2000

by Barbara Harrison/University of Waikato

In the early 1980s, the Maori people of New Zealand began a dynamic language revitalization movement. The establishment of Maori immersion programs in state funded schools constituted one major aspect of the movement. This article describes the development of the Maori language immersion program in one New Zealand school for children ages 5 to 17. In 1985, the first immersion classroom of 5-year-olds was established. Immersion classrooms were added year by year as the first class of children progressed through primary school, junior high, and high school. The first class completed the final year of high school in 1997, and students entered polytechnics or university programs in 1998. The article briefly summarizes the historical background, cultural context, and program of the school. Indicators of school performance, including student achievement on national examinations, are considered. The findings are examined in terms of a selection of the research and theoretical literature. This case study has implications for researchers and educators who are working in indigenous language schooling and for those who are interested in theoretical explanations relating to the success or failure of minority students in school.

In 1984, New Zealand’s national Department of Education granted permission to a primary school in Huntly in the Waikato region of the country to establish Maori language immersion programs. When Rakaumanga School was re-designated as a bilingual school in July 1984, an outside observer might have had many reasons for pessimism about the future of the school.
Nearly all of the 180 children, ages 5 to 12, were Maori, and the socioeconomic level of the community would later be classified as “1” on a scale of 1-10, where 1 was the lowest level. The first language of nearly all the children was English. There were almost no teaching resources available in Maori and no formal Maori curricula. No funding was available specifically to support Maori language instruction. There were few courses at teacher training institutions for Maori teachers, and there were too few certified teachers fluent in Maori to meet the national demand. The school had no computers or staff who were competent in the use of computers, and the buildings and furnishings were overcrowded and in dire need of refurbishment.

No high school in the country offered a secondary program in Maori to meet the needs of students who might emerge from bilingual primary schools such as Rakaumanga. Parents 104 Bilingual Research Journal, 22:2, 3, & 4 Spring, Summer, & Fall 1998 and other members of the local community had limited roles in the management of the school through the School Committee and the PTA. By the end of 1997, however, the first group of six students had completed the 7th Form (the final year of high school) at Te Wharekura o Rakaumangamanga. (For convenience, the school is commonly referred to simply as “Rakaumanga”.) With the exception of English transition classes, these students had completed their entire school program in Maori immersion classrooms. All six entered polytechnics or university programs in 1998. Younger students at the school were demonstrating their achievements with good scores on the national School Certificate and Bursary examinations, and the Education Review Office had issued glowing reports based on their reviews.

The author visited the school in 1986/87 and completed a research paper using standard methods of participant observation, interviews, and reviews of historical and other documentary data (Harrison, 1987). She then became a permanent resident of the Waahi community, participating in several educational programs and countless community events over the following decade. She continued her association with Rakaumanga, serving as minutes secretary to the trustees and attending numerous meetings and events within the school. She utilized her extensive field notes, minutes, other documentation, and interviews to complete this article in consultation with members of the school staff and trustees.

Background

A Brief History of the Waikato Tribe Ogbu (1978) and Barrington (1991) provided international audiences with concise histories of contact between Europeans and Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. Their descriptions included general histories of Maori schooling in the 19th and 20th centuries. Each of them pointed out the similarities between the impact of colonization on Native Americans and on Maori in New Zealand. They concluded that Maori school underachievement was related to New Zealand’s history of conquest, colonization, and indigenous subordination in much the same way that similar factors have contributed to underachievement of involuntary minorities in the United States.

As a rule, Maori do not see themselves as a single ethnic group but rather as members of more than 60 distinct tribes. The generic term is commonly used when it is necessary or convenient to refer to the indigenous people as a whole, but each tribe sees its particular history as important.
The history of the Waikato tribe in the 19th and 20th centuries is of particular importance to this case study because Rakaumanga is located within the tribe’s territory, the majority of the school’s children are affiliated to this tribe, and specific traditional and historical conditions continue to influence the school and its program today. In 1858, tribes from around New Zealand selected the Waikato chief, Potatau Te Wherowhero, as King. The political and spiritual movement Indigenous Language Immersion 105 surrounding the King’s selection became known as the King Movement.

Te Wherowhero died in 1860 and was succeeded by his son Tawhiao who became the second Maori King. King Tawhiao’s descendant, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, was crowned as Queen in 1967, and she continued to serve as paramount leader of the King Movement at the time of this writing. British and settler armies invaded the Waikato region of New Zealand in 1863, driving the Maori King Tawhiao and his people into exile in a neighboring region of the country for more than 20 years.

Tawhiao and other members of the tribe returned to the region in the 1880s, but the government had confiscated 1.2 million acres of their land leaving only small parcels in Maori ownership. Because of the loss of its economic base, the tribe suffered terribly from poverty and disease through the remainder of the 19th century and through much of the 20th century. However, almost as soon as the wars of the 1860s ended, Tawhiao and his descendants began to negotiate with the government for the return of the tribe’s ancestral land (McCan, 1993). These negotiations continued into the 1990s and resulted in a major settlement in 1995. The remembrance of the land confiscation, the effects of the loss of the economic base, and the settlement negotiations were significant dimensions of the social and political context for Rakaumanga and its community during the development of the school’s immersion program.

The Community Huntly was a town of about 7,000 on the Waikato River, just south of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest metropolis. The town’s population was more than half Maori. The river divided the town into Huntly East and Huntly West. Rakaumanga was in Huntly West within walking distance of Waahi Marae and the Maori community surrounding the marae. (A marae can be briefly defined as a Maori community center.) Waahi was the home marae of the Maori Queen Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu and her immediate family, including her brother, Professor Sir Robert Mahuta.

As Director of the Centre for Maaori Studies and Research at the University of Waikato in nearby Hamilton, Professor Mahuta encouraged a number of researchers to investigate various aspects of the community of Waahi so a number of reports are available about the community (Centre for Maaori Studies and Research, 1984; Egan & Mahuta, 1983; Mahuta & Egan, 1981; Shear- Wood, 1982; Stokes, 1977, 1978). A brief summary is given here.
The main township of Huntly East developed in the late 19th century because of the coal mines in the vicinity and because the railroad and main highway from Auckland passed along the east side of the Waikato River through the township. Maori residence in the vicinity dates from pre-contact times but was interrupted when the tribe was driven out of the Waikato region by the British and settler army in 1863-64. King Tawhiao’s people returned to the area in the late 19th century, and Waahi and its community have served as an important center of the King Movement throughout the 20th century. The 106 Bilingual Research Journal, 22:2, 3, & 4 Spring, Summer, & Fall 1998 King Movement, its history, ideology, spirituality, ceremonies, and other events were central to life in the Waahi community.

During the 20th century, Maori in and around Huntly West became farmers, coal miners, slaughterhouse workers, laborers, and tradesmen. In the 1970s, the New Zealand government decided to build a massive coal-fired power station on the west side of the river, immediately adjacent to Waahi Marae. This necessitated the relocation of Rakaumanga from a position north of Waahi to one south of the marae. It also set in motion political activity by Professor Mahuta and the Waahi community, which led to compensation from the government, the rebuilding of the marae, and continuing programs of small-scale economic and political development for the community.

By the late 1980s, development activity began to focus on negotiating a settlement with the government over the longstanding grievance regarding the confiscation of more than 1 million acres of Waikato land in the 1860s. The negotiations formally began in 1989 and continued until 1995. Professor Mahuta led the negotiations as principal negotiator for the Tainui Maaori Trust Board. (The Trust Board was the legally recognized authority of the local Waikato tribe.) The negotiations seemed to be important to everyone in the community. They were a constant topic of discussion. In the early stages, the tribe had to fund its own legal costs and other activities associated with the negotiations so many members of the community participated in fund-raising activities that contributed to the negotiation process. On one occasion, a train called The Tainui Express was chartered to take several hundred tribal members to Wellington. On arrival in Wellington, passengers participated in an emotional and moving display of tribal loyalty and strength during a march on the Court of Appeals where a case relevant to the negotiations was being heard. The negotiations and surrounding political action contributed to an atmosphere where people believed that positive political action would have positive social consequences.

Schooling, Language Shift, and Revitalization As with other indigenous peoples in European colonies, the introduction of schooling to New Zealand Maori resulted in a shift away from the indigenous language toward the language of the majority society. By the 1980s, most Maori children in New Zealand were learning English as their first language. However, a major language revitalization movement began in the early 1980s. There have been a number of manifestations of this movement. A claim was lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal, the tribunal that considers claims related to the Treaty that was signed in 1840 between Maori chiefs and representatives of the British Crown. This claim was lodged early in 1985 stating that the Maori language was a taonga (treasure) and that the government should enact legislation recognizing Maori as an official language.

The Tribunal’s 1986 finding was unequivocally in favor of the claimants (Benton, 1987, p. 68). Shortly thereafter, a Maori Language Act was passed that established Maori as an official language of New Zealand; the Maori Indigenous Language Immersion 107 Language Commission was established with the stated purpose of undertaking activities to support the maintenance of the Maori language; and the government began to provide financial support for Maori language programs at several different levels of schooling.

These events led to increased demands for Maori speakers to be employed as teachers in schools, in government agencies, in radio and television broadcasting, and in other institutions. Another significant dimension of the revitalization movement was the establishment of Kohanga Reo, the early childhood Maori language “nests”: Te Kohanga Reo programs were initiated in the early 1980s. The language nests are Maori language immersion preschool programs for infants from birth to five years of age. They were initiated in response to the realization that the Maori language was disappearing because children were learning only English, but it was also an attempt to place both the authority and the responsibility for the preschools with local family groups or whanau. (Harrison, 1993, p. 157) By 1994, more than 13,000 Maori children were enrolled in 819 Kohanga Reo programs (Ministry of Education, 1995, p. 38).

Maori educators soon realized that children would quickly lose the Maori they had learned in Kohanga Reo when they entered English-speaking primary schools at age 5. As more and more children entered Kohanga Reo during the 1980s, the pressure to establish Maori language primary school programs intensified. It is important to note that the immersion program at Rakaumanga depended on children entering school at age 5 with a background in Maori language developed during attendance at Kohanga Reo. Without the six local Kohanga Reo sending children on to primary school at Rakaumanga, the immersion program could not have operated as it did. It is also important to note that Rakaumanga was not the only school in New Zealand seeking and gaining permission to teach in Maori. In 1994, the Ministry of Education recognized 28 schools as Kura Kauapa Maori (Maori philosophy schools), and some level of Maori medium instruction was taking place in 379 other schools (Ministry of Education, 1995, p. 40). Although Rakaumanga chose not to seek official status as a Kura Kaupapa, it was part of a general movement within the country toward the provision of Maori immersion or bilingual programs for those families who wanted to send their children to such programs.
Changes in teacher training affected the development of Maori immersion programs. Between 1986 and 1998, the number of Maori students at the University of Waikato increased from 417 to 2634. The number of Maori students in the Teachers College/School of Education grew from 87 to 572. Programs were established to teach the Maori language to Maori students, to train fluent Maori speakers as teachers, and to improve the fluency of certified Maori teachers. Some Maori-speaking teacher trainees were sent to Rakaumanga to complete a portion of their training under the supervision of Rakaumanga’s teachers. Although the University did not provide funding to 108 Bilingual Research Journal, 22:2, 3, & 4 Spring, Summer, & Fall 1998 Rakaumanga to cover the costs involved, this arrangement enhanced opportunities for the school to recruit and train teachers to suit the school’s needs.

It would have been much more difficult for Rakaumanga to establish their immersion program if the new programs to train Maori teachers had not been established at about the same time. Policy changes within the Ministry of Education improved the availability of teaching resources in Maori. A portion of the budget for resource development was set aside for development of resources in Maori including mathematics and science curricula. Although the commercial materials available were still extremely limited, those that were available helped to alleviate the persistent problem for teachers of preparing resources by hand. School Restructuring In 1988, the government issued Administering for Excellence: Effective Administration in Education (Taskforce to Review Education Administration, 1988), and in 1989 restructuring of the school system began in accordance with the recommendations in this report.
From Rakaumanga’s standpoint, the most important changes included the devolution of responsibility for recruiting staff, developing policies, and managing the school’s operating budget to a locally elected Board of Trustees. Basic funding for all schools would be issued on a per pupil basis with supplementary funding for schools in low socioeconomic communities and for Maori language instruction. If a school could attract more students, it would receive more funds for its operating budget. Also, the Education Review Office (ERO) was established to review and evaluate the performance of schools. The ERO included a Maori division charged with bringing a Maori perspective to reviewing activities of schools with a Maori philosophy.

The restructuring helped to establish a context where it was politically possible for Rakaumanga to develop a Maori immersion program, but persistent political activity by the school community with support from the Tainui Maaori Trust Board also contributed to change. Because there were three schools in different regions of the country—Rakaumanga in Huntly, Ruatoki in the rural Tuhoe region near the East Coast, and Hoani Waititi in South Auckland— seeking to expand their Maori immersion programs into the secondary level at about the same time and because of the national emphasis on language revitalization, it was difficult for the Ministry of Education to ignore the political pressure being generated by the Maori community in Huntly.

The School Program

A Community School The school program was anchored in the local community. The complementary roles of the school and community were recurrent themes in the school’s strategic plan, developed in 1993. The Waikato dialect of Maori Indigenous Language Immersion 109 was the dialect of instruction. The curriculum incorporated history, customs, values, and the natural environment of the local community. School activities were closely linked to activities of the King Movement and to activities at local marae. Parents, elders, and other community members were encouraged to visit classrooms, participate as volunteers, join the trustees, engage in fundraising, attend parent-teacher conferences, and chaperone school trips. Fluent Maori speakers from the local community were trained by the school to serve as substitute teachers for one day at a time.

The school’s multipurpose hall served as a community education center where members of the local community were enrolled in informal or university Maori language classes in the evenings. Members of the community were encouraged to enroll in teacher training programs and were expected to return to the school to teach when they had completed the training programs. The principal, Barna Heremia, described his relationship with the community: If I need something to be done, I can call on anyone from Taniwharau Club or Waahi or the other marae. I can ask for anything from a karakia (prayer) to unveil something to a plumber. When they want me or something from the school, they just need to ring. The parent community is more informed now because of the open door nature of the school. Parents have seen the success with the older students and that has added to their confidence.

From the very beginning, it was important for the school to be out in the community. The school cannot survive insulated within its boundaries. The school is there at every major gathering, either the school as a whole or myself. Although there were strong relationships between the school and community, the school made a concerted effort to remain neutral with respect to conflicts between factious in the community. There were a number of conflicts especailly regarding the land claims negotiations and settlement. However, Rakaumanga’s principal, staff, and trustees insisted that differences of opinion be respected and that those differences have minimum impact on the functioning of the school and the education of the children. School Organization In 1985, the first immersion classroom of new entrants (5-year-olds) was established.

There were eight children in the first immersion group but the number later increased to nine when one student transferred from an immersion school in the Auckland region. Class sizes for classes following the initial group have averaged about 28 students, so patterns tested with the small group were later put into practice with larger groups. There were approximately 180 students in the entire school in 1985. As the first group of children grew older, immersion classrooms were added year by year until the primary school reached full immersion in 1992. Then, the school opened new classes at the junior high school level and, in 1995, at the senior school level. Six of the nine children in the initial 1985 classroom completed secondary school in 1997 and 110 Bilingual Research Journal, 22:2, 3, & 4 Spring, Summer, & Fall 1998 continued into polytechnic or university programs. The second class (22 students) was in the final year of high school at the time of this writing. When the school was redesignated as a bilingual school in 1986, the goals of the school were given as follows:

• Acquire sufficient fluency in the Maaori language to assure the maintenance of that language over time.

• Acquire knowledge of and confidence in their heritage to enable them to successfully confront contemporary institutions within New Zealand.

