pstrongThe Mid-Market Project Area Committee holds a “community meeting” on Housing/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/541/photo_1_feature.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Gretchen Hildebran/PoorNewsNetwork/p pLuckily, it was clear and blue last Saturday morning, because I had trouble enough making it to the Federal Building on Golden Gate Avenue for the last Mid-Market PAC "Community Input” meeting that the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (SFRA) was holding. This meeting was important—the chance for residents, business owners and other concerned parties to tell the PAC what they want to have happen in this neighborhood. /p pFor this meeting, they were talking about housing, where people sleep and eat and live. I wonder how many people on the PAC have a committee that meets to decide about what will happen to their homes. Probably not too many, as only four out of more than 20 committee members are residents of this area. And whatever plan the Mid-Market PAC (Project Area Committee) develops out of this process will then likely become city policy for the area, which more or less extends from 5th to 9th Streets along Market and from 5th to 10th Streets along Mission Street. /p pOn the cover of the PAC's outreach packet it read, "This neighborhood belongs to all of us. And we all deserve a voice in shaping its future." Despite the feel good message, I still felt way out of place. This was my first time in the Federal Building, and I was scrutinized by the security guards as they scanned my bag and looked in my pant cuffs for anything metallic. Luckily I was low on change so I passed through the beepers and headed on downstairs. /p pOn entering the conference room, I was surprised to find that everyone was sitting informally around tables, sipping coffee and eating cookies (and bagels swiped from the Youth in Media conference next door). I quickly headed for the table filled with my fellow POOR staffers and interns and sat down to try and get a handle on things. On coming in we were handed the outreach packet and some feedback cards. Even though it was a relief to notice that we weren't going to be speaking in "testimony" style to a panel of people (who usually like to sit on an elevated platform if at all possible), the mood of the crowd was nervous. /p pAt our table and at the next were the POOR magazine folks, residents and some activists. The other four or five tables looked to be predominantly men in sweaters and glasses who were chatting and checking out the room more than they were reading up on the proposals. The people around me flipped through the packets and checked out the maps of the project area on the table. /p pThe PAC listed their first goal as being to preserve diversity, social and economic equity. POOR staffer Joe Bolden quipped, "Diversity? You mean different colored cars?" Parking was listed as part of the last listed project goal, and discussion soon proved that it indeed was a major priority of the plan, and it is meant to be parking for shoppers and other visitors, not parking for residents. /p pThe colorful map on our table indicated what was currently being used for residential, mixed use and retail, etc. in the neighborhood. SRO units were colored in differently than the rest of the residential properties, defined by yellow with black diagonal stripes and outlined with heavy black lines. The alarm bells that have been going off in my head for the last couple weeks, since I found out about the Mid-Market PAC plan, got a little louder./p pFinally the meeting got going when someone from the Redevelopment Agency got up to explain the agenda of the day and review the general goals of the plan. As José introduced himself, he caught the word "redevelopment" when it was halfway out of his mouth and replaced it with "revitalization". And no one dared bring up the specter of "renewal", which historically has meant the same as "removal" to the folks in its path. This brief correction made my cynicism flare up again—did the SFRA want to talk to residents just to find out what new language they need to use to make their plan sound community based and inclusive? Were we just being fooled into helping them fool everyone else?/p pJosé was a good speaker, articulate and patient in explaining everything in normal language but I found myself zoning out, circling phrases in the plan that had nothing to do with housing and getting paranoid about the stern looking man in the back of the room who seemed fixated on our table. But the gist of what José was saying came through. He explained the conditions in this part of Market street which originally made it a target for redevelopment in 1995: Vacant storefronts, unsafe buildings, high crime and "adult" uses such as peepshows and XXX video stores. All the language in the plan about diversity and vitality must have come later on in the process./p pHe also explained the three main powers of the Redevelopment Agency in an area. The first is the power to use property taxes collected from the project area to directly finance the plan. So if property values on Mid-market go up, so does the amount of cash available to subsidize further development there. The SFRA can also take out a bond to fund a project and pay it off with these taxes. /p pThe second power, he stated, was to organize the community around the redevelopment process. While the cheery SFRA representatives may be congratulating themselves on their collaboration with District 6 Supervisor Chris Daly, their lack of outreach failed to bring a decent representation of area residents to these meetings. This point was criticized repeatedly during the meeting and again undercut the supposed goal of the entire process. Tenants' unions and homeless activists have been developing the "power" to organize without much support of the government for decades. Ironically these organizations were called upon by the SFRA to do their outreach for them. Unfortunately the overworked and often volunteer labor of these groups didn't have the resources to organize folks for the PAC./p pThe third power of the SFRA is that of eminent domain. That is, they are able to force property owners to sell their land if it is deemed necessary for developments in the plan. While this might be a positive thing for poor folks in the area, for instance if the plan is to take over abandoned buildings to make low and no income housing. But what if the plan ends up demanding a parking structure where SROs now stand? Eminent domain is the power that was used to clear out homeowners from the Fillmore when urban renewal “revitalized” that area. /p pAfter the introductions and review of the plan, breakout groups were formed to discuss and rework the goals, plans and projects around housing in the plan. I moved to a table on the other side of the room to get an idea of what different people’s ideas were. Our group had a PAC member, a representative from a housing and SRO management organization, a SFSU college student, a rep from the Department of Health and a couple of other men who identified themselves by name only. /p pThe conversation centered on the wording of the goals of the plan, with a drift into issues of accountability and “focus.” Some important issues were raised, especially in the definition of “affordable housing”. Affordable to whom? And how much would there be? While everyone agreed that low-income housing should be the top priority (except for one guy who kept on insisting on the importance of “mixed income”), no one had a clear idea of how much housing should be created. The statements in the plan about preserving existing low-income units made sense, but even the PAC rep pointed out that these units are not currently meeting the needs in this neighborhood (or the entire city). Despite this acknowledgement, every time I asked if it was the PAC’s intention to assess need in the area, everyone would start talking about financing and market need./p pThroughout the discussion we touched on most of the important points in the plan such as preventing displacement of residents during renovation or rebuilding of units and at least managed to convince the SFRA rep that yes, SROs are an important part of the housing stock (he kept on asking…). We debated how to make owners accountable for SRO living standards and the need for transitional housing and services. Unfortunately our talking didn’t dispel my basic fears of the plan, such as the SFRA’s accountability and control over the places where people live as well as the obvious intent to incorporate this area into the downtown area as a tourist/shopping and theater destination (complete with parking). /p pOur SFRA facilitator started out taking notes on a easel pad but soon switched to jotting notes on his own paper. While someone from the group offered to take over the official note taking, I kept having to remind people to actually write down what we were talking about. They weren’t recording the meeting and these notes were going to be passed on to the PAC, right? Most PAC members weren’t there to take note of the debating issues and feelings. Were all my basic questions and objections going to be lost between the lines?/p pWhen reviewing the “Proposed Projects and Programs” for housing we questioned the presence of “Economic Development Programs”, which seemed to belong in a different area. But while everyone agreed it was a low priority, no one questioned the item described as “Acquire land; construct parking structure”. As I doubt this is a parking structure intended for vehicularly housed folks, in retrospect I don’t see why it is there at all. Who is this parking for anyway?