2008

by Tony Robles/PNN

An ancestral voice draws me closer. Thick syllables weave through the air like brown leaves steeped with the wisdom of winter rain; proudly displaying its beauty like a butterfly coming into bloom--wings beyond reach.

I have no watch but I know I'm late. I scurry down Sansome Street past skyscrapers that Henry Miller described as the "Great big tombs in the sky". I reach my destination - The United States Appraisers Building at 630 Sansome. I'm met by 2 uniformed security officers with brown faces like mine. Same routine - off with the metals, belt and dignity. I deposit my metals and belt in a plastic tray. They look at me as if I'd committed a crime --no connection in our brown faces. I retrieve my belongings and walk to the elevators.

I get off. A group of Pilipinos minus uniforms and badges are gathered. I nod at them and walk through a door. A man in an orange sweatshirt sits behind a plexiglass barrier. I sit and pick up the phone. "Are you Julius?" I ask. "Yes" he replies. His is the voice I've been looking for. His is the brown face I will connect with.

Julius Domantay's face is youthful. He has spent the majority of his 50 plus years on earth within the confines of prison. His eyes are piercing yet gentle; eyes once set like stones-- eyes that now radiate passion and truth about his life and community.

The son of a Filipino immigrant father, Juluis went through hard times as a youth. He and his siblings were teased for their broken English, alienating them in a culture that placed little value upon them. The hardest relationship was with his father. The elder Domantay left Julius and the family to come to the US; sending for them later. When 11 year old Julius arrived in the US, he was in for a surprise. "When I got off the plane my father told me, this is your new mother", Julius says leaning close to the plexiglass.

As Julius and his 4 brothers and 2 sisters grew, their father had difficulty keeping a roof over their heads. He wasn't the kind of parent to reason with his kids. Julius got into trouble, landing in youth facilities. "I was a gangbanger", he says. One day in 1977 he and a group of friends went for a ride. They stopped to get beer at a corner store owned by Sam Totah. Totah was a long time storeowner who had businesses in the Western Addition of the 60's. Julius pulled a gun and the man known as "Uncle Sam" lay dead. Domantay and his crew fled, not bothering to take the beer. He was captured shortly after and tried as an adult at the age of 17 - the youngest person ever tried as an adult in San Francisco at the time. His sentence - 7 years to life.

Julius has spent more than a quarter century in various prisons in California - most of that time in San Quentin. Like many youngsters coming in for the first time, he was hotheaded and combative - alienating his fellow convicts. "Lots of guys come in wanting to be bad, to be something they're not" says Julius. Julius spent time in solitary for fighting. Julius adds, "You got to be humble. You got to be able to say I dont want to fight, and walk away".

Over time Julius has gained wisdom through examining his life. He earned his high school equivalency degree and auto vocational training. He has also attended groups addressing anger issues. The most important moment took place in the main yard at San Quentin. "I was with my homeboy when I got distracted. I walked away and came to a man preaching the gospel. I gave my life to God that day. He found me". Since then he has become an effective minister, touching and changing lives behind prison walls. I look at Julius' face through the plexiglass barrier. Id like to kick it in and embrace this brother but I can't. I can only look at his face and the hint of tattoo on his arm.

Julius has worked with at risk youth for more than a decade, giving testimony to his own life in an effort to reach kids that are headed in the wrong direction. One organization he works with is United Playaz (www.unitedplayaz.org), based in San Francisco. Founder Rudy Corpuz describes Julius' approach in reaching the youth. "His approach is genuine, truthful, embracing and real", says Corpuz, a former convict at San Quentin turned community and youth advocate. "He has inspired many youngsters to get out of the gang life; some are in college and leading productive lives. Others are travelling across the nation spreading the message that gangs ain't the answer and some are parents themselves". United Playaz and other organizations recently held a fundraiser on behalf of the Domantay family, beset by legal costs. But the costs are not all monetary. "When you do time, your family does time too", says Julius.

Julius was granted parole several times only to have it denied by Governor Gray Davis who asserted that no convicted murderer would be paroled on his watch. Julius' parole was approved by Governor Schwarzenegger, who had previously denied him, earlier this year. Upon his release he was apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and has been held in Yuba County ever since. At issue is the fact that Julius' immigration visa had expired while he was incarcerated. The government wants to deport him back to the Philippines. "Go back to what?" Julius asks. "I have a couple aunties in the Philippines but they're in their 80's. They don't want to take care of me nor should they have to". He now waits as his lawyer and family fights to keep him in the US.

"It's all about politics", says Julius. "The governor is playing politics with my case to appeal to his constituency. I can fight it but like everything else, it's about money".

Julius waits while the courts and the politicians take their time. His lawyer has taken his case to the 9th circuit court of appeals. If he loses there, the next step is the United States Supreme Court.

I jot on my note pad. Julius' relatives are close by. There isn't much time until he is transported to the holding facility in Yuba County. Our time together is over. Before I leave I ask him if God has ever let him down.
"Never" he replies without hesitation.
I thank him for his time, say goodbye and hang up the phone. I walk to the elevators having just spoken to a free man - freer than most.

I walk past the Pilipino guards and out the door leaving the words that echo off the walls and into their ears: FREE JULIUS! FREE JULIUS! FREE JULIUS!

by Tony Robles/PNN

"Jesus was a revolutionary"
--Bill Sorro

The preacher and the poet are similar. Both are passionate and use words to illustrate that passion. Both use actions to back up the words and both are afflicted with shortcomings and contradictions. As a revolutionary I ask, is God a part of our revolution? If not, do we have room for him (or her)? Does an empty belly have room for food? How would you answer this question?

I met 2 spiritual revolutionaries from the Bay Area on a recent trip to Chicago - from a San Jose based organization called CHAM--Community Homeless Alliance Ministry www.cham-ministry.org. Pastors Sandy Perry and Muliaga Togotogo were attending a national conference, along with POOR Magazine, on housing and homelessness. Sandy and Togo was an unlikely pair - Sandy a bespectacled man who looked like an accountant or engineer and Togo, who looked like the offensive lineman of an NFL football team. The 2 are a pair of beautiful brothers in the lord, dedicated to ending poverty and homelessness.

CHAM started in 1990 as SHA (Student Homeless Alliance) at San Jose State University by Pastor Scott Wagers who was a sociology student. Sandy Perry joined as a volunteer in 1991. Since then CHAM has grown into a powerful organization working in tandem with community and other faith-based groups advocating for increased affordable housing, the decriminalization of poverty, and decent, accessible healthcare.

Perry says, "Housing is a human right. We try to organize people to reclaim housing as a right. This is a justice issue, not charity. Charity is what they use to cover up injustice".

CHAM's work includes operating a shelter to house homeless families. The resources of the shelter are the residents themselves. They handle the cooking and the cleaning. "In our view it's entirely communal. 5 families currently stay there" says Perry. "The normal stay is 3 months".

Recently CHAM representatives were in Chowchilla on a "Journey for Justice". The event included panels and speakers addressing the increase in the numbers of prisons and the increased numbers of houseless people in Fresno. Because of CHAM and the work of their allies, the city of Fresno was found guilty of violating the civil rights of houseless people by law enforcement's practice of throwing away their property. The city was forced to pay monetary compensation to those it violated. "When people come together in spirit, we can find the solutions to these problems" says Pastor Togo.

On Saturday October 25th, CHAM will host a forum at their church called, "Reclaiming the Right to Housing". The forum will call for full funding of the National Affordable housing trust fund, a half-million new section 8 vouchers and an immediate moratorium on all foreclosures. The forum will be held at First Christian Church, 80 S. Fifth Street in San Jose, 930 a.m. to 1pm.

Was Jesus a revolutionary, I asked Pastor Sandy. "Absolutely", his voice sang out. Jesus said "blessed are the poor and woe to the rich. Those who are first shall be last and those who are last shall be first". That's the definition of a revolutionary...someone who wants to turn things upside down".

by Mari Villaluna/Indigenous Peoples Media Project -POOR Magazine

I went on the walk for many reasons. I walked for my family, the Seventh generation, and this land. I walked to carry the prayers of hundreds of indigenous peoples. I walked to learn from elders and spiritual leaders. I walked for the healing of Mother Earth. I walked in the spirit of my ancestors. I walked to carry on the stories. I walked for my descendants.

I started the Longest Walk 2 at D-Q University, which is the Nation's only off-reservation tribal college. It is located in Davis, CA, and staged many Longest Walk 2 events before the Alcatraz Island Sunrise Ceremony. As a student at D-Q University, I felt it was important to go on the same walk that former D-Q U students took 30 years ago. The Longest Walk 2 commemorates the 30th anniversary of the original longest walk while bringing attention to the environmental disharmony of Mother Earth and sacred site issues. In following of the issues of environment and sacred sites, the major issue of tribal sovernity came up time and time again. I started out on the Northern route, which closely followed the route of 1978. The Southern route followed the route of the Sacred Run, which took place in 2006 and went throughout the south. Later on, I would join up with the Southern Route.

The first Nation we met with was the Single Springs Band of Miwoks, and stay for a few days on their rancheria. The youth there were so inspiring, and I learned much from them. One youth named Sammie gave me the energy to run, and told me to never be embarrassed of singing. That day I taught Sammie the D-Q U school song and we ran a quarter of a mile. Sammie taught me a Miwok song, which I sang everyday on the walk for him and his cousins. We even made up our own Longest Walk 2 rap. Now at the end of the walk I can run up to 6 miles, and I sing all the time. I carried these two lessons with me everyday.

The next stop was with the Washos in Lake Tahoe. Where I meet a woman named Roach who later on adopted me as her sister, gifted me with regalia, and provided a woman's space. I enjoyed talking with her and the excitement she had about the walk. I was reminded of how walking is important as a prayer but how dancing for your people is just as important. I then went on to Fallon and met with many Paiutes, and met a young girl named Kiesha Tom who taught me all about her sacred sites of Sand Mountain, and Grimes Point. She is still one of the most intelligent minds I have ever met. We then made our way to Western Shosone terrority, where I learned about the testing, mining, and fighting for land that is happening within their lands. This is also where I met a elder named Darlene who taught me much about what it means to be a woman.