• Acquire appropriate academic skills and knowledge to allow them to succeed at the secondary level and in later life experiences. (Harrison, 1987, p. 21)

In 1993, when a strategic plan was developed, the goals were restated in more expansive language and new goals were added; however, the essential elements did not change (Te Wharekura Kaupapa Maori a Rohe o Rakaumanga, 1993). The strategic plan also stated that the school would operate as one unit for students from age 5 (new entrants) through high school (Form 7). There would be one governing board, one principal, one staff, and one guiding philosophy. Curriculum Organization In 1993, the Ministry of Education established a national curriculum framework for all primary and secondary schools in the country (Ministry of Education, 1993).
The framework defined seven essential learning areas (languages, technology, mathematics, health and well-being, social sciences, art/performing arts, and science) and essential skills for all age levels from age 5 through age 17. The framework was broad enough to allow Rakaumanga to include local perspectives in the essential learning areas so that the Rakaumanga curriculum included local as well as mainstream content. The school made every effort to utilize resources from the local community and the local environment. However, the system of national examinations for students at ages 15 to 17 meant that Rakaumanga students had to take examinations comparable to those taken by other students in New Zealand so mainstream resources-such as a science laboratory–were essential for successful student performance. While the school’s primary focus was on instruction in Maori, it also aimed to promote fluency and literacy in English for its students.
The aim was for all children to become bicultural and bilingual so they could thrive in both Maori and in English environments. The assumption was that because children were living in a predominantly English-speaking country, they would learn English at home, in the community, and through the media. Children began formal instruction in English in English transition classes at about age 10 for 2 hours each week until they finished school. Indigenous Language Immersion 111 Pedagogy The group attending the retreat in 1993 agreed on the following principles of instruction (Te Wharekura Kaupapa Maori a Rohe o Rakaumanga, 1993, p. 4): We believe that the curriculum must be based on a Maori pedagogy.

An holistic approach must be taught through te reo Maori (the Maori language). Teaching must be whanau (family) based and must cater to the individual and to the collective group. The principal described the school’s teaching philosophy: Our program is not just language. It is also Maori knowledge and practices. You cannot teach the language without teaching those other two things and you can’t teach those other two things without the language. You can only understand the term by using it in the proper Maori context… Teacher expectations equal student achievement. All of the teachers believe that their kids can succeed. Teachers see failure as their fault.

Resources Teachers and parents created most of the Maori teaching resources by hand. The Learning Media division of the Ministry of Education provided some Maori teaching resources, but in some cases, teachers and parents created resources by pasting Maori text over the English text in books. The Ministry contracted Maori staff to develop science and mathematics curricula in Maori in the early 1990s. Staffing When Rakaumanga was designated as a “bilingual school” in the mid- 1980s, all staff of the school were Maori but only a small number were fluent speakers of the language. As non-Maori-speaking staff moved on to other positions, fluent Maori speakers were recruited to replace them.

By 1998, all teachers were fluent speakers. Two teachers had been raised in homes where Maori was the only language used. Four others had been raised in homes where Maori was the predominant language. The other teachers had learned Maori as a second language through university study. In 1998, there were 25 certified teachers in the school. Six support staff were paid and six support staff worked voluntarily five days a week, every week that the school was open. There were about six other parents who worked voluntarily a couple of days a week. Four of the teaching staff were members of the Waikato tribe, two were of European descent, and the others were Maori from other tribes. All of the support staff were from the local tribe. The principal described the motivation of the support staff: 112 Bilingual Research Journal, 22:2, 3, & 4 Spring, Summer, & Fall 1998 Over half are from the old Native School.
In the early years, we had to work really hard to change negative feelings about the school with parents. They were from a generation who went through real hard years when the school was suppressing anything Maori, but those same people are the ones that are here and are determined that their mokopuna (grandchildren) would have things they never received when they were here. The principal had a preference for first-or second-year teachers because they were often highly motivated, were eager to prove themselves, and would offer fresh ideas on teaching techniques. If they were carefully supported, he believed they could be productive. He said: With the exception of four teachers, everyone else began here as Year 1 teachers. All of them were part of those groups we helped train. They apply their own techniques about how a piece of learning should be conducted.

There is a curriculum but there is flexibility . . . We capitalize on the individual skills of teachers.

Assessment of School Performance

The Education Review Office The ERO was established in 1990 with the primary responsibility of monitoring and reviewing performance of schools. One section of the ERO was staffed by Maori speakers. This division had responsibility for monitoring performance of schools with Maori philosophies. When conducting a review, the ERO sent a team to visit the school for several days. The team examined written documentation, observed in classrooms, and collected information from staff, members of the trustees, and others. Since 1990, the ERO had conducted both a compliance review and an effectiveness review at Rakaumanga.

The 1997 Effectiveness Review Report summarized their findings: The Wharekura o Rakaumanga provides a high quality educational service to students, whanau and iwi (tribe). Education is centred on holistic needs of all, resulting in the development and achievement of relative outcomes for all. A wharekura community with a shared vision contributes to its effectiveness. The challenge to the wharekura is the retention of this united commitment from all concerned parties, to ensure the kaupapa of the wharekura continues to grow from strength to strength. (Education Review Office, 1997, p. 9) National Examinations In New Zealand, the major measures of academic achievement at the secondary level were scores on national examinations. Students ordinarily took School Indigenous Language Immersion 113 Certificate examinations at age 15 (Form 5).

Students needed to pass the examinations in three subject areas before they could progress to the next grade level. At age 16, students ordinarily took 6th Form Certificate examinations. In the 7th Form (the final year of secondary school), students took Bursary examinations, which determined their eligibility to enter polytechnic or university programs. Rakaumanga’s first concern was with national examinations in Maori. The school negotiated with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority to accelerate the examinations in Maori so that students took these exams when they were three years younger than other students. The school believed that because its students were in immersion programs, they would be ready to take the exams three years in advance of other New Zealand students.

By accelerating the Maori examinations, more contact time was available for study in other subjects in the 5th Form year and students would already have passed one School Certificate subject, thus alleviating some of the pressure associated with these examinations which were so crucial to the future of every New Zealand child. The first group of nine students took the School Certificate in Maori at age 12 in 1992. All nine students passed. Six of these students took the 6th Form Certificate Maori in 1993 and Bursary Maori in 1994. All six passed each of these exams.

The same pattern has prevailed for all students in classes following the first small group. All of the students who have taken the examinations at the accelerated times have passed all of the examinations in Maori. In addition, the Maori Language Commission assessed Maori language competence of the students. All 5th, 6th, and 7th Formers from Rakaumanga, Hoani Waititi, and Ruatoki schools participated in Kura Reo Wananga (intensive language courses) with the Language Commission. The chairperson of the commission stated that students had, by the 7th Form, achieved a level comparable with the third year of university study in Maori. Rakaumanga students also took examinations in English, math, science, geography, history, and graphic design at the 5th, 6th, and 7th Form levels. Students had achieved an 80% passing rate in all subject areas except English. The school negotiated with NZQA to offer all the examinations except English and art in Maori at the 5th, 6th, and 7th Form levels.

The process for doing this was very complicated, and, as the result of the complications, the school had sought and obtained accreditation to assess student progress in terms of a new system of “unit standards” in the future. School staff and parents were concerned about the low scores on the English examinations, and the school had requested that the Ministry of Education conduct research to assist them in identifying and solving problems with English achievement. Growth in Student Numbers Another easily calculated measure of success was the growing number of students who enrolled each year. No parent was compelled to send his or her child to Rakaumanga.
A primary school with a predominantly Maori population and a 114 Bilingual Research Journal, 22:2, 3, & 4 Spring, Summer, & Fall 1998 program taught in English was within walking distance of Rakaumanga. Huntly College, the town’s central secondary school with a program taught in English, was also within walking distance. But Rakaumanga’s enrollment expanded from approximately 180 to more than 300 between 1985 and 1997. There was no comparable expansion in the total population of Huntly during this period. Secondary School Retention Nationally, there had been a steady increase in the percentage of Maori students completing 7th Form from less than 5% in 1981 to about 30% 1994. The disparity between Maori and non-Maori persisted, however, with about 16% of Maori receiving a Seventh Form Award in 1994 compared with about 42% of non-Maori (Ministry of Education, 1995, p. 41).

The secondary program at Rakaumanga was too new and the numbers at Rakaumanga were too small for sensible statistical comparisons with other secondary schools in New Zealand. The school was pleased, though, with its retention rate. The principal described it as follows: All of the 22 students started as new entrants (age 5). The stability of the student population is really important, critical. This group was originally 28. Two moved because parents moved. Three girls became pregnant. We tried to have them back but it didn’t work. Four students in the 7th Form have been in special education needs programs since they were 5. They have learning disabilities. They are now 17, turning 18. Kids drop out when they start to struggle.

Those four would have dropped out if they had been at other schools. They are as much a part of Rakaumanga’s success as the ones at university. These four want to go into trades: joiner, engineer, interior decorator, and brick layer. Those four are the only ones who have opted for a career in trades. The other 18 will go on to university or polytechs. Those four are as much a success as anything else. The kids in that class, they love one another. The other 18 care about those four and they show they care. They are patient. For every success, everyone celebrates it.

Other Indicators In 1992, Clive Aspin conducted research at Rakaumanga and used his findings to complete his Master of Arts thesis for Victoria University (Aspin, 1994). Aspin found that students at Rakaumanga who had been taught mathematics in Maori did better on mathematics achievement tests at age 10 than students at a comparable school who had been taught in English. Perhaps the number of researchers who are attracted to a school can also be called a measure of success. Aspin (1994), Harrison (1987), Jefferies (McConnell & Jefferies, 1991), and Tuteao (1998) had completed research at the school. Haupai Puke and Anaru Vercoe were conducting doctoral studies at the school in 1998. Indigenous Language Immersion 115

Discussion

Rakaumanga’s principal was very careful about the claims that were made for the school. He said that Rakaumanga had demonstrated the following: Learning in your own language and learning in your own culture do not in any way disadvantage you in carrying out examinations. The Maori language immersion instruction for children ages 5 through 17 was the school’s most notable characteristic, but the school also provided a notable example of academic achievement for indigenous children.

In the Rakaumanga case, there were a number of factors operating in such a way as to hinder development of the program and success in school for Maori children (cf Ogbu, 1978; Barrington, 1991). These factors included a history of conquest and colonization, negative or unsuccessful experiences in school for several generations of Maori, loss of the indigenous language and the tribal economic base, low socioeconomic status, discrimination in employment, and high unemployment. At the same time, changes in policies and perceptions that occurred during the 1980s and 1990s can be identified that have been advantageous for the development of the immersion program. These changes included the following: Recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi.
The Treaty of Waitangi came to be recognized in the 1980s and 1990s as an agreement for Maori and non-Maori to act in a partnership relationship in all aspects of life. Barrington noted the close relationship between recognition of the Treaty and the educational rights of Maori: Much greater prominence is also now being given to the Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840 between the crown and Maori tribes as a basis for the resolution of land claims and as a symbol of the move for greater acknowledgment of the rights of the Maori partner in all areas of New Zealand life including schooling. (Barrington, 1991, p. 309) Recent recognition of the partnership relationships inherent in the Treaty has led to the establishment of bicultural policies in government agencies, universities, and other institutions.

These policies resulted in improved employment prospects for Maori, especially Maori who were fluent in the language, and these policies made it easier for Maori to survive in mainstream institutions. Bicultural policies also resulted in increased program offerings aimed at Maori students at all levels of the educational system, including polytechnics and universities. No one would claim that these policies have solved all the problems associated with colonialism in New Zealand, but most would agree that the policies represented an improvement over assimilationist or integrationist policies of the past. 116 Bilingual Research Journal, 22:2, 3, & 4 Spring, Summer, & Fall 1998 Maori Language Policy An on-going language revitalization movement in combination with political action and increased recognition of the Treaty contributed to the recognition of Maori as an official language of New Zealand.
The national language policy supported the allocation of government funding for Kohanga Reo and other Maori language education programs. Management and Governance Factors in Education The restructuring of the education system, which began in 1989, established local boards of trustees with authority for formulating policies, hiring staff, and managing the operating budget. Local communities throughout the country—mainstream as well as Maori—were empowered.

The Ministry of Education and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority retained authority for many decisions, but local boards of trustees gained authority for decisions that they hadn’t previously enjoyed. The national system of education in New Zealand provided stable funding for all schools based on a per pupil basis. Funding for Rakaumanga increased each year as the student population increased. The school received supplementary funding because of the low socioeconomic status of its student population, and a small amount of funding per pupil to support Maori language instruction. Additional funding supported Maori language instruction by providing positions such as the Resource Teacher of Maori. Teacher Training

The system for training teachers in New Zealand facilitated the entry of Maori teachers into classrooms at Rakaumanga. All teacher trainees spent three years taking courses in teacher training institutions. These courses were primarily on campus, but trainees spent a few weeks in each of the three years working in schools under the supervision of experienced teachers. In the fourth and fifth years of training, teacher trainees worked full-time in schools under the supervision of experienced teachers with additional supervision from staff of the teacher training institution. The trainees received a full-time salary for the fourth and fifth years of training. This system made it possible for Maori teachers to enter classrooms at Rakaumanga on a short-term basis during the first three years of their training. Then, at the beginning of the fourth year, they could become full-time salaried staff of Rakaumanga while they completed their training. New programs specifically for Maori teachers had been established at the universities of Waikato and Auckland as well as at other institutions in the 1980s and 1990s.

The New Zealand primary school principal was viewed as a headmaster rather than as an administrator or manager of the school. Individuals were appointed the position of principal because they were outstanding teachers. They did not have to have formal educational qualifications beyond their Indigenous Language Immersion 117 teaching certification, but, for Rakaumanga, the principal did have to be a fluent speaker of Maori. This system facilitated the recruitment of someone who was Maori for the position of principal. (Fortunately, the principal at Rakaumanga was able to acquire the necessary managerial expertise through on the job experience and training.) Community Factors There were a number of significant factors in the particular community that were indirectly advantageous to the school. There was strong leadership in support of education from Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu and Professor Sir Robert Mahuta. Dame Te Ata was a trustee for the national Te Kohanga Reo Trust, and she supported the development of local Kohanga Reo and other language instruction programs.

The land claim settlement negotiations led by Robert Mahuta gave hope to the local tribal community for an improved economic situation and greater autonomy in tribal affairs. The settlement itself provided funding for polytechnic and university scholarships for tribal members and for Kohanga Reo programs in the tribal area. From the early 1990s, Te Arikinui and other highly ranked community members presented the scholarships and educational grants at the annual Coronation celebrations in May. Other community leaders and parents were deeply committed to the establishment of Kohanga Reo and to the immersion program at Rakaumanga. The six Kohanga Reo in the local area were essential in preparing children to enter an immersion program at Rakaumanga. A stable student population at the school was the result of commitment on the part of parents to the goals of the school.

The strong extended family ties within the local Maori community and the national benefit system also contributed to the stability of the student population. Individual Leadership The development of the immersion program at Rakaumanga might never have happened without the leadership of a small group of teachers and parents. This small group was committed to the maintenance and revitalization of the Maori language and to the establishment of a school program that would allow their children to study in Maori. For nearly two decades, this small group was involved in political action and negotiations with the Ministry of Education, which resulted in the development of the school. The principal gave this description: In the early period people would lay their bodies down. A staunch, small number of committed people saw the vision. The biggest number in the community were uncertain or skeptical. Now that has shifted. The bulk of the people share in the realization. The small group are facilitators now. There has been a lessening of fanaticism.

This small group had clearly stated goals and strong individual leadership. Without the leadership of Barna Heremia, a teacher in the school since the 118 Bilingual Research Journal, 22:2, 3, & 4 Spring, Summer, & Fall 1998 1970s and principal since 1990, the program might never have developed. The Chairperson of the Trustees, Taitimu Maipi, was also the Chairperson of the School Committee in the 1980s. Several members of the trustees had been staunch supporters of the immersion program since its establishment. Two teachers, Wiha Malcolm and Shirley Rarere, had been staff of the school since its redesignation as a bilingual school in 1984.

Related Literature

Indigenous Language Schooling The Rakaumanga case has shown that a national language policy can contribute to the maintenance and revitalization of an indigenous language. Benton pointed out that, “The ad hoc nature of language policy formulation in New Zealand has been a feature of the national political culture since the country’s establishment.” However, in recent decades, there has been “. . . the acceptance of the special status of Maori, aided no doubt by perceptions of its symbolic value to a nation in search of a unique identity, and indeed of its potential economic values, but grounded in legal obligations reinforced by politically astute and determined activism” (Benton, 1996, p. 95). The immersion program at Rakaumanga could not have developed as it did without the national Maori language policy.

