2007

by Marvin Crutchfield

In his second book of poetry, Paradise Ventures II , Marvin Crutchfield shares his strong belief in God, knowledge and newfound peace with the reader. In this collection of 28 poems, Crutchfield boldly and directly states his beliefs and views about the role of Jesus in life.

Although direct, his poems don't simply preach about his passionate beliefs, but also tell the story of his own life experiences since finding God in his struggle to come up and out of poverty. Simple and eloquent all at the same time, these poems address the importance of finding peace in the struggle for survival.

by Josph Bolden

G.A. Blues.

The above words to many in my predicament is what we’ve go or have gone through while on General Assistance better known as G.A.

From the jobs or careers that fall,or women,men that kicked up out of shared living spaces,and all sorts of unforeseen errors in judgement many of us end up there.

The rules are more fluid now but there are people who will always view us as lazy, booze, drug, or sex addicted wrecks who are a waste of skin.

These same folks are "Falling Down"
it is only then they notice like everything else it’s a mixed bag of people on the dole more and more of them are sober, non drug users as I struggling to get back into regular work.

Recently, a few weeks past persons who are Workfare/Alternative Workfare participant’s work in non profit organizations, food pantries, places other than automatic street cleaning or D.P.W.[Dept. Of Public Works].

Just remembered, signed a contract not revealing hours of sick leave. Oh, well someone who hasn’t signed said contract can say what I cannot but what I can do is this.
Reveal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). So look below folks.

Just remembered, signed a contract not revealing hours of sick leave. Oh, well someone who hasn’t signed said contract can say what I cannot but what I can do is this.
Reveal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). So look below folks.

I want to thank the folks

www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/sickleave.htm

Work Hours

Sick Leave

Currently, there are no federal legal requirements for paid sick leave. For companies subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Act does require unpaid sick leave.

FMLA provides provides for up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for certain medical situations for either the employee or a member of the employee's immediate family. In many instances paid leave may be substituted for unpaid FMLA leave.

Employees are eligible to take FMLA leave if they have worked for their employer for at least 12 months, and have worked for at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months, and work at a location where at least 50 employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles.

Well, that helps. Now, I’ve been thinking of T shirts all colors, sizes, and shapes. I don’t know about it as a business but have done some silk screening.

The one thing I do know there is a lot more to do with this business than has been done. So I’ll keep it under my hat.

That’s for me, everyone take care and as Last Week’s Asian Week
what can I say, the thought came before the deed and its like an X Files show’s

"Apology as Policy" which means do the error, mistake, or misspeak, misspoke, apologize for quick gloss over and make like it never happens until… it happens yet again.

That’s all I’m sayin’ no wasting time on it I want life extension and I want it NOW! This war drains the best of our people in mind, body, and spirit. Instead of spending on death – life should be our highest priority.

Again, it doesn’t matter what I think, don’t ever give me a chance to make a few billion, it would go to an ultimate question:

Can we alive now no matter our age in relatively good health;
Systematically improve our lives by changing microorganisms in our gut to mostly symbiotic and less parasitic from their bacteria, virus’s, to other living organisms theoretically improving ourselves from interior to exterior?

That what I would do if I had billions to work with but its selfish altruism: Help yourself and others along the way.

Example: you find what helps or makes the human body/brain more
efficient and when little or now side effects only then is F.D.A.
Federal Drug Administrationin formed and if they take longer than six months to a year other quasi avenues are explored to get vital medical info into public forum for access along with science and technologists ethic panels.

In the long run it will be up to us individually to decide our own fates.

But that’s just me, I have yet to earn a few hundred thousand let along cool million dollars.

by Youth Envision Project, Literacy for Environmental Justice

There are many different issues affecting urban communities such as pollution, violence, and drugs. An issue that is often overlooked and lessened is tobacco. Youth advocates at Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ), and Youth Leadership Institute (YLI) have been working to address this issue. Both organizations have been researching their communities to identify how the Tobacco Industry targets communities of color, specifically the Bay View Hunters Point and the Mission.

LEJ home to Tobacco Free Project (TFP) is an empowerment and environmental health and justice organization based in the community of Bayview Hunters Point San Francisco. TFP is a youth group whose goal is to create change by finding alternatives to the tobacco industry’s influence in their neighborhood. The Youth Leadership Institute is an organization that works with youth and adult allies to create positive social change. YLI designs and implements community based programs that provide youth leadership skills in alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention, philanthropy, and civic engagement. YLI is home to Youth Organized Against Tobacco in San Francisco (YOAT SF), a Mission based youth group working to bring economic and social justice to the Mission district through tobacco advocacy.

Both groups worked most of last year collecting neighborhood residents, youth and merchants to understand the Tobacco Industry tactics used to push their products into communities like their own. In the Bayview, TFP found that 84.5 percent of merchants said that they receive incentives from tobacco companies. This included 72.1 percent of merchant who received incentives in the form of buys downs and discounts. And of all merchants surveyed in the Bayview, an overwhelming 92.3 percent said that they have contracts with tobacco companies. These survey results go to show that tobacco companies have their hands very much in the mix in the retail environment in the Bayview Hunters Point.

While in the Mission, YOAT SF found that there are a total of 120 tobacco retailers in the mission district, a geographic area of one square mile! Additionally, YOAT SF found that the average amount of money that Mission families spend on cigarettes is $10 per week or $520 per year, a high figure for a neighborhood where 39% of the Latino population in Mission is at or below 40% of the area median income AMI.

Research has proven that higher concentration of tobacco retailer outlets has been linked with higher rates of smoking. All this in the Mission and Bayview, plus the fact that tobacco companies have increased their advertising promotion in and around the retail environment since billboards were banned, is enough to show the damage being done in low-income communities throughout the state with similar socio-economic profiles.

That’s why YLI and LEJ have decided to fight against Big Tobacco and start the Tobacco Manufacturers Mitigation Fee Campaign.

The Mitigation Fee is a fee that is going to be placed on every pack of cigarettes sold in the city of San Francisco. It will be used to alleviate the consequences that the Tobacco Industry has caused our communities with the sales of their harmful products. With a per pack fee and over 36 million packs sold a year, there will be an average of almost $10 million dollars mitigated from Big Tobacco, if our policy passes. The money from the Mitigation Fee will go to fund youth prevention and cessation programs, non-profit organizations and youth groups like LEJ and YOATSF to continue the ongoing fight against Big Tobacco.

We feel that it is time for our communities to stand up for themselves and have an impact on our neighborhoods’ futures. We will not sit by and tolerate any more attacks from the Tobacco Industry through their forceful advertisements, mass promotions and sales!

Currently, we are gathering as much support as we can from our communities and neighboring communities, but until then, look out for us collecting signatures throughout the city of San Francisco or presenting at your local youth organization!

by Janie Dickens

A new POOR Press author, Janie Dickens is not only a poverty scholar and digital resistor but also a poet and artist. Her first publication, Dream Owls proves her engaging artistic talent and insightful writing skills.

A colorful and playful book, Dream Owls , is a collection of poetry and art about why people are poor. Dream Owls has an enjoyable touch of playfulness while still engaging the reader in challenging subjects such as the environment, homelessness, childhood, and love. Dickens' poetry is full of life and reads to a nice rhythm that flows easily from one poem to the next.

by Published on Yahoo News

Native American Cherokees voted to expel descendants of black slaves from their tribe nation in a special election that has prompted charges of racism, according to returns made public early Sunday.
But a vote of 77 percent to 23 percent, the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma adopted Saturday an amendment to their constitution
that strips membership from so-called "Freedmen," those descended from slaves once owned by Cherokees, blacks who were
married to Cherokees and children of mixed-race families.

"The Cherokee people exercised the most basic democratic right, the right to vote," Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the
Cherokee Nation, said in a statement. "Their voice is clear as to who should be citizens of the Cherokee Nation. No one else
has the right to make that determination."
However, opponents of the amendment say it was a racist project designed to deny the distribution of US government funds
and tribal revenue to those with African-American heritage, US media reported.

