2008

by Joseph Bolden

Mission Possible, Maybe

Past and recent events in my life has taken another turn.

Have you ever tried something new,seen what other people are doing but part of you silently screams “Don’t Do It.” Which you ignore?

Done that now know it’s aftermath. I’m currently in Customer Service helping people where they reside.

General Assistance can make one lazy, induce stress, and make a day or week feel decades long but sometimes we all need a little help from time to time.

I went off G.A. it is because of a death in my family, told my worker thinking “If I’m away beyond the 1st or 15th its cool because the worker knows.

Wrong! Had to be reported. I did return late and was off G.A.

Worked some, got back on and missed a numerous appointments probably psychologically not wanting to be back on.

Family monies, old hurts, resurface, my decision leaving the one bit of transient stability where art-words-work-social/political
activism from a positive non profit organization was hard and for a time sent me into physically ill depression.

Somewhere Its recounted won’t go into it here. It was a sort of cleansing of familiar while entering an abyss of a new phase phase.

As with stints as a security guard, lab aide, food service aide, custodian, construction worker [went to school for that] home health aide/kitchen helper.

They just didn’t fit, could work at them but most except construction were low level waged jobs and it didn’t fit me.

If I could have stuck with being a Certified Nurse Assistant
but after a year of being on call, on staff then going from

Convalescent center to hospital and doing private in-home care, scrambling from check to check for most of that year…
I couldn’t do it anymore.

Job Burnout, nervous breakdown, fatigue whatever its called sent me spiraling quickly into jobless, houseless limbo.

Because I didn’t drink at the time or was into drugs depression and self loathing were my enemies.

Slowly you learned its not you but the the SYSTEM IS FUCKED NOT YOU!

I did work, pay taxes every time groceries, new clothes, or other merchandise were bought. Paid into the system and the syst
screwed me!

From homeless shelter’s, the gray underground cash-in-hand-jobs.

I find my way in the process as others before me have.

Help from a then youth now grown up woman in her own right helped more by example and action than words.

Its possible getting of G.A. staying off is the problem.

Now that I’m captured yet again at least it won’t get to me as it did before with missed appointments, complete disclosures of intent, or personal ambitions.

Multi tasking is a maligned word but needed in this quickened world.

One need not contemplate jail as an escape or exit strategy.

I’m not doing the crime then the time, hopefully won’t be set up for such a fall.

So back on G.A. maybe its time to pay the piper and have my pc, printer fixed, web surf safely in my own home.

If I’m able to buy a web cam for dating only with minor peeks of some online babes...

Could I use a web cam as a personal money making tool myself!

One won't know until its tried.

A jobless/houseless depressed wreck I was, now free from the grey tunnel the experience may have forged a stronger me.

by Leroy Moore

Welcome to Krip-Hop News, a brand new concept where I and other writers will keep you informed about what is going on for Hip-Hop artists with disabilities and other disabled musicians. This is our second issue and introductory issue and we are asking you to contribute your news, topics and suggestions. Krip-Hop statement is as follows:

Artists with disabilities are in the music industry from Blues to Hip-Hop. From Blind Willie Johnson to Blind Rob and Cripple Clarence Lofton to 4Wheel City, our music has helped shape the world we live in. Krip-Hop continues this legacy with many voices from the US, UK, Spain, Africa, Haiti and more rapping not only to the Hip-Hop generation, but also to society and the world as a whole about the talents, politics and sexuality we embody while at the same time fighting against the discrimination that isolates us from one another.

Krip-Hop displays the beauty and strength of collaboration and disabled music history, present and future. Our aim is to get the musical talents of hip-hop artists with disabilities into the hands of media outlets, educators, hip-hop, disability and race scholars, youth, hip-hop conference coordinators, and agents and to report on the latest news on musicians with disabilities.

Krip-Hop News would like to invite you to help build or continue to build a present in the Hip-Hop Journalism industry. Krip-Hop News knows that there has been many individual disabled Hip-Hop artists that have been showered by the Black ink of Hip-Hop journalists’ pens including DJ Boogie Blind, MF Grimm and Bushwick Bill to name a few. However nine times out of ten, news of Hip-Hop artists and other musicians with disabilities don’t make it in high glossy magazines, journals and books but can be found in bits and pieces on myspace.com and other underground media outlets.

If you don’t have the time and resources to research these underground outlets than you miss news, CD release, documentaries, merchandise and events of disabled musicians. This is why I would like to help provide this news and hope it will take off with many writers on the internet and some time in the near future become a full fledged magazine in your local independent bookstores, but it is all up to you. At this point in time Krip-Hop News will be hosted on www.poormagazine.org and at leroymoore.com and will be in a blog form on cripmoore/myspace.com. In the near future the Krip-Hop Project will be on its own website.

Now Krip-Hop News Issue 2

Our fist issue was popping with news that’s not in Hip-Hop magazines or any other publications for that matter. We covered some new CDs, books and other merchandize from Hip-Hop artists with disabilities like MF GRIMM’s new book. (See below for a full interview with MF GRIMM). We let you know of Keith Jones and his exploration of running for political office as a Black disabled activist and Hip-Hop artist. Krip-Hop News sat down with Mr. Jones to talk about his run for US Senate. And, of course we gave you some insight of the new Krip-Hop Mixtape Vol.2. Vol. 2 just arrived in the mail from our new label 2THA Point Entertainment of Preechman from NY. Krip-Hop News is not only Hip-Hop but all music.

In this issue, we will look at the new book and work of Kenneth Tyson who has his own record label, 2nd Generation Records, and an entertainment center in Detroit. We will look at the October \November issue of XXL Magazine, which had an article featuring 4Wheel City. We could not leave you without telling you what new CDs, books and movies coming out by or about musicians with disabilities. So let do this!

I’ve been following MF GRIMM’s career since he became disabled in the early nineties. This will be my third article on MF GRIMM but it is the first time I had a chance to interview him about his new book, Sentences: The Life of MF GRIMM. My fist article on MF GRIMM was in 2OO5 published in the San Francisco Bay View newspaper. Back then I wrote about the violence in Hip-Hop that made another Hip-Hop artist from Detroit, Blade Icewood, a wheelchair user for a year before he was shot to death in his wheelchair. Very few artists survive the violence of the streets, Hip-Hop generation and accidents to write about it. Well finally MF GRIMM joins his counterparts in Soul music who are wheelchair users and are still cranking out hits or producing like Teddy Pendergrass and Kenneth Tyson.

All three, Teddy Pendergrass, Kenneth Tyson and MF GRIMM are in the music industry, all are wheelchair users and all have penned their stories in books. From my research, MF GRIMM’s book is the first “mainstream” book by a disabled Hip-Hop artist and because of that reason I bought two copies for my growing Black\Brown disabled library. Before we get into a very short review of Sentences, let’s hear from the man himself, MF GRIMM.

Kip-Hop News with MF GRIMM: New Book, Upcoming CD and…

Krip-Hop Where were you born?

MF GRIMM The Bronx

Krip-Hop: Tell us how was Hip-Hop when you were growing up in NY?

MF GRIMM It was more about battling styles and street corners. You were in a battle on The Street corner and people keep walking and don't stop to listen then you were kind considered wack but on the other hand if you caused giant crowds on the corner while you rhyme then you were considered worthy.

Krip-Hop: How long have you been in the Hip-Hop industry?

MF GRIMM: Since I was about 14 years old.

Krip-Hop: First a triple CD and now a book. What is next?

MF GRIMM: Films, and Animations, Television programming as well.

KRIP-HOP: Why did you write Sentences?

MF GRIMM: To explain to people that although you might make mistakes or even counted out, it's never to late to change your ways, and never give up hope of making something out of your life no matter the circumstances.

Krip-Hop: Give a brief description of your book

MF GRIMM: It's about my life from basically 5 years old until now and all the situations I put myself in that could have been avoided.

Krip-Hop: You have been on the big screen and in wrongly incarcerated. Tell me is there a real community in Hip-Hop or is everybody out for themselves?

MF GRIMM: There's a community, you just have to reach out and also allow those that's willing to help to help. As for wrongly convicted, I don't see it that way, I knew what I was doing and knew the repercussion of my actions and I served my time for it.

Krip-Hop: Do you think there is a dumbing down of lyrics in Hip-Hop these days?

MF GRIMM: No.

Krip Hop: Now you’ve been in the music and publishing industries. What are the pitfalls for artists?

MF GRIMM: Not knowing the legal aspects of the music business.
Krip-Hop: When you first approach the music industry after you became disabled what were the reactions towards you? And have things changes?

MF GRIMM: Yes, They felt I wasn't marketable because I was in a wheelchair...Things changed now I'm marketable.

Krip-Hop: Tell us the characters in your book. Who are they and where did they come from?

MF GRIMM: The characters are friends, family and enemies they're all real.

Krip-Hop: You know in my point of view you’re the only disabled Hip-Hop artist that have publish a book and got into Hip-Hop Magazine. How can other disabled hip-hop artists learn from you?

MF GRIMM: That's exactly what the book is about to never give up hope have faith in your self, but also learn from my mistakes. You don't have to sell drugs, and shooting people don't make you a man. And getting shot don't make you a better emcee.

Krip-Hop: What is your experience being a Hip-Hop artist using a wheelchair and do you think the Hip-Hop industry is ready for Krip-Hop AKA disabled hip-hop artists?

MF GRIMM: They don't have a choice, bring it to their face. don't let others decide if your worthy because they can walk, BE WHO YOU ARE.

Krip-Hop: As a CEO of an Entertainment business do you have totally control over your music and artists?

MF GRIMM: I have total control of all my projects. I don't control my artist. They have control over their projects.

Krip-Hop: Will you write another book?

MF GRIMM: Yes, several books and graphic novels.

Krip-Hop: Tell us more abut Sentences

MF GRIMM: The artist name is Ron Wimberly artwork is just as important and it's incredible, and Mr. Casey Seijas (editor at Vertigo/DC Comics) is the person who had the faith in me to help me turn this into a reality.

Krip-Hop: How can people contact you?

MF GRIMM: WWW.daybydayent.com

Krip-Hop: Is there going to be a book tour? If so are you coming to California?

MF GRIMM: Yes, I'll keep you updated.

Krip-Hop: Tells about your next CD

MF GRIMM The Hunt for the Ginger Bread Man released SEPTEMBER 25, 2007.

Krip-Hop: How can people get you book?

MF GRIMM: All book stores, and if it's not there then make sure they get it.

Krip-Hop: Any last words?

MF GRIMM: It's time to get out of these wheelchairs and stand up! It is mind over matter, never forget that.

MF GRIMM gives support and love to Krip-Hop Project:

“I love Krip Hop. What you're doing is very important, it's needed for the young children, dealing with any type of disability, to know that there's nothing on this planet that can stop them all they have to do is believe. You always support me, and I need to do the same for you. I admire and respect you for the great things you've done not for just people in wheelchairs but for humanity. We have a voice and it's our obligation to speak for those who don't have one and fight and defend those who can't defend themselves against all forms of discrimination injustice and oppression. Keep fighting my brother and tell all the disabled brothers and sisters I said "it's time to rise up!!"

Percy Carey AKA MF GRIMM

Krip-Hop News would like to thank MF GRIMM for his time and support!