It was taken for granted in New Zealand at the time of this study that Maori people had the basic human right to use, maintain, and revitalize their traditional language. While the Rakaumanga community had to undertake substantial political action in order to convince the Ministry of Education that they could also use Maori effectively as a medium of instruction for children, New Zealand’s language policy contributed to their ability to win that argument.
Unfortunately, there are no comparable language policies in North America to support the right of indigenous people to develop programs in their own languages. Burnaby described the fragmented schooling situation and its impact on a potential language policy for Aboriginal people in Canada: “The essential characteristic of this picture is that the administration of Aboriginal education is so fragmented geographically and administratively that coordination and cooperation on policy is virtually impossible” (Burnaby, 1996, p. 212). In the United States, the Indian Nations at Risk Task Force recommended in 1992 that “. . . all schools serving Native students will provide opportunities for students to maintain and develop their tribal languages . . .” (Ricento, 1996, p. 144).

However, there are multiple factors that prevent implementation of this recommendation. Holm and Holm (1995, p. 150) reported that they were unable to extend instructional programs in Navajo beyond the fifth grade, and California recently passed an initiative to require “that all children be placed in English language classrooms” (Section 305 of the Initiative Statute: English Language Education for Children in Public Schools). Indigenous Language Immersion 119 The Rakaumanga case suggests that policies should be established which would give Native American communities the flexibility to institute programs of community choice, including programs in Native American languages where such programs are desired. The Rakaumanga case reinforces the importance of programs to prepare indigenous people as teachers and principals for indigenous language schools.

Statements regarding the contribution of indigenous teachers to successful schooling for indigenous children appear repeatedly in the literature (Begay et. al, 1995; Holm & Holm, 1995; Lipka & Ilutsik, 1995). It is clear that the Rakaumanga immersion program could not have operated without the Maori teachers who constituted the majority of its staff, and the school could not have recruited sufficient numbers of Maori teachers without the programs at the University of Waikato designed for Maori teachers. The Rakaumanga case points to the advantages of stable per pupil funding, as opposed to the fluctuating patterns resulting from various political shifts in the United States which caused such disruption at Rough Rock (McCarty, 1989). The Rakaumanga case also reinforces the importance of school structures that empower local communities, especially local communities of indigenous people. Tuteao (1998), a member of the local Waikato tribe, identified empowerment as a major component of the ethos of the school, from the early years of the 20th century when the school was a Native School to the present day. Cummins (1997) and others have also written about the importance of self-determination among minority groups in North America.

New Zealand’s school restructuring in 1989 empowered the Rakaumanga community and facilitated the opportunity for them to develop a program that “worked.” Minorities and School Achievement The Rakaumanga case sheds some light on another strand of research literature focusing on the relationship between involuntary or subordinate minorities and school achievement. In 1978, Ogbu proposed a theoretical explanation for the success or failure of minority students in school. One of the cases he used to support his theory was the case of Maori in New Zealand. In 1991, Barrington developed a more detailed description of the history of relationships between European settlers and Maori, and the history of Maori schooling. Barrington’s description supported Ogbu’s view that Maori school underachievement could be attributed, at least in part, to a history of conquest, colonization, and subordination. Barrington added that school policy changes in recent years had the potential for improving Maori schooling, and the Rakaumanga case has shown that Barrington’s optimism was justified.

The grassroots movements to reclaim the right to teach in Maori which he described have had positive outcomes, at least in the one case described here. 120 Bilingual Research Journal, 22:2, 3, & 4 Spring, Summer, & Fall 1998 Gibson (1991) pointed out that minority groups are dynamic in their adaptations. The cultural models and educational strategies of minority communities are in a constant process of renegotiation. Mobility strategies change as the societal context changes and as the minority group’s situation within a given society itself changes… Educational institutions have become more responsive to the needs of minorities because the minorities themselves have refused to accept the status quo and have demanded that the system uphold their rights and address their needs. (Gibson, 1991, pp. 370-71) Recent publications by Ogbu and Simon also emphasize the dynamics within minority communities and in the relationships between minorities and the larger societies: “Structural barriers and school factors affect minority school performance; however, minorities are also autonomous human beings who actively interpret and respond to their situation.

Minorities are not helpless victims” (Ogbu and Simons, 1998, p. 158). We see from the New Zealand case in general (Barrington, 1991) and the Rakaumanga case in particular that the relationship between Maori and the majority society has been a dynamic relationship with rapid change occurring on all sides in the past 15 years. Indigenous people can change but so can the majority societies and their institutions. In spite of a history of colonization and subordination, interaction between the development of appropriate policies, funding, and “beliefs about or interpretations of schooling” (Ogbu and Simon, 1998, p. 163) in one local community led to improvement in schooling for the

Note: My thanks to Harry F. Wolcott, who visited Rakaumanga in November 1997 and then suggested that this article be prepared for publication. Thanks to Barna Heremia, Taitimu Maipi, and an anonymous reviewer who offered helpful comments on earlier versions of the paper.

by Gloria Esteva/PNN Voces de Inmigrantes en Resistencia

Nota de la Redaccion: Rosalin, quien es mencionada en esta carta de Gloria es una de las estudiantes de la pobreza y aparece en el documental: La redencion de Amir Soltani

Editors Note: The Rosalin mentioned in this letter by Gloria is one of the poverty scholars featured in the documentary: Redemption by Amir Soltani

for English Scroll Down

Estimada Rosalin,

Como te dije, hoy me tomo el tiempo para escribirte esta carta, la cual va llena de Amor a un ser tan especial y sobre todo lleno de fortaleza como tu.

Fue un honor para mi conocer tus luchas y sobre todo tu maravillosa interes para continuar aqui viva, sin salud, sin dinero, sin casa. Pero ahora estas conmigo y todos los que tenemos amor en nuestro ser. Quiero que sepas que la vida ha sido dificil para mi tambien, pero escucharte me hizo reconocer que somos muy valiosas y tenemos la obligacion amorosa de denunciar que este sistema y sus companias nos estan sacando tanta riqueza de nuestras vidas. Tambien decirle a este pueblo norteamericano que aun estan a tiempo de reconocer la hipocresia, de los que por un lado hablan de lo que le falta a la ley y por otro se les ingenian para robarle al mas necesitado- que aun enfermo trabaja-el producto de su trabajo.

Digo pueblo, porque no es lo mismo pueblo que gobernantes o empresas; creo que el pueblo aun conserva bondad y que al enterarse de lo que esta pasando con los mas pobres apoyan a los mas necesitados y sobre todo que conozca a los seres tan especiales y de tanta calidad humana como tu, que hacen de los documentales preciosas obras que proyectan la verdadera esencia de la humanidad. Tu existencia nos fortalece gracias por tu bello ejemplo, por tu fuerza y conviccion y sobre todo por tu dignidad acerca del trabajo. Eres un ser que a pesar de los grandes retos de la sobre vivencia tiene la brillantes del diamante y la solides del mismo. Yo se que no hay un domicilio donde dirigirte esta carta por eso la voy ha enviar alguien que te va a buscar y ademas por medio de mi periodico porque deseo que todos sepan que en este planeta tierra existen seres que aun que estan en la calle tienen mucha de esa dignidad humana que muchos hemos perdido por estar comodos o por ambiciosos. Es dificil no cometer ilegalidades cuando se tiene lo necesario.

Yo soy emigrante llegue hace ocho anos y soy reportera de prensa pobre, aqui en San Francisco. Me gusta participar aqui porque siempre estamos cerca de la comunidad mas pobre y tenemos la oportunidad de reconocer nuestra fuerza entre tantos quienes siguen usando su energia para construir, con su ejemplo, desde donde pareciera que no se puede.

Esta es mi primera carta y espero que pueda saber de ti y por medio de la persona que te la entregue me contestes o por lo menos saber que sigues presente. Yo tratare de escribir otras mas. Que Dios te de siempre mucho amor y este amor siga acompanandote por donde tu camines ya que tu huella va dejando una luz que solo alcanzan a verla los que aun son justos

Con Amor y respeto su amiga
Gloria Esteva.

Ingles Sigue

Dear Rosalin,

As I mentioned to you today, I am taking the time to write you this letter, a letter filled with love for a woman as special and as strong as you are.

It was an honor to hear about your struggles and most of all your incredible desire to continue being here and alive without health, money, or a home. But now, you are with me and all of us who have love in our beings. I want you to know that life has been difficult for me as well but hearing you made me recognize that we are strong and that we have the loving obligation to condemn this system who with its big companies and corporations have taken the richness out of our lives. We have to show the American people that there is still time to recognize the hypocrisy of those, who on one side talk about the weakness of the law and on the other side manipulate the law to take advantage of the most needy, who even sick work hard, taking from them the little they earn for their hard work.

I say the people because the people unlike governments and corporations maintain their humanity and sympathy and once they realize what is happening to these humble peoples, they will support them and get to know such good and special people as you. People who make with these documentaries beautiful creations that show the true essence of humanity, your existence makes us strong.

Thanks to your beautiful example, to your strength and your conviction, and above all your dignity concerning your work. You are a person that despite great challenges has the brilliance and strength of a diamond. I know that there is not an address where I can mail this letter, that is why I am going to send it to someone who will find you. I am also sending it by means of my newspaper because I want everyone to know that on this planet exists people like you that even while living on the street they have the human dignity that many of us have lost because of self-security, comfort, or ambition. It is easy to not break the law when one has what one needs.

I am an immigrant; I arrived 8 years ago and am now a reporter for POOR Magazine here in San Francisco. I like to work here because we are close to the poorest communities and have the opportunity to recognize myself and others among so many that continue to use their energy to contribute with their example in a place where it does not seem possible.

This is my first letter and I hope to hear more from you and you can get in touch with me or at least let me know that you are still here through the person that brings you this letter. I will try to write you another letter as well. May God always provide you with lots of love and that this love stays with you wherever you go since your footprint continues to leave a light that only the just can see.

With love and respect,
Your friend,
Gloria Esteva

by Picture the Homeless

Nine people were arrested this afternoon by the New York Police Department after occupying a vacant lot for over six hours to press their demand that the city use vacant property to house the homeless.

The protestors want the city to help turn so-called warehoused property into livable homes for low-income and homeless New Yorkers. A survey conducted in 2006 by the advocacy group Picture the Homeless found that 24,000 potential apartments could come out of warehoused property, enough to house the city’s homeless population.

This morning, blue tents were erected on a vacant lot at 115th St. between Madison and Fifth Avenues to create makeshift dwellings for the homeless, as dozens of housing advocates created an festive atmosphere with food, music, art and defiant chants.

“They say gentrify, we say occupy,” the crowd shouted.

Lorenzo Diggs, a member of the Housing Not Warehousing Coalition, led the crowd with a chant of “we are United States citizens, our taxes are our rent, to get off the streets, we’ll fill these lots with tents.”

The action was organized by Picture the Homeless and the Housing Not Warehousing Coalition. A similar protest outside a vacant building in East Harlem was held last March.

“We’re liberating this space for our communities,” thundered Picture the Homeless’ Rob Robinson during a press conference in the afternoon. Robinson was one of those arrested.

At the protest’s peak, an estimated 100 people occupied the vacant lot. Groups on hand to show solidarity included Domestic Workers United and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.

Picture the Homeless organizer Frank Morales, who was also arrested, said that this particular spot was chosen because JP Morgan Chase, a bank that the federal government bailed out with $25 billion late last year, is involved with the property. JP Morgan Chase is listed as one of two “parties” to the property by the New York City Department of Finance’s City Register, along with Caparra La Nueva Associates, L.P. The bank, which recently posted over $2 billion in profits, paid back the bailout money in June.

“The government and banks have failed miserably. Homeless people know what the problems are, and we have ideas for the solutions. Since they won’t listen, the time is now for people to take action,” said Picture the Homeless member Sophia Bryant. “We’re going to hold this and defend this as long as possible.”

A “homeless fashion show” was held earlier in the afternoon before the arrests were made.

The police seemed to know of the action in advance, as around 10 stood at the Union Square meeting place, one of two, and followed activists onto the subway. More than two dozen officers were on hand at the protest site. At around 5:30 p.m., officers moved in on the occupied lot and made the arrests, according to Tej Nagaraja, Picture the Homeless’ press person.

As housing activists awaited imminent arrest, supporters were rallying and chanting outside the warehoused lot on a sidewalk.

“It is manifestly unjust that trillions of dollars are being handed to banks such as Chase while funds are drying up for affordable housing,” said Nathan Nessen, executive director for Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.

Councilmembers Tony Avella and Melissa Mark-Viverito are drafting legislation that would target warehoused property to convert units into housing for low-income and homeless people. (To read more about warehousing and the legislation, see “Unlocking the Apartment ‘Warehouse’“).

“I can imagine the frustration by Picture the Homeless and other housing groups throughout the entire city that we’re allowing the real estate industry to control the agenda, to warehouse whether it’s vacant properties or legitimate habitable apartments, all for the sake of greed,” said Avella, a mayoral candidate. “Meanwhile, people are going homeless, people can’t afford their rent, so people are going to start taking action into their own hands, and I can’t blame them.”

by Tony Robles/PNN

My Uncle Anthony has this expression that goes, “You might be my color but you ain’t my kind”. He is a street minister who says he’s workin’ for the lord. “The pay might be low but the benefits are out of this world” he says.

You might be my color but…

Working as a security guard, I’ve worked with many people of color. Each has their own personality, their own story, their own trip. I’ve met folks who act like cops and others who have dreamed, or have let their dream slip away. I have met people who have shared their last bit of food with me and those who have shared nothing.

I work at an apartment complex with several other guards. We handle noise complaints; make sure no one’s drinking alcohol in the pool etc.

Surrounding the apartment complex are clusters of trees. Some trees stand straight while others stand at an angle, having withstood the wind and time. At night the moon can be seen peeking through the trees. I look up as the moon announces itself as it did to my elders and ancestors an ocean away in a place whose songs and poetry travel though my veins, nourishing my spirit. In that moment my uniform disappears, I am brown, a man whose bloodline knows only resistance and love and poetry.

Then, a fellow guard approaches me, shows me a slingshot he bought. He is brown like me. He hands me the slingshot and I ask him what he uses it for. “I use it to shoot those birds” he says, “Those black ones”. I ask him if he’s referring to ravens and he answers in the affirmative.

I hand the slingshot back. I look at the moon and the trees that bend. Who would shoot such beautiful birds, those carriers of messages of the ancestors, I ask myself. I hear my uncle’s voice:

You might be my color but…

by Angel Garcia/PNN Migrant and Poverty Scholar

Scroll Down for English

El plan del Gobernador para “Salvar a California” no tiene ninguna razón valida. El necesita tener corazón y compasión para poder solucionar los problemas del presupuesto y la economía del estado de California. Hay muchas otras maneras de solucionar el problema y dejar el estado en una situación mejor. Yo no estoy de acuerdo con el Gobernador cuando lo oigo decir que va atacar a las personas más vulnerables—las mujeres, niños, ancianos, y discapacitados. Estas comunidades necesitan todos los servicios y recursos que el Gobernador planea cortar. Alguno de estos programas son SSI, Welfare, Medi-Cal, y todos los programas dedicados a los ancianos. Toda la gente depende en estos programas para comer, pagar la renta, cuidar a sus familias y a si mismos. Si todos estos servicios son cortados, muchos de los ancianos y gente discapacitados van a pasar más tiempo encerados en sus casas. También perderían sus servicios de apoyo en casa, que proveía 8 horas de apoyo en casa; recientemente el Gobernador corto las horas a 4 horas durante el día. Mucha de esta gente, se mantienen en silla de rueda y necesitan de apoyo para bañarse, hacer la limpieza, lavar, y/o cocinar. Yo me pregunto, adonde esta la compasión del Gobernador de California. Yo pienso que no es justo que se trate de esta manera a nuestros ancianos, niños, y gente discapacitada. Si solo se les ofrece 4 horas de apoyo, ell@s no tendrán las mismas libertades, y derechos de vivir libremente, porque sus servicios serian limitados debido a los cortes. También, estarían en riesgo de tener un accidente en sus casas. Los cortes del presupuesto están matando nuestras comunidades y nuestros niños. Nuestros niños son nuestro futuro; son los líderes de las próximas generaciones. El Gobernador está limitando las posibilidades del futuro de nuestra nación. No puedo creer que este país sea el más grande y rico en el mundo, y se protege más a las plantas y animales, que a su propia gente.

