ordinance, its principal purpose is to provide City agencies with adequate information to plan for the provision of health care to city residents and "to maximize the access to charity care within the community and to enhance the health of the public by informing individuals of the availability of charity care.

II. Provisions: This ordinance would add language to the San Francisco Health Code requiring San Francisco's private hospitals to:

Notify patients about their right to apply for charity care;
Submit annual reports to the San Francisco Department of Public Health describing each hospital's provision of charity care.

Patient Notification Requirements:
Hospitals would be required to verbally notify patients during the admissions process about the availability of charity care and any process necessary to apply for charity care.
Hospitals would be required to post multilingual notices about their charity care policies in several prominent locations within the hospital, such as the emergency department, billing office, and waiting rooms.

Public Reporting Requirements:
Hospitals would be required to file annual reports with the San Francisco Department of Public Health containing the following information:
The dollar amount of charity care provided during the year, as measured in terms of costs to the hospital;

The total number of applications for charity care received by the hospital, as well as the numbers of acceptances and denials, including visit code of each patient's residents;
The number of people applying for charity care who were referred to other facilities, including the name of the facilities to which they were referred;
The description of the type of services delivered to charity care patients (i.e., emergency, inpatient, outpatient or ancillary medical services);
All of the hospital's charity care policies, including but not limited to explanations regarding the availability of charity care and the time periods and procedures for application, determination, and appeal; any application forms used; and the hospital locations and hours at which the information may be obtained by the general public;
Other information that the Department of Public Health requires.

III. Enforcement: The ordinance would establish a penalty of up to $500 per day for hospitals that violate the ordinance.

IV. Applicability: The ordinance would cover all private acute-care hospitals in San Francisco. Kaiser Foundation Hospital San Francisco would be covered by the notification provisions of this ordinance, but would be exempt from the reporting provisions because Kaiser hospitals, which operate on a pre-paid basis, do not have billing systems capable of collecting the data required by the reporting portion of this ordinance. This mirrors a similar exemption for Kaiser hospitals under state law.

The ordinance was passed
by the full board on Monday,
July 2, 2001.

by Kaponda

Radiating bitter condemnation, the eyes of Leroy Moore, Jr. conducted
the crowd through years of disappointment experienced by disabled people
of color. His suggestive indictment of the exclusionary policies of the
Americans with Disabilities Act cast a pall of gloom over its 10th Anniversary
ceremonies around the country. The people at City Hall listened that Wednesday,
July 26, 2000, as the president and founder of Disability Advocates of
Minorities Organization (DAMO) told the other side of the ADA story.

by Kaponda

I felt like I had been atop Mount Everest, as I listened
to the small child in front of the United Nations Plaza.
Even the raised concrete structure on which the
beautiful, three-year old girl stood did not make her
appear any taller. The sound of her voice resonated
out of a loudspeaker as the breeze caused the unfurled
banners to cradle her body. True to the proverb, "Out
of the mouth of babes and suckling," it was she who
had provided me the insight into the significance of
the event held on Friday, May 12th, when she
uttered, "Happy Mothers Day to all of the Mothers in
Prison."

"Mothers in Prison -- Children in Crisis" was
sponsored by Families with a Future, an organization
founded by the mother of the three-year old wonder,
Ida McCray. Now in its sixth year, Mothers in
Prison, Children in Crisis is the first and only
national organizing campaign that seeks to establish
alternatives to incarceration as the sentencing norm
for women with dependent children. Based in the
state of New York, it has a broad-based community
of supporters around the country whose mission is to
use compelling statistics to demand legislators to
overhaul current sentencing regulations.

According to statistics gathered by Campaign 2000
JusticeWorks Community, there are now 146,600
women incarcerated in United States prisons and
jails. An astounding statistic by the U.S. Department
of Justice: Bureau of Justice Statistic, states that of
the 146,000 women incarcerated, 75% are mothers.
Furthermore, two-thirds of these women have
children under the age of 18.

A formerly incarcerated woman, Ida McCray had
spent 12 grueling years in the California Prison
System, California Youth Authority and Federal
prisons. I asked her what she would most like to
express to the people concerning the rally at Civic
Center Plaza. "We need more places that will help
families. Monies have been appropriated to fragment
families. We need money to build families,"
according to McCray. Standing firmly on her
commitment to end the separation of biological
families, McCray continued to express her feelings,
as the wind gingered up her healthy dreadlocks, "This
is a form of genocide which is being given no
attention. A glaring example is our children." Unlike
many incarcerated mothers, Ida McCray did not lose
her children during her time in prison.

Children are the first casualties when their mothers
are incarcerated. According to a statistic by the U.S.
Department of Justice: Office of Justice Programs,
"Women currently in prison or jail are mothers to
more than 250,000 children, the majority of whom
are under 18 years of age." "While children usually
remain with their mother during the incarceration of
their father," according to a study by The Obsborne
Association, "Children of incarcerated mothers are
much more likely to experience a change in primary
caretaker."

The strategic efforts of the supporters of the Mothers in
Prison, Children in Crisis movement have opened the
doors of people in high places. Acting under authority of
the State of Iowa, Governor Thomas J. Vilsack proclaimed
May 7, 1999 as Mothers in Prison -- Children In Crisis
Day." Also, acting under authority, Governor Mike
Huckabee of Arkansas, during a rally in May of 1999,
proclaimed May 9th through May 11th of 1999, "Mothers
in Prison, Children in Crisis Weekend."

