2002

by PNN staff

When I am at my best I make people laugh until they cry. I am the
first up to dance and I drag all the rest of my friends out onto
the floor with me. I decide in an instant where we will go next,
and pick the perfect place. I am the one who calls all my friends
and spills interesting stories into their ears. At these times I
live with a winning smile on my face. At these times I'm all my
friends' best friend.

But some days I have to drag myself out of bed in order to get up.
These are times when nothing I put on looks good. I'm even
embarrassed to go dancing because I'm afraid of awkward dance
movements that look as though I'm trying to get the music off my
body instead of dance to it. These are times when I don't call
anyone and feel alienated when no one calls me. This is when I
feel that I don't have anything to say to anybody, when looking at
the paintings on my walls becomes oppressive because they seem to
be caving in on me to prevent me from leaving my room. At these
times the only thing I have the courage to do is lie on the
Bishop's Bed in my living room and watch the movie Woman On The
Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown over and over again. These times
welcome Bessie Smith's scratchy voice as she sings, "It's mighty
strange that nobody knows you when you're down and out."

It does seem that many friends are only around when there is fun to
be had, but once their help is needed, they stay away so as not to
be sucked into my depression. However in my case, my extended
family, whether they are related to me or not are the ones that act
as my friends when I feel that I have none.

When I'm depressed, I can always depend on my editor Dee's voice
leaving ten minute messages on my voicemail telling me to get it
together and get my next story started. I can depend on my
mother, my roomate and their friends converging after their days at
work. Even though I sulk and say I don‚t feel like talking they
refuse to close their mouths and continue probing me with questions
and trying to make me laugh. They fill the house with warm smells
of lamb curry or lemon and garlic salmon. They pass out the wine
and pile on top of the bishop's bed, with me squeezed in the
middle, to drown out the movie with their talk about men, Turkey,
museums, Cuba, politics, pending trips, food and on and on and on
until my bad mood finally gives up.

by Aldo Arturo Della Maggiora

Melida Andrade (Ma ma) was born in Born 1902 in Cojutepeque, El Salvador, a country of volcanoes. Ma ma Melida came from a poor family. During this era the country was not very populated and their economy was fair. My Great Grand Mother did not know how to read or write, nor did she attend school. At that time going to school was a privilege for those who could afford it.

Ma ma was the oldest daughter of Catalina Delgado and Salvador (a military general). She had two brothers and a sister. The oldest brother was Estevan,11, the youngest brother was Atilio, 10, and Lidia, at 4 years old, was the youngest in the family.

In 1914, Ma ma Melida’s mother, Catalina passed away at age 38. Prior to my Great Great, Great, Grand Mother Catalina’s death, she had already separated from her husband. Ma ma Melida was only 12 years old; left to care for Estevan, Atilio and Lidia. Ma ma Melida went to live with her Grand Mother Benita Carrillo v. (view da) de Delgado. Estevan ran away from the family. My Great Grand Ma said that she tried to track him down but could not find him. Suffering from the frustration of losing a brother and not being able to afford medication for her mother, dying of a fever, she promised to herself that she would come out of poverty with her family. That was her turning point.

Finding herself at the age of 12 years old left with the responsibility to raise her brother and sister, Ma ma Melida wasted no time in vain conversation. Her conversations, were all about business and no more than that. She focused on looking and speaking proper so that she would not be outcast from the cream of society. She had an attitude that she was the queen and only interested in business. She used this attitude in society and in her family so that nobody could put her down. She did not let anybody in, because she understood the nature of envy and how personal history was used to minimize others; to interfere with the business or goals one had in life.

She earned her respect and everyone she worked with saw that this women was a hard worker, had self-determination and dignity.

Her strong character came from the fact that she had to confront life at an early age. She had the knowledge of "No meter la pâté" (to be proper) among the wealthy, intellectual, business community. Through listening and observing she learned to behave and survive amongst the privileged society. She graduated from the University of life.

It is believed that after the death of my Great, Great, Great Grand Mother, Ma ma Melida got involved in prostitution to be able to send money back to her grandmother to feed her brothers and sister and build the capital necessary to start her liquor business. From time to time, Ma ma Melida also got paid to breast feed other children, which was customary in El Salvador.

In El Salvador police were known for tattooing prostitutes with a serial number. My uncle was aware that my Great Grand Mother had a numerical tattoo on her shoulder, hidden behind two tattooed hearts; which she never showed anyone. Other than this information no one talked much about this subject within the family circle, and people that knew, did not speak about it, for respect.

At about age 19 Ma ma Melida started her liquor business. She traveled with local merchants who knew her. The barrels of liquor Ma ma Melida bought were transported on mules to different town fairs throughout El Salvador.

Once she arrived into town she would set up a tent both to promote the liquor she sold. Since she was on the road all the time the tents were convenient to sleep under after a long day of work. Ma ma Melida carried a 38 caliber with her as a means of defense. She would not let anyone take advantage of her. These town fairs would last up to three days, where local officials, business owners and town’s people would show up throughout El Salvador. There was music, dancing, food, and vendors.

As Ma ma Melida’s business began to flourish, she helped set up a barbershop for Atilio. but due to his alcoholism his business failed. He became a shoe shiner as well as a shoe repairer on the street. He lived in run down Mesones. (hotels) Other times he found himself in the streets when he could not afford the Mesones. Ma ma Melida tried hard to help him but Atilio gave up, she had to learn how to let her brother go, because no matter how much money she would give him he would always spend it on alcohol. Lidia received money from Ma ma Melida and opened two cantinas. Although Lidia’s business did well the hardships of a bad relationship resulted in her becoming bankrupt. Her unhealthy relationship lead to the mismanagement of her business. Lidia lost her business and house. She had seven children who were grown up by that time.

By this time Ma ma Melida had two children Arturo and Soli. She bought a house in Sensuntepeque and eventually bought 16 houses where she rented to people and established cantinas selling liquor. Sensuntepeque was a rural area and property was inexpensive

Being the new, single women with her siblings, in town and establishing businesses and homes attracted the envy of one woman who was known well in town for her business success. She took Ma ma Melida to court complaining that the cantinas were not good for the town. Eventually Ma ma Melida got tired of going to court and decided to sell all her property and businesses. She collected all her money and moved to the capital, San Salvador. She never gave up on her dreams. She bought a house and established her first cantina, later establishing more cantinas. Her husband Manuel Andrade opened two grocery stores.

As her business grew stronger, sooner then later, she was able to present herself to the De Stileria la Central and another company Ilopania at the time who made Flor de Cana.and Espiritu de Cana. She became a wholesale buyer of the production and National Drink called Espiritu de Cana, which is the spirit coming from the sugar cane and Flor de Cana, meaning flower of sugar cane. She was the #1 distributor for the whole country.

Mama Melida bought almost 90% of the production of both companies in cash. Both companies gave her the lowest discount, about 30 percent. The remaining production these two companies had were sold at a 15% discount; where as my Great Grand Mother was able to move the industry of liquor by selling her production at 12% discount. She sold to small towns, big cities, cantinas, grocery stores, etc.

She was recognized by Banko Salvadoreno run by Don Luis Escalante. Don Luis Escalante later on decided to open his own bank named Banko Agricola Comercial, the strongest bank in El Salvador. He ask her to transfer all her capital into his bank and offered to give her the most interest on her capital.

After 7 to 10 years of working in business Ma ma Melida contracted a designer and architect to design a big house for her whole family to move in. Her son, Pa Pa Arturo became an economist for the United Nations, representing Central, South America and the Caribbean Islands. He married my GrandMother, Lotty Lara, an educator. My grand parents had 4 children. Being that my Grand Father had children with different women, a divorce was inevitable.

My Great Grand Ma loved her grand children but she was on her son’s side and her dream of having a family dynasty washed away when my grandfather had his wife and children leave the house, with no money.

In the 1980’s Ma ma Melida came to America asking for forgiveness to the family on my mothers behalf. She asked my mother to go to her funeral to represent the rest of the family. My Great Grand Ma passed away January 13, 1981.

Ma ma Melida always meant business and wanted to produce more money. She received capital gain, prestige, gifts, power, and recognition in society. Unfortunately her liquor business exploited her people, whose life hopes became a bottle of alcohol and each generation repeated that same cycle. This is the price my Great Grand Mother had to pay to live well off and make it amongst the economic, political, and business elites.

.

In the case of my Great Grand Mother it was her ambition that created her accomplishments as well as her downfalls, unfortunately she could not confront the aspect of her life that contributed to exploiting her people as well as her family. Bad decisions caved in her dreams of having a united family. Hopefully the next generation won’t repeat the same mistake.

by Alexandra Cuff and Joseph Bolden /PoorNewsNetwork

Up earlier than I should have been on a bleak Saturday morning, I stared at the early risers on the 49 bus wondering what clever question I could possibly ask Gavin Newsom about his Care Not Cash initiative. From what I’ve read about him, he seems impenetrable and I imagine that he has a million dollar premeditated answer to anything that challenges his precious campaign that is going to cure our city of the disease of homelessness. I wondered how I would perform when finally face-to-face with the golden boy himself. The sun was nowhere to be seen in the San Francisco august sky. I never ended up writing down the address of the Plumbers & Pipefitters Union so I walked around the province of Market Street and Gough for a few minutes in an overcast-bred daze.

When I saw a score of protesters gathered on the sidewalk I realized I had found my location. I walked over and hung out with other Care Not Cash opponents while wondering what we were doing outside when the campaign rally was inside. I didn’t know that these events weren’t open to all. Turns out the bouncers were just there to keep out folks that weren’t Newsom supporters. I walked past and mentioned that I was with Poor Magazine. I was asked for a press pass and responded with, "we are a poor magazine, we can’t afford passes." The man guarding the door looked me up and down to my worn shoes and asked me, with all sincerity, to please keep it outside if I was going to protest. I assured him I wasn’t going to protest and walked up the stairs to the main event.

I had to pass 2 tables of petition-pushers before finding my seat in the white-dominated sea of people dressed in jeans-Friday office garb. I didn’t know what to expect because I’d never been to a campaign rally before so I was pleased to see the breakfast spread and helped myself to some orange juice. Just then I flashed back to Thursday where I spent the majority of the morning at DHS (welfare) waiting to see my food stamp worker. I always thought it would be cool if there was juice and coffee for all the poor folk applying for assistance. I’m sure that will never happen though for fear that people would have more of a reason to follow through with the grueling intake process…just a thought.

The amusement of watching Gavin walking around the room flashing his Ken doll smile and thanking people for coming was interrupted by Jim Ross, the campaign manager, who was leading the masses in a slow clap. And so the pep rally began. All around me the slow clap got louder and louder leading me to look to the back door where I expected the Giants to gallantly run into the room and begin to warm up for a game. With a couple of yee-haws Ross brought the clap to a normal pace and asked the crowd to "applaud for our protesters outside who don’t support Care Not Cash." I felt like an alien while looking around for non CNC cult members and was steadied at the site of Joe (POOR Magazine columnist) who was sitting a couple of folding chairs ahead of me.

Ross held his hands up letting the automaton’s know that they could stop clapping as he announced that the 23,000 signatures submitted to the Department of Elections on July 8th placed the Care Not Cash initiative on the November ballot. He went on to say that as the campaign manager, he’d been really nervous during the whole process. My immediate reaction was to wonder what personal stake Jim Ross had in seeing homeless people’s GA slashed. He also announced that the campaign finally landed a space on 12th and Irving and joked that if anyone has a chair to donate…playing up to the Newsom-is-not-privileged-and-can’t-afford-a-chair-so-we-need-more-money image.

Newsome appeared and immediately gave the enemy a framework: "You all heard there are some rumblings going about. There is opposition. It’s important to get our message out to people. Whoever thinks the current homeless system works is really deluding themselves." I felt like I was in a scene from the sci-fi miniseries "V" where the underground is getting ready to overthrow the invading aliens. Unfortunately, this event hadn’t the least bit to do with revolution. Chuckles went up all around me and a question I had asked myself over and over was answered: How could so many people (apparently from the signatures over twenty thousand) easily go along with an initiative without listening to the opposition when there are people protesting every Newsom-sponsored event. I sadly realized that people are lazy. They want to see the black and the white. There is homelessness therefore we need a cure. Or, Newsom wants to fight homelessness and everyone that doesn’t agree with his panacea thinks the current system works just great. In other familiar words, if you’re not with Newsom, you’re against all homelessness reform.

30 seconds into Gavin’s soliloquy he was interrupted by an person in a Gavin Newsom mask ( a group of activists began a performance in the audience section below him) – one moment I was resisting a politician’s charm and the next I was at a mime troupe performance. The Newsom mimic danced up in Gavin’s face calling "Oh Gavin, Gavin you are so beautiful, I love you" while a couple other perpetrators in the audience asked questions translating to "why do you want to fuck over the homeless people." The protesters represented Gays Against Gavin. I can’t quote any of what I imagine were clever remarks on the protesters part because in no time Jeff Ross, our trusted campaign manager, had gotten everyone to begin clapping in order to drown out the voice of the forbidden other. I turned around to catch the reaction of some of the clappers and caught a woman behind me turn around to her friend and with a numskulled smile ask, "why are we clapping?" Enough said about that disturbing observation. The infiltrators ran around the room handing out, and throwing, anti-Care Not Cash propaganda which mostly ended up on the floor, unread.

