by Leroy Moore/PNN

Leroy Moore: Keith you are many things Hip-Hop artist, advocate, father and now you are going into politics. Tell us your recent goals and projects.

Keith Jones: Well, my goals are quite simple at this stage of my life. The goals are to continue to strive to be a good father and to continue to work on issues that are important to me. As far as projects, I have begun to really focus on putting together a solid team and running an effective and successful campaign for the U.S. Senate.

LM: How many CDs have you put out and what is your latest?

KJ: Well, in my illustrious career (tongue firmly in cheek), I have recorded two cds and the latest one, which will be my last, is called "Vocal Tai Chi." Two of the tracks off of the cd have been featured on Krip-Hop Volumes 1 and 2.

LM: Where does the name Fezo and your other names you use come from?

KJ: The name has been around for almost as long as I have been into hip-hop. It is actually an acronym from "back in the day" and I came up with it after visiting my grandparents in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. After listening to Mr. Magic's Rap Attack and Cool DJ Red Alert, I decided I wanted to be an emcee. I felt I needed a name that was different from everybody else that also represented how "dope" I was. Hence FEZO, (F*ckin’ EZ to Obliterate suckers). I've had that name for almost three decades –that’s a long time.

LM: What is your response to the hip-hop industry when it comes to artists with disabilities?

KJ: I don't have one. The industry much like society in general has a schism towards people with disabilities. The reason I am and have remained unsigned is because they "didn’t know how to market me." This is indicative of a larger issue – there is uneasiness around disability and what talents and contributions the individual has to offer. So in that sense, I don't think the industry will "take a chance" on a hip-hop artist who is a person with a disability until and unless their attitudes change.

LM: We met face to face at the DNC in 2004 and now you are exploring a political run for the Senate why? And as a Black disabled man what do you bring to the political arena?

KJ: Why run? Because as a person concerned about the state and the future of the country. I believe that there has been a systematic consolidation of power and at the same time an ignoring of the really critical issues facing us as a country. For example, the recent report from the IRS that nearly 30% of the nations wealth is controlled by 1% of the nation's population. The fact that there is virtually no parity in quality or access to health-care, and that as a country this will be the first time that the succeeding generation has the prospect of doing worse than generation before it. And this on top of a war that needs to and should end.

And as a Black man with a disability I am under no illusions about what this journey will entail. The only thing I can anticipate is that I am intent on affecting change. I know that people may look at this endeavor as a lofty goal to obtain. I can’t help their impression of what a candidate should or must look like. I do believe however, that I could either complain about those making the decision or participate in the democracy as it's advertised. Or I can wait for the repercussions. What I bring to the race is a perspective that no other candidate has. A perspective on the "promise of America" and its "reality."

The promise that America has and offers for some is everything they could have imagined. For others it’s like an "Old wives tale," Yet for others its almost but not quite. I am not convinced that a candidate speaking focused group tested ideas is the answer this time. People want the truth this time – I know I do. I want that promise to be kept.

LM: Your state, Massachusetts, elected the first Black Governor. Have you followed his action and what do you think about his policies?

KJ: I pay attention to the policies along with the philosophy that guides him. I think he has a unique challenge before him. He has to for better or worst do what he said he intended to do as well as, be forever vigilant that he is governing for all. Do I agree with everything? No. Do I believe he is governing for the entire Commonwealth? Yes.

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LMDiscuss your political platform and the people that make up your supporters.

KJThe platform of "Fulfilling America's Promise," is centered on promoting along developing policies and legislation that support the workers of the Commonwealth and the country to earn a "living wage." This is done with a goal of stimulating a much fairer approach to equitable sustained economic growth.

Support equal and fair access to affordable health care, regardless of urban or rural dwelling, in the Commonwealth and the nation as a whole. Also, for those who have a need for governmental assistance; particularly seniors veterans children persons with disabilities and, families and individuals who are under insured.

Support the funding of public education in order to close the achievement gap, modernizing schools, recruiting and retaining talented people to the profession. All to guarantee our publicly educated students are some of the best prepared in the world.

Ensure that ALL citizens of the Commonwealth and the nation are afforded their constitutional rights and protections, including the right to vote, to choose, and to marry.

As for supporters, they aren't what one would consider typical for this type of candidacy.. The supporters cut across all demographics and, that at this point is a very good indication that people still believe in the promise of America.

LM: Last Congressional election there were many disabled candidates running but few got media attention. What would you do in your campaign to have the media cover you?

KJ: I have a very talented team who are committed to executing in every phase of the campaign – including attracting media coverage. But as I stated earlier, I am under no illusions. However, this is an era where user generated content sites and non-traditional outlets can be an entree to larger media outlets. Also, I know if this campaign appears to be even slightly "not ready for prime-time." It will be very difficult if not impossible to be seen as having a viable campaign – especially due to the unorthodox nature of me as a candidate. So, I am going to focus in the campaign on controlling what we can control and if we do that we will be right were we should be on November 5th 2008.

LM: What party are you running under and what is your view on political parties when it comes to race, poverty, people with disabilities and gays and lesbians?

KJ: I am running as an Independent/third party. In terms of the political parties and their stances related to race, poverty, people with disabilities and gays and lesbians, the answers lie in their actions towards these groups. America as well as the political parties have yet to engage in real and earnest dialog about the existence of racism, homophobia, classism or ableism. If you don’t engage or at least acknowledge that there are people in this country for whom those isms are all too real. That being the case, how can they understand or address the effects policy or, the effects socio-economic upward mobility. As a person who is among and advocate for these groups, I would say neither party has, really tackle the issues that have led to and perpetuate disparities for minorities, the poor, people with disabilities and gays and lesbians. Which is why I am running outside the two party system.

LM: Will you continue to do your cultural work if you win?

KJ: Of course, the only thing I probably won't do is shop for a record deal. But then again you never know.

LM: What are the top ten concerns of people in Mass?

KJ: At this stage there are a lot of issues facing the Commonwealth much like the rest of country. Some of the more pressing issues: affordable housing, the economy, healthcare, home foreclosures, taxes and, education. This includes highly charged issues like what to do about the undocumented residents ending the Iraq War, making communities safer, environmental concerns as well as, the dealing with the state's nearly $1 billion budget deficit. Also, there are issues that are very particular to each region of the state for example the proposed "Cape Wind" project in Nantucket Sound. The commonwealth has its own unique challenges and its own way of developing solutions to those challenges.

LM: You were in a documentary. Tell us more.

KJ: The documentary is called "Including Samuel." The film was done by Dan Habib whose son has a disability. When he asked me if I would like to be involved he said he wanted to show how he and his family include Samuel in all facets of school and community. What I found even more important was his desire to paint an accurate picture of life as a family. And what that a family faces when confronted with society's reactions to the family member with a disability. The film, "Including Samuel" also features other families, teachers, young people, parents and disability rights experts.

LM: I saw you make music with your feet in the studio please tell our readers how do you do that.

KJ: Well, it is a result of my disability limiting the dexterity of my hands. So, when your hands fail you use your feet and that's what I do. There’s no special equipment needed. I put the MPC on the floor and go for what I know. I use my feet not only to make music but also to write type draw and cook, if I'm hungry enough. I cant say when or how I started to do things in that way. My grandmother said that I "just started doing it." There were no classes. No training – I just did it.

LM: As a Black disabled advocate what is your view on the aftermath of Katrina?

KJ: Honestly, as disturbed and upset as I was and still am – I can’t say I was surprised. Whether its perception or reality, the facts speak for themselves. It was the poorest of the poor who were neglected and this was in a city where poverty among its disabled and African-American population ran well above the nation average. So, if you take that and compound it with non-existent emergency planning and what to me was and is a complete disregard of those who are in need how can you be surprised at the ongoing issues around Katrina and Rita and Gulf Coast recovery? I do however think that as a Senator I can and will deal with the apparent anemic efforts placed on disaster response and recovery. Around that same time there were flooding issues that struck parts of Massachusetts that had an equally devastating effect. And some of those same issues arose. Like how do you evacuate the elderly and disabled citizens who require assistance? How can we continue to allow insurance companies to not honor their policies? And, what is the role of government in help people rebuild their lives and communities?

LM: Where can people go to keep up with your campaign?

KJ: People will have a chance to follow the campaign via our website

http://KJ-08.COM/.Com We will also have a youtube channel that allows people to submit homemade ads that may get used during the campaign along with telling us what are the issues that they want to hear discussed. As much as it is about the candidate it really is about the people it has always been about the people.

LM: Any last words?

KJ: People need to retake the power of their government. Get involved. Be active. Vote for the candidate based on the issues. And if you live in Massachusetts and you want to hear and learn more about me and the issues I care about go to the website to set up town hall meetings, house parties, or other events.

by James Chionsini

CW,

We had some dialog back a few months ago. I am a person that responded to your article about the death of "Skateboard." Well, since then you have really gotten some front page real estate with your articles about "the real problem in GG Park." If you ask me, the real problem is people like yourself who simply react and spread stereotypes without looking deeper at social problems and how we can solve them together. You also blame those with no power. This is a common mistake made by many conservative reactionaries who lack a cogent analysis or political sophistication. I call it this a "type A (as in hole)" error.

I feel you are playing to people's fears and base prejudices and are gaining political/personal/professional capital by attacking a traditionally powerless and vulnerable population. Gavin Newsom (ie Nuisance) used the same strategy quite effectively with his Care Not Cash program. Look at him now. And you too are getting your column on the front page of the Comical by denigrating the poorest of the poor. You kick people who are down so well. Seems like this strategy of "blaming downward" or the "race to the bottom" is a recipe for success. Way to go guy!

There was a protest in front of the Chronicle this past Friday about this (actually about you, although you are not ultimately to blame, your editors are) and we tried to deliver some signs to you but the security was insecure and wouldn't let us in. I just want to make sure you got my sign, it reads, "CW Nevius: Public Nuisance." Let me know if you got it and are going to hang it on your wall so you and your pals can laugh about it over drinks or lines, or whatever you people do.