/p pClose to the beginning of the meeting, an SRO resident spoke out against turning her neighborhood into “one big parking lot”. She has a reason to fear this. As it was described in the meeting, the plans for the new federal office building at 7th and Mission include destroying 600 existing parking spaces. While the building would create only 45 new parking spaces, they expect 1600 employees and 500 to 600 visitors to be coming to this building every day. The bureaucrats in the room insisted that they are only trying to strategize this new demand (along with parking demands from Nordstrom’s, new glass-enclosed street-level retail stores, as well as the proposed “theater district”). POOR magazine co-editor Tiny spoke up to question why this impoverished neighborhood was expected to make up the difference and provide this parking./p pThis major issue seemed to be competing with housing as a priority in the plan but wasn’t sufficiently addressed by most of the groups. After the discussion sessions the groups reported their feedback to the meeting. While residents’ substantial issues such as potential parking lots, policing, safety and standards of living in SROs were touched on by the attendees of the meeting, the overall goals and objectives of the PAC and its plan went basically unquestioned. /p pOne group made an excellent suggestion that all parking structures be required to also include low-income housing. This kind of creative thinking was challenged by the bureaucrats and developers but seems to be the only solution for the kinds of opposing viewpoints and interests that showed up to give input. It was heartening to hear so much emphasis placed on low-income housing in general, the actual need for shelters and NO-income housing was quickly brushed over. It seems that if the people who are so in need of shelter and support couldn’t find out about the meeting and represent this need, then their needs will basically not be considered. /p pBut the PAC has a lengthy process. After digesting all the input from the meetings they will rework their plan and present it again for reaction and more input. It is up to them to stay true to the multitude of poor folks who were represented by the few sleepy residents and activists who made it to this first meeting. Once this plan is reissued, it is up to us to respond and keep up the fight to let the PAC know just what they are missing. /p pOne resident stated in her group’s summary, the color she sees “is green. It’s all about economic justice.” While the PAC proposal puts diversity and social and economic equity first on their list, it still remains to be seen if they can learn to see things the way Mid-Market residents and poor folks in SF do./p pI Editor’s Note from Dee/ibAnother important creative idea mentioned at this meeting was the concept of creating a system for SRO residents to purchase their hotel rooms. Homeless people who RESIDE on the sidewalk in the Mid-Market area, especially on Jessie St., should also have the right and opportunity to purchase the space in which they reside. Gaining equity in their rooms and in their neighborhood would prevent the displacement that the PAC claims to want to avoid. We at POOR magazine strongly support these ideas and urge the SFRA to not lose these and other important new solutions in the bureaucratic/developer shuffle./bbr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongJoAnn McGuckin lost custody of all six children Friday, July 13, 2001. The state has permanent custody- what will happen to JoAnn the mother without her children?/strong/p p/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p pTo: JoAnn McGuckin- PERSONALbr /br / From: Dee @ POOR Magazinebr /br / Re: YOU ARE A MOTHER!!!YOU ARE A HERO - DUE TO THE SIMPLE FACT THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN LIFE TO SEVEN CHILDREN!!!!!/p pDear Ms. McGuckin,/p pThis is our second letter to you and your children. What we are hearing in the news about you is making us very angry./p pThe news reports say your children have been taken into "protective custody" and given to three families./p pThe children are reported to be healthy and well – yet you are in jail for "felony neglect" – FOR WHAT??/p pWe as a society are guilty of "felony neglect"- we and your neighbors, townspeople, and the judge that handed down that charge./p pWhere were that judge and townfolk when you were struggling to care for your ill husband through his death while also caring for your children?/p pThey are guilty of "neglect" for not supporting you emotionally when your husband passed away./p pThat judge is not aware of your struggle or is just a plain misogynist. /p pYou are a mother!! Instead of a criminal sentence you should be receiving an award ./p pSeven children- all healthy; they are all so desirable that three families want them./p pWell, how did those kids become so desirable – because you and your husband- and especially you- cared for them and raised them well./p pCounty Social Workers in child Protective Services for the most part are trained to blame the parents and remove the children from the parents. /p pAll you need is some time, crisis counseling and an in-home care provider and some financial support – food stamps, rent subsidy, an attorney that believes in parental rights and perhaps some training in computer technology or another field that you might like and could make some money in to help support your family./p pYou have been carrying a very heavy burden and yet your children are all well. I am a social worker and a therapist and I am giving you advice based on much experience in my field (and personal experience as a mother )./p pDO NOT BE A VICTIM HERE- DO NOT LET THESE PEOPLE BLAME YOU– DON"T LET THEM BREAK UP YOUR FAMLY!!!/p pTHEY want to care about your children- what about you?? They need to care for you!! /p pYou are the children’s mother!! You gave life to 7 children. You are a HERO!!! These people did not help you in your struggle to raise these children, in your crisis, in your pain- they are the only ones guilty of felony neglect!!/p pRespectfully, /p pDee Gray, M.S.W., M.F.T.br /br / Co-editor, POOR Magazine/p pLisa Gray-Garcia (daughter of Dee )br /br / Co-editor, POOR Magazine /p pPS: We believe what you need first is a rest. Someone needs to donate a trip for you for 3 or 4 days to a resort. Then another trip for you and your children to Acapulco, Mexico, or any other place that has an ocean, for a week to swim, scuba dive, and build sand castles./p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/530/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Mari/p pSee, I'm caught up in this system that's made to bring down you and I. br /br / This system is made to oppress our people till the day we die. br /br / This system is called... br /br / EDUCATION! br /br / That's right I said it, EDUCATION! br /br / Where we learn that Columbus sailed the Ocean blue in 1492, but did youbr /br / know he and his men RAPED, KILLED, and STOLE from human beings like mebr /br / and you! br /br / This system forces me to go to a class where my people are put down, br /br / disrespected, and made to look like dirt. br /br / This is where I learn that we are the immigrants of this so-called country, br /br / and about how we crossed the border, well you know what? WE didn't crossbr /br / the border, the border crossed us! br /br / Is this America? NO, this is turtle island! br /br / How could this land be named after someone who is not even from here! br /br / So I stand up and say, Fuck this educational system, and the whole US of A!br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongSo I left with no socks on…br / The day the “rules” stood stillbr / /strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/542/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Micheal Morgan/p pI spent the day of Friday, October 19, 2001 writing at POOR Magazine, along with staff writer Joseph Bolden, who can attest to the fact that while over there I was not doing any drugs, drinking, wielding knives or screaming (at least not while he was watching)./p pAfter returning to my shelter (Episcopal Sanctuary) from POOR Magazine—I had been up since 6am, the time the shelter staff wake us up for breakfast, and had worked at POOR all day long—I took a shower, ate dinner, and was lying on my bunk reading. At some point a monitor started yelling in the hall (they don't know how to talk in a regular voice) that there was an AA meeting upstairs. I yelled to them, "Is this a meeting for the hearing impaired?". /p pThen, with no warning, a small, very hyper, young woman burst into the men's area and said, "There's an AA meeting upstairs". She completely invaded our privacy and broke the rule that says that women have to announce themselves before entering the men's area. But, she was probably trying to set me up since I'd gone to the Human Rights Commission concerning the Sanctuary earlier that week. /p pI said: "You aren't supposed to come back here without making an announcement first. Besides that, we already heard the announcement."/p pShe said, "I did announce myself". All the men in the area responded that she had not made an announcement. Then she noticed a pair of scissors I had lying out which I use to trim my beard and said, "It's against the rules for you to have those and I'm going to write you up." /p pI said, “Go ahead, but get out of the men's area because you aren't supposed to be here unless you've announced yourself, which you did not, and now your business is over here.”/p pSo, an otherwise peaceful night had taken a bad turn due to an overzealous child who perhaps just wanted to have a glance at the men in states of undress. For, you see, even if she had made an announcement, she rushed into the room, without attempting to get a reply from the men that it was okay to come back there (which is the reason for making the announcement. Making the announcement and then just barging in would render the announcement meaningless)./p pIt was either a set-up or it was a violation of the Rules of Conduct in relation to women entering the men's area, or it was the result of an overzealous young staff member. The scissors had very little to do with anything. It is a rule that you are supposed to check in scissors but staff has seen me cutting my beard with them many times and the scissors would not have been lying out on my bed if I had intended them as a concealed weapon. The scissors were not a concealed weapon since they were: 1) not concealed, and 2) used for beard trimming (not stabbing people)/p pThen, I was told to go outside the shelter because violation of the rules regarding a weapon was grounds for expulsion for the night. So, I went outside. /p pWithin a few minutes the young woman came out there and said something to me. I said, "You didn't announce yourself on our floor"./p p/pPTo which she replied, "I did." I started to tell her something and she just walked off./p p So I said, “I'm not through talking to you,"./p pAt the same time she was saying, "Well I'm through talking to you". I guess contrary opinions are not worth their time./p pThis kind of walking away while a client is talking is rude but is part of their modus operandi of not having to listen to "us" because they are supposed to do all the talking. Later, I said to her, “You are not above the law."br / She replied, "I am the law.”