Once things had calmed down and the performers were ushered out by angry Newsom cult members, Gavin got on with his own performance. He began, "the truth hurts." The uproar of whooping and applause started up. I scanned the room and thought, yes, the truth definitely hurts. I could only think of the Stepford Wives. But what gospel was Newsom talking about? I was constantly baffled by his sound bites. He’d refer to a victory and I’d wonder who the fight was against? The poor people? Why? He went on to talk about how the money currently spent to fight homelessness is a form of consumerism and with a furrowed brow said, "you see where that money is going when you drive through the streets – it’s an outrage, a disgrace." I noticed his polished getup and thought of how I couldn’t afford to eat at his restaurant if I wanted to and wondered what he knew about an excess of consumerism.

He went on to make fun of the protesters who peopled the July 18th Care Not Cash (CNC) fundraiser at the Cal Insurance and Associates Building by cheapening their direct action approach without addressing the issues that were brought up by the opposition. He scoffed that the organizers provided dinner and transportation to the folks attending the protest making it sound like a bunch of ignorant homeless people were enticed with a food offering. People actually laughed at this. He said, "they can’t debate the fact that truth hurts and that Care Not Cash is going to turn this around. They are avoiding the facts and attacking the messenger." I assume he is referring to himself as the holy messenger.

More cheering from the drones and he still hasn’t mentioned anything about what the initiative will actually do to benefit the poor and homeless of the city. He also mentioned that if people are whining that there are no services they should be supporting CNC so that we can get organized and make change. After going on a little bit more about how the CNC opponents actually inspire him, he entered the final stage of his act and thanked the supporters of the initiative: SF Medical Society, the police and fire departments, the doctors of SF General and of the Haight Ashbury clinic, and the SF City of Neighborhoods.

Newsom then proclaimed "we have a little skit of our own" and two campaign frat boys got up and acted out the "right and wrong way to ask people for signatures and endorsements." They pretty much insulted anyone who has signed the petition because even in the "right way to ask" they never explained the initiative, they just asked more nicely than in the "wrong way" and the actor playing the passersby signed without hesitation. Newsom closed by reminding us of the protesters outside: "A warning – they have the right to yell outside. Stay calm, ignore it. We don’t want a real conflict. We don’t care about what they yell at us."

I thought I might be able to avoid direct contact with the charming supervisor but when his pep talk was over, I realized that’s all it was – a pep talk – and that I didn’t get any of my questions answered. So I approached the half moon of bodies that had gathered around him to ask questions and/or to kiss his ass. While waiting for my turn to talk with the most popular boy in the room, I was present for the discussion that took place before mine. A man of African-decent (1 of the 3 in the room) introduced himself as a homeless man and let him know that the image of homeless folk that Newsom is creating with this campaign is just a stereotype. He asked Newsom if he’d like to be lumped under the category of politician…because we’re all familiar with that stereotype. Gavin’s eyes scanned the circle of us quickly and his lips held a friendly smile as he explained that he’s spent a lot of time talking with homeless people and has gotten their input regarding the initiative.

When my turn came I wiped the sweat of my palms onto my jeans and introduced myself while shaking his hand. I identified myself and a transplant from a middle class family on long island and went on to explain how GA helped me by providing income to contribute to a casual living situation at a time when I had no employment or home. I related that if I’d been denied cash and had to stay in a shelter, I would never have pulled myself together enough to find work or let alone stay in a nurturing environment where I could cook with friends or sleep in all day if I needed. He looked me in the eye and shaking his head with understanding went on to tell me that CNC will not affect anyone’s cash aid that isn’t living on the street.

"Do you mean there is no cut in cash aid for people that aren’t homeless?" I asked dubiously. He explained that only 30% of people on GA are homeless and those are the people they want to help by ensuring they get off the street. Hm. "Well why would you provide shelter vouchers for people instead of cash when shelters are already free? Also, there aren’t enough shelters as of now to house everyone." Newsom assured me with complete body language (an empire’s strike three hand signal) that "this is a voucher-less system!" Then he went on to talk about how we are the last county in the nation to provide cash benefits and that he has spent a lot of time in New York City observing the way in which they are dealing with homeless issues.

"Ah so where are all the homeless people in New York?" I asked. "I’m going home to visit the parents in August so I’ll definitely make sure to talk to homeless people there and hear about how much better their lives are since the city has been cleaned up." Immediately Newsom told me about how horrible the intake conditions are in New York and explained that it’s just a start. I told him I’ve read that the shelters are practically prisons and he agreed with me wholeheartedly. So I asked him a couple other questions, two regarding housing: how the act will affect SRO occupants and where is all of this housing you speak of that the now homeless have to look forward to if CNC passes. I also asked how welfare recipients who are reaching the 5 year time limit this year will be affected by the initiative. His answers were suave and I realized that although my heart was into the investigation, I hadn’t done enough research to ask the piercing questions I fantasized I would be able to.

I thanked him for his time and stood around while Joe Bolden from POOR, asked the golden question: "Are you going to run for mayor in the upcoming election." Newsom gravely answered no and to bring humor to the discussion added, "I would never be addressing homelessness if I were running for mayor – its way too controversial. If I were running for mayor I would be working on playground initiatives." Joe and I walked toward the exit and remarked at how creepily sincere Newsom’s demeanor was

So I still have questions that aren’t answered and realize that I have a lot of research to do, namely in finishing my read of the entire initiative which can be found online at www.carenotcash.org. And if anyone cares, there’s a pretty funny picture of Newsom on the home page that links to a live video stream that provided entertainment to me and my housemates this very evening. I can say that I was pretty disappointed that most of the protesters outside remained outside and more informed folk didn’t infiltrate the campaign rally. I also think it sucks that the Gavin Q&A sessions are not held in public – not even that morning when almost all of the potential questioners were his supporters.

I spent the rest of the afternoon at the AMC 1000 catching $30 in free movies after my boyfriend and I snuck in. Even among all that escapism (free, too) I couldn’t shake Newsom’s face from my mind. I kept thinking of questions I should have asked Newsom. How are people who are living in shelters going to afford medicine on less than $2 a day? CNC says nothing about increased housing for homeless nor does it guarantee any increased services. People supporting Care Not Cash need to start asking themselves questions brought up by the opposition. Folks need to put themselves in the shoes of a mother of four who won’t be able to save a dime towards transitioning out of the shelter when her cash aid is cut. Or someone with diabetes that needs to pay close attention to their diet and medicinal needs.

As the pamphlet that was handed out by the Gays Against Newsome suggested, "Its time that rich San Franciscans stop viewing themselves as the victims of homelessness. The problem with homelessness is NOT that the wealthy have to see people sleeping outside and be asked for money while walking down the street." Are those turning their heads from real solutions and supporting CNC doing so to assuage any guilt they may have from never looking a panhandler on the sidewalk in the eye? During Gavin’s speech, the woman behind me was whispering "poor souls" or "god bless them" at the mention of both homeless people and of those protesting the initiative! I guess it’s easier to let other people do the thinking for you especially when you’re not affected by any outcomes. For those of us that don’t believe in putting the issue of homelessness in the hands of god or in the hands of Gavin Goosesom, we need to keep educating ourselves and others about the possibility of real solutions. And we need to show up and ask CNC supporters and Newsom himself the questions that we know won’t be answered if the initiative passes in November.

To find out more about the Continuum of Care, a plan designed by homeless scholars and advocates to create real change and lasting solutions to homelessness, contact the Coalition Against Increased Homelessness at 415.864.8372.

by Connie Lu/PNN Youth in the Media Intern

Gusts of cold wind rush past my face with each car
passing under the overpass, as I prepare to cross the
street where the First Bay Area Hip Hop Film Festival at SomARTS
Cultural Center is being held to raise funds for the
The San Francisco Bay View Newspaper. The festival was organized by filmmaker and writers Kevin Epps (Straight Outta Hunters Point) and JR (The SF Bayview) in collaboration with many other independent media makers. There are
brightly painted murals filled with vibrant colors on
the outside of the building. The stage inside is
draped with heavy black curtains behind the large
screen in the middle. There is a long table to the
left with a royal purple tablecloth, prepared for the
panel discussion. Apart from the dim lighting are
frequent bright flashes of light from the clicking
cameras that are capturing the many events and faces
throughout the Film Festival. I am sitting in the
fourth row of orange chairs near the center aisle, as
the lights darken in commencement of the first film.

The first short film is called, "Estilo Hip Hop,"
directed by Vigilio Brava. It depicts the culture of
Hip Hop and its influence throughout various countries
of South America such as: Brazil, Chile, and
Argentina. Hip Hop provides an outlet of expression
through dance, vocalized lyrics, and the art of
graffiti to the people living in these countries who
are poor, but are driven to "maximize and optimize
every opportunity". Hip Hop is not only an interest
to them, but a is a true passion that strives and
feeds the creation of new elements.

The next film is "Voice of the Voiceless," directed
by Tania Cuevas-Martinez. It is a powerful
documentary film based upon the appeal process for
Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Pennsylvania journalist who exposed
police violence against minority communities. The
documentary showed violent footage by using effective
film techniques such as, split screens and overlapping
montages of these minority communities being bombed
and residents being beaten and sprayed with
high-pressure fire hoses in 1978. Mumia was then
wrongfully sentenced for shooting a police officer and
has been on death row since 1982. Various Hip Hop
artists and activists throughout the film express
their support to free Mumia, who believes "Revolution
is my religion".

After the film, there is a panel discussion with
representatives from several media sources. Kiilu
Nyasha of "SF Bay View/Black Panther Press" explains,
"The sponsors of the 'Bay View' are refusing to place
advertisements because of the political content of the
articles, which leads to the 'Bay View' not having
enough money". She goes on to express how "The system
doesn't tolerate 'real' free speech". Willie
Ratcliff, Publisher of the "SF Bay View" continues the
discussion and emphasizes, "The great need for young
people in the media because they are the future".

Despite the fact that each representative on the panel
was from a different media source, including KPFA, POOR Magazine/PNN, The Bay Guardian, and Greenscene, I could sense the
unity in coming together for the common cause of
supporting the "Bay View". I was also reminded of my
own role in the media through the words that I write,
which represent the skills I have gained from POOR
Magazine to help shape the media, instead of the media
showing what it wants to portray.

The last film of the night is "Nobody Know My Name,"
directed by Rachel Raimist, who depicts the influence
of Hip Hop on women as artists who are determined to
overcome the demeaning way of the media portraying
women as sex objects and nothing else. Asia One, a
B-girl in the film explains that she felt intimidated
to be the only woman among several men when she first
started breaking. But now, she takes pride in being a
woman in a field dominated by men and hopes to see
more women becoming involved in Hip Hop.

The female artist I was able to connect with the most
in the film was DJ Symphony because she expresses, "I
used to be really shy, but now I'm more comfortable in
front of a crowd of people". DJ Symphony also likens
the turntable to a musical instrument, which I
reminded me of having to perform at piano recitals and
feeling nervous with each note that sounded from my
shaking hands upon the ivory keys. She explains that
it is hard to get respect from the male DJ's because
there aren't that many girl DJ's. But her goal is to
be respected by the men, instead of others seeing her
as, "She's ok, for a girl".

After I left the Film Festival, I realized the vast
diversity of the people at this event that I had not
initially noticed and felt the willingness of the
community to share in the experience of uniting to
support the powerful the voice of the media through
the "Bay View".

by Staff Writer

Glints of Fire

Leap onto the Pavement

"no Justice No Peace"

She turns Words -

into a river

washing the lost tears

of gentrified

communities

and forgotten people

into a knife of resistance

As long as she speaks,

Thinks

and dreams

we are safe

Boona cheema, human rights and economic justice activist for
the protection of civil and human rights of the homeless
and Executive Director of Building Opportunities for
Self-Sufficiency (BOSS)

by Andrew DellaRocca/PoorNewsNetwork Media Intern

At one point they asked,

"you been in jail?"

raise your fist…..

Drinking my bottle of water

I had to…

raise my fist

then they asked, "have any family ever BEEN in jail? "

raise your fist….

So now…

I have a water bottle stuck

in my mouth

& two fistS in the air ….

Finally they ask, "have any friends ever in jail?".

I decided…

not…

to stick my foot in the air.