I noticed you passed by our rally but you would not stop to address our concerns. What are you afraid of? You can write articles from safe anonymity but you will not address the people you insult. Why not come and defend your position? It was just a press conference! How about a public debate? Yes, consider this a personal challenge. Man to man, in a public forum. I'm ready, are you?

I feel that your articles targeting the homeless population as well as individual Houseless people are reprehensible and irresponsible. Personally I feel much more insulted and inconvenienced by your "yellow journalist" articles than I ever have by a homeless person in the park, and I have been around a lot of them, let me tell you. When I read your articles I become initially nauseous, then usually end up laughing out loud. When I see a homeless person in the park I either wave hello or just pass on by.

By the way, I have lived in San Francisco for nearly 20 years, I have two kids and spend a lot of time in playgrounds and have never, ever, not even once found a syringe in a sandbox.

Oh, I did like the one article in which you discussed the Vancouver Safe Injection Facility and its success. Good work. I have been advocating for a SIF in SF for a long time. The park is a great place for it. I will send you an article from a European health organization later today about the community response to SIFs in Europe that was actually quite favorable.

In the meantime, why not consider going back to sports writing? At least then you will be insulting millionaires instead of a bunch of homeless people who can’t (easily) sue you for slander.

I stand with the homeless campers of the park. When you insult them you insult me. Here’s a big middle finger from me to you.

Defiantly,

James Chionsini MSW

by Vivian Hain/PNN East Bay Correspondent

Every year on the Saturday closest to the traditional date of the arrival of Columbus at Turtle Island the Indigenous People’s Day Pow-Wow and Indian Market is held in Berkeley. These events, which took place on October 6th this year, celebrate the survival and revitalization of Indigenous cultures and are held in commemoration of Native resistance to the forces still threatening to destroy them. The celebration of this annual holiday was meant to honor all Indigenous ancestors and the generations who are continuing the struggle for social justice today.

As a recent Berkeley resident, I was somewhat appalled at the fact that there was absolutely no advertisement or promotion done for Berkeley’s Indigenous People’s Day in such a so-called highly educated and liberal city and community. The week before this event, another event that was held at the same park location called How Berkeley Can You Be? which was sponsored and predominately attended by middle-class white folks and was advertised and promoted throughout Berkeley (with a large street banner), so I knew about the event well in advance. Yet, I didn’t even know that Berkeley’s Indigenous People’s Day was happening at all until just a couple days before the event.

One morning, while walking from my car to Berkeley City College on I saw this ugly looking piece of paper stapled to a tall wooden post of the traffic light as I waited to cross the street. It was an official notice sloppily taped to that wooden post by the City of Berkeley to warn all the middle-class white ‘homesteaders’ who live near Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Park of ‘noise variance’. It was a noise permit giving permission to the Indigenous people, the true owners of the land, the allowance to sing, dance and play music. As a person of indigenous blood, I felt deeply hurt and insulted as I looked at that dull colored sign coldly looking back at me, as if my people are going to be some sort of noisy nuisance to this supposed progressive community. I thought to myself: “What a terrible way to find out about such an important event…”

A few days later, I attended the Indigenous People’s Day event with my daughters Jasmine, Janina, Zosia and POOR Magazine’s co-founder Tiny Gray-Garcia’s little son Tiburcio. Under a clear and sunny sky with the Berkeley Police Department ‘conveniently located’ in the backdrop across the park, the show went on.

There were Intertribal dance groups, traditional drum circles, along with many Native American foods and arts crafts vendors. The event’s M.C. was Val Shadowhawk and Arena Director, Earl Neconie, a friend of mine and fellow student at Berkeley City College. The Headwoman Dancer was Felicia LoneBear. Thee were also two drum circles, the Host Northern Drum All Nations and the Host Southern Drum Red Buffalo.

In the first part of the ceremony, many good people in the community and Oakland’s Intertribal Friendship House were acknowledged with respect. This was followed by an opening ceremonial dance and the traditional ‘Gourd Dance’, a memorial dance for all of the indigenous peoples who served in the U.S. military, many having had sacrificed their lives for a nation undeserving of their honorable service. During these two dances, people were asked to not take photos out of respect for the spirits who came and went before us.

In the opening ceremonial dance, many of the grass dancers moved with the beat of the drum as the high curves of their traditional headpieces clipped about like horses' manes. In the traditional Gourd Dance, the men moved around the large chalk circle of the arena in the center in the park, stepping to the rhythm of the drum with their long ribbons on their outfits and leggings almost brushing the ground as the fringes hid their intricate foot movements. Another part of the traditional Gourd Dance was a tribute to call upon the ancestor spirits to connect with those who suffer social and economic oppression under the current regime here in Amerikka. I was very emotionally moved by this.

My friend Earl Neconie, who is of the Kiowa Nation and a veteran, spoke eloquently about the many social justice struggles for Indigenous peoples here in the Bay Area, in California, Amerikkka and throughout the world. He addressed the continual growing problem of houselessness and poverty in Native American communities and that most of the affected population are veterans who have been forgotten by the very oppressive government that disenfranchised them in the first place. He also recognized the Indigenous people’s struggles in both Alaska and Hawaii and the growing social epidemic of drug use amongst the younger Native Americans.

After listening to Earl’s amazing speech, the ceremonies resumed with music, song and dance. That is when my daughter Jasmine quietly turned to me with glassy eyes, telling me that the traditional drums and songs sound so sad to her, that something inside of her feels as if she is connecting a sense of sorrow for something that had come well before her life. She said that she couldn’t exactly understand, but that she could feel it within of her soul through the music.

I also felt sad inside, sad for my ancestors, my elders, my Grandmother, my mother, Mama Dee (Mother of Tiny and Co-founder of POOR Magazine) and for my oldest brother Raymond, who lives in poverty on an oppressed government funded ‘Indian Reservation round up’ for the Washoe Nation way up in Markleeville, California. On this reservation his children are either living on welfare like myself or having a hard time finding work. One of my nephews is currently serving in Iraq because he told me on the phone before he left that, “there’s nothing here for young people in my community, except drinking and doing dope... there’s no schools really and everyone works at Wal-Mart up here”

After the event was over, I felt sad for all of the Indigenous people of Turtle Island and in the world who live the daily struggle of just trying to ‘live’. While walking back to my car, crossing the street with the little ones, I noticed that ugly oppressive ‘noise variance’ sign still posted on that tall wooden streetlight post. As I continued to walk past it, I ripped it right off that wooden post. As it slowly floated down to gutter of the street, I felt a sense of resistance, yet I know that there is so much more work ahead of us and for our future generations to make true social change...

by Marlon Crump/PNN

"There is nothing more frightening, more scary, more terrifying than someone opening and coming through your door..........unannounced."

Last year the San Francisco Chronicle ran a month long series entitled "Use of Force" in which they chronicled past events of misconduct by the San Francisco Police Department. At the time, my case was still being investigated by the police oversight agency, the Office of Citizens Complaints (O.C.C) so nothing was written regarding my own brutal encounter with S.F.P.D members.

Just last month, the two-year anniversary of my worst police encounter occurred. On October 7th 2005 a dozen members of the S.F.P.D. stormed the AllStar Hotel, single room occupancy on 16th/Folsom Streets, where I still live.

It was almost midnight. I was in my room, preparing to leave to pick up some food from the store with my food stamp card when suddenly my door lock clicked opened The next thing I knew, I was starring down the barrels of numerous guns carried by a squad of officers yelling obscenities at me. This is an image that will be forever seared into my memory and one that still haunts me to this day.

One of the officers was a young short Filipino man, with a receding hairline named Officer Angel G. Lozano, I would later learn he had falsely prompted his assisting fellow officers and their commanding personnel of his "possible location of a black male armed robbery suspect, wearing a long black leather coat" at the AllStar. Prior to his "capture" of me, he was with another fellow officer, a short Chinese man with a dark crew-cut named Raymond Lee.

Both officers swore to the AllStar Hotel Resident Manager, Robert Williams that I was a suspect in a robbery and that they needed a spare room key for my unit. By this time, nearly a dozen officers had arrived onto the premises. Despite the protests by Mr. Williams, he finally relented and relinquished my spare room key to the officers. All of this was occurring as I sat inside my room preparing to go to the supermarket, unaware of the near-death experience that awaited me and forever changed my life.

After a negative identification by the witnesses and victims of the armed robbery incident that took place in the area, Officer Angel Lozano was ordered on his walkie-talkie to let me go, and he gave me back my spare room key.

The very moment the police stormed my SRO, I knew that every single police procedural protocol, was shattered along with my own humility, civil and privacy rights. Everything in my life was torn apart in that instance just like the rip inside of my long leather black trench coat.

I needed to seek retribution from a legal perspective, as I wasn't the type to always march with a picket sign, or violently fight back. Justice doesn't ultimately mean having to resort to illegal or violent means. I would speak out against the injustices I endured by speaking truth, even if it meant a long hard struggle.

After making a complaint with the Office of Citizen's Complaints, I filed a California Government Tort Claim against the City and County of San Francisco, on October 14th, 2005. An investigator named Sandra Garcia was assigned to my claim and about two months after the initial filing and the incident, it was denied.

"I spoke to a sergeant of the Mission District Station and they stated there was probable cause to detain you and no officer did any damage to your coat. He recommended that your claim be denied, Mr. Crump."

I really wasn’t surprised by this initial denial. Throughout my ordeal, I’ve learned that just about any city government agency and police department will go through any lengths, even if it's a violation of state or even federal law to conceal any of it's member's wrongdoings, and ultimately to discourage a complainant from demanding accountability.

I began attending a weekly meeting at San Francisco City Hall held every Wednesday by seven members of the Board of San Francisco Police Commissioners, which governs the SFPD and the Office of Citizen's Complaints. I also learned that unwarranted intrusions into an S.R.O tenant's room happened frequently and I decided to raise this issue to the police commissioners.