Engles Sigue

The plan of the Governor to save California does not make any sense. He needs  to have a heart and some consience about how he wants to deal with the budget problems of the State of  California. There are many other ways to deal with the issue and to get the state back to the way it was. I do not agree with the Govenor when I  hear him say he is going to start targeting  the most vulnerable people of  the state of  california—our elders, women, children and  disabled people. These communities need all the services and   programs  that this man is planning to cut. Some of  these  services and programs are SSI, welfare, medical and all the senior  programs that our seniors need  during their  daily activities. All these people depend on all the programs to eat, pay rent and take care of  their families and themselves.

If all these services get cut, most seniors and disabled people are going to spend more time at home. They would also lose their in-home support  services, which consists of 8 hours of in-home support; the governor of California recently cut it  to 4  hours a day. Most of the people that use  these services are in wheel chairs and they need   help  to take showers, get in the bath or do the laundry and their cooking. I ask myself where is the compassion of the Governor of California.

I think it’s unfair to do this to the elderly, children and disabled because if they only get their services cut to 4 hours they will not have the same liberties, because their support is limited because of the budget  cuts. They are at risk of having a home accident among other things.

These budget cuts are killing our comunities and our children. Our children are our future; they are the upcoming leaders of our next generation. The govenor is limiting the future possibilities of our nation. I cannot believe that this is the biggest and greatest nation in the world and they care and protect their animals and  plants more than our human beings.

by Tony Robles/PNN

It’s one of the most beautiful sounds, maybe the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard. You go through life working jobs and navigating through the nonsense and the real and sometimes the lines separating them are so blurred that you can’t tell one from the other. A great writer once said, “Men have ways of showing their petty biases and prejudices”. One doesn’t have to be a great writer to draw that conclusion.

I sit at work (and occasionally stand) and I hear the other officers (I work as a security guard) talk about black people—mostly black men. They say, I saw this black guy the other day and he did this and that and that and this. I listen to how the words black guy roll off their tongues and onto the floor. I watch the way they spit on the ground.

This one fellow with whom I share a common employer talked about how a black guy came into the supermarket that he’s hired to guard…just the other day…and got offended and belligerent when asked to produce his receipt. I asked the guy if the customers at Safeway in the Marina are asked to produce their receipts. He didn’t have an answer. I could tell that it got him thinking but in the time it took to bat the lash on one’s eye, it was back to “I saw this black guy and he…”

I listen and know that black guy is code for nigger. I figured that my co-worker would know this, being ½-Raza. But somewhere along the way this got lost; somehow the dirt from the hands of his ancestors that carved life into the faces of mountains, that planted and fed a civilization disappeared in the wind that set the colonizer’s boats sail. Towards the end of our shift he offered to buy me a tall café mocha (and showing much class, asked me if I preferred white or regular mocha).

When I was growing up, there were no black guys, only brothers. My father was Filipino and the blood in his veins was black, like soy sauce rivers that the Issei and Nisei saw on their way to the concentration camps. I used to hear the laughter of the brothers in my dad’s room listening to records—Miles, Smokey, The Temps—and drinking Ripple. I would sit and listen behind that old fashioned wooden door with the dark brown shellac that separated my father’s room from mine, and the laughter of black men would hit the walls and shatter the glass and rise like the tide on the most beautiful Sunday morning. It was life, it was the flow, it was love and tragedy and music and poetry and everything I ever needed to know—the sound of their laughter.

And I see brothers who are suffering, been through it all. Ask them for their receipt? They’ve paid with their lives, their hearts, their tears many times over. I say, ask them for their laughter. Ask them to tell a story that will bring the laughter from their mouths and the sun and the world to its knees. Give me their laughter. Give me the beautiful laughter of black men

by Bruce Allison/PNN

After getting the fifth degree from a security guard who wanted to know
more about me then my own parents, I got approved to go into 1095
market street. A seven story building with only six or seven companies
in it. (also the site of POOR's previous office where we were unceremoniously gentrified out of!

I walked into environmental action non-profit, Green Actions’ headquarters for an interview with POOR Magazine family friend and long-time Bayview activist and power-house Marie Harrison. I sat down
while she had lunch, we had a half hour interview about Lennar, the
nuclear dumpsite, and biohazards all of which are located in Hunter’s
Point. The area where Lennar Corporation are planning to build low income housing
has been capped five times due to toxic and nuclear leakage.

As my interviewee explains “Newsom and his Auntie gave Lennar a 3 million dollar
loan” and magically Newsom’s brother in law got a job in Lennar’s
executive ranks. This area is so toxic that the Navy has lost all
records of how much has been dumped there. It goes back to WW2 when
Fat man and little boy were assembled there, and parts which weren’t
used were dumped into the water. Letterman Hospital in the Presidio
has records of animal parts being dumped there after experiments.
According to my host she mentions that pockets of retardation in the
hunter’s point area has been high for that community. A fire started
at a former hunting lodge that the SFFD was told not to put out, for
unknown reasons. My host also informed me “Us poor people have no
place to live because of Lennar”.

This area historically was a mixed use area through WW2, you had a
Japanese fishing colony and a hunting lodge in Hunter’s Point. During
WW2 a building was there for working people, which is presently the
ghetto, this building was for shipyard workers and their families
originally and was to be torn down at the end of the war. Now it’s the
Evan’s Street/Candlestick projects, this building was only meant to
last until the end of the war.

Also, the politicians that are involved in this fiasco goes as far as
Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, and Nancy Pelosi on the Federal
level. On the state level there is a friend of mine called Mark Leno
who I didn’t think would be so mean and Fiona Ma who is not a friend
of any poor person. On the city level those who are responsible are
Willie Brown former mayor and Gavin Newsom. Sophie Maxwell will get touchy if you mention the name
Lennar.

The housing set aside for the people who paid money for it will be 3 ten story towers that will be put in hunter’s point
where presently low income people are living. For the working people fifty percent of the area medium
income is $100,000 for family of three. The majority of these people
have already been moved across the bay to Oakland or other places
outside of San Francisco. This makes San Francisco have the lowest
population of families that live in a major metropolitan area.

From a sixth generation native of this city and an elder, my city has
been robbed and raped by many corporations and agencies, Lennar and the San Francisco redevelopment commission as their partner in
crime. The redevelopment commission is the back door the mayor uses to
do this dirty work without leaving his fingerprints on it.

by Hans Bennett/reprinted from Upsidedown.org

In her new book Blood & Capital: The Paramilitarization of Colombia, author Jasmin Hristov writes: For roughly forty years, the Colombian state has been playing a double game: prohibiting the formation of paramilitary groups with one law and facilitating their existence with another; condemning their barbarities and at the same time assisting their operations; promising to bring perpetrators of crime to justice, while opening the door to perpetual immunity; convicting them of narco-trafficking, yet profiting from their drug deals; announcing to the world the government's persecution of paramilitary organizations, even though in reality these illegal armed groups have been carrying out the dirty work unseemly for a state that claims to be democratic and worthy of billions of dollars in US military aid.

As the largest recipient of US military aid in the hemisphere, Colombia has long been the US's most important ally in Latin America. Simultaneously, Colombia has also become the hemispheres worst human rights violator, with Colombia's numerous paramilitary organizations recently taking center stage, as they've gradually become directly responsible for more human rights atrocities than the formal military and police. In the name of fighting narco-terrorism, poor people and dissidents are massacred, assassinated, tortured, and disappeared, among other atrocities done to eliminate particular individuals and to set an example by intimidating others in the community. 97 percent of human rights abuses remain unpunished.

In recent years, a variety of human rights organizations, as well as mainstream academics and journalists have found it impossible to ignore the astronomical human rights violations. However, even though these groups have accurately reported on the actual atrocities, Jasmin Hristov argues that in their reports, the atrocities are largely de-contextualized from the powerful forces in Colombia and the US that directly benefit from this repression. According to Hristov, this mainstream presentation serves to mask the fact that US and Colombian elites directly support (via funding, training, supervising, and providing legal immunity for) state repression carried out by the police and military, as well as illegal paramilitary groups that are unofficially sanctioned by the government. Whether it is murdering labor organizers or displacing an indigenous community because a US corporation wants to drill for oil on their land, Hristov passionately asserts that death squad violence is purposefully directed towards sectors of society that stand in the way of the ruling class efforts to maintain economic dominance and acquire more resources to make even more profit.

In her book, Hristov does make a convincing argument that Colombias notorious death squads are inherently linked to maintenance of the countrys extreme economic inequality. Particularly since the neoliberal reforms of the 1990s that have increased poverty, Colombias poor continue to resist their oppression in many different ways. In response, state repression on a variety of levels is needed to terrorize unarmed social movements and other community groups and activists.

Throughout Blood & Capital, Hristov seeks to expose the rational motivations behind state violence for capitalisms economic elites in the US and Colombia. In meticulous detail, Hristov shows how the super-rich benefit from state repression and how the violators of human rights have essentially become immune from any consequences for their actions. If death squads are truly to be abolished in Colombia, we must look honestly at how and why they exist today. Hristovs new book is a powerful tool for exposing who truly calls the shots.

Neoliberalism or Neopoverty?

Hristov asserts that it is not a mere coincidence that during the era of accelerated neoliberal restructuring, the deterioration in the living conditions of the working majority has been accompanied by an increase in the capabilities and activities of military, police, and paramilitary groups, as well as the portrayal of social movements as forces that must be monitored, silenced, and eventually dismantled. The scandalous epidemic of poverty in Colombia is key to understanding Colombian politics, and why the upper classes so fear political organizing among the poor, who could mount a formidable opposition to the status quo if allowed to organize unrestrained by state repression.

When neoliberal policies were adopted by the Colombian government in the 1990s, it dramatically increased poverty, and made an already terrible situation worse. Hristov writes that the essential components of neo-liberalism are trade liberalization, privatization, deregulation, and austerity. Trade liberalization entails the removal of any trade barriers, such as tariffs and quotas. Privatization requires the sale of public enterprises and assets to private owners. Through the removal of government restrictions and interventions on capital, deregulation allows market forces to act as a self-regulating mechanism Austerity requires the drastic reduction or elimination of expenditures for social programs and services.

She argues that the main cause that led to the official adoption of neoliberal policies by the developing countries in Latin America and elsewhere was the pressure to service their external debts in the late 1970s. In order to receive loans from the World Bank (WB), or the International Monetary Fund (IMF), nations had to agree to a program of structural adjustment that included drastically reducing public spending in health, education, and welfare, and much more.

Because Colombia had less debt than other Latin American countries, major neoliberal restructuring did not begin until 1990, under President Cesar Gaviria Trujillo (1990-94), when the country began to receive massive amounts of US military aid In addition to the significant social damage wrought by these policies, by the mid-1990s Colombia had to almost double its borrowing from the IMF because of the economic crisis brought on by the market liberalization, writes Hristov.

These drastic reforms have intensified since current President Alvaro Uribe came to power in 2002. After the IMF loaned $2.1 billion in 2003 on the condition that the reforms be accelerated, Uribe privatized one of the countrys largest banks (BANCAFE), restructured the pension program, and reduced the number of public-sector workers in order to cut budget deficits, as required by the international lending institution. Uribe also closed down some of the countrys biggest public hospitals, eliminating over four thousand medical jobs, and denationalized companies in the telecommunications, oil, and mining sectors, reports Hristov.

These are a few of the statistics compiled by Hristov, who writes that in a country of 45 million, around 11 million people are unable to afford even one nutritious meal a day. According to statistics from 2005, 65 percent of Colombians are unable to regularly satisfy basic subsistence needs. In rural areas, the poverty rate is as high as 85 percent In 2000 it was estimated that half a million children suffer from malnutrition and close to 2.5 million children between the ages of six and seventeen are forced to work. Furthermore, there has been a notable decline in school attendance, literacy, and life expectancy as well as access to child care and education over the past couple of years.

Blood, Capital, and the State Coercive Apparatus

Throughout Blood & Capital, Hristov details many horrifying ways in which the rich are empowered by violence from what she identifies as the states coercive apparatus (SCA). She argues that two intertwining motifs run throughout Colombias history: (1) social relations marked by inequality, exploitation, and exclusion and (2) violence employed by those with economic and political power over the working majority and the poor in order to acquire control over resources, forcibly recruit labor, and suppress or eliminate dissent.

Dating back to the European conquest of the Americas, Hristov asserts that violence has been central to the creation of modern-day Colombias government and economy. She writes that starting in the late 1500s, the conquerors began clearing the indigenous population from territories with desirable characteristics mineral deposits, fertile soil, access to water, transportation routes, and so on. The separation of the indigenous from their means of subsistence allowed the formation of a local colonial elite who transformed what used to be the native inhabitants communal lands into large estates or haciendas. The creation of landless peasants facilitated the supply of labor for the Spaniards ventures, such as mining and agriculture.

State violence supporting the economic elite continued, but became much worse in the 1960s under the direction of the US military. Alfredo Vasquez Carrizosa, President of the Colombian Permanent Committee for Human Rights reports that in the 1960s, during the Kennedy administration, the US took great pains to transform our regular armies into counterinsurgency brigades, accepting the new strategy of the death squads. This ushered in what is known in Latin America as the National Security Doctrine not defense against an external enemy, but a way to make the military establishment the masters of the game the right to combat the internal enemy this could mean anyone, including human rights activists such as myself.

As Edward Herman, co-author of The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism explained in a previous interview with Upside Down World, US support for repressive governments in Colombia and throughout Latin America was, and still is, part of a general policy towards third world populations. Focusing largely on US support for the Latin American National Security States, Herman and co-author Noam Chomsky argue that U.S. corporations purposefully support (and in many instances create) fascist terror states in order to create a favorable investment climate. In exchange for a cut of the action, local military police-states brutally repress their population when it attempts to assert basic human rights.

In the 1960s, the US and Colombian governments launched Plan Lazo, designed to target the internal enemy. Hristov writes that the military aid that was part of Plan Lazo (and all subsequent programs, including those in place today, such as the Patriot Plan) were given on the condition that Colombian forces would use terror and violence, since these formed a legitimate part of the overall anticommunist offensive. In 1966 the field manual US Army Counterinsurgency Forces specified that while antiguerrilla should not employ mass terror, selective terror against civilians was acceptable and was justified as a necessary response to the alleged terrorism committed by rebel forces.

Hristov asserts that while the US handled the financial and ideological aspects of building and strengthening the SCA, locally the Colombian elites also played a key role. It implemented many of the policies suggested by the US counterinsurgency manual in order to discipline the civilian population through measures such as press censorship, the suspension of civil rights (to permit arrest on mere suspicion), and the forced relocation of entire villages. President Guillermo Leon Valencia (1962-66) boosted the anticommunist campaign by declaring a state of siege whereby judicial and political powers were transferred to the military while the latter was freed from accountability to civilian authorities for its conduct.

With US financing and supervision, the Colombian armed forces have since become one of the most renowned human rights violators in the world. This despicable conduct eventually created significant local and international opposition, and under this pressure the SCA has been forced to adjust. In response, the responsibility for repression has shifted more towards paramilitaries, whose activities are officially independent of the government. In this situation, when paramilitaries target the internal enemy, the same goal is accomplished as if the government itself did it, yet the government cannot be officially linked to the violence.

The Paramilitarization of Colombia

The size and strength of paramilitary death squads in Colombia has steadily increased since they were first established in the 1960s. According to Hristov, the paramilitaries are now responsible for about 80 percent of human rights violations in Colombia, compared to 16 percent by the rebel guerrillas. The paramilitaries evolution, Hristov argues, is the result of perhaps the most creative and intelligent effort by an elite-dominated state to counteract revolutionary processes The Colombian parastatal system represents neither a traditional centralized authoritarian regime, as those that existed in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil, nor merely a collection of autonomous armed bands dispersed over rural areas, each ruling locally, as in Mexico. What we see in Colombia is a mutated SCA that has assumed a nonstate appearance.