I was clearly….

out of fists

If they asked any more questions

I’ll have to be air born

…….At the Rally….Out of FistS.. ...by Charles Pitts, Po’ Poets Project

"I am the eyes of my despised generation," speaks Dat. Dat is a poet. Dat
is a youth. Dat has forgotten his lines and so has grabbed the book in
which his poem is written. Dat felt awkward because he forgot his words.
"I only wrote the poem a few days ago, and I tried to memorize it, but I
didn't have a chance." He pleads with us with the motion of his eyes and
the movement of his limbs. Us the audience, Us the activists, Us the
artists, Us the community, Us the youth. But Us does not need an
explanation. Us does not hold tomatoes in its grasp, ready to hurl at the
first sign of a mistake. Us only wants to hear the poem. Us only wants Dat
to get his voice and his words heard. Us cheers as Dat grabs his book and
continues his poem. Dat completes his poem successfully and exclaims,
loudly, that he is "NOT down with the lockdown." Us erupts in a victorious
applause. Dat raises his microphone to the sky in triumph.

"It makes me feel kind of messed up, you know, because a good percentage of
the juvenile hall right now is black, black kids. It seems like they're
just trying to put black and latino kids in there. Especially with 540
beds, why do you need that many beds? You trying to do something big time
and make more money?" Lamont, one of the organizers of today's event,
speaks about the plan of the proposed construction of a new juvenile
detention center in Alameda county. Lamont fits the profile of the majority
of the youth already locked up in the current juvenile hall- black,
sixteen, male. The construction of the new superjail concerns him directly,
and so he, and other youth like him, have organized the second "Not Down
with the Lockdown" rally; a protest against the incarceration of today's
youth and the additional police presence being formed in Oakland under the
administration of Mayor Jerry Brown.

I take the BART to Oakland from San Francisco. I go under the Bay. I go
over West Oakland, and it's warehouses, and the powerlines which carve up
its skyline. I arrive at the 12th street station, and walk from there to
the Frank Ogawa Plaza where the event is being held. The sky is at first
covered by clouds, but they break apart quickly and reveal the sun promptly
at noon, the scheduled start of the Oakland rally.

Oakland, they say, has become a more violent city. Mayor Jerry Brown and
the Alameda County Supervisors think that an additional 100 police officers
and the construction of a large juvenile detention center with additional
beds for additional offenders is the proper response to the increase in
violence. Van Jones, the national executive director of the Ella Baker
Center for Human Rights and one of the organizers of this event, challenges
their approach.

"Neither Jerry Brown nor the County Supervisors are the actual victims of
the crimes. It's the young people who are the victims of the crimes, and
they're calling for the opposite. They're calling for more jobs and more
schools and more opportunity for themselves, and I think its about time that
the government officials listen to what the young people themselves say
would solve THEIR problem."

And so those that are affected most by the violence in Oakland, the youth,
have come together in Frank Ogawa Plaza to not just protest the government's
response to their problems, but to promote a peaceful and creative existence
with each other. Spoken word artists, dancers, rappers, singers, actors,
one after the other, take the stage to speak out against violence,
incarceration, and poverty, and against those institutions which have
learned to profit off of them. The consciousness is high in downtown
Oakland. Each artist uses her own medium to express the issues which lead
to crime and incarceration. Colored Inc., a local group of youth artists,
rehearses a powerful skit chronicling the social issues that contribute to
youth violence. The skit ends with the resurrection of a murdered youth,
and his reconciliation with his murderer, a peer. Rashidi Omari, from
Company of Profits, creates a lyrical picture of an adolescent trapped in
the juvenile detention system, "lost in the abyss of thinking that you're
nothing."

"They're trying to build it right next to Santa Rita [Jail]. So it's like,
OK, you leave from here, you're going next to Santa Rita. You ain't got no
hope. So you just walk across the street, you're going to the big time
prison." Lamont continues our conversation amidst the noise of the
performances, looking at me through the amber lenses of his sunglasses.
"You should try to go to the root of the problem, and try to talk to them,
try to talk to the parents, get the community involved with stuff like Not
Down with the Lockdown, help support, you know, throw little rallies, you
know, non-violence rallies like we're doing. We try to get everybody
involved so that we can stop the crime rate and everybody passing away."

California ranks 43rd in spending on public education. Meanwhile, it ranks
1st in the nation on prison spending. In addition to the money which will
be spent by Alameda county on the construction of the superjail, the city of
Oakland plans to raise $73 million to put 100 new police officers on the
streets.

"The youth of Oakland consider the Oakland Police department their number
one enemy and their number one barrier to having a peaceful life and a
peaceful existence. They call themselves peace officers but they act more
like war officers, and the war that they are prosecuting is a war on young
people. Adding to the police force in Oakland will just make the problem
worse," Van Jones explains. "These young people don't need more police and
more prisons, they need more opportunities. The safest communities in
California are not the communities with the most cops and the most prisons,
they are those that have the best jobs and the best schools, and that's what
these young people want for themselves."

"Now is not the time to be silent!" shouts the local hip-hop group Red
Guard, as they take the stage after the breakdancing group Critical Overdose
finishes their performance. The Destiny Arts Youth Performance comes on
shortly after, dancing and performing spoken word pieces. Dat's triumph is
the subsequent act.

As exemplified by Dat's interaction with his audience, the day's event is
filled with compassion, creativity, and, most poignantly, community. Each
singer, poet, dancer, and rapper that performs on this day is received by
the supportive applause of the singers, poets, dancers, and rappers that
preceded them, as well as by those that will perform after them. An example
of our youth's efforts. Society's welfare is not dependent on the
incarceration of such a future. Like the power lines that carve up the
skyline in West Oakland, more police and large juvenile detention centers
will only carve up the creative nonviolent efforts of California's youth
community.

The Bay Area's youth have been extremely proactive in their campaign. Following
the precedents set by the Civil rights movement, they've done everything
from knocking on doors to marches and sit-ins. In May, they successfully
convinced the California Board of Corrections to withhold the funding from
Alameda county that would have gone toward the construction of the
superjail. They've formed organizations like Youth Force Coalition, Underground Railroad and Books Not Bars, who sponsored Saturday's Not Down with the Lockdown rally. "And
they're not going to stop," says Van Jones, "because it's their future
that's on the line."

by Carol Harvey

"The baby grunted again, ...`If you're going to turn into a pig, my dear,' said  Alice, seriously, `I'll have nothing more to do with you...

`Did you say pig, or fig?' said the Cheshire Cat.
 

`I said pig,' replied Alice; `and I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly:  you make one quite giddy.'

One day, The Haight-Ashbury Clinic's Dove logo and a link to its site appeared on Care Not Cash.org.   Like the Cheshire cat, at the Clinic's request, the next day it was gone.  

In his promotional Chronicle op ed in the July 16th Chronicle for his Care Not Cash initiative, Newsom wrote: "...I have joined with medical professionals and organizations such as Dr. Pablo Stewart of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic...in support of comprehensive reform of how we provide care to homeless San Franciscans?"
 

In his July 16 Political Notebook, "Winning Care Not Cash," Samsun Wong echoed the statement, "Newsom has constantly emphasized the medical community's support (repeatedly citing)..."Dr. Pablo Stewart of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics."

In his Chronicle article, on July 2, "Homeless measure makes sense/Care Not Cash plan should make ballot," Ken Garcia quoted Dr. Frank Staggers, Jr., medical director of the Free Clinic's substance abuse programs. "We're seeing Third World-type poverty and malnutrition, and anything that gets these people more food I would support."

Garcia incorrectly connected Staggers to proponents of Care Not Cash following this quote: "That will explain why...compassionate people such as Dr. Pablo Stewart of The Haight Ashbury Free Clinic...are solidly behind Newsom's plan."

In an interview, Dr. Staggers denied the association telling me, "I am an apolitical advocate for homeless people without polemic or agenda."

Do such disinformative maneuvers undermine Care Not Cash's credibility? Do Newsom's suddenly vanishing claims of support from the medical community amount to --- in terms of Alice in Wonderland --- a baby, a pig, or a fig (ment) of his political imagination?

Ken Garcia's article suggests that both Dr. Staggers and the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic medical staff en bloc, support Newsom's CNC plan.  Yet, on July 17, 2002, Majett Whiteside, administrator at the Free Clinic told me, "CEO, Dr. Darryl Inaba states that we have not accepted or adopted an official policy on the Care Not Cash initiative."

On July 18, 2002, Dr. Inaba, CEO of the Haight Ashbury Clinic, answered my phone query; "Does The Haight Ashbury Clinic or any of its doctors support Care Not Cash?"

"We have written clarifying letters to the editors," he replied.  "To date, none have been published.  This has me concerned about the objectivity of the papers. "My biggest concerns are: "How does he (Newsom) assume that the 2,500 people on GA are all addicts? And where are they are going to go right away?  I don't know
of 2,500 more slots for treatment or beds in the city."

"Has the Clinic ever come out in support of Care Not Cash?" I asked Dr. Inaba.
 

"No," he answered. "We haven't decided whether  we are for or against it.  To be honest, we've never taken any vote.  Several doctors, Dr. Joseph Elson, Medical Clinic Director, and a psychiatrist here, Dr. Adam Nelson, are strongly opposed.

"He (Ken Garcia) is quoting a doctor, and saying it represents the Haight Ashbury Clinic.  The doctor is not authorized to speak on behalf of the Haight-Ashbury Clinic."

"Dr. Stewart supports that initiative," Dr. Inaba continued.  "He has worked here many years as a real advocate for homeless rights and care.  He is frustrated over the lack of resources for (them).  He has probably been misled that this (Care Not Cash) is going to give them more care.  I have heard him tell people in the newspaper that this is his own personal opinion, but Gavin and everybody else keeps quoting him as the Haight Ashbury Clinic. "

To counter this mistaken impression that the Haight Ashbury Clinic is supporting Newsom's proposal, Dr. Inaba sent out a press release on July 18 with the headline: "Haight Ashbury Free Clinics Take No Official Position on Care Not Cash November Ballot Measure."

The statement is worth quoting at some length:  "Haight Ashbury Free Clinics, Inc. (HAFCI) today announced  that it has taken no position on the Care Not Cash November ballot measure that changes the way the City approaches the dispensing of homeless services.  It has come to our attention that several of our employees have taken public stands on this ballot initiative, either pro or con, and we want the public to know that Haight Ashbury Free Clinics as an organization has not taken an official position on the measure," said Darryl Inaba, HAFCI's Cheif Executive Officer.

"While we support an individual's right to speak out on matters of public  policy, any statements attributed to HAFCI employees in regard to the Care Not Cash initiative are their own personal opinions, and not the official policy of our organization," added Dr. Inaba. 

"HAFCI has been providing primary health care to the uninsured and medically underserved for 35 years...at no cost to the Individual," said Inaba,"and we will continue to do so no matter how public policy regarding the homeless is changed in our City."

In an interview, I asked Dr. Staggers, "How do you answer the claim of Newsom's Care Not Cash folks that the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic is solidly behind their new proposal? Ken Garcia has written this article with your quotes suggesting you support Newsom's Care Not Cash initiative."

Dr. Staggers replied, "When he called, I told Ken Garcia, 'It is shameful that I am seeing Third World poverty.'  The true context of my statement was the atrocious state of homeless care I see in San Francisco, not that I am supporting this or that.   People have taken that Third World poverty quote and said, 'He must be behind Gavin Newsom.'  I don't have a position (on Care Not Cash) that I am willing to state publicly.  I have no comment.  My position is as an advocate for the homeless.  They are underserved, and they die quicker."

Garcia's pairing and placement of Dr. Staggers' quote immediately before Dr. Pablo Stewart's, a single Haight Ashbury Clinic M.D. who supports vouchers, was particularly innovative in its attempt to suggest a political position by association.

It shifted the focus toward Care Not Cash and away from Dr. Stagger's life's work in promoting adequate health and social services for homeless people.

Dr. Staggers said, "I'm an addiction, hypertension, and published stress specialist.  I've been in this business since the '80s and with the Clinic since 1990.  Before I came here, I was with clinics in Alameda County, and I direct a Hayward methadone program.  I have designed homeless shelters and programs.  I trained at Highland Hospital in Oakland.  I was surprised because I thought it (allowing himself to be interviewed) was a way to get my feeling out there.  He (Garcia) didn't do it that way.  He said my words exactly.  But, it's just the way they're situated.  I can't speak for Pablo Stewart.

"It (Garcia's quote) makes it look like, 'Dr. Staggers is saying he supports anything, so he must support this,' and I was say, 'No!'  My emphasis has always been making sure the homeless have decent adequate services.  Homeless people don't have enough psychiatric, medical, or social services.  (What services there are) need more funding, just basic things like bathrooms, showers."

In our lengthy interview, Dr. Staggers drew upon his many years' experience working as a medical provider to homeless people.  He emphasized four main points about the illness, suffering and premature deaths caused by homelessness:

1.  "We all know that homelessness wreaks havoc on physical and mental health," Staggers said.  "Homeless people live a shorter amount of time.  One study by Drs. Goldman and Sacks around 1990 first showed that homelessness itself is a risk factor for premature death.  Subsequent studies indicate if you are homeless you have more chance of getting killed, you are at risk for AIDS, or TB, for mental breakdown.  Homeless people die prematurely. I always emphasize it is hard in San Francisco to find services for my homeless patients.  We don't have enough services, and the services we have are at risk of getting budget cuts."