During the near two years I frequently attended, my case of unwarranted action by S.F.P.D members was sustained last year, and I pursued a civil action against San Francisco as a pro se litigant this year. I was also anticipating some sort of disciplinary action to be brought towards Lozano, Lee, and the rest of the officers of the Mission District Station that took part in that course of action.

Unfortunately, because of last year's right-winged/patriotic U.S. Supreme Court ruling of Copley Press in San Diego, a ruling that prevents a citizen from accessing a police officer's complaint history, or being present at a police review hearing during an intended disciplinary action upon an officer accused of misconduct; I may never know what discipline, if any was ever imposed upon Officer Lozano and his assisting personnel officers. This very ruling still causes a great controversy.

I did, however, discover that Officer Angel G. Lozano has a past history of misconduct. After viewing an old archive last year on S.F.GOV website, I found out that there was possibly disciplinary action against him in May and December of 2001, but of course, with Copley Press and certain provisions in State Law and the Peace Officer's Bill of Rights, I was able to access very little.

It took me nearly seven months to even obtain a police report regarding the officer's conduct upon me. I got received the practiced responses over and over again. "Oh it's a slow process, or it might be privileged information” or “your case is still being investigated.” It was only after constant complaining at the police commission hearings that I finally received a copy of the original from Hall of Justice.

After examining the document, I was even more certain of Officers Lozano and Lee’s lying. A huge paragraph in the "Narrative" section of the report, regarding the dialogue between Lee, Lozano, and resident manager Robert Williams was blackened out. Why? Because there was something of an improper procedural protocol and of an incriminatory nature they tried to desperately conceal, and this was confirmed after I received another copy of the same police incident report before the year 2006 ended.

This particular report showed the paragraph in which the "sworn" statements by Lozano and Lee were that the suspect was wearing a brown jacket, tan pants, he stood about 5'7-5'8 tall with a baseball cap, which was completely different of my description as I stand 6'3 wore a long black leather coat, white dress shirt and black slacks. The report also failed to mention that the key was demanded repeatedly from Mr. Robert Williams.

The common denominator between myself, and this robbery suspect was only the color of our skin.

Officer Angel G. Lozano apparently has a history of brutality and misconduct according to insider sources. Lozano's lack of proper procedural protocols is a potentially dangerous threat towards every citizen, but particularly for those living in an S.R.O Hotel, or in a community that is considered “poor” or “of color.”

The brutality I endured at the hands of a poorly trained, highly unprofessional, and possibly violent police officer could have happened to anybody and with fatal results. That is why I continue to fight against this injustice by representing myself. I cannot risk turning over my case and my humility to the City, state or some unconcerned lawyer.

I urge all of those who have suffered a similar fate in our criminal injustice system to speak out and fight their own battle. We cannot continue to allow our safety, humility and well being to be threatened at the hands of law enforcement officials.

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 across the world. This is an introductory issue and is not yet complete- we need you to contribute your news, topics and suggestions. Read on to learn more about Krip-Hop News and how you can contribute…

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 etc 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, people struggling with disabilities, 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, 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 presence 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 and 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 only be found in bites 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 releases, 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 at some point 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.com and at leroymoore.com and will be in a blog form on cripmoore/myspace.com. In the near future Krip-Hop Project will be on its own website. Please contact Leroy Moore to contribute at sfdamo@yahoo.com.

Read on for the first installment of Krip Hop News...

Now Krip Hop News!

Although the Summer of 2007 is coming to an end, it has been an incredible season an one that seems to be continuing into the Fall, for Hip-Hop artists with disabilities! For me this Summer was spent roaring the Krip-Hop engine for Vol. 2 in the Krip-Hop Mixtape series. I spent time researching what Hip-Hop artists and other musicians with disabilities are doing and hammering away at the mainstream media’s lack of coverage on disability issues including the Hip-Hop magazine industry. On top of all this, I’ve also been trying to get a music show called Black Blind Blues Krip-Hip-Hop on the air at a local station here in San Francisco. All of this and the latest news I’m about to tell you has pushed me to create Krip Hop News.

There are many new projects that have come out during the Summer of 2007 or projects/CDs that I was informed of or were sent to me so, I have to write them out like a grocery list. I was very happy to finally find a Hip-Hop disabled artist that is a woman. Her name is Miss Money from Houston, TX. Miss Money is multi-talented. She is not only a Hip-Hop artist but she also sings Gospel and Soul. She is a DJ – Producer of her own internet radio show, Mic Madness, on www.Radio713.com and owner of Money Talks Records and Studios. Go to www.missmoney.net and show her some love.

After coming down from the media blitz around Krip-Hop Mixtape Vol. 1, Preechman, a slammin disabled Hip-Hop artist from Yonkers, NY reminded me that the Summer season is one of the hottest times in the music industry and that Krip-Hop should be cranking out Vol. 2.. So I was back on the Krip-Hop rollercoaster but this time Preechman offered to approach the record label, Bedroc Records, which he is on from New York. It’s been awesome working with Preehman under Bedroc Records and Vol. 2 should be out soon. Like in Vol. 1 I met some incredible artists and in each Vol. the Krip-Hop family is growing. We kept with our international flavor with Cripple Crew from Sweden, KAEM from Paris and DJ KAME from Italy to name a few for Vol. 2. Look out for it!

During the time of collecting songs from artists for Krip-Hop Vol. 2 I found out Preechman was right, the Summer is the hottest month for new releases in the music industry. Cripple Crew of Sweden answered a Krip-Hop email for Vol. 2 on myspace. They are a White disabled hip-hop group from Sweden that raps in English. In the late Spring of 2007 they were working on their new album entitled, The First Step, that came out or into my mail box recently. They are working on their next CD with a skit from I. The First Step has eight songs and each one is slammin. Of course the song, Summer Time was picked for Vol. 2 of Krip-Hop. I’ll be writing more about Cripple Crew in an upcoming issue but for now go to www.cripple-crew.com for more info.

A couple of days after I made the final decsion for the songs for Krip-Hop Vol.1, I found King Montana’s myspace page. I was pissed and excited at the same time. I was pissed because it was too late to get him on Vol. 1 but excited because I realized this was more than just Cds, it is becoming a family\movement. King Montana is on Vol. 2 and his first CD is out called In My Shoes. “You don’t know nothing until you have to survive in my shoes..” King Montana talks about his life as a Latino quadriplegic on his new CD that dropped in late July early August and his CD release party is this month, September 2007. He takes aim at the Governor of California and others who are trying to close the borders between Mexico and California in the song Freedom Fighter.

Another disabled myspace giant that will be making it on CD this month is Crazy L from Detroit, MI. Crazy L just drop his CD entitled The MadHouse and will be on Krip-Hop Vol. 2. He spits at President Bush with his song Pledge Allegiance and talks about himself and his family with no gloves on on Fool’n and Just Like Daddy. Crazy L has Muscular Dystrophy and like all the Krip-Hop artists we have talked about the music industry’s attitudes towards artists with disabilities. Besides inaccessible venues, Crazy L like the rest of us ran into some backwards thinking in the industry that pushed back his CD coming out. Fortunately Crazy L and his new CD is here so check him out on http://www.myspace.com/crazyldetmyspacecom.

Yes, we all know that New York is the birthplace of Hip-Hop but do you know for the first time ever a disabled Hip-Hop group was nominated for the Best Rap Group in the 5th annual Underground Music Awards this Summer. Although they didn’t get enough votes to win, it was the first time a disabled group was nominated. A month later 4Wheelcity was on Fox News. So throw up your 4s for not only 4Wheelcity but for our movement then go to www.myspace\4wheelcity.com to get the latest on 4Wheelcity. If anybody is looking for a Hip-Hop group who can rhythm to the youth, adults, elders in one place book 4wheelcity.

It seems like many Hip-Hop artists are on the big screen lately from Snoop Dog to 50 Cent to Common. Well finally in late Spring of 2007 I had a chance to meet face to face HalfaSoulja aka Bryon Breeze on the corner of Madison and Broadway in his New York office. Bryon Breeze has no legs and two fingers. He is CEO of Urban Casualties Production and star of Kathy Kiley’s documentary, HalfaSoulja, that will be completed by the Fall of 2007. On July 22nd Bryon Breeze was featured in the New York Times talking about his work, the documentary, and his training for the seventh annual Nautica New York City Triathlon in Manhattan. When I interviewed him on the corner, his office, everybody stopped and talked to him, men in suits and women in high heels. He has many plans and one is to move his business inside the building he now sits out of. After seven years of Kathy’s camera following him, he was at home while we talked about Hip-Hop and artists with disabilities. HalfaSoulja is almost ready for its public release. For more information go to www.halfasoulja.com.

Last election we saw one of the first Hip-Hop journalist\activist, Kevin Powell run for Congress in New York but dropped out in the early stages of the race. Today we have Keith Jones, a Black disabled activist and Hip-Hop artist who is testing the political waters for a Senate seat in November of 2008. Keith Jones has put out two slammin Hip-Hop Cds and is working on a movie. But he has always kept his toes in the political arena. He just completed training on running for political office so we will see. For more information on Mr. Jones go to www.dasoultoucha.com

In the book publishing arena, the long awaiting Percy Carey, AKA MF GRIMM’s book,
Sentences: The Life of MF GRIMM, is out! It is an original hardcover graphic novel. This is the first book by a disabled Hip-Hop artist that I know of! MF GRIMM has lived a life that is very unique but on the other side some of his struggles are felt in the Black community and in the Hip-Hop generation. MF GRIMM went from the cradle to the Big Screen in Sesame Street. Although MF GRIMM was a rising Hip-Hop star in the eighties he was brought back to the cold streets where he was caught up in a police crack down on New York gangs and was shot more than ten times then locked up for what we still don’t know. Now today he is CEO of his own record\entertainment business, Day by Day Ent. in NY where he puts out up coming artists and has released the first ever triple CD box set entitled, American Hunger, earlier in 2007. This is the second time I have written about MF GRIMM. Google my article, Bullets And Wheelchairs in Hip-Hop. His new CD, The Hunt For The Gingerbread Man will be release on September 25th. Get Sentences: The Life Story of MF GRIMM at your local bookstore. Watch out for my book review of Sentence and hopefully an interview with MF GRIMM.