One of the speakers at the rally was San Francisco District
Attorney, Terrence Hallinan, who gave the onlookers hope
when he stated that he would like to, "Declare an end to the
war on drugs. A war on drugs is not the solution, as it
causes more problems and much more misery." Hallinan
further stated that "Women are being incarcerated for
victimless crimes...."

An official for the Department of Health, Jimmy Loyce,
gave a passionate speech before the crowd at the Civic
Center Plaza. "Every day a mother does in prison, her
child does in prison [also]," Loyce stated. He added that
"The only crime is a disease called alcoholism and drug
addiction," implying that a connection exists between
women who are incarcerated and their addiction to drugs
and alcohol.

A recent study by the U.S. Department of Justice: Office of
Justice Programs has determined that, "Women in prison
are more likely than men to have ever used drugs, to have
used drugs daily the month before their offense, to have
been under the influence of drugs while committing the
offense and to have committed the offense to get drugs."
"Less than 10% of those who need substance abuse
treatment in prison actually receive it. Seventy-five percent
of the general population who seek substance abuse
treatment, never receive it," according to The Nation1s
Number One Health Problem.

Claire Campbell of Jelani House, Inc., a refuge for
pregnant women, underscored the misappropriations of
funds to criminalize offenders of victimless crimes by
stating, "Women are in jail for nonviolent crimes, like
holding drugs for others." She called for women to stay
tuned in to each other.

The Executive Director for Standing Against Global
Exploitation (SAGE) provided recommendations to
changing the system. She stated that "Since changing
institutions is very difficult, we must change the minds of
individuals inside the system, and expose them to
alternatives to incarceration."

According to the Mothers in Prisons, Children in Crisis1
Fact Sheet, "Alternatives to incarceration have been
legislatively endorsed for more than 20 years. The
understanding which guided the early movement towards
alternatives was that penal institutions are destructive to the
humanity of prisoners, guards, administrators and the
community. Thus, alternatives were designed to keep
people out of jail and prison.

The recommended alternatives to incarceration of women
would probably decrease rapidly increasing separation of
biological families. There would be more children in the
warm embrace of their loving parents. It is a concept that
would give Mothers Day a whole new meaning.

by James Tracy

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently released
a report entitled "Waiting In Vain: America's Housing Crisis." It "revealed"
what most U.S. renters, especially the working poor, could have told them
for free: our housing crisis is nationwide, and housing affordable to
low-income people nearly extinct.

by Jesaka Irwin

I see this battle as only growing in strength, as it
broadens and deepens it1s reach; and as it challenges
Capital1s lust for death; and as it supports the cause
of life, of freedom, and of Justice.I salute You!
-Mumia Abu Jamal-

On Saturday May 13th the world stood together to
fight a racist judicial system....the world stood
together to fight the Death Penalty... the world stood
together to free it1s political prisoners. .....the World
Stood together to Free Mumia Abu Jamal.

I rose early, anticipating the union of events today. 70
countries mobilizing for many reasons in the name Of
Mumia Abu Jamal. The sun had decided to support us
despite a rainy forecast. I met up with my fellow
journalists at PNN and proceeded to the "March for
Mumia" in downtown San Francisco.

As we arrived, there was an overwhelming amount of
information being dispersed from every direction.
The mobile stage projecting words, and sounds of
inspiration before the March down Market Street to
the Civic Center.

Around noon the March began. 9,000 people strong,
not including the lines of policemen who walked
beside us with their helmets in hand, and billy clubs
attached to their sides. The Chants were strong "
FREE MUMIA ABU JAMAL.... AN INJURY TO
ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL!" and increased in
volume through the one mile march lead by POOR
Magazine's own; Kaponda.

As I marched many thoughts journeyed through my mind.
I tried to imagine what it would be like to be sentenced to
death for a crime I didn't commit. During my own
incarceration in the State of Florida I remember straining
my eyes through the fence covered windows searching for
a piece of sky. I remember the anxiety I felt waiting for the
guard to scream my name and tell me to grab my stuff;
"You're free to go." I didn1t know how long I would be
there, but I prayed everyday for freedom.

Black, political, and a journalist, Mumia was framed for
these reasons along with the fact that he exposed a corrupt
police department in one of Americas most unjust actions,
the bombing of the MOVE house in Philadelphia.

When we arrived at the civic center the many banners that
streamed over head as we marched made a circle in front of
the stage. Over 32 people spoke and 6 bands performed.
Many organizations were represented, one being The
National Federation of Teachers, who are fighting to teach
their children about Mumia and the Death Penalty. Another
being Longshoremen from across America who shut down
many ports on April 24th in the fight to free Mumia. I was
also extremely moved by Michael Franti of Rage Against
the Machine, who1s words and poetry painted a picture
that still lingers in my mind.

I ended the day with my own poetic rant on the stage;

"We need to realize who really has the power, and break
free from the nineteen inch screen torturing our minds with
the mundane so we don1t go insane over things WE
BELIEVE are out of our control. Wake up people! and
smell the democracy distorted and dismissed; Why do you
think it was the FIRST ammendment."

As I wandered down 10th street on my journey home I
was consumed by the reality of how many peoples lives
are resting in our hands. Mumia is just the beginning of a
long fight for Life, Freedom, and Justice.

by PNN Staff

Remember when life was young- little Suzy had so much fun- hoppin and boppin to the crocodile rock..