The function of the paramilitaries in Colombia was explained well by Captain Gilberto Cardenas, former captain of the national police and former director of the Judicial Police Investigative and Intelligence Unit in the Uraba region. In 2002, testifying against the commander of the Seventeenth Brigade of the Colombian armed forces, Cardenas told representatives of the United Nations and Colombian authorities that The paramilitaries were created by the Colombian government itself to do the dirty work, in other words, in order to kill all individuals who, according to the state and the police, are guerrillas. But in order to do that, the [the government] had to create illegal groups so that no one would suspect the government of Colombia and its military forces members of the army and the police even patrol side by side with the paramilitaries.

The paramilitary system first began in the mid-1960s when the Colombian government passed legislation that authorized citizens to carry arms and assist the military in repression. Hristov argues that paramilitary forces entered the scene to perform two main functions. The first was to participate in combat at a local level, as described by the 1966 US Army Counterinsurgency Forces field manual, which stated: paramilitary units can support the national army in the conduct of counterinsurgency operations when the latter are being conducted in their own province or political subdivision. Second, Hristov writes that paramilitaries were intended to monitor and gather intelligence on the rebels, their civilian supporters, and social organizations by establishing networks throughout the country.

While these early paramilitaries did play some role in state repression, it would not be until the 1980s that they really began to increase in size and influence. Hristov writes that the 1980s were the golden age of paramilitary development, as many new groups formed, expanded, and rapidly acquired financial and military strength...This second wave of creation enacted by large-scale landowners, cattle ranchers, mining entrepreneurs (particularly those in the emerald business) and narco-lords took place in a particular context, characterized by five main features: a shift in the states (unofficial) policy toward the partial privatization of coercion; the states fusion with the elite; a legal framework that had set the ground for the design, training, equipping, and administration by the state military of armed bodies outside its institution; a prevailing anticommunist ideology; and militarized patches of the country that served as models to emulate.

This second wave was given another boost in 1994 with the creation of the Community Rural Surveillance Associations (CONVIVIR) by current President Alvaro Uribe Velez, who was the governor of the department of Antioquia at that time. Hristov writes that Uribe made CONVIVIR into a replica of the original paramilitary bodies designed in the 1960s. As it had thirty years ago, now the civilian counterpart of the SCA was to take on a central role in the Dirty War under a legal mantle. By the time CONVIVIR was outlawed, in 1999, most of the numerous paramilitary self defense bodies had united, attaining an organizational and military capacity unsurpassed by paramilitary forces in any other Latin American country.

In August, 1998, just before the legislation supporting CONVIVIR was abolished, hundreds of members publicly announced that they would be joining the AUC paramilitary network, which became the most prominent paramilitary network in Colombia. The AUC had been created in 1997, mostly under the leadership of Carlos Castano and his paramilitary group, the ACCU, which became the largest group in the AUC federation. Others that operated in this loose confederation of paramilitary groups included Bloque Cacique Nutibara, the Bloque Central Bolivar, and the Bloque de Magdalena Medio.

Following official peace negotiations between the AUC and the Colombian government which began in 2002 with an official AUC ceasefire agreement, the AUC officially disbanded in February 2006, as part of an overall public disarmament of many paramilitaries throughout Colombia. However Hristov argues that there are many factors challenging the legitimacy of the peace process. First, during the entire period of the cease-fire announced by the AUC, its groups regularly engaged in military actions against civilians, thereby committing human rights violations (and such activities continue to take place). Second, often those who claimed to be demobilizing were not the real paramilitary combatants but hired criminals, or drug dealers who had bought the AUC franchise. Third, large quantities of arms that should have been turned over were not. Fourth, fighters who are officially considered demobilized are in reality already active militarily in new organizations, where their skills of terrorizing the civilian population for economic gains are necessary and valued.

Since 2006, there have been several government initiatives that give the formal appearance of the Colombian government working to combat paramilitaries. Hristov explains that early in 2007 the Supreme Court began investigating numerous connections between paramilitaries and important state actors, such as senators, representatives, deputies, councilors, and mayors. As time went by, the public learned of more and more cases in which the legal (state officials with their political authority and legitimacy) and the illegal (paramilitary groups with their economic and military power) had entered into alliances to advance their mutual interests. Through mid-2008, 38 percent of members of Congress have been implicated in this parapolitica scandal.

While Hristov recognizes some importance in these recent investigations, she feels that their real impact has been extremely limited. She argues that despite all the cases that have been exposed, parapolitica is not likely to be eradicated from the Colombian political system. On the contrary, the flood of revelations about politicians connections to the paramilitary actually allows serious crimes, such as complicity in massacres, to get buried under waves of minor offenses, and eventually the entire issue becomes just another corruption scandal.

In their 2009 report on Colombia, Human Rights Watch concluded that there are many threats to accountability for paramilitaries accomplices, reporting that the Uribe administration has repeatedly taken actions that could sabotage the investigations. Administration officials have issued public personal attacks on the Supreme Court and its members, in some cases making accusations that have turned out to be baseless, in what increasingly looks like a campaign to discredit the court. In mid-2008 the administration proposed a series of constitutional amendments that would have removed what are known as the parapolitics investigations from the Supreme Court's jurisdiction, but it withdrew the proposal in November. The administration also blocked what is known as the empty chair bill, which would have reformed the Congress to sanction parties that had backed politicians linked to paramilitaries.

Hristov concludes that the centrality of paramilitaries to Colombian politics will not be disappearing anytime soon, mostly because repression has been necessary to enforce the countrys stark social/political/economic injustice. Hristov argues that the paramilitaries have become an essential tool of repression, and because Colombias poor majority will continue to resist this outrageous poverty, the paramilitaries repression will continue. Seen in this context, the recent demobilization process is only a tactical restructuring of paramilitaries and the SCA, similar to their restructurings in the 1980s and 1990s. Hristov sees this restructuring as an adaptation response to assure its future survival in the face of the reality of resistance and opposition by numerous sectors of society against further dispossession, with the states ultimate goal being the institutionalization of paramilitarism and the legalization of capital accumulation through violence.

War on Narco-terrorists?

Since the official end of the Cold War in 1989, US rhetorical justification for allying itself with and providing military aid to the Colombian government has shifted from fighting communism to fighting narco-terrorism. Hristov argues that official rhetoric may have changed but its still easy to expose this fraudulent war on narco-terrorism as actually being a war against poor people. Concerning the so-called war on terrorism, how can the hemispheres worst human rights violator fight terrorism? Then, similar to the absurd notion of a terrorist fighting terrorism, how can a government heavily complicit in the drug trade claim that it is fighting a war on drugs?

The Colombian government's multi-faceted complicity in drug trafficking extends all the way to current President Uribe, who was listed by the Pentagon itself, as one of the most wanted international drug traffickers. A declassified National Security Archives report dated September 23, 1991, explicitly accused Uribe of being a collaborator of the Medellin cartel and a personal friend of Pablo Escobar. This report states further that Uribe was one of the more important Colombian narco-terrorists contracted by the Colombian narcotics cartels for security, transportation, distribution, collection, and enforcement of narcotics operations in both the US and Colombia. These individuals are also contracted as HIT MEN to assassinate individuals targeted by the extraditables, or individual narcotic leaders, and to perform terrorist acts against Colombian officials, other government officials, law enforcement agencies, and groups of other political persuasions.

It's not just the Colombian government! Hristov argues that the US government's Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has in reality been converted largely to an instrument of drug traffickers and paramilitaries. To support this assertion, she cites a 2004 memorandum issued by a lawyer at the US Department of Justice named Thomas M. Kent, which accused the DEA of extreme misconduct. Kent states that strong evidence of misconduct is routinely ignored by the control agencies of the Department of Justice. Hristov summarizes key points made in Kent's memorandum, including to supplement their $7,000 monthly salary, some DEA agents have managed to negotiate with Colombian drug dealers .DEA personnel have been implicated in the killing of informants. Members of the AUC [paramilitaries] have been assisted by DEA agents in money laundering. DEA agents have participated in the extortion of drug traffickers awaiting extradition.

On another note, Hristov makes the important point that drug trafficking and the rise of paramilitaries have both fed each other in two key ways. First, the groups involved in trafficking needed to protect their laboratories, illegal cultivation, and clandestine airstrips in rural areas stimulated the emergence of local armed groups outside the state. Second, many drug dealers had begun to invest their capital in millions of hectares of the best agricultural land in the country and they needed armed forces to protect their lands. Hristov adds further that the preexisting concentration of land ownership in the hands of the elite and the displacement of impoverished peasants was aggravated dramatically by this trend.

To further expose this fraudulent war on drugs, it should be noted that the US government has a long history of complicity in drug trafficking, particularly in Latin America. While author William Blum has written the definitive short article on the topic, Alfred McCoy has written the most comprehensive book, titled The Politics of Heroin, documenting the CIA's relationships with drug traffickers around the world, including in France, Italy, China, Laos, Afghanistan, Haiti, and throughout Latin America. In 1989, a Senatorial Committee chaired by Senator John Kerry documented that during the 1980s, while working with the anti-Sandinista Contras, the CIA and other branches of the US government were complicit in trafficking cocaine into the US from Latin America. The Kerry Committee concluded a three year investigation by stating in their report that there was substantial evidence of drug smuggling through the war zones on the part of individual Contras, Contra suppliers, Contra pilots, mercenaries who worked with the Contras, and Contra supporters throughout the region. US officials involved in Central America failed to address the drug issue for fear of jeopardizing the war efforts against Nicaragua. In each case, one or another agency of the US government had information regarding the involvement either while it was occurring, or immediately thereafter.

The Kerry Committee's report and the story behind it has been analyzed well by authors Peter Dale Scott and Jonathan Marshall in their book Cocaine Politics. In 1996, investigative journalist Gary Webb wrote a series of articles for the San Jose Mercury News (later expanded and made into a book in 1999) which directly tied Contra cocaine traffickers Danilo Blandon and Norwin Meneses (both protected by the US government) to Los Angeles drug kingpin Freeway Rick Ross, who played a key role in starting the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 1980s. The mainstream media launched a smear campaign attacking Webb's story that eventually caused even the Mercury News to denounce Webb. However, several prominent journalists came to Webb's defense and challenged the mainstream media's smear campaign, including Norman Solomon, Robert Parry, and Counterpunch co-editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair.

Unmasking The Unholy Alliance

The relationship between the US and Colombian elite is truly an unholy alliance. With US President Barack Obama praising the Colombian government and attempting to build several new military bases in Colombia, it is more important than ever to expose the truth about who supports death squads and why. Hopefully Blood & Capital will receive the attention that it deserves, and Hristov's meticulous research can be used to truly disarm the state coercive apparatus in Colombia.

--Hans Bennett is an independent multi-media journalist whose website is
www.insubordination.blogspot.com. This article was first published at
www.UpsideDownWorld.org on September 3, 2009.

by Zackary Whitehead

Hegemony--The predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others.

In my last revolutionary worker scholar article entitled, "You Sexy Thing", I wrote about my experiences working as a security guard in a supermarket. In this bad economy, it is the only job I can get. Many people tell me, "You should be thankful you even have a job". Believe me, I am on my knees every night giving thanks to the Gods of private security and loss prevention (LP for short) for allowing me to wear the uniform of 100% polyester, neckline covered in fur and, of course, badge with the security guard company logo.

Something interesting happened during my shift that is worth noting. I was monitoring the activity in the store near the entrance/exit doors. I was in a highly visible position, nestled between stacks of sports drinks and dingdong/hoho (or hoho/dingdong) cakes. I was trying to look alert and attentive but I was in a different place, a different reality. I was daydreaming of getting into the electronic buggy for disabled shoppers and plowing full-speed into the store manager's ass (complete with painted-on bullseye), bumper car style (A la bull goring matador). I imagined doing donuts in the aisles and parking lot and popping wheelies and leaving skidmarks while flapping my arms and making chicken noises. This is the best part of security for me--being able to let the imagination run loose down the aisles while the manager makes announcements over the loudspeakers about various perishables.

As I stood near the dingdong/hoho cakes, a co-security guard whose post is in the parking lot approached me. "Hey", he said, "There was a guy who came in earlier, I think he walked out with a beer". There was a pause. "What you need to do", he continued, "is walk the aisles so you can see what these guys are doing". I gave him my most sincere and confounded look. "I didn't see the guy", I said, "What did he look like?" The guard looked at me and said under his breath, "He was a young black guy. He came in yesterday too". I began to notice a pattern among these supermarket employee folk. I heard them say things like, They're stealing from "us", when referring to shoplifters. Who the hell is "us" i'd whisper to myself silently. I witnessed a Raza store clerk run after a young African descended woman whom she thought was shoplifting. The lady was merely placing her basket down near the entrance doors and obtaining a larger basket on wheels.

I stood in silence feeling as if I had betrayed some secret code of security guards. Here was this guard (an ex mortgage broker, bless his altruistic soul) trying to school me, trying to bring out the empathy that was dormant in my soul for the Budweiser Beer Company that just got beaten for $1.25. Shame overcame me like a flood of florescent light. I felt the need for a bathroom run followed by a drink (Presumably one I'd pay for, 1.25 to be exact). I recalled a conversation I'd had with POOR Magazine co-editor Lisa Gray-Garcia (AKA Tiny) about people like this. They identify with the man to the degree that they start believing that they own what the man owns, said Tiny. What they own is hegemony.

"Follow me", said my security guard comrade. He led me across the aisles past the sodium, fat and high fructose corn syrup laden foodstuffs. We went up a flight of stairs until coming to a door that said, "Manager". We walked inside. The manager sat at a desk strewn with papers and orange rinds. Her hands were folded into a little pyramid. "I heard you have a different outlook than the others", she said, leaning back in her chair. "What outlook is that?" I asked. The manager looked at the other guard, then at me. "You know very well what I'm talking about". She opened her drawer and pulled out a medicine bottle and tablespoon.

She approached me and unscrewed the cap. I looked at the bottle, on it was the word: Hegemony. The other guard grabbed me from behind in a Full Nelson. "Open wide", said the manager, the syrup oozing onto the tablespoon like a disease. "What is that, I asked. "It's good for you", she replied, "We get the stuff by the truckloads, at marked down prices. Open up!" She put the spoon to my lips. I opened my mouth and took the tepid liquid. It burned into my tongue like a freshly lit match. In a flash I spit it out, wanting to expunge the medicine and everything it stood for in the annals of supermarket history. The liquid landed on the manager's face like a frenzied molecular species that had just been let loose from the lab. She screamed like a hyena (which is an insult to that species). The guard shoved me against the wall and landed 2 knees to my groin--the left first, then the right. "Get him the hell outta here!" the manager screamed.

The guard led me down the stairs by the scruff of the neck like a bad little boy who disturbed the class--past the aisles with dog food, floor wax, snack cakes, clothes detergent and frozen fish sticks. He led me through the exit door and out of that market and into the street. The birds were perched on a wire waiting for me. I walked away from that market leaving behind a current opening for a security officer.

by Picture the Homeless

by Staff Writer

La siguiente historia de "Chispita" es un extracto de las muchas historias de viaje de gran alcance incluido en Los Viajes - una antologia literaria de la resistencia

The following story of "Chispita" is an excerpt from the many powerful journey stories included in Los Viajes - a literary anthology of resistance

For English Scroll Down

De Oaxaca, Mexico....
por Chispita

Aqui estoy. Sentada en todo lo que tengo, una banca publica, viendo a mi nino Jesus con lagrimas en sus ojos. Le duele mucho, se puede ver. Sus ojitos me miran pidiendo ayuda, trato con todo mi ser no mostrar en la cara desesperacion, y me es imposible evitar que las lagrimas rueden por mis mejillas tan abundantes como cascadas. Yo volteo hacia arriba por ayuda, y veo que los pasillos se hacen interminables, las bancas crecen al tamano de paredes, y las luces fluorescentes casi me ciegan. Oigo los pasos de miles de gente, siento el temblor de las turbinas, y miro las caras de todas estas personas. Todos contentos, se van de vacaciones, o quizas visitar a su familia. Todos arrastran equipaje y saben para donde van. Todos menos yo.

