2002

by Lisa Gray-Garcia and Connie Lu

"What will the very low-income participants do without their wages?"

"They'll be ok - they're still on welfare...?"

I didn't respond...I just looked up.. too tired to fight..to tired to resist this newest barage of accusations, assumptions, and requirements, "NO, I wanted to say "they " will not be ok, "they", like "us", are in fact trying to get off of welfare through POOR Magazine's innovative job creation program which pays folks a living wage to learn how to be journalists and multi-media artists, and due to the wages "they" have gotten so far "They" are no longer eligible for their cash grants and "we" are unable to pay "them" any more wages. But I said nothing. I just looked up and sighed, a new kind of weary entering my bones, a new kind of loss and confusion about our non-profit organizations' dilemma of recieving funding from the very system which continues to de-value everything we and our participants are attempting to do.

Today's meeting heretofore known as The Inquisition #2 began earlier that day with me and Scott, zen-admin volunteer at POOR, compiling and collating a massive set of documents which followed a memo from the Private Industry Council. Most of these documents were things we had already reviewed and submitted to PIC/DHS in The inquisition #1, a four hour meeting after which PIC/DHS reneged on their agreement to reimburse wages already paid by POOR for folks in the JOBS in the Media welfare to work internship and training program at POOR, we were aware that this whole process was probably futile and PIC would manage to find another excuse not to reimburse us or the interns, but nonethless we complied and collated.

At 2:20 a small crew of POOR staffers transported a one foot pile of paper to the offices of PIC and DHS, we were accompanied by Osha Neuman, civil rights attorney from Community Defense INC on behalf of POOR Magazine.

The meeting room was small, bursting at its stucco seams with the human overload of 7 people- San Francisco Deputy City Attorney, two representatives from The Private Industry Council (PIC) and one from the Department of Human Services (DHS) . We began right away after a cursory attempt at polite introductions. This Inquisition wasn't nearly as long as #1 and there were a few less redundant moments. We went over the "pile" and tried to re-explain a few of the same issues. We presented all of the proper documents, and then the perennial "outside of the box" question was brought up by PIC, "So what exactly do your interns do, we are questioning whether they were really working?"

I began to explain for the 20th time that the interns all did a creative variation of journalism, multi-media and creative writing production, but that wasn't enough, "if they don't come in to an office, sign in, and sit at a desk - how do we know if they are they really working?" They pressed on.

Dee Gray from POOR began to explain the different nature of the internships themselves, how POOR tried to tailor the internships and their work duties to the specific abilities and interests of the interns. Osha added that the duties are in fact "outside of the box" I continued that in the case of the journalism interns, the whole nature of journalism itself is not about sitting at a desk but in fact is done mostly out on the field, at the event, or at a computer finishing a story, ending with my statement, "let's define Staff Writer,(the job that is listed on PICS contract with POOR)

This kind of futile re-explaining continued for another hour until it was 5:00. After the blase' statement by PIC/DHS about how the very low-income participants were "all ok" cause they were on welfare, we asked them the same question we have been asking for the last three weeks, " This is an extreme hardship for our small organization and the participants in the program, " When will you reimburse us for the wages we already paid?"

"I can't say for sure.."

As of this publishing POOR
Magazine has still not received reimbursement from DHS and PIC for the
wages paid to the students in POOR's JOBS in the Media Welfare to Work
program, and yet, they will continue to speak, write and educate about
issues of poverty and racism as long as there is breath left in their
collective lungs...If you want to urge PIC/DHS to reimburse POOR's wages please call Pamela Calloway at PIC (415) 431-8700

Youth Commission Supports POOR

By Connie Lu/PoorNewsNetwork Media Intern

I am a few blocks from the San Francisco Youth
Commission at City Hall, but its colossal dome shaped
roof adorned with gold trim can already be seen from a
distance, as it sparkles against the fresh blue sky.
As I enter the commission hearing room I notice that
there are several lights hanging from the ceiling's outer edge that look
like delicately illuminated white tulips. The
ethnically diverse representatives of the Youth
Commission are seated in the front of the room in a
semi-circle, as they address the various issues of todays
agenda.

After several topics are discussed, the resolution
urging the Department of Human Services (DHS) and the
Private Industry Council (PIC) to maintain and
continue the funding of the JOBS in the Media Program
at POOR Magazine is introduced. The Youth Commission
is given information about the situation that POOR is
facing. The JOBS Program is a paid internship that
gives houseless and low-income people the opportunity
to gain writing and multi-media skills. DHS and PIC
are currently withholding desperately needed funding
from POOR due to trivial discrepancies in the
difference between class time and work hours completed
by the interns in the JOBS Program.

The Youth Commission then opens this topic to public
comment. The members of POOR Magazine approach the
microphone. As I rise out of my seat, I take a deep
breath in an attempt to somehow release the fluttering
anxiety in my beating heart. I had not planned on
speaking before the Youth Commission, but Isabel
Estrada, a Youth in the Media Intern at POOR, was
there to encourage me to represent POOR Magazine,
despite my fear of public speaking.

I move up to a seat in the front row and wait for my
turn at the podium. As I look over my notes, I am
unable to sit still. Suddenly, I realize that I am
next. Before I begin, I swallow the tight knot in my
throat. I feel like a nervous bottle of shaken
champagne with a cork that was inhibiting the use of
my vocal chords. As my mouth opens to speak, I could
hear and feel my voice wavering with the first few
sentences that were rushed through. However, I remind
myself to slow down. I force my eyes to look up from
my notes to the faces that were no longer intimidating
to me, as I finished speaking.

After the last public comment is made, several of the
representatives of the Youth Commission raise their
hands in favor of the resolution to urge DHS and PIC
to fund POOR Magazine, which will result in DHS and
PIC receiving a copy of the resolution. This matter
will also be brought to the attention of the Mayor of
San Francisco and the Board of Supervisors because the
Youth Commission are their advisors.

As I leave City Hall, I take another deep breath, only
this time it was a breath of relief. But at the same
time, I was also relieved that I was able to defeat
and break the tenacious grip of fear upon voicing my
support for POOR. I know that my brief comment to the
Youth Commission will not solve this entire difficult
matter, but I feel that through this experience I am
learning to strengthen voice.

Connie is a student in the New Journalism/Media Studies Program at POOR where she is learning how to speak her voice.

by Staff Writer

Krea

By Jewnbug

Warrior of justice

emergez from Aztlan, China, Philippines, Hawaii

long silky cocoa strandz

grow in overcrowded apartment on Bernal Hill

honey roasted almond handz holdz dreamz n beliefz

strugglin wit family borderlines poverty

extendz expandz

explorez

relyz on tha Lord

yearnz fo mo luv

undastandz elements b-low n above

economy suppliez n demandz

wit parentz n sibblingz n frenz strugglin 2 pay tha rent

ventz fistz wet tissue hissed

sentencez spoken wips

battlin state n church

she parted one day É missed

livin on streets hustlin

young run awayÉresistz

public skool system failed

she prevailed

high skool diploma

pursuin college

scholar of street knowledge

gives birth 2 rising sunset in Afrika

sacrificez university education

teachz n learnz across generationz

enrolled hard knockz skool

her experience iz da key openin doorz, cellz

breakin heart mendz wit frendship

sailin partnership buildin tribe

Seinna Charlie Leal Ajah

strugglin 2 make endz meet

mo den her feet walkin

mo den her voice talkin

her righteous spirit fightin

fo houzin, food, healthcare, livin wage

not jus fo self

fo da people

sheÕz a sizta, daughter, Mama, spiritual being

caged bird singin!

by Staff Writer

Each Po' Poet, "Resistors" in their own right, began the process of "writing" the award tributes in OUR weekly workshops at POOR. Each Poet chose an adult, elder, youth or ancestor that WE believed deserved OUR honor through WORDS and visual art.

As poor folks who have barely managed to Make it through OUR lives, the Po' Poets believe that the "Word" is healing and that one of the ways for all of us to survive is to use words and images to honor our collective struggle through life itself.

To get a copy of the Book Resistance published by POOR Press - $10.00 you can call poor at (415) 863-6306 or email;tiny@poormagazine.org

by Staff Writer

Lisa Shirley

by Mari

Trying to maintain her composure..

The plain, ivory, painted walls covered the exterior of the room,

Deep brownish wood decorates the glass doors.

The lowly dimmed light hits Lisa's blond streaks that are running through her light brown hair

her light alabaster skin smoothes her face, baby blue eyes are the centerpiece of her face,

her blanca shirt grazes her fertility and her corazon

Her azul shorts flowing on the legs she uses everyday to keep on surviving.

First she takes a deep inhaling type of breath,

she's trying to maintain her composure, letting her lips speak about her $65.00 in food stamps that was stolen,
That $65.00 was going to feed her mijo.

Trying to use her palabras, as our program director says.

"Someone stole my $65.00 in food stamps that was going to feed my son."

Then the room became so silent you could hear a pin drop.

Talking, speaking, & maybe almost crying

she still handles herself like the warrior she is.

She's fought against drogas, prostitution, alcohol, and her own worst fears.

Resisting, thriving, and surviving.

Always coming back to focus on the positives in her crazy life.