Little Noah's tiny diapered hips, emitting the light scent of powder and baby-ness swayed to the Oldies music as he held on to my legs - it was near bed-time and I was dancing my son, Noah, to bed after his night-time bath and gourmet meal of Gerbers© chicken and rice... suddenly; two large black boots lumbered toward us, shaking the earth as they came closer, a cold steel badge was pushed in my face "Police, Hand me the child, we're taking him in to custody"

"What are you doing? I screamed "Why are you taking my baby?

"What's going on here?" my wife shrieked.

"We're taking your child because you are unfit parents, you are being charged with neglect and emotional abuse, Mr Franklin. I am a worker from Child Protective Services." She handed me her card, grabbed Noah and walked out of the room with the police. The last sound I heard was Noah's screams.

I stood there motionless as my wife started crying. I looked over at my father who was standing on the other side of the room. It all came together. I am poor, I wasn't very good at holding down a job, I was living with my father, it was not a good situation. We did not get along, he wanted me out of his house.

That was three weeks ago - Noah was permanently removed from my care - the reasons were fuzzy- it was never determined what my wife or I really did wrong - they said we swore in front of the child, that I swung him around too fast, that maybe there was drug abuse, ( there was not) but the real reason was my wife and I were poor - my father was not, we didn't have a chance in the court- our extreme love and meticulous care of our very healthy seven month old was never considered, and when the court hearing convened, we watched them terminate our parental guardianship.

The decision to take our baby was part of an ever increasing trend to terminate the rights of parents solely based on the income, financial stability or joblessness of the parent. The implications are terrifying. Case in point; In New York Mayor Giuliani said last week that if you aren't working you won't be allowed to get shelter and if you don't have shelter in New York, you automatically have your children put in foster care.

In California a father was arrested for yelling at his 14 year old daughter when she refused to go to school.

href="column_16.html#1st_col">(go to story)

In Wisconsin they are deciding whether or not to incarcerate mothers who are on crack s they can control the conditions of the fetus.

Will orphan trains for poor children be next, or baby factories run by the state only allowing certain people to actually "raise children" The frightening thing is many people would agree with these civil rights abuses because they are theoretically done "in the best interests of the child."

Unfortunately the public is unaware how increasingly arbitrary the basis of "abuse" determined by Child Protective Services has become, and how equally impossible it is to meet their requirements for reunification, reminding me of the ancient fairytale of Rumplestiltskin who threatened to take the first born child of the princess unless she spun a roomful of straw into gold.

Two weeks later I was able to visit my little Noah - He was hoarse from crying for days on end, his body now reeked of adult male sweat ( his foster father's) his bright blue eyes were blood shot - He will eventually go to his grandfather's house and I will not see him again, he is my son and I loved him, cared for him and danced with him...

Remember when life was young, little suzy had so much fun...


 

by Assata Shakur

My name is Assata Shakur, and I am a 20th century
escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I
was left with no other choice than to flee from the
political repression, racism and violence that dominate
the US government's policy towards people of color.
I am an ex-political prisoner, and I have been living in
exile in Cuba since 1984.

I have been a political activist most of my life, and
although the U.S. government has done everything in
its power to criminalize me, I am not a criminal, nor
have I ever been one. In the 1960s, I participated in
various struggles: the black liberation movement, the
student rights movement, and the movement to end
the war in Vietnam. I joined the Black Panther Party.
By 1969 the Black Panther Party had become the
number one organization targeted by the FBI's
COINTELPRO program. Because the Black Panther
Party demanded the total liberation of black people, J.
Edgar Hoover called it "greatest threat to the internal
security of the country" and vowed to destroy it and
its leaders and activists.

In 1978, my case was one of many cases bought
before the United Nations Organization in a petition
filed by the National Conference of Black Lawyers,
the National Alliance Against Racist and Political
Repression, and the United Church of Christ
Commission for Racial Justice, exposing the
existence of political prisoners in the United States,
their political persecution, and the cruel and inhuman
treatment they receive in US prisons.

According to the report: The FBI and the New York
Police Department in particular, charged and accused
Assata Shakur of participating in attacks on law
enforcement personnel and widely circulated such
charges and accusations among police agencies and
units. The FBI and the NYPD further charged her as
being a leader of the Black Liberation Army which the
government and its respective agencies described as
an organization engaged in the shooting of police
officers. This description of the Black Liberation
Army and the accusation of Assata Shakur's
relationship to it was widely circulated by government
agents among police agencies and units. As a result of
these activities by the government, Ms. Shakur
became a hunted person; posters in police precincts
and banks described her as being involved in serious
criminal activities; she was highlighted on the FBI's
most wanted list; and to police at all levels she became
a 'shoot- to-kill' target."

I was falsely accused in six different "criminal cases"
and in all six of these cases I was eventually acquitted
or the charges were dismissed. The fact that I was
acquitted or that the charges were dismissed, did not
mean that I received justice in the courts, that was
certainly not the case. It only meant that the
"evidence" presented against me was so flimsy and
false that my innocence became evident. This political
persecution was part and parcel of the government's
policy of eliminating political opponents by charging
them with crimes and arresting them with no regard to
the factual basis of such charges.