"Ma, Ma"

"No llores Chui, ya casi vienen por nosotros."

�Donde estaran? Ya son cuatro horas y todavia no llegan. Chui esta muy grave y necesitamos ayuda. Veo sus ojos y hay tanto dolor. Que hago? Han pasado horas desde que comimos algo pero ya se me acabo la lana. �Que hago? Duermete Chui, duermete.

Nunca habia pensado que un aeropuerto en Tijuana me pudiera dar tanta angustia. Mi nieto y yo estamos a miles de millas de casa y ya solo queda continuar con nuestro viaje, pero mi cuerpo se estremece al momento de pensar que no vamos a sobrevivir. Mi Chui ya estaba enfermo cuando nos subieron al avion para aca, y su condicion solo empeora. Ya le llame a mi contacto que nos dijo que pronto nos iban a recoger, pero eso hace cinco horas. Quizas aqui nos vamos a quedar toda la noche, en el aeropuerto de Tijuana

"Senora.Senora. Despierte Senora."

"�Si?"

"�Eres, Chispita?"

"Si"

"Finalmente llegaron! Chui despiertate. Subimos a un van y nos llevaron a una casa cerca de la frontera. En pocas horas se llevarian a Chui que estaba aun mas palido para cruzar en coche. Ha llegado la hora de despedirnos. Me duele muchisimo que se lleven a mi nieto, pero si se queda aqui, en esta casa conmigo de seguro se morira. Chui no queria irse, y mucho menos despedirse de mi. Sus ojitos nublados me miraban y lloraban. Nos abrasamos fuerte y yo le prometi que pronto nos volveriamos a ver, y tambien veria a su mama. El abrio sus brazos y me abrazo una ultima vez. Lo metieron a un coche y se fueron. Su manita y su rostro no dejo de voltear hasta que desaparecio en la carreteara.

En ese momento, parada alli en esa calle, todas mis preocupaciones y miedos se manifestaron en mi cuerpo en un rio de lagrimas. Llore y llore hasta que la duena de la casa salio y me abrazo. Me dijo que Chui estaria bien. Su nombre era Amalia, y estaba enferma. Me dijo que para ella que estaba enferma y mayor, ya no habia esperanza, pero en el caso de Chui, me dijo que el esta enfermo y es un nino, por lo menos tiene la esperanza de sobrevivir por estar joven y su cuerpo resistira mas. Amalia tenia un tumor en su estomago y sufria de depresion.

La Noche De Fiesta

Despues de una semana de que se llevaron a Chui, Amalia me dio un regalo de sorpresa, un vestido de fiesta. Primero, no supe porque me habia regalado un vestido de fiesta y casi me olvido dar gracias, casi.

"Muchas Gracias por el vestido Amalia, pero, �cuando me voy a vestir tan bonita? �A caso vamos a ir a una fiesta?"

"Es tu vestido de despedida... y de entrada."

"Despedida y entrada? como?"

"Bueno, te despides de mi, y entras a los Estados Unidos para reunirte con Chui."

"No entiendo. Quiero ver a mi Chui y me encanta el vestido, pero no veo como este vestido me va llevar cerca a mi Chui."

"Manana, te van a venir a recoger unos compas mios. Todos van a estar vestidos para una fiesta. Van a llegar a la frontera, y van a caminar sobre el puente hacia una fiesta en los Estados Unos. Asi de facil."

Se oia tan facil. Simplemente voy a ir a la frontera, caminar sobre el puente, sonreir al agente de migracion, y cruzar como que si fuera ciudadana. Se oia tan facil, pero esta nueva situacion me provocaba movimientos en el estomago y un virtigo en la cabeza. Llego la noche y el coche de fiesta me esperaba.

"No te preocupes nina, vas a cruzar, y vas a estar cerca de Chui otra vez."

"Gracias Amalia, por todo. Que Dios te lo page, y nunca te voy a olvidar."

Amalia me acompano al coche, nos despedimos, y nunca la volvi a ver. En el coche habia un silencio incomodo flotando entre los dos hombres, la mujer que estaba a la par mia. Yo se que sabian que yo era la mas nerviosa del grupo. Se acerco la mujer. "No se preocupe senora, nosotros estamos en mas peligro que usted. Jure no hacer esto nunca pero su nino me conmovio y deseo que pronto este con el. Esa enfermedad si es curable. Dios le va ayudar."

Llegamos a la frontera en lo que se sintio un viaje de dos minutos. No se si la casa de Amalia estaba tan cerca o mi sentido del tiempo se habia ido con mi mente, pero llegamos a la frontera y todas las luces, los coches, los retenes, y el puente me recordio en mi estomago que yo no estaba lista. Corri al bano para vomitar pero no salia nada. Esperaba que si me salia el vomito, me iba a sentir mejor, pero no paso asi. Intente e intente a vomitar, y no salia nada mas saliva y cada vez que intentaba me senti aun mas mareada. La ultima vez que trate de vomitar, ya ni sentia que estaba parada en piso fijo, sentia como que estaba flotando sin control en un mar tormentoso de todas mis preocupaciones y temor. En medio de esta tormenta oi que entro alguien al bano. Era la mujer.

"�Que pasa Gloria? Todos te estamos esperando. Mira, no te preocupes, hay tanta gente pasando ahorita y a ninguno de ellos los pararon. No mas tienes que pensar y creer que vas a una fiesta. Ponte en ambiente de fiesta y no te van a parar. Encomiendate a Dios... Pero si te detienen, no nos conocemos, solo regrasate y lo volvemos a intentar."

Sali del bano con la mujer, era tanto mi panico, que no recuerdo su nombre. Pero sus palabras me ayudaron bastante. Me concentre en lo que tendria que hacer para estar junto a Chui. Tendria que actuar como una dama de fiesta que la unica preocupacion en su mente es verse bella, y divertirse. Tendria que actuar como que las ultimas semanas de mi vida incluyendo esta noche, casi no me matan. Tendria que actuar como si no tuviera un nieto enfermo que dependia de mi al otro lado de esta frontera. Tendria que actuar como si no fuera yo.

No se cuanto tiempo me tarde en ese bano porque mi realidad en esos momentos fue como que si estuviera mirando una pelicula de suspenso, en la cual yo era la artista. Antes de salir del bano, si recuerdo pidiendole a Dios que me ayudara en ese momento.

Sali del bano con una sonrisa y con un paso que casi bailaba. Yo iba a una fiesta y estaba muy emocionada. Pase cerca del grupo y casi no me reconocian hasta que logre ver la mujer y en sus ojos esos destellos de bondad que siempre nos damos las mujeres, "gracias," le dije y continue actuando. Caminamos en el puente hacia las oficinas de inmigracion riendonos y gozandonos. Llegamos hasta adonde paran a las personas, y les piden sus identificaciones. Recuerdo que cinco pasos antes de llegar a ese poste adonde estaba el agente de inmigracion, mi risa se paro.

Empece a pensar en Chui, y sabia que si yo no tenia exito al cruzar esta noche, estaria solo con esos tremendos dolores. Senti que me desmayaba al pensar que me detendrian. Uno de los hombres del grupo me vio que caminaba mas lenta y con la cabeza abajo. Estaba a dos pasos del poste. El tiempo se congelo, y voltio a ver el hombre. Su sonrisa me recordo que ibamos a una fiesta. Vi que ya habian pasado la mujer y el otro hombre ahorra solo faltabamos nosotros. Un paso del poste. El hombre a la par mia, dijo algo para llamar a sus compas, pero solo se rieron y continuaron caminando. El se rio, y finalmente estabamos en frente del poste. El tiempo se congelo otra vez. El agente nos dio una mirada de pies a cabeza. Yo trate de sonreir... y no desmayarme. Muchos sentimientos se revolvian en mi cerebro y la tierra de oportunidad para todos, para mi era la oportunidad de apoyar a Chui, y proveerle la atencion medica que el necesitaba.

Volvi al poste. Mire hacia el agente, y no sabia si todavia me estaba sonriendo. Los ojos del agente miraban hacia atras de nosotros. Voltee a ver. Era un grupo grande, y se miraban borrachos. Los ojos helados de ese agente me miraban una vez mas. Sin quitar la mirada nos dio una sena con su mano, una sena que nos comunico que continuemos. El tiempo se congelo una vez mas. Este momento de mi vida nunca lo voy a olvidar. Lo hice. Si que continue a caminar, pero no sentia mis pies. No sentia mi cuerpo. Solo sentia mi alma saltando en mi corazon, y sali en mi cuerpo en forma de lagrimas.

No me recuerdo mucho mas de esa noche. Pero ahora que me recuerdo, si era una noche de fiesta, para mi. Mi alma gozaba que pronto estaria apoyando a Chui. Mi alma gozaba ya en este pais, tendria la oportunidad de seguir luchando para mantener a Chui sano. Mi alma gozaba porque esa noche en la frontera de Tijuana, tuve la fuerza de sobrevivir, y es con esa misma fuerza que hasta hoy he sobrevivido en este pais.

Ingles Sigue

Here I am. Sitting on all I have, a public bench, watching my child Jesus with tears in his eyes. It hurts him a lot, it shows. His little eyes stare at me asking for help. I try with all my being to not show desperation on my face, and it is impossible for me to avoid the tears that roll down my cheeks as abundantly as cascades. I turn my head upwards seeking help, and I notice how the hallways become indeterminable, the benches grow the size of walls, and the florescent lights almost blind me, I hear the footsteps of thousands of people, I feel the tremor of the turbines, and I stare at faces of all of those people. All of them happy, they are going on vacations, or maybe to visit their family. They all drag their luggage and they know where they are going. Everyone except for me.

"Ma, Ma"

"Don not cry Chui, they are almost here for us."

Where can they be? It has been almost four hours and they still do not arrive. Chui is in very critical condition and we need help. I see his eyes and there is so much pain. What can I do? Hours have passed since we last had something to eat but I have run out of cash. What can I do? "Sleep Chui, sleep." Never did I think that an airport in Tijuana could ever give me such anguish. My grandson and I are thousands of miles from home and continuing our journey is the only thing that is left, but my body shakes at the moment when I consider that we might not make it. My Chui was already very ill when they put us on the plane headed here, and his condition only worsens. I already called my contact that told me that they would soon be here to pick us up, but that was five hours ago. Perhaps we will stay here the whole night, in the airport of Tijuana.

"Senora. Senora. Wake up Senora."

"Yes"

Are you Chispita?

"Yes"

Finally! They arrived! "Wake up Chui." We get in a van and they took us to a house near the border. In a few hours they would take Chui, who looked even paler, so that he can cross by car. The time had come for us to say goodbye. It hurts me so much when they take my grandson, but I know that if he stayed with me in this house he will surely die.

Chui did not want to go, and much less say goodbye to me. His blurry eyes stared at me and cried. We hugged tightly and I promised him that we would see each other again, and that he would also see his mom. He opened his arms and gave me one last hug.

They put him in a car and they left. His little hand and face did not stop turning towards me until they disappeared on the highway. In that moment, standing there on that road, all of my worries and fears manifested themselves in my body as a river of tears. I cried and I cried until the owner of the house came out and gave me a hug. She told me that Chui would be ok. Her name was Amalia, and she was ill. She told me that since she was an elder and ill, there was no hope for her, but in Chui's case, well he is sick, but he is a child, at least he has the hope of surviving because he is young and his body will resist more. Amalia had a tumor is her stomach and suffered from depression.

The Night of the Party

After the week that Chui was taken, Amalia gave me a surprise gift, a party dress. At first I did not know why she had given me a surprise gift, and I almost forgot to give her thanks, almost.

"Thank you very much for the dress Amalia, but when am I going to get dressed up so pretty? Or are we actually going to a party?"

"It is your dress of farewell, and of entry."

"Farewell and entry? How?"

"Well, you will say farewell to me and enter the United States to reunite with Chui."

"I do not understand, I want to see my Chui and I love the dress, but I do not see how this dress can help me get close to my Chui."

"Tomorrow several friends of mine will come to pick you up. All of them will be dressed for a party. They will arrive to the border, and they will walk along the bridge to a party in the U.S... It is as easy as that."

It sounded so easy. I will simply cross the border, walk along the bridge, smile to the immigration agent, and cross as if I was a citizen. It sounded so easy, but this new situation provoked movement in my stomach and a vertigo in my head. The following day, night time came and the party car was waiting for me.

"Do not worry girl, you will cross and you will be close to Chui once again."

"Thank you again for everything Amelia. May God repay you, I will never forget you."

In the car there was an uncomfortable silence floating amongst the two men, the woman was on my side. I knew that they knew that I was the most nervous one of the group. The woman came close.

"Do not worry senora, we are even in more danger tan you are. I swore to never do this, but the situation your child has moved me and I wish that you will soon be with him. That sickness is curable. God will help you."

We reached the border in what seemed a two minute trip. I do not know if Amalia's home is really that close or if my sense of time has left along with my mind, but we arrived to at the border and all of the lights, the cars, the check points, and the bridge reminded me in my stomach that I was not ready. I ran to the bathroom to throw up but nothing came out. I was waiting for the vomit to come out, I would feel better then, but it did not turn out that way. I tried and tried to throw up and nothing but saliva would come out and I felt even dizzier. The last time I tried to vomit, I did not even feel that I was stepping on the firm ground, I felt as if I was floating without control, in a tumultuous ocean of all my worries and fears. In between all this torment I heard that someone came into the bathroom. It was the woman.

"What is going on Gloria? Everyone is waiting for you. Look, do not worry, there are so many people passing right now and none of them were stopped. You only have to think and believe that you are going to a party. Get in a party going mood and they will not stop you. Entrust yourself to God, but if they stop you, we do not know each other, just return and we will try again."

The woman left the bathroom. My panic was so much that I forgot her name. But her words helped me so much. I concentrated on what I had to do to be with Chui. I had to act as if I was a lady going to a party, who's only concern was to look beautiful and have fun. I would have to act as if the last few weeks of my life including this night did not almost kill me. I would have to act as if I did not have an ill grandson that depended on me on the other side of that border. I would have to act as if I was not myself.

I am not sure how long I took in that bathroom because my reality in those moments was as if I was looking at a movie in suspense, it which I was the actress. Before leaving the bathroom, I do remember asking God to help me in that moment. I came out of that bathroom with a smile and with a step that almost danced. I was going to a dance and I was very excited. I walked close to the group and they almost did not recognize me until I was able to see the woman, and her eyes sparkled with the type of kindness that woman always give each other-- "thank you," I told her, and I continued acting. We walked on the bridge towards the immigration offices, laughing and having a good time. We came all the way up to where they stop people and ask for their identification. I remember that within five steps of reaching that post where the immigration agent was, and my smile stopped.

I began to think of Chui, and I knew that if I did not succeed in crossing that night, I would only be left with those horrible pains. I thought I would pass out at the idea of being detained. One of the men in group noticed that I walked more slowly and with my head down. I was at two steps of the post. Time froze and I turned towards that man. His smile reminded me that we were going to a party. I saw how the other woman and man had already passed and now we were the only ones left. One step to the post. The man on my side told something to stop his friends, but they only laughed and continued walking. He laughed and finally we were in front of the post. Time froze once again. The agent gave us a look from our feet to our heads. I tried to smile, and I did not faint. Many feelings were mixing in my brain. The land of opportunity for all of us, for me it was the land of opportunity to help Chui and to help give him the medical attention that he would need.

I returned to the post. I looked towards the agent, and I did not know if I was still smiling. The eyes of the agent looked past us. I turned to look. It was a large group, and they looked drunk. The cold eyes of the agent stared at me once again. Without removing his stare he gave us a sign with his hand, a sign that communicated that we continue. Time froze once again. I will never forget this moment in my life. I made it. I know that I continued walking, but I could not feel my feet. I did not feel my body. I only felt my spirit jumping in my heart, and came out of my body in the form of tears.

I do not remember much more about that night. But now that I remember, it was a party night for me. My spirit rejoiced that I would soon be there to support Chui. My spirit rejoiced that I was already in this country, I would have the opportunity to continue fighting to keep Chui healthy. My spirit rejoiced because on that night on the border of Tijuana, I had the strength to survive, and with that same strength, I have survived in this country till this day.