/p pTo which I replied, "You aren't the law. You're just a worker here. You're a slave"./p pAfter stepping outside of door next to the front desk of the shelter you find yourself in a sort of waiting room where you can address the staff through a plate glass window, which is where I found myself standing, talking to the supervisor on duty, Mark Watkins. He asked, "What happened in there?" /p pI said, "This woman burst into the men's area unannounced, saw my scissors and wrote me up." /p pMark: "What did you say to her?"/p pMe: "You aren't supposed to be in the men's area without announcing yourself. Go ask the men, Mark, they'll tell you that she didn't announce herself.”/p pMark: "Okay, I'm going to ask them.”/p pWhen he came back he didn't mention the fact that the men backed me up, instead he said, "You threatened the woman."/p pMe: "How?"/p pMark: "You said to her, 'I'm not through with you’”./p pMe: "You can interpret that in any way you want, Mark, but the fact is that I said to her, "I'm not through talking to you," and it's obvious what that means. After this exchange, I went outside the building to wait for Mark to come out and talk to me. He came out holding my scissors, which he had defined as "a weapon", so he came out of the shelter with a weapon, holding it the way you would hold a knife if you were going to stab someone. /p pWhy did he bring the scissors out in front of the shelter where I was standing except to threaten me? He either wanted me to react, which he could have framed as an attack on him, or he just wanted me to know that he was being threatening and that they could be threatening in that place. In either case, it was totally wrong from him to bring the scissors out there. I have a witness who saw that he held the scissors in a threatening manner and stood over me with slit-eyes./p pAfter Mark talked about the "weapon" for a while he suddenly asked, “Do you feel alright, Mr. Morgan?" This was the same question they asked me through the plate glass window a week before. I had been asked to go outside because I was asking them to be quiet so the men could sleep. Again, I will get the men to testify to this because they were being kept awake though some of them had to work the next day, unlike the staff who sit up at the front desk and laugh and party all night. It takes no brains to do their job and they show it). /p pMark: "Do you feel alright, Mr. Morgan?"/p pI asked: "What are you talking about?"/p pHe asked: "Have you been drinking or doing drugs today?"/p pI asked: "why are you asking me that?" /p pMark: "Because someone said you were acting strange"./p pMe: "Who?"/p pMark: "Someone inside."/p pMe: "Who exactly? Name one person." I can name five people for every person you bring up who will testify that I am the same person tonight that I always am." And, I demand that you have a drug/alcohol test done because you are way out of line here. I have had nothing except penicillin for my tooth./p pMark: "I'll make that evaluation"./p pMe: "Your evaluation is worthless because you can't tell if I've had drugs by looking at me, obviously, because you are saying I am on drugs right now and I am not"./p pMark: "Your eyes look red." He was lying and I knew he was lying and he knew that I knew he was lying and he knew that I knew that he knew that I knew which means that he wanted me to know he was lying and that he was violating my rights. What he failed to comprehend was that it was wrong to do what he was doing and that I was able to go out and do something about the situation and was going out to do so. After getting thrown out, I went downtown and had several friends of mine look at my eyes and they said they were clear as the sky, which, of course, they had to be, given I had done nothing that day or the day before or the day before. However, my eyes could have been red due to lack of sleep because the staff was so loud at night./p pAt any rate, Mark eventually made the decision to let me back into the shelter. I went back inside and told him that I was going to take him to the Human Rights Commission and he said: "You have to get out". /p pI asked, "What did I do?" /p p He said, "You have to leave". Again I asked for what and again he said, "Get out.”/p pOutside at the window he said, "You're under the influence and have to leave for the night.”/p p I said, “If I am under the influence, drug test me. And, you are throwing me out because I made a statement to you so you are violating my right to free speech, not for the stated reason. I am offering to take a full blood test and you know and I know that it will come out negative"./p pSo, I left with no socks on, sandals, the wrong coat (a light coat), and went from the shelter at 8th and Howard to 7th Street where I ran into two guys I knew, one from Ireland, Joker, who had been in the shelter with me and another guy who was staying in the shelter and working with me in the kitchen. We had a good laugh about what had happened. One of them was a security guard and he went back to the shelter to get his uniform and came back to the bar reporting that they were saying that I was running around the shelter with a weapon./p pAfter staying in the shelter for over 90 days, doing volunteer work in the kitchen (the director said, "We couldn't run the shelter without you volunteers; you give more than we do"), landing a job, breaking no shelter rules, on the day I got my housing OK'd I was thrown out for something I did not do and had a night of wandering the street and spending my money sitting up drinking coffee at Carl’s Jr./p pI sleep downstairs in the men's section, which is next to the women's section and a woman was yelling at the staff: "You aren't probation officers and you aren't prison guards. You're just workers.” This was the morning following the night when I was asked to stand outside because I had gone to the front desk and asked them to hold the noise down so we could sleep. I was asked to go outside because "it looked like I was about to get loud" (what does that mean? Intent to get loud?). Now, this woman was yelling at staff and did not get thrown out, but I was suspected of being "about to be loud" while simply asking them to give us our right to sleep (they were partying and yelling at the front desk all night). This was the incident I took to the Human Rights Commission about a week before I was taken outside the Sanctuary and accused of things I did not do (can you say retaliation?)./p pThis morning, October 22, 2001, I told the director of the Sanctuary, Lynn Armstrong, that I was very unhappy about the situation in her shelter and she said she would meet with me about it. I told her I had been trying to get some kind of response from them for years and now I'm not going to talk to just her but to a lot of people. Then I left the place and went out front and gave a speech and told my friends to get ready to march on the place, hold a press conference, write letters, etc. /p pSure Lynn, I'll meet with you to discuss my issues, but I don't expect much from that. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. How will a person who is part of the problem do me any good except by agreeing to remove the blocks they are throwing up in front of me? If it is not in their interest, why would they help me, compromise with me, work with me? /p pMs. Armstrong, since you are the one who is supposed to oversee how your monitors, supervisors, and staff members treat clients, you are responsible for each and every injustice served out by the brutal and uncaring, manipulative people you allow to police the shelters (of course, this does not apply to all people employed by the Sanctuary, but it does apply to so many that the homeless have frequently asked me if a complete lack of sensitivity is a pre-requisite for obtaining the job of monitor, etc)./p pI was served with the following noticebr / Ibr /3 Notices of Shelter Rule Infractions:br / br /Name of client: Michael Morganbr / br /Date: 10/19/01br / br /Time: 8:45pm/i/p pExplanation of Notice #1: returning to shelter while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. (1B)/p pExplanation of Notice #2: Threats to cause emotional or financial harm to staff or clients (80)/p pExplanation of Notice #3: Possession of a second degree weapon in shelter (6B)br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongA mother in Urbana, Illinois is ordered to get a larger apartment, stop breast feeding in order to get her son back. /strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p pWe have been following the case of the mother whose son was taken away from her by the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services for her breast feeding practices.. The prosecution began when a baby-sitter claimed that the mother was breast feeding her 6 year old son against his will. The DCFS put the child in foster care in July and the Champaign County States Attorney’s office decided to prosecute the mother for abuse and neglect. Judge Ann Einhorn initially ruled that the mother had exposed her son to "enormous potential" for emotional harm. She reversed herself on Dec. 27 and gave the mother 6 moths probation and a list of conditions to meet in order to get her son back.br / The mother countered the allegations by explaining that she was practicing "child-led weaning", where the child would decide when to stop weaning. She claimed that her son gave her no indication that he was ready to stop breast feeding. DCFS also claimed that the son slept in the same bed with the mother and that this was a factor in his removal from the home. The mother explained to the court that she was living in a small apartment that did not have an extra room for him to sleep in. /pp La Leche League reports that several states have prosecuted women for extended breast feeding practices. A Minnesota case against a woman who was supposedly breast feeding a 6 year old in public was dropped when the child was found to be 3 years old. Similar cases of abuse were filed in Florida and Tennessee, but the women were either acquitted or charges were dismissed. The Urbana case would be the first in which a woman was successfully prosecuted for extended breast feeding