On May 2, 1973 I, along with Zayd Malik Shakur
and Sundiata Acoli were stopped on the New Jersey
Turnpike, supposedly for a "faulty tail light."
Sundiata Acoli got out of the car to determine why we
were stopped. Zayd and I remained in the car. State
trooper Harper then came to the car, opened the door
and began to question us. Because we were black,
and riding in a car with Vermont license plates, he
claimed he became "suspicious." He then drew his
gun, pointed it at us, and told us to put our hands up
in the air, in front of us, where he could see them. I
complied and in a split second, there was a sound that
came from outside the car, there was a sudden
movement, and I was shot once with my arms held
up in the air, and then once again from the back. Zayd
Malik Shakur was later killed, trooper Werner
Foerster was killed, and even though trooper Harper
admitted that he shot and killed Zayd Malik Shakur,
under the New Jersey felony murder law, I was
charged with killing both Zayd Malik Shakur, who
was my closest friend and comrade, and charged in
the death of trooper Forester. Never in my life have I
felt such grief. Zayd had vowed to protect me, and to
help me to get to a safe place, and it was clear that he
had lost his life, trying to protect both me and
Sundiata. Although he was also unarmed, and the
gun that killed trooper Foerster was found under
Zayd's leg, Sundiata Acoli, who was captured later,
was also charged with both deaths. Neither Sundiata
Acoli nor I ever received a fair trial. We were both
convicted in the news media way before our trials.
No news media was ever permitted to interview us,
although the New Jersey police and the FBI fed
stories to the press on a daily basis. In 1977, I was
convicted by an all- white jury and sentenced to life
plus 33 years in prison. In 1979, fearing that I would
be murdered in prison, and knowing that I would
never receive any justice, I was liberated from prison,
aided by committed comrades who understood the
depths of the injustices in my case, and who were
also extremely fearful for my life.

The U.S. Senate's 1976 Church Commission report
on intelligence operations inside the USA, revealed
that "The FBI has attempted covertly to influence the
public's perception of persons and organizations by
disseminating derogatory information to the press,
either anonymously or through "friendly" news
contacts." This same policy is evidently still very
much in effect today.

On December 24, 1997, The New Jersey State called
a press conference to announce that New Jersey State
Police had written a letter to Pope John Paul II asking
him to intervene on their behalf and to aid in having
me extradited back to New Jersey prisons. The New
Jersey State Police refused to make their letter public.
Knowing that they had probably totally distort the
facts, and attempted to get the Pope to do the devils
work in the name of religion, I decided to write the
Pope to inform him about the reality of' "justice" for
black people in the State of New Jersey and in the
United States.

In January of 1998, during the pope's visit to Cuba, I
agreed to do an interview with NBC journalist Ralph
Penza around my letter to the Pope, about my
experiences in New Jersey court system, and about
the changes I saw in the United States and it's
treatment of Black people in the last 25 years. I
agreed to do this interview because I saw this secret
letter to the Pope as a vicious, vulgar, publicity
maneuver on the part of the New Jersey State Police,
and as a cynical attempt to manipulate Pope John Paul
II. I have lived in Cuba for many years, and was
completely out of touch with the sensationalist,
dishonest, nature of the establishment media today. It
is worse today than it was 30 years ago. After years
of being victimized by the "establishment" media it
was naive of me to hope that I might finally get the
opportunity to tell "my side of the story." Instead of
an interview with me, what took place was a "staged
media event" in three parts, full of distortions,
inaccuracies and outright lies. NBC purposely
misrepresented the facts. Not only did NBC spend
thousands of dollars promoting this "exclusive
interview series" on NBC, they also spent a great deal
of money advertising this "exclusive interview" on
black radio stations and also placed notices in local
newspapers.

DISTORTIONS AND LIES IN THE NBC SERIES

In an NBC interview Gov. Whitman was quoted as
saying that "this has nothing to do with race, this had
everything to do with crime." Either Gov. Whitman is
completely unfamiliar with the facts in my case, or
her sensitivity to racism and to the plight of black
people and other people of color in the United States
is at a sub-zero level. In 1973 the trial in Middlesex
County had to be stopped because of the
overwhelming racism expressed in the jury room.
The court was finally forced to rule that the entire jury
panel had been contaminated by racist comments like
"If she's black, she's guilty." In an obvious effort to
prevent us from being tried by "a jury of our peers the
New Jersey courts ordered that a jury be selected
from Morris County, New Jersey where only 2.2
percent of the population was black and 97.5 percent
of potential jurors were white. In a study done in
Morris County, one of the wealthiest counties in the
country, 92 percent of the registered voters said that
they were familiar with the case through the news
media, and 72 percent believed we were guilty based
on pretrial publicity. During the jury selction process
in Morris County, white supremacists from the
National Social White People's Party, wearing
Swastikas, demonstrated carrying signs reading
"SUPPORT WHITE POLICE." The trial was later
moved back to Middlesex County where 70 percent
thought I was guilty based on pretrial publicity I was
tried by an all-white jury, where the presumption of
innocence was not the criteria for jury selection.
Potential jurors were merely asked if they could "put
their prejudices aside, and "render a fair verdict." The
basic reality in the United States is that being black is
a crime and black people are always "suspects" and
an accusation is usually a conviction. Most white
people still think that being a "black militant" or a
"black revolutionary" is tantamount to being guilty of
some kind of crime. The current situation in New
Jersey's prisons, underlines the racism that dominates
the politics of the state of New Jersey, in particular
and in the U.S. as a whole. Although the population
of New Jersey is approximately 78 percent white,
more than 75 percent of New Jersey's prison
population is made up of blacks and Latinos. 80
percent of the women in Jersey prisons are people of
color. That may not seem like racism to Gov.
Whitman, but it reeks of of racism to us.