Last but not lest Krip-Hop artists, Preechman ,DA Southern Boyz and I have been invited to the first Hip-Hop Journalism Association Conference in Miami, FL on Oct 19-21. This is once again a first time that a Hip-Hop conference will have a panel focusing on Hip-Hop artists with disabilities and how the music industry deals or doesn’t deal with artists with disabilities. We will have Krip-Hop Vol. 2 and each artist will have their own merchandise. For more info on the Hip-Hop Journalism Association and its conference, go to www.hhja.org.

Here are some Hip-Hop Artists with disabilities that are ripping up the underground and Myspace. Hip-Hop Magazines do your job and write about them!

Rob Da Noize Temple

George "T.r.a.G.i.C." Doman

Professir X

Crazy L

Poppa Wheely

Miss Money

CB-40

DJ Quad

Suspence

Stay Tuned for more Krip-Hop News!

by Leroy Moore

In the last two months I’ve had a wonderful opportunity to see and read books by authors of color with disabilities. Although our bookstores are still filled with mostly white authors in the disability section, it seems as the day has finally come where people of color with disabilities are getting some exposure in the literary world

As most of you know I’ve always collected books, music and artwork by people of color with disabilities but in the last couple of months I’ve found and ordered more books by disabled authors of color then ever before. Most of the books didn’t come by shopping in bookstores but were found online. I hope this continues and our bookstores, educational institutions and non-profits will begin to add some of the powerful books I’m about to list to their bookshelves, libraries and curriculum.

Check out this short list and do what I did, Google the authors’ name, get their contact info and support their writings. Invite them to your class or radio show, buy their books and, if you teach, make it a reading assignment for your class.

These are books I received in the last month or so:

The Pro Se: A Disabled Women’s Journey Towards Social Justice Activism Volume One
by Milan Mitchell
www. Milanmitchell.com

Sentences: The Life of MF GRIMM
by Percy Carey Illustrations By Ronald Wimberly
www.vertigocomics.com

Gay, Black, Crippled, Fat: A Collection of Short Stories

By Adarro Minton
www.outskirtspress.com

Ancient Tradition: Soul Poetry

By David Weeks
www.myspace.com/ancienttradition

Going Full Circle: From Life to Death to Life

By Kenneth Tyson Jr.
www.ktysonenterprises.com

UN Armed But Dangerous

By Tawana Williams
www.Tawanawilliams.com

Gangs, Drugs and Denial: A Disabled Latino Immigrant Struggling in the U.S.A

By Angel Garcia
www.poormagazine.com

thefemaleking: Poems

By Maria R. Palacios
http://www.myspace.com/goddessonwheels

These are only some of the fabulous books recently I found by disabled authors of color. Support them!

Leroy Moore

by Queenanndi/PNN

"I believe the children are the future... Teach them well and let them lead the way"

After a refreshing visit with the students at Logan high school in Union City, this age-old saying proves far too true.

In the cooling month of October Tiny, aka Lisa Gray-Garcia, poverty scholar in residence at POOR Magazine and author of Criminal of Poverty: Growing up Homeless in America was invited by esteemed poet and indigenous Philipino scholar Oscar Penaranda, who is a teacher of Tagolog (one of several indigenous languages from the Philipines) to James Logan High School. Because Tiny does not practice individualism in ANYthing she does, including her readings and speaking tours, she invited fellow poverty scholars Ruyate, author of Not Even in Therapy/Recovering Poetically and myself, Queenanndi, POOR Press author of Life, Struggle and Reflection, to join her in one of POOR Magazine's revolutionary Youth in Media workshops with over 300 high school students and to hear their scholarship, thoughts and experiences.

There it was, all these youngstas from all different backgrounds, cultures and colors, with two things in common, same enemy, same struggle. When given the opportunity to shine with their heart felt "slam bioz," the whole REGION brightened as the heavy stone slab of pain and oppression lifted off the children through spoken word, and indeed, they did their thang.

As I looked into the audience, I asked a question, "If you had the chance to do the world over to make it a better place-how would you make change?" The responses ranged from feeding and housing the poor, to ending bloodshed, greed and war. Again, proven that if you are taught-early awareness through peace what I call "seed planting" the seed will grow into maturity with awareness in mind, and peace at heart. There will always be opposition, whether you do the wrong, or right thing.

The students' dreams of a better amerikkka were totally different from our country's present condition. I told the students that just because this country's foundation is bloody and violent, doesn't mean that our mentality and way of life has to be. Many kids had a puzzled look on their faces when I stated the fact that this country was founded on violence. But when I referred to President Bush as a "gangsta" in his merciless disregard and extermination of people here, and in Iraq and said, "Children, gangstas DO make the world go round," the children's nodding heads told me they fully understood.

As Tiny, Ruyata, and myself continued to awaken the revolutionary spirits within the Logan masses, we were overwhelmed by how in-tune the kids were to the ways of the world, and how brilliantly they expressed it. Not one child said that slaughter, scapegoating, or sadistic sacrifices were on their menu...If the world was theirs to do over.

For a sample of the work produced in this youth in media workshop click on po' poets project or paste http://poormagazine.org/index.cfm?L1=news&category=8&story=1871 into your browser.

by Dee Allen

Murderers are "patriots"

"Conquering heroes"

Indigenous tribes-----

Almost zero

Crimson drenches

The once-tribal ground

To death go the natives

Civilisation's abound

While the other martyrs flee

Or endure enslavement's pain

Living under the cracking whip

Bound down in chains

Or burned at the stake, a "witch"

In the name of a vile creed

Hatred--from the start

Planted this Empire's seed

Retreaded, shredded past

Built on broken trust

On bullets & blades, on theft & rape

& pocket-filling lust

Time after time--[many years]

After lynchings & battlefires

[In the classroom] Children sit in attention &

[Mentally] Choke on the teachings of liars

Forced to read & heed the fraud

& pledge the crossburner's flag

True culture, true identity lost

Downward drag

"Great Land Of The Free"

So the schoolbook lie insists

Someday truth shall be uncovered

Or the children shall resist.

12.10.94

For Trent Kellodge

Inspired by the songs "I Remember" & "Church & State" by Millions of Dead Cops and "Darkness" by Rage Against the Machine.

by Joseph Bolden

Heroes of Dark and Light

We love dark heroes, the ones with suicidal tendencies when battling evil or part of that evil within themselves.

Our beloved dark hero is Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

A supernatural being, irresistible to both sexes.

Cursed, evil, fighting evil within themselves.

They seek for redemption.

I’ll mention part of the title has moon in it about a change human literally married into.

Unlike Werewolves, that can walk,work,in the day,fear the full moon.

Vampires shun sunshine,rise in pitch of night feed,he blood on hapless humans.

In today’s time save lives from those like him/her self.

Yet another hero isn’t as easily afforded much fanfare they are diametrically opposed to their dark brother’s and sister’s.

Their power from denial of most of what human call earthy living.

They slave away in hidden corners secrecy is a must for they know what happens when exposed.

The Alchemist looks to change lead to gold as a test of spiritual purification.

If they can purify lead supposedly to higher gold content then the tincture or red glowing elixir is ready to consume.

When it’s all done as her or she drinks said liquid of the philosopher’s stone only then is all the time, effort,poverty,illness, loss of family,or having a family.

The elixir supposedly confers near unlimited powers to those partaking of the drink.

From speaking with God,other sentient beings.

Mental/physical genetic changes quantum leaping evolution.

To unlocking all the hidden potentials of humanity!

Unfortunately in this a permanent awakened state our illuminated human must shield him or herself from empathic, unshielded minds of sleeping humanity.

They’re younger,skin so pure to glow from within.

They find solutions to problems plaguing people kind for thousands of years.

The laws of physics, chemistry,everything is easily assessable to them yet they are humble,shy, servants,caretakers,of humanity disguised as ordinary people.

Hard to make shero or hero out of those who actively shun the glare of fame.

There may rise a person whom by accident or design was given the elixir as cosmic joke only this now fully forever awakened Joy/Jim average can do all he wants!

They might attract another ancient alchemist or more who’s school them in the vast powers they have while the newcomer teaches the ancient how to remain vital when the other thought the dreary centuries as a waste of sentience.

Hmmm,a hero who has mischievous moments, isn’t evil but a sense of humor and as for whichever opposite sex lets say our hero only has three main worries.

Learning the difference between being irresistible from extreme likeability, and true love, producing illuminated progeny, dealing a vastly extended life span, and learning his/her new found powers, what they are,their limits,and going beyond them.

On second thought who wants a shining hero able to control great power without being corrupted by it who know untold secrets,saves lives in small unknown ways and has God,or Gods, ancients,also other alchemists,or sentient beings even saints and angels to back him up if he really fouls things up?

I guess a Vampire Detective is easier to work with than an near all powerful,youth person accidentally (by design) given awesome reponcibity and powers.

by Sam Drew/PNN

"We are not afraid of these politicians who are trying to criminalize our youth," said Renee Saucedo to a crowd gathered in front of San Francisco City Hall to protest San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera's recent gang injunction. Approximately ten days ago, a San Francisco judge upheld the City Attorney's application for the injunction, which prohibits certain individuals' presence within the injunction zone.

We were there to speak out against these racist, criminalizing polices. "These injunctions only cause more racial profiling and police harassment against Latino and African-American communities," Luis Aroche, a youth advocate with the Mission Community Response Network, said to the crowd filled with youths, teachers and scholars from neighborhoods across the Bay Area.

To clearly and symbolic illustrate our demands, we had decided to confront City Attorney Dennis Herrera in his office in City Hall and serve him with a symbolic injunction notice ordering him to stay out of our neighborhoods, which include the Mission, Bayview/Hunter’s Point and the Western Addition.