"This is a sad chapter in Cherokee history," Taylor Keen, a Cherokee tribal council member who opposes the amendment, told
the New York Times.
"But this is not my Cherokee Nation. My Cherokee Nation is one that honors all parts of her past."
Advocates of changing the 141-year-old treaty rules defining who is a Cherokee say the tribal nation has a sovereign right to
decide citizenship and that other tribes base membership on blood lines.

The Cherokee Nation, which ranks as the second-largest tribe behind the Navajo, has some 250,000 to 270,000 members and
is growing rapidly. Members are entitled to benefits from the US federal government and tribal services, including medical and
housing aid and scholarships.
Cherokees, along with several other tribes, held black slaves and allied themselves with the Confederacy during the US civil
war. After the war, the federal government in an 1866 treaty ordered the slaves freed.

In 1983, the Cherokee Nation expelled many descendants of slaves as members but a Cherokee tribunal ruled last year that
the Freedmen were fully-fledged citizens with voting rights. That court decision prompted Saturday's special vote.
Native American tribes recognized by the United States government have the right to self-determination and authority similar to
US states.

Election results will remain unofficial until certified by the Cherokee Nation Election Commission, but officials said percentages
were not expected to change significantly.

by Lindsay Robinson/POOR Magazine Poverty and Media Justice Intern

The open forum was offered to provide a media and community dialogue for the District 10 candidates and their constituents. The forum was lead by POOR Magazine poverty scholars who live, work, struggle and resist in District 10. The framework for this dialogue was centered around questions from the poverty scholars regarding issues of redevelopment, youth empowerment, police brutality and the daily struggles of life in District 10; Potrero Hill, Bayview-Hunters Point, Visitacion Valley, Portola/Silver Terrace, Dogpatch, and Little Hollywood and Portola neighborhoods. As a nonprofit organization POOR cannot endorse a specific candidate for office but can provide the space for and encourage an open conversation so community voices can be heard.

All of the candidates were invited - and all of them came, except two, Sophie Maxwell and Rodney Hampton Jr. The candidates present were Charlie Walker, an African American businessman from Bayview-Hunters Point. Espanola Jackson, a community activist since 1966 who has been fighting for Welfare Rights, affordable housing and education in District 10. Dwayne Jusino, a working class family man and a 23 year resident of District 10, who is committed to safe neighborhoods, quality schools, community revitalization and local businesses. Marie Harrison, a long time community advocate who is working against Eminent Domain and towards bringing peace and prosperity back to the community and Sala-Haquekyah Chandelier, a parent and advocate for youth empowerment. The community forum was conducted as a series of questions posed to the candidates and a chance for all of them to respond.

The Community Newsroom at POOR was tightly packed this past Tuesday night as the forum began. Everyone present had been asked to create a few questions to pose to the candidates so the forum could move along quickly. Byron Gafford a poet and Poverty scholar at POOR Magazine was the first to ask the question that was on so many people's minds, "What will the candidates do to stop redevelopment in the Bayview?" As each candidate responded, the room listened intently. There was a general consent among them that redevelopment needed to be stopped.

Charlie Walker and Sala-Haquekyah Chandelier both referred to the petition for a referendum to stop redevelopment that was signed by 33,000 people but was thrown out due to a lack of an additional document. Mr. Walker spoke of the situation as "pure racism at its highest form."

Espanola Jackson responded by remembering how this was not the first time redevelopment has come to the Bayview, she stressed how it must go to the courts to be decided.

Mr. Jusino began by saying that it needed to be brought back to the people. "Where is Sophie Maxwell?" he asked. Then, paused and answered his own question, "She�s in bed with the developers.�

The next question was posed by Vonder Alston, a community member, "What will be your number one priority if elected?"

Charlie walker responded with a commanding voice. He stressed the need to stop redevelopment and clean up the mess that is already there from companies like Sunset Scavengers and stated how the Southeast side of San Francisco is the most neglected in the city.

Marie Harrison agreed and added that "redevelopment is like a bull in a china shop.� She stated that she is not afraid to confront redevelopers.

Simiarly, Ms. Jackson said there is a need to stop the three combustible turbine engines that are spewing more toxins into the area than PG&E did. She wants the old shipyard, which is a superfund site, to be cleaned using the $2 billion that would be spent if the Olympics came to town.

Sala-Haquekyah Chandelier responded by stressing the need for unity and youth empowerment.

"There is a crisis of leadership and a strong need for a community advocate for the people" stated Dwayne Jusino.

Marlon Crump a Poverty scholar at POOR and a SRO resident in the Mission brought another extremely important question to the floor, one that was very real for many of the folks present last Tuesday. "What do the candidates intend to do about police brutality?"

Mr. Walker responded by addressing the lack of leadership in the SFPD. He blamed the police for increasing the violence in his neighborhood. He wants to see a more effectual police dept.

Marie Harrison made the connection between untrained officers and an already tense situation, creating, as she called it, a recipe for an explosion.

Espanola Jackson urged for drug testing of the police and states that there are serious drug problems on the force.

Ms. Chandelier stated, "The community should be involved in the interview process with perspective police and play an interactive role in who gets hired."

Mr. Jusino sees a fractured political community and feels that more police accountability will help repair that rift.

Leroy Moore, a Poverty scholar and writer at POOR, discussed the large population of Bayview-Hunters Point residents that have disabilities and how the community lacks adequate mental health services and transportation. He asked what the candidates plan to do about this issue if elected.

Marie Harrison was the first to respond as if the subject had already been on her mind. She said she has been working on a proposal that is awaiting funding, which would provide transportation from public housing to clinics or other health facilities and back home again.

Dwayne Jusino said he feels this is a basic concern for the community and "action needs to be taken to provide resources for our most vulnerable and dependent residents". The community has a responsibility to its entire people, he said.

Espanola Jackson emphasized the need for money to be allocated for the care of Bayview residents who have the highest rates of asthma and cancer in the region.

Ms. Chandelier said she sees a need for a stronger relationship with the seniors in our community and that the youths need to be engaged.

As Charlie Walker began to speak, a hush fell over the room. He pointed out an obvious trend in the candidates� responses.

"All of our answers are the same; these issues are all deeply rooted in racism. No white community would tolerate their people being treated this way," he boldly stated. He said He believes that very little has been done for the District 10 community in the last 40 years.

The group listened intently as the candidates shared their views. Ingrid DeLeon, a Poverty scholar at POOR and PoorNewsNetwork immigrant reporter, was the next to share her question with the help of her translator. "Que Ustedes hacer acerca salud de pobre gente (what are you going to do about health care for poor people?")

Marie Harrison said she believes the issue lies with educating the community about the current health risks in their neighborhood, she refers to the power plant and the many health issues associated with it and pointed out that she has served on the Restoration Advisory Board for the shipyard for 14 years.

Mr. Jusino began by reflecting on his own heritage as coming from Puerto Rican dissent. He wants fully funded health care and wants to see politics taken out of the way of adequate health care for everyone.

Charlie Walker said he is prepared to make the request that the Center for Disease Control be dispatched to District 10 to do research on the high rates of asthma and cancer.

Espanola Jackson has been working for Welfare rights for many years and said this was an important issue for her.

"Why should we trust you," asked Marvin Crutchfield, Poverty scholar, Bayview resident and POOR Press Author asked.

Dwayne Jusino stated clearly, "You shouldn't". The air in the room shifted as many folks could relate to the difficulty of trusting our politicians. Mr. Jusino continued on by stressing the need for the community to come together in forums like this one to size up and judge the candidates ourselves. "Let everyone's record show and let the community decide," he said.

Marie Harrison agreed whole hearted with Mr. Jusino, "The community needs to push us to do what we say we are going to do and create accountability."

Ms. Chandelier began by saying that she has been a community activist for 22 years, is a former welfare recipient and understands the struggles of her community. "I am unbossed an unbought and will never sell out," she exclaimed.

Charlie Walker cited his record as an activist who has fought and been jailed many times for fighting for Black rights.