2.  "It depends on the city, but a huge number of homeless people have addiction problems,"Staggers continued."Homelessness and addiction is a significant thing. Statistical studies (reveal that) the number of homeless people who have mental illness, mental illness and alcoholism, and mental illness, alcohol and drug addiction is huge.  The overlap between addiction types and homelessness is also huge."

3.  "Dr. Staggers," I asked, "Newsome and his Care Not Cash camp are tarring the homeless with the addiction brush.  People say that drug addiction leads to homelessness.  People say homelessness creates drug addiction.  What is the truth?"

Dr. Staggers' answered, "The truth is it can go either way.  It's a two-way street.  I can't count the number of folks who had decent jobs, were good all-American citizens, then got on drugs, and now they're homeless.  We see that all the time.

"However, I have also seen the opposite.  For example, most of the women patients I've got are routinely and repeatedly raped within a few days of being homeless because it is very hard to protect yourself.  Many of my women have all these survival skills.  They reverse their sleep patterns because if they stop moving at  night, they'll get raped.  They come in to me and they say, 'Doc.  I can't sleep during the night.  I have to keep moving at night in order to stay alive.'  I support (the general public) being educated on how stressful homelessness is because that is not understood.  You can tell people I have women who are repeatedly raped.  Then they have post traumatic stress disorder.  This can lead to the use of substances in order to anesthetize the stress.  People don't know that.

"A lot of people are one paycheck away from being homeless.  I see patients who are normal folks who become homeless.  They get raped, mugged, beat up.  They totally become stressed out, and then they start taking drugs as the result of the stress of the homelessness.  I see it all the time --- homelessness leads to stress, which leads to drug abuse.  I'm glad you asked that question because it is such an important issue that people don't understand.  If you are going to write about it, I would be very grateful if you could get this information out there.  Homelessness is a major physical and psychiatric stressor which can lead to substance abuse and addiction."

4.  "Some take the position that there are plenty of shelter beds," Staggers concluded.  "You can't just count beds.  You must ask, 'What is the quality and safety of the shelter?'  A lot of homeless tell me, and I have visited those shelters myself and observed, that they are horrible and unsafe, especially for women.  You are actually safer staying ouside then sleeping in shelters."

In the end, Staggers waxed optimistic.  "Most of the feedback I've got is positive.  I have gotten a lot of calls from folks who took my statement in the Chronicle the right way.  They said they were glad to see somebody talking about not enough services for the homeless.   Everybody said that the statement that we have horrible poverty --- it's Third World quality --- they said, 'People need to know that'."

And, in fact, disinformation like Newsom's, picked up and repeated by Garcia and Wong, will only undermine Care Not Cash's credibility. It may be that public refusal of the medical community to support both such disinformative tactics and Care Not Cash will reveal this proposal as nothing more than a fraudulent visit to Wonderland and the birth of a baby, a pig, or a fig(ment) of Newsom's political imagination.

by Jewnbug

Rita preferred Rene

daddy left early in da game

poverty brands fate

housin authority interrogatez

beaten wit word of painz

petite ebony stands stained

bold mental frame

focuses on wut she needs 2 gain

no helpin… parents strung out

belt weltin… screams

she dug route, wit slender midnight claws

articulated jawz

chilled outsyde da skool walls

fallz

in arms of no goodz man

shackin up pit in stomachs erupts plans

escapes again

fleein da scene… flesh. spirit. seed.

blessed young laydee continues 2 read

b tween lines conscious of tymes

she perservers not yieldz

turnz obstaclez in 2 wheelz of steel

stackin developing skillz

2 succeed in competitive field

spills her guts

bandages cuts

buildz friendship

suppresses luv

breaks stereotypes up

gives birth 2 Afrikan, Puerto Rican,

Pinay princesses

braids hair

backs bone

makes family builds home

bi barely makin endz meet

she iz Mama, daughter, sistah, niece!

by Matt Dodt/PNN Community Journalist and Poverty Scholar

It was obviously one of those things that was meant to happen, me and my
new photo/video camcorder being at the His-Willieness (S.F. mayor Willie Brown)-Ordered raid on the homeless camp by the pumping station at 7th and Berry Sts. (by the Caltran station, within sight of
Pac-Bell Park) early the morning of Saturday, July 27, 2002. After all, I was
going to an all-nite rave party at the same venue where the cops tried to shut
down another event just the weekend before, so I figured I better bring my
camera along just in case. Then, before I left to go Friday nite rave-ing, I
tuned in the 10-o'clock news report on KTVU (broadcast channel 2), when what
to my wondering eyes should appear, but a news story announcing the impending
raid on the camp, a story that featured, among others, my old cohort and
sister rabble-rouser Mara Raider, from the Streetwatch* project of the
Coalition on Homelessness. Also featured in this report were residents of the
camp, including Jasin, a 47-year old woman who refused to stay at the
shelters because they wouldn't allow her and her husband to stay together.

Included in this report were statements from Jasin and other residents
saying that they preferred this site because not only was it out of the public
eye and generally not on the tourist repertoire of places to visit, but, in
the words of one resident, "There aren't the problems here that you find at
other camps or in the shelters. There isn't the fighting and the dope-dealing
that goes on in other places. People here respect each other."

The report also included statements from the mayor's office, such as,
"Because it's near a water pumping station, this encampment is a threat to
security." Ridiculous, because in this writer's opinion, it's MORE secure to
have a group of long-time residents there, many of whom are quite patriotic,
judging from the number of American flags being flown around the camp, as
that many more pairs of eyes to keep watch. Another quote from the mayor's
office was, "The conditions at this encampment are dirty and unsanitary and
therefore a risk to the residents here." Yet another statement rendered
ludicrous by the wide-angle shot displayed on the TV screen, showing that
this camp was quite clean and orderly, given the circumstances.

Other questions come to my mind: This camp had been here for years.
It's also been a number of months and many 'terrorist threats' since the
World Trade Center attacks. Why, all of a sudden, did Brown decide that
this camp now had to be terminated, without delay?

After a night of rave-ing, which included a quick catnap on a couch,
I rolled up 7th St. from Indiana St. toward the camp. Even though dawn was
just breaking, the camp was as busy as a nest of ants that had just been
stirred with a stick. Hastily-gathered possessions were being lashed onto
anything with wheels; these were being pushed toward the street with all
haste. After bicycling my way around some fenced-in areas and over some
railroad tracks, I arrived on the Berry St. side of the camp to find the
aforementioned Ms. Raider talking with one of the camp's residents.

"Hello," says she to me, "do you have your camera?" "Yes," I replied,
"that's why I'm here." A few minutes later, L.S. Wilson, another longtime
Streetwatch volunteer, walked up with a video camera in his hand, and I
had already noticed a KTVU cameraman at the scene. After some chit-chat, I
was tired of straddling my bike and decided it was time to get off and lock
it up. At that moment (about 6:20 A.M.), a large group of police cars and
another large group of motorcycle officers drove up Berry St. and descended
on the scene.

One officer, presumably the site commander, started giving orders
to, "start at this side of the camp and work back." Along with the KTVU news
crew, I wound up following the police, documenting them as they went from tent
to tent and structure to structure as a sort of UnWelcome Wagon, gently
advising the residents to, "wake up, it's time to go." The genteel nature of
the police's behavior and the whole anti-climatic feel (no resistance was
offered) of the events belied the cold, cruel, heartless nature of what was
transpiring.

The heavy presence of police officers (about 25-30) motivated the
camp residents to hasten the evacuation process. Even us non-homeless
homeless advocates - myself, Mara, L.S., and another Streetwatch volunteer
named Ken - were pressed into service, cutting down and rolling up tarps,
pushing carts and other mobile apparati laden with belongings out toward the
street, in keeping with the sacred credo of POOR magazine's journalism
department, "We don't just RE-port, we SUP-port."

After a couple of hours, things had rather settled into a routine
when who should show a face but George Smith of the Mayor's Office on
Homelessness, and P.J. Johnston, the mayor's spokesperson. A flare-up occured
between Mara Raider and Mr. Johnston while the latter was being interviewed
by KTVU and Ms. Raider, loudly and in no uncertain terms, voiced her
disagreements with Mr. Johnston's statements. I even added my spoke, which was
that many of the new evictees would inevitably be going into the
neighborhoods, which was not going to please many of the neighborhoods'
residents. And in the one-picture-speaks-a-thousand-words category, as the
camp residents were toiling away getting their shelters and possessions moved,
George Smith was seen (by me) capering and dancing while chatting with a
police officer.

The exchange between Mara and P.J. Johnston added comic relief to
the KTVU 10 o'clock news broadcast that evening. As P.J. was making a
statement, I believe it was that there were enough shelter beds to accomodate
all the new evictees, Mara, who was off-camera, could be very plainly heard
saying, "But that's bullshit."

Funny stuff, that. But in this writer's humble opinion, there's a
serious question to be raised about this action by the mayor, which at best
makes it appear extremely short-sighted and harebrained. Starting with the
issue of available shelter space: Even if there is enough for all the
evictees, as the mayor's office contends, SHELTERS ARE ONLY OPEN AT NIGHT.
Shelter clients are not allowed in until late afternoon/early evening, and
are turfed out early (5-7 A.M.) each morning. Which leaves about 12 hours
each day with no guaranteed safe, suitable place to go. So where to, then?
The neighborhoods? We've been over that already. The newly gussied-up,
extremely homeless-unfriendly Union Square Plaza, with its 24-7 police patrol
and gentrification-obsessed area merchants? Your guess is as good as mine.
Keep in mind also, that there were, to my estimation, about 100 or so people
living in this camp. No small amount of people to keep out of sight and out
of mind.

I'll finish my rant with this: Remember the word coming from the
mayor's office a few months back, wringing his hands while swinging the
budget axe? How heartbreaking it was to lay off so many laundry workers?
"It's like laying off my own mother," lamented Slick Willie. Well, this was
all a visit to Reptile World, because the tears were crocodile and the oil was
snake. How so, you ask? Because at the same time he was making these cuts,
such as laying off 'his own mother,' i.e., the laundry workers, and cutting
the funding for the POOR magazine media internship program, which moved
several other POOR magazine interns, myself included, from paid work back to
welfare, the budget was INCREASED for some of his cronies, including the
aforementioned Mssrs. Smith and Johnston, each of whom was given a significant
salary increase. I guess Da Mayor cares more about his (wrecking) crew than
about his mum.

Now back to our story. The eviction continued to proceed without
significant incident. DPW and SWAP crews, a front-end loader(bulldozer),
and dump trucks were brought in to haul away what the evictees couldn't or
wouldn't haul away themselves. Huge, thick clouds of dust, equalling those I
used to see when I would hitchhike across the desert, were raised by the DPW
doing their thing with the bulldozer, scraping the bucket across the already
parched ground. This came at a most inconvenient time, just when we homeless
advocates and houseless folx were trying to get some breakfast, a surprisingly
opulent one, hosted by Jasin and her significant other and featuring Cheerios
and milk, orange juice, granola bars, tea, and much-needed and appreciated
coffee, both standard drip and Turkish.

There's not much more to tell.The evictees and city workers all
finishing the horrible task at hand, the police slowly dispersing and the
houseless sitting along the Berry St. curb, waiting for rides, pondering
their fate and their next move. In our already-exhausted state and our energy
continuing to drain, the other homeless advocates and I discussed what the
next move should be. A few ideas were tossed out, no consensus was reached,
except that we agreed that this outrage by 'our' image and wealth-obsessed
mayor cannot be allowed to pass as water over the damned. This having been
agreed upon, we decided to call it a day. This hours-long reminder of my
former homelessness and current at-risk state, plus the growing heat of the
day and my having gotten a total of about 3 hours of sleep the previous 2
nights made the prospect of hot shower and bed seem especially sweet.

Final note This and just about everything else this mayor has done
has only convinced me that the only reason that the same political
homeless-hating, king-making machine that put Frank Jordan in office in 1991
abandoned him for Willie Brown in 1995 and beyond is that Frank Jordan was not
a good enough politician; his attempts to rid San Francisco of the poor and
homeless, i.e., the Matrix program and the crackdown on Food Not Bombs were
too clumsy, stupid, and obvious and brought The City a lot of bad publicity.
Willie Brown, on the other hand, is a much better politician, meaning a much
better snake-oil salesman. He can, and has, made anti-poor/homeless programs
that are much harsher than Frank Jordan's seem genuinely compassionate.