practices. /pp The mother's insistence that she was practicing "child-led weaning" was ignored by the judge. Articles in the Chicago Tribune and the AP wire insinuated that there was something inappropriate about the mother's continued nursing of her son. A study on advanced aged breast feeding* that was admitted into evidence in the case showed that 34% of parents were still breast feeding after the age of 4. The Associated Press characterized this percentage as "rare, but not unheard of". The mother in Urbana was prosecuted for a practice she has in common with many American families.br / Recent studies have shown that breast feeding into late childhood can be advantageous to the health of the child. There have been numerous studies to show that there is a high correspondence between strong immune systems and breast feeding. There have also been studies to show that the benefits accrue with breast feeding beyond infancy. The US Surgeon General has called any child that is breast feeding at the age of 2 years, "lucky". The WHO reports that the average age of weaning worldwide is 4.2 years. Though this statistic has been called into question, it is clear that many cultures support extended breast feeding as common practice. /pp The most disturbing part of Judge Einhorn's ruling is that, in order to comply fully, the mother must move into a larger dwelling that has an extra bedroom for her son (which she has already done). If poverty is criminalized to the extent that children can be removed from single room occupancies, then few people would be secure in their family's safety. Would affluence have kept this woman and her son together?br / The mother accused the Illinois state Department of Child and Family Services of cultural bias and said they never fully investigated the situation. There is much foundation to thisbr / accusation. The mother explained her nursing philosophy quite clearly and the defense demonstrated that it is a common practice. The only condition that set her apart from mothers around the country was her poverty and it was this factor that made her a target of DCFS. /pp *The study by Texas AM anthropologist Katherine Dettwyler dealt with 1280 families who self-reported breast feeding practices. 375 were still breast feeding at age 4. /pp/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongThe City's Youth speak out against domestic violence/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/543/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Isabel Estrada/Youth in the MEdia Intern/p pI was headed to Break The Silence Stop the Violence, an event concerningbr / domestic violence dedicated to Claire Joyce Tempongko, a young woman who wasbr / murdered by her ex-boyfriend in front of her children. As the event began atbr / eight o'clock and I had to get to where it was at Howard and Sixth Streetsbr / from where I live in the Mission alone, I waded through more than the usualbr / number of guys saying "shit" to me. I was wearing long, loose, black pantsbr / and button up shirt with a sweater and poofy vest over it, nothing that to mebr / asks for any kind of attention. But there you have it. I always walkbr / quickly, staring coldly and too-steadily ahead for fear my eyes mightbr / accidentally wander over to the wrong guy. In that case I may see an old guybr / with his tongue waving around at me or, as has happened at least three timesbr / in my life, my eyes could land directly on the frustrated masturbation ofbr / some guy. /pp I remember the first time that happened. I was walking along 16thbr / street when I was eight with my stepsister who was 12. It was dark out sobr / when I saw some odd movement out of the corner of my eye I wasn't quite surebr / what was going on. Then I heard "ohhhh, my big floppy dick," and I wasbr / stunned, disgusted and very violated all in one second. /ppWe both hesitatedbr / quickly and then continued walking. As the louder, more hot-tempered sisterbr / I yelled back "you fucking asshole." We then walked all the way to the endbr / of the block, then crossed the street and started back where we came from.br / It seems that the man hadn't had his fill of fun for the night because as webr / came back we saw that he had crossed the street and was again with his pantsbr / around his knees as we passed. I freaked out and grabbed my sister to runbr / but she held me back. She later explained that she didn't think he couldbr / come after us very quickly with his pants around his knees and thereforebr / didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing us run./p pMen have this constant power of intimidation over women. It's ridiculous.br / There is no comparable situation in which a man can feel as violated andbr / frightened of an unknown woman on the street. Sure we can hurt men in otherbr / ways but we don't have that immediate ascendancy over any man that they canbr / enact with us women just with a single revolting look./p pI wasn't in a particularly sociable mood so when I saw the SOLD OUT sign onbr / the door of the Bindlestiff Theater, housing the event, I was relieved.br / However I could not give up so easily so I rang the doorbell several timesbr / anyway. Eventually someone came out saying I could come in, but that therebr / wouldn't be much room because it was really packed. I'm glad now becausebr / otherwise I would have missed a very special and educational event./p pThe small theater had a warm, personal feel to it. Or maybe that was justbr / caused by the fact that its 60 or so seats were filled, then there were aboutbr / four rows of people sitting in front on the floor added to all the peoplebr / standing around me at the entrance. The space was very dark because theybr / were about to project one of the digital stories that would be interspersedbr / with music and speakers throughout the night./p pThe first one was titled "Lost Boy" and was written and created by Charlesbr / Emmet Stewart. Initially the images consisted of pictures of the family withbr / a woman who I assumed was the mother. She had a sweet smile and acceptingbr / eyes. The narrative was a poem speaking about how the father who beat thisbr / woman completely tore apart the family. It also touched on a common factorbr / in many cases of domestic violence; the ineptitude of the police when calledbr / in for cases. In many situations, they just never show up "they're stuck inbr / their squad cars eating donuts," as the mother is "dead on the bed with abr / pillow to her head." A young man with his back to the viewer, and his headbr / down, facing a gray brick wall was another powerful image. In the end thebr / only way the lost boy could "stop all the pain" was to go to the top of abr / tall building. "He ran and flew, the pain went away‚and you can't fix abr / shattered soul." The audience was overwhelmed by the images of the sweetbr / mother, which contrasted with the bitter story line; the applause grew./p pNext spoke Missy, a young woman from United Playaz, an organization gearedbr / towards Gang Prevention. She spoke about the cycle of violence in generalbr / and how fright and confusion are often what causes it to begin. People oftenbr / fear the unknown, so when we are confronted with hard times, such asbr / unemployment, or when we are the victims of unfair prejudice, we tend to lashbr / out in violent ways. This only causes fright and confusion in other peoplebr / and thus one cycle of violence begins. The police are a special link in thisbr / cycle as they often fear those who they are supposed to be protecting andbr / therefore act in uncalled for ways. A good example is the case of Idrissbr / Stelley, a mentally disabled man, who was shot dead at the Metreon theaterbr / recently. (Apparently the officer had no training in how to deal withbr / mentally disabled people; his fright caused him to shoot when he should havebr / known that Mr. Stelley desperately needed help.) Missy ended by putting itbr / to all people to "take the initiative" to stop the violence./p pThen a group of kids, maybe aged ten to seventeen came on the stage, ready tobr / rap. Their name: Papa Joe's Crew, and they're from the Excelsior branch ofbr / the Columbia Boys and Girls Club. The youngest of them included Yogi,br / Double, Young D., Little CP and Vicious. The boys started out indignantlybr / "they think we're thugs [but we're not]." Then another young man came outbr / and again addressed the cycle of violence, "bad choices come back hungry forbr / blood‚ and What's on the street? Nothing but hate." Towards the end three boysbr / with one girl dedicated a song to all mothers saying "Mama I love you, Mama Ibr / need you."/p pAs the Excelsior kids cleared the stage, exuding boundless energy, our verybr / own Youth in the Media intern Mari, one of the hosts, announced that Markbr / Mitchell's digital video would be up next. He was a tall, stately man with abr / deep, sincere voice who somewhat bashfully came up to the stage to presentbr / his video called "Hate." Mitchell spoke of how his childhood memoriesbr / consisted mostly of "pictures and actions, not words." He recalls the "spitbr / of rage coming from his [father's] lips" as he yelled at Mark's mother,br / before he would take off his belt and whip her. In the video Mark mentions,br / to my amazement, that his mother is still with his father. When he told hisbr / mother that she was strong and asked her why she stayed with the man who hadbr / always beaten her she responded "I'm not strong, God is strong." Mark alsobr / mentions his worry when she told him, "you are your father's son," and thenbr / says, "I hope one day I'll have the strength to stop being my father's sonbr / and be my own man." This seemed an incredibly important statement. So oftenbr / women are seen as weak for allowing themselves to be victims of domesticbr / violence, but the weakness of the man who is so emotionally weak that hebr / cannot control his emotions and insecurities is not often brought up./p pBefore intermission, Mari put out a message of hope, saying that if anyonebr / out there is suffering as a result of domestic violence, that help does existbr / and that there are many others suffering from similar situations. She madebr / the point that "you are not alone."