Jewnbug, a Poverty scholar at POOR, Welfare Queen and co-founder of the Family Project at POOR began her question by stressing the need for more opportunities for our youth. "How are you going to create and support new opportunities for our children, and not just the type of dead-end trainings that never lead to a real job?

Sala-Haquekyah Chandelier shook her head in agreement. "Creativity has the ability to fill our children's lives with possibilities." The room reacted to her strong words.

Ms. Harrison agreed that dead-end trainings are not the answer. The youth need to be engaged and paid well when they work, she said. In addition, she stressed the importance of putting San Franciscans first as the key to bringing jobs to the area.

Espanola Jackson also believes in putting San Franciscans first and proposes that the CEO's of large companies come and work with the youth, engaging them in part-time summer jobs.

Mr. Jusino sees the situation as extremely bad for the people of his community. "The education system has a real disconnect to the real world" he pointed out. "We need to link it to the business world and our community," he said.

Mr. Walker stated that it is real hard to deal with youth unemployment when so many children�s parents are also out of work. There is no real difference between the youth and elders, he said. "When the major contractors come in and take money out of our community how can we benefit?" he asked.

Dharma, a Po' Poet and Poverty scholar at POOR was the next to ask a question. "What will you do to stop the Redlining of Black Business in District 10?"

Mr. Walker was eager to respond. He said he believes there is a crisis in the African American community. He cited Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citibank for openly not lending money to African Americans.

Marie Harrison sees a need for more reinvestment in our community. "These are our dollars" she stated.

"Redevelopers claimed that 80% of our taxes would be reinvested in our community, but they lied" said Espanola Jackson.

"They are taking this money away from us like thieves in the night and Sophie Maxwell's prints are all over it" Mr. Jusino boldly added when the mic came his way.

Sala-Haquekyah stressed the need for community members to stand up and take back their power.

Leroy Moore was ready with the final question of the forum. "We have seen the activist board of supervisors turn their back on their community during the dot.com boom. There are many organizations that have the answers and understand the problems, why won't the supervisors listen?"

"There is a lack of leadership and the supervisor doesn't listen. The people need to force the supervisor to listen and be accountable," stated Marie Harrison.

"The city is making money from people being homeless and there are so many boarded up houses in the Bayview, it makes no sense," said Espanola Jackson. Community members nodded in agreement.

Charlie Walker stressed the fact that all of these problems are rooted in slavery and said that he sees a real disconnect in the way our disabled brothers and sisters are cared for.

Sala-Haquekyah Chandelier turned to face Leroy and assured him by saying, "You are being heard."

Dwayne Jusino finished by saying that he agreed with Ms. Jackson and said that "it is nothing but a dog and pony show, nothing gets done, it's time for action."

As the question and answer period concluded, the candidates lingered to connect one on one with community members. The space for this type of forum is rare in our community and helped provide those present with a chance to get answers from the people who wish to represent them in District 10.

by Jasmine Hain

Twelve-year old Jasmine Hain and her mother Vivian Hain are co-authors of My Life X 4 , which chronicles the four years their family spent living in a store front window during the dot-com boom.

The book includes stories, poems, artwork, quotes and reflections of Jasmine, which highlight her remarkable social consciousness and incredible talent. Vivian and Jasmine's collaboration on the book emphasize the unique and sacred bond the mother and daughter share. My Life X 4 provides a new perspective on poverty, one that is not heard in traditional media today and should be read by all.

by Olivia Colt/POOR Race, Poverty and Media Justice Intern

'Kaiser killed me,' said William Fortson, a guest speaker at POOR magazines monthly Community Newsroom meeting.'Kaiser killed me.' Say what?? Is this the same Kaiser that has spent millions of dollars in a marketing campaign telling us how well they take care of us; the same Kaiser insurance my job supplies me with?

William Fortson was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the liver in October of 2006 and was told stoically by his doctors that he had 'six months to live and that he [the specialist] thought it was better for me to enjoy the quality of my life' not the quantity. It is now March of 2007 and William is miraculously standing before us relaying his incredible tale, with his wife Mary, about the injustices of the HMO health care system for which he spent 34 years paying for as part of his employee benefit package. William has an eight cm tumor on his liver, a tumor too big to cut out or to transplant organs, too much trouble to do radiation or kemo, too much trouble for his healthcare provider to care for the well fare of him and his family.

This saga does not begin in late 2006, but rather 6 years earlier when William was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. Like any good patient Bill Fortson went to all his appointments, followed doctors' orders and regiments, and monitored his health to the best of his ability. He played the game and followed all the rules, yet as his pain began to increase in his abdomen, his doctor at Kaiser disappeared into thin air; this resulted in his misplaced medical record and improper diagnoses for his pain for a little over a year.

Americans pay on average $5, 267 annually for health care insurance, this is roughly 42% more than any other industrialized western nation pays in medical insurance. Americans spend more per capita in health insurance then any other nation in the world. The United States is one of the most developed countries on earth yet 32 million Americans receive inadequate coverage, doctors are not equipped with the most up to date technologies, and as a result must perform more expensive and invasive surgeries. Americans are paying a third of every dollar they earn for health insurance; but what are we really getting for all these co-pays, like in William Forston's case, an HMO that refuses to pay for treatment that is covered in his employee benefit package.

William Fortson has a family of three; a beautiful wife Mary and a daughter Sakara whom will be graduating from college this May. And yet, despite all of his nest eggs, William and his family are facing the most challenging experiences of their life. Kaiser refused to provide William with the proper treatment or diagnose that would help extend his life. Furthermore, upon changing HMOs to Pacific Care, William is being withheld from receiving treatment from M.D. Andersen cancer treatment facility in Houston, Texas the number two treatment facility in the nation. Pacific Care, the Fortsons current HMO, covers treatment at this facility yet they refuse to shell out the money to help pay for William's treatment.

A Harvard study recently showed that half of all Americans go bankrupt from medical bills. The Fortsons do not care about the cost of treatment as long as it means that William will continue to live and not be resigned to a death sentence. 'They may feel that my father's life is not worth their trouble but we are not asking for any free-hand outs,' said Sakara. The irony is astounding, we pay so much for the 'best' money can buy and still can callously throw someone's life away because they [the insurance companies] need to 'penny-pinch', to put it bluntly, because they are cheap. 'If I have too, I will stand on a BART platform with flyers denouncing Kaiser and telling my husband's story,' Mary told us as she relayed her side of the story in dealing with the harassment and brush off of the Kaiser Permante and Pacific Care personnel and medical staff.

A few days ago a 12 year old homeless boy Deamonte Driver died from an infection from an abscessed tooth in Maryland. In response Congress has decided that they will allocate a reported 40 million more dollars to health care centers and departments throughout the country to prevent this from happening again. Instead of creating policies to affect change Congress is continuing to feed a broken and corrupt system. Coupled with a proposed bill by Vice President Dick Cheney, whom walked in and out of a hospital in one day recently for a blood clot, to place a malpractice cap for class-action lawsuits at $250k; this ensures that the insurance companies remain well protected from having to pay for the majority damages they incur on their patients. This bill will allegedly 'free' the HMOs from the litigation that is preventing them from offering and providing their constituents with the best possible health care they can afford; the same health care that put William Fortson on death row.

William Fortson to this day is being given the run around by physicians and HMOs while his hour glass of time is quickly running out. The Fortsons have reached out to their community, thinking that support would be overwhelming, but none would listen, no one cares. Finally, after being offered pro-bono services from Felicia Curran, the Fortsons attorney, William has an emergency appoint with the UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco. William is not a guinea pig, he is not some careless object, he is a human being, with a wife and a family. He was living the American dream, or so he thought. William's daughter put it best in a letter she addressed to Anderson Copper 360, 'My father qualifies but no one cares. If a person has health care and can not get help, where else can we turn?'