During the state of Nevada, my grandmother told me "It is your turn to now pray for me." She shared with me about how it was hard for her to walk. I then decided not only would I walk, but I would run for my grandmother's healing. It felt very hard to run that first mile I ever ran, and I had to learn how to breathe while running. Sometimes I was the only woman running alongside many guys, but I never forgot why I ran. I ran for my grandmother's healing and her prayers.

Next was Utah, where we attended a pow-wow at the Salt Lake City's Indian Center. This Center reminded me much of my own community back in the San Francisco Bay Area. Then was Colorado, where I had to relearn how to run because of the elevation. I remember looking at the sky in Colorado and thinking the the clouds were the most beautiful anywhere I have seen in the world. The community that touched me the most was at the Ute museum. There were only 4 Natives that lived in this area but they did so many things for us and is still one of the most memorable times I had. This is also where I met my Longest Walk 2 praying partner, Adriano lives on the Southern Ute Reservation.

Next was Kansas, my favorite place was the Mid America Indian Center in Wichita, Kansas. There I found out the Longest Walk of 1978 was at that very same location. I won't ever forget the wind in Kansas either, I would always hope that the wind would push me from behind while I was running. I remember the first dance that I had with my praying partner at a Longest Walk 2 benefit blues concert in Kansas City. I remember walking through Pratt, Kansas. 30 years ago the KKK tried to kick out the Longest Walk, and this time the Principal of the middle school let out all his students to walk with us. Many of the students had also been learning about the Longest Walk 2 as curriculum in their classes. A day before, we ran into a youth at the Walmart, and he asked Adriano and I if we were walkers. We replied yes. I then asked him if he was going to walk with us. He said he couldn't because he had in class detention during the day. Adriano told him that this was historic and he should skip it because that would be a historic day. His mother told Adriano to mind his manners. That day we saw that youth and he was carrying a flag that the Longest Walk 2 carries. It was powerful day.

In Missouri, I had decided to leave the Northern route and join with the Southern Route in Oklahoma. I was very excited to meet with the many nations in that state. I got to meet with the Iowas, Choctaws, Cherokees, and Muscogee Creeks. My favorite moment was being part of a stomp dance with the Muscogee Creeks. I was even asked if I was wearing turtle shells on my ankles because of how I was dancing. I learned much about the Trail of Tears and how there was more than one route taken by different nations. This reminded me of the Longest Walk 2, how there are two routes but only one walk.

We walked through Texas and Arkansas in a few days, and then landed in Louisiana. While in Louisiana, I got a big surprise that Adriano came down to visit me. I spent five days with the United Houma Nation, which was the Nation in Southeast Louisiana that was affected by Hurricane Katrina and Rita. While there, I listened to Creole music, ate lots of white rice, and chilled with elders. The elders found out that Adriano and I jumped in the Bayou and swam around. They told me that I was silly and that didn't I know that there are alligators and snakes in the Bayou. I found out then. I learned about the struggles of the Houmas trying to re-gain control of their Indian Mound, and how soil erosion is affected thier land. We went to a island called Jean Charles Island which is full of only Houma citizens. Micheal, a Houma citizen remarked that if land loss and soil erosion keep going at its current pace that in one generation that island will be gone. I told Adriano "Wow, one day our grandchildren might never see this land. Thats why we are walking to bring light to this." I learned about how thier Nation is not federally recognized and how that played a role in dealing with FEMA. They were one of the last to receive FEMA funds in Southeastern Louisiana. After those five days, I was so sad to leave. When leaving I was told to come back by anytime, and that I would fit in really well in with the Houmas, well except for my Bayou adventure.

Next was New Orleans, the first stop was the Superdome. I went inside with other walkers and we said how we wanted to walk throughout the dome to the security desk. We were told how we couldn't even be standing inside and were quickly escorted to leave. We then joined up with the walk, and walked throughout the 9th ward. We made a lunch stop there, and helped a resident to rebuild the foundation of his home. That was a moment I'll never forget. It was interesting to see how one part of New Orleans, like the 9th Ward was still rebuilding, and while an area like the French quarter seemed intact.

Next we got to hang out with the Choctaws in Missouri. I met an elder there who told me the story about her grandmother who walked the Trail of Tears all the way to Oklahoma and didn't like it so she walked all the way back to Missouri. I had an opportunity to play stickball with other Choctaw women. Stickball is the predecessor to the game of lacrosse. I enjoying playing and getting the ball away from other players. After playing, I was invited by the Stickball Coach to come back and be part of their team in their yearly stickball tournament.

Then there was Alabama, and I remember the 20 mile walks that we did in the hot southern climate. I loved it when it would rain. In Tennesse, the walk stayed at a Buddhist peace pagoda in the Smoky Mountains. Then in North Carolina, I left to go visit Adriano on the Northern Route in Pennsylvania. There in a sweatlodge in Pennsylvania, Adriano and I made our lifetime commitments to each other. I got married and had to leave to go back to the southern route to continue working on the Manifesto for Change. We made a sacrifice of separating for the bigger picture of why we were walking, to bring the prayers of all the Nations and people we met to Washington D.C.

In Virginia, I met a group called Mexicanos Sin Frontares, Mexicans without borders. I told them about the prophecy of the eagle and condor uniting, and that vision is held at D-Q University. That one day again, Natives will be Natives as they were before, without borders. They were helping to fulfill that prophecy without even hearing about it. The late sleepless nights of working on the Manifesto for Change increased with the walk approaching to Washington D.C.

Finally, the routes converged and became one walk again as we had left Sacramento, CA. We walked into Greenbelt Park, MD and the energy was high. I was so excited to see my husband and others on the Northern Route once again. It was good to catch up and spend time with my new family.

I walked through the conditions of snow, mountains, hot, rain, sleet, and lighting. Many times I barely slept. I thought about leaving the walk many times. I cried when I missed my family and friends back home. I spent many nights writing and editing the Manifesto for Change. When July 11, 2008 hit it made all of that worth it. The energy the Longest Walk 2 had was one that I never felt. I have been to many protests/marches and this was very different. I was walking with people who gave up their lives for several months to not just talk the talk but walk the walk. I am honored that I was able to be one of the walkers who helped carry those prayers to Washington D.C.

I walked from that day of Feb 11, 2008 until July 11, 2008 in Washington D.C. I learned about sacrifice while praying. In giving up things, I gained knowledge from elders, learned about issues I never knew, and found more about who I am as a prayerful woman. I met the one the Creator made just for me, and adopted a new family. In 1978, Phillip Deer stated "For some of us, the Longest Walk has never ended." I know this walk and its prayers will carry throughout my life.

--

Mari Villaluna
Coordinator
Indigenous Peoples Media Project of POOR Magazine/POOR News Network

"I believe everything happens for a reason.

People change so that you can learn to let go.

Things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right.

You believe less so eventually you trust no one but yourself.

An sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." -Marilyn Monroe

by RWS/PNN

I got canned last week. Just like that. My job was helping others find jobs. Now I'm the one without a job. I remember that last day. I helped a man put together a resume. He wanted to get into the maintenance training program of the non-profit I was working for. Another guy walked in and told me about the status of his janitorial gig - a gig I helped him get. He told me he was doing ok, that he was trying to avoid certain negative people. He's trying to better his condition - a man of color trying to get closer to himself, his essence as a black man, a king - in a society that treats you like a damn fool.

We talked about life, his 15-year-old daughter, cell phone and child support payments. I walked him back to the job where we hugged and parted ways.

I put in a year's time into my job at a local non-profit. Its mission, I was told, was housing the houseless and jobbing the jobless. The job was rewarding - I got people jobs and averted a knife attack last December in a supportive housing building operated by the organization; jeapordizing my own safety. But as time went on I realized the organization was less human and more spreadsheet-oriented. One evening after work I jumped into bed and found a spreadsheet where a flannel one should have been. It was a cold night.

Long story short, I got jobs for many people - people formerly homeless and/or incarcerated. Unfortunately, my supervisor was typical of what you find in non-profits in San Francisco - aloof as a piece of ivory in a display case. She walked the halls as if she owned them - like a missionary. And of course, she had the privilege of travelling all over the world, "just to get away".

While I was cultivating relationships with community folk, helping them obtain employment, I was being scrutinized for trifling things - like not affixing my assigned magnet to the in and out board to notify the office where I was at all times. They seemed to pay more attention to this than to the fact that many of my so-called clients were getting jobs. It was bizarre. I was terminated without being given a reason. I was told to clear my stuff out. Just like that.

The day after my termination I took a bike ride through the Tenderloin. I must have run into everyone I'd ever known at my former job. Some were working, some not. It was like going back in time. I went to the EDD office to apply for unemployment. I saw one of my former "clients". We exchanged nods. It was like going back in time. Seeing them was a gift. The friendships we'd forged had not been terminated. We shook hands and hugged without the client/service provider relationship hanging over our heads. This is as it should be.

I kept riding my bike, newly canned from the work world. I sought out the real workers. One guy was in the Embarcadero. His set up was a microphone stand and PA system. From a tape recorder played the music of James Brown. He spun and swayed his hips and slid effortlessly across the pavement in a pair of tight slacks, silk shirt and spit shine shoes. He tapped the mic stand and it rose and fell on command in a limbo-like trance. In a coffee can was his money - 2 dollars and change. He sang, "It's too funky in here! Give me some air!". At that moment the door to one of those fancy downtown French toilets opened and the toilet tech appeared with a dopey smile on his face. It was perfect timing because the tech surely must have needed air. The brother was earning his money. If James Brown was soul brother #1, than this guy was soul brother #2.

I rode for miles. I went back to the tenderloin and through the Mission. What would I do without a job? I stopped at Union Square Park and lay in the grass. I looked up at the sun. It was taking a nap so I joined in. I awoke and jumped back on my bike.

I saw a man blowing balloons and twisting them into beautiful shapes. He walked about handing them out to children passing by. The kids held them like giant candy. One parent told his son to return the balloon when the balloon man said; "Any donation is appreciated". The balloon seemed to turn into broken glass in the boy's hands as he handed it back.

There should be a place where folks who want to blow balloons can blow them. I think balloons are flowers that don't need soil to grow. I think those who blow balloons for children should unionize their collective breath into a balloon blowers union and create and shape another world without broken glass.

by Staff Writer

Dear Entertainment

Industry,

As people with disabilities, their friends, families, and supporters, we affirm the value, equality, and dignity of every member of the cross-disability community, including those of us, our family members, and peers with intellectual disabilities.