The NBC story implied that Governor Christie
Whitman raised the reward for my capture based on
my interview with NBC. The fact of the matter is that
she has been campaigning since she was elected into
office to double the reward for my capture. In 1994,
she appointed Col. Carl Williams who immediately
vowed to make my capture a priority. In 1995, Gov.
Whitman sought to "match a $25,000 departmental
appropriation sponsored by an "unidentified
legislator." I watched a tape of Gov. Whitman's
"testimony" in her interview with NBC. She gave a
very dramatic, exaggerated version of what
happened, but there is no evidence whatsoever to
support her claim that Trooper Foerster had "four
bullets in him at least, and then they got up and with
his own gun, fired two bullets into his head." She
claimed that she was writing Janet Reno for federal
assistance in my capture, based on what she saw in
the NBC interview. If this is the kind of
"information" that is being passed on to Janet Reno
and the Pope, it is clear that the facts have been totally
distorted. Whitman also claimed that my return to
prison should be a condition for "normalizing
relations with Cuba". How did I get so important that
my life can determine the foreign relations between
two governments? Anybody who knows anything
about New Jersey politics can be certain that her
motives are purely political. She, like Torrecelli and
several other opportunistic politicians in New Jersey
came to power, as part-time lobbyists for the Batistia
faction - soliciting votes from right wing Cubans.
They want to use my case as a barrier for normalizing
relations with Cuba, and as a pretext for maintaining
the immoral blockade against the Cuban people.

In what can only be called deliberate deception and
slander NBC aired a photograph of a woman with a
gun in her hand implying that the woman in the
photograph was me. I was not, in fact, the woman in
the photograph. The photograph was taken from a
highly publicized case where I was accused of bank
robbery. Not only did I voluntarily insist on
participating in a lineup, during which witnesses
selected another woman, but during the trial, several
witnesses, including the manager of the bank,
testified that the woman in that photograph was not
me. I was acquitted of that bank robbery. NBC aired
that photograph on at least 5 different occasions,
representing the woman in the photograph as me.
How is it possible, that the New Jersey State Police,
who claim to have a detective working full time on
my case, Governor of New Jersey Christine
Whitman, who claimed she reviewed all the
"evidence," or NBC, which has an extensive research
department, did not know that the photograph was
false?

It was a vile, fraudulent attempt to make me look guilty.
NBC deliberately misrepresented the truth. Even after
many people had called in, and there was massive fax, and
e-mail campaign protesting NBC's mutilation of the facts,
Ralph Penza and NBC continued to broadcast that
photograph, representing it as me. Not once have the New
Jersey State Police, Governor Christine Whitman, or NBC
come forth and stated that I was not the woman inthe
photograph, or that I had been acquitted of that charge.

Another major lie and distortion was that we had left
trooper Werner Foerster on the roadside to die. The truth is
that there was a major cover-up as to what happened on
May 2, 1973. Trooper Harper, the same man who shot me
with my arms raised in the air, testified that he returned to
the State Police Headquarters which was less than 200
yards away, "To seek aid." However, tape recordings and
police reports made on May 2, 1973 prove that not only
did Trooper Harper give several conflicting statements
about what happened on the turnpike, but he never once
mentioned the name of Werner Foerster, or the fact that the
incident took place right in front of the Trooper
Headquarters. In an effort to hide his tracks and cover his
guilt he said nothing whatsoever about Foerster to his
superiors or to his fellow officers.

In a clear attempt to discredit me, Col. Carl Williams of the
New Jersey State Police was allowed to give blow by blow
distortions of my interview. In my interview I stated that
on the night of May 2, 1973 I was shot with my arms in
the air, then shot again in the back. Williams stated "that is
absolutely false. Our records show that she reached in her
pocketbook, pulled out a nine millimeter weapon and
started firing." However, the claim that I reached into my
pocketbook and pulled out a gun, while inside the car was
even contested by trooper Harper. Although on three
official reports, and when he testified before the grand jury
he stated that he saw me take a gun out of my pocketbook,
he finally admitted under cross-examination that he never
saw me with my hands in a pocketbook, never saw me
with a weapon inside the car, and that he did not see me
shoot him.

The truth is that I was examined by 3 medical specialists:
(1) A Neurologist who testified that I was immediately
paralyzed immediately after the being shot. (2) A Surgeon
who testified that "It was absolutely anatomically necessary
that both arms be in the air for Mrs. Chesimard to receive
the wounds." The same surgeon also testified that the claim
by Trooper Harper that I had been crouching in a firing
position when I was shot was "totally anatomically
impossible." (3) A Pathologist who testified that "There is
no conceivable way that it [the bullet] could have traveled
over to hit the clavicle if her arm was down." he said "It
was impossible to have that trajectory" The prosecutors
presented no medical testimony whatsoever to refute the
above medical evidence.

No evidence whatsoever was ever presented that I had a
9-millimeter weapon, in fact New Jersey State Police
testified that the 9-millimeter weapon belonged to Zayd
Malik Shakur based on a holster fitting the weapon that
they was recovered from his body.

There were no fingerprints, or any other evidence
whatsoever that linked me to any guns or ammunition.

The results of the Neutron Activation test to determine
whether or not I had fired a weapon were negative.