Sentences: The Life of MF GRIMM Krip-Hop two cents Part 1

First of all, I have been waiting for this book since my first article about MF GRIMM back in 2005. So, when I finally got my own copy, I ran through this book like I was Carol Lewis. In two days I finished Sentences. As in the interview MF GRIMM corrected me on his arrest and his upbringing, the same education took place in his book. I had assumptions of MF GRIMM’s arrest and his life as a wheelchair user and as well Sentences burst my bubble and constructed the real image by the author’s own pen. There are many reviews of Sentences on the internet and the beautiful illustrations by Ronald Wimberly but for me and Krip-Hop News we’d I like to focus on the book’s story after MF became disabled.

To be continued….

Hip-Hop has always been political but now Hip-Hop artists are entering the political arena like Kevin Powell to disabled Hip-Hop artist, Keith Jones from Boston. Like MF GRIMM, this will be my third article on Mr. Jones but in this interview Jones makes it public that he is running for the Senate in the next Congressional race. Krip-Hop talks to him about his political views and his campaign along with his cultural work as a Hip-Hop artist. In the last election Massachusetts broke barriers by electing the first Black Governor. Now Keith Jones is on the campaign road to topple Kennedy’s seat in Congress. See http://poormagazine.org/index.cfm?L1=news&category=2 for the full interview.

by tiny/PNN

What is Access, What is Action? How do we truly include all voices in strategy building so we can also create models of long-term change?

I reflected on these questions as POOR Magazine poverty, race, disability, youth, migrant and indigenous scholars prepare to collaborate with other organizers locally and globally at the upcoming National Day of Action on January 26th 2008, a day of shared resistance of peoples in poverty the world over, an action sponsored by the US Social Forum.

My reflections brought me back to July 2007, and another story I wrote called, Another World or Another Mistake? - which attempted to document the phenomenal struggle that POOR Magazine poverty, race, disability and youth scholars faced when we traveled to Atlanta to collaborate with other media justice organizers on the Ida b Wells Media Justice Center at the US Social Forum.

"Another world of media production is possible!" was our quixotic motto; a world of media production not bought, sold and controlled by the same folks who always write, translate and produce our stories, the stories of poor folks of color locally and globally. We would establish a space like POOR has in San Francisco where media production is collaborative, where normally top-down structures of media making are shared and horizontal. Suffice to say, the creation in Atlanta of these other worlds of media production required a cross-organizational, cross-movement struggle we didn't expect. The space we were assigned, despite clear and year-in-advance requests to the contrary, wasn't accessible or safe; most of our time in ATL was spent trying to acquire a pace we could actually use for the inclusive, indigenous circle of revolutionary media production that we strove to create, that is necessary to have all voices heard and understood.

I wrote my first piece in the heat of the moment, immediately upon our return to the Bay Area, and although that piece stands as a testament to our disillusionment with certain facets of the ATL experience, the reality is that POOR's struggle in the Media Center detracted our attention away from the many positive things that flowered there.

The USSF was a very powerful event of strategy building, a tremendous logistical community-building coup for the "scattered left," and a meeting of people, organizations and popular fronts that could never have taken place in quite the same way were it not facilitated in quite the way it was.

Therefore as POOR Magazine scholars prepare to join POWER, St Peter's Housing Committee and other Bay Area organizations at a vigil at Dianne Feinstein's house in solidarity with the Green Ribbon Campaign which was launched by activists fighting for affordable housing and Reconstruction for Black and working people of New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast, on the powerful National Day of Action on January 26th I want to share with readers some of the powerful work that was presented at the USSF in July, and will be highlighted across the globe on the upcoming National Day of Action.

Beginning with some of the most grassroots organizing projects such as Direct Action for Rights and Equality who is doing performance art at the flea market in Providence, RI to protest gentrification and express solidarity to stop the demolition of public housing in New Orleans and Domestic Workers United who is launching a state legislative campaign for the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights with a press conference and convening of domestic workers in New York City�

To the Georgia Citizens Coalition on Hunger and Project South who are organizing a poor people's caravan through historic sites in Atlanta, ending in a Poor People's Assembly, and The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights who are holding a press conference at their national conference the week of January 18th in Houston, Texas, and the New Orleans Folks and Black Workers for Justice are also requesting that organizations do actions targeting Louisiana Senator David Vitter, the Senate Banking Committee and the Senate in general to stop the destruction of public housing and demand passage of the Gulf Coast Recovery Act, SB 1668.

And, New York City AIDS Housing Network is organizing an action for the right to housing for people living with AIDS, Portland Jobs with Justice is doing street theater in the mall on the Colombia free trade agreement, Power U Center for Social Change, is organizing a naming ceremony and a reclaiming land away from corporate developers in the Historic Black community of Overtown, (Miami, FL,) or Southwest Workers Union who are organizing a march to the Alamo calling for Human Rights for All in San Antonio, Texas. All of these powerful groups of resistance fighters will be joined by several hundred more organizations that will hold press conferences in cities in Cuba to the Philippines

When POOR Magazine finally did acquire a space in Atlanta (by any means necessary) we were able to create some truly revolutionary media collaborations and relationships with poverty scholars across the nation such as Jim Anderson from Buffalo, New York, who is organizing to fight the closure of community hospitals in the US and Jay Toole, a woman dealing with shelter abuse in New York City. As well as media relationships such as Free Speech TV, Paper Tiger TV, Alternet and Race, Poverty and The Environment

As we continue to resist the ongoing repression of globalization, neo-liberalism, criminalization and displacement it is urgent for us to truly collaborate, listen and respect each others work and resistance. Another world is happening, and to ensure we are all part of the effort we must ALL see , hear , be a part of or link up with all the crucial organizers, and poverty scholars from the rest of the planet many of whom were at the USSF, who were and are doing truly revolutionary things, and in fact actively taking part in the creation of this crucial "World" we all know must happen, can happen and is happening.

For more information about the USSF schedule of action go on-line to www.ussf2007.org If you are in the bay area please join the Vigil at Diane Feinstein's House on Saturday, January 26th @ 3:00 pm 2460 Lyon at Vallejo in San Francisco. To read more of POOR Magazine's poverty , race and disability scholars written by folks who experience these positions first-hand go on-line to www.poormagazine.org

by Tony Robles/Special to PNN

"When I die, bury me facedown so that anybody that comes to visit me can kiss my ass."

--James Robles

I was about 14 or so when my father said those words to me. My father was a joker to everybody but me. When he did joke with me, it was usually while we were working together as part of a 2 man work crew known as the Filipino Building Maintenance Company. Our motto was "Cleanliness is happiness." The problem was that I didn't really know how to clean.

"Man, where did you learn how to clean?" my father would ask me. "Look at all those piss stains you missed!" I'd stand before him with a dumb look on my face and a limp dust rag hanging from my ass pocket. I remember the sweeping, mopping, vacuuming carpets and cleaning toilets.

My father was a worker, like his father before him. He grew up in San Francisco's Fillmore district in a family of 10. My grandmother told me that when my father was a young boy, a Chinese man looked at his hands. He told my grandmother that he saw wealth in her little boy's hands. "That boy is going to be rich," the man said. He offered to buy my father from my grandmother to which she replied, "Get out of here you old Chinese fool."

Our family was one of the first Filipino families to migrate to and settle in San Francisco. Unlike today, my father and uncles did not have the opportunity to learn to speak Tagalog or Pilipino. Learning one's native tongue was not encouraged in those days. You were encouraged to speak English or "talk American." You can't really blame them back then they were on survival mode; they all wanted to be screen idols like Tony Curtis or Kirk Douglas (Never John Wayne).

My father grew up in the 50s and 60s, a time before the Filipino Channel or cable networks existed. What he had was the neighborhood and the smells of soul food, ”black eyed peas and ribs and cornbread” wafting from open windows mingling with the smell of tomato beef chow mein at SooChow's restaurant in Japantown and the smell of adobo and rice cooking in his mother's kitchen. The high and low notes of jazz accentuated the deep tones of African American voices laughing and hollering and singing and preaching and moaning and protesting and settling underneath the fullest of moons while waiting for the sun to rise and start all over again.

My father lived through the injustice of redevelopment in the Fillmore; being displaced while a neighborhood with history and memories tried to survive the siege of the downtown and political interests.

I think about my father often. I am a writer and native San Franciscan. So many people of my father's generation are dying by violence or ill health or a combination of factors.

I remember my father as a hard-working man. Martin Luther King once said that "If you are called to be a street sweeper, sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted." This statement applies to my father.

I watched him go from a janitor at the War Memorial Opera House to a small business owner, starting his own janitorial business. He'd complain about his job at the opera house and how he wanted something more. He met many famous people while sweeping floors and cleaning bathrooms in those halls of wealth and privilege, Frank Sinatra, Leontyne Price, Jimmy Carter among others. But he felt he needed something more, felt he was something more.

I worked with my father in his small business and to be honest, he was a bad boss. He was overly strict and overbearing but what I did not realize was that he was trying to make me like him, not a janitor, but someone who had pride in his work.

I would curse him under my breath. One time he heard me mutter the word, "asshole" and he responded by throwing 20 rolls of 2 ply, industrial grade toilet paper at me. (He had very good aim, hitting me with about 15 or so rolls). The point he was making to me was that you have to do things you don't want to do, that you have to get up and work and take care of business.

The man was a hard ass but I'm thankful for it. But despite his workman's pride, there was something missing. He never told me what it was but I felt it. Most of his friends were janitors and most of them settled into that because that was all they knew. They grew up in a time of limited opportunity. From Junior High through High School, they were passed over as the failures; those young men destined to do menial jobs with no possibilities of reaching beyond.

My father was a hustler, working 2, 3, 4 jobs to support us at the young age of 19. He worked and landed that job with the Opera House that he would keep for more than 10 years. One day he decided he was going to make a change. His wife was from Hawaii and he decided to move the family to Oahu. I did not want to go because it was my senior year in high school but my father was determined to make a new start.

We packed everything, including the janitorial equipment, and made the trek to Hawaii. It was tough, high prices and a tight job market. My father got a steady job but still pursued his aspirations of having his own business. He eventually secured enough accounts to work his own business full time. Things went well for a while but there was something lacking.

I talked to my father this morning; the sound of ocean waves coming over cell phone static. His business has been defunct for about 10 years due to economic downturns on the island. "I'm riding my bike to work," he says. He rides 4 miles each way to his maintenance job at a condo on Waikiki. We talk a little more and he tells me of his new love. "I've been carving. You know, I've always liked wood, ever since high school. Did I ever tell you that I took wood shop when I was in school?"

I listened as he told me of his woodcarvings. I never knew he took woodshop. He explained that he carves faces on wood. "I carve African faces," he says. "I think they're pretty good." I think of the years and the places and faces he's seen and the people that have come and gone in his life. I think of the days and hours he put into his work, the soul and spirit--now I can laugh at it all.

My father never stopped dreaming. His true purpose is in the forests of Hawaii. He knows the stories told in the faces of wood. The trees breathe through him and he is one with them; and the African faces he carves on them are beautiful. I'm sure those faces are the faces of his friends and family that have passed on to another place, another journey; Bobby Richard, Carol Player, David Scobie, Uncle Remy, Bill Sorro, Rudy Tenio, Richard Rekow; and those still with us; Uncle Anthony and Russell, Adrian, Charles, Rose and others. And I am his son.