Also included on the injunction notice were six demands from the community:

- Clear and fair criteria to get off the injunction list.

- Guaranteed support services for those on the injunction list.

- A clear process to get off the injunction list that does not involve people having to serve as informants.

- An official investigation of police misconduct and racial profiling during the enforcement of the injunction.

- A public commitment from city officials to implement a long-term violence prevention plan that addresses the root causes of violence.

- An outlaw of future gang injunctions in San Francisco.

According to Sandy Banks Los Angeles Times staff writer, "The LAPD has intensified it's war on gangs with stepped up patrols and tough enforcement of a year old court injunction that allows the arrest of Grape Street Crips if they congregate in the project or on surrounding streets. Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who represents the area, said her office has been deluged with complaints from residents who say officers' heavy handed tactics are saddling young men with arrest records and increasing hostility towards the police. At her prodding, LAPD Chief of Police, William J. Bratton and City Attorney, Rocky Delgadillo have pledged to review the injunction process."

We were calling for not just a review, but an end to the gang injunction in our neighborhoods, streets, parks and communities.

As we walked through City Hall to meet Mr. Herrera, I noticed how much the building resembles a mausoleum with its cold marble interior and how the presence of tortured spirits being held against their will permeated the environment. In contrast, the heat that emanated from the young people seeking an end to this injunction added life to the desolate, soul less environment.

One after another, we piled into the City Attorney's Office to show our unity. The receptionist looked extremely concerned by the presence of all these Bay Area citizens exercising their rights.

After leading a chant Renee Saucedo announced the purpose of our visit and requested Mr. Herrera to accept our papers. After a few seconds of awkward silence the spokesperson for Mr. Herrera said he was busy in a meeting and couldn't come out to receive his papers.

I could tell by how tight the spokeswoman had her arms clenched that they weren't used to having to deal with that many citizens. The law enforcement officer who stood next to Herrera's spokesperson told us, "He won't be coming out because no one made an appointment."

Renee Saucedo swiftly responded "Dennis Herrera didn't make an appointment with us when he started the gang injunction." Her response was met with applause and cheers. Because Mr. Herrera refused to meet with our group, an earful of scholarship was given to the nervous spokeswoman, as many people spoke to how this injunction is a policy only aimed at criminalizing young people.

Although we weren't allowed to see Mr. Herrera, we decided to continue on in the belly of the beast and meet with our elected officials. After all they do work for us. We went into the offices of Supervisors Peskin, Chu, Sandoval, Amminano, Dufty, Maxwell, Alito-Pier and Daly. A copy of the injunction was given to each one’s staff person along with the reasons we wanted the gang injunction to be stopped.

A Southern California newspaper reported that its review of the impact of a local gang injunction showed that nearly 80% of the gang members named in that injunction had been convicted of at least one crime since the injunctions were imposed. More than half of those convicted committed crimes in the injunctions target neighborhoods, indicating that gang members neither ended their criminal acts nor moved away after being served with court orders to do so and that these gang injunctions do little to decrease gang violence.

As Nancy Hernandez, (Homies Organized in the Mission to Empower Youth) said, "This gang injunction is attacking a symptom of the problem not the root cause. The problems are poverty, gentrification, Lack of programs, lack of jobs and after school programs."

As we walked down the spotless halls of power I was reminded of the words uttered by Minister Christopher Muhammad when he spoke at a rally about San Francisco politics, he said, "They use the word gentrification but the real word is ethnic cleansing, to remove poor people of color in every neighborhood."

by tiny gray-garcia & tony robles

A Beautiful Friend, organizer, artist and uncle to all- this is a poem in his honor...

"Aqui estamos ..y no nos vamos"...BOOM-BOp- a BOOM, step-ball-change...

"I bet some more white folks just moved in here... " … BOOM -Bop- A-BOOM- step ball change…

His eyes, pools of spirit and truth.. dancing with irony… through marchas, protests, evictions, and community resistance, spoke to me, danced through me.. – with words so clear they jumped on and through t

he chants around us… as they gazed at another gentrification palace on calle de 24 y Florida y Cesar Chavez y Mission

Chants of resistance, moving to drum beats, of culture and color who would not be moved by colonizers dressed like machines- with names filled with Dots, and so much Come-on

"The mission will not be colonized, but the resistance will be televised, if I can help it" ....

step two – ball change – boom – bop a boom…

He shook his head and smiled back at me – the eyes – like clear round lakes from other lands- filled with so much love- danced back, "you go tiny!"

Elder, Manong, father, abuelo, leader, resistor , dancer, artist,

Bill is still alive...through us all... dancing through
us...the seeds. of Manilatown and the seeds of The Mission and Fillmore.

Boom-bop-a-boom.. step- ball -change…

by Dee Allen/PNN

"Unwritten Law" was created with the corruption and brutality of New York City, Philadelphia and most of all New Orleans cops in mind. In late 1994, nine New Orleans cops were busted/indicted for illegal firearms sales, drug trafficking and a long history of brutality inflicted upon New Orleans' local African and Asian communities. Before this instance of police corruption/brutality became national news, one woman from the N.O.P.D.'s Internal Affairs Division uncovered it and, as a result, paid with her life.

Law enforcement officers tend to not follow their own protocol. Instead, they obey and enforce a policy that's not written in the law books. A law stemming from hatred and greed.

_____________________________

The only good cop that lives is

A bad cop who keeps his mouth shut.

Thrown to the wall

& handcuffed

W/ insurmountable force

You question the

Physical harshness

Used against you-----

Swung club to the spine

Swung fist to the eye

& random pounds & kicks

Were the only response-----

Curbside justice

Badge & a gun

Eyes full of hatred

5 on 1

Unwarranted search

Unwilling pawn

In a game of pinata

Where in lieu of a paper beast,

A human ribcage gets smashed

Dickbrained

Domineering, depraved

Volunteer

Gunrunning, drugselling slave

Protector-----Uniformed fool

Aggressor-----Rich man's tool

Which of these portrayals best fit

He who circumvents the Law

He's sworn to uphold, the

Policeman or Sheriff?

ALL.

Somewhere tonight, the unwritten

law of brutality & hate is being

carried out on unarmed innocents.

Arrogance, fascist grace

Under a red-blue red-blue

red-blue red-blue

squadcar lightglow.

The only good cop that lives is

A bad cop who keeps his mouth shut.

-----Or so they say.

For Stan "The Man" Finchem.

by Vivian Hain/PNN

Thanksgiving, a holiday which glamorizes the ruthless colonization of America, is more of an economic hardship for many low-income families like mine than a holiday to over-indulge in food and drink on. Well, today, I went to collect my "holiday food basket," which is dispersed from my local food bank to either a non-profit agency or a food pantry, usually a local church in my neighborhood where I can get a food subsidy for a holiday meal like Thanksgiving. This year, I collected my holiday food basket from a non-profit agency.

When I went to pick it up, I was given a small cardboard box full of random canned and dry food that had nothing to do with Thanksgiving Day like dry macaroni, cans of pork n' beans, soup, sloppy Joe mix and tuna, along with a small gray plastic bag full of a couple of small potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions. What was most unbelievable is that instead of being given an actual turkey or a grocery store voucher so that I could go get a turkey for my family, I was given two small frozen low quality Sun-Land brand chickens! I was really upset and perplexed by the fact that this is what poor adults and families are given for the holidays from their local food banks when these families are already facing multiple economic challenges during a time of the season when capitalist values tend to be more important than insuring that everyone gets a proper and nutritious meal for the holidays.

Last year, the same thing happened. I got a "holiday food basket" donated to me from a non-profit and I collected another one from my local food pantry (church). Both places gave me the exact same thing; a bunch of random food that had no relevance to what Thanksgiving is supposed to represent at the dinner table and two Sun-Land young chickens that have a label on them that says: Some giblets may be missing. May contain up to 6 percent retained water. Also, when I attempted to cook one of these low grade quality chickens last year, they had a lot of fat on them and even still had some feathers attached to them too! My friend from Eastern Europe even got out his cigarette lighter and set fire to the feathers on the raw chicken and told me: "This is what we do back in the old country, while sparks flew from the damp feathers as a burning smell filled the air." The chickens had so much fat on them, that I refused to eat them and even ended throwing one whole chicken away after cooking it!

I phoned my local food bank to ask them why they are giving poor adults and families chickens instead of turkeys for Thanksgiving? Their response was that because of the Bird Flu epidemic, there is currently a mass shortage of turkeys. Hence, the Bird Flu is in South East Asia, where turkeys do not exist, but chickens do!

I was also told that there were very few turkey donations given this year (I suppose this could be said for last year too!) and that they had only received 500 turkeys and gave the majority of them primarily to agencies that feed a large amount of people on Thanksgiving Day. I was also told that currently, there is a lack of federal funding for food banks from the US Government (thanks to Bush Incorporated) and that the supermarkets have first dibs on the turkeys, so whatever is left over, the food banks get. I wasn't convinced by this information and later found out that much of it was incorrect.

This problem seems to cross the bridge here in the Bay Area. I was told by my POOR News Network colleagues who live in San Francisco that they were also given chickens instead of turkeys for Thanksgiving just like here in Alameda County. I was told by Laure McElroy, a PNN correspondent who also works with Homeless Prenatal in San Francisco that they had to resort to giving food referrals for "chicken Thanksgiving meals" from their non-profit agency too.

I would go to a local supermarket where I found so many turkeys, literally pouring over the frozen display bin and that the supermarket had marked them down half price in order to get rid of them. So, I bought my turkey with my EBT food stamp card, while thinking about the many unfortunate low-income adults and families who got that same "holiday food basket" for Thanks-Taking and didn't have food stamps or any choice, but to eat "chicken FEED" this year in the wealthiest nation in the world where food is always plentiful.

by Peter Kenichi Yamamoto

Brother Bill,

Your spirit soars onward,

Dancing on strong agile footsteps.

Through the Western Addition, through Kearny St. South of Market

Bernal, the Mission and the Phillippines.