We, like all Americans, connect with the humanity of TV and film characters to add levity to our lives. We talk about what they do with our friends and co-workers. We laugh with the characters, cry with the characters, imitate their fashions, their haircuts, and their words. While we enjoy sharing joys and bearing pains with them, we are stunned when they insult, disrespect, and misrepresent us.

What constitutes hate speech can only be defined by the community it seeks to reference, and as a community of people with disabilities, we adamantly declare the "R-word" and its prolific use in the film "Tropic Thunder" a prime example of such hate speech. Derogatory words and depictions that perpetuate fears, myths, and stereotypes around disability, no matter the genre of film, legitimize the continued misunderstanding, pain, and exclusion of people with disabilities.

People with disabilities and particularly people with intellectual disabilities have suffered egregious civil and human rights violations throughout our country's history, including institutionalization, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, abandonment by their families, state-sponsored forcible sterilizations, denial of education, employment, and healthcare, and targeted hate crimes.

Unlike other minority groups, the disability community has almost no employment presence in Hollywood. While consulting with other groups about what is and isn't acceptable humor, dialogue, and depictions, the disability community is almost always an afterthought. There have been no checks, no balances - films about us, but without us (e.g. Mr. Magoo, 1997; Million Dollar Baby, 2004; Tropic Thunder, 2008).

If "Tropic Thunder" did include us, self advocate Dustin Plunkett's reaction in response to the film's depictions of people with intellectual disabilities would have changed the final product. He said, "I cannot believe a writer could write something like that. It's the not the way that we want to be portrayed. We have feelings. We don't like the word retard. We are people..."

We call on the entertainment industry to remedy the harm that is being done by "Tropic Thunder" and to model respect for people with disabilities through our inclusion in employment in the industry and in all aspects of the creative process that creates films and television shows we love so much.

To sign the petition against this movie go to www.aapd.org/petition/>

by Dee Allen

OUTLANDER

A stranger in their own land.
Outlander in every town.
A prisoner in their own land.

This is their original home, throughout known history
But they've inherited dispossession, a present in misery -
A stranger in their own land.

Lost all to a million thieving hands, as sure as strong wind wails
Outlanders often take up room -- inside settler's jails -
A prisoner in their own land.

False depictions bury true selves, no matter how massive
Forced to play the beaten role --victimised & hapless---
A stranger in their own land.

Left in squalour, isolated country hell
Is it any wonder why some would rise & rebel?---
A prisoner in their own land.

Perennial struggle to maintain
In the face of a heartless colonial domain.
A stranger in their own land.
A prisoner in their own land.

by Marlon Crump/PoorNewsNetwork

"Since the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper will now only be an online newspaper, one of the biggest concerns is that people who are incarcerated will no longer be heard."

I learned this recently from longtime re-porters, su-pporters, activists, community members, and voices of the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper.

Contrary to the legendary newspaper line often heard on television, this really "stopped the presses" for me!

The S.F. Bay View National Black Newspaper (which is based in the heart of San Francisco Bay View Hunter's Point) will no longer be able to print its weekly coverage of the detrimentally damaging issues that oppression-ally obliterates the voices of the community of Bay View Hunter's Point, the youth, the incarcerated, the poor, and the people in general locally and all around the world...............at least for now.

The funding for the paper to function fundamentally, has unfortunately reached a famine to only have the ability to feed people's mind globally, by means of daily online publications.

Without its weekly print, everyone who thirsts to be heard by the S.F. Bay View Paper to wage combat against evil forces with their very voices, will now be a drought in part.

Everyone, including all of us at POOR Magazine, agreed in unison(s) of the severe effects it will have on not just people who have no access to the internet, but people who are currently incarcerated, some whom from which are even columnists for the S.F Bay View National Black Newspaper, themselves!

"The older people that are used to reading the S.F. Bay View Paper come into the library for the paper", said Debra Franklin, librarian of the S.F Bay View Library's Anna E. Waden Branch. "Most of them don't even have computers to access the internet."

In a world where almost everyone wants to be seen or heard, people are thrilled to get a glimpse of themselves on T.V, or have a sentence from their mouths quoted in a newspaper article for all to see and hear.

Quiet as kept, corporate mainstream news and T.V media have always had a self-serving interest in controlling people's voices.

"The S.F. Bay View Paper was/is a vehicle, particularly for the black community and other marginalized communities that allow us to speak in our own interests," according to Minister of Information, J.R, a S.F. Bay View columnist and editor of Block Report Radio.

"Although paper is out of print, we will continue our mission of education to the masses of people about campaigning that affect their lives."

"The S.F. Bay View Paper means a lot to us over here in the Bay View District." stated Yolanda Miller, a longtime Bay View Hunter's Point resident. "They (corporate media) don't really print the things that's really going on."

This is especially true of the S.F. Bay View Paper's vital coverage of issues regarding people locally and globally, who are subjugated to the imperialistic attributions of racism, poverty, oppression, police brutality, child protection corruption, gentrification, global warming/injustice, incarceration abuse, immigration, and governmental terrorism. .

In early 2005 after my arrival from Cleveland, Ohio, and my relentless confrontations to the cold cruel challenges many poor people face here in San Francisco, CA, I briefly volunteered for the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness, (A non-profit organization that advocates for the homeless.)

On May 2nd, 2005, at the "Forgotten People Rally." I delivered my "Care Not Cash/Trash" poem vigilantly attacking Mayor Gavin Newsom's controversial "Care Not Cash" policy, which in disguise of its namesake really injured S.F.' s homeless population.

Following the rally, I appeared on the front page of the S.F. Bay View Paper, a very short time later after a photograph was taken of me, by fellow S.F. Coalition on Homelessness volunteer, Chance Martin. I was so ecstatic because it was the first time I have ever been on the front page of ANY newspaper, let alone even being mentioned in it.

Unfortunately, like so many small businesses, non-profit organizations, and poor families globally that have to fight like pit-bulls to keep mere morsels on their dinner plates; the S.F. Bay View National Black Newspaper needed funding to feed the many that starve each day for knowledge and media education, like a car or plane that needs gas to get people to their destinations of travel.

In this case, the S.F. Bay View National Black Newspaper has been the Promised Land of "Voice to the Voiceless" in the true deliverance of people's voices............not just locally.

"It's $4500 a week just to print the paper and no salary for us." explained Willie Ratcliff, publisher of the S.F. Bay View during a recent meeting regarding its future. He began publishing the S.F. Bay View (now the Bay Area's largest Black newspaper) in 1992.

Mr. Ratcliff distributes 20,000 papers weekly on Wednesdays and can't keep up with the demand. Hits on the Bay View's website,www.sfbayview.com www.sfbayview.com, have exceeded 2 million a month.

Mesha Monge-Irizarry, director and founder of the Idriss Stelley Foundation (Now known as Idriss Stelley Action Resource Center) has been a longtime supporter of the S.F. BayView Paper, and has written many articles for the publication, primarily articles of law enforcement abuse.

"In July 2001, hardly a month after my only child Idriss Stelley was executed by SFPD at the Sony Metreon, I knocked on the Ratcliff's door on 3rd and Palou St. for the first time, to find out if they would be willing to cover a story on my son. Mary Ratcliff, in spite of dreadful deadlines to get her paper out, opened her arms, sat with me, fed me, and let me tell her at great length who Idriss really was."

"The San Francisco Bay View Paper is the baddest black newspaper in the West!" exclaimed POOR Magazine/POOR News Network co-founder "Tiny" Lisa Gray-Garcia in her book, Criminal of Poverty.

Willie Ratcliff was born 75 years ago into a little self-governing Black nation known as East Liberty in Deep East Texas, which was founded by his ancestors who had won their freedom and bought their land before the Civil War.

A licensed contractor since 1967, Ratcliff and his family construction firm built public works, industrial, commercial and residential projects.

Possessing an extensive resume that stretches from here to the nearest space station, Mr. Ratcliff broke down barriers, sometimes single-handedly, that locked his people out of the construction industry. He grew up knowing that Black people can form beloved communities, living in dignity, enjoying peace and even prosperity, determining their own destiny.

Mr. Ratcliff served seven years on the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights, chairing it during the pipeline construction years when it became an instrument for earthshaking change.

Mary Ratcliff, editor of the S.F. Bay View paper, and wife of Willie Ratcliff has an extensive resume (extensively equivalent to her husband's) surrounding numerous experiences of law, education, women, and civil rights, originating from her college education in 1955 to her current present position(s) of media justice to people locally and globally, today.

Willie and Mary Ratcliff gave birth to the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper on February 3rd, 1992.

Following the newspaper's birth, an estimated 697 issues have been produced into the minds of those who are eager to read what was happening socially, economically, and globally. The paper has had head-on-collisions with untold amounts of remote "voice controllers" who were (and still are) great peril to people's voices and their lives of how they saw fit.

It has produced a Moses-like equivalency of deliverance from media oppression, without even charging a single red cent for their own benefit, to feed the minds of many that wanted the truth to be fed to them.

It has provided media education, voices, advertisements, and visibility to members of the Bay View Hunter's Point Community, its youth, activists, community organizers, people in numerous countries, and even certain politicians in the belly of the beast.

"They've really made a difference by reporting things that mainstream media wouldn't report." said an employee of the 3rd St. Community Produce Store to me, as he was servicing a customer. (The store is right next to the S.F. Bay View Paper's very headquarters.)

Until the S.F. Bay View Paper's website was badly hacked most recently, it got 2 million hits a month, coming from every state and 170 foreign countries.

Despite these setbacks, however, the publication continued to valiantly achieve these goals with defiance to corporate media's elite structure aimed at controlling the poor, oppressed, and voiceless, by simply giving people universally the knowledge that they have right to only tell their OWN side of their OWN story..............without having their OWN lives and OWN voices taken out of context.

"You can't build little islands of socialism in a sea market of capitalism." (Paul D'Amato, author of The Meaning of Marxism)

You can support the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper, either by placing an ad either online or in upcoming daily papers and by making a donation, which can be tax deductible.