I currently work for a non-profit organization in San Francisco. Ironically, I help low-income people obtain employment as janitors. But a job is a job, it's just a gig, you know? It isn't who you really are, my father is proof of that. And if you got a dream inside you, look at those trees. Dad says if you listen close enough, they'll tell you something.

by DQ University Student Body

Dear California Nations Indian Gaming Association:

We are writing as representatives from the only Tribal College in California to offer our powerful endorsement of your attempt to garner votes for Propositions 94-97. We know that your intention is to support tribal educational opportunities for native residents of California but as of yet you have ignored our requests for funding and support.

DQ-University, California's only Tribal University was founded in 1971 after the federal government gave 640 acres of land to a group of Native Americans and Chicanos whose goal was to start the nation's first indigenous controlled university outside of a reservation. When DQ-U opened its doors it represented the first time diverse groups of native people of the continent of North America successfully worked together on a project, despite language and cultural difference.

In 1978 DQU became Indian-controlled and set down its path of not only becoming a university for all indigenous and native people, but also an important gathering place for Indian cultural days, spiritual unity conferences, youth and elder gatherings, Powwows, ceremonies, festivals, concerts, and other events. In addition to graduating many Native American and Chicano students who have gone on to work in public, private, and tribal sectors. DQU has been a viable source of higher education for individuals who would otherwise have no access to the brighter future that indigenous education can provide..

In 2004, DQU lost accreditation through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). In the midst of a financial crisis and $270,000 in debt, the school was forced to close. DQU students arriving at the campus for the new term were unaware of the crisis. Armed with the determination of attaining their education and loyalty to DQU, the students formed an occupation of the campus and here they wait for the re-accreditation and opening of their university.

The gaming industry brings in approximately $7 billion a year in revenue. The students and allies of DQU challenge CNIGA and the gaming tribes of California to follow through on promises to use gaming revenue to fund educational programs and support DQU. CNIGA's website claims, "Indian tribes are using gaming revenue to build house, schools...to fund the health care and education for their people," however, CNIGA has consistently ignored DQU's pleas for financial support.

If education is indeed a priority for gaming tribes than surely higher education is part of that equation. DQU offers higher education at an accessible location and reasonable tuition for all native peoples. DQU's curriculum is centered around empowering indigenous people and educating a generation of youth to look at, analyze, and solve the problems facing native peoples today.

DQ-University asks that CNIGA agree to honor their commitment to education with a minimum budget of $3-5 million per semester to ensure that DQ has sufficient funding for the reconstruction of the existing dorms and buildings, general operating expenses, purchase of new computers, educational supplies and equipment for specialized programs and the employment of qualified educators and staff. In addition to financial support, we request one or more individuals from the staff or board of the gaming tribes assist DQU with rebuilding the infrastructure and restoration of the integrity of the school. DQU’s goal is to reopen as a 4-year accredited university and become eligible once again to receive federal financial aid. It is our intent to be known as the ‘Haskell of the West’.

Propositions 94, 95, 96, and 97 promise to add an additional 17,000 slot machines to California's casinos and generate approximately $1.5 billion a year more in revenue. DQU and its allies will not endorse these propositions unless CNIGA and the top four gaming tribes of California, agree to support DQU and the education of native people throughout California. If CNIGA does agree to support DQU then DQU and it's allies will officially endorse Props 94-97.

In addition to the requests above, DQ-University asks for your financial support as we strive to set a precedent to transform DQU into a ‘green’ campus. As the only Tribal college in the state of California, we can be the model for self-sustaining campuses by utilizing alternative energy through solar and wind power. We also request funding for our Indigenous Permaculture Program, including organic gardens where we will grow and reap the benefits of healthy foods as we learn techniques of sustainable living; techniques and practical skills that we will take back to our communities and tribes. It is also essential for us to revitalize Indigenous culture and tradition, and to study at a tribal college where our diversity is celebrated.

Please join United Native American's Inc, members of the Lucy Moore Foundation and POOR Magazine staff at a press conference and rally at the Capitol Steps in Sacramento on Friday, February1st at 1:00 p.m.

www.myspace.com/dquniversity.com

by Max Gutierrez/Special to PNN

Uncle Gil was bad. Uncle Gil was nothing. Uncle Gil’s teeth were falling out. He had no money and he had no sense.

That’s what everybody said. Watch him when he comes to your house—he might steal something.

I stood next to the window of our house on Eddy Street. I looked at the cars floating by. They reminded me of fish with big fins darting in all directions.

The church down the block with its crumbling cupola stood alongside a liquor store. 8 or 9 men stood laughing and drinking in front of it as the church stood in silence.

I saw one of the men walk away from the group. He wore a gray suit with creases in the pants that were razor sharp. A black tie hung from his neck over a shirt that was whiter than fresh milk. He walked with a certain rhythm or cadence—as if music that only he could hear were being piped into his ears. The man’s face came into clear view. I opened the window.

“Uncle Gil! Uncle Gil!” I cried out.

The air was warm and sticky. I ran through the living room and down the stairs. I opened the door. I looked in both directions.

Where was Uncle Gil? I walked out onto the sidewalk. The cars continued to pass and the trees waved gently in abrupt spurts.

Where was my uncle? Maybe he went to church. He was dressed for it. Yes, that was it—he was at church saying a prayer. When he’s through with his prayer, he’ll come to our house and stay. He’ll tell me his stories and make funny sounds with his lips and cheeks.

I sat on the stoop in front of our house. The neighborhood kids began passing by. They rode bikes and cruised by on roller skates.

“Go get your bike and ride with us” one of them called out.

“I’m waiting for my uncle Gil”, I replied.

The church bell rang and the men in front of the liquor store scattered away like flies. Maybe I should go back into the house, maybe uncle Gil is playing a joke; maybe I didn’t see him at all. Maybe it was a guy that looked like him. I sat and heard the faint sound of footsteps that became louder. It reminded me of the sound of a small horse. My father walked like a horse and worked like one. That’s what he always said.

“What are you doing? He asked, his 5” 3’ frame looming over me.

“I’m waiting for Uncle Gil”

My father spit on the ground. His trousers were stained with dirt and paint. He reached towards his shoulder and kneaded relief into it with nubbed fingers.

“Uncle Gil” my father laughed, “He’s not gonna show up. He’s only good for 2 things…drinking and not showing up”.
My father looked down at me and laughed

“Your uncle Gil never worked a day in his life”

I thought about what my father said. I never worked a day in my life either. I liked Uncle Gil. My father always talked about work and how his body ached all over. Uncle Gil never had aches and pains and wore nice clothes. My father walked to our front door.

“You’re gonna be waiting forever. That no-good uncle of yours is out blowing his money, kid”

Dad disappeared into the house. I sat thinking about his words. Maybe I was going to wait forever. I began to wonder how long forever was. The sky darkened a bit when I saw a figure a half block away. As the figure got closer, I recognized the slacks with the razor sharp creases.

“Uncle Gil!” I cried, springing to my feet.

Uncle Gil reached out and ran his hand over my full head of black hair, tossing it out of place.

“How ya doin’ kid?”

I looked at Uncle Gil’s tie. It was black. He smiled.

“Uncle Gil”, I said, “You have teeth!”

Uncle Gil smiled wide, wide enough to cover the sky.

“Yes…you have to smile to survive”, said Uncle Gil.

We sat down and watched the cars pass by.

“Survive what?” I asked.

“Never mind”, Uncle Gil replied.

We sat for a while saying nothing.

“How are you doing in school?” Uncle Gil asked, yawning.

“I’m doing ok.

Uncle Gil ran his hand over his pants, making sure the creases were still there.

“Just study hard, kid. Get your education. They can never take that away from you”.

“Who’s they, Uncle Gil?” I asked.

Uncle Gil looked at me. He reached into his jacket pocket.

“I got something for you”

Uncle Gil put his two fists out towards me.

“Pick one” he said.

I looked at both fists. I pointed to the left one. Uncle Gil opened his fist. In it sat a silver dollar.

“Wow” I said.

“Buy yourself an ice cream”

I looked at the silver dollar. It looked new. I didn’t want to spend it.

“What’s in your other hand, Uncle Gil?”

He opened his right fist. In it was a candy, a sucker wrapped in bright cellophane.

“Who’s that for?” I asked.

“For your father” Uncle Gil answered, sticking the sucker into my shirt pocket above my heart. We sat and he laughed with bright teeth that covered the sky.

© 2007

Max Gutierrez

by Gloria Esteva/Prensa Pobre

For English, scroll down.

La casa era hermosa. a pesar del aspecto de abandono que proyectaban una fachada vieja y desgastada.“Esta muy sucia pero voy a ayudar un poco” dijo la dueña de la casa. Ella era una anciana de aproximadamente 65 años que de repente empezó a toser, llevándose las manos a la boca. Trate de apoyarla.

Despues de algún tiempo, reaccionó su semblante se veia palido como la cera y con mucha frustracion: me dijo que primero limpiara todos los adornos de los muebles que estaban acomodados alrededor del cuarto de su sala. ¡Eran demasiados! Pero dije, “manos a la obra” porque no quería que se me fuera el tiempo en solo limpiar sus adornos. La casa estaba demasiado sucia y yo quería avanzar lo mas que pudiera.

Una vez que acabe de limpiar los adornos, ella mostró una lista de cosas que su hija quería que yo hiciera. ¡La lista era larga!

Lavar perfectamente los baños

Limpiar la cocina

Lavar los platos

Lavar la ropa

Pasar la aspiradora

Limpiar los cuartos

Limpiar los vidrios
y al final, limpiar los adornos de la casa, que era bastante grande.

Empecé por limpiar la sala. Estaba demasiado sucia, en casi todo el lugar habia mucho polvo y cosas amontonadas en el piso. Ella me dijo que limpiara todos los muebles con un aerosol para muebles y que tratara de frotarlas mucho para que se pusieron brillosos. Despues pidió que yo siguiera con la cocina por que estaba muy cochambrosa. Habia trastes sucios por todos lados. La estufa parecia como si cada intento de usarla terminaba en una quemazon. EL horno parecia el taller de un mecanico, Obviamente el lugar no se había limpiado en muchísimo tiempo. Segui limpiando hasta que termine con la mayoria de la lista.

Cuando miré la hora ya habían transcurridos 6 horas. La señora me dijo que estaba bien, que ya podría irme pero solamente me pagó por 4 horas. Le dije que eran 6 horas pero ella me dijo que “solo quedamos con cuatro y es lo que te pago.”

Salí muy agotada de la casa, con mucha hambre pero sin un centavo disponible para comprar comida aunque sea unas galletas. Lo que me pagaron era para completar la renta.

El sueño y cansancio invadían mi cuerpo pero trate de mantenerme despierta porque quería pasar por el hospital donde estaba hospitalizado mi nieto hace muchos días. Me tocó cuidarlo por las noches despues del trabajo.-Mis pies se negaban a desplazarse como si les hubiera atado un par de plomos. Mis intestinos rugían en mi estomago.