*KAISER KILLS*!!! Please join the Fortsons and other families and
individuals who have been denied care and/or been subjected to
HELLTHCARE at Kaiser at a rally and press conference on Tuesday April
10th @ 9:00 am in front of Kaiser Permanente Medical offices at 2238
Geary street ( near Divisadero) in San Francisco. Rally sponsored by
POOR Magazine/PoorNewsNEtwork.For more information or to sign on as a
co-sponsor or speaker please call POOR at (415) 863-6306

by Leroy Moore Jr. of the National Minorities with Disabilities Coalition

The National Minorities with Disabilities Coalition, NMDC, views the recent election as a serious turning point in the disabled movement and a wake up call for this country’s political arena. As we witnessed, this election year brought out record number of candidates with disabilities and candidates with disabilities of color to some high political positions from Governor to House of Representatives to the Senate. These results, however, could have been better and hopefully are just a starting point. NMDC would like to share with you what this election means for not only minorities with disabilities, who ran for office and for the whole disabled community but for the political arena.

Out of ten known races involving candidates with disabilities in New York, California , Maine, Illinois, Massachusetts and Maryland, only two disabled candidates won their races: David Paterson, now Lieutenant Governor of NY and reelected member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisor, Michela Alioto Pier. What does this mean for the future of candidates with disabilities in all political parties? Although many of the disabled candidates that NMDC covered in this year’s election were newcomers to the political arena, the two who won their race are well known in their parties and came into the race with a treasure of supporters, contributions, a well- oiled political machine and a family name.

Both Paterson and Alioto are not only people with disabilities but both have a family legacy in politics in their cities. David Paterson’s father, Basil Paterson, is a longtime political leader in New York and Harlem and was the first African American to be nominee of a major party for statewide office in New York. His father’s political work spans from the 1950’s and 60s to the 80’s. The same is true for Michela Alioto-Pier. Alioto-Pier is the granddaughter of former San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto, and the niece of Angela Alioto, former President of the SF Board of Supervisors. Joseph Alioto served on the San Francisco Board of Education from 1948 to 1954, and in the 1960s, served as the chair of the city's Redevelopment Agency. He entered the mayoral race in 1967.

Some of theses races involving candidates with disabilities were close and made historical inroads in the political arena. For example, Brooke Ellison, a person with quadriplegia who was running for the Senate in New York, lost her race to a well known Republican, John Flanagan, but the race was close for a newcomer. Flanagan got 59 percent of the vote to Ellison's 40 percent. Ellison is no Arnold Schwarzenegger even though her name and face were in Hollywood. She starred in the last movie Christopher Reeves directed about her life, but her star power is not as bright as all other movie stars that have walked onto the political stage.

In another interesting study about press coverage, the NMDC tracked the amount of media around disabled candidates in the past election. Although the candidates did get some media attention around their campaigns for being persons with disabilities running for office, compared to well-known candidates the coverage was sparse. The well-known candidates were asked about a vareity of subjects by the media, while candidates with disabilities received very little media attention and it was only related to only one issue, their disabilities.

Many of the third party disabled candidates were excluded from debates. Martina Robinson was quoted in an article as saying that she was excluded from the Governor’s debate in Massachusetts. She believed it was based on her disability because it takes time for her aide to interpret to the audience what she says due to the cerebral palsy that affects her speech.

Now, in the post election media coverage, a diverse group of experts are analyzing what the election meant for their communities and the result of the Democrats taking over the Senate and the House. These experts and their comments represent people of color, women, immigrants, gays and lesbians and even youth but once again, eventhough this election had a record number of candidates with disablities, the voice of the disabled community is missing.

Disabled or not, in this election voters played it safe and went with the more well-known names from the two major political parties. The question is if you are not born into a political family dynasty how do you get the name, support and the backing of the political machine? Our answer at NMDC is to keep on running.

Martina Robinson, who was running for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts on the new Green-Rainbow Party ticket, took the words out of my mouth when she was interviewed for the Boston Globe article. Robinson said that, she knows ‘the odds are steeply stacked against her.” She wants to win and thinks she has a chance, but winning is not her sole objective. She also said she hopes to set an encouraging example for other disabled people.

In the race for Governor in Massachusetts 54 percent of voters picked Democrats Deval Patrick and Timothy Murray, followed by 23 percent for the Green Rainbow Party's Grace Ross and Martina Robinson. Bringing up the rear with 11 percent of the votes each were Republicans Kerry Healey and Reed Hillman and Independents Christy Mihos and John Sullivan. Although the Grace Ross & Robinson ticket got only 23 percent of the vote, they did come in second place. This is huge for a newly formed party and it is first time that African American woman with a physical disability ran for a high political office in that state. It is also interesting to point out that the newly elected Governor Deval Patrick is the first Black Governor of Massachusetts, but it is not known if his administration will look toward Robinson for advice on disability issues in the state.

Although many of the disabled war veterans who ran for office lost, like Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Phil Avillo in Pennsylvania and Phillip Morris Napier, the question now is will the new Democratically controlled House & Senate listen to these disabled war veterans or more proactively will they take on their campaign promises and platforms?

Another interesting detail of the above candidates are they were all Democrats or Independents. Were there any Republican disabled war veterans in this year’s election? In the Duckworth and Roskam race in Illinois for the House of Representatives, Duckworth, a Filipino war veteran who is an amputee received 49% of the vote and the newly elected Representative, Roskam received 51% of the vote. This was a very close race for a first-time disabled Filipino candidate.

So the National Minorities with Disabilities Coalition (NMDC) believes that the major question for the above disabled candidates now is, “what will be their future in the political arena?” How can we, in the disabled community learn from their candidacy and what will be the affect of the disabled vote and upcoming disabled candidates on the current political parties? NMDC will keep an eye on the political arena and disabled candidates.

by Ecsta Scene

In the first edition of her zine called System Bitch , poverty scholar, welfare QUEEN and mother, Ecsta Scene has published a collection of what she calls witness statements. Authored by a variety of different people, these witness statements are first hand accounts of peoples interactions with systems in todays modern world.

System Bitch is unlimited in the scope of systems its authors confront, including but not limited to jail, child abuse, work, love, religion and politics. Ecsta Scene has put together a truly insightful collection of work, which begs for further evaluation.

by Josph Bolden

After Bush/Obama Times PT. 1

Between listening to a guy on 106.5 FM,reading the Emortality series[Look up Conquest of Death by Author Alvin Silvertein. No aging or disease though death by accident,dying is still possible.

The Author Brian Stableford creator of the Emortaity series
acknowledged his debt to Silverstien for coining the phrase and it meaning.

Basically,Emortality differs from Immortality not only in its spelling but also that the latter is a state or process of being unable to die. Emortality is a state or process of life extension yet still being able to die.
Damn!There's always a catch.

Oh well better get use to emortality as emergency an stopgap before true immortality gets here.

What has any of the above to do with Bush and Obama? Not much except that Born-Again-Bush,Vice Prez’ Dick,Tom Delay,and all his

crony friends have caused death,destruction, slowed the pace not only alternate energy sciences but also medical advancement!

Think back folks, between dead prez Ronald Reagon’s decade long ban on Biotechnology and Bush’s Born Again-War Prez-Fear- Stem Cell-Stolen Cash administration is over you know we will celebrate that great day!

Unless Marshal Law is enacted to keep Bush in legally for illegal means.

Most if not all the technologies will spring forth. Maybe veterans, and their families who’ve sacrificed time,risked, limb,lives,some lost forever will be the first besides a few citizens to partake of

stem cell and or tissue repair technology for nerve repair,synaptic cloning giving back what was lost of motor or higher brain function though some memories are forever lost.

This is what I wait for: The long way back from this gray tinged tunnel where we’ve been told the applied science to help people in need and save lives isn't possible on religous,ethical themes.

Crapola on all that static folks,our lives,our collective or individual choices!

I do believe the best way to win this socalled war is withdraw our troops

Like that movie where a supercomputer on Nuclear War says:"Currious game,best way to win is not to play."