You can also contact KPFA to encourage the regular broadcast of a program covering Black news the Bay View way so that people without internet access in hoods and prisons throughout Northern and Central California can contribute and listen to the Bay View on the air. Contact the Bay View at (415) 671-0789 or to: editor @sfbayview.com Content (Right Column)

by Dee Allen/PoorNewsNetwork

The chants, "Racists go home" and "Smash the Minutemen, smash the border" echo in front of S.F. City Hall, where over 300 activists in solidarity with migrant/immigrant peoples gather in counter-protest of the Minutemen Project. A dozen Minutemen stand to the side, then on top of the steps of City Hall, protesting San Francisco's sanctuary policy of immigrant/migrant youth, calling Mayor Newsom and members of the District Attorney's office "accessories to murder". I stood in solidarity with the immigration activists, making a stand not only for immigration rights but against racism, too.

The Minutemen Project is a group of private individuals who patrol the U.S.-Mexican border for undocumented immigrants and who have played a key role in attracting anti-immigration media to the border. They are, in essence, a White supremacist group with a special focus on immigration and border issues. The Minutemen pose a significant threat to immigrants coming to the U.S., many of whom are escaping the poverty that has washed over their homelands due to economic globalization and the parasitic relationship the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have with developing countries' economies.

As a Black man making a stand against the Minutemen, it is not only about making a stand against racism, but also making a stand for Black, Brown, and multi-racial unity. Issues pertaining to immigration do not end or begin at the Mexican border. The counter-protest is also deeply personal to me in that my paternal grandfather's family is from southern Italy and were forced to change their names on Ellis Island in order to the enter the U.S. in the early twentieth century. The history of immigration of all our families is saturated with the same type of oppression the Minutemen force on La Raza people at the border.

Marching along side people of all race and all communities, I feel proud of the bold statement our unity is making. I begin to chant along with the crowd, feeling excited by the harmony of our voices and then I feel something else- a heavy hand gripping my arm, pulling me out of the safety of the crowd.

I look up to face a white cop, about six feet tall with a blond buzz-cut and black wrap-around sunglasses meant to intimidate. His name reads Kevin Abbey, badge number 1087. A protesting Black man being dragged out of the crowd by a white cop; I knew instantly this was bad. When he finally lets go of my arm I turn to leave the march, to get out of a situation that any person of color knows can escalate out of their favor

.

As I walk away from City Hall, I heard a sudden shout behind me, "Get him!", followed by confusion and a comment from one officer: "I don't know what we are getting him for but we have to get him." Five officers descend on me, four of them White. There are two of them holding each arm, twisting my arms until they feel like they are going to break, with one White cop yelling in my ear, "Do not resist arrest! Do not resist arrest!", although I could barely move. After that, I was quickly tossed into a black-and-white paddy wagon.

They take me to the Fillmore police station, then S.F. County Jail on two fraudulent misdemeanor charges: Battery of a Police Officer and Obstruction of Justice. The battery charge is from a claim that I committed battery on a officer and the obstruction of justice is for allegedly resisting arrest. Although there are two different versions by two different cops about what happened at the march, I was still held for two days until I am released.

For whatever reason, I was singled out. I was one of two people, out of 300, arrested at the protest. They saw me and somehow thought I was weaker and smaller than them, and Black, so they caught me. Being arrested by White cops at a protest against a White supremacist group shows me racists protect their own. For those of us of color in San Francisco, the S.F.P.D. are our Minutemen, patrolling the borders of our city keeping Brown and Black people separate from others. The uniform maybe different, the place may be different, but the action and need to separate is the same.

_____________________________________________________

Dee Allen has plead not guilty to the charges. The misdemeanors in this case are punishable by $2000 and/or 6 mos. in jail and will create a police record. Here's what you can do to intervene on Dee's behalf: Call the SF District Attorney's office and demand that the charges against Dee (his legal name is Donnell Lamont Allen) be dropped immediately. In particular ask for Greg Barge, director of the misdemeanor division.
415.553.1751 -- D.A.'s office, General Inquiries, 8am-5pm.415.553.1752 -- D.A.'s office, General Inquiries, after hours.415.553.1862 -- D.A.'s office, managing attorney, misdemeanor trial division
[The direct line for the managing attorney for the misdemeanor trial division is 415.553-1266. Ask for Greg Barge.]

by David Bacon

POSTVILLE, IOWA - 18JULY08

Maria Rosala Mejia Marroquin and Anacleta Tajtaj, Guatemalan immigrants, were arrested in an immigration raid at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville on May 12. The raid was the largest workplace raid in a single worksite in recent history. Both were released to care for their children, but now have to wear ankle bracelets to monitor their movements. They and 46 other women cannot work or travel, and have been waiting for weeks for a hearing which would result in her deportation. Most have husbands or brothers now in Federal prison, forced to plead guilty to misusing a Social Security number, as a result of the raid. Luz Maria Hernandez works in St. Bridget's Catholic Church, trying to help the families of those arrested. The Agriprocessors meatpacking plant sits on the outskirts of Postville, a tiny town of 2000 inhabitants. New Latino businesses have taken over storefronts in Postville, but as a result of the raid, most stores and restaurants are empty now.

For more information and photographs go to www.dbacon.igc.org

by Jack Hirschman

THE EVICTION

At their whim
whomever
they want to evict
whenever they
want to evict
they can
because they’re
lords of the land
they’re the landlords.

They’ve got Pee Pee
on their side, that’s
Private Property
and they don’t care
that we’re Poor
or Poor Magazine;
if we protest they
call in the other Pee,
the Pee that ends in lice

or lease to make damned

sure no Poor protest is

gonna get in the way of
the biggest Pee, which is
their Profits. And now
that you know why we
all are here and what we
all are and have been up

against these many years

as victims of their whims

and greedy-evil pockets,

let’s resolve to bring the

whole house down, yes,
once and this time for all,
(the house that the Death

that is Private Property

has built), with organized

performances of such
Justice,

we poor will wear “our
courage,

sorrow and innocence”
vividly

as our burning rage, until

Private Property bombs on
the stage where for much
too
long it’s been pissing on
the

people, and then at last
human

space truly will belong to
all.

They own the space

And when they want
You out of it

by Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia, poverty scholar, welfareQUEEN and Daughter of Dee and co-editor of POOR Magazine/PoorNEwsNetwork

Be bop bebop..bop..bop

A slow mist rose from the ground co-mingling with candlewax, sage, and car exhaust. Bop..bop..be-bop..bop.. Warm breath weaving through the rhythm of a congo drum entwining with words of resistance from African Peoples, Raza Peoples, Celtic peoples, Pilipino peoples, Native peoples, indigenous peoples all.."One.... we are the people..Two....indigenous people...Three .. and we are taking back the land and ONE....We are the Scholars...Two... indigenous scholars and Three... we are taking back OUR land!..."

Citing the articles from the United Nations(UN)Declaration on Indigenous Peoples adopted one year ago by the UN General Assembly, displaced, evicted and removed children, mamaz, daddys, tias and tios, aunties and uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers, elders, ancestors, and spirits from all across Turtle Island; Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, New Orleans and DQ University gathered to pray, testify and resist on Market street at sunrise in a spiritual, political and revolutionary ceremony of resistance to out of control development, eviction, displacement and criminalization locally and globally.

"My whole family was displaced out of San Francisco," Xicana mama of three girls, welfareQUEEN and POOR Magazine teacher and staff writer Vivien Hain called into the crowd, her powerful voice joining the layers of sounds as she re-told her family's deep poverty scholarship of houselessness, welfare de-form, struggle and displacement. Vivien cited article 10 of the declaration as she described how her uncle, a life-long Mission district resident, was gentrified out of his home with his disabled wife and now is houseless on the streets of San Francisco. Vivien concluded her powerful speech: "Gentricide, that's our new classification for the murderous act of gentrification."

Since 1996, while on welfare and still dealing with the effects of over 15 years of homelessness as a child and mother, eviction and deep poverty in LA, Oakland and San Francisco, my mama, African- Irish- Puerta Rican, and indigenous Taino very poor single mother, and me launched POOR Magazine as an indigenous organizing project that actively practices eldership, ancestor worship and interdependence. We launched it as a direct resistance to the non-profit industrial complex, criminal UNjustice system, welfare systems, and the school to prison pipeline; that all work to separate, divide and destroy our indigenous systems of caring and community. As a poor people/indigenous people led organization the personal and organizational lives, dramas, concerns and struggles of the hundreds of co-leaders; poverty, youth, disability and migrant scholars at POOR Magazine are intertwined with the running, survival and thrival of ourselves, our families, our communities and our organization. Like many other poor people/indigenous people led organizations, there is no intention to untwine that real and honest core of truth, that is the indigenous organizational model.

In July of this year POOR Magazine (as well as many of the non-profits and small businesses in our building who we stand in solidarity with) received a notice that our lease would not be renewed by the new owners of the building. POOR Magazine's tenuous hold on stability was severed. As an organization we weren't planning to move until we had raised enough money to purchase a building so we could launch the revolutionary housing, arts and education project that acts as a long-term solution to homelessness: HOMEFULNESS; a sweat-equity co-housing and sustainable community that would house and give equity, support, arts education and economic development opportunities to homeless and formerly homeless families as well as house the offices and classrooms of the Race, Poverty and Media Justice Institute and Uncle Al's Justice Cafe.

In San Francisco's Bay-view District there have been over 150 evictions reported in this month alone. In Oakland, 72 elder and disabled tenants face homelessness at the California Hotel due to mismanagement by a housing corporation given millions of dollars to "manage" their resident hotel. In New Orleans over 4, 500 people were evicted from public housing targeted for redevelopment. It was time, we thought, to employ another model for systemic change. It was time, we realized, to implement the very powerful UN Declaration on indigenous peoples.

Bop.. be-bop..bop..bop.. the drum beat wove through the voices, la tierra, our land- speaking for all the people who aren't here - who were already displaced, removed and destroyed, people like Jose Morales, a migrant elder removed from his land, his home of 40 years, by unjust laws put in place to protect property not people....