Me dirigí al cuartito de enfermeras para ver si había café o galletas. Me daba mucha pena pero era mas fuerte el hambre. Recuerdo mucho esta etapa de mi vida. Parecia que no podria soportar tanta hambre, explotación, cansancio y la tristeza por el dolor que mi nieto tenia que vivir por su condicion de nino con leucemia. Pero el hecho de que el sintiera que yo estaba alli, por lo menos acompanandolo, me fortalecia. El mejor premio era ver su carita y sus brazos tendidos hacia mi al verme llegar. Esta imagen siempre me acompanara y sera parte de mi fortaleza.

A nosotros los pobres se nos complica todo. Alguien en un entrenamiento de ventas dijo que mientras más pobres somos más complicaciones tendremos y que más nos vamos alejando de las oportunidades. Ésta persona tiene razón, solo que no dijo quienes nos arrebatan estas oportunidades. Que abismo tan grande existe entre los trabajadores y los acaparadores. Nosotros no tenemos más que nuestro trabajo. Un esfuerzo tan grande que produce las riquezas en el mundo, que es tan mal pagado.

Nosotras las mujeres que hacemos trabajo doméstico estamos aisladas y dispersas; esto hace que sea más difícil organizarnos. Porque cuando somos abusadas por el patron ya sea que paguen poco o nos den mal trato, nos encontramos solas frente a estos empleadores. Aunado a esto estamos en desventaja porque no sabemos nuestros derechos.

Ahora yo sé cuales son nuestros derechos en este país. Aunque los conozco estoy en desventaja. Se nos aplica el salario mínimo como si el trabajo requiriera el esfuerzo mínimo. Ademas hay otras desventajas: Por ejemplo si se vives en la casa del patron nuestro tiempo nunca es respetado. Para cualquier otro empleado el tiempo extra comienza alas 8 horas, para nosotras comienza a las 9 horas seguidas o 45 a la semana, esto da mas cabida a la explotacion.

Platicando con otras personas que encuentro en el autobús o en BART me comentaban que les pasa lo mismo. Una de ellas me recomendó que no trabajara más de las horas que me contrataban y que no hiciera el trabajo tan a prisa. Con tiempo me di cuenta que el trabajo doméstico no se debe cobrar por hora sino por lo sucio que este el lugar.

Una compañera me contó que ella fue contratada para cuidar un niño. A la semana le designaron la limpieza de la casa. Despues de un tiempo compraron un cachorro y también le toco cuidarlo, darle de comer y banarlo. Hasta querian que les sirviera de peluquera para el perro. Por si esto fuera poco, con el tiempo nació otro bebe, y también tuvo que cuidarlo sin que se le aumentara un centavo el sueldo.

Entreviste a Luz Maria, de México. Ella menciona que una patrona con la que vivio, la mantenia a su dispocision las 24 horas del dia. No importando si fuese de dia o de noche. Ella tenia que atender al bebe y hacer los quehaceres de la casa, por solo $30.00 al dia. Cada vez que Luz quería dejar el trabajo, su patrona la amenazaba con llamar a inmigración. Esto la retuvo por mucho tiempo en esa esclavitud.

Es difícil saber exactamente cuanto debemos cobrar. Hay lugares donde pagan $10 otros donde pagan $30 por hora. No hay un estándar fijo de precios. Uno acepta el trabajo por necesidad y no porque el precio sea justo por nuestro trabajo.

Afortunadamente por mi carácter comunicativo conocí a muchas personas y organizaciones que me han ayudado a saber mejor como funciona las leyes, los derechos y las reformas que tiene el trabajador en este país. Sobre todo, que esta vigente porque las leyes aquí cambian en cada periodo presidencial.

Durante mi estancia en este pais he percibido que el no nos toman en cuenta como trabajadores, no existe ningún derecho para nosotros. Nos encontramos indefensas antes los abusos de los empleadores. Algunos intuyen la situación migratoria de las trabajadoras y deciden abusar de esta situación, otros simplemente se roban su esfuerzos y las amenazan con reportarlas con la migración.

Yo creo que estos hechos no ocurren solo ahorita; vienen ocurriendo desde que los colonizadores blancos decidieron atacar a los indígenas que eran dueños de estas tierras. Despues le siguio el trafico de esclavos y posteriormente la explotación de tantas razas de inmigrantes. Todos ellos se han visto obligados a desempenar los trabajos pesados que los explotadores nunca han hecho. La immigracion y la explotacion a la que somos enfrentados es solo el resultado de las invaciones y el saqueo de nuestros paises.

Love for Our Family Makes Us Very Strong

The house was beautiful, in spite of the aspect of abandonment that projected from an old and worn away facade. "Is very dirty but I am going to help a little" said the owner of the house. She was an elderly woman around 65 years of age that suddenly began to cough, bringing her hands to mouth.

I tried to help her. After some time, she reacted, her appearance seemed pallid like the wax and with much frustration she said to me that first I needed to clean all the decorations of the furniture that placed around the living room. There were too many things to be done!

But I said, "Hands to work" because I didn’t want to spend too much time cleaning the decorations. The house was too dirty and I wanted get ahead as much as I could. Once I finished cleaning the decorations, she showed me a list of things that her daughter wanted me to do. The list was long!

Clean the bathrooms perfectly

Clean the kitchen

Wash the clothes

Vacuum

Clean bedrooms

Wash windows and finally, to clean the rest of the decorations of the house, which was quite large.

I began to clean the living room. It was too dirty. In almost every place there was a lot of dust and things piled on the floor. She told me to clean all the furniture with an aerosol and that try to rub them so much so that they shine.

Later she told me to clean the kitchen next because it was very filthy. There were dirty dishes all over the place. The stove looked as if each attempt to use it ended in a fiery blaze. The oven looked like a mechanics workshop. The place had obviously not been cleaned in a very long time.

I continued cleaning until I finished with most of the list. When I looked at the clock, 6 hours had already passed. The lady told me it was O.K., that I could leave but she only paid me for 4 hours. I told her that I worked for 6 hours but she said I that "we only agreed to four hours and that is what I am paying you."

I left the house completely exhausted and very hungry, but I couldn’t spend a cent to buy food, not even a cookie. The money I have just earned was to complete the money for the month’s rent.
.

Sleep and exhaustion invaded my body but I tried to keep awake because I wanted to pass by the hospital where my grandson had been hospitalized many days ago. I needed to care for him at night, after work. My feet refused to move, as if they had a hunk of lead tied to each. My intestines roared in my stomach.

I directed myself to the nurses’ station to see if there was any coffee or crackers. I was a bit embarrassed but my hunger was stronger. I remember very well this stage in my life. It seems as if I could not handle so much hunger, exploitation, fatigue and sadness from the pain that my grandson had to live with his condition as a child with leukemia. But the fact that he felt that I was at least there, accompanying him, gave me strength. The best prize was to see his little face and his arms reaching for me every time he saw me arrive. This image always stays with me and gives me strength.

For us, the poor, everything is complicated. Somebody in a sales training class said that the poorer we are, the more complications we will have and that we are that much farther away from getting opportunities. This person is right, only that she did not say who was snatching these opportunities from us.

What a great gap exists between the workers and the affluent ones. The only thing we possess is our ability to work. With great effort the riches of the world are produced; effort that is poorly recompensed. We women who do domestic work are isolated and dispersed; that is why it is so difficult for us to organize ourselves. Because when the bosses who already pay us very little, treat us badly and abuse us, we face these bosses alone. Additionally, we are at a disadvantage because we do not know our rights.

Now I know our rights in this country. Although I know them, I am at a disadvantage. The minimum wage is applied to us as if the work required the minimum of our effort. There are other disadvantages as well: For example, if we live in the bosses house is, our hours are never honored. For any other employee the over time begins after 8 hours, for us it begins after 9 hours per day or 45 hours per week, allowing our bosses to completely exploit us.

When I discuss this with other people I encounter on the bus or BART they tell me the same happens to them. One of them recommended to me that I not work more than the hours than they hired me to do and to not hurry through the work. With time I realized that the domestic work should not be charged by the hour but by how dirty the place is.

A friend told me that she was hired to take care of a boy. Within a week they assigned the cleaning of the house to her. After a while, they bought a puppy and also called upon her to take care of it, to feed and bathe it. They even wanted her to serve as the dog’s groomer! And in case this wasn’t enough, with time, another baby was born and she also had to take care of the baby, all without having a cent of her paycheck increased.

I interviewed Luz Maria, of Mexico. She told me that with a boss she lived with, she had to be available 24 hours a day. It didn’t matter if it was day or night. She had to take care of the baby and all the household chores, all only for$30.00 a day. Whenever Luz wanted to leave the job, her boss threatened to call immigration. This kept her for a long time in that slavery.

It is difficult to know exactly what we should charge. There are places that pay $10 per hour and others that where $30 per hour is paid. There is no a fixed standard of prices. One accepts the job because of necessity and not because the price is right for our work. Luckily, my communicative character has enabled to get to know many people and organizations that have helped me to understand better how the laws function and the rights that each worker in this country has. This is extremely important here because the laws change with every president.

During my stay in this country I have noticed that one does not take to us into account like workers, rights do not exist for us. We are defenseless before the abuses of the employers. Some intuit the migratory situation of the workers and decide to abuse this situation, others simply rob of them of their efforts and they threaten to report them to immigration.

I believe that these acts are not just happening now; they have been happening since the white colonizers decided to attack the natives who were sovereigns of these lands. Then followed the later trafficking of slaves and the subsequent exploitation of so many races of immigrants. All of them have been forced to perform the backbreaking work that the oppressors have never done. The immigration and exploitation that we are face today is the result of the invasions and the looting of our countries.

by Joseph Bolden

Not much to say than everyone have a great year and do your best to live,love, and be your own person.

by Ingrid De Leon/PNN

For Spanish scroll down.

I am a poor woman and mother of four children. God gave them to me healthy, but due to domestic violence my children and I were physically mistreated by my ex husband. I thought about separating from him, but it was too late because he had already twisted my daughter's foot, but what he did to my son hurts so much more. And, I'm angry for not having prevented it. I cry and ask, "why not me."

My son Walter he is barely eight years old and his heart is broken, sometimes it works well but other times it’s working too fast or too slow. It's painful to even think about the day when it stops working because, well, I would die without him. My children are my life. The medic that is attending him in San Marcos said that it would be best that my mother take him to the capital within a month, but I need $1,000.00 for the trip to the capital, the medic, and some exams and the medicine.

I do not have that money. I am only a seamstress and it is very difficult for me to live in the city. This is why I need your help. The life of my son depends on you. I don't know how I would live without him. Because of my poverty, I cannot leave here to support my family in Guatemala, and they depend on my mother to take care of them. A desperate mother needs and appreciates your help.

It is very difficult but by sharing my story, I hope to tell all women who suffer domestic abuse. Don’t stay quiet. Fight for your children. Look for help. Before they harm your children like my son was hurt. I hope that my words in some way are helpful. May God bless you and give you abundance. With my heart in hand I am a migrant reporter for POOR Magazine (Prensa Pobre) Thanks, many thanks.

Un Corazon Necessita Ayauda Para Vivir

Soy una mujer pobe y madre de cuatro ninos dios melos dio sanos pero por violensia domestica mis hijos y yo eramos maltratados con golpes por mi ex esposo. Pense separarme de el pero demasiado tarde porque a mi hija le torsio el pie pero a mi hijo lo que le iso me duele mucho y a la ves me da coraje de no aberlo evtado y lloro idigo por que no a mi.