Los Viajes

Poor Magazine's Podcast

by tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia, poverty scholar, daughter of Dee

“ We want Oakland our way – we demand a right to stay,” community voices in resistance to the predatory lending, eviction and foreclosure of poor folks of color rolled down the 94th street block of East Oakland this week past boarded up houses-remnants of lost families, lost communities and lost cultures.

“Thanks to all of your support, my family, my friends and neighbors, I have been able to remain in my home,” Karen Mims, resident of 9401 cherry street in East Oakland spoke through tears to a crowd of over 50 people gathered on her lawn in protest to a year long battle Mrs Mimms has been having with Aurora Loan Services to stay in her home of 12 years.

“My personal story is that I was with another lender – Homecoming (another lender), who never took responsibility for my loan and lost my payment and then sold my loan to Aurora loan services.” Mrs Mimms went on to explain that after that bankers bait and switch game Aurora Loan had agreed to place her in a repayment plan, but instead sent a speculator out to her home last year to inspect her home for foreclosure.

“We have been besieged by lenders who write loans that people can’t afford and then lay in wait for them to default, foreclose on the loans and leave our families on the streets which tears apart the neighborhoods of East and West Oakland,” said Ray Leon with councilmember Larry Reid’s office in district 7 where Mrs Mimms resides. Leon concluded, “It appears that most of these predatory lenders are waiting for these foreclosures to happen.”

As I stood on the corner of 94th street, a street littered with for sale and foreclosed signs, I was taken back to the not to distant past of me and my poor mama being evicted and landless in both East and West Oakland for years throughout my childhood. How no matter how hard me and my mama fought the evictions which in our case were from rental properties, if corporate interests, rich lawyers and unjust systems were stacked up against us as they are against Mrs. Mimms, we never had a chance. For us eviction meant homelessness. Thankfully, there are powerful resistance groups like Just Cause Oakland, who have been working in solidarity with Mrs..Mimms to fight this unjust land take-over by any means necessary.

“Our fight today and this complete fight is to defend our right to stay zone,” Robbie Clark, Organizer with Just Cause placed Mrs Mimms situation in the larger context of Right to a City and Take Back the Land resistance efforts happening across the nation, which questions who should be in control of neighborhoods and land and how corporations, governments and agents of the state are empowered with the ability to cause whole communities to become landless and without a roof.

The days rally of neighbors and advocates, re-ported and sup-ported on by POOR Magazine/PNN and many more allies ended with triumph. Because of the community pressure put on Aurora and the support of conscious legislators like Ray Leon and Larry Reid, the eviction was postponed. Now the pressure must continue.

Mrs. Mimms, a soft-spoken revolutionary closed with, “We are asking for the support of all the people involved in this battle – we can fight these battles, we cant just keep moving on and leave people in the streets.”

Postscript: WE must keep on the pressure. Mrs. Mimms needs our support. Please call Aurora Loan Services, please call their legal representative: Nicole Kim at 720-945-3217 and the loan officer in charge of Karen’s loan: Carrie Black at (720)945-4566, We are demanding they rescind the eviction for Karen Mims, loan number: 0021802152

Just Cause is also asking for people to make donations to Karen so that she can stay in her home, the rent that Aurora is asking her to pay is $50/day, if you can donate a day, or part of a day, that would be greatly appreciated, to make a donation contact Just Cause Oakland at (510) 763-5877

by Muteado/PNN Migrant and Poverty Scholar

Scroll Down for English

La piel se me hizo chinita y senti un nudo en la garganta al ver mis hermanos Africanos bailando Guapango en la tarima con las hermanas Veracruzanas. Tuve la oportunidad de ser testigo de una galeria en el museo de la cuidad de Oakland El Agosto pasado que se llamo La presencia Africana en Mexico, de Yanga al presente, que se trato de una instalacion de fotos y pinturas que revelaban la presencia Africana en Mexico de la que poco se habla. Yanga fue un revolucionario que peleo contra los espanoles para mantenerse libre de la esclavitud y se unio con la gente indigena de la region de Veracruz, Mexico para crear una comunidad libre.

Yanga vive la lucha sigue

Los primeros barcos de esclavos que llegaron a Mexico llegaron al borde de un levantamiento de los esclavos contra sus captores en la cuidad de Mexico en el ano 1537; el levantamiento asusto a los Espanoles que no se lo esperaban. En esos tiempos un quinto de Mexico estaba asegurado por los Espanoles,y la constante amenaza de una invasion de Indigenas del norte y del sur era una realidad. Los escritores del Rey escribian que si la rebelion seguia y los Africanos y Indigenas se organizaban podian planear una masacre contra los blancos.

En 1540s hubo dos levantamientos de Africanos cerca de la cuidad de Mexico. Por muchos lugares circulaban rumores de que se planificaba un levantamiento en la mera cuidad de Mexico en los anos 1600s.

Durante los anos, 1560-1580s Africanos huyeron a las minas de Zacatecas y se unieron a la tribu Chichimec localizada en la parte del norte de Mexico, que todavia no habian sido colonizados. La poblacion Africana se concentro en las orillas del Atlantico y Pacifico; donde plantaciones de cana, en la costa de Veracruz, ocupaban su labor para producir la mayoria de la riqueza del imperio.

Yanga fue la rebelion mas memorable, donde dejo las files de cana sangrientas en el ano 1570. El lider rebelde, Gaspar Yanga era un esclavo de la nacion Africana de Gabon, y se decia que provenia de una familia royal. Yanga llevo su rebeldia a las montanas, donde crearon un pueblo pequeno de 500 personas. Los Yangas aseguraron su estabilidad, saqueando caravanas de los Espanoles que traian comida de las montanas de Veracruz.

Buenas relaciones fueron establecidas con vecinos que tambien eran esclavos e Indigenas. Por mas de 30 anos Yanga y su banda vivieron libremente y su comunidad seguia creciendo en numeros.

Los espanoles concluyeron que Gaspar Yanga tenia que ser eliminado. Con eso en la mente un escuadron partio de la cuidad de Puebla en el ano 1609. Pero no pudieron lograr su objetivo. Enves antes que Yanga falleciera, ya tenia un tratado en su mano donde los Espanoles, se pusieron de acuerdo a liberar a sus seguidores y dejarlos que establecieran un pueblo libre.

Mi sobrinito que es Black-xican tiene una herencia de culturas bellas con mucha historia

En estas epocas que vivimos es importante analizar que tenemos mucho mas en comun con nuestros hermanos y hermanas de descendencia Africana y Indigena de lo que nos imaginamos. Es muy importante unirnos en la lucha para liberar a nuestros pueblos oprimidos. Como dijo Shaka de Hairdoo, nosotros somos los responsables de crear el Puente que une a los Latin@s y Afro American@s para liberarnos como seres humanos.

El Poder a la Gente, y Hasta la Victoria Siempre

En los Estados Unidos, l@s Afro American@s y Latin@s somos la mayoria en las carceles. La mayoria de la cantidad de homicidios son en contra de la gente Latina y Afro Americana, en esto somos los numero uno. Les hago un llamado a la gente consciente que miremos este tema con mucha importancia porque es la llave de nuestra liberacion. El sistema esta ganando en separarnos y en conquistar a nuestras comunidades. Hay que imaginar que pasaria si los Afro American@s y Latin@s nos unimos y que seria el impacto que podemos crear en este sistema opresivo?

Cierro con esto por ultimo: Que Vivan Las Adelitas, George Jackson, Mother Jones, Cesar Chavez, Fred Hampton, Geronimo, Huey Newton, Gaspar Yanga y las Muxeres por todo el mundo!!

Ingles Sigue

My skin got goosebumps and I got a knot in my throat as I saw my African brothers dancing Guapango on the platform along with the sisters from Veracruz, I had the opportunity to bare witness of a gallery that focused on the African presence in Mexico, at the Oakland Museum this past August. The art gallery was titled, African Presence in Mexico, from Yanga to the Present; it revealed through a series of photographs and paintings the African presence in Mexico, which is rarely mentioned. Yanga was a revolutionary who fought against the Spanish for his freedom from slavery. He joined the Indigenous movement of Veracruz, Mexico, to create a free community.

Yanga lives; the struggle continues

The first African slave ships arrived to Mexico where they were on the verge of an uprising against their masters in Mexico City in 1537; the uprising scared the Spanish because it caught them off guard. At that time, the Spanish already colonized one fifth of Mexico, and the threat of an invasion from the Indigenous of the North and South became a real threat. The King's writers, documented that if the rebellion continued, and the Africans and Indigenous became organized, they had the potential to plan a massacre against the white colonizers.

In the 1540s there were two African uprisings close to Mexico City. During the 1600s rumors circulated that the Movement was planning an uprising in Mexico City.

During the years of 1560-1580, Africans fled the mines of Zacatecas and joined the not yet colonized Indigenous tribe, Chichimec, located in the Northern part of Mexico. The African population concentrated on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, where sugar cane plantations on the coast of Veracruz used their labor to produce most of their wealth.

Yanga was the most memorable rebellion, where it left numerous rows of sugarcane filled with blood, in 1570. The leader of the rebellion was Gaspar Yanga, who was an African slave from the nation of Gabon, and was said to come from a family of royalty. Yanga took his rebellion to the mountains, where they created a small village of 500 people. The Yangas, secured their village, by robbing caravans from the Spanish colonizers that brought food from the mountains of Veracruz. Relationships were created with other African and Indigenous neighbors. For more than 30 years, Yanga and his band lived free, and their community grew in numbers.

The Spanish concluded that Gaspar Yanga had to be eliminated, and with that goal, in 1609, from the city of Puebla, they sent out a death squad. However, they did not manage to meet their objective. Instead, before Yanga died, he had a contract in his hand, where the Spanish agreed to liberate his followers and allowed them to create their own free city. This powerful installation made me think of my own family. My nephew who is a Black-Xican has an inheritance of beautiful cultures with so much history. As Raza peoples it is important to analyze that we have much more in common with our African and Indigenous brothers and sisters than we can imagine. It is imperative that we unite in the struggle to liberate our oppressed communities. Like Shaka de Hairdoo, said, we are responsible for the creation of the bridge that unites Latin@s and African Americans to liberate ourselves as human beings.

Power to the People and Until Victory Always

In the United States, African Americans and Latin@s are the majority in the prison system. The majority of homicides are against Latin@s and African Americans, here we are at number one. I make a calling to all my conscious people, that we take a look at this issue with a keen eye, as it is the key to our own liberation. The system is winning, by separating and seducing our communities. We have to imagine what were to happen if the African Americans and Latin@s were to unite and the impact this would have on this oppressive system?

Long live Las Adelitas, George Jackson, Mother Jones, Cesar Chavez, Fred Hampton, Geronimo, Huey Newton,

by Bruce Allison and Thorton Kimes

SSI and SSP will be cut by $20 a month beginning July, 2009. This will create a deficit in the personal budgets of anyone with a disability, or seniors enrolled in those programs. California pays $200 more on these grants than the federal government, which gives The Governator room to cut and still give more than other states. The President’s Stimulus package makes it possible for the cut to be only $5 a month by this poverty scholar’s math.

Other cuts devastating to poor folks include cutting home care workers’ pay from $11 to $9 per hour. Many home care workers are providing services for their own parents or other relatives in need of their help; many home care workers provide these services instead of working in other fields for more money--they could even have ended up being some of the people we love to hate for the current state of the economy, except that they had a conscience and chose to help family.

These workers have been helping the California economy by keeping them at home instead of in more expensive nursing facilities. A great example of this is Poor Magazine’s own Tiny Lisa Gray Garcia, who was her own mother’s care giver as well as being a mother herself—and running a fabulous publication—before becoming Communications Director of Justice Matters, a non-profit advocacy organization that helps youth of color get a better education.

People who receive MediCal benefits are also going under the knife, as the Governator is now calling dentistry, vision, podiatry, chiropractic, acupuncture, and some psychiatric out-patient services “cosmetic”. This will inevitably take patients straight to the Emergency Room of the nearest hospital, spending the money Schwarzenegger wants to save anyway.

Last of the knife cuts is to families of three or more, cutting their monthly CalWorks grant from $760 to $690. Many of my friends and Poor Magazine co-writers will be enduring this particular indignity. After paying the rent and utilities there will only be $300 left to get through the month. This is tough for a single person to do, let alone a family.

Please think of them as having some dignity in their lives. It is hard enough to ask someone else for help, they did not ask for this and do not deserve it. Please ask/demand that the Governator change these decisions, as there are other cuts he could make to save money that wouldn’t hurt anyone. Disabled and Senior folks in the state prison system could be paroled and save approximately $100 million.

There are some other solutions this poverty scholar would like to make, but they are not very polite, so dear readers, you must use your imaginations. Consider this article an exercise in anger management!

by Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia, PoorNewsNetwork poverty scholar

"There are millions of poor people in this country who have very little, or even nothing, to lose, if they can be helped to take action together, they will do so with a freedom and a power that will be a new and unsettling force in our complacent national life"
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"In Durban, South Africa, it is not racism, it's poverty that's affecting us now." I was blessed to meet Mazwi Nzimande, youth and poverty scholar leader with Abahlai base Mjondolo (The Shack Dwellers Union) in South Africa, a revolutionary group of landless folks in Capetown and Durban, South Africa, who were one of the organizations sharing scholarship at the Poverty Scholars Program Leadership School held in West Virginia in August of 2009.

Myself and Laure McElroy, poverty scholars, co-madres and staff writers with the welfareQUEENS project of POOR Magazine, and our sons, POOR Magazine youth scholars Evander McElroy and Tiburcio Garcia-Gray traveled for over 9 hours and three consistently late plane connections to be here, leaving unpaid water bills, unfunded programs, unsent unemployment checks, racial profiling, po'lice abuse and almost unpaid rent to make sure our voices and scholarship could join with over 120 other scholars from across the globe to re-ignite Dr. Kings dream.

With scholars from Scotland to New York, from Africa to Detroit, we were educated on multiple models of resistance and struggle throughout herstory, organizing through art and faith, multi-lingual inclusion and systemic change in the face of the often talked about but rarely understood economic downturn.

There is money to build housing but the money is being spent to build stadiums,
Mazwi went on to explain how the homes of the shack dwellers in Durban and other cities in South Africa are being systematically demolished so the poor people remain at least 50 kilometers away from the upcoming World Cup stadium. In an act that will permanently criminalize landless South Africans, the current government is trying to pass the Slums Act which allows the eviction of families by saying that certain areas of South Africa must be slum free.

When the people of South Africa challenged this unconstitutional act, they faced a judge who fell asleep while on the bench supposedly adjudicating their case, similar to the cases of many of the judges and lawyers in Amerikkkan Criminal Un-Justice System that have convicted poor black men and sent them to death row in Texas while sleeping throughout the trials.

"We have a very nice constitution in South Africa that states no-one can be evicted once they have lived in a place for over 24 hours without due process, but its dust now, no-one follows it", Mazwi concluded. Mazwi told us how poor children who are found living on the streets are put in jail for weeks at a time if tourists are expected to come to Durban. Mazwi's stories of removal and criminalization reminded me of the ways that encampments of landless folks in the Bay Area are arrested and washed away with high pressure power washers when they are found in settlements under the freeways, under the bridges, in doorways, and other outside residences.

As of 2007, 37 million people are living in poverty in the US, that's up from 5.7 million in 2003, the powerful week of knowledge sharing and coalition building began with youth leaders from Philadelphia Student Union (PSU) and Media Mobilizing Project, breaking down the numbers of people struggling to stay fed, housed and employed in every city in the US today.

Yo soy Angelica Hernandez, y yo soy trabadora domestica, (I am Angelica Hernandez and I am a domestic worker) Angelica explained that she worked with an organization called Domestic Workers United in New York, an organization that many of PoorNewsNetwork's migrant and poverty scholars have worked with to achieve worker rights for migrant scholars.

Christine Lewis, also with Domestic Workers United explained how many amazing women have spearheaded the fight to create a domestic workers bill of rights which makes sure that domestic workers are paid decent wages and given proper protection and recognition for the crucial work they do.