After all this started because one man’s thirst to be a WAR PRESIDENT AND SCARE US WITH 911 OVER AND OVER WHILE TAKING AWAY OUR CIVIL RIGHTS – LEFT AND RIGHT TO COIN A PHAISE.

by By Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia and Vivien Hain/PoorNewsNetwork poverty scholars and welfareQUEENS

At 3:30 p.m., under a brisk and windy blue sky in West Oakland last
Thursday, just a couple of days after the elections, stood a crowd of
people, mostly West Oakland residents, along with members of the
Oakland-based tenant's rights organization 'Just Cause' to unveil a
billboard that read: "West Oakland For The People - Stop
Gentrification", adorned with large, warm colored graphics, including an image of a male silhouette with a dollar sign on his chest and a
close up of the face of a youth.

Many people, most who live in the
community, sang protest songs and chanted slogans that they will never
be stopped, despite of the need for greed from billionaire real estate
developers, which has been gradually pushing many low-income families
of color out of West Oakland as part of ex-Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown's
gentrification agenda.

As the people spoke, I gazed off into the distance a few blocks away near
the corner of 26th and peralta, where a slightly beat-up, cream-colored
apartment complex used to live. It was an apartment my mother and I had
lived in, barely affording the rent, before we were evicted to make way
for a large terra cotta condo development that stood there now, resting
its bright steel and shiny metal legs calmly on the graves of a
thousand apartments for poor folks.

Then I gazed a few blocks to the left to a "storefront" where my mama
and i squatted right after we were evicted because that eviction
destabilized our tenuous hold on homefulness to such an extent that we
couldn't really recover.

So how do you wipe out a whole community of color - by redlining,
re-zoning, ghetto-izing, turning it into a "cool" artists ghetto.and
then eventually displacing the community that was originally there.
Gentrification for Dummies; the template of capitalism; renew, redo,
displace and re-locate

But there is one more key way to accomplish this goal that must be
mentioned, through the "buy-in" of the community members themselves.

I scanned the Corporate media (a.k.a. The Chronicle-Lies) on Sunday
only to find a picture of several supposedly conscious residents of
West Oakland standing next to the lead developer, Rick Holliday, of the
multi-million dollar Train station project, they were all talking about
how important it was to bring "market-rate housing" to west Oakland as
that would be the way to "improve" West Oakland.

Who does market rate housing improve West Oakland for? And where do all
the poor folks go when we are displaced? Like Po� Poet Laureate of POOR Magazine A. Faye
hicks so beautifully articulated in her poem The Poor Nation, "we don't
move, cause we don't have the resources to move, we just start living
in the sidewalk hotel."

"We must not be moved", a very angry Gregory Hodge, Oakland Unified
School District Director called out to the crowd flanked by Hip Hop
artists ArtinAction

As people of color we must resist this gentrification,"said Yvonne Smith, long-time West Oakland resident of 63 years.

After several community elders spoke, scholarship was spit by several local Oakland youth hip hop artists who came out to represent and perform, speaking out about the social genocide that is currently taking place in their communities, which is forcing many long-time West Oakland residents to leave and be 'set out to pasture', with many being relocated to other cities as far away as Stockton, because affordable housing in West Oakland continues to rapidly shrink to near extinction.

As part of the anti-gentrification billboard campaign in West

Oakland, Just Cause has also been working for several years on an

'inclusionary housing campaign', with an Inclusionary Zoning (IZ)

proposal that would require all new housing developments to include units for low-income families.

Every single month, hundreds of condos are being fast-tracked through the City of Oakland's approvals process, and the vast majority of them are market-rate, luxury condos for San Francisco professionals. Meanwhile, the displacement and exodus of communities of color in West Oakland continues.

Inclusionary Zoning is a policy that requires all housing developments to include a percentage of "affordable units". Just Cause has been at the forefront of calling for this policy over the past few years and last year, several other organizations joined in the campaign, like Oaklanders for Affordable Housing, in an effort to build a coalition of organizations pushing for Inclusionary Zoning.

The effort is in high gear as Just Cause's (IZ) campaign pushes Oakland's City Council to implement a minimum requirement of 20% low-income housing in all developments immediately, so that the trend of housing displacement for many Oakland communities of low and no income people of color will stop.

As the press conference came to a close I gazed up the street again, my eyes searching for another corner, this one where me and my poor mama dee used to park our car when we didn't even have a place left to live in. I couldn't find that corner cause my gaze was obstructed by yet another condo, this one even bigger than the last.

If you would like to get involved in the campaign work that Just Cause is currently working on, contact them at 510.763.5877 Email: victory@justcauseoakland.org

Tiny is a welfareQUEEN and revolutionary journalist, co-founder of POOR
Magazine and author of the upcoming memoir; Criminal of Poverty;
Growing Up homeless in America, published by city Lights. Vivien Hain,
is a welfareQUEEN, media producer and co-author of My Life x 4 - a
story of her and her daughter's homelessness in Oakland published by
POOR Press.

by Marlon Crump

Marlon Crump is a poverty scholar, digital resistor and extremely talented author whose debut book, Citizen, Civilians Over Corruption: Savagely Removed Occupant (S.R.O.) appears as a fictionalized account of a future where poverty and injustice run rampant in the wake of police corruption

The story, however, was inspired by Crump's own experience with police, who illegally stormed his S.R.O. and arrested him for a crime he did not commit. Using his unique first-hand experience with police brutality, Crump, through this thoroughly interesting story, sheds light on the barriers that exist between race, poverty, and law enforcement. A truly enjoyable, informative and educational, novel, Citizen, Civilians Over Corruption: Savagely Removed Occupant is a shinning first novel.

by Joseph Bolden

After Bush/Obama Times PT. 1

Between listening to a guy on 106.5 FM,reading the Emortality series[Look up Conquest of Death by Alvin Silvertein. .

The Author Brian Stableford creator of the Emortaity series
acknowledged his debt to Silverstien.

Emortality differs from Immortality not by how its spelled but also its meaining [this is mine as I understand it].

Emortality is a state or process where one does not age or ages slower, cannot contract disease but still able to die.

Well,better get use to emortality as an emergency stopgap to life extension
or as one Mr. Stableford characters says"Riding The Elevator To Immortality."

Life Extended science before true immortality.

I learn anew,to crawl before I can walk.

I'll go being an emortal ("False Immortal")

Before being frozen down wait until all the best applide science is there.

But if I get too old,I'll be coolin'it on ice too

Life's a gamble,this is the biggest one I want to play right now!

Oh,forgot, Immortality is the inability to die.
I like that unless one gets horridly burned and that takes years for complete skin,nerve,cell regeneration to take place.

Pain is the same unless blocked by improved nano-medical devices.

Great,unless you go insane because of unblocked pain before being completely healed.

What a dreadful side of immortality but I’ll risk it.

If a poor,no cash slob like me can survive Bush's Administration I certainly can try to snag emortality for me and those who've lived through this "Bushit"

What has any of the above to do with Bush and Obama?

Not much except that Born-Again-Bush,Vice Prez’ Dick,Tom Delay,and all his

croney friends have caused death,destruction, and have slowed the pace of not only alternate energy science but also medical advancement!

Think back folks, between dead prez Ronald Reagon’s decade long ban on Biotechnology and Bush’s Born Again-War Prez-Fear- Stem Cell-Stolen Cash administration is over you know we will celebrate that day.

Unless Marshal Law is enacted to keep Bush in legally for illegal means.

Most if not all the technologies will spring forth.

Maybe veterans, and their familes who’ve sacrificed time,risked, limb,lives,some lost forever will be the first besides a few citizens to partake of stem cell and or

tissue repair technology for nerve repair,synaptic cloning giving back what was lost of motor or higher brain function though some memories are forever lost.

This is what I wait for:

The long way back from this gray tunnel where we’ve been told that the science and technologies that can save,rebuild countless lives

cannot be done because of one man's stuborn religious myopia.

I do believe the best way to win this socalled war is to withdraw our troops.