Mi hijo Walter tiene apenas ocho anos y tiene roto su corason. A veces trabaja bien pero a veces demasiado rapido ho lento y no quiero ni pensar que un dilla deje de trabajar . Me moriria sin el pues mis hijos son mi vida. El medico que lo esta atendiendo en San Marcos dijo que es mejor que mi mama lo lleve a la capital dentro de un mes pero nesesito $1000.00 para el viaje a la capital, el medico y algunos examenes y la medicina.

Y yo no tengo ese dinero porque no gano bastante dinero porque soy simple custuera y es muy dificil para mi vivir en la ciudad. Es por eso que necessito su ayuada. La vida de mi hijo depende de usteds. Porque mi es muy dificil no podar estar con el. Por la pobreza no pudeo irme de aqui para mantener a los otros. Ellos depende de me y de mi mama poque ella los cuida.

Es muy dificil pero por medio de esta historia quiero decirles a todas las mujeres que sufren abuso domestico. No se queden calladas. Lunchan por sus hijos. Buscan ayuda. Antes de que les danen a sus hijos como danen a mi hijo. Espero de algo les sirvan mis palabras espero su alluda Dios los bendiga y les de en abundancia se los agradese una madre desesperada. Con el corazon en la mano soy una migrante reportera de prensa pobre gracias muchas gracias.

by PNN Staff

To register in advance using the form below:

by Amanda Smiles/For Indigenous Peoples Media Project at POOR Magazine

"Education is the key to sovereignty." Quanah Brightman's words echo in my ear as I pass by a white and blue campaign sign urging me to vote yes on Propositions 94-97, which would allow four of California's largest gaming tribes to add 17,000 new slot machines to their casinos and generate approximately $1.5 billion in new revenue a year. The sign promises that a yes vote would help to protect California's budget and economy, but I wonder who's promising to protect California's native people, especially when DQ University, California's only tribal college, has been closed for the past 3 years due to lack of funding.

DQ University (DQU) was founded in 1971 after a group of Native American's formed an occupation on the land, demanding the federal government hand over the land to be used as a place for higher learning. The government eventually conceded and in 1978 DQU opened the campus as the first and only indigenous-controlled institution of higher learning located outside a reservation. DQU's opening was a landmark event in Native American history, not only because it was indigenous controlled, but also because it opened as a university for all indigenous people, including Chicanos.

I sink back to my childhood, remembering my father, who is half-Lakota, and the words he would speak to me about Native Americans throughout the country. As a child, as I am sure it is for many adults in this country with no connection to indigenous people, the idea of Indian and reservation was an abstract concept. The only way I could grasp the poverty accompanying native people was when my father and I would go yard saleing. There he would urge me to find sweaters and stuffed animals, that we would then pack into boxes which were stored until late fall, when my father would ship them off to "the reservations."

It wasn't until I was 19 and I took a road trip via Greyhound to visit my dad that I witnessed my first reservation. While driving through New Mexico I became alert as we passed by devastated homes, not large enough for whole families, juxtaposed against glittering souvenir shops, selling "authentic" Native American handicrafts, not unlike the ones I remember from my childhood. Once I realized what I was seeing, I grasped that there was a whole other part of America, which is ignored and treated like the Third World. The rest of the trip was a wash of sadness and questioning for me, until I arrived at my father's house and told him what I saw, asked him what could be done, and he replied, "Education."

For more than 25 years, DQ-U operated as an education center accessible to Native people in California and beyond due to it’s affordable tuition and Native-oriented curriculum. Beside graduating many native people who have gone on to work in public, private, and tribal sectors, DQ-U has also served as an important gathering place and meeting ground for cultural and political events, spirituality conferences, ceremonies, concerts, and festivals.

In 2004 DQ-U lost its accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) because it was not a four-year university. This sent the school into financial turmoil, which, combined with the Boards mismanagement of the school, forced DQ-U to close its doors. Unaware of the school's closure, student returned to the school in January of 2004 to begin spring semester. When students became aware of the school's closure they, in the tradition of going full circle, formed an occupation of the school and have occupied the land ever since, demanding the school's reopening.

In the state of California, gaming is the primary financial livelihood for Native American tribes. The gaming industry brings in close to $7 billion a year in revenue for gaming tribes and these tribes are allowed to use the money according to their discretion. Although gaming tribes and the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA), the organization that represents and monitors them, claim that money goes into funding education for Native people, many poorer non-gaming tribes disagree. In the case of DQ-U, CNIGA has refused to support the school, leaving the college to fend for itself.

However, gaming tribes have been willing to support California's public universities, where the population of Native students is less than one percent. In 2004 gaming tribe San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, which operates a casino in San Bernardino, gave $4 million to UCLA to support tribal education. Similarly, in the fall of 2004 the tribe gave $3 million to San Bernardino State, which was one of the largest donations by any Native American tribe to a California State campus.

"The question we have as students and former students is why? For my people, the Lakota people, if someone is at your house you offer them a glass of water or something to eat. No one goes hungry in our tribe," says Quanah Brightman, vice president of the United Native Americans (U.N.A.) and former DQU student. "The only way for indigenous people to become sovereign in this nation is for gaming commissions abroad to start giving money to other communities. To become one nation."

Quanah's words remind me, again, of my father. Clippings of my childhood creep back to me, as I recall the period in my life when my dad began to take a leadership role in the Native community in Hawai'i. The house we lived in slowly became occupied by families from various tribes from different parts of the country, who came to stay with us, some for only a few days and others for months.

The adults cooked together and we had our meals as a home, all of us kids played together and people took turns watching us, often our parents would leave without us even noticing, but it always was shifting. When I asked me father about this he simply told me that they needed a place to stay and, "We always take care of our own people, Amanda."

by Angela Pena/PNN

For English scroll down...

-Escrito por Angela Pena para Prensa Pobre

Declaran las personas Gays y Lesbianas: "Exigimos se nos respete como seres humanos.

Soy mujer latina, madre, reportera de Prensa Pobre con una cultura diferente de la Americana, pero respeto a la comunidad gay e lesbiana porque siento que solo buscan cari�o y amor entre ellos. El amor hace a los seres humanos nobles e iguales a todos nosotros. Hay muchas personas de todas nacionalidades y por eso es tan importante que nos unamos a todo el mundo en una frase de hermandad e igualdad. Quiero invitar a la comunidad latina a respetar a Gays y Lesbianas para tener un mejor tipo de vida mundial.

�l d�a S�bado 23 de Julio 2007 a las 7 p.m. en el parque Dolores se concentr� miles de parejas lesbianas con un solo fin de apoyarse mutuamente y de sentir que no son personas extra�as.

Ellas comparten sus pensamientos. Marta es una muchacha que le gusta vestirse de cuero con sus pantalones, camisa combinados con sus botas del mismo color hasta su motocicleta es del color oscuro, luce muy brillante en este desfile nos dijo que se siente feliz de poder decir que ella es lesbiana

Julia es pareja de Marta y ella declara su protesta con su manera se vestir trae solamente un short muy peque�o y unas botas negras, su camisa es la naturaleza de la piel ella nos dice muy emocionada �No somos seres raros, somos personas como ustedes.�

Stacey: es una persona que viene a unirse al desfile con una vestimenta muy original que representa a una mu�eca vestida de rosado con una flor en el pelo, me ciento feliz estar aqu� en este desfile, por que me ciento como una princesa.

Algunas parejas se re�an, cantaban, bailaban. Se sent�an felices de poder expresar sus emociones y algunas mostraban sus virtudes f�sicas como una manera de decir �Aqu� estamos, no nos ignoren!

A las 7 en punto se inici� el desfile, el cual lo encabezaron las motos que son fant�sticas y impresionantes tanto por sus coloridos, originalidad y estilos. Luego se les un�a todos los participantes caminando hasta llegar a la Alcald�a de San Francisco donde realizaron una reuni�n de festejo.

Personalmente yo felicito a la comunidad gay e lesbiana por su organizaci�n y sincronizaci�n en sus desfiles.

El d�a 24 de Junio 2007, La calle Market estuvo llena de personas que quer�an ver el fant�stico desfile de los Gays. Aproximadamente a las 10:30 empezaron a salir las coloridas carrozas alegres, en celebraci�n de parejas homosexuales. Es impresionante la organizaci�n de este desfile y por como ellos nos demuestran que son personas valiosas a la sociedad, por que este es el desfile m�s grande que se da en San Francisco. Participaron muchas organizaciones que les dan todo su apoyo. Fue el treceavo centenario de su celebraci�n, todos el vestuario es muy colorido, que da un toque de alegr�a a los que est�n presentes. Pero sobre todo, la felicidad que genera esta actividad con la m�sica y bailes cuando se agrupan alrededor del Alcald�a da mas realce al evento. Es un d�a muy esperado por todos los residentes de la bahia. Felicidades en esta celebraci�n.

Love Makes All of Us Noble

Gays and Lesbians Declare
�WE DEMAND THAT YOU TREAT US AS HUMAN BEINGS!�

Written by Angela Pena of P.O.O.R. Magazine

I am a Latina woman, mother, and reportera for P.O.O. R. Magazine. My culture is very different than that of North Americans, but I respect the Gay and lesbian community and believe they should be accepted.

Love makes all of us noble and equal human beings among ourselves. There are many people of all nationalities and therefore is so important that we join with everyone in a phase of brotherhood and equality. I want to invite to the Latin American community to respect the Gay and Lesbian community.

On Saturday July 23 at 7 o'clock p.m. in the Dolores Park thousands of lesbian couples came together with a single goal in mind: to support each other mutually and to demand to be treated as normal human beings.

They shared their thoughts. Wearing leather pants and dark boots, Marta is one of the first speakers. She lit up brilliantly as she told us that she feels happy to be able to say that she is lesbian.

Julia is Marta's partner and she protestsed with her wardrobe; only very short shorts and some black boots, her shirt made of natural leather. She told us sincerely, "We are not strange beings, we are people like you."

Another woman, Stacey joined the parade with a very original outfit that represented a doll dressed of pink with a flower in her hair. "I feel [extremely] happy to be here in this parade, because it makes me feel like a princess."

Some couples laughed, they sang, they danced. They felt happy to be able to express their emotions and some used their wardorbes as a way to say "Here we are, Do not ignore us!

At 7 o'clock sharp the parade began, and was headed by the fantastic motorcycles with impressive colors, originality and styles. Then all the participants united and walked together until arriving at the city Hall of San Francisco where they carried out the festival.

Personally I congratulate the gay and lesbian community for their organization in the community.

On June 24th Market Street was full of people wanting to o see the colorful, expressive Gay and Lesbian parade. At about 10:30 the happy and colorful floats began to fill the streets in celebration of same sex couples. The organization of this parade was impressive and all the participants showed us that they are valuable people to society. Many organizations participated and gave their full support.