Organizer of the International Hotel,

Protector and guide of the Manongs then.

Now a manong yourself--


Ironworker and housing activist.

Patriarch of the Sorro clan

Loving husband of Huli,

Proud father of Giulio, Joachin, Desu,

Daphne, Django, two stepchildren and ten grandchildren.

A father’s tawny love and mellow wonder

You felt for all living working and everyday people.

Your family extended far beyond the limits of your blood-line.

Bill wasn’t simple, wasn’t complex

But real, solid and RIGHT THERE.

He wasn’t “in your face”—

And yet he WAS “in your face”.

Always expressive and appreciative

Of the life around you.

At the Tule Lake Pilgrimage

I remember Bill and Al Robles sitting side by side

Brown faces bent over piano keys of ivory and ebony

Banging out duets—

Your fingers and voices lost in a maelstrom of fun, smiles and laughter.

Jazz standards, soul hits….and the blues.

Brown, black and yellow sprays of

Erupting radiating patterns of music, art and culture.

A glint in your eye laughing WITH the rest of the world.

All of us grieve for you but

As the songs says of Che Guevara—

“Con plomo lloraran”……

The struggle will continue in your memory,

In truth we will try to “live like Bill”—like you.

Your many small reflex acts of friendship and love were like

Sweet spring water for our collective parched thirsts.

An alcoholic of the peoples love

Your words rise in deep river currents of wise time, teaching and respect.

A golden brown summer of union struggle,

And you better believe it of cold ironworker winters too.

I remember your visits to Japantown,

At the National Japanese American Historical Society where I volunteered---

Your personal touch,

Your brotherly love,

Asking:

“How Yamamoto was.”

Our trips to Manzanar

With Al, Bob, Tony and Shirley.

Listening to CD’s in the rented car during our journey

Along the American River and down highway 395.

Your eye now jaundiced against the idiot George Bush.

You were yet another strong broad-shouldered Phillippine carabao

On whose back the people rode.

Bill had a hot red indignation

Towards U.S. neo-colonialism in the Phillippines.

Your fist shaking at the bi-plane of capitalism

Crop-dusting toxic pesticides on the laboring farmworkers of the world below.

A strong clear consistent voice now stilled in the dry chest cough of death.

You loved chicken adobo, lasagne and companionship

When you met people you connected—immediately

With a Neruda-like genuine feeling.

Bill Sorro.

MAKIBAKA!!!!

by Sam Drew/PNN

Sadly, in our consumer society even beauty and truth are just commodities that can be sold to the highest bidder. That's why it is so refreshing to encounter principled people whose souls cannot be bought like a carton of milk at your local Walgreens. Such an individual is Queennandi, a race and poverty scholar at POOR Magazine who has written an uncompromising set of poems entitled Life, Struggle and Reflection that has been recently published by POOR Press. Queennandi's poetry is raw, uncut, ruthless and daring.

Life, Struggle, and Reflection , is a collection of poetry that surfaced from the struggle of my soul, she reflected. This struggle of the soul has lead to thought provoking verses that is sure to win hearts and open minds.

Queennandi's poetry may be rooted in pain and struggle but the outcome for the reader is healing and uplift. I have endured oppression, mental slavery, and racism. Brutalization, betrayal, death and with my own eyes saw a once strong unified people be neutralized. I recognize this hell and the love I have inside my heart urges me to share the pain, to teach , to uplift, and to heal the people, exclaimed Queennandi.

Life, struggle and Reflection is dedicated to the heroes and sheroes of The Black Panther Party and the Black liberation movement who suffered at the hands of the government, explained Queennandi.

"This is dedicated to our fallen souljahz, past and present who gave their lives\freedom so that we and the generations to come could survive and grow in wisdom and knowledge, Our heroes and sheroes did not make this ultimate sacrifice so that we could keep continuing on genocidal ignorance," she said.

Whatever subject Queennandi's poetry touches on, she writes it with frankness, humor and aplomb. Just listen to a small piece of the poem entitled I Just Wanna Be and you will feel the strength that carries this powerful Black woman towards the truth. As Queennandi writes, "I just wanna be a Black woman that speaks up on those that violated me. In every way Set Me Free!"

Just absorb a fragment of the incendiary poem Fury of Beauty, where she warns all that she's a "Queen wit a heart of gold and eyez that see. Eyes that see what is being done to the people that she loves

Even though her forceful book is garnering rave reviews, Queennandi refuses to be separated from her people and their struggle as she calmly states, "By no means am I out to judge, ridicule. or paint a picture of myself to be holier than thou towards the people."

Truth and beauty are timeless and incorruptible concepts. The old adage says beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Those who pickup Queennadi's Life, Struggle and Reflection will be happy to find out that beauty is in the hands of the book holder.

For more information on Queenanndi and her work or to order a book please see http://www.poormagazine.com/static/queennandi/index.html or call 415-863-6306

by Sam Drew/PNN

"I'm trying to get my son back!" was Sandra Thompson's response to my mundane question about her well-being. Sandra has suffered through a series of emotional setbacks that would have crushed a weaker person. But her dogged determinism for justice and strong belief in God have kept her thinking positive

I first met Sandra at POOR Magazine's monthly Community Newsroom meeting in downtown San Francisco. She riveted the audience with her story of being made a pariah for reporting her sexual abuse to the proper authorities and the removal of her beloved son by Child Protective Services(CPS) and the judicial system.

She was attending San Francisco City College working hard to acquire her AA in Criminal Justice. "I wanted to get a degree in Criminal Justice to inspire the youth. I worked myself from homelessness," she said proudly. "But I have a past, I came out of the Foster Care System and later got into juvenile hall, I then got involved with gangs. I spent 6 years at Chowchilla Prison for involuntary manslaughter. I did not do it but I was convinced to take a polygraph test. I was young and wasn't educated about my civil rights . But I've changed my life,"? she said seriously.

Sandra exhibited pride, as she told me she was on schedule to graduate in the Spring of 2008 with a high G.P.A. But her mood quickly changed as she began describing what happened with one of the instructors. While she was working on acquiring her GED, a math teacher offered to tutor Sandra because as she says she "was weak in Algebra and Geometry."?

"He said we would have to go back to his place to study. That is where he attempted to rape me,"? she said her eyes filled with rage and sadness. Sandra did what people are told to do after this type of assault "I reported the incident to Affirmative Action and then I went to the Chancellor."? Sandra spoke with someone at Affirmative Action and then with the Dean and the Chancellors office, but her charges were dismissed. "They sent me a letter that they hired an investigator but they couldn't substantiate my charges,"? she added.

But this denial of justice didn't stop Sandra from speaking out. "I was put on Disciplinary probation because of my disruption of complaining to the chancellors office." Then according to Sandra she was suspended indefinitely for speaking out at the meeting of Chancellors.

Sandra is not only speaking out on her behalf but also for other students,"A lot of other students on campus mention that instructors have done this to them too. But there is no support for students on campus,"? she said.

With all this drama swirling around Sandra her thoughts remain focused on her seven-year-old son Emmanuel. Sandra smiled warmly as she told me, "His name comes from the Bible."

But her smile quickly disappeared as she continued telling the story of her son. After learning that her husband was giving Emmanuel medication behind her back and that he had threatened him, she took her son to the police station and she was given an Emergency Protection Order. On September 7th, Sandra arrived in court under the impression that she was attending a restraining order hearing.

She sighed as she continued with the painful memory. "But when I arrived [they] told me it was not a restraining order hearing but that it was my custody hearing for a CPS report that said I convinced my son to make false accusations against his father," she said.

At court that day Sandra was shocked to hear that C.P.S. would be removing her son because she was "withholding his medication"? and she was told that this was "not an open case."

Today Sandra's husband has sole legal custody of her son and she has no parental rights, as she is struggling with two court cases. Her current attorney will remove himself in the beginning of December and as of now Sandra, like so many other parents struggling with C.P.S. has no legal support for her next hearing on December 21st.

Yet with all the hardships Sandra has encountered she remains upbeat as she defiantly says, "I'm a survivor of domestic abuse, nothing will stop me from achieving my goals, I want to work with women in prison; I want to make sure what happened to me doesn't happen to other single mothers. I will not be intimated...If you do not stand up and speak out for yourself, things will never change."

If you can assist Sandra Thomsen call (415) 351.9988 or visit the website www.freewebs.com/comelooksee

by Peter Kenichi Yamamoto

What would Bill want us to say of his life? That he wasn’t larger than life but that he WAS life itself. As a devoted father and husband, a comrade and friend, a Brother, Bill was of and for “everyday people”. Bill was ALIVE and he provoked you to take part in being human. Bill cared genuinely about people. He laughed easily WITH people and not AT them. He questioned how people were doing and pointed out WHY things were the way they were.

Bill was always teaching about life in a simple and direct way. He was understandable yet he was deep. He saw things exactly as they were with an added dimension of humanness. Bill saw the warmth and the frailty of our individual lives but he wasn’t weak. He was strong and he fought like a tiger for the people he knew and loved. And who did he love? Not only his own Filipino community but also all Asians of the greater community and the African American and the Latino community. Bill was “just folks” and was OF and BY working people. When you thought of neighborhoods and communities you thought of Bill. Not stuck up or a snob, he was approachable. He came forward and MET you. Bill was contact and meeting. He was discussion and collaboration. Bill was THERE.

I remember speaking on a panel with Bill and Al Robles in front of Steve Nakajo’s college social work class about the International Hotel. Bill taught and demonstrated to the young students how the I-Hotel was part of the political movements sweeping the country in the late 1960’s and the 1970’s. He spoke of how the elderly Filipinos, the Manongs, quote “drew a line in the sand and refused to be pushed any further” unquote. They fought for the rights of elderly Filipino working people, housing rights and the very survival of Manilatown on Kearny Street. They were known and supported not only city-wide but nationally and internationally. Bill drew connections between the civil rights movement—the movement for Black Liberation and the I-Hotel. He also drew the connection between the tremendous anti-war in Vietnam movement and the struggle of the I-Hotel. He saw the whole picture.