/p pNext up was the rapper Kiwi who brought his usual energy and range ofbr / socially conscious lyrics to the stage. He sang about Sweatshops in thebr / Philippines, about lack of adequate education for children, while in abr / different tune he also sang about love, "the strongest and weakest emotion."br / But he also struck a positive note in his songs: the possibility of fightingbr / back, in his case, through words, "you can't retain me, my spirit is toobr / strong my tongue is a double edged blade, I give multiple stab wounds tobr / thebr / mic."/p pB.J. Garcia's video, "Holes in the Wall" was for me the most touching. Thebr / language was honest and evocative. The images were of chained hands, lockedbr / doors and smiling women. Speaking of his father he said "I kept my backbr / straight so next to him I could stand. He stood so tall and his rage becamebr / my tears." B.J.'s video also touched on an important aspect of domesticbr / violence which is verbal abuse. It's as though verbal abuse takes away allbr / the woman's pride so that she can't fight back when she is being physicallybr / abused. He speaks of how his father would complain of the hours she wouldbr / spend in front of the mirror, saying to his son "her face is still ugly sobr / why does she care?" B.J. ends his film telling his father, "I see you as mybr / enemy and not my dad."/p pThe three young men who made up the group Renaissance were up next. Thebr / people's apathy seemed to be a main theme for them, "Mary J. got me starin'br / at the ceiling." "In fear or anger your IQ drops 20 to thirty points," onebr / of the men mentioned as an explanation for why people are allowing thebr / government free reign to wire tap phone conversations among other civilbr / liberty violations. "Put your hands up," they shouted and my hand went up, Ibr / could feel the beat bouncing, tangible, in the palm of my hand. Another bigbr / topic for this group was to "live life from the perspective of self‚ and thebr / truest revolution starts from self." Unfortunately when they asked "if youbr / love yourself, make some noise," we, the audience, were a little slow tobr / respond. It's odd, I sometimes get stuck thinking that generally certainbr / groups of people are the ones who have problems with self-esteem, but no,br / it's everyone. I belong to a mass of insecure beings headed by groups ofbr / other insecure beings who have control over bombs that can destroy the entirebr / world. How comforting!/p pAnyway, here come Mari again, but this time to present her video, The Rosebr / That Nobody Wanted. But first she encourages everybody to really listen tobr / children when they say they don't want to go home. She says that she isbr / aware that often kids don't want to go home because they may just want tobr / play but when she was a child she didn't want to go home because she wasbr / getting physically abused. It's worth it to really try to listen tobr / children. Mari's video is filled with faceless people, pictures of herbr / family with their faces rubbed. She speaks of getting beaten until she wasbr / "black, blue and red." She grew up with "screaming, yelling, fighting, mebr / and my sister hiding‚ screaming,please, please, I didn't do it." In this case it wasbr / her mother who abused her and her sister. She speaks of the embarrassmentbr / she felt when her friends would ask her where she had gotten so many bruises./p p However Mari ends with a positive note, "the cycle of violence will and hasbr / to stop with me."/p pThe night ends with the band Revolutionareez. I enjoyed the music which wasbr / an eclectic mix of alternative with hip-hop and then a woman who sounded kindbr / of bluesy in the background. The thing that was slightly annoying was thatbr / this woman had an absolutely gorgeous voice and yet in every song she was just the background singer. Then when a spontaneous break dancing circlebr / formed some men got out and danced in the middle but most of the women werebr / just dancing on the sidelines (very much including me). The only girl that Ibr / remember who was willing to be in the middle of the circle formation wasbr / Mari; other then that it was only men. It makes me mad at myself and atbr / other women that we tend not to assert ourselves, not to bring attention tobr / ourselves except physically. As though we were ornamentation for men. It's really true; the change has to come from within./p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongHow Do I Help My Daughter?br /br / Carmen's* Story/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN/p pI knew that there was something wrong with my daughter. I knewbr / that she was sick, had some sort of illness that was making her continue tobr / gain weight. She just kept gaining and gaining, and I knew that her healthbr / was at risk. What I didn'tbr / know was how to help her. All I could do was try to take care of her inbr / the best way, the only way that I knew how. No parent wants to sit therebr / and watch their child become sicker and sicker, weaker and weaker. Nobr / parent wants to believe that they are helpless to aid their child, or evenbr / worse, that they are making their child even more ill. But then again,br / there is no parent who could find it easy to deny their child food, tobr / forcefully stop her from eating when all she can do is plead for more./p pWe were trying to help our daughter. We took her to doctors, andbr / all they did was confuse us even more. No one seemed able to give us anybr / real answers about what was happening to her. So when Child Protectivebr / Services came to take her away that day, we could say nothing to defendbr / themselves. Watching my daughter being taken away from us, seeing her inbr / so much fear, so much misery, it was like my whole world was falling apart.br / Not only was this poor little child facing this terrible illness, but nowbr / she was being removed from the only family that she ever knew, the onlybr / people who had ever nurtured and loved her. Why these people believed thatbr / foster parents, strangers, in fact, could take better care of our daughterbr / than we could, I will never know. All I do understand is that instead ofbr / helping us, instead of keeping us united as a family, and providing us withbr / the resources and information that we needed to battle my daughtersbr / condition and the resulting weight problem, these officials ripped mybr / family apart. The very organization whose job it is to work for andbr / protect children and families decided instead to subject a defenselessbr / three- year- old girl to a trauma like none she had ever known before./p pNow we know that my daughter probably has a disease that preventsbr / her from ever knowing that she is full. She gets no satisfaction frombr / eating, and that's why she can't seem to stop. Instead of helping us tobr / learn about this disease and how to help her, however, C.P.S. and thebr / courts have kept us and our daughter apart. Not only are we facing abr / struggle against my daughter's health problems, but now we are alsobr / dealing with another tragedy: the separation that our family has had tobr / endure, and the trauma that my daughter experienced because of it./p pi*names changed to protect identity./i/p pbCourtWatch Responds***/b /ppIn the case of Carmen* and her daughter, the staff at CourtWatchbr / felt immediately obligated to assist and advocate for this family in anybr / way that we could.br / We first heard about this injustice on a talk radio show on KGO. Itbr / captured our attention because Carmen's daughter was removed from herbr / parents' care with little or no investigation of her health condition, evenbr / though there was a strong possibility that her weight was a result of abr / rare disorder and not neglect on the part of her family. Rather thanbr / offering to help Carmen's family find the resources that they needed tobr / address their daughter's problem, Child Protective Services criminalizedbr / the parents and mercilessly ripped their child away from them, placing herbr / in the care of foster parents who knew even less about her condition thanbr / Carmen and her husband./p pBecause the case received a great deal of attention from the media,br / the judge instituted a gag order, and the staff at Poor Magazine was unablebr / to receive any further information about the case or to make contact withbr / the family itself. Since we felt that it was imperative to offer thembr / whatever help we could, however, we decided to advocate for Carmen and herbr / husband in the form of a series of communications with the judge who heardbr / the case and the C.P.S. worker who was handling it. We also attempted tobr / contact the families' attorney, and made numerous calls to his officebr / offering our assistance, but as of yet we have not heard from him./p pAs soon as we hear any news regarding this case and/or others likebr / it, Poor Magazine will include that timely information in the CourtWatchbr / column./p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Samuel Irving/p pIn a prehistoric method,br /br / I study lifebr /br / From the point of br /br / The culture less exposurebr /br / To the sun, br /br / I am told that I am not br /br / A man even thoughbr /br / My hairs count many years br //p pBut yet affects br /br / Of my so called br /br / Taming ring throughbr /br / The echoes of cursed names/p piBoy/i/p pBecomes my titlebr /br / As I am engaged tobr /br / This field of order, br /br / Unlike the miseducationbr /br / That scorns my tired hands/p piBoy/i/p pI guess that’s me, br /br / Time is nothing br /br / But a beating awaybr /br / From the norm, br /br / For me and relativebr /br / To a common situation/p piBoy/i/p pRight away master, br /br / To pick some good br /br / Crops amongst ignorancebr /br / Entrapping my views/p pBOY IS NOT MY NAME/p pWhile the response comesbr /br / Through the blood scars br /br / Of my back, I am given a nicknamebr /br / That my own people adopt, br /br / But I can’t identify tobr /br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongProposed Legislation which would have given houseless San Franciscans 24 hour notice before their belongings were seized was not passed by the "progressive" SF Board of Supervisors/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/544/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Laurie McElroy/PoorNewsNetwork/p pI slept on the street for two more months than I had to in the winter of 1996, as some of the worst storms and most violent flooding in ten years rolled over the