"Indigenous people shall not be forceably removed from their lands or territories. No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous people concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and where possible with the option of return," POOR Magazine co-editor, indigenous Pilipino, African, Irish and Native descendent poverty and worker scholar, Tony Robles, read from Article 10-28 of the UN declaration on indigenous peoples throughout the ceremony

"Our land is under attack, we are working under a deadline, the General Services Administration (GSA) is threatening to take back 1/3 of our land but we will not go," Steve Jerome Wyatt, Native Scholar and president of the DQ University coalition testified at the ceremony. The ceremony was opened with a prayer led by indigenous scholars from DQ University and United Native Americans who are currently fighting for their rights to keep the only off-reservation tribal college, DQ University, alive and strong. Steve concluded, "our spirit is with all of you, with the people always! DQ will never die!

"We cannot allow POOR Magazine to leave this land, POOR Magazine represents our collective resistance to exploitation, deportation, incarceration, eviction," Renee Saucedo, Xicana scholar and resistance fighter in the war on migrant peoples, representing one of the events co-sponsors, La Raza Centro Legal, testified, "Who is POOR Magazine?, it is poor people of color, particularly young people, who are fighting criminalizing legislations like the gang injunction, people fighting everyday for justice, for our communities" Renee concluded.

We poor will wear our courage, sorrow and innocence vividly as our burning rage, until Private Property bombs on the stage where for much too long it's been pissing on the people, and then at last human space truly will belong to all. Excerpt from the poem, EVICTION, by San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman.

The Taking Back the Land Ceremony was about resistance to displacement, it was also about cross-organizational, cross generational, and cross-cultural movement building. Over 20 organizations, from San Jose to New Orleans represented, including Delores Street Community Services, SOMCAN, Just Cause Oakland, DQ University, United Native Americans, Coalition on Homelessness, HOMEY, POWER, Justice Matters, League of Revolutionaries for a New America, Faithful Fools Street Ministry, The SF Bayview, P.O.C.C. BLOCK REPORT, First Voice Apprenticeship Program, Lumpia Project, San Francisco Living Wage, CHP, Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition, CHAM, Axis of Love, All African Peoples Unification Party, Homeless Action Center and many more. Our lives, our communities, our organizations, our futures, are connected, shared and lived.

Indigenous peoples have the right to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use, as well as those which they have otherwise acquired.(Article 26 of the UN declaration on Indigenous Peoples)

Two SF Board of Supervisors candidates, Eric Quesada and David Campos, were on hand to testify. Each one is vying for district 9
(the Mission) which is ground zero of out of control displacement and gentrification of communities of color. "We have been fighting this fight for 500 years," Eric Quesada galvanized the crowd by calling out the roots of the land theft, the original theft of indigenous peoples land on Turtle Island that happened over 500 years ago when the colonizers "discovered" our land and launched an onslaught of terrorism on indigenous peoples in the name of "ownership" that has continued through today making the connections between historical and current displacement in the Mission, the tenderloin, the Bayview, DQ University, New Orleans and beyond.

Eviction Victim

Eviction Resistance
23 times and counting

"cause without equity we all at-risk"

Born from three generations of poor women of color and countless generations
of

colonized others
Mama Dee..an act of resistance- by tiny

"My mothers mothers mother was a slave - she worked in tobacco and cotton plantations, my mothers mother cleaned the houses and mansions in San Francisco, our blood is spilled in the name of others peoples profit, we will not be moved - we should own these buildings " all of this is ours," Citing Article 28 of the UN declaration which states, "indigenous people have the right to re-dress", Laure McElroy, POOR Magazine board member, welfareQUEEN and poverty, race and disability scholar in residence at POOR's Race, Poverty and Media Justice Institute waved her hands to the land beneath and above our heads as she stated our collective right to reparations.

Bop.. be-bop..bop..bop..

"Any magazine named POOR, that's a magazine where Jesus would be".. proclaimed Sandy Perry street minister from event co-sponsor, CHAM in San Jose. Sandy began his solidarity message to the circle with prayer and a welcome from poor folks in San Jose who are struggling with displacement, eviction and poverty: "When Jesus said all of us can be rich, he didn't mean rich like these developers do, he meant rich with community, with love and with caring for one another", Sandy concluded.

Indigenous peoples have the right to establish their own media in their own languages and to have access to all forms of non-indigenous media without discrimination. (Article 16 of the UN declaration on Indigenous Peoples)

"Hoy es un dia historico"(today is a historical day) because as of today we will no longer accept displacement, Gloria Esteva, migrant and poverty scholar and staff writer with Voce De Inmigrantes en Resistencia at POOR Magazine (the revolutionary bi-lingual media access and education project for migrant raza workers in the Bay Area) who along with POOR Magazine reporteras y reporteros Teresa Molina and Guillermo Gonzalez, connected displacement with the exploitation of migrant peoples locally and globally, Gloria concluded, "This is our land, we built it from scratch, we will be exploited no longer!"

Prensa POBRE reportera Teresa Molina added, "The reason we don't own land is because they don't let us own land so they can exploit us for cheap labor! That is why we will continue to fight until our voices are heard!"

Be bop..bop..bop..bebop

"Please stand up and fight..I am from New Orleans, I know about removal and displacement from the government, thousands of people were removed and displaced and much of that displacement came from the government," August Foreman, Katrina survivor here to speak on Katrina for events in the Bay honoring Katrina's tragedy on August 29, spoke to our circle, with his words creating a national lens to the Take Back the Land Ceremony.

Be bop..bop..bop..bop..the spirits of our displaced ancestors rose up with the drum beat.

Midway through the ceremony, I asked for a silence to be called for all the people who aren't here - who have already been displaced and following that powerful moment, on the wings of the very spirits we called out to for strength our allies and fellow poverty scholars from The California Hotel in Oakland whose 72 elder, disabled tenants have faced eviction due to gross mismanagement by private housing developers OCHI, and allies, Just Cause Oakland arrived at the ceremony.

"We didn't want to become homeless, we didn't want to be put on the street," Mickey Martin, poverty scholar, tenant and now co-manager of the California Hotel described their fight to stay housed even in the face of police raids, city and private funding cuts and mis-management of their housing, "So now our attorney is suing the City for 53 million dollars to keep our hotel open for the rest of our lives - we are going to run our hotel til we become old and gray!"

He was followed by the powerful voice of Robbie from Just Cause Oakland,"We are working now to prevent the eviction of over 215 families from public housing and along with the California Hotel evictions are hitting hundreds of tenants of other residential hotels as well as over 600 public housing units"

One"WE ARE THE PEOPLE and Two..INDIGENOUS PEOPLE!Three! And we are taking back OUR LAND!

Chris Durazo, from displacement fighters and allies at SOMCAN, spoke to the crowd " This "Take Back the Land Ceremony" is very meaningful for us at SOMCAN because they are re-zoning the eastern neighborhoods (in San Francisco) where our families and elders live and we are responding by demanding that they ( the SF Board supervisors) stop building unaffordable condominiums and give it back to our families, our diverse families."

Article 14
Indigenous People have the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages and in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning

"I work with the children every Tuesday and Thursday in FAMILY project", Youth Scholar and POOR press author Jasmine Hain spoke to our circle about FAMILY, an on-site classroom which is a joint education project of POOR Magazine and ART and faces eviction from their classroom at POOR. FAMILY is cooridinated by co-madre, poverty scholar and welfareQUEEN Jewnbug, who is also a skilled early childhood arts educator. FAMILY provides intergenerational programming, arts, music , dance and social justice to children ages 2-14 and parents in the Tenderloin struggling with poverty. "I work in FAMILY so that the poor families and elders, mamaz and daddys, can learn to write their stories and become media producers and make change for their families and communities" Jasmine concluded.

If people really wanted to "solve" homelessness they would start giving poor people access to equity! Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia

"I stand here, the descendent of a stolen people in San Francisco, Mexico", The next testifier was welfareQUEEN and poverty scholar in residence at POOR Magazine, Queennandi, who wrote a poem in honor of the ceremony, "My house is not my home, technically I'm houseless and don't own nothing .serial land robberies.the landlord whipped me with an eviction notice cuz I resisted being whipped"

"Under article 22 of the UN declaration, I accuse the federal government of benign neglect of disabled people, women and children locally and globally", founding member of POOR Magazine and poverty scholar in residence Joseph Bolden cited the declaration.

"I want to take you on a journey, in the U.S. we have the fair housing act, it came down under the Reagan administration" locally we have proposition K and L put into affect by Willie Brown, ostensibly to create more offices for non-profits- under these laws we have right to the right to be housed, not temporarily but permanently. Illin and chillin columnist for POOR and founder of KRIP HOP also cited UN declaration 22 and the recent laws that were passed to protect housing but seem to mean nothing to our communities.

Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use, as well as those which they have otherwise acquired. (Article 26 of the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples)

Byron Gafford,Bayview resident of Alice Griffith who's family is facing pending eviction along with 150 others recently served with eviction notices in the Bayview thanks to government and corporate developers Lennar displacement efforts, testified with a poetic tribute to long-time girlfriend and recent victim of negligence at the hands of PG&E in the Bayview. "to rob, steal, and kill the good like shirley weston in order to claim the neighborhood of death for his own With the help from PG&Evil.."

.

Aldo Arturro Della Maggiorra called on our spirits and ancestors with the conga drum, Joe Smooke from Bernal Heights Community Center spoke on media mis-representations of poverty, RAM from POOR Magazine led the power-giving chants, San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman spit his beautiful tribute poem, Eviction, allies from Homeless Action Center in Oakland testified on their collaborative work with POOR, Bruce Allison at POOR spoke a tribute poem to elder eviction resistor Jose Morales, Mrs Booy from the Bayview, Quanah Brightman from DQ university, Leroy Moore/Illin n chillin, Jewnbug repping FAMILY project and many others spoke, represented and testified. So many powerful voices rose up and honored the silenced voices of indigenous peoples who struggled before us, who struggle with us today and will struggle and resist this in the future.

"To all of the Newsoms, Guiliani's and Schwarzeneggers, we will never give up." Revolutionary legal advocate, poverty and race scholar in residence at POOR and staff writer Marlon Crump authored a poem for the event which began, "This is OUR land you seize from OUR hand,

be..bop..bop..bopbebop..bop..