After all,this insanity began because of one man’s thirst and help from a few friends to be a WAR PRESIDENT,SCARE US WITH 911 OVER AND OVER WHILE TAKING AWAY OUR CIVIL RIGHTS – LEFT AND RIGHT TO COIN A PHAISE.

by Ashley Adams/PoorNewsNetwork

"I been raised on dem corners that you scream about constantly. The hood we callin home where the father's never known to be- but still I fought the struggle kept my head up on my hustle- I had to sho a little muscle that promised me struggle"

Those are the lyrics of Little B aka Michael Lewis who has won talent shows and other contests behind prison walls. He is a name to know. He is a story to know, one that represents many.

Little B- Michael Lewis is a human being first and foremost in addition to being a prisoner of Georgia State Prison. He has been in prison for over 9 years. Now 23, he is serving a life sentence for the murder of a man named Darrell Woods; a murder in which clear evidence exists to prove Michael's innocence.

Michael was raised in Atlanta's impoverished neighborhood called The Bluff. This is a neighborhood where over twenty liquor stores litter a five mile east to west stretch of Simpson Street. The Bluff is a place where the existing markets are not selling fresh fruits or vegetables. There are no offices, bookstores, bank branches, doctors, not even ice cream stores or movie theaters can be found in the Bluff. The main form of commerce in the Bluff involves addicts, dealers, and police. By the age of 11, Michael was living on the streets of the Bluff having to fend for himself.

" I been a street nigga my whole life- while y'all niggaz ran school halls I ran the streets til midnight- I seen my moms and pops embrace the crack pipes with mo love for the blow then the kids they gave life- so the streets raised me- hood enslaved me"

At the age of 14, Michael was tried as an adult for the murder of Darrell Woods under Georgia's Senate Bill 440 which allows children ages 13-17 to be prosecuted and sentenced as adults for offenses known as the 'seven deadly sins'. The mandatory sentencing is 10 years in adult prison for the youth caught up in this bill. Not so coincidentally, 94% of the children tried and convicted under this law have been black.

Michael's court case lasted only three days; Three days of underrepresentation by his defense team who, from what I've seen, had more than enough evidence to prove his innocence. Three days of inconsistent testimonials from drug dealing and/or crack addicted witnesses. Three days of lazy defense cross examination and suppressed evidence. Three days of a charade that took away whatever freedoms Michael once had.

Unnerved and highly perturbed are probably the best words to describe my state after reading the details culminating obvious negligence in the case of Little B and the justice system as a whole. The Injustice system.
The injustice of Michael's story is beyond words I know; it's a feeling similar to tight stomach muscles, a clenched fist, a scream into a pillow, a shortness of breath. Even though I have not met Michael or spoken with him directly, what amazes me most is the positivity that beams thru his letters that were shared with me to tell his story. I have learned about hope and the power of optimism thru his writings. When reading them I would imagine the place from where the letters were written; the color of the walls, the lighting of the cell, the smell, and the echoing sounds of long hallways lined by human beings locked in cages.

As I write this from the comfort of my home- warm, cozy, sweet smelling, with cat at side- I try to understand what it would feel like to have lived 9 years in a cell that is 6 x 8 feet for a crime I did not commit. I once sat in a cell for several hours that felt like days, but they were only hours.
Exerts from Michael's letters read:

"A typical day for me is being locked in a cell for 23 hours a day, but sometimes 24 hours for weeks at a time because they (the officers) run yard call whenever they feel like it…

I only leave this cell for a shower or visitation and even then I'm cuffed until I reach the destination."
Elaine Brown former chairperson of the Black Panther Party, musician, mother, and author of several books, got involved with Little B when she was living in Atlanta during the time of his arrest. She was attentive to and outraged by the media's portrayal of Little B as a cold hard thug killer. He was a 13 year old boy. This was happening at a time when there was a lot of media rhetoric about 'urban' (meaning mostly Black or Hispanic) youth becoming America's new "superpredators".

Elaine is founder and Executive Director of the Michael Lewis Legal Defense Committee. She has written a book called 'The Condemnation of Little B' which goes into the details of the night Darrell Woods was murdered, the lack of representation for Michael, the suppressed evidence in support of Michael's innocence, the deals behind close doors between the State and the drug dealers present at the scene of the crime whose unrelated drug dealing charges were conveniently dropped after Michael's conviction, and how all of the pieces fit into the current picture of New Age Racism in America.

The bigger picture that Michael's story represents is indeed multifaceted. Upon reading much of Elaine's book, I began to grasp the zoom out. Racism seems to actually support the needs of the economic system we dysfunction in known as capitalism. More prisoners equates to more labor… cheap labor, even free labor. Georgia is one of three states that do not pay prisoners for labor. Many large corporations with household names rely on prison labor for production of their goods. This system we are living in is a complicated tangled web of apparent deceit- money hungry people at all levels- prison slave labor- racism- and injustice. When crime rates drop in urban areas, new bills are passed to ensure incarceration of targeted populations such as those with melanin in their skin. Basically, the rabbit hole is deep. Hopeful people and freedom fighters are needed in every nook and cranny.

"I try to be optimistic about everything in my life because I know this place will destroy me mentally if I'm not careful, so having to be optimistic is much needed."

The truth is hard for me to digest at times. In my heart, Faith is highly complimentary to Truth. I need faith to see the truth, as I truly believe that in sharing all the stories of injustice and supporting one another in the process we collectively progress towards a healthier world in which restorative justice and healing come first before prison. In the world I visualize and idealize prisons do not exist. People are held and supported by community which embraces all skin colors, all religions, all economic backgrounds; a community where that which divides us is so much smaller and unimportant than that which connects us to one another. For this to be possible, first we are gonna have to heal thru sharing stories and listening whole heartedly to one another. I have hope and strong faith, if I did not, the truth would drive me to an early grave. It is of this hope and faith that I pray of one day, not too far in the future, that I will go see Little B tear it up on stage at San Francisco's historical Fillmore, as a free man.

An Appeal for Michael's case was filed and denied in 2005. The attorneys were incompetent. They did not want to base the case on the missing evidence and ineffective council These same self deluded 'savior' attorneys never met Michael nor did they visit him or speak to him in any way. What I cannot seem to figure out is why people (such as defense attorneys) put themselves into positions where they can REALLY help people in difficult situations who need their help and not step up. It baffles me and that's another article in and of its self.

…current situation…

Michael still has a chance at freedom and it's up to anyone reading this article or hearing this story elsewhere to put him in your prayers, spread the word, and help out in any way you can. A Writ of Habeas Corpus, a writ requiring a person to be brought before a judge or court for investigation, was recently filed at the State level. A court date is scheduled for February and funds are much needed for an investigator and attorney to bring fourth potential witnesses and to surface the many neglected facts about this case. Currently, a two woman team of Elaine Brown assisted by Melody Russell, is working diligently with fiery dedication towards Little B's freedom. If this story moves you in any way or rattles your bones like it has mine, this is a time to step up. You can contribute financially by sending check to: THE MICHAEL LEWIS LEGAL DEFENSE FUND, 4060 Peachtree Road, D324, Atlanta, Georgia 30319. You can check out www.myspace.com/freelittleb to find out other ways in which you can help or to learn the details of his innocence. I highly recommend reading Elaine Brown's book, The Condemnation of Little B for his case and the societal implications raised by his persecution. For more information on Elaine and her work go to: www.elainebrown.com.

To all people everywhere: Keep fighting for your Spirit and your Mind.

by Dharma

Dharma, welfareQUEEN, poet, musician, artist and graphic designer, has created a visual and literary montage of poetry, art and essay focused on the struggle, survival and resistance of a African Queen living and trying to thrive in the Bay Area in 2006, with her book; Reflections of Unknown Artists

by Leroy Moore

The entertainment industry has come a long way from Black paint on white faces, and a male dominated hip-hop industry. Today disabled hip-hop artists are making a name for themselves and more and more movies are actually breaking stereotypes instead of propagating them. One such film, My Brother , which has just been released by a new African American based film company in New York, Liberty Artists, tells the story of two young African American men living with developmental disabilities. The two men are portrayed by , Christopher Scott and Donovan Jennings, who are both new to the screen. The movie also stars and stars Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty), Nashawn Kearse (Desperate Housewives), Tatum O’Neal (Dancing With The Stars, Rescue Me), Rodney Henry (The Lion King) and Fredro Starr (Save the Last Dance). Vanessa Williams comes to “My Brother” with life experiences as a mother and board member of the Special Olympics.