SF bay area. The (Department of Public Works) garbage men took my California identification that November so I could not rent a room even when I had the money, because of Duh Mayor’s enlightened policy of confiscating and trashing homeless peoples’ belongings./p pMy friends and advocates at the Coalition On Homelessness (COH) have spent upwards of five years lobbying City Hall for a change in the so - called “homeless laws” that would make 24 hour (at least) warnings a mandatory prerequisite to seizing and throwing away the belongings of people in my situation. This year the COH finally persuaded the new, “progressive” Board of Supervisors to toss around the idea of amending pertinent sections of the SF Public Works Code to include provisions for notice, and storage of removed property, but after five weeks of Rules Committee meetings and endless re - referrals, it appears the Board has not just fumbled but completely dropped the legislative ball in a morass of interminable delays./p pOn October 21st, I attended a Supervisors’ meeting, the sixth such meeting to raise the issue of legislating a guarantee that homeless citizens receive a 24 hour warning before Department of Public Works employees seize their belongings. Mayor Slick Willie set the tone for a recall vote by hypocritically bemoaning the economic “situation” in which San Francisco (downtown) finds itself, since his artificially induced dot - com boom has petered to a bust. Board president and author of the legislation Tom Ammiano, sent up a glaring red flag with an intro to the discussion that rang more like a funeral eulogy... “No matter how the vote goes,” he intoned ominously,” I really hope the dialogue continues.” A tightfaced woman in the audience, whom I recognized as from the COH, laughed./p pMy stomach entered freefall with that brittle chuckle./p p“This legislation is promoting a way of life that encourages people to leave their bags on the street, “said Supervisor Hall, miraculously deadpan. “It’s not helping anyone...” The “ -I care about helping” part was clearly implied in his sneer and casual demeanor. Hall also expressed his concern that the item made no apparent address to the underlying problems that make homelessness happen. Supe Gavin Newsom came out against the amendments on the floor, saying it will make shopping cart collection more difficult., which gave me a good idea of where he put property rights on his list of priorities. Later, he slung me a soundbyte, saying “I appreciate the intent, it was a noble effort, but I had to vote no on this because of what I saw as the unintended consequences, the hidden costs... I feel the money would be better spent on dealing with the root causes of homelessness.” /p pSaid Supe Matt Gonzales, in response to Newsome and Hall, “It’s great we’re suddenly so interested in having this dialogue on solving homelessness...” He continued, “When we criticise this legislation, we’re criticising the eyesore the posessions ( of the homeless ) represent.” Supervisor Chris Daly urged all present to revisit Continuum of Care, the official City and County of SF homeless policy. “This is existing legislation that has all the solutions to these questions we’re asking, if only it’s implemented... we must hold the Mayor accountable!”/p pThe vote split 7 to 4 in favor of rescindsion, which abruptly halted my stomach plunge *splat!* on the flat granite of disappointment. But I walked out of the conference hall with a held - high air and a set to my jaw. The best of all our stuff is what we have inside, because that’s what we resist with. They won’t ever get that. /p piThe Civil Rights Workgroup of The Coalition on Homelessness is planning an action in response in November to this decision. The Workgroup is having planning meetings for this action every Wednesday in November at 4:30 pm at 468 Turk St in SF. For more information please call them at (415) 346-3740br / /i/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongHR 221 Faces Senate Vote/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN/p pAmish families in Pennsylvania are seeking to rewrite laws concerning child labor. Traditional family life for the Amish includes work for children. Religious and secular education ends at the age of 14 for the Amish; This is the age that Amish youth are expected to become productive members of society. /p pFederal law prevents children under 16 from working at manufacturing jobs, and children under 18 from working under certain types of hazardous conditions./p pMany Amish communities rely on sawmills and other manufacturing plants as cornerstones of their economy. The Justice Department prosecuted several people for allowing youth to work in plants./p pThe Amish have been lobbying for a change in the laws. HR 221 provides a waiver for Amish children from current child labor laws. It passed in the House of Representatives on March 2, 1999 and now faces a Senate vote. /p pSupporters of the bill feel that it promotes the Amish tradition of apprenticeship. They feel it will help Amish families remain solvent and retain their culture. There are over 150,000 Amish people in the US and Canada. /ppDetractors worry that children do not have the attention span of adults and that they are more likely to be injured by heavy equipment.br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Staff Writer/p pThey towed awaybr / br /my house - a car-br / br /It was the last thingbr / br /I owned./p pIt was another ticket,br / br /A red tag day.br / br /They came around early- 2:39 am-br / br /Just like thieves in the twilight./p pI remember shaking in the cold,br / br /afraid-br / br /I knew I hadbr / br /no where to go-br / br /And feeling unlovedbr / br /by all./p pFor a moment mybr / br /mind wanders,br / br /A shock wave of feelingbr / br /runs rapidly through mybr / br /mind and body.br / br /I remember thinking,br / br /What has happened to society as a whole?br / br /As they sit around in ivory government buildingsbr / br /allocating themselves huge salaries,br / br /While others be comebr / br /impoverishedbr / br /by the secondbr / br /homelessbr / br /by the second./p pbr /And finally a red tag day.br / br /No housing and finallybr / br /my homebr / br /my only possessionbr / br /My car./p pPt 2br / br /We now face a bureaucracybr / br /Taking our things to pay those huge salaries!br / br /I am sorry to say my government-br / br /The one I so faithfully voted for -br / br /No longer loves it citizens./p pNo longerbr / br /will the native San Franciscanbr / br /be displaced and disenfranchisedbr / br /by the city where we were born.br / br /It is time for people to raisebr / br /their voices to the city injustices,br / br /put a stop mercenary practice andbr / br /greed./p pRed taggingbr / br /must stop Now!/p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/545/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p pDO YOU WANT TO LIVE IN A NURSING HOME?br / WELL, IF YOU ARE LOW INCOME, A SENIOR AND/OR DISABLED,br / THAT IS THE PLAN THE MAYOR, GOVERNOR, AND THE S.F.br / BOARD OF SUPERVISORS HAVE FOR YOU!/p pb THE REBUILDING OF LAGUNA HONDA IS JUST PLAIN WRONG!!!/b/p p$600 MILLION COULD BUILD A LOT OF AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE, INTEGRATED HOUSING!br / $400/DAY PER PERSON COULD BUY A LOT OF SERVICES!/p pTHE MONEY SPENT TO REBUILD AND OPERATE LAGUNA HONDA CAN BE USED FOR COMMUNITY ALTERNATIVES SO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND SENIORS CAN LIVE WITH DIGNITY IN THE COMMUNITY./p pTELL MAYOR WILLIE BROWN, THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, AND GOVERNOR DAVIS TO SUPPORT PEOPLE, SUPPORT COMMUNITY, AND DON'T REBUILD LAGUNA HONDA./p pbOUR HOMES, NOT NURSING HOMES/b/p p"UNNECESSARY INSTITUTIONALIZATION IS DISCRIMINATION"- U.S. SUPREME COURTbr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongImportant Supreme Court Decision Pending on Medical Privacy Rights: Mothers drug-tested without consent, then charged with abuse.br / /strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN/p pThe Supreme Court heard arguments in October in the case of Ferguson v. City of Charleston (South Carolina). Their decision will be crucial in defining pregnant women’s access to their Fourth Amendment Rights./p p The case revolves around a concerted effort by Charleston authorities to test pregnant women for drugs and then charge them with child abuse against their unborn children./p p30 women have been arrested at the Medical University of South Carolina over the past five years. Nurses and doctors, working with local authorities, tested women for cocaine use bwithout their consent/b during childbirth procedures. Positive tests led to arrests. Some women were taken to jail while they were recovering from childbirth. Some were offered drug treatment as an option; others were not./p p10 women sued the state, charging that their Fourth Amendment Rights had been violated. The Fourth Amendment offers protection against illegal searches, such as those executed without a warrant. The case has reached the high court.br / The arguments revolve around an earlier court decision that allows exceptions in cases of special need. If taking the time to get a warrant puts others in danger, than searches are acceptable. Drunk driving breathalyzer tests fall under this exception. South Carolina attorneys are arguing that the fetus is a third party in imminent danger. Justice Ginsberg asked attorneys how jailing pregnant women would support unborn children’s health./p pThe other issue at stake is the way the health care workers and authorities targeted women to be tested. “Inadequate prenatal care” was one of the criteria given. 29 of the 30 women arrested were African American. Cocaine was the drug tested for, though numerous substances, legal and illegal, can affect fetal health. The AMA among others have opposed the policy. Experts feel it will drive women away from much- needed prenatal care and increase the health risks that their children will face. The decision is pending./p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongBy A. Faye Hicks/Po' Poets Project/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/533/photo_2_feature.