Postscript: After the ceremony the new owners of 1095 Market street met with POOR Magazine staff and committed to helping POOR Magazine and the other tenants who face eviction make a smooth and safe and transition to another space that will stabilize your urgently needed youth and adult programming for the long-term.

by Joseph Bolden

Issack Hayes/Bernie Mac Are What?

Well the above is how it hit me as in a delayed dream sequence.

First I though it a sick joke then as I hear over and over on the news, E.T. (I don’t consider Entertainment Television) as News.

Mr. Issace Hayes, old Truck Turner, who on the” Rockford Files” called the main character Mr. James Garner played on the convict-turned detective series (RockFish) For nearly a year I really thought the show was called or renamed RockFish.

That was how strong Issac Hayes's Character was to me.

In 1971 Grammy winner for the music sound track of “Shaft” in his home, unconscious next to his treadmill died soon after.

Police ruled out foul play.

I don’t think he’ll be remembered meerly as “Chef” on “South Park” way too much musical, political, movie air time for that.

Bernie Mac, dead-on real street cred serious with a series to boot and movies.

One of the Kings Of Comedy and in a few action films died of complications due to pneumonia Saturday in a Chicago-area Hospital.

Mr. Mac was 50 and Mr. Hayes 69 still relatively young, much too young to die.

Yes, there's another previous death before these two shining stars.

Earlier, Tuesday, July 22, Ms. Estelle, Getty died at 84 In Los Angeles.

Star of stage, and screen best known as Ms. Bea Arthur’s satirical, quick, witted, and quipping Mother Sophia on” Golden Girls”The tv sit com from 1985 to 1992.

Ms. Getty is surrounded by family and friends before her demise.

It is the way of life I guess that the so called three happens or are conditioned to see it?

I like many others didn’t want to place Ms. Getty along with Mac and Hayes.

Yes, I admit I didn’t hear about Ms. Getty until later and waited for another of my people to fall replacing Ms. Getty but I’d be wrong.

All three were in their fields were great entertainers and that’s the way of it except…

How Ms. Getty had family and friends surrounding her before she left earth.

While Hayes is alone and Mac with loved ones and friends.

It tells me to keep your dear friends close, family closer and do as much good as you can before departing this fragile existence.

For though reincarnation’s return may be possible, just in case be the best person you can be because you just may see all of 'em again someday.

It’s always best to have more good, dear friends than bad, revenge driven enemies.

Send comments to ask/tell Joe(I don’t know which) @poormagazine.com or
jsph_bldn@yahoo.com

by Joseph Bolden

No Rent Control = City/State Chaos

Chaos,all things in flux, no control,it’s a messed up situation.

Today all S.R.O.’s (single resident occupancyare at a protest/rally outside on the steps of City Hall in San Francisco.

Tenants from s.r.o.’s, transitional housing from all over the city have gathered to protest Proposition 98.

Prop.98 is state wide in scope using eminent domain as a way to take living space from renter’s on low to fixed incomes.

Proposed by wealthy landlords for the dismantling of rent control for the whole state of California.

If it passes on June 3, 2008,most struggling working folks, single or families will be lose their housing through inflated high rents.

It will not stop like an updated Ellis Act Look it up of the 90’s it too will use any excuse to raise rent,demolish current housing stock only to refurbished or make new housing with increased rental prices.

The process continues from low income subsidized housing to an already decimated middle class, which is the gateway to homeownership.

As I speak the rally continues with PNN, KPIX, other media outlets are there showing the seriousness of next months vote in June.

Going through my own mini housing crisis only makes the problem profoundly worse.

If I lose housing there are organizations I’m tapped into to help me but if prop. 98 passes…

Many no knowing or having any support systems will be thrown into house-less hell.

This the C H A O S of which I speak,All San Franciscan’s plus the whole state will have no thrown into a dark,bleak,abyss if 98 is passed!

We can prevent this by VOTING NO ON 98
let’s have our own People’s Law stating
to never have this any other legally crookedly written proposition,bill,or law set against any of us because of a lack of funds.


Any comments send to poormagazine.org or
Tell/Ask Joe@poormagazine.org

by Joseph Bolden

Wymyn,Men,& The Universe Next Door

Don’t think of the above title for now just contemplate on it.

Yes,I’m dipping my 50 or 100 cents worth yammering about two of the most stubborn yet massively intelligent creatures on Gaia.

We Human’s and our individual personhood…

After straightening my messy one room apartment, turned on the radio to hear the Coast-to-Coast show.

Whether starting or ending I get to hear a rebroadcast of the show.

A late Saturday early Sunday morning show about the human brain as our understanding of it keeps expanding.

Using a old fashioned tape-recorder magnetic tape not tape-less digital kind

I hear Mr.Punnet and guest DR. Michael Gazzaniga,[the director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth, Neuroscientist and a fledgling as a member of President Bush's Council on Bioethics. [from Coast-to-Coast AM web site.


Hypothetically discuss brother/sister incest, which goes completely right with no snags,no one knows but them.

go to www.Coast to Coast AM www.psych.ucsb. edu/people/faculty/ gazzaniga/index.php - 17k

Both ware protection against the sister having child from the secret, illicit union,and afterwards made them grow closer family unit.

I missed a half-hour, an interesting conversation.

It goes on saying,most of the human species have built in nodules in our brains,moral breaks preventing most of us from contemplating such behaviors.

Even aberrant, psychopaths among us wouldn’t do that.

Though molesting, raping,and killing
relatives,siblings or strangers,they are not above doing.

Most of us are hardwired not taught that incest is inherently wrong also when husbands,wives,cheat we as a species don’t like that either.

I know “Most men cheat” mantra women drone on about is a comfortable stand by for decades.

Times has changed as more women graduate from colleges,universities, and business schools earning M.B.A.’s.

Become C.E.O’s of companies,corporations, or head up their own.

Many a busy business women married or
not can and do mix public business with private pleasure.
Many women now use the perks of working vacations with special emphases on fun.

Because it is now well known that women are more subtle in their dealings they may well have surpassed men in the stealth sex-on-bizz/ vacation trips encounters but for now the jury is out on that score.

Our holy religious books are also guides on morality.

Some of us don’t follow the rules closely.
We stretch;bend it a little before making a total break of moral imperatives.

Dr. Michael, Gazzaniga explains that of the 6 billion people on earth most of us are good, want, peace.

Its only 1% causing most of the misery we experience.

1% of 6 billion is still a lot of folks!

Now,for a universe not so different from ours lying just out of reach near us.

A female fan said “Men being in control developing ultimate weapons always think it won’t be use then does.”

Dr. Gazzniga said “Help is on the way, the majority of the students are women.” Mr. Punnet talked “about a recent study on the correlation between the intelligence of the brain also addressed the issue of whether or
not men’s brains or women’s brains demonstrate any greater ability to communicate.

”Are women really more communicative than men or do they just talk more?”
{Ladies,I’m paraphasing Mr. Punnet from the radio show,don’t get bent out of shape at me.}

”What the study showed, it was on the live science web site a couple of weeks ago;It was a joint study between several weeks ago for all I know U.C. Santa Barbara was involved.

”What they studied was the presumption… kind of been floating around for a while that the portion of the female brain that seems larger than male brains focus’s on the ability to communicate.”

” Does that sound about right,multi-task and communicate?”

And the study indicated that in fact: There was no difference between male and female brains regardless of the difference… “

”there’s no difference in the function of male or female brains regardless of the vagaries of the size of one part or another. “

”And that study was conducted entirely by women.”

Mr. Punnet continues now its up to readers to grapple with these findings.

In a universe next door an exact perfect Gaia (Mama Earth).

Earth evolves painfully as did our own, evolution takes eons.

Women and men, plants, animals, insects, germs, and bacteria come into being.

In this alternate universe a slight difference occurred.

Women are the hunters/Men-stayed home preparing meals, planting seeds, fruits, learning the early ways of gardening.

Though women birthed children it’s men who nurture, pamper their young. Women prepared them for tool making, combat, are inventors of both defensive/offensive weaponry.
Time swift wind whispers through centuries from Feudal Rough – Tough women, Warrior soldiers, Queens, Princess’s,Knights.

Men do what they’ve always done bared up, and die sacrificing for their children.

“Hit ‘em regularly like a bell”

As the battlefield spreads to their homes men untrained ”The boy’s showed spunk” Gave their lives dear showing up the myth made by women that…

“All men are good for is sex and raisin’ kids’,Your Dad Ware’s Combat Boots was a favorite epithet.

While wives,loves,or soldier Women fought the wars.

The war to end slavery, World Wars 1 drained countries of the best feminine minds,gassed, machine gunned,blown up from air,land,and sea.

The second World war though more efficient enabled many shattered bodies and minds to survive.

Madam Presidents, Criminal classes,Corporate Elites raided their own countries as one party schemed to steal, invalidate, and throw away votes of the uncommon feminine wisdom.

A new day seemed to dawn after so many false ones as one man had risen higher than any other to maybe be the first
Presidential Male in America unless an assassins bullet stops his heart.

Many women aren’t ready for the change ever if the first Black Woman running concedes defeat most think a meer male is too emotional to hack such demanding responsibilities.

The evil that women do from creating destructive weapons,wars, molesting school age boys, cheating on good stay-at-home husbands.

To renting men on the street or keeping secret men-on-the-side.

Everyone on the planet asks “What’s up with raw,bad tempered,smoking, lying,brawling,drinking, dope taking/selling,meth, Internet porn addicted women?

Will they ever learn from their better half to communicate and multi task?

Or are they just hard wired to be the filthy, horny,reckless,bare chested,smelly,grasping ass holes,nit wits who are still running the world into ruin?

”I wonder what it would be like if men instead of women ruled the earth a few women and many men wonder aloud, can it get any worse?

That’s a random peek in an all that glitters world if women ran it.

Truth is either sex won’t be perfect running the world it has to be a joint effort.

If women are destined to rule then so be it…

Whether I reincarnate as a man or woman doesn’t matter I just want to witness the misteps, mistakes, and best of women as leaders, movers and shakers.

Comment on www.askjoe@poormagazine.org or

Poormagazine.org

by Leroy Moore/PNN

I found out three years ago that history is long and deep when I came across a 1943 book entitled The Black Cripple by Richard Keverne. As most of my readers and listeners know, I wrote a poem in 1992 called The Black Kripple and now use this as my radio dj name as well.