Although Col. Williams refers to us as the "criminal
element" neither Zayd, or Sundiata Acoli or I were
criminals, we were political activists. I was a college
student until the police kicked down my door in an effort to
force me to "cooperate" with them and Sundiata Acoli was
a computer expert who had worked for NASA, before he
joined the Black Panther Party and was targeted by
COINTELPRO.

In an obvious maneuver to provoke sympathy for the
police, the NBC series juxtaposed my interview with the
weeping widow of Werner Foerster. While I can
sympathize with her grief, I believe that her appearance
was deliberately included to appeal to people's emotions,
to blur the facts, to make me look like a villain, and to
create the kind of lynch mob mentality that has historically
been associated with white women portrayed as victims of
black people. In essence the supposed interview with me
became a forum for the New State Police, Foerster's
widow, and the obviously hostile commentary of Ralph
Penza. The two initial programs together lasted 3.5
minutes - me - 59 seconds, the widow 50 seconds, the
state police 38 seconds, and Penza - 68 seconds. Not once
in the interview was I ever asked about Zayd, Sundiata or
their families. As the interview went on, it was painfully
evident that Ralph Penza would never see me as a human
being. Although I tried to talk about racism and about the
victims of government and police repression, it was clear
that he was totally uninterested.

I have stated publicly on various occasions that I was
ashamed of participating in my trial in New Jersey trial
because it was so racist, but I did testify. Even though I
was extremely limited by the judge, as to what I could
testfy about, I testified as clearly as I could about what
happened that night. After being almost fatally wounded I
managed to climb in the back seat of the car to get away
from the shooting. Sundiata drove the car five miles down
the road carried me into a grassy area because he was
afraid that the police would see the car parked on the side
of the road and just start shooting into it again. Yes, it was
five miles down the highway where I was captured,
dragged out of the car, stomped and then left on the
ground. Although I drifted in and out of consciousness I
remember clearly that both while I was lying on the
ground, and while I was in the ambulance, I kept hearing
the State troopers ask "is she dead yet?" Because of my
condition I have no independent recollection of how long I
was on the ground, or how long it was before the
ambulance was allowed to leave for the hospital, but in the
trial transcript trooper Harper stated that it was while he
was being questioned, some time after 2:00 am that a
detective told him that I had just been brought into the
hospital. I was the only live "suspect" in custody, and
prior to that time Harper, had never told anyone that a
woman had shot him.

As I watched Governor Whitman's interview the one thing
that struck me was her "outrage" at my joy about being a
grandmother, and my "quite nice life" as she put it here in
Cuba. While I love the Cuban people and the solidarity
they have shown me, the pain of being torn away from
everybody I love has been intense. I have never had the
opportunity to see or to hold my grandchild. If Gov.
Whitman thinks that my life has been so nice, that 50 years
of dealing with racism, poverty, persecution, brutality,
prison, underground, exile and blatant lies has been so
nice, then I'd be more than happy to let her walk in my
shoes for a while so she can get a taste of how it feels. I
am a proud black woman, and I'm not about to get on the
television and cry for Ralph Penza or any other Journalist,
but the way I have suffered in my lifetime, and the way my
people have suffered, only god can bear witness to.

Col. Williams of the New Jersey State Police stated "we
would do everything we could go get her off the island of
Cuba and if that includes kidnaping, we would do it." I
guess the theory is that if they could kidnap millions of
Africans from Africa 400 years ago, they should be able to
kidnap one African woman today. It is nothing but an
attempt to bring about the re-incarnation of the Fugitive
Slave Act. All I represent is just another slave that they
want to bring back to the plantation. Well, I might be a
slave, but I will go to my grave a rebellious slave. I am and
I feel like a maroon woman. I will never voluntarily accept
the condition of slavery, whether it's de-facto or ipso-
facto, official, or unofficial. In another recent interview,
Williams talked about asking the federal government to add
to the $50,000 reward for my capture. He also talked about
seeking "outside money, or something like that, a
benefactor, whatever." Now who is he looking to
"contribute" to that "cause"? The Ku Klux Klan, the Neo
Nazi Parties, the white militia organizations? But the plot
gets even thicker. He says that the money might lure
bounty hunters. "There are individuals out there, I guess
they call themselves 'soldiers of fortune' who might be
interested in doing something, in turning her over to us"
Well, in the old days they used to call them slave- catchers,
trackers, or patter-rollers, now they are called mercenaries.
Neither the governor nor the state police say one word
about "justice." They have no moral authority to do so.
The level of their moral and ethical bankruptcy is evident in
their eagerness to not only break the law and hire
hoodlums, all in the name of "law and order." But you
know what gets to me, what makes me truly indignant?
With the schools in Paterson, N.J. falling down, with
areas of Newark looking like a disaster area, with the crack
epidemic, with the wide-spread poverty and unemployment
in New Jersey, these depraved, decadent, would-be
slave-masters want federal funds to help put this "nigger
wench" back in her place. They call me the "most wanted
woman" in Amerika. I find that ironic. I've never felt very
"wanted" before. When it came to jobs, I was never the
"most wanted," when it came to "economic opportunities I
was never the "most wanted, when it came to decent
housing." It seems like the only time Black people are on
the "most wanted" list is when they want to put us in
prison.