*The COH's Streetwatch project's mission is to address the injustices
perpetrated on San Francisco's poor and homeless population by the police and
city government, such as unlawfully-issued citations for so-called 'quality
of life' offenses, such as blocking the sidewalk, camping/sleeping/
panhandling/loitering in public, lodging in vehicles, open alcoholic beverage
containers, and unlawful detentions/searches/warrant checks. This is
accomplished by community outreach, i.e., teams of Streetwatch staffers going
out on the streets on a regular basis with notepads, OCC complaint forms,
video cameras, and literature containing information on exactly what the above
laws are, what one's rights as a homeless/at-risk individual are, as well as
tutorials on what one's rights and responsibilities are when observing and
documenting police behavior. The notepads and video cameras are for
documenting any police interactions with the poor and homeless that the
Streetwatchers encounter while on the job. Streetwatch also conducts community
forums to educate the public about the above issues, as well as what really
goes on in city government re poor/homeless issues, behind the corporate media
spin of Willie's World. Streetwatch also offers pro-bono legal representation
for tickets issued for the above-mentioned 'quality of life' offenses. This
usually results in summary dismissals for all tickets so represented,
thwarting The City's plan to harass the poor and homeless out of town via the
legal process.

by Andrew DellaRocca/PNN Community Journalist

There isn't much that I really know about LA county. I mean, everybody
knows a little something. Whether you are from South Africa, Bangladesh, or
upstate New York, you've probably seen at least one movie made in Hollywood,
if not a thousand. Folks here in the Bay Area treat LA as a rival. They'll
tell you how tough it is to get around in LA (in contrast to the luxurious
Muni system), they'll tell you about the disgusting necessity of needing a
car to do anything, they'll tell you about the smog that you'll breath,
about the superficial schmoozing you'll see, about the traffic, about the
traffic, about the traffic.

At least that's what they've thus far told me. I don't know if its true.
I've never been to LA.

But, when I heard about the proposed closure of various medical clinics and
hospitals throughout the LA region, and was told to look into it and write a
report on it, I knew that this indeed would be a disadvantage for LA. My
heart, however, did not swell up with pride because I live in San Francisco.
I was not gratified by the fact that we could mock our southern neighbor
for but one more disadvantage. I thought about the folks that would be
affected by these closures, the people who live in LA who have come to rely
on the county health system. How many options were going to be left for
them?

The LA county health system
has found itself in close to a one billion dollar debt, and seeks a federal
bailout similar to the one that saved LA's hospitals in the mid 1990's. In
order to prove to the federal government that they are willing to make
difficult decisions in times of crisis, the county has proposed a series of
cuts, one of which threatens the enormous Harbor-UCLA medical center in
Torrance, which serves the poor and uninsured in most of southern Los
Angeles county.

"We assume that the county will make a decision to show that they mean
business," said Dr. Robert Hockberger, chairman of the emergency medical
department.

Harbor UCLA last year treated about 75,000 patients in its emergency room.
Most of the patients were poor, and without health insurance.

"We provide trauma care for everybody, all medical care for the working
poor. Where will they go if Harbor closes?" Dr. Hockberger asked when I
spoke with him over the telephone. "They can't go to private hospitals, the
private hospitals don't want them."

If the cuts go through, the only public hospitals left in LA county will be
County USC and King Drew in East Los Angeles, as well as a few scattered
clinics throughout the county. Poor folk will be left with few options.

The federal government has invited both the state and county governments to
Washington to discuss a possible bailout. However, the state refuses to sit
down with the county, a condition of the Washington talks, until the county
rolls back the cuts. The county needs to make the cuts to keep Washington
interested, but because of doing so the state has chosen to keep out.

"It's sort of circular, and frustratingly so," said Dr. Hockberger.

I asked the doctor what people could do to help.

"What local people (in LA) could do is to understand that when proposals
come forward to add taxes on property or sales, to not automatically vote
against them. The whole county really has to cooperate, and that includes
me. People could also make phone calls to the county board of supervisors
and the state government, urging them to sit down and talk."

I hung up the telephone slightly more educated about not just the economic,
but the political games that go into determining the welfare of our
population. And although I've never been to LA, I feel for those who are
being subjected to the heavy tide of the market, and to the budget politics
which may determine the extent of their well-being.

by Joe B.

An Anti-Eviction Protest For Grace Wells

Its Saturday, July, 27, 2002.

An eviction picket will happen in front of long time resident Mrs., Grace Well, 85, quietly fighting to stay in her adopted City and neighborhood.

It could be for her, a final stay before enjoying peace, with the Eternal, old friends, loved ones on infinities shore where everyone lives a stress-less existence in mansions of foreverness.

On its face its a greedy landlord out to make tons of cash.

But as Kaponda would tell me "Don’t jump to conclusions, reason it out, get the facts straight, then write your news item without bias."

Up early, brain and belly starved for food, of water and after washing then brushing sleep from body and teeth leave a still warn bed for Poor’s office.

After saying hi to Lisa, pick up my assignment from a hard copied email along with a PNN POOR NEWS NETWORK
sign showing are support; so much for the objectivity factor.

I rush to my S.R.O.(Single Room Only or Occupancy) for extra tapes, batteries in case the interview is longer.

The number 6 bus heads toward Divisidereo and Page Streets, there’s a feeling of something missing but Ignore the-back-of-mind-nag sensation concen- trating on Mrs.

Wells and her concerns. This means not being late.

The strategy:leave early, interview Mrs. Grace Wells, protesters and be back at St. Anthony’s in time for lunch.

10:46 am just off the bus, at the Divisidero & Page intersection sitting on a street curb as a NBC-3 news van passed drove by me.

Besides light blue skies and clouds only threatening a brighter day dripping sunshine.

On both sides of this quiet street are black lettering on daisy yellow signs boldly insisting "Don’t Evict Grace Wells"

A quiet area, trees lined up neatly on both sides of the street its it would be difficult to know anyone was fighting eviction.

Most cars are parked row on row with only a few slanted toward traffic.

It’s so bird chirping, adult and child strolling, walking, toddlers in their carriages, bike rider’s breathe-glistening-clean-air-surreal–quiet here.

Walking down the street I found the building where Mrs. Wells for now and hopefully later will still live.

Mrs. Wells lives in a two story dwelling called a flat with another next door neighbor number 910 to the left of Mrs. Wells I don’t know who lives there.

Mr. Ted, Gullicksen, of the Tenants Union with a friend are making protest signs with blue, black and other colorful magic markers. Mr. Gullicksen tells me NBC-3 and other news crews will be interviewing Mrs. Grace Wells in her residence. Mr. Gullicksen, and another person they I’ll interview first.

First is Mr. Arnold Cohn. Who began telling me about a scam by owners.

AC:"The Capital Improvement scam; I live a Marina Cove and Presidents of Marina Cove and Lombard Place have been targeted to have to pay multi million dollar Capital Improvements on the landlords building-and if someone would want to look into the detail of this how the city’s own laws have been violated and yet the rent board has approved these capital improvements petitions.

Its somewhat of a detailed story that would take more than just a conversation, on a sidewalk, in the morning.

PM:"Well…"

AC:"But if you have the time sometime, and you want to make…"

PM: "I may not have the time but I know but there others who may.

Oh, I need your name."

AC:"My name is Arnold Cohn C-O-H-N and my telephone number’s 567-4856. And then the other person from Lombard Place is named Laraine Kal or Cal-Cagney [if I’m in error spelling Ms. Laraine’s last name, sorry] her telephone number is 345-8529.

We are the ones… or We can arrange for people to give you complete details on this "capital improvement scam and to summarize it what it means is there’s a loophole in the rent control law that as wide as a two ton truck and that the a landlord has to do is spend money.

Whether or not it improved the building, it could only be gold platting the building but if the landlord spends money, the tenants have to pay for that’s in essence."

This is not the end there is more Mr. Cohn wanted to say.

PM:"Detailed invoices?"

AC:"And cancelled checks, for the money they’ve spent.

Well, the landlord for Lombard Place merely submitted one cancelled check and one bill from a contractor that in now way can be verified and the rent board accepted that; and it say right in the rent boards rules and regulations they are suppose to have detailed bills and cancelled checks."

PM: "Sounds like there’s money being made under the table."

AC: "Something really scandalous there."

PM: "Thank you very much,I think I will be able to get other people on this."


The Second Interview is with Mr. Ted, Gullicksen, of the Tenants Union.

By this time another news crew has gone inside for an interview with Mrs. Grace Wells. Here is what Mr. Ted Gullicksen had to say.

PM: "Gullicksen, I got to say this right, Gullicksen, Gullicksen. I have think of seagulls."

TG: "Exactly."

PM: "So what has happened so far?"

TG: "What’s happening here is that Grace Wells is 85 years old, has lived in her home for thirteen years and lived in this neighborhood in over
forty years is being evicted under the Ellis Act from her home here by an out of state landlord who owns a bunch of rental properties in San Francisco.

Who would like to convert Grace’s three unit apartment building, into one big single family home-mansion we call it.

So that this landlord who’s affiliated with Zephyr Reality can turn around and sell the building to some rich person and they don’t care what will happen to grace.

They just ‘wanna turn her home into a mansion and sell it and make lots of money."

PM: "Make more money, so its all economic."

TG: "All economic, they don’t care whatsoever about Grace and where Grace will go. Grace is disabled, she has social security for income, its here sole income.

There’s absolutely no place that Grace can go in San Francisco. So will be thrown out of her home with nowhere to go."

PM: "Thank you, very much."

TG: "Sure." My Third and last interview is with Mrs. Grace Wells in her home at 908 on Divisidero and Page Streets.


Mrs. Grace Wells is small, brown black woman and frail sitting across in hair chair.

I want to be as gentle not tiring her because yet another news crew will be interviewing her again.

PM: "I don’t know what to ask you, the news teams already asked most of the questions; I was going to ask you about relatives if you got any letters, telegrams, from other people, relatives, friends, that heard about this and trying to help sending money orders or something like that?"

GW:" No."

PM: " Oh."

PM: "Should have a campaign towards that."

PM: "I’m with Poor Magazine, I guess we’re a news paper too.

Newspaper and the internet and also a hard copy book that comes out once a year ‘cause we don’t have enough money."

GW: "Here, San Francisco?"

PM: "Oh, we’re based in San Francisco but our reach is kind of… a, global, we’re on the net too."

GW: " Oh, yeah."

PM: "I can’t think of any questions to ask. I’m suppose to be…"
Ed, taking photo’s of Mrs. Wells, and the house helps with more confusion.

Ed: "I can’t believe Joe is speechless, I’m not making you nervous."

PM: "No, not you, I’m thinking about my grandmother, I’m thinking about my mother and I’m thinking about myself… And all I can think of is a Co-op where people actually own the building-in-common.

Ed: "I don’t know Joe, that sounds like Communism

PM: "Social Capitalism that’s what I call it."

Ed: "Good for you there you go."

PM:" But I hope you keep fighting this and as long as many people start
knowing about this because this has been happening to other people and its not gonna… your not the only one. And it seems they want to get rid of the elderly first because you know more history, you know some secrets, and its elderly first then the single ones, then they get rid of families and before you know it; its just a bunch of empty buildings. That’s my take on it.

PM: "Has anyone else been moved out?"

GW: "No, the landlady, it was just the two of us lived here. The landlady lived upstairs had passed and then they bought it. It was just the two of us."

PM: "That’s another thing gotta have more people."

Ed: "Yeah, well I’m gonna go outside and take a couple more pictures."

PM: "I think I’m done, I’ve done Gullicken and someone else."

GW: "Thank you."

PM: "I want them to pay, I want them to pay a whole lot because you’ve been a great tenant and its just money, greed, they have enough money. Its just greed."

G.W: "More money, I guess that’s what keeps the world turning."

Ed: "Yeah, but it shouldn’t be you know, it should be something from the heart. We’ll do our best to keep fighting for you so, nice to meet you."

PM: "Bye."

GW: "Bye."

With that I leave quiet, frail, Mrs. Grace Wells with no place to go if she’s forced out of her long time residence. I’m glad the other media showed what some outside owner was displacing to hoard more dough than they need. Two of Poor’s newest interns have picket signs talking to each other. Andy, is tall, well mannered, and curious.
The young woman standing is a petite, red haired, heart faced, her eyes darting everywhere. These two standing still seem to vibrate and blurred to me or is it my energy level is a notch or two lower than their’s.

Outside Mr. Gullicksen is on a bullhorn speaking up for Mrs. Grace Wells.

"Does everyone have a chat sheet?"

Just so people know… I think everyone knows why we’re here but what’s happening is we have a woman here.

Grace Wells is here, 85 years old, has lived in this home for thirteen years, has lived in this neighborhood for three decades.

She’s being evicted by an out of state landlord.

A woman by the name of Junk Croucher who owns a bunch of a bunch of apartment buildings in San Francisco and is evicting Grace under the Ellis Act.

She wants to turn this three unit apartment into a mansion. She wants to turn this into a mansion so she can sell it for multi million dollars to someone wealthy who doesn’t care what they buy or where Grace ends up.

Grace is disabled, her only income is social security, she has absolutely no where to go.

This is an eviction that we want to stop and if you look around the neighborhood you’ll see signs in various windows saying "Stop

This Eviction" The neighbors have been rallying behind Grace and calling the landlord and saying "We Don’t Want People Like You Moving Into Our Neighborhood, We Don’t Want People Like You evicting a woman like Grace Wells who are a basic component of the neighborhood."

People who have made this neighborhood who are now being kicked out in the name of Gentrification.

" It was now I remember the slight nagging something.

I have left the Poor sign at home laying comfortably on my bed in my apartment.

I left my brown leather backpack so I’d have to return to the protest.