I knew when I came up with the idea of having a radio series on Hip-Hop artists with disabilities called Krip-Hop three years ago that there were many musicians with disabilities all over the world and my idea wasn't new. But what I didn’t know when I started this project was how our music (musicians with disabilities) was about to explode and become a major force nationally and internationally on alternative radio stations, in books and now on the big screen.

As a researcher\journalist in the area of race, disability and music, I'm hyped to see new crop of documentaries about musicians with disabilities who are not the Ray Charleses or Stevie Wonders of the world. This new crop of documentaries is about disabled musicians, who are in the struggle everyday. These documentaries that I'm about to mention are from all over the world from Staff Benda Bilili in the Congo (check out the interview on www.poormagazine.org) and Liyana in Zimbabwe to Heavy Load of the UK, the upcoming Half a Soulja and 4Wheel City of New York and H.U.S.H. from my hometown in CT, just name a few. These musicians cover a whole range of music from Rumba-blues. tribal-salsa, world music to Punk to Hip-Hop.

The Krip-Hop Project will have a panel at the Hip-Hop Journalism Association conference in New York in October to discuss these upcoming Hip-Hop documentaries staring real disabled Hip-Hop artists. Because of all of these new documentaries, the Krip-Hop Project is on a mission to get as much press as possible behind this amazing work through printed interviews and radio play and on websites like www.krip-hop.com, www.poormagazine.org,
www.hhja.org and more.

So please let’s get these documentaries in the public eye. If you
have a press packet, or can offer a sample of your documentary to be played on my radio show or any other radio show that I have contact with, or pictures or CDs of the sound track, please send them to me by mail or email at

Krip-Hop Project\Leroy
1370 University Ave #316
Berkeley, CA. 94702 USA

kriphopproject@yahoo.com

by Joseph Bolden

The Size Matters Stuff

My apologies readers,errors in my writing made go back and try to fix this.

No doubt there are more in columns also but one does what can with time alloted.

I’m going to nip this crap now.
Does size really matter to women and men yes and no.

However though most women fantasize,dream and like looking at huge penises.

After having a few they begin to see and feel the problems of a two fore filling truisms.

That is,it hurts bad and can cause ruptures in or around their vaginal site.

Some will say the pain is worth the experience most women say after the experience as with having too large natural or enhanced mammary glands.

Shoulder and extreme upper and lower back pain is the price paid for enormously amply endowed women.

Yes they are and look spectacular but carrying those boulders in industrial strength bra’s specially made reinforced bra’s whose straps may dig into the shoulders,
stress back and shoulders make standing straight difficult.

Having massive bust is a unique challenge for big boned, heavy bosom women.

As for guys with penis envy of other guys with longer, larger, thicker, more massive, veins, circumcised or uncircumcised equipment.

There's only one thing we can do about the competition…

Let it go. Though women can have their bust surgically reduced or get breast implants, we men must face facts.

That until applied science is able to clone from our cells, reconnect nerve endings of a cloned penis thereby having a natural not surgically
(it will be once all the nerves regenerate properly it will be a seamless perfectly and natural lengthened fit

Until then we deal with the unnatural fattened, lengthened one we seen porn flicks.

We’ll have to deal with what we’ve got.

That means besides diet, exercise, and regular sex with either sex.

It also means listening carefully to women when her needs, wants, we can

Provide sometimes aside from money, strength, attentiveness, assertiveness, self-confidence, and also emotional support.

Women play the size game as a tease and to some size will matter but the vast majority just want a guy to be a guy and give her great loving’ on a regular basis.

If you have a woman, or women (always good to have more than one) because we’re both a fickle sex.

If women have more than one guy it does not mean they think any less of you all it means is other men have qualities you may not have and not necessarily about size, different men have different qualities just as men find in women.

If she’s with you and talking about your size joking, belittling, suck it up she’s in your bed with you so it's not all bad if she still keeps sleeping with you.

Huge Clue Guys [She’s With You Not Anyone Else], which says something about you – like, you’re worth her time.

The needling is to psychologically keep you guessing plus she may worry that you can be with someone else too.

Most women no matter gorgeous have little if not huge self esteem problems.

But won’t say that to you.

So guys small, large, or mega member all you can do is improve, vary, sex/love making styles, read up on Karma Sutra, do yoga, tai chi, swim, bike ride, or job (though not 10 kilometers daily it’ll cut down on loving and up your fem or fem friends a bit).

It’s a balance we men sometimes forget to listen, keep learning, and if your not thinking of E.D. or Erectile Dysfunction it won’t.

The thought is father/mother to the deed.

And ladies if you already have a good enough to great bed mate talk to him when quiet time permits and inform, praise, and make sure he’s not taking you for granted and that you aren’t either.

That way those intimate times will build from good to great memories, which can share as reconnection times.

Even when ex BF’s/GF’s, /BB’s/WW.’s [Same sex couples] meet up it won’t be in past anger but remembered joy.

I know it’s rare that ex's remain friends but there are exceptions to every rule.

You prove it by being the exceptions.

A last thing on the subject if she has desire for you and you for her get the size issue off the table first.

In my experience the desire to please, be pleased and learn how to better improve your range of love making that counts.

I have it on good authority its how one cares and uses what they've got.

Don't think about size just concentrate pleasing the one your with.

If she still has a size issue let her go and find it elsewhere other women will gladly take her place.

Any comments go to ask or telljoe@Poormagazine.org or
Jsph_bldn@yahoo.com

by Sam Drew/PNN

"Hip Hop Tried 2 Kill Me" is the eye-opening title of the new book written by 20-year music veteran, Fleetwood. His book, with a tentative release date of May 19th (Malcolm X's birthday), is a look at the inside world of Hip-Hop from a talented writer, rap artist, music producer, videographer, motivational speaker and community activist.

Hip-hop destroyed the person I was and gave birth to the man I am today, for that reason, I'll always love Hip-Hop,says Fleetwood. Fleetwood's passion for Hip-Hop began during the days of the Sugar Hill Gang, one of the first groups to use rapping in their songs. He wrote his first rhyme across the street from the cemetery where his mother was buried down South.

Fleetwood has the humble personae of a down home country boy. But he has roots in both California and in North Carolina. As he states with an infectious smile, I was breaded in San Francisco's Fillmore district.

His desire to perfect his craft lead him to the frigid climate of Minnesota. He was accepted to Music Tech in Minneapolis, where he received an A.A. degree in music. He produced a young talented singer known as R.L. before he became popular with the R&B group called Next. But after college came a major setback in his musical career. He became a victim in the war on drugs.

I owned my own record labels, I sold dope for my record labels but I kept getting caught,said Fleetwood with amazing candor. What straightened his path was a change in his spiritual outlook or as Fleetwood proclaims, Finally, I put my faith in God!
Fleetwood returned to San Francisco and produced several groups. One group named Probable Cause opened up for acts like E-40, Notorious B.I.G. and Bone Thugs N Harmony. During his budding producing career, Fleetwood got involved in community work helping young people. He got involved with the Proposition 21 movement that focused on justice and freedom for youth in California.

I was part of the problem,said Fleetwood. My Father was a major heroin trafficker. I wanted to be part of the solution, revealed Fleetwood about his becoming a community activist.

Fleetwood has indeed become a one-man solution to the problem.I didn't have any special hookup you just have to use the resources you have available to you,he said.

Beside writing his upcoming book "Hip-Hop Tried 2 Kill Me", for less than $150, he has also established his own non-profit, The Homeboy Hotline, which helps ex-offenders with their re-entry into the community through job resources.

I do the footwork, said Fleetwood about his non-profit. I don't get you the job but I can show you where to go to get one. I help you find clothing, housing and medical care. I also show you how to get grants and avoid the poverty pimps, he said.

He also conducts an annual toy giveaway for children whose parents are in jail. I plant a seed of hope and care around the time of Christmas to reverse the cycle of hopelessness. We go to family shelters with new toys. We'd like to see entertainers and athletes from the Raiders, 49ers, A's, Giants and Warriors help donate new unused toys.

On the drawing board for the future is the launching of a new inspirational God fearing movement called DOPE BOYZ, which stands for Doing Our Part Equally. The mixtape “Blessing” is on the streets now and can be ordered on line. The inspiration for the groups name stems from Fleetwood's early music career. Dope Boyz was the name of my first group in Minnesota. I flipped the script from gangster to Hip-Hop, remembered Fleetwood

In life what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Adversity, it can destroy you or it can build you. In my case it built me to the man I am today, claims Fleetwood about his life. But being truthful and helping others in need helps spread your good name around the world. Fleetwood knows he can go anywhere be it East, West, North or South and know he will get Love from the streets.

Many record companies manufacture street credibility with hired teams of expensive public relations experts who pump out lurid gangster tales to create a street buzz to sell records. Fleetwood's street cred comes from years of pounding the pavement, assisting troubled youths and defending the community from predatory attacks.

The corporate media controls Hip-Hop,Fleetwood bluntly tells me. But he has a remedy to the watered down corporate Hip-Hop forced on us by the media giants. Keep it underground and put it on the internet. Put more truth in your music. Make music to inspire people.

To order Fleetwood's most anticipated book of the year, "Hip-Hop Tried 2 Kill Me", go to Marcus Bookstore, Barnes & Noble or Borders Bookstores or purchase it at his website myspace.com/ Fleetwood 189, where mixtapes can also be purchased. There is a tentative date of May 19th (Malcolm X's Birthday) for a book signing at Marcus Bookstore in San Francisco. Check the website for more details.

by Joseph Bolden

Hidden Male Discrimination

This is just blowin’ off steam about our not so hidden discrimination.
From the cell phone-call me-gf/bf on dates to endearing one way tomboy
between time of girls and clothes.

1. Why go on dates with mobile in hand unless its used for extreme job related emergencies not merely as (ditch guy thing) its used on guys more then women and you know it Grrrls.


2. Notice how its cute for girls to be tomboys but not a girly-boy.


3. As for clothes yes women pay more but in defense they by the clothes sold by mostly male designers while men are straight jacketed into basic man-suit shirt,panes,tie,shorts, under/over shirts,and socks.

If a few men do break out its deemed sort of off.

Like Mumble’s the dancing Penguin in Happy Feet until his unique abilities save his people.