“My Brother,” is an inner city story of two impoverished boys, Isaiah and James. James is developmentally disabled and played by Donovan who is an eighth-grader at Berkeley Middle School in Williamsburg, Virginia. Their mother, L'Tisha, finds herself in a tragic situation. Dying of tuberculosis, she desperately tries to get her two boys, eight and eleven at the time, adopted together. Finding that only Isaiah can be adopted L'Tisha makes the only choice she feels she can make; creating an unbreakable bond of love between the boys, and hoping that bond will get them through life. Her prayers are answered as the boys overcome impossible odds on their way to adulthood, staying as close as ever as young men dealing with life's obstacles. (www.mybrotherthemovie.com)
As a Black disabled writer and critique of representation of Black disabled images in the media and in the artistic field, I can finally say in 2007 that the film, “My Brother,” holds up a mirror to the lives of Black young men with developmental disabilities in our society and in the Black family\community. I had a chance to talk to the writer and director of the film, Anthony Lover, as well as with Christopher Scott and Donovan Jennings’ parents, Lynette Jennings of Hampton, VA. and Brenda Scott of Houston, TX. through the internet.

As all writers, producers and artists know creating a final product from a new, creative vision often takes years. For Mr. Lover this film was no exception. Mr. Lover worked on the concept of the film, “My Brother” , for well over four years and then spent another year of marketing and promoting. Finally the film premiered last June at the American Black Film Festival, where it won Best Picture, said Mr. Lover.

Throughout the whole concept Mr. Lover always planned to work with actual actors who had Down Syndrome even though he was pressured to cast professional actors. We, people with disabilities, have seen big time stars play disabled roles like Cuba Gooding in Radio and Samuel Jackson in Unbreakable but we also have seen film directors who understand and make an effort in having people with disabilities in lead roles like the Farrell Brothers with The Ringer, The Wayan Brothers with Little Man and now Anthony Lover with My Brother.

Mr. Lover went far beyond the common Hollywood stereotype of Black disabled young men, such as a gangster, like Snoop Dog in Training Days, or simply as someone that you crack jokes about. Unfortunately Mr. Lover really had to push this concept because the movie industry just didn’t understand his vision. Lover’s revolutionary thinking is so true and basic that he told me that audiences are tired of seeing the same thing over again, in a way that doesn’t speak to them about their lives, and which contains only stereotypes. After hearing his words, I realized that Lover is apart of a new crop of film directors that gets everything about the image of disability in the media, especially the image of Black males. I’m so tired of seeing the negative roles of Black disabled men as drug dealers, killers or bums or someone just to laugh at!

Both parents of Christopher Scott and Donovan Jennings wrote that there are no role models for African Americans with disabilities on television and in the movies. Brenda Scott goes on to say, that very few TV programs or movies give a “real life” portrayal of today’s society. When they do show people with disabilities they are usual actors playing the part, or if it is a real person with disabilities it is a “token cameo” appearance. Very seldom are real people with disabilities given the opportunity to have a major role on TV or in the movies. Their TV and movie “role models” are not people that “look or act like them”. Although this interview was through the internet I could still sense the chemistry between the film maker, Lover and the family of the two lead actors through their answers to my questions.

Like the 1971 hit song Family Affairr by Sly & the Family Stone, Lover told me that My Brother is about family, more than anything, how family is important, how women are the glue of family, and how family needs to stick together. He went on to say that the major themes are love and education, L'Tisha is teaching Young Isaiah constantly about his family, the bond with his brother, and about his need for education. I thought this film had just captured a rare and precious opportunity to make a movie with a theme of an empowered Black family with strong ties until I read the mission of the Liberty Artists.

Liberty Artists, of which Lover is a part, is a film company on the verge of releasing a new and needed concept to the film industry: Heart-felt, family oriented films that use the African American experience as its central subject matter. Lover states that the films that Liberty Artists produce have two primary qualities in common. First, they will have storylines that document the complexity of the African American audience, rather than providing one-dimensional characters that can demean our audience. Second, our pictures will have ratings that range from G to PG-13. These rating might prohibit many of the freedoms taken with producing films geared toward the African American market such as extremely harsh language, violent behavior, and an overall destructive tone of a film, yet it compels the production to fill those voids with real substance, including multi-dimensional characters and variously layered storylines.

In my opinion as a new film company it is impressive that the first film they produced deals with issues that is usually hush hush in the industry. Liberty Artists is a breath of fresh air for African Americans who are moviegoers. Lover’s next movie, The Promise, is about different themes, focusing on forgiveness and redemption, and about stopping the cycle of violence in African American families. Lover says, it’s about the a black father deserting his family, but surprisingly is told from the father's point of view. It’s very powerful, according to people who have read early drafts of the screenplay

Education is not only one of the goals of Liberty Artists, but is also the career of Christopher Scott, who works in as a teacher’s assistant at the Rise School of Houston, a school for children with and without disabilities 9 months to 5 years old. According to Christopher’s parents, one of the teacher’s assistants is always a person with a disability and because of this it gives the children a role model in the classroom and gives the parents hope for the future of their children. They see what their children can do when the reach adulthood.

Education also played a major role in Lover’s creation of My Brother. Although this was Lover’s first time working with actors with disabilities he did a lot of research before searching to find Donovan and Christopher and hopes to continue working with people with disabilities and that other film makers do the same. My Brother has build on Lover’s belief that people deserve the opportunity to share their abilities.

Now that Chris has won the Founder’s Award at the HBO American Black Film Festival (the film won Best Picture honors there as well) and Donovan won the Youth Spirit Award at the International Family Film Festival. I asked their parents will their sons continue in the acting field. Christopher mother thinks Christopher is in a “niche” market. She knows that her son would like to continue with acting and wants to do commercials but will keep his day job. Lynette Jennings told me that her son is a “normal” teenager who likes gospel, R&B, pizza, sports and hanging out with friends. When Donovan saw himself on screen for the first time he jumped up and said, 'mommy mommy that’s me!' Donovan wants to be a fire fighter when he grows up.

As a Black disabled advocate and historian of Black disabled arts, culture and media representation, My Brother is apart of a new image of Black disabled people as we continue to display our stories, lives and amplify our voices . My Brother shows the beautiful and harsh reality of Black families and people with developmental disabilities. It sheds light on issues of poverty, the view of youth with developmental disabilities in adopting industry and the strength of family and love.

Although My Brother has won many awards, takes on race disability, poverty and unity of the Black family and is truly a one-of-a-kind film; it could be pulled from theaters nationwide if the people don’t come out in big numbers to see it! As of today March 20/2007 AMC Bay Street 16 theater in Emeryville has pulled My Brother! The film producer, Gregory Segal, and I have been going back and forth through email trying to come up with a solution so My Brother will be shown in the Bay Area. If My Brother is not shown here in the Bay Area, the Disability Mecca, the whole community will suffer a huge loss. What Mr. Segal is looking for now is an independent theater with a built in audience for a week or a couple days run. At this point I’m in the process of asking local independent theaters in the Bay Area. Please if you have connection to the Roxie, Parkway or any other independent theaters, please let me know ASAP! Bottom line our movie date of Thursday at 7pm March 23rd at the AMC Bay Street 16 theater in Emeryville, CA is postponed for now. For more information on My Brother go to their website at www.mybrotherthemovie.com, and to contact Leroy Moore call him at (510) 649-8438.