Her words speak realness, her brain thinks of her goals she wants to accomplish, her hands and her arms are how she shows you her love.

Working on family reunification, because her mijo is her heart and soul.

by Joe B.

George McDonald

Founder and President

The Doe Fund
232 East 84th

Street, NY, NY 10028

(212) 628-5207

Dear Joe:

It seems that you have misunderstood the information you read on The Doe Fund's web site.

Please allow me to clarify what our Ready,
Willing & Able program has done to find permanent solutions to homelessness.

Since the program's inception in 1990, over 1,200 homeless
men and women have transformed their lives through paid work.

Today they are
drug and alcohol free, living in their own apartments and working in
full-time private sector jobs.

Not one of them has gone on to become a
sanitation worker.

I invite you to re-visit our site and read the section
entitled "Success Stories."

I am sure that these program graduates' personal
accounts of transformation would challenge your demeaning characterization
of them as "wage slaves."

I would invite you to speak personally with Mr.
Doug Smith or Mr. Nazerine Griffin, both of whom can be reached at (718) 622-0634.

Since you suggest that our program does not provide our participants with the chance to "improve and grow," I invite you to also
read about the education component of Ready, Willing & Able.

You will learn that participants are provided with the opportunity to develop their literacy skills, obtain their GED certificates and acquire the computer skills necessary to succeed in today's workforce.

On March 21st, 2002, The Doe Fund celebrated its annual graduation ceremony.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker
Gifford Miller addressed the 180 graduates and praised them for their hard
work and determination to re-enter mainstream society.

Graduates' parents,
spouses and children were also there to support their loved-ones and welcome
them back to their communities as positive role models.

Graduates all obtained private sector employment, sobriety and their own market rate apartments.

Their average hourly wage was $10.

Again, I encourage you to contact Mr. Doug Smith or Mr. Nazerine Griffin and any other Ready, Willing & Able program participant you
wish. Our contact information is on our web site. I am certain that talking with them will clarify whether The Doe Fund is "real or hype."

Sincerely,
George McDonald
Founder and President
The Doe Fund

ASKJoe Responds;

To: Mr. George McDonald,
Doe Fund Founder and President.

Sir, I
received the letter from you urging me to look up your website, read it thoroughly for errors I could have made in describing it to others in my Ask Joe Column.

To be fair, I will browse the site after lunch at Saint Anthony’s.

Word to the wise, don’t ever go to St Anthony's free meals on the 1st or 15th of each month to lunch if you have pressing appointments afterwards. After eating four servings of a type of curie over rice, lettuce, donuts, with apple juice, and water.

The curry is working through both ends of me, making me dash to my SRO. (Single Room Occupancy) to sleep or be at work funny how this frequently happens and be constantly in the restroom. So discretion at home is the better part of bladder-uh, valor today.

First of all, it’s both surprising, gratifying, and a little disturbing to get responses to my article [Doe Fund Real or Hype 1/25/02] which I wrote way back in January.

As I look at the DOE web-site, I see the "WORK" works logo with long push broom and large garbage can. Then I browsed to the Events section of your site and I find The 3rd Annual "Sweep The Green" Golf Outing At Quake Ridge Golf Course in Scarsdale, NY. I find a listing for "Sweep The Green For The Men In Blue"

I hope its the Ready, Willing, And Able employees/people that are being honored.

The list of Employer’s are from small, mid sized and mega- corporations.Employee’s are working, some even have careers starting at $5.50, $6.50 even $10.00 an hour. My feeling; maybe it isn’t slave labor but its not much better.

I knock DOE Fund Inc's.-Ready, Willing and Able program because this dignity-in-toil works when companies did pay workers fair wages that matched cost-of-living.

These days most don’t, the same hard-working men, women, get less and less-the fair bosses, companies are distant memories, those that stay true to fair wage ethic are like secrets passed from worker to worker precious as gem stones to be guarded.

I got to say it, do you have ads with PC’s, programming schematics, architecture blueprints, test tubes, laptops, cell phones, or palms, (compact internet-machines) showing alternative ways of working in these high tech fields-along with custodial sweep-mop jobs?

Nothing wrong with street sweeping but many people with a second chance would like a chance in those fields too and if that’s part of the skills program then I stand corrected.

Program participants, Mr. Robert Wright, William Williamson, Vincent Moore, Al Johnson are sterling examples of Ready, Willing and Able (RWA) program.

What I’d like to know about is after RWA graduation, lets say weeks or months (I know you have a follow-up program too) still I’d like to know from them independent of DOE and RWA of what were the rough patches.

Are graduates taught some of the basic, midlevel, and advanced computer skills?

One more thing, Mr. Gavin Newsom visited New York a few months back, toured the
DOE program deeming it worthy. Problem: if your model works cloning it to San Francisco the way he wanted it won’t work unless modifications are worked out.

This centralized theme works only if people can get to without taking hours, taking into account "the human factor" of economic, family, and being in areas that do become danger zones for folks at certain hours of the day and night.

Another thing, the Past Alumni of the programs from 1999, 2001, if they are out there doing well or not so well, I’d like to know what they did or how the programs after graduation helped them.

This is a chance for New Yorker’s to tell me and Mr.George McDonald what’s up in old Gotham.

But mostly its for ‘Yorker’s from all over who may have left the city because of economic reasons.

I will not apologize for some of my remarks, though I may have been in error on some points, but this debate, it is no longer up to either of us not even ‘Cali’s and ‘Yorker’s but nation wide as house-less, joblessness continue.

Its not drugs and alcohol, our economy and technology has slowed but still changes so fast that no job or career is safe.

So folks as I said before email me at askjoe@poormagazine.org - but remember, I only answer ask questions.

by Staff Writer

Sarah Calhoun Thompson

Born in Houston, Texas
September 11, 1913 to 1963

layed to rest in

Bayview Mortuary

San Francisco.

At Cypress Lawn, Colma

I remember her

round face covered

with nut brown powder

red fox stockings, on her tall legs.

A woman of the real world

resisting stereotypes.

Sarah had goals, ideals, strength

and backbone.

A focused woman

driven by her desires for personal best

to be all she could be

Sarah was filled with savvy and smarts

And she wasn’t scared by far

She made her way to Cali

reaching for the stars

she knew a professional trade

would give her a new start

she resisted the Jim Crow Laws

a woman driven by her own goals

She believed in herself

Her heart was solid
as gold.

Nana Sarah would say
be true to yourself

things will fall into place

by Joe B.

It’s Monday, May, 6, 2002, I just got back from a two day brake away from the City.

What do I do when I’m not at work?

Loaf, sit back, watch the ‘tellie, listen to music, visit a fem friend and loaf some more.

Reading about news-rack law is way under my radar.

That’s what I was doing reading the Guardian.

20 year contract that Clear Channel can back out of anytime but the city is on the hook [Liable] for 3.4 million.

What kind of half jacked-up deal is that, what happened to mutual exit plans for both partners?

[The mega corps wanting to censor all kinds of songs in the aftermath of 9-11-2001 then said “It was only a trial balloon, oops our bad].

Lets see, Clear Channel after President B. Clinton signed the Tele-communications Act of 1996 made possible for C.C. to gobble up Radio, TV, and billboards.

C.C. is now into owning new racks which means what they deem not worthy they omit guess who has less choice if most of the news racks are owned by ‘duba-C?

I don’t know much but a 20 year deal with one company that bought out by ‘duba-C. [They fired Davy D because he and others spoke their minds about flag waving and what it still means in black ‘n brown-profiled while walking, talking, or driving in America].

Am I making sense people? This Corporate Entity not only wants to make profits but influence slightly or change your ways of thinking by controlling the newspaper(s) and by doing so the content of what is read.

Of course there are ways around this if the Supervisor’s are locked in for financial reason to make it difficult for Duba-C to lose revenue thereby making it more attractive to back out of they’re sweetheart deal.

Boycott, not a noisy one but an insidious quiet one where we leave the rack full of paper, anyone can total the racks or take papers an dump them in the trash - C.C. will replace them charging the City, but leaving them to yellow is more telling, ignoring C.C. will cost them much more that attacking them.

Freebies, this ghetto style is a slight redesign where no money is needed to buy a paper because the coin or locking mechanism’s been on the vending machine is now - lets say turned non profit.

This way the newsprint are read by those wanting to read it but C.C.’s has gained no profit and is constantly bleeding money because of their generous though unknown give-a-way.

A third way is a sarcastic parody of Clear Channel.

Your not harming them much because it is protective speech but one must be careful of slander.

Like in the TRUTH Anti-Cigarette ads on television where folks are telling the truth in funny yet factual ways all Clear can do is use humor too on the other side or bellow out angry which adds more fire to their already burning log butt.

Lastly but as important former Clear Channel employee’s who may have been fired or left on their own.

All employee’s should be treated with respect no matter their station, economic situation, because one can never know when an angry, bitter, former working employee(s) with nothing to lose can economically hurt former employer’s bottom line to the point of bankruptcy if said worker’s knew too much.

I don’t know which will work best but all three should be tried because a triple whammy is better than a single.

All I know is if Clear Channel wants to own multi media outlets to spew their slanted views let them but they should also know many people want other sides of the questions affecting their lives.