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Staff Writer/p pThe PEOPLE are being Scatteredbr / br /shuffling along with, blankets, backpacks, shopping bags pushing carts/p pNo more Unity in the poor Nationsbr / br /Park benches uprooted----shopping carts over-turned, homeless people unjustly br /arrested/p pPolice circling around like VULTURES,camouflaged as Human Beingsbr / br /The sick living in doorways, behind cardboard boxes.br / br /Bathrooms locked, water fountains denied/p p“This is a sad state” Thought the tired so-called Bag Ladybr / br /Alone, Mental Facilities sorely tested, Weakened by a gnawing hunger.br / br /From her womb, Misery was etched upon her copper tone belly/p pShe paused too rest for a momentbr / br /Dark eyes glazing into the distant skiesbr / br /Pondering the next movebr / br /Remembering the Peaks of her non-existancebr / br /An old Lady at Eighteen/p pBirds flying in formation, overheadbr / br /Dark clouds floating, silently in shapes of nightmaresbr / br /Her only safe shelter the Blazing Sun, capturing her attention/p p“If only I had a Star to wish upon or Something I can get some energy from.br / br /She stepped upon the wet, well-cut lawn of a Californian City Hallbr / br /Its dampness drinking in nourishing her beingbr / br /Her breast painful from unused Mother’s Milkbr / br /Sticking to her dress, Ragged around the edges of her soul.br / br /Its wetness the Morning Dew or Her Deluge of Tearsbr / br /Coming from deep within a inner well./p pTHE POOR POOR NATION/p pAh, The grass, so soothin to her wiggling toes. COMFORTbr / br /Half worrying about Police Surveillancebr / br /Knowning she was on Public Propertybr / br /Not daring to restbr / br /Because a trespassing ticket, would dip off into her Funds?/p pThe gold nail polish on her sun burnt toes glinting magicallybr / br /Spiraling undrugged thoughts upward seeking SUCCORbr / br /A hole in the Bushy Hedges?br / br /Dare she rest? A Haven?br / br /Her curled into a Tiny Ball! Her hide-away bed The City Hall/p pWith its Black Gold Dome, warrin against a winter sunbr / br /A King’s Ranson, Battling against the principals of the Homeless Nationbr / br /Unnatural Flags, weavin in the Beautiful Breezes, Compromising Life/p pOne Nation Under God?br / br /YO! YESbr / br /The power hunger god!br / br /The prestigous god!br / br /The Greedy Gut god!br / br /And The blood thirsty one!/p pAh, Knowling she signed, Better get a move onbr / br /There is no rest for my weary Bones here.br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/546/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Staff Writer/p pbr /Half-staffed fo a twenty on gun ‘salute’br / br /silent cries in my heart fo being ‘confused’br / br /at times alone in my room isbr / br /not knowing what to do a smallbr / br /moment in prayers is due tobr / br /every youth that lost they lifebr / br /for being part of the that street life hustlingbr / br /overtime by the code do or diebr / br /holding back the demons that arebr / br /locked inside.br / br /Hear me Lord why is itbr / br /the good are the ones to die. I’m onbr / br /the outside of the world looking inbr / br /watching time pass by walking in thebr / br /hands of time puffing on the healingbr / br /herb to ease my mind. Followin intobr / br /footsteps of a lost ‘tribe’br / br /educate yo ‘mind’ know yo ‘rights.’br / br / They say increase da ‘peace’br / br /but how can ‘we’ when all webr / br /is deceit. Where’sbr / br /da ‘equality’ when brothazbr / br /shadows get swept from from beneath theirbr / br /feet. I’m on my kneez looking upbr / br /to heaven praying fo mybr / br /unborn seeds. Hopin they don’t growbr / br /up to “see” da shit thatbr / br /I’ve ‘seen.’ Creator please help mebr / br /wit dis situation.br / br /Pacin back and forth realizin we allbr / br /God’s children in dis babylon ‘war.’br / br /I’m juss a youngsta upbr / br /in dis ‘world’ down tobr / br /die fo what I stand ‘fo’br / br /and that’s helpin out mybr / br /community and da ‘poe’br / br /God Bless/p pSituations sometimes bebr / br /‘critical’ with all deze hatersbr / br /suckaz and ‘foez’ sobr / br /I hit da ‘studio’ droppin songsbr / br /usin my mentals andbr / br /getto ‘instrumentals.’ Hopin onebr / br /day that it paysbr / br /instead of sittin around waitinbr / br /fo judgement ‘day.’br / br /I got to keep my head upbr / br /and ‘maintain’ holdin onbr / br /to my ‘faith.’ Cuzz divide conquerbr / br /and ‘assasinate’ is howbr / br /we was ‘raised’ earnin mybr / br /‘ranks’ by bein threebr / br /steps ahead of da ‘game.’br / br /Earnin mines by da nationwidebr / br /‘fame.’ If U want be a thugbr / br /U gotta have heart andbr / br /know ‘why.’ Its either Ubr / br /fall victim to ‘genocide’br / br /or hustle to ‘survive’br / br /thugging til my lastbr / br /Its either U fall victim tobr / br /‘genocide’br / br /or hustle to ‘survive’ plan out and ‘strategize’br / br /obiding by da code ridebr / br /or ‘die.’br / br /Thugging til my last dayzbr / br /in da West ‘Side.”/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongThe parents who wrote this piece are working with POOR magazine's, "POOR MOTHERS SPEAK" series, a writer's workshop for low-income mothers and children./strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/515/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p p/pPI never did like the algae green color of my shag carpet, but somehow today it seemed strangely comforting as the dusty acrylic fibers captured my over-flowing tears. I had just hung up the phone with a unit supervisor in Child Protective Services, (CPS) a branch of the juvenile dependency court, my fourth in a series of countless calls to get Isome/i information about my daughter...after several minutes of desperate pleading he hung up on me, accusing me of being "difficult..."/p p/pPIt was several weeks since my 14-year-old daughter came home at 4:30 am, I told her she couldn't go out again at night for the whole rest of the week. The next day after school she didn't come home at all- she stayed away for a 5 days, I found out that she ran away with a thirty two year old man - I resolved then and there that she wouldn't be able to go out at night at all.../p p/pPFor this decision, I was under investigation for "emotional abuse" from Child Protective Services, and today, six weeks later, my daughter is warehoused in a foster home where she is "AWOL" i.e., she stayed out all night, six or eight times, "they're not sure". CPS believes that the "care" my daughter receives in this foster home is preferable to the care she receives at home, and in fact they characterize her runaway status as "just being a normal teenager".br / /pPbr / I called the worker to protest this situation and once again they terminated the call because I objected to their definition of "normal" I was told by my attorney once again that I was considered "difficult," which in CPS-speak is a very serious label. The two worst things you can be in this eerie Kafka-esque branch of bureaucracy are "difficult" or "threatening." The "Difficult" label can be attained by merely calling the CPS workers too many times, or leaving too many voice mail messages" in other words being upset, persistent, or proactive./p p/pPTo achieve the "threatening" label one must have the wrong tone to one's voice, when calling and/or leaving voice mail, as well as calling too many times or leaving too many messages, In other words, being extremely upset or frustrated that you're getting the runaround when you're calling to find out what's happening with your child. They used all of this against me in the final court proceedings (as they do with all the parents who question their position).....br / /pPThe last jurisdictional hearing;br / /pP"Your honor - the CPS workers on this case have found the parent to be difficult and often times threatening - she has left countless voice mail messages and sent an endless stream of letters to the department, due to these threatening actions we believe she is mentally unstable and paranoid, It is our recommendation that she undergo two psychiatric evaluations before she is allowed to receive reunification services, It is also our belief that her overly strict parenting style has put the child in conflict, forcing her to rebel even further, when in fact she was only trying to be a normal teenager, establishing her independence..."br / br /br / /pPIn Los Angeles county, an extremely high percentage of children are in foster care, higher than any other county in the state. As well, low income families and families of color are the targets of most CPS investigations nationwide. Existent parental rights laws were recently changed, decreasing the amount of time Juvenile dependency workers must wait before terminating parental rights for children under five years old, it has changed from an 18 month waiting period to a mere six months, to enable a speedy and biased court trial, with irrevocable consequences for the parents.br / /pPbr / There is an upcoming legislation "AB 804 which considers home schooling, "educational abuse." Finally, CPS and its workers have full immunity, this last fact feels very much like another branch of government's ability to stop and search due to "probable cause."br / /pPbr / Our society's commitment to independence and individualism leads to the rampant separation of families, in pursuit of the so-called "normal" teen experience. Eager mental health professionals and/or unlicensed child welfare workers have been given the power by the juvenile court system to make pseudo-psychiatric diagnoses and permanently sever parental ties.br / /pPbr / POOR magazine in collaboration with Family Rights and Dignity, Families with a Future and several other organizations locally and nationally are investigating the county foster care system, juvenile dependency court and Child Protective Services. We at POOR, also believe in the concept of the community helping to heal the "dysfunctional" family rather than throwing it away, such as some of the revolutionary ideas being tried in Minnesota with the Community support/ community policing programs.br / /pPbr / As I held in my breath, my eyes focused on the now-tear stained carpet while I made one more call to my "worker" after the final Jurisdiction trial;br / /pPbr / "Where is my daughter? Is she in school? Has she seen her therapist?" I asked in a broken whisper.br / /pPbr / "Well, she is staying with a friend... Sometimes"br / /pPbr / Who is the friend?br / /pPbr / She's a 17-year-old girl - we don't know her or her phone number, but your daughter does call in to check once in a while.br / /pPbr / "Then she's a runaway - why don't you have the police pick her up and take her back to the foster home?"br / /pPbr / "Because she doesn't want to be in foster care - and there's nothing we can do...