But at this moment, I am not so concerned about myself.
Everybody has to die sometime, and all I want is to go
with dignity. I am more concerned about the growing
poverty, the growing despair that is rife in Amerika. I am
more concerned about our younger generations, who
represent our future. I am more concerned that one-third of
young black are either in prison or under the jurisdiction of
the "criminal in-justice system." I am more concerned
about the rise of the prison-industrial complex that is
turning our people into slaves again. I am more concerned
about the repression, the police brutality, violence, the
rising wave of racism that makes up the political landscape
of the U.S. today. Our young people deserve a future, and
I consider it the mandate of my ancestors to be part of the
struggle to insure that they have one. They have the right to
live free from political repression. The U.S. is becoming
more and more of a police state and that fact compels us to
fight against political repression. I urge you all, every
single person who reads this statement, to fight to free all
political prisoners. As the concentration camps in the U.S.
turn into death camps, I urge you to fight to abolish the
death penalty. I make a special, urgent appeal to you to
fight to save the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the only
political prisoner who is currently on death row.

It has been a long time since I have lived inside the United
States. But during my lifetime I have seen every prominent
black leader, politician or activist come under attack by the
establishment media. When African -Americans appear on
news programs they are usually talking about sports,
entertainment or they are in handcuffs. When we have a
protest they ridicule it, minimized it, or cut the numbers of
the people who attended in half. The news is big business
and it is owned operated by affluent white men.
Unfortunately, they shape the way that many people see
the world, and even the way people see themselves. Too
often black journalists, and other journalists of color mimic
their white counterparts. They often gear their reports to
reflect the foreign policies and the domestic policies of the
same people who are oppressing their people. In the
establishment media, the bombing and of murder of
thousands of innocent women and children in Libya or Iraq
or Panama is seen as "patriotic," while those who fight for
freedom, no matter where they are, are seen as "radicals,"
"extremists," or "terrorists."

Like most poor and oppressed people in the United States,
I do not have a voice. Black people, poor people in the
U.S. have no real freedom of speech, no real freedom of
expression and very little freedom of the press. The black
press and the progressive media has historically played an
essential role in the struggle for social justice. We need to
continue and to expand that tradition. We need to create
media outlets that help to educate our people and our
children, and not annihilate their minds. I am only one
woman. I own no TV stations, or Radio Stations or
Newspapers. But I feel that people need to be educated as
to what is going on, and to understand the connection
between the news media and the instruments of repression
in Amerika. All I have is my voice, my spirit and the will
to tell the truth. But I sincerely ask, those of you in the
Black media, those of you in the progressive media, those
of you who believe in truth & freedom, To publish this
statement and to let people know what is happening. We
have no voice, so you must be the voice of the voiceless.

Free all Political Prisoners, I send you Love and
Revolutionary Greetings From Cuba, One of the Largest,
Most Resistant and Most Courageous Palenques (Maroon
Camps) That has ever existed on the Face of this Planet.

Assata Shakur
Havana, Cuba

by PNN Staff

I never did like the algae green color of my shag carpet, but somehow today it seemed strangely comforting as the dusty acrylic fibers captured my over-flowing tears. I had just hung up the phone with a unit supervisor in Child Protective Services, (CPS) a branch of the juvenile dependency court, my fourth in a series of countless calls to get some information about my daughter...after several minutes of desperate pleading he hung up on me, accusing me of being "difficult..."

It was several weeks since my 14-year-old daughter came home at 4:30 am, I told her she couldn't go out again at night for the whole rest of the week. The next day after school she didn't come home at all- she stayed away for a 5 days, I found out that she ran away with a thirty two year old man - I resolved then and there that she wouldn't be able to go out at night at all...

For this decision, I was under investigation for "emotional abuse" from Child Protective Services, and today, six weeks later, my daughter is warehoused in a foster home where she is "AWOL" i.e., she stayed out all night, six or eight times, "they're not sure". CPS believes that the "care" my daughter receives in this foster home is preferable to the care she receives at home, and in fact they characterize her runaway status as "just being a normal teenager".

I called the worker to protest this situation and once again they terminated the call because I objected to their definition of "normal" I was told by my attorney once again that I was considered "difficult," which in CPS-speak is a very serious label. The two worst things you can be in this eerie Kafka-esque branch of bureaucracy are "difficult" or "threatening." The "Difficult" label can be attained by merely calling the CPS workers too many times, or leaving too many voice mail messages" in other words being upset, persistent, or proactive.

To achieve the "threatening" label one must have the wrong tone to one's voice, when calling and/or leaving voice mail, as well as calling too many times or leaving too many messages, In other words, being extremely upset or frustrated that you're getting the runaround when you're calling to find out what's happening with your child. They used all of this against me in the final court proceedings (as they do with all the parents who question their position).....

The last jurisdictional hearing;

"Your honor - the CPS workers on this case have found the parent to be difficult and often times threatening - she has left countless voice mail messages and sent an endless stream of letters to the department, due to these threatening actions we believe she is mentally unstable and paranoid, It is our recommendation that she undergo two psychiatric evaluations before she is allowed to receive reunification services, It is also our belief that her overly strict parenting style has put the child in conflict, forcing her to rebel even further, when in fact she was only trying to be a normal teenager, establishing her independence..."

In Los Angeles county, an extremely high percentage of children are in foster care, higher than any other county in the state. As well, low income families and families of color are the targets of most CPS investigations nationwide. Existent parental rights laws were recently changed, decreasing the amount of time Juvenile dependency workers must wait before terminating parental rights for children under five years old, it has changed from an 18 month waiting period to a mere six months, to enable a speedy and biased court trial, with irrevocable consequences for the parents.