Oh, I forgot a 5th thing: That's stocking up and buying CD’s, DVD’s,
[Compact Disks, Digital Video Disks].
and rapidly out-of-date video tapes.

We can look at movies, tv, serials, cartoons and adult entertainment for years before paying or listening to Clear Channel’s drivel.

The very technology and laws that allows a Clear Channel multi media giant to rise also allows regular folks to also chose their own medium.

Clear needs our money but we don’t their one-way, one -point driven views.

Its up to each individual to chose their own content and not to have Clear decide for us.

Or maybe I got this whole News-rack law all wrong, what do I don’t know, I just want as many alternatives as I can even if I don’t like certain publications doesn’t mean I have any right to rid everybody else of the same choices.

Now I'll check out Cheney’s business deals.
...Bye

by PNN staff

What is the true color of pain…

Pain is the same color as rain…..

"I started writing a book on child abuse in November of 1999 – when I was appointed by god to write the book by two little boys who were my godsons. They were abused by a family member- I was also abused when I was a kid coming up."

Byron Gafford is a poet, a storyteller, a child abuse survivor, or like he would tell it, Appointed by God. When Byron contacted POOR a few weeks ago, he asked if we could help him get the word out about his book of poetry entitled "Through the eyes of a Child.. we were intrigued and invited him into Community Newsroom, when he opened his mouth to tell his story, the whole room became intrigued.. "God gave me the inspiration to write the book to focus on not just children, but adult victims who were once children"

Byron’s tall, lanky body draped over the Newsroom chair. As he spoke, his large deep brown eyes looked straight ahead, focused on his vision. His voice was deep and yet lyrical, like a soft wind traveling through the room, " All my poetry are testimonials… they came from my own experiences, my family and interviews I have done with people who are victims of abuse. I translate their stories through poetry.. I am 23 poems away from 1400 poems on child abuse….I am currently working on Volume 7"

" I was born and raised in the Double Rock Projects (in Hunters Point) – and in my community you don’t hear about the beatings- the issue of abuse is on the hush–hush noone wants to talk about it, people in my community are starting to come out on the issue, but just barely. I work in a drug treatment center and out of 800 clients that I deal with –from so many ethnic communities, cultures and nationalities – they all have shared the experience of abuse and they have never even talked about it – since I have started doing the interviews for the book, they have all started opening up to their own experience with abuse.

Byron was asked by one of the POOR staff if he had traveled to other areas, " When I first started writing the book on child abuse – I didn’t really need to travel because my soul was taken out of my body by God and God let me see around the world- He let me see the abuse of all children… and in my book I touch on issues from abuse in our communities to domestic violence, abuse from priests, teachers and other authority figures"

As Byron’s presentation came to a close Dee Gray from POOR summed up how the whole Newsroom staff felt about this inspiring young man, " I can’t find the words to describe how brilliant your book project is, as not just a work of literature but a work of art…"

What is the true color of pain

Pain is the same color as rain…..

Pain is the color so deep within.

Its not just the color, its the freedom of skin

Pain is the emotion of something that’s felt

Pain is the feeling that’s brought on by the belt

And when someone puts pain on you

The tears you cry has a color too-

Excerpt from Through the Eyes of a Child by Byron Gafford

Byron Gafford is looking for a publisher for his book; Through the Eyes of a Child. If you would like to get a copy of his book or have any ideas for him contact POOR at (415) 863-6306.

by Joe B.

Tuesday, May, 14, 2002. As the Late Gilda Radner said “It’s always 'somethin."

Here we go, they (abc-network waited few months now a good, thought provoking show is on its way out if we don’t stop this hissy fit, brainpan-on-stupid, old guard, knee jerk, reactionary, hysteria.

Don’t the viewer’s have a say in this decision?

Let me get this straight in my head first.

Mr. Bill Maher’s late-night show “POLITICALLY INCORRECT” is being cancelled?

Since 1997 the show has made people laugh, think, and many angry especially after Sept. 11/’01 referring to our country’s Military actions as cowardly instead of the high jacker’s using America’s own planes as flying firebombs with themselves dying in the process.[this from abc News.com]

Many American’s want the show gone along with Mr. Maher.

ABC Chairman Lloyd Braun said Maher's controversial comment had nothing to do with the decision to replace him. (Yeah, sure you’re right) and acid rain stays in one place.

Looks to me ABC News is showing YELLOW STREAKS, with its thin excuse of lowered ratings.

People, lets brainstorm, write the station, Congress, Senator’s, and all our representatives on keeping Bill on the air.

Remember what the show's name is “POLITICALLY INCORRECT not LOVE FEST AMERICA-RIGHT-OR-WRONG.

That show makes one think outside boxes.

I have nothing against Mr. Kimmel’s talk show but what’s next “The Man Show” with curvacious women bouncing on trampolines?

Maybe after millions of irate viewer right, left, and middle-roaders come together especially you right winger’s who really get steamed with the show; think.

Once this show is gone another show you don’t like may go or its your show that’s next.

I’m asking all real patriots to really think how this works.

I don’t watch Politally Correct that much but when I do it does make me think what’s going on and maybe that’s the problem the show stimulates the brain in positive ways and makes adults and children if their up late question what’s happening.

Who cares, its one show, so are the show’s on the other networks.

I bet lots of people don’t like Buffy, Angel, or the WB block of black shows or all the other shows that have a bit of bite and intelligence maybe “SNL” or “Mad TV”, Remember “In Living Color” or “Hype”?

Granted they may have gone because of low ratings but what if “politically correct” minority decided these shows were going out of bounds and had to go?

If I had more money I’d get all those shows on video or dvd when I don’t want to see regular boob tube fare.

It’s as if broadcasters and advertisers want total control of our minds so they can take money from our blank, glazed eyes, tv-glued minds.

If “PI” is cancelled maybe Mr. Maher’s can go on cable or for more independence then he can really let loose and not hold back like he must on network tv, or spawn more “PI” show’s there of every stripe so one show cannot be singled out to be axed.

At this time I want to appologise to New Yorker young adults and children for not getting back to them - some stupid glitch has prevented me from getting it or its been rerouted from my site.

But if you saved a copy just relay it again... please.

Addled Brained Crumbs = ABC or whatever acronyms you can make up for other multi media outlets for example ClearTrap, Crap, Crock, Cruel, or Crummy Channel Radio.

I’m sure folks out there came up with many more colorful renditions.

Well, its been nice writing hoped I’ve helped a bit... Bye.

by Connie Lu, PNN Media Intern, Facilitator, Dee Gray/Courtwatch

I am sitting face to face with Rebecca
Barraza-Aanestad in the common room of POOR Magazine.
The spicy aroma of empty jalapeno pizza boxes lingers
throughout the room, along with the resonating and
echoing sound waves of Rebecca's powerful voice
reflecting quickly off the high ceilings. My eyes are
focused upon her deep brown eyes filled with
frustration, strength, and anxiety, as they dart ever
so slightly back and forth in search of the painful
memories in her mind when she begins to share the
account of her children being taken away by the Child
Protective Services (CPS).

R-A: My name is Rebecca Barraza-Aanestad with Parents against the
Child Abuse Industry."

C: "Can you describe the situation you're facing right
now with your son?"

R-B: "My son recently filed a lawsuit in federal court
in the United States District Court for the Northern District. He doesn't
want to have his name printed in the paper; but I
wanted to talk a little about the lawsuit and how I
came to file the lawsuit, when my kids were taken
away. My son was taken away when he was 3 years old
in May 1987. And I got him back January 17, 2001 -
You look at all that time between those dates and
that's many years. He was in Foster Care for almost 14
years. I started going to college right after he was
taken away, and I studied law and came to know what my
rights are and my children's rights. I started a group
several years after my son was taken away and his
sister and his brother. But I don't want his name
printed in the article. You can just say Rebecca's
son."

C: "OK."

R-B: " Leave my 3 children's names out too. I started
a group called, "Parents Against The Child Abuse
Industry" after listening to KGO Radio. KGO Radio did
a talk show with Mary Pride who wrote a book called,
"The Child Abuse Industry". Right after my kids were
taken away in May 1987, I think it was July of 1987, I
heard this interview on KGO Radio with Mary Pride and
one of the KGO news casters or news people, the people
that do talk shows-a talk show host."

C: "Right."
R-B: "When I heard her talking about the child welfare
system I ran to the radio and turned the volume up
because I knew that I had just gotten back involved
with The Child Welfare System. Basically The Child
Welfare System is the Juvenile Dependency Court System
in the United States of America. It's a new court that
has been only developed in the last 20 years. Prior
to that, they did not have a Juvenile Dependency
Court. They've always had Juvenile Criminal Court but
this new court called The Juvenile Dependency Court is
about 20 years old, somewhere in there I would say. I
listened to the radio show and I was so excited. I
wanted to get a hold of her book, so I called KGO
Radio. They set me up with South West Radio Church and
I ordered a dozen of Mary Pride's books. This was many
years ago but today I still have her book called "The
Child Abuse Industry". And that's how I came to start
my group and name it "Parents Against Child Abuse".
That was in December of 1989. In 1994, I renamed my
group, "Parents Against The Child Abuse Industry"
because I was inspired by Mary Pride's book. I've been
to a thousand Juvenile Dependency Court Hearings - I
was not able to get reunited with my children."