After an activity in the community Bill and the gang would go out and eat in Chinatown. I remember him sometimes ending up at Woey Loey Goey to chow down. Food was no small thing for him. Bill was a lover of life.

I also remember traveling down to the Manzanar Pilgrimage with Bill, Al Robles, Bob Rosario, Tony Robles and Shirley Anacheta in a rented car. The car CD player was playing Curtis Mayfield, Nobuko Miyamoto and Sarah Vaughan as we drove the miles away.

We traveled along the winding American River and through South Lake Tahoe. We laughed and joked and reminisced about the old days. Bill and I would talk about how we just didn’t like George Bush. It was a personal dislike. Too many people were being hurt by him. And it was the SYSTEM. We talked about how we would be addressing all our problems if we had Socialism instead of the rotten Capitalism we live in.

Then on down Highway 395 to Manzanar. We stayed up late at the motel in Lone Pine laying in the all-night heated whirpool. Then we all did Tai Chi together in the desert before going to the Manzanar ceremony with folks like Sue Embrey and “Mo” Nishida. On the day we left we bathed in the natural hot springs just off the highway near Independence. Then we stopped overnight at South Lake Tahoe, played a little slots and ate at the buffet.

Bill and Al Robles and I also went on the Tule Lake Pilgrimage. The internment of Japanese during World War II was an episode that Bill was very aware of. He was an internationalist. On the bus ride from the Bay Area we rapped, snoozed and watched the videos about the Concentration Camps and the Japanese American experience.

Bill was quick and incisive. He really was a gentle guy. He was relaxed and lay-back but he was also alert and with bright-eyes and light on his feet: both literally and figuratively. He was quick and his comments and his observations were right there.

Bill understood the individual character of all our different racially and nationally oppressed peoples from the belly-up. He understood the music and the rhythms of life and the people. He understood that the fight for internationalism was key to the liberation of the oppressed people. Bill was an activist. He was always active in the community and worked in the ironworkers union and on housing issues. Bill was a Marxist. He was a Socialist. We shouldn’t be afraid to say that.

He was a revolutionary. I say that with the greatest respect and fondness because it is term that I don’t apply to just anyone. If anyone had “vision”, Bill had it.

Losing Bill shouldn’t freeze us into immobility, rather we should see his example as a light to guide us in this beautiful struggle we call life. “Goodbye” dear Brother and comrade!

by Queenanndi/PNN

I have caught more than enough hell being a woman- black, strong, and a proud independent freedom fighter- that's being punished for just being me!

This is my story

I was born black. I was born proud. I was taught to be strong by one of the strongest women in the world-Carolyn Brantley X. That is how I fought through and survived the mean, unmerciful streets of frisco. In a way, that helped me to know and grow into the person that I am today. Regardless of my youthful wisdom, I constantly find myself dodging the stones that are casted upon me. I'm sure many women can relate to my story, the story I'm about to share.

First, before I go further, I want to express great acknowledgement and love to all those who are at the mercy of the wicked elements, that's out on a daily fighting to see to it that we all live on our knees.

I didn't think for one minute that such a force would roam in my home. I am the head of my Queendom, and my family, my Po ridaz. These along with my God- given talent is all I have in the whole world. No money, no man and want to go somewhere, but can't. Faced with having to cope with the demise of my parents, and the suspicious death of my kid brother- all in less than a year, AND the left and right losses of many of my childhood friends, I pretty much got not a full plate, but a buffet to deal with on the table.

Even though it's hard as hell, I manage to hold down my job, be fierce at my writing, and raise my younginz' the best way I can-alone. Daddy's assistance comes 3 maybe 4 times a month (depending on availability) but even with so little contact, the home is not peaceful. We couldn't make it as a whole. Poppa's a Rollin' stone- I'm more settled.

After a messy divorce, I waited a long while before dating again, and then I met this man. First impression, this brotha was baadd! I mean sharp! People used to see us together walking like regal panthers together, calling us "Farrakhan & Ms. King." Well they called us that, due to the strong interests we shared when it came to the people. After almost two years of dating, I became pregnant, and six weeks into my pregnancy, poppa tha Rollin' stone rolled right out the picture. He didn't roll back in till massa' told him to. Egypt was almost eight months old by then.

The experience I had with this man was very traumatic for me. Arguing, pleading for his trust in the fact I carried his seed went in vain. Wanting him to be there when his child was born was not in his agenda. I made an appointment to terminate my pregnancy, because we were unwanted, but an angel intercepted- my mother! As she eased my pain, I can still hear her saying to me to this day: "Baby, imma tell you somethin' you are not the first single mother, and you won't be the last. Sistas have been raisin' children on their own since God gave us light. Hell, black women even raised Massa's children! Slight difference is that in dem days, more men were lynched, as compared to the men that walked out on their families. That is YOUR child inside you- a nation! You WILL NOT destroy the Queendom God has blessed you to birth!!! Once I felt Egypt kick, I knew this was my girl fo' life! I love her! Mama was right. So I had no choice but to go to the man to get info on this paternity test thing, cuz poppa was gone own up to his lil' Queen, one way or another! And sho nuff Oohh rollin' stone poppa She's yours! Take care!

It took a lot of prayer for strength and the ability to forgive, and before I knew it, here was this man back in our lives in the family way, but a stranger. Me bein' the woman that I am, I attempted to see if we can once again, bring back to life our relationship. I ended up compromising myself and allowing for him to build me up, just to let me down. Like I said- I allowed it, so sho nuff, he did it. That didn't make me feel like Queennandi AT ALL, and of course my spirit was uneasy. When I expressed my self worth, typically he'd make me feel like I done something wrong, puttin' me down n' stuff. I felt like he was all there was for me- until I looked into the mirror. I know my worth better than anyone else God put breath into. It seemed like every since my primary supporter (momz) passed, I have been under attack. I tell myself that I MUST stand strong! For me, and my children. MUST stay focused on the struggle! Poppa has gone maniacally wild, trying to fit HIS unstable friends into MY child's life and I'm not havin' none of that! Only QUEENNANDI'S hand rocks QUEENNANDI'S cradle!

I'm getting headaches from this man for my decision. I believe that whenever possible, a child should have both parents in his/her life, doing what needs to be done to keep things stable and peaceful. I love that more than anything. But when one parent goes buck wild it is the responsibility of the other parent to call the shots- and make judgments in favor of what's best for the child. Messy chicks and confused pregnant broads is something that doesn't fit into ANY child's life-period! Persecute me! What's right is right- wrong is wrong! I'll go thru the fire for my blessings, and that's what my kids are. They come first.

The sad thing is that the kids see mama & daddy's communication is shallow, and it's shameful that the babyâ's first words were War of the roses. Sometimes I think to myself “damn, haven't I been thru enough? This world is hell on my back already, now my so-called God given twin is gonna put more hell on me?! Then he is not my twin, but a angry soul in slumber. All I ever wanted was to make things right, and I got nothing for this, but a slap in the face! Sooo, as I handle this alone, keeping my queendom movin, I vow not to compromise myself no more! I refuse to fold! If centuries of spirit-breaking techniques didn't work, what makes a dormant man thinks HE can break QUEENNANDI?

I share this to say that I am an expert of everyday oppression, suffering, and resistance. I go thru this struggle, but I keep tha faith in my God to see me through the storms and on to victory. WOMEN OF THE WORLD!!! Your opposition will not last. Ya must learn to armor-up on your strength! You can do it! (Oh, yes you can!) Have faith in yourself! If I didnâ't believe in us, I never would've had the courage to uplift and motivate women NOT to sell themselves short, and to stand strong thru all persecution mentally, physically, emotionally. Also I would never have told my story.

by Marlon Crump/PNN

"I just want everyone here in San Francisco to know that I do NOT support the gang injunctions," native San Franciscan and recent mayoral candidate Lonnie Holmes told me in an interview for POOR Magazine.

A juvenile probation officer and father of five, Mr. Holmes expressed his disbelief to me of the extremely secretive, racist and classist gang injunctions that have recently been implemented in San Francisco, as well as shared his views and opinions on many of the dire issues facing San Franciscans today.

I met Mr. Holmes on a relatively warm November morning at the Harvest Urban Market in the SOMA district of the City. A well-dressed African-descent man, Mr. Holmes greeted me warmly and asked if I wanted to take a ride with him while he campaigned.

We drove around his native neighborhood, the Western Addition Fillmore District, Grove and Hayes St, and just briefly at the Ella Hill Hutch, to greet his fellow colleagues and community members. A San Francisco Police Department squad car yielded to us as we passed the oncoming traffic, and Mr. Holmes gave a friendly acknowledgment to the officers, shouting out his run for the next Mayor of San Francisco, California.

Mr. Holmes discussed his passion to help the youth, his family background, and his plan towards reshaping the Redevelopment Agency of its plans towards gentrification of the Bayview Hunter's Point, as San Francisco had done to the Fillmore, many years earlier. I was shocked and saddened to hear that his father, his aunt, and eight cousins died during the Jonestown Massacre in the South American country of Guyana.

Mr. Holmes believes San Francisco is on of the verge of a governance disaster if there is no substantive campaign for the city's chief executive office. "If thousands of homeowners and renters are pushed out of the city by misguided policies and inattentive leadership, it would be just as big a tragedy as Jonestown," he said.

We both expressed our feelings of resentment towards the rampant violence that has targeted communities of color, the unquestionable lack of employment opportunities for the youth, homelessness, and the gang injunctions.

After about an hour of driving around, we returned to the Harvest Urban Market to continue our interview. Holmes stated that he believed in social economical change, and violence intervention by providing youth employment opportunities.

Earlier that day, Mr. Holmes was at the scene of a murdered 20-year-old male, at Garlington Court in the Bayview Hunter's Point District. Though he felt that the youth nationwide, and predominately in communities of color were on the serious path of destruction, Holmes also felt that the onslaught of gang injunctions was not the solution at all towards violence reduction, anywhere in the country.