I went to the bathroom, then my room, drank some water, picked up my sign and back on another number 6 bus to the protest.

It was over by the time I got back.

Ed is leaving, I was about to hop on a bus to get back to St. Anthony’s for a free lunch but Andy, myself and the young woman [her name escapes me momentarily] are going to lunch at …
again [the name of the restaurant escapes me momentarily]

The food, smoothy, bread and butter is both a solid and liquid ambrosia to a starving, thirsty man and was worth the walk down a [street/avenue who names yet again escapes me momentarily]

I’m beginning to feel like the former "Quantum Leap" guy with his Swiss Cheese Mind as he travels within his own lifetime.

After the meal we separate soon I’m on a bus going back to Market
Street.

I realize the sign from Poor Magazine is in the restaurant I forgot the name of.

I’ll get it back if I can but for now I’m full, no longer thirsty and my assignment is now over.

I hope Mrs. Grace Wells keeps her residence until ultimate peace finds her and not thrown out on hot or cold streets to die alone, in pain, with no one to comfort and watch over her. Bye…

by Christina Heatherton/PoorNewsNetwork Media intern

The flurry of bright colors and distant hip hop beats rising from the Precita Eyes Urban Youth Arts Festival hit me long before my crutches sank into the thick Precita Park grass. Last Saturday, the tiny pill-shaped park at the end of Mission Street was brimming with music, energy, and the murmurings of people lounging in the summer sun. The sixth annual event was a celebration and exhibition of positive, creative expression, namely graffiti art. People of all ages and skill levels were invited to express themselves with spray paint on the large white panels erected around the perimeter of the park. Rock bands, hip-hop djs, and spoken word poets also take turns doing their thing on the center stage throughout the day.

As I shuffled around the grass seeking interviews, with my camera thumping against my chest and clanging against my metal crutches, I became completely engrossed in the artwork being created around me. One of the event organizers, Suaro, later explained that a major part of the event is the very performance of the graffiti art. I had never seen graffiti created before. For me, the writing and art that mysteriously appear on freeway walls, billboards, doors, tables never had a creator. On this day, the ghost artists materialized out of hissings sprays summoned by the musical metal tinklings of their shaken cans. The artists ranged in age, race, class and ability but were all fiercely intent on their panels. Some braced themselves against the canvases with tension in their arms and issuing out their paint in dense spurts. Others moved with the fluidity of dancers, coercing elegant airy lines of paint with sweeping rhythmic movement of their arms and bodies.

With my notebook alternately in my teeth or shoved under my arm I first spoke to Deenone from TMF crew who has been a Bay Area graffiti artist since early 80s. He proudly explains that his section was reserved for the older writers. We exchange questions and answers in loud screams competing with the brassy roar of the rock band, PPAVARTTAANNA. Deenone describes the changes of old and new school. It’s easier for the new writers "to get better quicker" he explains because they have access to graffiti videos, magazines, and classes, such as the Urban Arts Class taught by Precita Eyes.

I soon found that other artists weren’t as encouraging. Spelio spoke to me while spraying a deep forest green background. He was more critical about graffiti’s transition from street art to more commercial and gallery art. He likens it to the mainstreaming of hip-hop. I ask him whether the transition has neutered the political potential of graffiti especially for people who feel they have no other means of expression. He answers, "No" and explains that despite graffiti’s increasing popularity in mainstream culture, "political graffiti done illegally means that people have no choice but to look at it." I ask him about the diversity of classes and races that the festival has attracted and he responds saying that he appreciates the "open minds" of the diverse crowd.
.

On the opposite side of the wall from Spelio, I speak with two weary young brothers. They reluctantly answer my questions while taking turns trying to control awkward blasts of red paint. Their father stands proudly over them with encouraging comments. He explains to me that graffiti art is a great means of expression "as long as it’s not damaging property" and as long as it’s in "areas set up for it". He tells me more about the "suffering of the public" that occurs when graffiti is done illegally and I begin to wish that he and Spelio could have a heart to heart.

I excuse myself from the conversation to catch up with Antonio and Gabriel, the two members of the band, PPAVARTTAANNA. Antonio, the drummer describes how graffiti is a "disregard of society’s perception of private property" that attracts people from all walks of life. While the two are also visual artists, they explain that they enjoy providing "a challenge to the audience" with their music. Their unique sound is called math rock which uses irregular time signatures to produce nonlinear songs with little repetition that ultimately prevents anyone from bopping their head to the music.

For much of the festival I milled about taking in the scene. During a particularly angry spoken word poem, I watched as a mother arranged her little girl’s hair and hissed to her daughter, "You better plug your ears". I slowly made my way to the various tables that had been set up at the festival. The organizers invited a variety of groups that would aid and interest festival goers and artists. Among them were the Do It Herself Collective which "offers workshops, events and projects that challenge genderized learning and empower our communities." The Culture Cache was also present. It provides hip-hop gallery space for graffiti artists to display their non-graffiti artwork. Additionally, many local markets provided free food and drink for festival goers.

There was one unwelcome guest at the event. Starbucks, who had not invested any money in the event and had turned down Precita Eyes’ applications for grants, had the gall to come and advertise. They slipped in as though they had been invited and took advantage of the large crowd to pass out samples of their new over-caffeinated drink. My 11 year old cousin was given one and he promptly spit it up in the street.

I only had time to hobble to one table which honors fallen artists. I spoke to Lil’ John of the Dream Fund. His brother, Mike Dream was one of the Bay Area’s premier stylistic innovators of graffiti art and also a hero of using the medium to fight injustice. Dream was gunned down in Oakland two years ago leaving behind an infant son. The Fund sells books, T-shirts, and stickers of Dream’s artwork to raise money for Dream’s son. Dream’s pieces are incredible. I recommend that anyone who doesn’t know his art or his name get themselves informed.

The folks at Precita Eyes put on an incredible festival. I left the event with my ears ringing and my arms exhausted completely inspired and excited.

For information about:

Precita Eyes and their Urban Arts Classes visit: www.precitaeyes.org

The Mike Dream Fund: www.dreamtdk.com

The Do-It-Herself Collective: www.do-it-herself.org

The Culture Cache: www.culturecache.com

by Joe B.

Again I was reading a long article last week about Neo-Nazis and Argentina as a kind of virtual hub.

Yes, it was in the Chronicle that’s why I’m not a journalist.

I don't read four or five newspapers everyday.

I’m not filling up my noggin with current, printed sound bites that’ll be out of date in days, weeks or years then review 'em again to update so it can again become obsolete.

The way our human brain’s can hold and retain vast quantities of information is astounding but certain kinds of stuff like news and magazine items is not what my brain will be storing.

In Buenos Aires Argentina where the economy has slumped it seems hate groups have gathered there because of increasing pressure to cease their on-line activities.

I won’t name these groups.

By now between the net and word of mouth their sites are known.

I have ideas on how to really piss off not only New-Nazis but every home grown and foreign hate mongers everywhere.

It’s really simple, all these hate groups have problems with people unlike them.

This is where true A grade Hackers both independent and those employed by peace and freedom loving people's can share what knowledge they wish to frustrate, thwart haters at every turn here’s how or at least a few ideas of how.

First find, book mark the sites, browse through them and make hard copies, then after you picked a site or two email them to other freedom loving thinkers like yourself.

Begin a slow and endless campaign of relentless harassment.

One last question – What is their (haters) main problem?

Answer–Anyone that isn't them, doesn’t live up to their view of superiority.

All we need do to really make these A-holes have bad days, weeks, months, or years is place diametrically opposed views on their sites.

I mean from every scientifically racist arguments they place as we place 5 to 10 or 50 true answers.

Truth is anathema to them it throws them off kilter.

Place really graphic depictions of Yellow, Brown, Red, Black, White, and Mixed raced people doing what humans do naturally and often, show kids the same as above with different kinds of parents two men, two women, or one parent and extended family groups.

Get the idea folks?

They’re dirt, filth, and ugliness on the web can be answered not banned all banning does is keep it bubbling underground.

There would naturally lots of sexually graphic material about adults, middle aged couples and seniors of different faiths and cultures getting their grove on all over the globe while the hate monger groups shrinks in size and demographics.

Yes, we must be tasteful and be careful of using age appropriate couples of ever youthful elders of many hues with their children and their children and so on.
I do believe the solution to the hate groups on the web it to attack them with fact, sexy male and female figures cavorting around of mixed cultures languages.
Some illustrators of Adult graphic comics would really have a ball drawing regular people imbuing them with heroic looking bold, muscular bodies because they’re minds are free or fighting to free themselves of antiquated, obsolete ideas, and concepts of race.

Why not show someone winning the psychological fight within themselves and the freer their minds are the better exterior there bodies are. There are multitudes of super people who no longer or never thought of their fellow humans as worthless. This will make many hate mongers do the frustrated jump stomp like a certain former American 1996 Gold medal winner turned red-white-and blue clothed "Smack Down" wrestler.
If readers have better ideas on how to deal with these hate-you-all equally folks, you know where to find my site.

Oh, you might as well make money at it and or place them for free.

But since its on or near the hate site you should back up your works because some of those sites will disappear because of graphic sexual content.

The real reason is all those happy, healthy, multi racial, individuals, couples, children, and grandchildren cavorting on there website.

And whenever they pop up other people will take up the cause.

There are more great people in the world than limited minded ones.

It may be a crack pot idea but someone had to come up with not other people should try it out and see what happens in a few months.

I didn’t mention Sup. Gavin Newsom’s Proposition N.

For Crass ‘N’ Crap, no that, Crook ‘N’ Creep, um Nuked or No Neuron’s.

Clip ‘N’ Collect.

Whatever… Oh, its Care Not Cash,.

Never mind read Prop. N and find out what all the scam-uh, story is all about.

To all Hacker’s internationally, crossing all boarders and languages (which will confuse and further frustrate ‘em to no end) this can be an on going job/careers as long hate mongers swell the net freedom hackers should also be there.

Giving them a bad time and simultaneously learning a craft and being more creative… Bye.

My price range:
$25 per day for apartment or
small cottage home 1 to 3 bedrooms,

$100 a week, and $2 to $3,000 a month.

Certain homes, flats, mansions with 20 or more rooms are to 50

to $100,000 monthly though prices are negotiable.

Please send donations to
Poor Magazine or in C/0
Ask Joe at 255 9th St. Street,
San Francisco, CA. 94103 USA

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

by Morgan W. Brown

If "home is where one hangs one's hat," where does a person who is living
homeless hang their hat?

When a person hangs their hat someplace temporarily, are they no longer
considered truly homeless even if, in fact, it is not really their home?

It is ironic that amid this nation of plenty, many are forced to live on the
fringes of society, where homelessness can mean having only hope to hang
one's hat upon.

Being homeless myself, I know well how the smallest items of hope are always
held onto very tightly. Just like one's own sense of dignity, self-respect,
pride -- which are equally cherished and held close, such hope can often
prove useful and even vital in the long journey being undertaken just in
managing to survive as well as living independently.

These core parts of one's self can also be key to what is needed to help
find, obtain and then move into some form of safe, decent and affordable
housing of one's own; which is an essential part of what is needed to end
homelessness.

As near as it may be to my becoming housed once again, after being homeless
in its various forms for five years this time around, one would think
nothing could easily stand in my way. Yet, there are many moments when it
seems too daunting and so very far away to be accomplished on one's own.

There are those days, and even weeks, which do not seem to pass by without a
severe and persistent need to find and renew hope, inner strength as well as
faith in everything.

When I came across a fine choice of hats to take my pick from a couple
months ago, that slowly began to change however.

Not being much in the way of a hat wearer by nature or habit, I was struck
with a feeling of surprise along with a sense of mystery about the need
compelling me to try on the hat which my eyes lit upon. As I tried it on
further, it dawned on me that a hat was needed more than had been previously
realized.

Once more I was reminded that whatever the circumstances or, how they are
experienced and felt, there are always other ways of thinking about them and
other methods of accomplishing something when it is waited for a little
while longer and, what is sought is looked for even deeper than we may
believe is possible and, the support needed to do so is received.

Just as crucial though, the value of the smallest or seemingly least
important thing to provide inspiration should never be underestimated;
usually found in what we may perceive to be the most unlikely of places or
persons, especially when it is needed the most.

Never again will I discount the value and importance of a hat.

Having a hat of such good quality as this one is, means I will have to work
even harder to find a home in which to hang my new headwear.

When I do find and move into a place of my own, the hat will be hung where
it can be grabbed at ease when needed. Mine will be worn with pride no
matter how well worn it may get over time. Then, whenever it is off of my
head and in its usual resting place, I will know I am home.

It will be my lasting reminder to never, ever, give up on anything or
anybody -- and, most importantly, never on myself.

Morgan W. Brown is living homeless in Montpelier Vermont.