C: "Let's go back to the lawsuit itself, can you tell
me what the lawsuit specifically entails."

R-B: "The lawsuit is based on the taking away of my
son and his brother and sister. The facts relate to
how and when my children were taken away..."

C: "How many children total?"

R-B: "3."

C: "3?"

R-B: "3-two son's and one daughter. So my son filed
the lawsuit. He filed it based on the C.P.S. (Child
Protective Services) Social Worker's-I need that copy
of that lawsuit back right now I don't why they're
keeping it?"

R-B: "Anyway the C.P.S. Social Worker - I need to back
up here, I'm totally disorganized now, this interview
is not going well now, I don't think."

C: "Can I maybe ask you about ?..."

R-B: "Don't - Don't -Don't do that to me because now
I'm focused and now you're going to throw me way off.
(Pause) When my children were taken away from me, it
wasn't all 3 of the children. There was only my
daughter. My daughter was taken away and placed with
her... Ok, let's start from the beginning. When my
husband died March the 3rd, 1985.
This C.P.S. Social Worker came out to the place where
I was living. All she did was knock on my front door
and ask me a bunch of questions. First of all she
wouldn't go away - see it's all on this document that
I have for you. She wouldn't go away and she kept
hounding me, interrogating me to come into the house
and I wouldn't let her in initially. She would not
leave. Then I let her in just so she could hurry up,
ask her questions and get out."

C: "Right, right"

R-B: "The mistake I made was telling her - Well, I
don't feel like living-my husband's dead, I'm really
depressed." I never should have told her that. With
that one damn statement she went back to her office
and typed up this report that made me look like such
an unfit mother. It was ridiculous."

C: "Did she have it recorded?"

R-B: "They go back to their office and they type up
their reports. They're like news reporters - that's
how they do their work. The end of March she served me
with a petition to go into court. I went into to court
on April the 1st, on April Fools Day. Whoa, what a big
fool I was right? I went into court April 1st and
Judge Gargano, of the Juvenile Dependency Court let my
daughter stay with her grandmother because initially I
let my daughter go and stay with her grandmother until
I could find an apartment to rent."

C: "Right."

R-B: "We were staying in a hotel at the time my
husband died. It was demoralizing, degrading. The
welfare system back in 1985, had a lot of families
staying in what they
called these "WELFARE HOTELS." There were rooms that
families actually rented.
It was very degrading to live like that. I had no
choice because my husband wasn't working. I was on
AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) back
then. That was 15 years ago-Man! I went to court. They
took my daughter. They let her stay with her
grandmother and then I moved to Sonoma County. Do you
know that the C.P.S. followed me?"

C: "They tracked you?"

R-B: "They do what they call a transfer - they
transfer your case to another county where we live so
they followed me. I felt like they were following me.
You know I was starting to feel paranoid. They
contacted the Welfare Department and they ended up
handling the case. They 'kinda like monitored me and
the boys to make sure we were all right."

C: "Yeah."

R-B: "OK, then I left because I got this letter in the
mail one day. I lived up there like ten months and I
was happy up there with my sons. And then all of the
sudden I get this letter in the mail telling me that I
had to appear in court. And my girlfriend, I showed
her the letter and she goes "Oh, Rebecca you better
move because it looks like they're gonna take you to
court on Monday and they're gonna take your boys
away." " I said "What?"
And I looked at this letter and I go "You know what,
you're right. This is another petition."

I rented a truck on a Saturday. I moved all my
property, loaded the truck up with all our furniture,
everything and we left on a Saturday. On Monday
morning I woke up at my destination. I went down to
live with my sister. Monday morning I left my sons
with my sister because my daughter was already staying
with her grandmother. I went to court. When I walked
into that courtroom and told the judge that I was no
longer living in Sonoma County- he said, "case
dismissed." He just threw the case out of court. I
looked over at the District Attorney and he was so
mad. You could tell he was just fuming. His facial
expression was kinda like "Oh, I'm gonna get you yet"
- like I had done something very wrong.

These people
are sick. The whole system is corrupt and sick. I left
the court house and moved to Santa Clara County. I
said thank God, they didn't get their hands on my poor
sons. They wanted to put my sons in Foster Care up
there - that would've fragmented all the children. I
don't want you to use their names when you write up
this article. My case remained in Santa Clara County
because I have not moved away. I've been living down
here all my life. What happened was I worked with the
system to get my kids back. I could've illegally
kidnapped my kids and moved to Mexico or France or
Italy and they would've never found me but I didn't do
that. I wanted to get my children back the right way,
the legal way. So what happened was, I've been to a
1,000 Juvenile Dependency Court Hearings and I was
never reunited with my sons or my daughter. My kids
were taken away when they were 4, 8, and 9. I didn't
get my daughter back until she was 14. I didn't get my
oldest son back until he was 15, and I didn't get my
youngest son until he was 17, and that was January 17,
2001.

Then what happened was I was living with a fiance of
mine, this man that I was gonna marry. We were
friends, companions. I was his friend then I was his
companion and then he asked me to marry him. And I
accepted his hand in marriage in February 2001.
Then on Friday, March 2, 2001, the District Attorney,
The Office of the Public Guardian and Conservators,
two sheriffs, three women from the Public Guardians
Office, a woman and a man from The Child Protective
Services, and two locksmiths came to my house. There
were 12 people. They raided my house where I lived
with my sons and my fiancÈe. Now mind you, I had just
gotten my youngest son back out of the Child Welfare
System on January 17, 2001. On Friday, March the 2nd,
my house was raided by all these government employees,
public employees, and the locksmith people changed our
front door, our back door locks, and they took away my
fiance. They flew him out to stay with his daughter
-I mean with his sister. My two sons and me became
homeless because my daughter's been living on her own
for a couple of years now.

I ended up sleeping in my car as a homeless person
last year. My youngest son who recently filed the 25
million dollar lawsuit, went back to where he
became homeless and my oldest son ended up renting a
room in somebody's apartment.

I recently got a house. God was very good to me last
year. He did not let me down because my heavenly
Father never lets me down; I'm very spiritual and very
close to my heavenly Father. With my footwork between
my Lord and me I was able to get my housing. My son
and I rented a two-bedroom house. We're in a house
now. I'm back on my feet. I'm trying to get well. I
ended up with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, A
Panic-Anxiety Disorder, and a Manic Depressive
Disorder because our house was raided.

That's the last time I'm gonna be traumatized by any
'fuckin county officials - excuse my language, by any
damn county official. That's the last damn time I'm
gonna be traumatized in my whole life. This is what
happened - I talked to my youngest son who's living
with me and I advised him about his rights. I told him
what some of his rights were. As a Paralegal I cannot
give legal advice. I cannot practice before the bar,
and I can't charge outrageous sums if I help people
with their legal work. I cannot do legal work per se.
But I can handle my own cases and I do as a
Paralegal."

C: "Good for you."

R-B: "As a professional Paralegal I can handle my own
cases. I recently took a police officer to Federal
Court and they settled out of court, and I more or
less won that case through settling out of court. I
advised my son to file a lawsuit based on the fact
that he, that he's 18. These people violated his
rights in all three counties. They violated my
children's First Amendment Rights, free speech, the
Fourth Amendment Rights, their Fifth Amendment Rights,
their Ninth Amendment Rights, and their 14th Amendment
Rights. You have this book - by the way, one of my
distant relatives is a California State Assemblymen that's right, that's right, I've power behind my
family.

My son found the lawsuit based on the
Constitution of The United States of America and the
Constitution of the State of California.

He filed his lawsuit based on the fact that these
people The state of California Constitution which
states: Article 1, Section 1 which reads ["All people
by nature free and independent and have inalienable
rights. Among these are enjoying and defending life
and liberty; acquiring, possessing and protecting
property and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness,
and privacy. So my son, this right of his was
violated, his life, his right to enjoy and defend life
and liberty, protecting property, and pursuing and
obtaining safety and happiness and privacy. My son is
suing on that Constitutional Amendment - The
Constitutional of the State of California.
Article 1 - Section 1. And then he's suing under the
grounds of his First Amendment Right which is
[Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech.]

Now let me stop right there and tell you something. My
son never had a chance. None of my children ever had a
chance. My son never had a chance to go into Juvenile
Dependency Court and tell these people what he wanted,
how he felt. "No, I don't want to be in this system, I
want to go home with my mother." "He told the Juvenile
Dependency District Attorney for the Juvenile
Dependency Court, he told that woman; I'll say her
name too cause I don't care if she sues me and she
can't sue because this is a fact. Her name is Penelope
Blake. Penny Blake. My son kept telling her always
kept telling Penny Blake "I want to go home. I want to
go home. I want to be with my mother. I want to be
with my mother." And the last thing I remember of my
son every time I went to visit my son and when the
visit was over he would scream and cry and shout and
say "Mommy, Mommy, I want you back. Mommy, Mommy, I
want you back. I don't want to go with these people."