(click) "/p pBR / /p pbEPILOGUE/b/p pChild Protective Services is a closed system with unlimited power and NO ACCOUNTABILITY./p pOne Child Protective Services worker said, "It doesn’t matter what complaint you make about me. I have been working here for 10 years." This worker had the responsibility of deciding who should have custody of a baby. The parent she chose put that baby in the oven and roasted her. /p pThe worker was not fired./p pWhatever decision Child Protective Services (CPS) makes the Juvenile Dependency (JD) Court accepts as scripture. There is no accountability in the JD Court of Law./p pRefer to the PNN Court Watch column, case study #1.ANN. Despite all of the evidence from psychiatrists, teachers, social workers, etc. this minor was sent to a very young, inexperienced family member in Baltimore. Of course the placement failed./p pDue to negligence and indifference on the part of the attorney for the minor, the arrogance of CPS and the JD Court, the minor failed every placement and was carelessly placed back in her old neighborhood. The woman with whom she was placed wanted custody as a way to seek revenge on her neighbor. Thus the minor was placed in volatile, dangerous situation with no supervision and was seen selling drugs to other minors./p pThe taxpayers’ money that has been wasted on this case and many, many others due to the planned negligence of CPS and JD Court and the lack of bACCOUNTABILITY/b is immense.br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongBy Leroy Moore/Po' Poets Project/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/533/photo_2_feature.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Staff Writer/p pI can’t restbr / br /My disabled brothers and sisters are dragged, shot and beaten to deathbr / br /Society is scared of him..Big, black and mentally illbr / br /Take him away and give him more pills/p pI can’t sleepbr / br /My disabled brothers and sisters are living on the streetsbr / br /The ADA has done nothing for me br /Listen to my life/p pGot raped in a shelterbr / br /Got robbed on the streetsbr / br /Three strikes and now I’m in prison for life/p pI can’t restbr / br /28 million dollars for Ed Roberts’ Campusbr / br /Can’t even get my SSI cause I have no address... Does anybody care?br / br /Disabled youth abused in foster car..Segregated in school.. now I’m on welfare/p pMy disabled brothers and sisters are put to rest...br / br /On the streets, in psychiatric wards and in prisonbr / br /But I feel your spirit and anger in my chestbr / br /I won’t rest..Your spirit and anger won’t rest /p p...We won’t let you rest/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/546/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Staff Writer/p pbMarcello “Taisol” Lopezbr / br /Bio:/b/p pBorn August 9, 1981 Marcello Anthony Lopez. Oakland California Native, a graduate of Oakland Street Academy. Multi-Cultural background, so diversity is no stranger. Anthony has had the unfortunate experience of association with racial profiling, poverty along with social acceptance. Too light to be black, too dark to be white but his lyrics apply to all. At fifteen Anthony began attending the San Francisco Boys Girls Club and was introduced to a state of the art recording studio, and Taisol was incarnated. Fundraisers, festivals, protests and political awareness campaigns are some of the experiences under his belt. Older and even more knowledgeable, Taisol is here to put it on the minds of his generation. Jogging our memories to acknowledge, accept and create positive feedback on continuous unlawful and unfair acts surrounding the communities. Taisol will continue to provide consciousness to those whom are unconscious by building and strengthening the new generation. Opening the eyes of those blinded by constant casualties steamed by political injustice, empowering his generation with information pertaining to reality and longevity. A long lasting mental impression, food for mental intellect, and dialect everyone understands. As a young adult he has established his own publishing company, Poetic Hustla Foundation, is a member of ASCAP and is exploring all aspects of the Entertainment and Performing Arts industry. An artist, a lyricist with business savvy, a product of poverty, a statistic to the government but a prodigy to the ghetto.br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongMarie's* Story/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN/p pThe darkness was closing in; the night had settled, and we werebr / safe in our car, it was home for us. Like always, it was just me and mybr / daughter. I helped her get comfortable, I nestled her into the fewbr / blankets that we had. It was still summertime, so the cold weather hadn'tbr / descended on us yet, but nights in Marin can always be a little chilly,br / especially without the comforts of four solid walls around you. We werebr / doing just fine though, in our little hatchback, probably a lot better thanbr / most families on the streets. At least we were together, my daughter andbr / I; at least we had that much stability./p pIn the land of exorbitant rents and senseless evictions by greedybr / landlords, I thought I was getting by in the best way that I could. Sobr / many other people, with or without children, were getting pushed out ofbr / their homes and out of the community only because they were poor, becausebr / they couldn't keep up with the ever- rising cost of living. Not everyonebr / is a dotcommer around here, but soon they will be, now that all of thebr / money being made by those huge corporations is driving up rent and drivingbr / out the little people. It is money that is never seen by anyone outside ofbr / those big businesses, money that never makes it down to street level, andbr / the more expensive everything in this area becomes, the more people findbr / themselves on the streets because there is simply no where else to go.br / Before long, there won't be any such thing as diversity in this area,br / because every neighborhood will be filled with the rich upper-class./p pWell, I might not have the resume to get some high- paying job, butbr / that doesn't make me a bad parent. I provided for my daughter, but somehowbr / being poor made me a criminal, too, in the eyes of C.P.S. One day we werebr / just getting by, making the best of a hard situation, and the next thing Ibr / knew, we were forced out of our car, I was thrown in jail and my daughterbr / was taken from me, to where, I still don't know. As far as the court wasbr / concerned, I was probably better off in a cell as long as I wasn't livingbr / in my car anymore. But suddenly, it wasn't shelter or stability that I wasbr / missing, it was my child, and that left me with a feeling far worse thanbr / homelessness ever did./p pSince when is it against the law to be without money or a home? Ifbr / that is really the case, then our jails should be overflowing by now.br / Instead of criminalizing poverty, our government officials should be aidingbr / families in need to find the resources that are available to assist them,br / or creating more resources if necessary. Instead they waste money onbr / court cases against people like me who really just need some help./p pSo now, all that is left is for me to go to court, to stand up inbr / front of a judge who doesn't know me and a prosecutor who wants to convictbr / me, and try to prove that I can still be a good mother to my child. If Ibr / am lucky they will return my daughter to me and give us the assistance thatbr / we need to survive in an area that can be hostile for low- income families.br / But even if they do, it won't erase the experience of being separated frombr / her. Nothing can do that, not even the biggest house in the neighborhoodbr / and all of the money in the world./p p*iNames changed to protect identity/i/p pb***CourtWatch Response***/b/p pThe process through which POOR Magazine Media Studies staff andbr / welfare-to-work students helped Marie, mother of a three-year-old child, asbr / part of a CourtWatch project, started when Dee found a two-inch articlebr / about her hidden inside the San Francisco Examiner. She showed it to Tinybr / because she found it noteworthy, especially because of the way that Mariebr / was instantly labeled as not only homeless, but also mentally ill.br / According to the article, Marie had been jailed for trying to take herbr / child back from C.P.S. Dee felt the need to assist her due to the commentsbr / made in the article, which put up all kinds of red flags in terms of thebr / labeling used by C.P.S. as a means of denying a parent custody of theirbr / children./p pAttempts to find Marie, including calling C.P.S., the court, andbr / the jail, all proved difficult and fruitless. Finally the POOR staff foundbr / Marie's attorney. We contacted him and also sent a letter to Marie throughbr / his office. After finding out from the criminal court when Marie wasbr / scheduled to appear, the staff attended her court date. Our reporters werebr / also able to interview her attorney and probation officer, and consequentlybr / reviewed and wrote up their impressions of everyone involved in Marie'sbr / case, including the judge and Marie herself. Although Marie was supposedlybr / restricted from having visitors at the jail, Dee and Tiny were allowed inbr / to see her. It was obvious that Marie needed a lot of help./p pPOOR Magazine contacted Marie's attorney one more time to offer ourbr / help advocating for her, although it was clear that she needed assistancebr / beyond the staff's capabilities. Since he could not release any morebr / information, like the court reports, to us, POOR was even more limited inbr / what we could offer to do for Marie. The solution was to send her, throughbr / her attorney, a list we compiled of various resources available to her inbr / the area in which she was staying, including services for homeless familiesbr / and the mentally ill, shelters and transitional housing, food vouchers andbr / meals, and employment and childcare services./p pIf we receive any updates about this case or others like it, youbr / will find them included in future CourtWatch columns./p p /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p