There is an upcoming legislation "AB 804 which considers home schooling, "educational abuse." Finally, CPS and its workers have full immunity, this last fact feels very much like another branch of government's ability to stop and search due to "probable cause."

Our society's commitment to independence and individualism leads to the rampant separation of families, in pursuit of the so-called "normal" teen experience. Eager mental health professionals and/or unlicensed child welfare workers have been given the power by the juvenile court system to make pseudo-psychiatric diagnoses and permanently sever parental ties.

POOR magazine in collaboration with Family Rights and Dignity, Families with a Future and several other organizations locally and nationally are investigating the county foster care system, juvenile dependency court and Child Protective Services. We at POOR, also believe in the concept of the community helping to heal the "dysfunctional" family rather than throwing it away, such as some of the revolutionary ideas being tried in Minnesota with the Community support/ community policing programs.

As I held in my breath, my eyes focused on the now-tear stained carpet while I made one more call to my "worker" after the final Jurisdiction trial;

"Where is my daughter? Is she in school? Has she seen her therapist?" I asked in a broken whisper.

"Well, she is staying with a friend... Sometimes"

Who is the friend?

She's a 17-year-old girl - we don't know her or her phone number, but your daughter does call in to check once in a while.

"Then she's a runaway - why don't you have the police pick her up and take her back to the foster home?"

"Because she doesn't want to be in foster care - and there's nothing we can do...(click) "

EPILOGUE

Child Protective Services is a closed system with unlimited power and NO ACCOUNTABILITY.

One Child Protective Services worker said, "It doesn’t matter what complaint you make about me. I have been working here for 10 years." This worker had the responsibility of deciding who should have custody of a baby. The parent she chose put that baby in the oven and roasted her.

The worker was not fired.

Whatever decision Child Protective Services (CPS) makes the Juvenile Dependency (JD) Court accepts as scripture. There is no accountability in the JD Court of Law.

Refer to the PNN Court Watch column, case study #1.ANN. Despite all of the evidence from psychiatrists, teachers, social workers, etc. this minor was sent to a very young, inexperienced family member in Baltimore. Of course the placement failed.

Due to negligence and indifference on the part of the attorney for the minor, the arrogance of CPS and the JD Court, the minor failed every placement and was carelessly placed back in her old neighborhood. The woman with whom she was placed wanted custody as a way to seek revenge on her neighbor. Thus the minor was placed in volatile, dangerous situation with no supervision and was seen selling drugs to other minors.

The taxpayers’ money that has been wasted on this case and many, many others due to the planned negligence of CPS and JD Court and the lack of ACCOUNTABILITY is immense.

by PNN Staff

The yellow morning-ness flooded the middle of
E.19th street

"My friend and his family were evicted by the owner
of that building......for no reason.......now the
family is split up.......My friend and his family were
good tenants, they paid their rent on time, they didn't
cause any trouble.... "

A breathless silence consumed the air as i followed
the man's gaze to the large brown icon of familial
destruction; The 'Mediterraneun' at 610 east 19th
street - an apartment building owned by Richard
Thomas, one of Oaklands most notorious landlords,
well-known for his tendency to evict any and all
tenants who impede his progress to greater real estate
profit margins. The 19th street resident had
approached me as he watched us unload signs and
other accroutrements in support of The Just Cause
Eviction legislation rally that was about to begin.

"We're here to let folks know about the Just Cause
Initiative and bring attention to the soaring rates of
evictions in Oakland, and its impact on low income
communities throughout Oakland", James Vann,one
of the organizers was speaking to the crowd.

Tenant advocates, evicted residents and artists began
to flood the street. After a few of the tenants finished
speaking , reporters from ABC,NBC, and The
Oakland Tribune, began to drift away from the center
of the press conference towards a suited man with an
odd tilt to his head who was spitting out short
bullet-like sentences

"I'm not sure I believe what they are saying...."

His eyes were compressed into two small dots which were
wedged under his forehead. As he spoke he would swirl
his face and eyes upward. Parts of the sun-soaked sky
reflected off of his hair gel and blinded anyone who
attempted to follow his odd head movements.

" Oh are you a developer? "

" Well..no..", to this the head whipped around, up and
down all at once.

" So what do you believe? "

" Well, I can't say"

"Can I have your card and call you later?

" No well..ok ..no..... well....sure you can have my
card....Why don't you call me later"

"I have lived here at 610 E.19th street for 6 years I have
been. a great tenant , I always paid my rent on time, and I
have AIDS .....I was served with an eviction notice by
Richard Thomas.

As the tenant, Gene Ramos spoke and the almost-
developer shifted nervously between reporters, a terrifying
pit began to form in my intestine at the recollection of my
own eviction from Oakland a mere 8 months ago from a
building, where although riddled with severe inhabitability
violations, was still a home for my mother and I

"After Richard Thomas evicted us our family had to split
apart - my wife is living with her mother and I am living
with my family We were good tenants .now we have no
place to go to be together again. After relating his story,
former tenant, Richard Clemons walked away with his
family never to be housed on East . 19th street again

As the nausea in my stomach intensified and i began to lose
hope that the Just Cause organizers could collect 25,000
signatures for this crucial November ballot iniative..........
I realized.this was a job for El Mosquito, the poly-racial,
multi-lingual superhero, defender of justice, protector of
the oppressed.....