That was traumatizing for my son to have gone through
that. He's suing on that ground, he's suing on his
Fourth Amendment right, which is seizures, searches,
and warrants. The right of the people to be secure in
their persons, houses, papers, and affects against
unreasonable searches, and seizures shall not be
violated and no warrants shall issue but on probable
cause supported by oath or affirmation and
particularly describing the place to be searched and
the persons or things to be seized. Now let me stop
right there and explain something. When these people
came into our house in March 2001 they illegally went
into my son's bedroom. This was his private bedroom.
They stole my holographic will that my fiancÈe had
hand wrote for me plus they stole They didn't get
their hands on the grant deed because I still have the
original copy to the grant deed of his house. When my
fiance was diagnosed with lung cancer in the right
lung we knew he didn't have much time to live but I
was almost sure that he was going to live at least 3
to 5 years longer than what the doctor had diagnosed
him as living. They only gave him one year. I didn't
believe it because we were praying over him. I had him
on a good diet. He was eating fresh vegetables,
fruits. I didn't have him eating a whole lot of meat.
We were eating salads. I tried to get him to quit
smoking but he wouldn't quit smoking. When they did
this to us, when they raided our house, on top of it
all that they never had a search warrant signed by a
judge, and dated by a judge. They never showed me a
search warrant. So my son sued them on his Fourth
Amendment violations."

C: "Exactly."

R-B: "He sued them under his Fifth Amendment Violation
which states: [Criminal proceedings, and condemnation
of property. The Fifth Amendment is no person shall be
held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous
crime. Unless on a presentment or indictment of a
grand jury except in cases arising in the land or
Naval Forces between the militia. We need an actual
service in time of war, a public danger. Nor shall any
person be subject for the same offense to be twice put
in jeopardy of life or limb. This is where the catch
is:

"Nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a
witness against himself. Nor be deprived of life,
liberty, or property without due process of law." Let
me stop right there. He sued on the ground that says
"Nor be deprived of live, liberty, or property without
due process of law." One fault that the Juvenile
Dependency Court has is that they always violate
people's Fifth Amendment Right by not allowing them
proper due process of law and they deprive the
children of their life, liberty, and being with their
families. So my son sued under his Fifth Amendment
right and the Ninth Amendment and the 14th Amendment.

The 14th Amendment reads:
[All persons born in the United States are subject to
the jurisdiction of the United States where they
reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which
shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens
of The United States. Nor shall any State deprive any
person of life, liberty, or property without due
process of law. Nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.] And
that's exactly what these counties have done to all
three of my children; was deprive them of their rights
- constitutional rights. Therefore my son found his
lawsuit based on Constitutional rights and State of
California Constitution, Article 1 Section 1."

C: "Now with this lawsuit what are you hoping to
achieve then?"

R-B: "My son hopes to get into a trial level. He wants
a trial where we can explain to the jury. All three of
my children are going to get up on the stand and
explain to the jury how they were treated in foster
care, how they went from satellite homes, then to
foster care and they ran away. All three of my kids
ended up running away. Do you know that, this is a
fact. My public defender that I had for over ten
years, same public Defender and I'm going to say his
name. Howard Siegel S-I-E-G-E-L. He told me "Rebecca,
your children are gonna eventually gonna run away" and
I didn't believe him, I said "Oh no, no, they're not.
I'm gonna get them back, before they even do that
Howard." I couldn't believe it. I never got my
children back the right way. They ended up running
away. As a direct result, all three of my children
never graduated from high school, and they all have
felonies on their records. That's right before the age
of 18, they all had felonies when they were minors.

So I have had it with this system. I advised my
children, that when they turned 18 they could file
their lawsuit. My daughter was all mentally deranged,
emotionally a wreck. So was my older son, he was
emotionally, mentally, and spiritually a wreck; both
him and her. The youngest son was my last hope to file
this lawsuit and by the grace of God we filed it on
April 4, 2002. In Federal Court, in the United States,
District Court for the Northern District of
California. I'm eager to find out this week about the
Judge's decision on whether or not he will accept the
lawsuit. If he accepts the lawsuit, then my son will
not have to pay filing fees for the lawsuit. Jesus
its 4 o'clock. They're gonna tow my car, why don't
you keep these"

After the interview with Rebecca, I realized that her
love for her children is simply relentless and
unconditional. The determination in her heart to be
reunited with them is the driving force and hope
behind her powerful spirit. The celebration of the
bond between a mother and her children will soon be
honored on Mother's Day, as it approaches. However, I
am encouraged by Rebecca to not only show my love for
my mother on a designated day of the year, but
everyday.

Email Contact :
Rebecca Barraza-Aanestad:
paca54@yahoo.com

by George Tirado

Wow what an impressive book! For
the first time in many years a book that finally
speaks to everyone on something as basic as our right
to protest. The best part is anyone from a disenfranchised
homeless person to a punk rocker to a grandmother can actually read and understand this handbook.

This is not the kind of book that you just want to
sit down and read for pleasure, no this is perfect
group read, great for communities, such as schools and
churches and beginning activists, anyone who wants to
make change either through the environment or around an issue of
injustice, just remember what Martin Luther King
said "in justice anywhere is injustice everywhere."

What we have here is a handbook that is stripped
of all political opinions and filled with practical
knowledge. For example how to plan a civil
disobedience action, from the start through the end, covering
every aspect from the press to arrest.

Yes I will admit there are chapters which get a
little heavy for example the Henry David Thoreau
chapter "On the duty of civil disobedience" but even
though it is rather long that's Henry David Thoreau
for you and it's a very important part of the history of civil disobedience. The
reasons these stories in the first part of the book
are important are to show us we are not alone. It
shows us to have courage, that if Rosa Parks can sit on
the front of the bus, or that a hand full of rich
Harvard students can sit-in long enough to help
cafeteria workers and janitors then we can change things
to.

With this hand book and a cool head just like
Malcolm X put it "by any means necessary we can win
the small battles which could turn into the war.

The Civil Disobedience Handbook
A Brief History and Practical Advise
For the Politically Disenchanted
Manic D Press Isbn 0-916397-76-9
U.S. $ 10.00 Now in Stores!! or go on-line to www.manicdpress.com

by Leroy Moore/PoorNewsNetwork and DAMO

One thing I have learned as an advocate is that you might think you won a battle in the political arena, but what happens in the political arena and what happens in our communities is two different stories. This fact struck me last week when I interviewed Patricia Webb at POOR Magazine's Newsroom. Ms. Webb, a disabled mother and resident of the Filmore district of San Francisco, contacted POOR as a call for help as she didn't know who else to turn to as she faced her own kind of housing hell.

Her son is her live-in personal caretaker but because she received a monthly disability benefit and her son has an income from being an in-home-support caretaker which he recieves from In Home Support Services (IHSS) HUD has raised her rent from $281. per month to $833. Although she lives in section-eight housing and has proved that she needs her son to be a live-in caretaker, HUD did not back down on the issue of her increase of rent because of her son's income. HUD passed her to San Francisco Housing Authority where she met with a counselor who told her the only solution was to have her son move out so the household income will be only hers. Ms. Webb's choice is to eliminate her live-in caretaker that she desperately needs especially at night not to mention to separate her from her loving son. However the housing authority made Ms. Webb produce three pieces of Ids to prove that her son has moved out. And as of now she still doesn't know if her rent will be lowered because it has to approved by a Housing authority caseworker who has still not met with Ms. Webb. I wonder if Ms. Webbs' difficulty with HUD has anything to do with Governor Gray Davis attempts to change the existant In Home Support Services (IHSS) laws so that IHSS workers will no longer be able to be family members.

From the jazz capital of the West, the Filmore district of San Francisco, to the home of the Black Panthers, West Oakland, residents are becoming tennis balls in a tennis match between city bureaucrats, local politicians, and federal policies. Although many Bay area cities have recently held many summits on homelessness, and advocates for the homeless and housing advocates i.e. The Coalition on Homelessness, Right to A Roof and Mission Anti-displacement Coalition of San Francisco, and Just Cause of Oakland etc have try to advocate for more low-income accessible housing but the city mixes with policies local and federal have been making people homeless.

In the case of Oakland, under Mayor Jerry Brown 10 K Plan which is a redevelopment of Oakland especially West Oakland that supposedly have brought and will bring economic growth and eliminate the drugs, crime, other urban realities that some times makes urban living not pleasing to many who have climb that class ladder to the middle\upper class. However like a scale, the city of Oakland, didn't balance the cost of Brown's 10K plan and because of this lack of insight many have been tinkering on the edge of homelessness. Ground zero of Brown 10K Plan is West Oakland. The Smith family of West Oakland has many things in common with a recent case of Vernolia McCullough of East Oakland that recently appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. Both are Black families living in poverty, both homes were places of drugs and both were demolished by the out-of-control city crane that has brought their homes to the ground and left many disappearing in the huge Bay Area homeless population. After years of homelessness the young disabled David Smith have landed in a transitional housing in Berkeley and fortunately the elderly Vernolia has family where she is staying.

In this housing market it doesn't make sense why we are demolishing homes. Yes, both Smith and McCullough were supposedly a place of drug traffic but there are many proactive ways the city, Oakland, could have solved this situation without making people homeless. How about conforming the property into a group home for drug users or housing complex with built-in counseling services. However the City of Oakland has entered into a five-year contract with the feeds in which properties are seized by the federal government can be returned to the communities. However the City of Oakland answer is to have a mobile police command center at a time when the Oakland police department in court for allege abuse and brutality against residents in the same neighborhood raised questions who is benefiting in this contract between the feds and Oakland city government. This contract would make any true Black Panther flip out of their skin Uncle Sam in our neighborhoods!