My Brother was written and directed by Academy Award nominee Anthony Lover and produced by award-winning producer Gregory Segal. It was produced by Liberty Artists in association with Angel Baby Entertainment. The cinematographer was John Sawyer and it was edited by Christian Baker. The score was composed by John Califra. Production design by Evelyn Sakash. Art direction by Tavia Trepte. Re-recording mixer Lee Dichter

By Leroy Moore Jr.
www.leroymoore.com

by Peter Lauterborn

While the legal status of young adults changes upon reaching the age of 18, their lifestyle, economic standing, academic and societal pressures do not improve, and more often than not become more challenging. Nevertheless, youth are struck with a 450% increase in their monthly transportation expense as a birthday present to celebrate their adulthood.

The fact is by turning 18 most youth do not have doors of opportunity flying open, allowing them to take on more financial responsibilities. Rather, the opposite is most often the case.

For youths 17 and younger, a modest $10 MUNI youth pass becomes a drastic $45 monthly expenditure the day they turn 18. The result of this aggressive jump in fares for youth is additional challenge for transitional youth, and lowers ridership creating less revenue for Muni.

This issue was heard Monday, December 4, at 4:00pm at City Hall, room 263. The proposal is being pushed by the San Francisco Youth Commission, which is the City body charged with advocating and advising the rest of local government with better policies, programs, and budget priorities that pertain to youths’ lives.

Shadi Elkarra, appointed by Mayor Newsom to the Youth Commission, commented on the issue, saying, "San Francisco should be promoting public transportation, but how can we if we're not making it financially accessible for young people who are already struggling?"

Commissioner Kemi Shamonda, of District 6, agrees, "I know how low the wages are for working youth. Many of us are low-income and our jobs help support our families."

Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, who is sponsoring the Youth Commission's initiative, wrote, "Young adults are 16.5% of MUNI's readership and the most economically disadvantaged 18-24 year olds are most dependent on public transportation to fulfill their responsibilities."

Legislation pertaining to this issue will be heard in the City Operations and Neighborhood Services committee before going to the full Board of Supervisors.

Youths between the ages of 18 and 24 contribute $11.7 million annually to the MTA in the purchase of adult MUNI Fast Passes, and make 34 million bus trips annually, according to the Office of the Legislative Analyst at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (OLA). The OLA also found that a 30% discount to the Adult Fast Pass would spark a 7.2% increase in ridership among 18-24 year olds, according to the forthcoming report from the OLA.
This makes the fiscal impact of having this discount approximately $5.7 million annually.

"The statistics speak for themselves," says Commissioner Elkarra.

The upside of giving this discount is that the City could promote life-long mass-transit users. Currently, the sharp price hike deters many from continuing their use of the public transit system.

"We should be afforded the opportunity {to be life long transit riders] at a fair rate," says Commissioner Anthony Albert, appointed by Supervisor Bevan Dufty.

The National Center for Transit Research agrees, stating that, "travel habits developed at a young age could influence subsequent behavior, and that those who were not regular transit users as young people were less likely to be transit users in adult life."

But even if the benefits of the plan were undesirable, and even if the costs of the plan were unfavorable, the City of San Francisco must recognize that—in our era of fleeting families—anything that can be done to support young people must be pursued. The ability to move effectively around the city is, for young people, a question about their safety, education, employment, and overall well-being.

"With the cost of living escalating in San Francisco," says Iqra Anjum, who as Chair of the Youth Commission conceptualized the plan, "the City and the Municipal Transportation Authority must re-affirm their commitment and invest in young adults."

Peter Lauterborn was a member of the San Francisco Youth Commission from 2003-2005, and served as Government Affairs Officer. He is currently an undergraduate student at San Francisco State University. Contact him at peterl@sfsu.edu

For more information on the San Francisco Youth Commission, please visit City Hall room 345, log on www.sfgov.org/youth_commission, or call 415.554.6446.

by Joseph Bolden

Poverty scholar, digital resistor, founding member of POOR Magazine and SRO tenant, Joseph Bolden provides his readers with a funny, insightful collection of his POOR Magazine columns. Bolden shares the dreams, thoughts and desires of a very low-income man living in a 21st century media-informed universe. He explores relationships, gender differences, technology and much more, disclosing his brutally honest opinions, views and experiences.

by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

"The rich are not like you and me." "The poor will always be with us." Get real and accept it we are told. Give alms and aid to the poor, tax the rich. Establish private foundations, be a responsible trust baby and give. You've heard it all, and maybe even believe it in your heart. But, it's toxic thinking. I have a suggestion for
clarifying our consciousness: learn to hate the rich. Hate, yes. You
can dress up the language and call it rage. But, hate is a concept
underrated. Everyone does it, but no one wants to admit it, usually
hating the wrong person. Hate is the opposite of love. Do you love
the rich? Like the rich? If not, than maybe you can learn to hate the
rich. I don't mean shame the rich in order to get money out of their
guilt, as has been a long practice on the left and among non-profits.

I mean NOT taking money from the rich, isolate the rich, make them
build tall walls around their estates and corporate headquarters as
the people force the rich to do in Latin America. How dare they have
plate glass windows! We are held back and diminished by the claim
that hating is bad for us, bad for everyone. You can hate the act but
not hate the person. You can hate wealth or capitalism but not the
rich. It's a ridiculous logic that keeps us hating and blaming
ourselves for not being rich and powerful. Anyway, it's not
consistent; it's all right to hate slavery and slaveowners, fascism
and Hitler, etc. Why not hate the rich, the individual rich, not an
abstract concept?

Ah, but who are the rich? We have to be careful about that, living in
a country that does not admit to class relations, and class is
subject to little analysis even on the left. It's not a matter of
income per se. And it's essential in hating to target the enemy and
not some front for the enemy. High income can certainly make a person
full of herself, and most US citizens who live on high fixed or
hourly incomes due to circumstances of a good trade union or a
professional degree have no idea that they aren't rich. In polls they
say they are in the top fifth of the income ladder, and they aren't.

A majority of US citizens don't want to tax the rich more, because
they think they will be rich one day. They won't. The rich own not
just a mortgaged house and a car, maybe a boat or a cabin in the
woods or a beach house to boot; rather they own you. Even the cash
and luxury soaked entertainment and sports stars are not the rich;
they certainly deserve contempt and disgust, but not hatred. Don't go
for scapegoats--Jews, Oprah, Martha Stewart. Hatred should be
reserved for those who own us, that is, those who own the banks, the
oil companies, the war industry, the land (for corporate
agriculture), the private universities and prep schools, and who own
the foundations that dole out worthy projects for the poor, for
public institutions-their opera, their ballet, their symphony, that
you are allowed to attend after opening night. My oldest brother, who
like me grew up dirt poor in rural Oklahoma, landless farmers and
farm workers, rebuts my arguments by saying that no poor man ever
gave him a job. That says it all. The rich own you and me.

In all the arguments about the crimes of the Judeo-Christian-Muslim
religions, rarely is their greatest crime ever discussed--the
leveling of class, rich and poor are the same in god's sight. What a
handy ideology for the rich! The same with US democracy with its
"equal opportunity" and "level playing fields," absurd claims under
capitalism, but ones held dear but liberals. Hating the rich means
also hating the state, the United States of America that is the
ruling corporate body of the rich.

Why are we so silent about this, grumping over the increase in the
income gap, trying to figure out how to narrow it? What do we expect,
that the rich will empower the people to overthrow them as they
almost did in response to the labor movement in the 1930s or the
Civil Rights Movement with the War on Poverty? Not again will they
make that mistake. I'm not saying we shouldn't point to it as
evidence of the crimes of the rich, but we should not delude
ourselves that the rich will give up their ownership of us. So, we
need to stop longing for the return of the New Deal or savior
Roosevelt. Passionate, organized hatred is the element missing in all
that we do to try to change the world. Now is the time to spread
hate, hatred for the rich.

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is a longtime activist, university professor, and writer. In addition to numerous scholarly books and articles she has published two historical memoirs, Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie
(Verso, 1997), and Outlaw Woman: A Memoir of the War Years, 1960°©1975 (City Lights, 2002). "Red Christmas" is excerpted from her forthcoming book, Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War, South End Press, October 2005. She can be reached at: rdunbaro@pacbell.net