It was the thirteenth centennial of the celebration, marked with a colorful wardrobe and happiness was shared by all. The joy increased with the music and dancing of the crowd outside of City Hall, drawing even more attention to this unforgettable event. It is a day looked forward to by all Bay Area residents.

by Bruce Allison/PNN

St. Lukes hospital opened its doors in 1870 as San Francisco's second hospital. Its founder, Reverend, Dr. Thomas Brotherton said, "St. Lukes is to be a charitable hospital for the reception of all colors, nationalities, and creeds. Its benefits, refused to none, will be limited only by its means."

Now Brotherton's words echo in our minds as Sutter Corporation announces more closures within the hospital. St. Lukes was taken over by Sutter in 2000, supposedly to save it from bankruptcy. This was not their real intention. From the beginning, they cut staff to the bare minimum. Sutter fought the state over staffing positions, as they sought to decrease the number of nurses per bed to fifteen patients per nurse—below the state minimum. (Four patients per nurse is the state minimum.) Nurse staffing levels at St. Lukes were up to as many as thirty patients per nurse. Sutter did not want to go 15. They had their lobbyists in Sacramento working to raise this.

Now Sutter is planning to shut down their prenatal unit on February 15th. On February 13th, the Senior Action Network (SAN) is organizing a protest. SAN believes the closing of the prenatal unit is immoral and unprofessional. Why is Sutter targeting the ones who cannot fight back? Premature babies need constant attention, so where will these babies go now? SAN will hold a sit-in along with other organizations such as, Planning for Elders in the Central City, Grey Panthers and Health Care for All.

As a senior myself, I realize that the closing of the prenatal unit is the first indicator of future cuts in healthcare that the community cannot afford. It is the beginning of a series of events that will lead to the closing of the whole hospital and eventually for all of Sutter's hospitals in the city. Sutter is planning to close all San Francisco hospitals to open a central hospital on Van Ness between Geary and O'Farrell, which is presently a hotel.

Hospitals threatened with closures include: Presbyterian Hospital, Ralph K. Davies Hospital, Franklin Hospital and Children's Hospital. Sutter is planning to build a gigantic hospital. The Sutter Corporation pays its executives big money to save money, yet they consider themselves a non-profit. They call it 'future revenue.'

On the eve of Valentine's Day
Neo-Natal Intensive Care at St. Luke’s in closing!
This cut is part of a long term plan to close the hospital.

It's time to ask Sutter CPMC Where is the Love?
Community Candlelight Vigil
Wednesday, February 13th
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Outside St. Luke’s Hospital
Save St. Luke’s Hospital!

La noche antes de el dia de San Valentine
El tratamiento medico intensive para recien nacidos en St. Luke’s estara cerrando!
Esto es parte de el plan para cerrar el hospital.
Es tiempo de preguntar a Sutter CPMC
Donde esta el amor?
Vigilia Communitaria
Miércoles, 13 de Febrero
5:00 – 7:00 de la tarde
fuera de el hospital St. Luke’s
Salvemos a St. Luke’s!

For more information, www.senioractionnetwork.org

by Tony Robles/Special to PNN

I sit at my desk watching the rain fall against the window. Just a few minutes ago I saw a man wrapped in a suit made of garbage bags. The man even fashioned a stylish looking hat made of those bags. I look out at the scene below the office here at 1095 Market Street while the sirens blare in the distance. A lot of people are hurting; a lot of people are suffering right now. I wonder where some of them slept last night. I wonder if some of them slept at all. In all honesty, I sometimes wonder what good I am doing in this job as employment counselor. I sometimes ask myself, "What the hell am I doing here?" I sometimes feel like a guy whose sleepwalking in some kind of mist, haphazardly looking for something to grab onto.

As I sit I hear a voice.

"Hey Tony...what�s happening mane�?"

I look and see the smiling face of Roger Rodriguez-Ispuria, tenant at the Hamlin. Roger is one of those guys who are always smiling. He is a graduate of the Maintenance Work Crew Program. He comes in looking sharp as always�silk shirt the color of butterscotch candy with matching shoes and slacks.

"What�s happening Roger?" I ask.

Roger smiles, his eyes radiating through thick glasses.

"You know...the same old thing."

He sits down and asks me to update his resume. He has changed phone numbers about 4 or 5 times within the last 2 months and I gladly update his phone number.

"I need to find a job" he says, "I've been on a lot of interviews."

We sit and talk and I wonder what keeps him smiling.

When Roger joined the maintenance work crew, I had doubts that he would make it. He didn't seem focused and I thought he would quit. Weeks went by and his attendance was good. Rodolfo, the crew leader, was pleased with Roger�s work and after 10 weeks, Roger received his certificate of completion. I put together a graduation announcement for Roger, complete with Puerto Rican flag and conga drum�an homage to his Boricua heritage and passion for music.

Roger is a musician�he plays congas and timbales at local clubs. He comes in to the Employment and Training office looking for work on Craigslist. He has been on many interviews for maintenance, driver, and janitorial positions�but hasn�t been hired.

"Things are not coming through," he says.

I look at him. The one thing that does come through is his smile. It would be great if everybody could have a smile like Roger. I keep looking for it as Roger keeps looking for that job.

Tony Robles who will be a featured contender in POOR Magazine's upcoming Poetry Battle of (ALL) the Sexes on Valentines Day is a contributor to PoorNewsNetwork's on-line magazine and radio broadcast, as well as an employment counselor for Community Housing Partnership, a revolutionary poet and "talk-story-teller", tenant organizer, working class skolah, Pinoy-African-Irish river which runs deeper than the delta and nile combined, good son of James and Flo, dedicated father of Lakas, y papichulo de tiny

The Poetry Battle of (ALL) the Sexes will be a benefit for POOR Magazine held on Valentines Day at the Beat Museum in North Beach�On this day normally equated with cutesy hallmark cards, flowers and candy, challenge your partner (or future partner) to a battle of spoken word, hip hop, poetry and/or flowetry in the ring! For more information or to register please email deeandtiny@poormagazine.org or go to http://www.poormagazine.org/index.cfm?L1=news&story=1903&pg=1

by Queennandi/PNN

Imagine. Just imagine your family having a nice, quiet Sunday dinner at home, peace being the element that brings upon happiness. Now, imagine your home being invaded by "white masked" men who for no valid reason came to kill and terrorize everyone inside the home, and at your feet lies the lifeless bodies of your spouse and children-for what? Skin color? Humanity insecurities?

In amerikkka, being a "hueman" could definitely cost you your life, whether you're a man, woman or child. This brand of hate is powerful, and it does not discriminate-Take a good look at its power. Hatred is a force so strong that a person who hates can, and did teach the person that is "under the wrath" to hate himself.

Instead of the KKK kickin' down doors, spreading the blanket of fear and helplessness amongst blacks, these "white masked" men have been wildfiredly replaced by "black masked" men. Someone who looks like me, but like the Klan, treacherously "lives for our doom." The "black masked" man was taught to turn against his God-given black skin, and his fellow slave. It's a very sad thought to know that we are becoming successful at black genocide than the original man wit the whip to the point where I find myself pondering: Is the whipholder black or white?

I don't have to question this fact- in every plantation (hood) in the united snakkkes; Blacks are the victims of other Blacks' violence at an unbelievably tragic rate. As far as our young'inz, they are as a widespread majority embracing the "blacks in mind" poisoning of the "Go stupid, go dumb" era. Is this a coincidence, or was this brilliantly implemented by "massas' and bootlickas?" Do the math on every level, people!!

The children living on these plantations can't even play in their yards or in front of their homes because of the "black klansmen" that's out shooting us, or mugging our mothers. Our families are forced into downtrodden confinement- eating, sleeping and playing on the floor, in fear that one of our colored oppressors' bullets might find its way to one of our hearts.

Black on black crime, Black on black grief is indeed "stupid and dumb." Wanna go that way...Ugh!! Why not contribute greatness for your nation? Why all this "niggahtivity?" Oh, I see, I see- your opposition tells you that you are ignorant, a criminal, a curse- A NIGGAH! You believed that wholeheartedly!

The same individual who be on tha block, hollin' that "Imma gangsta- imma thug- Imma killah" crap will allow for his enemy to come along and tell him, the so-called "gangsta" that he's less than human and won't amount to nothing, and Mr. hardcore gangsta would fall flat faced for the hype- such foolishness! A "gangsta" let's his foe teach him how to think, fetch, kill, act and anticipate his OWN demise so easily?!?! And when you succeed at your "black genocide agenda," what do you think massas’ gone do wit you?? He's gonna shake you hand (if he feels you're worth THAT much) and tell you: "Thank you for assisting me with the shedding of your folks' blood. However, I saw that you didn't ride with your own people, so what makes you think that I trust you to ride with me? I told you to use, abuse and misuse your woman. You did. I told you to leave your children for dead, you did. Even commanded you to kill off your "homies", some of em' you grew up with...And you did. I told you to hate yourself, that you did more than I thought you would... Now I'm telling you to cut your own throat, self-hating fool! Because we all know that a good fool is what?...A DEAD one!

Now that's a crime for which we are ALL grieving

We ALL gots to stop doing this to one another.

by Marlon Crump/PNN

"Idriss was a beautiful baby boy. At age 4, he was mad at me, and said Mom, you better watch out, because next time around, I will be your mother."

I listened intently as mesha Monge -Irizarry lovingly remembered her son Idriss, whose life was brutally stolen by the San Francisco Police Department.

"When he was 20, I bought our home in the Bayview Hunter's Point," she continued. "Kids from Double Rock came to challenge him, curious about what a 220 pound Black man with a huge Mastiff/pit-bull dog named Nanok was up to, asking where he was from...Idriss responded, "Hang on for a second," ran inside and came back out, with a folding table, two chairs, and a chess game. Soon enough the kids would come regularly and knock on our door, asking Where is E? I want to learn how to play chess!"

Listening to mesha recall fond memories about her son, I couldn’t help thinking about my own past and the many struggles I've endured throughout my entire life even before my own arrival here to the Bay Area, in San Francisco from my native hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.

Luckily I met mesha, one of the most incredible, compassionate and monumental women in the world two years ago. It was during one of the most difficult periods I've ever been through in my life. I had just experienced a brutal encounter with the San Francisco Police Department and had begun to seek counseling and treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as well as, police accountability for their unjust treatment.

During my search, a friend told me about the Idriss Stelley Foundation (ISF). I immediately called. I'll never forget the first thing mesha, the founder and director of the organization, said to me, "I am so very sorry that happened to you, Marlon, we will do everything to help you. That's a promise!"

Since then mesha has become one of my dearest, closest friends and the ISF continues to help and support me in my mental health struggles.

The Idriss Stelley Foundation is the one of the very few non-profit grass roots organizations based in San Francisco that courageously addresses the deep, painful issues surrounding police brutality.

The Foundation has changed many lives and effectively raised public awareness about police brutality, racial profiling, police violence against seniors, people with physical and mental health disabilities, and especially unjustified use-of deadly force.

My interview of I.S.F, mesha, and Idriss Scott Stelley, himself (in spirit) was going to be a very special interview.

I decided to do this important interview because the mainstream media has only written Idriss up as just another young Black statistic killed by a hail of police gunfire. I, along with the entire staff of POOR, strongly oppose this misconception and feel that the truth must be told. Most who never really knew him only remember how he died, but I felt that it was time for the correction.