Even the Oakland School Board wants a piece of land to build three new school campuses but to do this they must evict over a dozen residents who most of them own their homes in 104 Ave. of East Oakland. We all know the problems of the Oakland schools i.e. aging buildings, over crowded classrooms and a lack of community control but why is the city putting the Black community in a no win situation. Although many in this community own their homes, the city is actually saying the have right to that land. The City agree to pay each homeowner what their homes are worth. Many residents have their forty acres and a mule but the city wants it back. Can we come up a way to have our cake and eat it to? Yes Oakland needs new schools but we also need to live in our communities. Another example where the county of Alameda have sized a home and left a family on the edge of homelessness is the Sloan family of West Oakland. The County came in the Sloan home and became the legal guardianship of the elder and put her in a nursing home. To pay for her medical bills the county sold of one of Sloan houses and is threatening to raise the rent in the led poisoning house they live in now.

Some times I wonder why we, as advocates waste our time with the political arena and city bureaucrats because we know what happens in our communities doesn't look like the laws, summits and promises that blankets the reality we live in daily, that Ms. Webb and her son live and are struggling with today.

IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS FOR MS. WEBB OR HER FAMILY - PLEASE CALL POOR Magazine at ( 415) 863-6306

by Mari/PNN Youth in the Media Intern

I was so excited to go to Taiwain. I had no idea what to expect. As I was going through all the security checks I happened to be the "chosen one." I had to take off my shoes. The security went through my bag and put it through the scanner twice. They found the problem was with my nail file and the security people took it away. I saw the Army National Guard with their rifles. I got nervous and scared. I do not feel safe. They are laughing, which makes me even more nervous and scared. I also get flashbacks from when I was in the military. I push those memories out of my mind. With images of the National Guard with their rifles and the shock of my nail file being taken away I walk towards the plane gate to board the plane to Taipei, Taiwan.

I wait a little while to board the plane and while I am waiting I talk to Frank Darby who works in the Board of Supervisors office at City Hall. He works in the records mangement part of the office. SO I ask him about this old piece of legislation from like 1906 that is molding. I crack jokes about how I want to find out about every piece of legislation that the Board of Supervisors passed on my birthday. Finally, we get to board EVA Airlines. Anthony, a fellow Youth Commissioner, talkes about the flight attendant's big orange bowtie. Anthony and I get pulled aside by the airline staff. I am again the "chosen one." My bag is checked and I go through a metal detector.

I walk aboard the plane and find my seat. I get the seat by the window. I get ready for my 12 hour flight to Tawian. I write letters to my friends. I write in my journal. I try to get prepared for my trip to Tawian. I fall asleep and when I wake up the plane is over Taipei, Taiwan. The plane starts to land, and my ears start hurting. We finally land at the airport. I gather my stuff and head off the plane. The Youth Commission is greeted by Robert from the National Youth Commission of Taiwan. I shake his hand and at the same time he hands me his name card. He is very friendly and nice. We all walk towards the baggage claim to get our luggage. I pull out my camera and start to annoy the other youth commissioners. I videotape Jeffery who definitnly does not like to be videotaped espically after a 12 hour flight. Everyone gets their luggage and we follow Robert to customs. We all got diplomatic clearance and because of that going through customs was a breeze.

Robert tells us to wait for him while he gets our transportation. He comes back and gets us. We all walk outside and meet our driver Steve. We hop in the car and drive to our hotel. There are lots of plants, trees, and greenery in the city. I am amazed by all the scooters. There are so many scooters. There actually might be more scooters than cars. The car drives by the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit), which is their form of public transportation. We see our hotel from far away. It is like a big Chinese palace that overshadows Taipei. We finally reach the Grand Hotel. It has a gate, and it is covered in greenery. I step out of the car, and walk in. My mouth is wide open. The Lobby is covered in red plush carpet. There is a grand staircase in the middle of the lobby. I can't believe I will be sleeping in the Grand Hotel for the next five days.The best hotel I ever slept in was the Holiday Inn. My mind wanders and thinks about what is to come in the next five days....(to be continued)

by Leroy F. Moore Jr /Illin and Chillin

Webster defines ‘Self-defense’ as:

(1) Defense of oneself, one’s property, or one’s reputation.

(2)Law. The right to protect oneself against violence or threatened violence with whatever means reasonably necessary.

If you are disabled, especially a disabled male of color, then this definition doesn’t apply to you! You aren’t supposed to fight back and if you do, you somehow become the dangerous attacker. Then, there are two possible outcomes (1) because of your disability, i.e. mental illness, you must be eliminated by police or (2) you defend yourself successfully but end up in prison because you actually defended yourself! From the East Coast to right here in the Bay Area, disabled young males of color have found themselves in a life or death situation and have lost their lives or freedom either because of their attackers, the police or the U.S. justice system.

The recent case of self-defense of a mentally ill, Black, young man named Richard Tims that ended up with the police shooting, brought back a terrible memory of my thirty-third birthday two years ago. Just like Richard Tims, I, a Black physically disabled young man was on a crowded Muni bus standing up when a Black man ran to the front of the bus shouting "get out of my way!" Though I tried to get out of his way, he grabbed my book bag and dragged me to the steps of the bus while shouting ‘I’m going to kick your ass!" Fighting for my life I held on. Luckily my bag broke and my bag and I were safe on the bus.

Richard Tims’ case began when he tried to defend his life from three young Black males on a Muni bus who jumped him because he reacted when one of the young men stepped on his foot. He tried to defend himself with a pocket knife by stabbing one of his attackers but when this frail, one-hundred pound disabled Black man got off the bus he was shot up by police officers. Now I wonder what would have happen if I were yanked off that Muni bus on November 2, 2000?

The common reason for police to shoot is the feeling that their or other peoples lives are in danger but Tims, a one-hundred pound disabled man, was curled up in a bus shelter. This same excuse was used in the case of Margaret L. Mitchell of L.A. She was a frail, one-hundred pound homeless Black woman living with mental illness who was shot to death because she had a screwdriver. Idriss Stelley, a Black young man with mental illness was shot more than twenty times because police officers feared for their lives, though he had only a small Swiss army knife. Are disabled people of color that dangerous?

On December 20th 1995, Seth Woods, a Black developmentally disabled young man of San Francisco was walking home from his sister’s house and saw a group of Samoan teenagers that he knew. He tried to join the group but the group of teenagers turned on Woods and beat and stomped on him. In minutes Woods was face down in the streets, and had stopped fighting back. His bloody body was left on the sidewalk. After five days in a coma, Seth died. Moevao, one of the attackers was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle of November 10th, 2000 saying that he "got involved only after" Woods hit him in the face, apparently while trying to fight off the other youth. He goes on to say that he was just angry that Woods hit him and sort of scared. Woods was fighting for his life at that moment. What did Moevao expect at that moment! Are we people of color with disabilities supposed to be pushing bags and shooting targets for certain people in society and police officers!

If you do successfully defend your life, you have to convince the justice system that it was a life or death situation. But as a Black, disabled person your cards are stacked against you in the Halls of Justice. This is reality for Michael Manning, a Black young physically disabled man from Pennsylvania who was attacked by three young men at a gasoline station with a knife and a baseball bat (see Fighting To Stay Alive). Michael, who walks with a cane, successfully defended himself, only to be faced with a racist justice system whose main witness was a lying drug dealer, and a biased jury composed of people who could not understand his situation as a black disabled man. After experts clearly pointed out that the wounds on Michael’ hands proved that his actions were in self-defense and displayed how walking was difficult without his cane, the juror convicted Michael on first-degree murder. Michael Manning is now serving fourteen to thirty years because he defended himself in life or death situation!

What is society telling our disabled sisters and brothers? If we do defend ourselves we might be looked upon as dangerous and out-of-control, therefore giving police the green light to shoot us, or, our attackers might be shocked and afraid that we, as people with disabilities, will fight back so we end up dead because of fear. The last strike against our lives is our own justice system that has a lack of knowledge and sensitivity toward people with disabilities and is infected by racism, causing innocent people of color i.e. Michael Manning, Earl Washington Jr. and many more to be locked up in prison. So what do we do?

By Leroy F. Moore Jr.

Executive Director of

Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization, DAMO

by TJ Johnston/PNN

Starting Michael Steinberg’s latest novel, my first impression of Homes Not Jails! was that it’s a thinly disguised manifesto. The homeless advocacy and squatter organization’s logo, bolt-cutters and a crowbar superimposed on a broken circular chain, adorns the cover. The opening chapters lay out the political landscape of San Francisco, circa 1992:

"Over a decade’s worth of Right Guard Republicanism’s wicked waves appeared to be surging hard onto the battered shores of California’s bankrupted liberalism, knocking the last duplicitous demagogic Democrat into the foaming fulmination emanating from every ass crack and crotch crevice of the Groping Ogre Party.