We must root our struggle in the history of all peoples struggle, and that includes all of our struggles across organizations and regions, religion and race. In a training on multi-lingualism sponsored by Voluta Interpreters collective based in Philadelphia, Willie Baptist, long-time organizer and one of the poverty scholar leaders involved in the Leadership School, articulated the current goals of the campaign.

After all of these powerful women and men shared their resistance struggles my eyes traveled outside the window of our plenary session. I watched drops of thick warm rain as it rolled down deep green leaves onto fertile West Virginia earth. Land once tilled and harvested by Shawnee, Iroquis and Seneca peoples before guns and treaties and more guns stole it away. Earth stained with the blood of coal miners, former slaves and migrant peoples struggling for workers' rights, civil rights and human rights and now land rights.

"Mountain-top removal is causing weekly flooding round these parts, we are losing our land, our homes, and our jobs", Gerry Randal, a life-long resident of Matewan, West Virginia, said, explaining how corporations like Massey Energy, one of the largest coal producers in West Virginia which is part of the "clean coal" movement and has been destroying the land his family has lived on for hundreds of years. "We are poor people we have nowhere to go", Gerry concluded and then in a deep West Virginia drawl, told me to have a nice day miss..

The corporate-fueled, flagrantly illegal land destruction in the name of development reminded Laure and myself of the poisoning of communities by private housing developers like Lennar Corporation who is attempting to gentrify and destroy the Bayview/Hunters Point district of San Francisco, even if it means poisoning our children and families.

I ran into Gerry while I was on a tour provided by the institute through Matewan, the town known for a shoot-out between the town's sheriff and the thugs hired to kill, evict and harass any coal miners who were suspected of union organizing. On this tour we learned the bloody and deadly herstory and histories of repression by coal companies of their workers. We also learned the inspiring stories of resistance like the true meaning of "red-necks" and the "red-neck army:--a group of over 1700 coal miners who were known for wearing red scarves around their necks and dared to take up arms against the brutality of corporations like Massey Coal, who paid their workers in script worth cents on the dollar and only redeemable in Massey company stores.

We left Matewan, the heat and humidity dripping slowly down the backs of the chewed on mountains. Carpet green hills, forests dense with deep brown and red. Spirits of poverty scholars and amerikkkan survivors seemed to sway with songs of lost ancestors.

When John Henry was hammering on the mountain

And his hammer was striking fire

He drove so hard til he broke his poor heart

And he laid down his hammer and he died

He laid down his hammer and he died

He laid down his hammer and he died John Henry was a black railroad worker who the legend has it died working on the rails in West Virginia

Rivers large and small, wide and narrow.. winded through the land that we passed, carrying life, time, dreams, and resistance. In these rivers and forests of immense beauty and devastating struggle, my Mama Dee came forth, her tears that I cry often for--her struggle as an unwanted, abused and tortured mixed race child living in poverty and later as a poor single mother of color who became disabled and houseless with me her daughter, and later my struggle to care for her when she was unable to work followed, then, by my ongoing struggle to raise a child while struggling with houselessness, her struggle is my struggle, the struggle of all of our mamaz and children, entwined, threaded, with the struggles for land.

It is for my mama and all our mamaz and daughters, daddys and sons, grandmothers and grandfathers that POOR Magazine has launched the Homefulness Project, a sweat-equity co-housing project that distributes equity to landless families not tied to how much money they have access to. HOMEFFULNESS includes a small farm and intergenerational, multi-lingual school and several micro-business projects to support economic self sufficiency for poor folk moving off the grid of budget cuts, corporate gentrification, Slavemart (Walmart) and (Safeway) Slaveway food poisoning, english language domination, the non-profit industrial complex and poverty pimpology.

And then our magical tour bus of change arrived at the West Virginia Historical Society, which contained a powerful exhibition about the New Deal and the towns of Allendale, Preston and Daily, three resettlement communities for unemployed workers created by Eleanor Roosevelt in the time of the severe depression and the New Deal when millions of US residents were living without food, housing or jobs. Each resettlement community included a farm, carpet factory, furniture factory and a school. Omigod, I dreamed, what a truly revolutionary way for that much talked about stimulus money to be used in the 21st Century for our current poor and landless families.

This is Chemical Valley, said pastor Amanda Gayle Reed a fifth generation native of West Virgina, about the land around the Camp. At a community bbq sponsored by the Leadership School I met Pastor Gayle only to be terrified by more corporate poisoning. She continued,"the levels of MIC (Methyl Isocyanate, the chemical released in Bhopal, India in 1984 that killed more than 3,800 People) from the Dow chemical plant buried in this valley are higher than they were in Bhopal, India when they had the explosion, we have shelter in place warnings all the time because the chemical levels here are so high."

I have been to the mountaintopDr. Martin Luther King Jr

On our final day at the institute my son and I talked about the power of resistance of our elders and ancestors that came and fought before us like Dr. King and John Henry, Uncle Al Robles and Mama Dee, as we gazed upon the land. We meditated on the words of Dr. King, our teachings this week and our own lives as a poor, landless family in resistance in the US. And finally we reflected on one of the messages that were proven this week at the Institute which we teach on often at POOR Magazine--the connections between all of our shared struggles for land, food, freedom and voice in South Africa, New Orleans, Mexico, West Virginia, Oakland, Guatemala and beyond,now, we thought, lets work to keep the revolution of truth-telling and cross-movement mobilization flowing so we can continue Dr. King's walk up all of Pacha Mama's ailing mountain-tops.

We are the keepers of the mountain

Love them or leave them

Just don't destroy them

If you dare to be one to.. Larry Gibson, fighting the removal of his families mountain by Massy Coal

To support the families in struggle to keep their land contact Larry.gibson@mountainkeepers.org or call 304-542-1134

For more information on the Poverty Initiative program go on-line to www.povertyintiative.org

by POOR Magazine/PNN staff & family

POOR Magazine denounces the denial of parole for Indigenous elder, scholar, activist and protector of Turtle Island Leonard Peltier by the United States Parole Commission. Peltier's parole hearing was his first since 1994. His next hearing is scheduled in 2024, when he will be 79 years old. Leonard Peltier has spent more than 3 decades in prison for the killing of 2 FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota 1975. Despite evidence and thousands of pages of documents that would prove his innocence, the US justice system has perpetuated its culture of vengeance, not only against Leonard Peltier but against all political prisoners and indigenous peoples of Turtle Island. Poor Magazine recognizes and has implemented the UN Declaration on Indigenous People that states that indigenous people have a right to remain on and have control of the land and to the resources thereof. Poor Magazine stands in solidarity with the American Indian Movement (AIM), United Native Americans and millions of supporters worldwide in resistance to the warehousing and ownership of people to fuel and propagate the prison industrial complex (PIC). We call on the millions of Leonard Peltier supporters to not give up the fight to contact President Barack Obama and demand a full pardon for our brother and elder Leonard Peltier

by Joe B.

Blunted Wind Chimes

As new life arrives people and things change, gifts are bought, returned,or exchanged for other more needed items.

At Poor Magazine Inc.
its no different

As Office manager, staff writer,columnist, rare sometime,reporter, and reluctant ‘Po Poet some of these changes cause slight problems for example:

When an infant is in a workspace the normal clatter of keyboards, radio sounds,and talking is muted so as to not disturb said infants rest and feeding routine.

I’ve worked for PM Inc. for five or six years I have learned what to be good at and what I’m bad at like answering phones especially when phones have technical problems where I have to repeat what’s said because of a few second delays on the receiver’s of the phone.

The latest crimp is wind chimes. Wind chimes usually are outside of homes or businesses large and small to sound as customer enter.

In this organization or door is inside,on the second floor of a duo business/living space and cannot be hung from outside screened windows.

One set of chimes are hung on the front door near me another on a door behind me leading into another office.

Beside making a racket every time people enter when an infant visits as I said their must be quiet these chimes add not the tingling tinkle of happy sound but noisy thuds inside an enclosed space festive looking they may look but the application fails when an infant’s sleep is disturbed.

Myself,knew this is going to be a problem for me as well as I have already suggested to both bosses "Those chimes are just more noise to me but since I’m an employee it doesn’t matter at least they know my opinion.

A way to combat excess noise pollution in my personal workplace is the use of tape any tape from duck,electric to scotch tape wrapping it around chimes muffling the sound to dull thuds.

Of course the tape is taken off after a few days when bosses don’t here happy tinkle noise.

I replace it wraping more and more tape around it.

I really think it silly having wind chimes placed where there’s no wind unless it where children, adults use them to signal breakfast,lunch,dinner, rest,playtime,or special events as in birthdays, births,or various kinds of anniversaries.

I know it’s a small niggling thing but like vacuuming,sweeping, mopping floors wiping brass doorknobs is a bit too much.

I also so don’t clean venetian blinds or clean windows, and if ever I begin babysitting that’s the end of my working at Poor M.

I do lots of stuff not strictly part of office management – copying whole or part of newsprint, magazine articles,other people’s work,or transcribe voices to text.
[This probably won’t be seen publicly so I’ll print this reminding me of my agenda of becoming an author of fiction with an independent life finally and forever achieved.

I wonder can City Lights help me in this as they see my work radically differs from Poor ’s.]

Anyone who has struggled to be where they are and finally make know of what I speak, can snail mail or email me also.

1000 Market Street #418

San Francisco, Ca. 94103

1-510-533-0469


Donations C/0 Poor Magazine

1448 Pine Street #205

San Francisco,CA 94103

Email: askjoe@poormagazine.org

by Dee Gray and Lisa Garcia-Gray/PNN

How do you speak about the death and suffering of thousands of Bay Area homeless children, adults and elders while there is death and suffering and forced houselessness of thousands of other children, youth and adults from the Gulf coast?

"Let's look at the real root of poverty, racism and the theft of resources from our communities, from our educational systems, its called Plantation Capitalism" as words of scholarship floated from the mouth of Reverend James Lawson , elder statesmen of resistance and faith and one of the original organizers of Students Non-Violent organizing committee (SNIC) I got the answer. The truly amazing Reverend Lawson was speaking to a crowd of educators at a recent conference on education that I attended. And with his pointed scholarship which brought the holistic picture of historic and present oppression of poor folks and folks of color in full view I was finally able to answer the troublesome question POOR Magazine staff were asking ourselves since Hurricane Katrina and her cousins Hurricane Bush and Hurricane Cheney hit the Gulf coast.

"1,993 people have died homeless on San Francisco's streets over the past 18 years when we started counting" Said Sr. Bernie, tire-less homeless advocate and director of Religious Witness with Homeless people in front of a memorial wall containing all 1,993 names of the deceased that was installed for three days in City Hall Plaza last week.

Who needs natural disasters when you have rich-white-man-made, rich-white-man-built and rich-white-man-profited ongoing disasters. Disasters, like police brutality, eviction, rape and incarceration. Disasters like 84 year-old elders being evicted form their apartments in Oakland and San Francisco, because there is a profit to be made by turning their apartments into condos and young African descendent males being shot by police everyday in Amerikka and houseless babies one day old and houseless elders dying on Bay Area streets And in fact, this "disaster" if it did anything was just to bring these crimes against the poor to the forefront faster and harder.

Quoting Religious Witness with Homeless People, " Homeless deaths are not always identifiable as such, hence the figure of 1,993 represent an undercounting of the real numbers of folks that die on San Francisco's streets."

And even to get these numbers has been an ongoing struggle waged by Sr Bernie and other advocates. Finally, in June of 2005 Religious Witness succeeded in bringing about the reinstatement of San Francisco's 14 year practice of identifying and reporting the deaths of folks who died homeless in the City.

"Many of these deaths were preventable. The basic human right to decent, affordable housing and healthcare must be reflected as a highest priority in the annual budget of the City of San Francisco and vigorously pursued at the State and federal levels." Stated Religious Witness.

"1,993 is not a mere statistic; these individuals were someone's mother or father, daughter or son, aunt or uncle, spouse, partner, friend, neighbor, lover. They were sisters and brothers to all of us." Concluded Religious Witness with Homeless People

" There were already thousands of houseless folks in New Orleans before the hurricane hit, many of them mentally disabled, folks that no-one was keeping track of, and subsequently no-one seems to no where they are now. “Clive Whistle on a call to POOR from New Orleans, where he still in search of his Grandmamma who before the hurricane was housed in extremely substandard housing in New Orleans Ninth Ward and is now still missing has been doing research on the never-mentioned-in-corporate-media homeless population of New Orleans who is as of yet still un-accounted for in the aftermath.

"No-one is talking about the homeless that died in New Orleans and no-one wants to" Clive concluded

As POOR Magazine poverty scholars focus on connecting the dots of poverty, racism and homelessness from the Gulf coast to the Pacific Coast, from Bangladesh to Bay view, From Oakland to the "inmates" many of them homeless men incarcerated for poverty crimes and left to die in Orleans Parish Prison in Louisiana, we reflected on Reverend Lawson's point of Plantation Capitalism and its ongoing decimation of the least visible of our nation, the people who are perceived as being without power; the poor.

Reverend Lawson,"To resist these abuses, we must have convergence, of self, of belief, of action, of movements. The 21st century movement must put millions and millions on the streets"

"Because we know, that there are more of us than them, and we DO have power!" Clive Whistle, formerly homeless poverty scholar.

For more information on Religious Witness with Homeless People go on-line to www.religiouswitnesshome.org.

by Joseph Bolden

Immortals,We

While sweating out General Assistance known to most po' folk as G.A.

I know, when do poor people have time to think of eternal while working in the now?

Its not I think of it all the time but it's the darn applied science of the everyday that draws me to it.

Knowing that if it were a few centuries past or even five decades I'd be long dead of pneumonia, kidney, or lung disease without todays medical science.

Every country has myths, legends of long lived and eternal women, men, boys, and girls.

I've been thinking of this war begun by we-know-who.

Monies made by international corporations and individuals.

That this person will leave office with the country a debtor nation instead of formally ending it before a new President takes office.

Humans have always had wars the very first one and the other against other humans.

Death stalks us, has won mostly, though were making inroads from heart, brain, death, and cell death on the molecular level (remember that word molecular).

Humanity has woken up from its death’s only dream to the awakened reality that we a species can if not defeat it all at once can at least create inroads all over its domain.

I have thought we're great at devising ingenious ways of killing ourselves in ever larger mass numbers. Why not be as ingenious in saving ourselves equally?

Let's challenge the unknown and I don't mean peace the undiscovered country of peace--I mean that other unexplored, undiscovered country of life extension, immortality, and eternal life!

If researchers, scientists, student undergrads, and graduate students from around the globe could work placing their theories, data, hard sciences, all the old and constantly updated new findings patching all the complex mechanisms of aging, reversal, rejuvenation,
slowing, retarding, stopping of the aging processes of-in human.

That would be the greatest all out war on the one enemy all humans face every second of our lives.
Recently I saw a show in the wee hours of the morning about Nanotechnology: The Science Of Small and the ways which the science could be used or abused.

If there are stringent safeguards and nanotech improves it would still scare those who still have vested interest in death for example churches, funeral bus, or people still death oriented.
A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, roughly the width of three or four atoms. The average human hair is about 25,000 nanometers wide
From www.crnano.org/basic.htm#questions
Along with genomics, cloning, cyberneitcs, and stem cell sciences could possibly coble up the first steps of shoe string immortality for all humans.

We've proved we can die for many causes dear to us now let us show how we can live for far causes we cannot as yet conceptualize.

Let us redesign ourselves for the better. And as for our Gods and Goddessses; they too may continue or not--it is up to our strivings, mental abilities--be the species that can live anywhere, travel, far, and eventually meet other travelers or make different independent species from us seeding the cosmos if we are truly alone.

It is up to us to take on this last battle and though we may never be deathless--we that chose to--can live, love, learn, and be whatever we chose as time permits.

And for those thinking this is total gonzo whacko just sit back, watch, age, and die don't worry about being part of the ongoing uplift improving of humanity.

Everyone has the choice of being a part or sitting back and letting things ride.

Send comments to telljoe@poormagazine.org or jsph_bldn@yahoo.com. Also, listen to Joe play those "Bolden Oldies"
on www.liberationradio.net