My family of POOR Magazine, predominately Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia, Leroy Moore, and Jewnbug (who was very close to Idriss) knew mesha better than anyone in our family, including myself. Idriss's heart was totally devoted to his family and friends, even up to the very day his life was stolen from him, by numerous San Francisco Police Department Officers, from the Bayview and Mission precincts, and the TL Police Task Force.

(I will explain this terrifying account, later, in the true summary version, from Parts II-III of this story) Ultimately, everyone that picks up a newspaper, turns on his or her television or radio or logs in to the internet news needs to know how just precious Idriss Stelley really was.

It was an extremely painful for me and for POOR Magazine, (a grassroots organization that fights 24-7 against the evils of poverty injustices, and re-framing KKKorporate Media News) to interview mesha about her non-profit grassroots foundation, its history, and its organizational construction on the very blood of Idriss Scott Stelley.

I arrived at mesha's home in the Bayview Hunter's Point community, on December 3rd, 2007. After a warm welcome of hugs and kisses, from meshá and Idriss' pet dog, Nanok, I began her interview, on I.S.F's mission statement, history, and the successful impact it has on everyone in BVHP, and possibly the universe.

Instead of a story, The Idriss Stelley Foundation deserves a mini-series, as there is just far too much of this organization's history that has been, overlooked, misunderstood and ignored by KKKorporate Media, and media in general.

While Alex Haley, author of (space)Roots which was introduced as a television series, that exposed the whole callous origins and aftermaths of the inhumane slave trade, in 1977; POOR re-introduces The Idriss Stelley Foundation Story, thirty years later, exposing failed proper procedural protocols, and training in law enforcement's response with unjustified use of deadly force, towards people with psychiatric breakdowns.

This is totally ironic, the concurrence of Idriss' birth and the television worldly launching of Roots... From a metaphorical perspective, between the two, there are so many root causes of hidden, neglected, and ignored evils that exist within this universe that many care to acknowledge.

meshá Mongé-Irizarry was born December 5th, 1947, in the Pyrenees Mountains, the Basque Nation. The Basque Country Basque Euskal Herria is a cultural region in the western Pyrenees Mountains at the border between France and Spain, extending down to the coast of the Bay of Biscay (Cantabrian Sea).

Her mother, Suzanne Mongé, was the head of a health organization, while her father René Mongé, was the editor of Social In formations Magazine, in Paris, France. Mr. Mongé was also a playwright.

meshá was the Director of Hayward Emergency Domestic Violence & Homeless Shelters when her child was killed. In 1968, meshá was the treasurer of National Union of French Students (U.N.E.F), during the socialist revolution uniting the Labor and Student movements, crushed by General De Gaulle in two weeks.

In 1975, following her arrival in San Francisco, California, she was the program director of various community organizations, Women Inc, La Casa De Las Madres for Battered Women , Shanti, A.I.D.S Services for people with H.I.V, and Lodestar, post-incarceration H.I.V services for women, diagnosed with the deadly virus.

mesha's resume proved to be even more extensive, as she holds various degrees and licenses in Public Law and psychology . She's even trained law enforcement officials and sheriff deputies, in the areas of mental-health, for twenty years. From the tender age of 14 to this day, she has been involved with progressive social issues.

"I taught Idriss that it is NEVER too early to commit to social justice." said mesha with a vibrant sunny smile, as she began to summarize the Birth of Idriss Scott Stelley.

To Be Continued in The Idriss Stelley Foundation Story Part II.

by Brother Y?/PNN

I have long held the belief and verbalized on many occasions that the war on drugs, the war on terror and the war on the poor[not to be confused with the war on poverty] are all one and the same. I believe that the United States has a very hypocritical drug culture, and the recent threat of closing down the city's medical cannabis clubs is a perfect example of this country's blatant hypocrisy.

Another example is the treatment of Barry Bonds for his alleged steroid use. On Friday, December 7, 2007 Barry Bonds was arraigned in the San Francisco federal courthouse, on charges that he lied to federal prosecute about using steroids. I arrived to take photos and possibly interview him at 10:30. I was in a hurry to make an appointment and didn't have much time.

When I attempted to take a photo of the courtroom composite sketch a young man who I believe was somehow connected to the case, the artist rudely and abruptly placed a folded newspaper in front of my camera lens and asked me who I was. When I presented him with my POOR Magazine business card he then told me it would cost me $250.00 the same feeling of embarrassment came over me that a poor kid gets when a snooty security Guard snatches something out of his hand in one of those upscale mall stores. Not that I don't think artist should be compensated, but let's face it I'm on welfare. If I had $250.00 on me to spare I would probably spend it on groceries, not a sketch of a wealthy black man being racistly attacked by the system.

There is no forensic evidence connecting Barry to alleged steroid use but after all he is not the great white hope that many were vying would break the home run record of Hank Aaron. Steroid use is very prominent in baseball more so than any other major sport. If all of the pitchers who ever pitched to Barry aren't being probed than neither should he. I firmly believe in " my body my rules."

In college sports and in the minor leagues athletes make little or no money and so there is no incentive to use performance enhancers. If authorities truly wanted to stop steroid use in sports they would end multi- million dollar contracts. Of course this will never happen because the wealthy team owners who make far more than any of the athletes who fill the stadiums would lose income. The second best way to deal with this problem, I feel would be to make steroids illegal in college and minor league sports, adopt a don't ask don't tell policy for major league sports. For those who wish to remain drug free they could stay in the minor leagues and get higher pay for better performance, or just prove themselves in the majors. Of course, this will never happen either because although so called "American freedom" is based on individual freedom the truth is politicians embrace families and families embrace the politicians who tell them the things they want to hear.

Many parents have used drugs but they don't want their children to, so they pressure politicians to make harsher drug laws. Barry Bonds hold your head high black man, and keep you eyes on the prize, After all no one said it would be easy to be a black man in Amerikkka even if you are the home run king, and especially if you're wealthy.

On the very same day of Barry Bond’s hearing, Axis of Love hosted a press conference at noon, mere yards away from the same spot where I was rudely interrupted from taking a photo. The focus of the press conference was the Drug Enforcement Agency’s latest scare tactic to shut down medical cannabis dispensaries. That tactic is sending the landlords of these various facilities property forfeiture letters. It took the DEA 11 years to come up with this plan.

Shona Gochenar, Activities Director of Axis of Love [and as far as I’m concerned the forefront of the medical cannabis movement in San Francisco], coordinated the press conference. "Patient advocates are in a state of medical emergency to try to fend off attacks by the DEA in addition to preparing to care for the critically ill who will die if safe access is shut down. Our cry has never been louder to the judiciary committee of Congress to open congressional hearing and to protect the regulatory system that is already in place," she said to the crowd.

Supervisors Chris Daly and Ross Mirkarimi, as well as police commissioner David Campos, were in attendance of this event and spoke addressing this urgent matter. Also in attendance and speaking on their behalf were representatives from the offices of California State Senator Carole Migden, California State Assemblyman Mark Leno, and San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano.

While I listened to the speakers at the press conference, I began to think about the basis for the government’s attempt to close down medical cannabis facilities, RICO laws. RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) laws are nothing new. They were started in the 1970s as a way "to eliminate organized crime by concentrating on illegal monies made from crime through the use of new criminal and civil forfeitures, rather than by the old means of attempting to dismantle the mob by imprisoning gang bosses." (For a more detailed explanation of RICO laws go to http://www.fsu.edu/~crimdo/rico.html)

It is quite interesting that the acronym RICO was chosen in the '70s because at that time the federal government blamed all organized crime on the so called Italian Mafia. Rico is the Italian word for rich and it is claimed that individuals within this crime syndicate were getting wealthy by breaking the law. Later the blame was shifted to so called Central and South American "drug lords," who the government claimed were responsible for all of the illegal drug trade in the U.S.; coincidently rico is also the Spanish word for rich.

Many of the people who will be impacted by this latest technique by the DEA are people of color who speak Spanish, some as a first language, some as an only language, and most are far from wealthy. If the DEA follows through with this action completely, they should also follow through by confiscating military vehicles (Many illegal drugs are smuggled into the country by way of military vessels. and police stations that house police evidence rooms where illegal drugs routinely "go missing."

I have often encouraged patients to try to be as self sufficient as possible and continue to do so especially at this most critical time in our history. This can and does include such measures as learning to make cannabis edibles, concentrates [hash, kief, goo, and tinctures.] and growing your own, provided that you stay within state and local limits and it does not jeopardize housing or other necessities. Proposition 215 only protects us from criminal prosecution at the state and local levels.

For further information on becoming more self-sufficient consult your local phone book for urban gardening centers as well as progressive and liberal bookstores. The following are copies of letters that I have sent to local, state and federal lawmakers and government officials. I encourage you to do not only the same, but to also expand on this modest list of individuals.
..............................................

Dear Mayor Gavin Newsom,

As I'm sure you are aware, the DEA has recently begun issuing forfeiture letters to landlords who rent facilities to medical cannabis dispensaries. This is an issue that will not only impact poor people of color but also many physically, and mentally disabled individuals, as well as, many terminally ill people. I have long held the belief that the war on drugs, the war on terror and the war on the poor [not to be confused with the war on poverty] are all one and the same but not at all for the reasons stated by the federal government In part of your inauguration you stated “ We all know that a job is the greatest weapon against poverty”

Actually wealth is the greatest weapon against poverty, but rather than split hairs with you, I would like to point out that you have also gone on record as stating that the war on drugs is a losing battle, or words to that effect. This latest technique by the DEA to battle in the war on drugs against medical cannabis dispensaries is worse than shooting fish in a barrel, and it is worse than fishing with dynamite, in fact it is like throwing dynamite into a barrel with fish in it. Not only does it destroy the barrel, but it also renders the fish useless. Axis of Love S.F. as well as several other medical cannabis advocacy organizations have urged you to make a statement regarding this matter, and now I do. Not only is America in dire need of leadership that walks it like they talk it, but so is local and state government. You are a good, charismatic speaker but actions speak louder than words, and sometimes speaking is an appropriate action. This is one of those times.

Sincerely

Brother Y?

POOR Magazine Staff Writer

Dear Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

As I’m sure you are aware recently the DEA has sent forfeiture letters to the landlords of facilities that are rented to medical Cannabis dispensaries located in the City of San Francisco. Not only will much needed revenue for the City and County of San Francisco and the state of California be lost, but also so will the lives of many terminally ill people. Although anabolic steroids were not illegal during your bodybuilding career, you were able to use them in safety, regardless to how many or how few you used. Marijuana was illegal on the local state and federal level yet you were able to use it in safety. How do I know these things? I was and am one of your greatest bodybuilding fans. As Abraham Lincoln the great emancipator once said “ You can fool some of the people some of the time, you can fool most of the people most of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” Now is the time to stand for the people no foolin.’

Sincerely,

Brother Y?

POOR Magazine Columnist

Dear Esteemed Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin,

Of course as of now you know of the DEA’s latest tactic of sending forfeiture letters to the landlords of properties rented to medical cannabis dispensaries. The closure of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries will have extremely detrimental effects on seriously ill cannabis patients. I urge you to correspond with the author and sender of these letters to convey that although the DEA and local government do not see eye to eye on this issue, the local government is still a government that must be structured, and have credibility. To this end it would stand to reason one way of demonstrating credibility would be to verify each of these letters individually as well as dismantling the permitting process by issuing rebates, as well as destroying documents that could potentially cause double jeopardy for dispensary owners who thought they were working within the perimeters of the law.