======================================

NAtional Websites on Homelessness and solutions

* Who is Homeless?; NCH Fact Sheet #3;
Published by the National Coalition for the Homeless, February 1999:
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/who.html

* The McKinney Act; NCH Fact Sheet #18;
Published by the National Coalition for the Homeless, April 1999:
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/mckinneyfacts.html

* Poverty Versus Pathology: What's "Chronic" About Homelessness;
National Coalition for the Homeless, February 2002:
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/chronic/full.html

* Time for a Common Sense Policy on Homelessness:
by Martha R. Burt; Shelter Force Online, March/April 2002 edition (National
Housing Institute); Washington News & Views section:
http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/122/WN&V.html

* What Will It Take To End Homelessness?;
by Martha R. Burt; September 2001:
http://www.urban.org/housing/homeless/end_homelessness.html

* NAEH: The Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness;
National Alliance to End Homelessness:
http://www.endhomelessness.org/pub/tenyear/index.htm

* Affordable Housing: Who Needs Affordable Housing?;
Community Planning & Development; HUD:
http://170.97.67.13/offices/cpd/affordablehousing/index.cfm

* National Housing Trust Fund Campaign:
http://www.nhtf.org

by TJ Johnston

Operation TIPS (Terrorism and Information Prevention System) is looking for snoops (I mean citizens) like you as a first line of defense. You could act as the government's eyes and ears while performing your usual duties. Make that go-nowhere job at the pizza chain count for something.

The FBI, CIA and NSA require their candidates to have a bachelor's degree and undergo a rigorous program. For Operation TIPS, no degree or long and boring classes are necessary. Just be your nosy self. It's like becoming a G-man without the training.

As a TIPSter, you can report in at our toll-free number or website after catching these telltale signs: unusual accents or unintelligible speech (as well as illegible signature); ordering exotic take-out food; politically volatile posters, books and CD's (like Diego Rivera, John Steinbeck or The Clash's "London Calling"); large groups of people sharing cramped living quarters (that sleeping baby might be a sleeper agent).

Worried about infringing on civil liberties? The US Postal Service appears to be---those pansies! That's why they're not participating (You'd think with their collective firepower, they would be down with TIPS and take down some terrorists).

When you enroll with TIPS, you won't be bothered with the muss and fuss of warrants and probable cause. And because the calls are anonymous, no one need know who dropped a dime. What other informants can lay that claim?

If you're a utility worker, monitoring kilowatt usage and telecommunications is simpler because you're effectuating the USA Patriot Act.

Shopping mall security can catalog the buying patterns of the next Al-Qaeda. Campus security could call in the next meeting of suspect student organizations.

Serve your country (or if you're not a citizen, this country) by calling Operation TIPS. Wages for your job range from minimum to barely-living. The feeling you get for ensuring national security is priceless.

(On Sept. 3, the Senate will begin cosideration of Motion to Proceed on HR 5005, the Homeland Security Bill. To send a FREE fax to your Senator urging against implementation of TIPS, log onto the ACLU website: http://www.aclu.org/action/tips107.html. (Contact info for your elected representatives can also be found on www.firstgov.gov).

by Talibah Shakir and Leroy Moore

Talibah Shakir;

Before I begin, I ask that everyone observe a moment of silence for our comrade Dana, who has joined the ancestors.

Oakland, we are here toady because we share the problem of racial profiling with you and with people of color around the world. We are here because of the beating of 16-year-old Donovan Jackson by Inglewood Police; we are here because we are tired of being condemned by this society because of the color of our skin.

Donovan and his father were attacked because they were 2 black men in a fairly new car, they were attack because in the minds of the police, and most of this society, that people of color are thieves and criminals.

We are not criminals, we are the victims and have been victimized for over 400 years, in this very country that make our school children pledge allegiance to a flag that is supposed to represent liberty and justice for all.

Donovan did not have the liberty to choose to get his ass beat or not. Neither he nor his father had liberty to stop to get gas without being attacked, there was no justice in 4 officers beating one 16-year-old special Education student, and then choking him until he was unconscious.

But there was allegiance on the part of the police and sheriffs that stood by as my cousin was slammed unconscious against the back of a police car, beaten in the face and choked.

What we have here in America is racial profiling and every person of color is, has or will be a victim of racial profiling.

It was racial profiling that brought blacks here to America, that stole the land of the Native Americans, that crossed the border on the Chicanos and established miscegenation laws that forbid Asians to marry whites.

We have protested, demonstrated, and rallied and the beating goes on and on, it is oblivious that Plan A is not working and we must go to plan B. We must make our elected officials stand up for the people and make our demands known and our desires fulfilled.

Either our demands are met, or we do not re-elect the politicians, and I do not care what color they are. No justice no peace and that goes for our politicians as well.

Donovan Jackson should not have been beaten, but racial profiling did not start with Donovan, but it should end with him. AS I stand here for all victims of racial profiling I must ask the question, "Why do we continue to allow this to happen?"

Racial Profiling, police abuse, political prisoners, discrimination, racism, murder of our people, Native Americans on reservations… People we have a big problem, and to the politicians I ask who among will revere our people?

The preceeding statement was written by Donovan Jackson’s Cousin who with twenty-five plus supporters carpooled on a bus from Inglewood, Ca, to the home of the Black Panthers, West Oakland to the Stop Police Brutality Day on August 24th 2002 at the famous Little Bobby Hutton Park.

Leroy Moore;

Stop Police Brutality Day

I can’ rest

My disabled brothers and sisters

Are shot, dragged and
beaten to death

Hello, my name is Leroy Moore, I’m a proud disabled African American poet, activist and Executive Director of Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization (DAMO). DAMO is the only organization for and by people of color with disabilities, our families in the Bay Area and the whole state of California.

one of the many reasons why DAMO & I can’t rest is the long list of disabled people of color who are beaten by police everyday:

And the list goes on and on. Some times I wonder I’m I the only one that hears the cries and screams of my disabled brothers and sisters? These are my disabled brothers and sisters of color who have been murdered by police however most of the times their stories and disability are not known to the public.

Nobody is talking about the raise of police shootings and violence against disabled people of color. Many times their disability is not reported in the media or love ones hide their disability out of shame or try to protect them. This is only silencing the deadly issue and oppressing the victim’s true identity.

This is one reason why DAMO will be kicking off what we call ABC on DPOC, Abuse, Brutality, Crimes on Disabled People of Color project to Break the Silence on this issue and to empower people with disability and their families. Lets come together with all of our identities and fight against police brutality, and other crimes and violence on our brothers and sisters.

This goes out to my Disabled Brother of Color:

My Disabled Brother of Color

My disabled brother of color

Has it rough

Father gone, could not deal

Mother strong, has to be real

Belongs to two communities

Doors slammed and locked

Shocked into reality

Has no identity

My disabled brother of color

On the streets

Dragging his feet

His eyes meet mine

And I can read his mind

Life is long, lonely and tough

If you’re a disabled brother

Mother’s love is not enough

Sisters want a strong, able brother

Your story and history is shunned by society

Confused by what you see on T.V.

No wonder you play down your disability

Am I the only proud disabled brother of color?

My disabled brother of color

Is angry at his brothers and sisters

"Fuck you and your pity

What’s wrong, do you feel guilty!"

Living and working in a world that doesn’t want me

Always under never over

Under the poverty line & pop, pop, pop under attack

My disabled brother of color is OVERWELMED

So what’s the answer,

My disabled brother of color?

Are we going to go on not recognizing each other?

Lets come together

Speak our anger

And set this goddam world on fire

Cause you are my brother

Leroy Moore’s Observations of the Day

After four hours of participating, listening to speakers and networking with:Danny Garcia, Kiilu Nyasha, Russ Redner, Black Panthers, members of ILWU Local 10, the coordinator of the rally, the Liberation Front and West Oakland residents, I was reminded of Spike Lee's movie, Get On the Bus as I watched 25 plus supporters and family members of Donovan Jackson Chavis get back on the bus to drive away. Knowing they will continue their work in their communities. As I walked to the Bart Station, I looked down to a flyer I had in my hand. It read "Just Say No To Jerry Brown! We Don’t Need 100 More OAKLAND RIDERS. PRESS CONFERNCE & RALLY Oakland City Hall Wednesday, August 28th 12:00pm. I took a deep breath as my tired body limped toward the 12th Street Bart Station.

To read more of Leroy’s work on police brutality against disabled people of color go on-line to www.poormagazine.org and click on Illin and Chillin- to get your story of police brutality and/or profiling call POOR at (415) 863-6306

by Connie Lu/PNN Media Intern

The sky is overcast and gray in San Francisco's Golden
Gate Park, where the "Access to Essential Medicines
EXPO" Exhibit is being held. There is an overall
melancholy ambience without the warmth and presence of
the sun's light, but at the same time, the cool breeze
against my face is a refreshing breath of air. There
are several people sitting on the grass and steps
enjoying the music from a nearby event as well.

I make my way towards a long tractor-trailer. But
before entering, I am instructed to spin a wheel with
several bright colors called, the "Wheel of
Misfortune" to determine which disease I would be
specifically learning about at the exhibit. The
needle points to a dark purple color, which indicates
a sleeping disease (Trypanosomiasis) in Africa. I am
given a laminated purple card with information about
sleeping disease.

The information on the card is not presented simply as
a straight list of facts, but it is written in a
narrative format. The narration has a more impacting
effect on me because I am learning about the disease
by associating a personal account to an actual person
and a photo of her face, as opposed to facts that are
not linked to the victims themselves. The card
describes the personal experience of an Ugandan woman
name, Bianga and how she acquires the sleeping
disease. While Bianga is in the process of getting
water, she is bitten by a tsetse fly, which transmits
the sleeping disease parasite into her body.

After reading how Bianga is infected with the sleeping
disease, I proceed to enter the exhibit inside the
48-foot tractor-trailer. Inside the trailer, the
lighting is dim and there are recorded sounds of
conversations playing in the background. The
conversations seem like they are taking place in a
busy market place or village. The laughter of young
children can also be quietly heard at times. However,
the clear, distinct ticking sound of a clock begins to
drown out the voices because of its sharp, rhythmic
pattern. I begin to wonder the origin and purpose
behind the ticking because it was being played at such
an intentionally audible volume.

I begin reading the display matching the color of the
purple card in my hand about sleeping disease. It
continues as a narrative about the progressive
worsening symptoms of the infected victim. During the
first stage of sleeping disease, Bianga begins feeling
weak. However, after 10 months her condition
drastically declines as the parasite travels through
her cerebral spinal fluid to invade her brain. At
this point, the symptoms vary from sleep disturbances,
mental illness, convulsions, erratic behavior, and
eventually falling into a coma of death.

Several black and white photos of the victims are also
next to the text on the display. They are lying in
bed and look like skeletons with skin, thin, pale,
weak, and in a great deal of pain. I found it hard to
look at the photos for very long, but seeing the
suffering victims made me realize the harsh reality of
people around the world enduring the pain of being
sick, but not being able to afford the cure for the
disease.

I continue walking towards the middle of the trailer,
as the sound of the ticking becomes louder and louder.
I see several clocks on a wall, none of which have
the purpose of showing the time of day, but each with
a saddening statistic of the number of people who die
based on a unit of time labeled underneath the clock.
For example, one child dies of malaria every 30
seconds. As I read each inconceivable statistic, the
ticking appeared to be getting louder in my ears. It
almost seemed to start echoing with each intimidating
tick of several lives being lost.

Towards the end of the trailer, there are more
displays explaining the history behind the various
diseases. At the last section of the trailer I meet
with Brigg Reilly, one of the exhibit's volunteer
doctors, who explains to me in more detail about the
manufacturing of the treatment for sleeping disease.
He explains that Melarsoprol was initially used to
treat sleeping disease, despite the fact that its
toxicity would corrode the plastic syringes used to
inject the treatment that would end up killing up to
one out of 10 patients.

However, a far more effective medicine called,
Eflornithine was introduced. Then in 1995, it was
discontinued because the manufacturers did not
considerate it to be a profitable medicine. But in
2001, Reilly explains, "The manufacturers suddenly
decide to produce this treatment again, but only after
discovering its cosmetic use for removing facial
hair." After Reilly revealed this to me, I realized
that the manufacturer is more willing to produce the
cure for sleeping disease for cosmetic reasons, as
opposed to saving the life of a suffering human being,
who doesn't have to means to pay for the treatment.

As I leave the exhibit, I am reminded of my grandpa,
who passed away from lung cancer. Like the many
victims of sleeping disease, he was also at a point
where I knew there was nothing else that could be done
to cure him. For my grandpa, the cancer had already
spread too far for the treatment to work. However,
the cure sleeping disease and other illnesses do in
fact exist, which places a great emphasis upon
creating awareness to gain support to provide
affordable treatment to the many people suffering from
such severe diseases.

*Note:
-This exhibit is sponsored by Doctor Without
Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), an independent
non-governmental international humanitarian
organization that delivers emergency medical care to
people in over 85 countries.

-Please refer to their website
(www.doctorswithoutborders.org) for more information
and an online petition to support devoting more
research towards developing affordable medicines for
neglected diseases.

by Joe B.

Sup. Gavin Newsom, is he’s a Figurehead, puppet, with handlers, backers or whatever you’d call ‘em working behind the scenes.