"With Pistolwhippin’ Pete in the Governor’s Mansion and the other Jordan’s rules insinuating their way into San Francisco’s tarnished-topped City Hall, there was no reasonable doubt that they were in complete control from sea to oil slick sea."

Steinberg, a longtime Homes Not Jails(HNJ) member and author of I Work the Tenderloin and The End of Tobacco Road, then introduces us to protagonist and narrator, Joe Singleton. Joe contents himself with a low-wage job at a produce market (where he smokes weed each morning with his coworker, Jerry, a fiery Food Not Bombs activist) and a tenuous relationship with his live-in lover, Corrina. On a whim (as well as with a sense of fatalism), Joe agrees to occupy an abandoned building with Jerry and his new, homeless comrades.

Thus begins an early fictional history of Homes Not Jails, the group known for taking over vacant and neglected buildings and claiming it for the city’s roofless occupants. Initial legal victories and burgeoning public support charge this crew. Mayor Frank Jordan, a former police chief, enacts a campaign of harassment where cops ticket the residentially challenged for "quality of life" violations. Jail cells swell with spare-changers unable to pay their $76 fines on Matrix charges.

These factual incidents inform Steinberg's book, but he has a specific intention in employing a fictional narrative. "I wanted to tell the story of my experiences working with HNJ," mused Steinberg, "but in a way that also allowed me to express the emotional parts of that experience, which I think journalism isn't as good for."

Evoking the early 20th century pulps, Steinberg also briefly takes us to the newsroom of a large metro paper. The editor strong-arms a reporter into championing the repressive policies. The reporter, himself a victim of the system, meekly complies.

Amidst such grimness, some momentary comic relief is provided. In the middle of a clandestine HNJ meeting, a woman interrupts and comments on the lack of gender balance in the proceedings. Also, an anarchic band of squatters calling themselves Damage Incorporated meets the HNJ’ers while scoping out a squat. The contrast between Damage Inc. and the almost parliamentary HNJ couldn’t be starker. Another episode illustrates the absurdity of the real estate enforcers: immediately after the squatters comply with orders to leave the premises, they’re detained.

Concurrently, Joe’s newfound activism takes its toll on his personal life: as he loses his job and his relationship ends, Joe joins the numbers of the homeless. He is jailed on an inflated trespassing charge. Upon his release, he’s intermittently housed in squats, his former workplace and on the beach. To top things off, his bicycle and other possessions get stolen.

More people are displaced by the pogrom on the poor. China Basin occupants need to make way for the Giants’ new ballpark.

A reunion between Joe and Corrina proves itself bittersweet. "You’re not like the rest of us who can blithely pretend it’s not getting worse," Corrina admits. "Nothing can ever make you forget or ignore them, not love, not money, not nothing. And whoever loves you, whoever pays you, whoever engages you in any other kind of significant human relationship is gonna learn sooner or later that they’re gonna lose out to that, and there’s not a damn thing they or you can do about it." Later, she begs for change on Sixth Street because she could no longer make rent.

The novel ends with Joe entering one more squat, but doesn’t resolve, much like the continuing plight of the backpack/shopping cart brigade or the officials lacking the political will to create more affordable living space.

To get a copy of the book you can email Michael at blackrainpress@hotmail.com, or by sending $10 to Michael Steinberg, 31 Grand St., Niantic, CT 06357. or through AK press at www.akpress.org

by Joe B.

Yesterday, I was reading an S.F. ‘Chron’s front page story and I thought of our friendly gung ho government doing it best to protect children from the evils pornographic websites better known by its original term smut.

Fundamentalist’s have problems with limits and human frailties.

Another parent rats on Ms.C. Silvas about her stripper job where she earns more money in three days than at a regular 9 to 5.

Yes, a contract was signed by Ms.C when her family was together when enrolling her daughter at
Capital Christian School.

But life is complex, families split, and Ms.C.’s family fell apart leaving her to scramble to pay the $400-a-month tuition with no help from friends unless she didn’t tell them because of pride.

I understand rules and stipulations of church run schools blaming the mom is one thing; so she doesn’t go to church but you don’t make a 5 year old girl suffer too.

“What is this “The Sins Of The Mother Visited On The Daughter?”

The child should not be ostracized her mother’s choice in jobs and I’m wondering about the parent who snitched on Ms. Silvas, did it feel good to do that without finding out why or the situations that drove her to it?

“I need to be faithful to my calling.” Said Head Pastor Rick Cole of Capital Christian Center. ‘Piffle, mercy, leniency, being creative, and leeway is also a hallmark of being a holy priest.

As we know these folks reputations are not the best these days and I don’t want to imagine what hidden horrors he Nuns are hiding.

At the Gold Club Centerfolds its about the money for her child’s monthly tuition.

Where were these sanctimonious church folks when Ms. Silvas was going through her divorce, Where were these Church going folks when money was tight - did they help her out a little or just wag their tongues in gossip?

I’d like to know if a few people in that whole congregation of church goer’s did any thing to help her out from kind words, some money, food, some daycare?

If some did help they are the true angels not the ones refusing to help her and her daughter in their bad times.

If anyone is heading over to Gold Club Centerfolds if she hasn’t quit her job just place the money in her hands and say “Go With God.” Being baptized in the Roman Catholic tradition myself I am deeply embarrassed at this holier-than-thou crap - this group acts like their on an isolated island and no one makes mistakes, they better watch out or they like piranha will go after each other in a sin seeking feeding frenzy.

Whatever happens I wish Ms. Silvas and her daughter the best, this to shall pass.

The asinine false God Squad will find other targets because if one person is struggling others are too; hidden, afraid to do what she did-find what honest work she could supporting herself and her child if the husband could not or won’t.

Well readers, do you think there were alternatives to what the church and School did? ... Bye.

by Ace Tafoya/PNN media intern with Michael Fordham- special to PNN

Jason Menard spray washes the metal gate to 'The Healing Leaf' at 52-6th Street in the Tenderloin District, San Francisco's "Ground Zero", with great anticipation. Off comes all the dirt and grime this building has collected. Jason, with his name on the lease of the building, has a directorial position at the clinic and refers to himself as a "servant". He glances towards Market Street and sees a streetcar pass, another day has begun.

Two weeks earlier at the same time, "Lamont" struggles to get out of bed. He's been on HIV meds for over six years. He hadn't really eaten much in the past two days and he was feeling nauseous. "The Feds or DEA raided and closed my pot club," he said to me while sipping tea. Looking out of the window while a pigeon rests on the windowsill, Lamont who's on SSI Disability rolls his weary eyes and whispers, "I need pot to increase my appetite." Marijuana seems to help Lamont with the side effects brought upon by taking his meds.

No one I talked to really knew why 'The Harm Reduction Center', a medical cannabis club was raided and closed at 6.30 a.m., Tuesday February 12, 2002. I even heard about the previous people who ran the center were growing weed on site. Something officials don't like. But the fact remained that they were being raided and the other pot clubs here in San Francisco were not. I wanted to know why. Perhaps they were in "upscale" neighborhoods? 6th Street is notorious for drugs and crime, was this a factor?

In 1996, the voters of California approved Proposition 215. Prop 215 was passed to give seriously ill residents the right to possess and use marijuana for medical purposes, when recommended by a physician. Soon "Medical Cannabis Clubs" began opening in the city and around the state.

"Xavier" is 31 and lives on the street and uses marijuana for his neuropathic pain (pain from nerve damage). He frequents different pot clubs in San Francisco. "I'm thrilled that 'The Healing Leaf' will be open, since I'm always in the area and it's close to the shelter I sometimes stay at," he said to me recently.

From the support of the District Attorney's Office, the Police Department and other clubs in the area, on April 1, 2002 'The Healing Leaf' made it's debut. Still under construction at this time, but open for business, Jason Menard and his crew are really putting their heart and souls into this project. "We've had everything donated, we've done this on a shoestring budget," he said to me while observing the different spaces the building holds. "I've put in maybe $150.00 of my own money." It is plainly clear that Jason and company want the club to be a success.

Lamont is anxious and excited about the new club opening up. He feels he'll be the person he once was before falling ill. "With pot," he said while taking a puff off his cigarette, "I just feel better, I don't feel sick all the time and I'm able to eat more. My doctor is concerned about my appearance."

As long as they follow the rules, 'The Healing Leaf' should stay open for business. Soon the clients will have free haircuts, free massages, a socialization room, a herbal tea bar and possibly free counseling. Even The Department of Public Health has their van parked outside offering information dealing with health issues, every Thursday during the afternoon. You can pick up your Cannabis ID Card Program Application to utilize at any cannabis club at 101 Grove Street, 1st Floor (between Polk and Van Ness). The card costs $25.00, and it could last for two years, making it accessible to very low income people who don't have access to health insurance.

Jason, along with his crew and with the watch dog Trixy are thrilled with the chance to help as many people who need it. "We're just hoping to help clean up the neighborhood," Jason said while surveying the busy street outside. "Make it a nicer place for people who live in the area." He wants to keep the center clean and safe for all who come by. That was reason enough for myself and Lamont to smile.