Sincerely,

Brother Y!

POOR Magazine Staff Writer and Medical Cannabis Advocate

by Sam Drew/PNN

“We are grinding young men of color up like glass. Every institution in our community is failing young men of color,” said Ron Dellums Mayor of Oakland regarding the sinking position of young men of color in the United States. He was speaking at the “Men and Boys of Color in Crisis” panel and discussion at the Youth Uprising Center in East Oakland. I attended the event to report and support for POOR Magazine.

Listening to him speak, I couldn’t help remembering my bus ride in Oakland earlier that day. While on the packed bus, I noticed a young African-descendent male sitting a few seats in front of me. He was staring impassively at no one in particular during our bumpy ride on the unpaved streets of Oakland. As the bus began to fill up, older passengers began approached the youth decked out in a dark hoodie, brightly colored jeans and a blank stare, but no one would sit next to him.

Time and time again someone would approach him, give him the once over and then decide to sit or stand somewhere else. He reacted to this rejection by distancing himself and not making eye contact with anyone. His body language exuded an “I don’t give a damn attitude.” This mutual coldness continued for most of the overly long ride. It was odd to see one open seat in a loaded bus with plenty of standing passengers.

Finally, one new rider bucked the trend and forced her way to the seat. After a few minutes of emotional distance, the young man suddenly bolted from his seat for no apparent reason. But the reason soon became clear when an old man with a cane took the seat the young man had graciously given up.

The vision of this young man on the bus remained in my thoughts, as I listened to the powerful speakers at the day’s panel.

“I believe the problem of the city is the unfinished business of this country. It’s one thing to integrate a lunch counter. It’s another thing to have money to buy lunch,” quipped Dellums about the lack of economic opportunities facing many young men of color.

According to a report of the Children’s Defense Fund. Black and Hispanic workers holding the same educational credentials as white workers experience higher unemployment rates.

Harvard Law School Professor of Law, Charles Ogletree moderated between panelists and concerned citizens seeking ways to correct decades of neglect and criminalization.

Chris Robinson, a film and video director said, “It’s not an us or them conversation… it is interdependence. You sink or swim with us. We pay much less to educate a child than to incarcerate a child.”

According to the Children’s Defense Fund, a black boy born in 2001 has a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison in his lifetime: a Latino boy a 1 in 6 chance; and a white boy a 1 of 17 chance. Black juveniles are about four times as likely as their White peers to be incarcerated. Black youths are almost five times and Latino youths are more than twice as likely to be incarcerated as White youths for drug offenses. Today, 580,000 Black males are serving sentences in state or federal prison, while fewer than 40,000 Black males earn a bachelor’s degree each year.

Two of the most searing comments came from exceptional young men of color that many in the audience could identify with. Both men spoke about the importance of family.

Alfred Johnson, a father, Oaklander, and YouthUpRising member proudly said, “Being a parent is the cornerstone of our community. Being a parent isn’t taught in school.” While Tito Rodriquez told the audience that “Children are a blessing from God…the best way to teach them is not to point them in the direction, but walk beside them.”

Both of these positive and powerful role models have faced the typical roadblocks most boys and men of color deal with everyday. Tito was profiled by the police on his way to the meeting and Alfred is struggling raising his 3-year-old with his landscaping job with the City of Oakland.

Dr. Henrie Treadwell, Director of Community Voices and the associate director of development at the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine, summed up the problem this way, “The Criminal Justice System is a reflection of what is wrong with our system. Policies are taking men out of the household and [putting them] into the prisons…It’s time for amnesty.”

Joe Brooks, Vice President for Civic engagement at Oakland-based Policylink, wrote these positive ways for beginning the healing process, “We must find more effective ways to connect these boys into the social networks that help them succeed…We need our boys to grow into full, well-rounded, able men. But to do that, they need more than a one-time math tutor or a free asthma inhaler. They need a society geared toward helping them overcome the hurdles that were thrown at their feet even before they were born…By joining together under a single banner, Bay Area advocates can ensure these boys return to lift up their communities and start a new cycle of hope.”

by Sam Drew/ReVieWsFoRtheREvoLuTion

Racism and violence are as American as apple pie. This was painfully evident as I viewed the moving and often disturbing film "Banished" at the San Francisco Public Library.

"Banished" documents how three different small Southern towns Foryseth County, Georgia, Pierce City, Missouri and Harrison, Arkansas ethnically cleansed their towns of African-American citizens in the early 1900s. By using violence in combination with the political and legal systems, these all American little towns lynched, killed and physically removed scores of African- American families from their land.

Filmmaker Marco Williams, who himself recalled being chased out of a Boston neighborhood by a mob of angry whites, deftly weaves archival photos in combination with interviews of the decedents of the banished citizens to keep the films narrative compelling and intriguing.

I was often jarred by the juxtaposition between current day Foryseth County, Georgia filled with small town peacefulness and American prosperity compared to the early photos of townspeople filled with violence, hatred and denial of human rights. But this is part of the hidden history that our textbooks have conveniently left out. History that has been banished from our collective minds.

All three of these towns were called sundown towns as in, "N*****, don't let the sun set on you in____" These towns are exclusively white to this date. Some of the films unintentionally funny moments appear when some of the townsfolk are confronted with the truth of their towns' racist past. "Yes, we heard about when the dark Negroes were run out of town!" reminisced one elderly lady with a sincere smile painted on her face like yesterday's makeup.

Another charming moment happens when a corrupt lawyer is confronted about his shameful part in the cheating of African Americans out of their deeds. His face exhibits concern as he disagrees about the harshness of the term ethnic cleansing. The crooked barrister thinks a more politically correct term should be used for the violent purge.

Some of the towns politicians and chamber of commerce types are trying to play slick public relations games and point to new attitudes among their citizens to limit the harm to business interest in the town. But in 1987 hundreds of Forsyth County residents hurled bottles and racial slurs at 75 NAACP marchers challenging the county's sundown status.
Sundown towns are by no means restricted to African-Americans. According to James W. Loewen in his book Lies Across America, "Sometimes Chinese Americans, Mexican Americans, Jews or American Indians have been the victims of sundown policies. Humboldt County, California expelled all its Chinese residents in 1885… Another type of sundown town is more recent. After World War II, new all-white suburbs sprang up around big cities, such as Dearborn, Michigan and Darien, Connecticut two towns notorious for their racial policies."

After the film's screening there was a panel discussion that brought ethnic cleansing up, to date by identifying today's methods to make cities color free. The methods of gentrification ,rents that are unaffordable for poor and working people, criminalization of poverty and youth, redlining, subprime loan thefts and toxic business practices by corporations like Lennar accomplish the same things that lynching and the burning of homes did. One difference is that the modern method you don't have to get your hands dirty.

Banished Will Air on PBS at 10 P.M. on February 19,2008

by Staff Writer

What: A Poor People’s Caravan and People’s Movement Assembly

When: January 26th 2008 The World Social Forum’s Global Day of Action

Where: The Caravan will take place in Downtown Atlanta, passing by
significant sites of struggle. Then we will rally at the Capitol and travel
together to the Hunger Coalition to participate in the first ever Poor
People’s Movement Assembly.

Who: Grassroots folks from all over the State, educators, organizers,
community -based organizations, community members, families, folks building
Another World!

Why!! In the spirit of the Poor People’s March on Washington 40 years ago,
we are taking to the streets with a powerful caravan. In the spirit of
bringing together movements from all over the country this summer at the
first US Social Forum, we are bringing GEORGIA together for a Poor People’s
Assembly to demand action & create a more unified vision. In the spirit of
bridging local struggles to global movements, we are answering the World
Social Forum_s call for Global Days of Action. Atlanta is one of the first
US cities standing with people from all over the world on this day of
action, January 26. Join us.

How to participate:

* Distribute information to your community and fill out the People’s
Assembly Ballot!

* Attend and/or host a Town Hall meeting. Leading up to the 26th!

* Share your Vehicles with the Caravan

* Endorse the e Poor People’s Caravan and Movement Assembly

* Bring a Delegation to the Caravan

* Participate in the Poor People’s Movement Assembly

Our voices will truly be heard around the world!!!
Let us know you are coming!

In order to make the 26th a success we need your support. Your endorsement
also guarantees that you get your name on the Poor People’s Movement
Assembly banner and that we continue to build and fund our movements from
the grassroots level!

Below are the various levels your organization can support and endorse the
Caravan and Assembly:

Sponsor a Car holds 5-7 people Costs $25-$50

Sponsor a Van holds up to 16 people Costs $50-$75

Sponsor a Flat-Bed Truck holds up to 40 people Costs $75-$150

Sponsor a Bus holds between 50-75 people Costs $150 and up!

Initial questions? Commitments? Thoughts? Contact Fredando Jackson at
fredando@intellectualcurrency.com (229) 938.9218 or Kate Shapiro
mzshaps@gmai l.com (404.446.6874)_..MORE INFO TO FOLLOW SOON!

What is a People’s Movement Assembly?

The Poor People_s Movement Assembly is an opportunity for folks from all
struggles and backgrounds to come together, educate and share with one
another and then collectively determine what issues are most directly
affecting our communities_This gives us an opportunity to commit together to
organizing and actions in the upcoming year so we can better address our
concerns and needs.

Why a caravan?

We will be hosting a Poor People_s Caravan in downtown Atlanta for a number
of reasons: one, it is new, exciting and creative and is sure to get
people_s attention. This also means we will be able to extend our reach in
highlighting local and global struggles and in many ways a caravan is more
inclusive, with young people, elders and folks of varying abilities able to
participate fully.

How will it work?

On January 26th, we will be in the streets, engaging in various actions and
rally_s downtown, making music, holding teach-in_s, sharing stories and
holding a People_s Assembly where we can make our voices heard, develop
points of unity and collectively determine organizing strategies for the
upcoming year. We will gather at 10am at the IBEW building in Downtown. The
Caravan will begin at 11am and end up at the State Capitol at 1pm for a
final action and rally. The People_s Movement Assembly will begin at 2pm at
the Hunger Coalition, and will go until 5pm.

What is the route?

The Caravan route will go through Downtown Atlanta and In town neighborhoods.
As of now, organizations will co-ordinate site specific actions related to
the Healthcare Crisis, Homelessness and Affordable Housing and Reproductive
Justice. The caravan will also pass by significant sites highlighting
educational inequalities, lack of public transportation on, Disability Rights
struggles, immigration and the prison-industrial complex.

What do we bring?

Bring yourselves and your people! Represent your Struggle and
Yourselves. Decorate your vehicles, bring signs and banner_s etc.
Coordinate shirt colors etc. so your delegation stands out and we all get
noticed!

What’s the Global Day of Action?

This is a call from the organizers of the World Social Forums. As the host
city to the historic, first ever U.S. Social Forum this summer, Atlanta has
taken the lead to nationally to organize in this spirit. In 2008 this Global
Day of Action will occur in place of the annual World Social Forum...It is a
strategy to unite grassroots communities in struggle, to link actions with
demands and to demonstrate our power as part of a global movement demanding
change, justice and self-determination.