Maybe he’s is in total control of his own campaign within the working of the political system either way I have a slight suggestion to the "Care Not Cash" iniative it could be improved with a few adjustments.

If memory serves me I think I proposed at least to me an economic solution to both joblessness and human downsizing [folks layoff their jobs through no fault of their own as multi national corps and get lean ‘n mean to compete internationally].

The pieces were No-Work Society and Rich Economy.

The main points with going the whole thing again.
* G.D.P. [Gross Domestic Product(s)]
S&P [Standard & POOR(s)]
NASDAQ [National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotes] Yeah, it’s a mouth full of stuff to chew on but on to the main point, now that the economy was tanking big time an hemorrhaging money like a bullet riddled bucket leaking water.

It could be a time of experimentation and exploration economically speaking, This is what America and other countries have learned right and America is suppose to be a past master invention and reinventing it self right?

Here goes.
Instead of Newsom’s $59 dollar or less "Care Not Cash" plan why not place the as little as 5% of the individual affected in a combination investment /trust and annuity fund so some their money is working for them while they try rebuilding their lives an are helped by non profits.

In this way houseless, working poor single and families can participate and benefit.

There are quarterly financial statements and in two or four years accrued interest on the growing 5% principle

Is given by annuity check while part of the excess dividends are reinvested.

The death of individuals is a problem if there are no relatives or friends that monies and or estates are given to it may go to the state and other people so they too can benefit from this ongoing economic programs.

It sounds more complicated but don’t we a ‘kinda technology called supercomputers that can easily work out the math of compounded interest for the hundreds of thousands of people who may benefit?

This may cause certain types of havoc like people take their checks an buying homes, more savvy about money, traveling to other cities, across country, and continents also buying more abandoned office buildings turning time into co-ops.

Some portfolios might make millionaires out of a few.

They too can do nothing all day while their money works hard for them. That could be a problem, too many formally, working poor and homeless/houseless rubbing elbows and ideas with captains, scions, prince and princes of industry.

All this takes is a slight rethinking of economics and using both government and international investing to help and serve a needier population.

Yes, a crackpot idea but has anyone tried it?

I’d like to know if what I proposed is feasible and if not what can take its place because so far what have going is a lot of "Cheap ‘N’ Cheesy" legislation making people do more with less.

As an ad it’s a quickie answer but in reality… well things are more complex in real life. Bye.

by Christina Heatherton with Dee Gray/ For Courtwatch/PNN

POVERTY.

Swallowed by the mouthful,

the word can sear an empty stomach

with a burning shame-

that boils the blood to gas,

chars the bone to ash,

and makes the broken body

disappear.

...CH

"I am an invisible man", declares the narrator in the opening lines of Ralph Ellison's landmark novel The Invisible Man. Many Berkeley residents encountered Ellison's nameless narrator over the summer months as they participated in a city wide reading of the book, sponsored by the Berkeley Public Library and the Berkeley Arts Festival. Today, nearly fifty years after the novel was written, Ellison's critical reflections on the American experience, particularly the African American experience of invisibility in America, endures. As every African American I interviewed about the book noted, "Black people are still invisible".

Walking around Berkeley, one realizes quickly that it’s not just African descendants who are invisible. A young white girl on Telegraph Ave. counts a thousand unseeing faces pass her by as she panhandles with her infant son. An elder man on Shattuck echoes the words of Ellison’s narrator who says when people refuse to see you, "you often doubt if you really exist."

Scanning the news recently, I’ve also come across another invisible population: Poor mothers. In Steubenville, Ohio last week, a poor woman was arrested on three felony counts of child endangerment because her children had gotten sunburned. In Jacksonville, Florida, a five year old child was taken from her grandmother’s home by Child Protective Services and lost in a gross oversight by the foster care system there. PNN’s CourtWatch recounts the testimonies of mothers whose children were seriously injured or abused while in the "protection" of Child Protective Services (CPS).

Just as poor men of color, particularly African American men, have become grist for the prison industry’s mill, so have poor minority mothers been exploited to feed the colossal child welfare machine, or as some call it "The Child Abuse Industry". CPS receives an absurd amount of money for each child they take in. The children who are targeted are most often those of poor, single women who do not have the capacities to fight back. From the testimonies I’ve read, it seems that CPS often acts with the arrogant assumption that they are doing what is best for the children while actually destroying the family structure and the mental and physical health of the children.

I’ve been assigned to cover the Child Protective Services in light of two recent groundbreaking cases; one in Los Angeles where a mother won a million dollar cash settlement and an apology from the county for their mistreatment and subsequent death of her son, and the other before Judge Weinstein in New York - who ruled that Foster Care is a form of slavery, in regards to the separation of children from Battered Mothers. These cases illustrate the invisibility of the rights of poor mothers.

Debra Reid’s nine year old son, Jonathan, was seized in 1997 after phony allegations that the boy was not receiving proper medical care at his mother’s hands. The boy suffered from severe asthma and was prone to panic-driven anxiety attacks. According to an article in the New Times, (link below) the onset of Jonathan’s attacks occurred after his four year old brother was taken away by Department of Children and Family Services, or DCFS. Among the false claims of the county was testimony by a doctor that Reid suffered from a mental disorder called "Munchausen's Syndrome By Proxy" where a parent fakes their child’s illness in order to gain the glory and praise of being the child’s caretaker. The doctor based this diagnosis without ever meeting Reid. The diagnosis also overlooked the fact that the symptoms of Jonathan’s ailments: asthma and diabetes can not be falsely created. Investigators additionally ignored testimony from Jonathan’s doctor and nurses that Reid was taking excellent care of her son.

For his protection, Jonathan was taken by DCFS. DCFS workers ignored Reid’s repeated pleas to attend to her son’s asthmatic condition. They told her that her son was healthy. The New Times Article reports that Jonathan repeatedly asked to go home to his mother and tried running away to her, even jumping out of his social worker’s moving car. Six weeks after being placed in foster care, Jonathan died from an asthma attack. PNN co-editor, Tiny, a lifelong sufferer of panic driven asthma – often an ailment of being poor, insists that the child died from terror. Debra Reid received word that her son had died from the hospital. She never received a phone call from DCFS to tell her that her son was dead much less an apology from them. Reid has fought the county in court for five long years ever since.

On July 30, Reid spoke before L.A. County Board of Supervisors pleading for a criminal investigation into her son’s death. She was awarded a $1 million dollar settlement and a tearful apology from County Supervisor Gloria Molina. ABC news quotes Reed as saying, "We sought true justice, and we have not received it….Until someone sends this case for criminal investigation, our family has not received justice."

After much work and extensive organizing, Reid has gained a settlement and visibility for her and her son’s rights. The case also sets a precedent that will perhaps enable other mothers to gain visibility in the CPS system. Courtwatch will be following her progress and trying to aid her as best as we can as she works for a criminal investigation into her son’s death.

The case of Debra Reid and other mothers entangled in the CPS system speaks for a larger population of poor minority invisibility. Their pleas can be read in the final lines of Ellison’s novel:

"Being invisible, without substance,

a disembodied voice, as it were, what else could I do?

What else but try to tell you what was really happening when your eyes were looking through?

And this is what frightens me..

Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you too?"

The New Times Article "Protected to Death" can be located at: http://www.newtimesla.com/issues/1998-10-08/feature.html/page1.html

by Andrew DellaRocca/PNN MEdia Intern

I had been back in the country for less than a month when the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon were attacked on September 11th. This, however,
does not mean that I hadnít been paying attention to the American political
scene before. From where I lived in Brazil, I had the unique opportunity to
witness the reaction of a foreign country to the joke of the American
presidential elections in November, 2000. "America?" they would ask me,
"How could this happen in America?" A couple of months later, my friend
Sergio asked me why I was bombing the poor folk of Iraq, and I had to
emphasize that it wasnít I who was dropping bombs, that the order was given
by an appointed, not elected, Executive Chief. But the big issue of the
months preceding September 11, for those of us who have forgotten due to the
chaos of the past year, was missile defense. Security was at the forefront
of the political debate before the terrorist attacks. And after those
planes hit the buildings, and I squatted down in the shower for a private
cry, my tears were not just for the victims of the attacks, but for the
inevitable reactionary forces which would come from them, and which would
threaten us all, inside and outside of this country.

Then the issue of missile defense all but evaporated. That does not mean
that the program ended, just that the debate concerning it had ceased. Then
came the Patriot Act which, among other things, allows law enforcement to
search a citizen's home without ever notifying that they had done so.
Government became shrouded in secrecy, and the Freedom of Information Act
was all but destroyed. Meanwhile, the US population has become subjected to
the utmost scrutiny. And the reactionary forces that have been putting
these mechanisms into place have condemned those who wish to debate them as
unpatriotic. The historical defense of weak policies is to retract the
right to debate those policies, because to debate them would open them up to
destruction. Thus, in medieval England ruthless monarchs held onto power
with the abstract mandate of divine right, and in contemporary America,
shaky legislation railroads itself into law with the equally abstract
argument that to even question it is to aide terrorism.

Poor News Network(PNN) assigned me to investigate and report on Operation TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System). TIPS was supposed to have
recruited Americans "in unique positions to see potentially unusual or
suspicious activity," according to the Citizen Corps website, and to report
such activity to government agencies. It is the equivalent of a government
funded citizen spying network, and would have involved truck drivers, letter
carriers, train conductors, and utility workers keeping an eye on those they
come in contact with during their daily routines. PNN took a special
interest in the proposal because such measures have often been used in the
past to oppress advocacy organizations and communities of color.

Information about the program was hard to come by. The official description
of TIPS, which is posted on www.citizencorps.gov is vague, probably
intentionally so. I was tempted to sign up so that they would send me their
literature, but was scared to do so, fearing that my name might end up on
somebodyís list, somewhere, sometime, without my knowledge. I decided to
try to find someone that has been recruited.

I was already angry at my mailman. Multiple times, magazines or large
envelopes that arrived at my house had been torn by his trying to force too
large a stack of mail through my mail slot. To think that soon he might be
keeping an eye on me pissed me off even more, and I thought it appropriate
to speak with the post office to find out what their role in this TIPS
program was going to be. I went to the local post office to get some info.

I walked into the dull, institutionally gray post room expecting to be given
indifferent refusals from workers whose job it was to take people's mail,
not answer questions. At the desk was an African-American woman with hoop earrings and two band-aids on her fingertips. I asked her what she knew about Operation TIPS. She gave me a confused glare. I explained to her what the program was, and how postal workers were going to be recruited "to report suspicious activities of the people in the communities where they work." She cocked her head back and gave me a suspicious look of disbelief, the type of gaze that usually accompanies the expression "no you didn't."

"I haven't heard anything. And I sure as hell ain't going to participate,"
she said.

She told me to hold on, and she went into the backroom and grabbed a book.
Flipping through the pages, she said that it would be best for me to contact
the business office of the marketing department, since they are the medium
of contact with outside agencies like Citizen Corps. She found the number
and gave it to me. I thanked her.

"Good luck," she told me, and I left, surprised at how her hospitality had
brightened the dull walls of the front office.

The US Post Office refused to participate with the program, I discovered
with relief. The realization that such a network would be in effect so
quickly, starting in August, prompted a loud outcry from all sectors of
society. George Orwellís 1984 was frequently referred to, as well as former
East Germany's infamous Stasi Police- a smaller citizen informant
organization than the one proposed by the Bush administration, but one which
was much condemned by the ìfree worldî as a tool of only totalitarian
regimes. Both Democratic and Republican Congressman have openly opposed the
program. Dick Armey and Bob Barr, both Republican Representatives, opposed
TIPS, as well as Senate Democrats Patrick Leahy, Edward Kennedy, and Charles
Schumer, to name a few. I am unsure of how our own Dianne Feinstein
approached the debate.

On Saturday, the House passed a homeland security bill which would prohibit
the implementation of such a program. Apparently, this bill will
effectively kill Operation TIPS, to our relief. More importantly, debate
over the measure was not trumped by patriotic rhetoric.

For me, my fear of contacting Citizen Corps should be nothing but
preposterous. Unfortunately, though, the fear was real. With the rubble of
the World Trade Center removed from downtown New York, prohibition against
our freedom to dissent ought to be removed as well, and my hope is that the
reconstruction of Manhattan will be accompanied by the reconstruction of
those freedoms which were stolen from us this past year. The defeat of
Operation TIPS is hopefully an indication of a necessary action against the
reaction.

*Editors Note; We just got this update on the TIPS program from fellow Conscious Citizen, Aya De Leon;

The plan (TIPS) has run into trouble in Congress. The House is moving to
reject the President's program. It is not clear what the Senate will
do,but it is likely to vote on the bill in the coming
days. The fate of
this deeply misguided program could very well rest with the Senate.

Take Action! Your Senators will play a key role in deciding whether
or not Operation TIPS will go ahead. You can read more and send a FREE FAX to
your Senators, urging them to reject this misguided
program, from ACLU's action
alert at:

http://www.aclu.org/action/tips107.html