All I’m saying is all things being equal which they aren’t women have more choices than men but as men begin to balk,
as men take their blinders off, ignore the female equation, realize just as some women love saying men are no longer needed its an equal quote for men.

Sure women give birth they also can take life away.

Why are men the best chefs because most women have abdicated that post.

Suddenly we find men are great nurturer’s when given a chance.

Well,women are being all they can be but let the same be of men and women begin to freak big time.

How come men cannot where women’s clothes but women can wear men’s there is a fundamental unfairness to the sexes.

The truism I want to personally change is that of married guys living longer than single men.

Women If widowed women and single ladies enjoy being single with less hassles from men then let men be themselves.

Without pressure to marry,reproduce,let us live our lives,love whom we want as you have.

Or is it like the Marriage union of man and woman married couples feel the institution is threatened or weakened by same sex life long unions?

I believe its no longer a joke that marriage same sex couples may be a stronger bond,

really show what love means beyond the traditional concept.

This delay tactic is “FEAR OF A STRONGER UNION” of same sex than traditional.

If traditional male/fem marriage is so strong put it to a test give same sex a twenty year test legitimately see how it works in reality.

I believe traditionalists are showing their fear of change that maybe the institution needs an amendment to prop up a dying system.

For bachelors as myself the only way to beat this married men live longer statistic is to actively take charge of our lives.

If that means drinking, smoking,less,or no drugs then we do it.

It may mean not following by rote but take notes from T. Lycos or listening to Love Line.

Face it guys,women do have alternate emotive built ways of seeing men; be a mean jerk they go after you.

Be quiet,sensitive,no play from ‘em.

However a third choice is to me no woman’s doormat,be your own unique self,captain your soul,
treat women equally no favorites and have as many as you want but tell 'em no strings or commitment.

If they agree – good if not move on and if they decide to flip the scipt change the game – you move on.

Women have always had the Veto the main thing all of them are not the same. What’s that movie “Wizard” where the main character says
“One dream beats a thousand realities.”

What’s really said in any place where people gather socially you may hear 1000 ‘no’s you don’t think of them the one “yes” you hear and concentrate on the yes’s.

We men must take care of our own health women have learned that so should we.

We’re really unselfish when it comes to women wanting to please them, love them,and provide for
but they lets face it guys they are more practiced in the arts of survival than we had to be.

We use our strength, power,will to subjugate bend nature,people,to our will but that no longer applies we need to be as subtle,supple,cunning,and wily as
women have mastered the art of seeing women not as objects, trophies,or scores but as an opponent if not enemy and also drop this competition.

Why? It boosts their ego,lowers ours and until two boxers,wrestlers, or mixed sex football, baseball, basketball,soccer,bowling, golf,you name it as there’s a stigma to

“Beating a girl(s) /woman(en) men will never have a fair deal.

Question: If a man normally 4x as strong as the average woman is challenged by a woman who has been bodybuilding five or more years who will win the contest the man or woman?

Answer: If you said the man. You’d be wrong
because normally men would be stronger but against a bodybuilding woman with five plus years of training experience will win the contest.

I know because years ago that challenge was up to me by a female training me to challenge a body building woman who had two years training ahead of me.

I wouldn’t be baited and explained “She has two years experience of course she’s stronger than I am.”

I had used logic in place of emotional pride.
I believe when women challenge men sometimes its fun when they challenge us but more and more its not a game.

Many times women have trained to not only to win but to beat and humiliate also and for what to prove superiority in male dominated fields.

We should wake up,take care of ourselves and live longer with or without women who love shatter our so called fragile ego’s

Men are so resilient if we weren’t women wouldn’t still be so hot to beat us,shame us,at every turn.

The best thing to do when women go ape shit is

leave 'em alone to act out what ever is eating them and not using it as an excuse to bash men.

One more thing,women are allowed to act crazy in public.

I’ve seen it on St. Anthony’s or Glide Memorial food lines.

There talking to themselves or screaming at a mate or some stranger and they know they can get away with it.

Let any male go bonkers and he’s in a police van on his way to jail.

Why is it that we tolerate women’s psychosis, anger,loud,lewd,behavior but not men’s?

The sugar spice thing is gone women have revealed themselves to be just as vindictive,mean,nasty, sexually driven as men even it they do have more subtle ways of going about it.

That’s what I was thinking about today before leaving the city for while.

Send Comments to Ask/Tell Joe at poormagazine.org

by Catherine Limcaco/POOR Magazine Race, Poverty and Media Justice Intern

"Today they incarcerate us for being poor; tomorrow they incarcerate us for being human!" POOR Magazine's own Lisa "Tiny" Gray-Garcia was one of the many activists that were rallying outside City Hall on Tuesday, June 22nd in opposition to the proposed Community Justice Center (CJC) (aka; A Poverty Court) that if implemented will institutionalize and finance the criminalization of people in poverty in San Francisco while leeching funding from service providers such as Tenderloin Health Center among many.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that the plan for the CJC was first submitted to the Board of Supervisors. In the proposal, Gavin Newsom would cut $20 million from existing programs to allow more funds to be used to build the CJC which was in cost be $2.9 million. The Board would ultimately vote NO against the CJC proposal but the Mayor would leave with the last word. On June 17th Newsom filed a measure with the Board of Elections to put his Community Justice Center initiative on the ballot in November.

The significance of the hearing that took place this morning in front of the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee was virtually unseen by media and community And if the board were to vote to allocate funds for "homeless court" (CJC) that would destroy community programs and the only 24- hour drop in center in the city, offenses that were previously considered to be minor infractions would escalate to misdemeanors. One of activists that showed up, Eli, the Tenant's advocate, explained with concern, "compassion is rarely instituted when it comes to an officer writing citations and implementing other acts of offense. " With that being said, in the words of down-District 6 supervisor Chris Daly, "How are we going to have homeless court that cite and give them services that don't exist?"

Supervisors Jake McGoldrick and Chris Daly opened the hearing with their respected arguments with Daly obviously solo in his appeal: "I don't think this current budget situation is better than it was last year, and I don't understand why we're here. This is a pet project of the Mayor, but I don't think it's good public policy."

Though alone amongst his fellow supervisors, Daly received a mountain of support from members of community including big name non-profit organizations Coalition of Homelessness and the reporting and supp-porting staff from POOR Magazine. The Board allowed each member of the community a measly 3 minutes to voice their disgust for this misleading ploy that isn't adequate enough to solve the houseless problem. Out of the many activists who stepped up to the Board, here are the four that uttered the fundamentals candidly to the inattentive bunch of supervisors. Starting with the basics with Reverend Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church: "It's not a legal problem, it's a social problem. A 24 hour drop-in center is necessary because right now, One Fifty Otis Shelter is not allowing women enter which I think is discrimination; except at Ocean but they're only allowing residents to stay 4 hours at a time." As the Rev preaches his case to the Board Committee, it is obvious which way the verdict will go.

Up next was Molly Glasgow, Civil Rights Organizer at Coalition on Homelessness, expresses her discontent with plan for the CJC with her assertive address: "I hope you guys slept well last night and thank you for this short notice to the community. City is making sleeping a crime with Quality of Life Offenses. The list of theses offense are: 23 (a) MPC-Obstruction of Streets and Sidewalk (24 hours); 97 (a)-MPC Camping in House Car; ; 97 (b) MPC-Camping in Car; 647 (c)-PC Obstruction of Streets and Sidewalks;647 (j) PC Lodging/Encampment. This is not a sob story, it's the reality of life: We don't have to have people sleeping in streets."

Next up was a man who has had first-hand experience with the shelters in The City, "This policy is a kin to beating someone in the head to give them a headache. This issue will increase, as the economy worsen," proclaims houseless citizen, Frank Cowell.

And once again to connect the dots, because these policies didn't come from nowhere the former mayor of New York and previous hopeful for the Republican spot for this year's 2008 Presidential Election, Rudolph Giuliani, targeted citizens like Frank Cowell by proclaiming that it's citizens like Frank that need to be "cleaned out." Gavin Newsom seems to want to follow in Giuliani's footsteps.

So as the Board becomes recklessly disinterested, Dr. Norma Tecson closes the comments from the community section by professing her take on the CJC proposal: "You don't know what it's like to work out there when you all are stuck in your offices. I did not get paid a salary for 3 years because I am passionate about helping this cause. "

As the Board does the traditional gratitudial praise, Jake McGoldrick takes his farewell address to the heart. McGoldrick starts talking about his past in France which included a brieft stint in homelessness. Supervisor states, "Being homeless in France is not the same as it is here" with a small "ai-yi-yi" at the end. All that can be said to that statement is just a puzzled expression with the caption "UMM YOU THINK, Supervisor?" in bold. In the end, as of this press date, the CJC proposal was passed 4to1 by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee.

by Bruce Allison/PNN

As of March 31st, the only 24-hour homeless drop-in center in the city of San Francisco, Buster's Place, is closed. Now, chairs will be set for men only at 150 Otis while the many women who relied on Buster's Place for shelter find themselves on the streets.

For just three months, men will have fifty, less than half of what was provided at Buster's Place, chairs to sleep in before construction begins to create low-income housing for seniors at 150 Otis. These senior apartments, however, will not be finished for four years, leaving hundreds of seniors out in the cold.

"I feel sorry for these guys… after just three months these people will be on the street again…don't Mayor Newsom and the City Officials know what they are doing," said one shelter monitor.

On March 28th about 40 people from seven groups, including the Senior Action Network, the Gray Panthers, Mission Resource Center, Cannon Kip Senior Center, Glenda Hope, Seniors Organizing Seniors, the Coalition On Homelessness, People of Buster's Place, and Code Pink, went to City Hall to show support for Buster's Place. Together, we set up Buster's Place outside of the Mayor's Office.
The Coalition staff passed out food, hygiene kits and soap.

Despite all these organizing efforts and protests, the city still closed much needed shelters and only six seniors out of 150 got housing in SROs.

"Due to Buster's Place bad record-keeping we could only verify seventeen names- one we couldn't find and six didn't want the housing we offered them," the Mayor's housing and homeless director said when questioned about the small number of seniors offered housing.

Stay tuned to POOR Magazine for more updates by poverty scholar and author Bruce Allison after the Governor's budget revise.