*************************

Great Britain Anticipates Marijuana Decriminalization

By Michael Fordham

The Guardian Unlimited reported that British medical experts provided the hard scientific evidence that will finally clear the way for a relaxation of Britain's cannabis laws. The official from the advisory council on the misuse of drugs (ACMD) commissioned by the home secretary David Blunkett last October, comes out firmly in favor of downgrading cannabis from Class B to Class C legal status but warns that it is not a harmless drug. (March 15,2002)

The main findings of this report are: 1.High use of cannabis is not associated with major health problems for individuals or society. 2.Occassional use of cannabis is only rarely associated with significant problems in otherwise healthy individuals with the main worry being impaired control of blood pressure and the increased risk of fainting. 3.Occasional use can pose significant dangers for those with heart and circulation disorders and those with schizophrenia. 4.Regular heavy use of cannabis can result in dependence but its addictive potential is far less than amphetamines, tobacco or alcohol. 5.Cannabis impairs mental functions such as attention, memory and performance and so can be dangerous for drivers and those who operate heavy machinery but unlike alcohol, it does not increase risk-taking behavior. 6.The birth weight of children whose pregnant mothers smoked joints might be lower than expected due to carbon monoxide in the smoke. They also run a small risk of minor birth defects. 7.Cannabis is less harmful than the other Class B substances including amphetamines, barbiturates or codeine-like compounds.

This is not the first major study on this subject. In 1998, Canadian and Australian scientists came up with much the same results. Dr. Robin Room of Ontario's Addictive Research Foundation said "The health concerns associated with alcohol and tobacco are more serious than marijuana usage". These and other similar reports have been surpressed politically in order to perpetuate defunct United Nations Narcotic Conventions that entail criminal law in the US and other signatory nations. The Guardian reported in February 1998 that the United Nations health chief suppressed a finding that cannabis is safer than either alcohol or tobacco with the illegal drug playing little role in injuries or violence, unlike alcohol.

That research established that decriminalizing marijuana does not lead to the use of harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin, and that teenagers and children are more likely to experiment with alcohol and tobacco. Long running surveys carried out in the Netherlands, where marijuana was decriminalized in 1967 have found that even in the age group where cannabis use is highest---those between 20 and 35, of whom 12.5% are ""regular"" users---only 1.3% had used cocaine in the previous month, with a majority being aged over 30. The latest sample of more than 2,000 people in 1994 found that nobody under 20 had ever used heroin, and there were just 4 people who "regularly" used heroin, all aged between 25 and 50. Cocaine and heroin is not legal in the Netherlands.

According to New Scientist magazine, the suppressed report concludes that not only did the amount of cannabis smoked worldwide do less harm to public health than alcohol and cigarettes, but that the same was likely to hold true even if people consumed it on the same scale as the legal substances. Holland also had a lower percentage of cannabis and hard drug users than many other European countries, including Britain.

Cannabis also fared better in five out of seven comparisons of long-term damage to health. For example, the report says that while heavy consumption of either drug can lead to dependence, only alcohol produces a "well defined withdrawal syndrome". And while heavy drinking leads to cirrhosis, severe brain injury and a much-increased risk of accidents and suicide, the report concludes that there is only suggestive evidence that chronic cannabis use may produce subtle defects in cognitive functioning.

Even before the 1998 report, Robert MacCoun of the University of California at Berkley and Peter Reuter of the University of Maryland compared trends in the US and Norway (which bans it) with the Netherlands' experience and concluded that "reductions in criminal penalties have little effect on drug use at least for marijuana". How effective has it been in its main goal of keeping people off harder drugs? The Netherlands have fewer addicts per capita than Italy, Spain, Switzerland, France or Great Britain, and far fewer than the U.S. Frits Knaak of Trimbos Institute in Utrecht, the Dutch national institute for mental health and addiction, says the number of hard drug addicts in the country has been the same for a decade because fewer young people are joining their ranks.

Nevertheless, as far back as 1997 CNN reported that The New England Journal of Medicine had come out in favor of doctors being allowed to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes, calling the threat of government sanctions "misguided, heavy-handed and inhumane". In 1998 research supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and revealed to the National Academy of Sciences showed that cannabis contains a chemical that can protect cells by acting as an antioxide. More effective than vitamins C or E, it offers an appealing option for the treatment and perhaps prevention of stroke, neuro-degenerative diseases, and heart attacks, the research suggests. The NIH researchers had suspected that the group of molecules including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the marijuana ingredient that produces a high would act as antioxidants. In their study, THC and cannabidiol provided equal defense against cell damage. Earlier studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson turn up no side effects of cannabidiol in people given large doses. (Science News July 11,1998)

Today, approximately 30% of the US population live under some type of marijuana decriminalization law, and this experience has been favorable. The only US federal study ever to compare marijuana use patterns among decriminalized states and those that have not, found that, "Decriminalization has had virtually no effect on either marijuana use or on related attitudes about marijuana use among young people". Moreover, privately commissioned follow-up studies from the US and abroad confirms this fact. In 1972, a US federal report (the Shaffer Report) served as the basis for decriminalization bills adopted legislatively in 11 states during the 1970s. It concluded that marijuana prohibition posed significantly more harms to the user than the use of marijuana itself.(from www.sciencemagazine.org)

In Britain, with the report from the ACMD fresh in their minds, more than a dozen Dutch-style cannabis cafe's are being planned from Brighton to Glasgow in a major movement across the country. They range from converted warehouses to upmarket cafe's in London with budgets of 250,000 pounds. The Drug Policy Alliance (formerly the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation) reported on March 14 that proponents of Blunkett's marijuana reclassification proposal claim that the tough-on-drugs approach has failed to deter marijuana use and severely weaken government credibility. Despite a reputation of having relatively tough laws compared to neighboring European countries, a majority of which has decriminalized marijuana, Britain has the highest rates of marijuana use in Europe. Claims that tough laws have no significant deterrent effect are further borne out by US statistics. Despite a zero tolerance drug war and the world's highest incarceration rate, the US has a higher rate of lifetime marijuana use than any European country.

by Joe B.

P.S. 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:
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Email: askjoe@poormagazine.org

As I said the above in part is my gig, there are few people I’d trust in my or another’s most sacred abode
-A home,
A house,
Castle,
Citadel,
Fortress,
Castle Keep,
Safe House, Apartment,
Flat,
Place Of Space and safety.

If I could have a single molecular sized particle with everything that makes a home possible including close friends.

That one grain would be more precious than all the worlds full of the richest, rarest elements because all.

It would not be a livible home with loved ones and friends.

Maybe someone has said it more elequently than I then they too know the value of dwelling place especially when lost and ragained.

I have though of writing stuff about or on Cheney, the S-Vice ‘Prez but decided against it.
The guy has to make as much dough as he can stash a load or two away if caught.

His blood pump is giving him enough problems without anyone adding to it.

How’s everything out there? Me, just ‘chillin a bit. Bye...

by Joe B.

I finally read an old S. F. Guardian story called “Feminists For Porn” taking the title with a grain of grit I read it.

First about the early 1980’s and ‘90’s Antiporn feminists Ms. A. Dworkin and C. MacKinnon going ape trying stamp out high tech smut joining with the religious right with the idea it violated women’s civil rights.

Its still floating around a piece of federal legislation called the Compensation Act which in effect deny porn First Amendment protections as free speech.

On the other side its men wanting curtail and control porn while women are the upholders of sexual freedom for all.

I’ll skip to Att. Gen. J.Ashcroft, O. Hatch, M. Foley, on eliminating “obscene materials” on the Internet.

They use the excuse TO Protect Children.

A find and good sentiment such as Legislation entitled Child Pornography Act it was recently ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

The Child On-line Protection Act (COPA) is a way of end-running the courts ruling making adult speech to be censored under the guise of protecting children.

All I’ll say if Ashcroft has hussy fits for a half blind, one bare breasted lady justice statue because of position him and her in photo’s do ‘ya think he’ll just keep porn safe from the kiddies and not go overboard so adults cannot view what they want?

I’m concerned with “G” women and men in our beds, under our covers trying to make the net all Disnyesque or shutdown all tainted sights to protect us from harm.

Community standards are fractured because adults with children can lockout adult sites to children, and adults with grown or now children have access to adults sites they want to view.

Tying laws to what one so call God fearing church goer and a few holy roller types is not my or many other people would call helping but an Paternal Oligarchy with these God guys and gals oh-no.

We don't need or want this kind of "protection" kids-yes/adults-no.

Folks, you gotta watch these “saintly slickers” what they are trying to do, mainly protecting children from child molesters, porn should be done but-will watching adult sexually explicit animated cartoons or looking, discussing sex and important issues involving sex become censored too?

That’s where this is all heading if the (COPA) laws are passed.

You know how book burning starts first one seemingly objectionable book is banned from school, libraries, then people go to jail.

Remember 2 Live Crew, the store owner going to jail for selling the CD, rap lyrics, and 1991’s “Cop Killer” by Ice T.

Law Enforcement and a future Vice President then Senator.

Mr. Gore’s wife first wants tapes, cassettes, CD’s, albums, labeled for explicit graphic language - then wants it all banned so no one can buy it when market forces tell 'em people want it and not their controlling views.

Tell this Att. Gen. guy what century we’re in and that most of us adults in our own homes to lay of trying to control the Net and not use it as spy tools on innocent American’s. ...Bye.