He discussed the beginnings of the gang injunctions in Los Angeles and its spread all across the nation to New York.

"The San Francisco City Attorney's Office is using the band aid approach, rather than treating the entire body. This city has invested a lot money into surveillance cameras, instead of providing much more valuable resources and support towards every community affected with the highest arrest rates," said Mr. Holmes.

Mr. Holmes continued, "Crime can be a symptom caused by poverty, and people are being left out of the American Dream...San Francisco is a very wealthy town, being the Mecca for the wealthy, but it should be for everyone."

Lonnie Holmes stated, however clearly to me that "Corporate Media will not get the privilege of coverage of my opinions, or stories of the issues that we're currently facing within this city, today. Only grassroots organizations of alternative media like POOR Magazine will have that privilege to cover these stories."

My final question to Mr. Holmes was if he could have a face-to-face conversation with current Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, regarding these issues, what would he say to him. The eyebrows of Holmes shifted downwards, a frown on his face was formed, and the tone of pleasantry slightly changed, at the mere mention of Newsom.

"What, you're asking me what I would say to Gavin Newsom regarding these issues? Let me ask you something, Marlon, you ever talked to a brick wall? Newsom's Administration has been truly ineffective to all of these issues, so what's the point?�" he asked me, as I chuckled to myself.

Hearing Mr. Holmes speak so eloquently and openly about all of these issues made me realize how refreshing it is to finally speak to someone who listens and answers rather than continuing to try and talk to the brick wall of the Newsom administration.

by Jennifer Polton/Writer Facilitator: Lola Bean/PNN

Please help us save our children!
By Jennifer Polton. Writer facilitator Lola Bean.

“It’s too dangerous. Just stay where you are. We’ll figure something out. You’ll get killed of you go out there.” I didn’t know what to do. I begged her to stay in one place.

“But I can’t take it anymore!! So what if I get hurt? Anything is better than living here!” Chelsea was in so much pain. Years of torture and abuse and mind shattering helplessness sent her bruised and wounded body into an all out purge of her battered being.

I was so scared for her. My heart was pounding and I couldn’t breathe. I knew my stepdaughter Chelsea and her brother Brandon were in serious danger, but I was completely helpless. I didn’t know what to do. All I could do is cry with her and beg her not to run away into the ice storm with nowhere to go and no one to help her. All I could do was try to stay with her on the phone.

----

The first abuse hotline reports started coming in 2001. Chelsea was 6 and Brandon was 5. They were both living in Moberly, Missouri with their mother Kayela and now step father, Billy. Neighbors started complaining that the children were begging for food and other basic necessities from tenants in their building. Complaints of unclean living conditions, malnourishment, and neglect soon followed. It wouldn’t be long before reports of Kayela and Billy physically and sexually abusing the children began to surface.

The Department of Social Services came out to speak with Kayela, but they did not speak with the children or any of the neighbors. They concluded that Kayela was a good parent and that the multiple reports of abuse were unfounded. That same year, Kayela pulled the children out of school and started moving around without letting Ron, my fiancé and the children’s father, and I know where they were. Brandon started engaging in suicidal behavior.

----

“Why is no one helping me? Why is DSS leaving me like this? Why won’t they listen to me? I want to run away. Please Jen, please come get me!” Chelsea was crying hysterically and kept gasping for the air that seemed to fail her. All I wanted to do was go and get her and take her away and make all of her pain and fear stop. Ron and I have been fighting for years to get Chelsea and Brandon to safety. I couldn’t tell her why the Department of Social Services refused to help her. I couldn’t understand it myself.

Early in 2002, Ron and Kayela divorced. Kayela was granted full custody and Ron was allowed “reasonable visitation.” When Ron tried to visit the children, Kayela left with the children and refused to let Ron see them. The police refused to help on the grounds that there was no way to define “reasonable.” With the help of attorneys, Ron was able to secure visitation in June of 2003. We couldn’t believe the state the children were in when we finally got to see them.

Roaches scattered from the garbage bag where the children’s filthy, ill fitting clothes had been packed. Chelsea had lice and Brandon’s head had been shaved because he had lice. The stubble of his small round head made a weak attempt to conceal the raw, infected sore that festered there. It was ringworm. Brandon had already been diagnosed, but Kayela had refused to treat it. The children’s physical and emotional pain was visible. They started telling us about the sickening conditions they were being forced to live in. The children described how their home was filled with feces and urine. The toilet didn’t work and moldy food could be found on every floor. Billy had forced Chelsea to engage in sexual acts while they videotaped it. Billy and his family hit the children on their backs, arms and faces with switches from trees.

Brandon had undergone a series of psych evaluations and was being prescribed multiple medications, which his mother was inconsistently administering. In one of these psych evaluations, it was revealed that Brandon had a problem with fire. He had been drawing pictures of buildings on fire. Ron was a fire fighter. Brandon told the psych that he thought if he set fires his dad would come and save him and take him away from everything.

We contacted the Department of Social Services and they eventually sent someone out to speak to the children. Brandon and Chelsea describe the abuse and neglect they have been experiencing under Kayela’s care. DSS concludes that the situation was nothing more than a heated custody battle. Mike Shay states that the children should be with their mother no matter what.

----

Chelsea had called me from her mother’s house. She had been left alone momentarily, but that moment of solitude ended. Kayela, Billy, and Brandon had just returned home. Kayela saw that Chelsea was on the phone and instantly assumed that she was speaking to her father. Kayela and Billy started screaming at her. “You’d better not be talking to your dad! You’re going to get punished Chelsea. We’re going to disconnect that phone for good!” The screaming escalated and Chelsea grew very upset. I could hear every word they were saying to her as clearly as if they were speaking directly into the phone.

Chelsea begged them to stop. They would not stop. She ran into her room and hid under the bed with me on the other line of her cell phone. She was scared out of her mind. She was sobbing uncontrollably. “Please come and get me. Please!”

----

The children came to stay with Ron and me frequently during the summer of 2003. That July Chelsea and Brandon told us that a man by the name of Brian Roselius had moved in with him. Both of the children feared him. They said he was always trying to touch them on their butts and looking down Chelsea’s shirts and up her skirts and trying to touch her inner thighs. Brian had a past history of sex abuse in another county. Kayela refused to listen to us when we told her that Brian had been abusing Chelsea and Brandon. She refused to listen to us.

In September of 2003, Kayela, Brandon, Billy, and their friend Janet showed up at our house at 11pm. Kayela was crying. Bandon’s clothes were filthy and he wreaked of urine.

Kayela admitted that two days prior, Brandon had been sexually abused by Brian Roselius. They had just come from reporting the abuse at the police station. Kayela did not want to file a report, but Janet – the friend that was at our home with them – forced her to file the report. Two weeks prior, Brian raped Janet. Kayela was aware that this had happened, but allowed him to continue living with her and the children.

Brandon told me that his privates hurt. I gave his small broken body a shower and dressed him in some clean clothes.

Ron and I contacted the Department of Social Services to try and find help for the children. We could not find anyone willing to help us. After numerous calls, a meeting was set up with a woman by the name of Janna Clark. At the DSS office, we told Janna about Brain Roselius and the horrible things he was doing to the children. We told her about how he was sexually abusing Chelsea and Brandon.

Janna Clark became hostile. She was not angry at the abuse the children were being subjected too. She was angry with us. She was not angry that Brian Roselius was a sex abuser and that our children were being fondled and abused by him. She was angry that Ron and I were trying to do something about it. We were shocked.

Janna Clark at the Department of Social Services told us that she would see to it that Ron and I would be sent to jail if we pursued Kayela or Brian. We now know that Janna Clark is Brian Roselius’s mother.

----

I have never felt so helpless in my life. I didn’t have any idea what to do or where to turn. I didn’t know how to comfort her. I didn’t know what to say to maker her feel better.

Chelsea begged me to find her help. Gasping for air and fearing for her life she begged me to come and get her. “Please Jen. Please come and get me. I can’t take it anymore! Please Jen. Please come – .” The line went dead.

----

We could not believe this was happening. We knew we had to find someone to help us. We were able to secure an attorney and hearings were scheduled for October of 2003. The court found that Brandon and Chelsea had been victims of physical abuse and educational, physical, and medical neglect. Ron was awarded joint legal\joint physical custody.

In November, Brandon came to our house out of breath, pale and shaking. He was sick with fear. He stopped at his mother’s house to drop off his backpack after school. When he went inside, he saw Brian Roselius sitting inside with Kayela and his stepfather Billy.

Ron was furious. He wet to the courthouse to file protective orders. Under Missouri statute, protective order papers must be accessible to anyone needing protection, even on nights and weekends. Further, court employees are obligated to assist people in filling them out. He tried twice to file protective orders against the man sexually assaulting his children. Both times he was denied access to these papers.

In December, Ron received a letter from Boone County DSS worker Ashley Smethers, now Ashley Turner, that a co-investigation between DSS and police founded that Brian Roselius had sexually abused Brandon.

Ron and I knew we had to get the children away from that man. Ron contacted Attorney Susan Henry in Macon Missouri and read her the court orders and statements. Susan told him that this was exigent circumstances and since he had the primary custody, he could legally relocate to Iowa with the kids. We finally had the green light to get Brandon and Chelsea to safety. We contacted police departments in Iowa and Missouri to inform them of where we were going and why. We also notified the courts about the move.

In January of 2004, Ron and I moved back to Iowa from Missouri with kids in tow. On Jan. 6, 2004 Ron was arrested for kidnapping.

Ron was extradited to Missouri and was let out on his own recognizance. He was not allowed to have contact with his children until this was settled. Another court date was set and by the end of January, all of Ron’s parental rights were reinstated. On the date of the last court hearing, Kayela took off with the children. Ron and I had no idea where they were for 3 months.

---

“Chelsea? Chelsea are you there? Chelsea!?!”

There was nothing. No crying. No screaming. No nothing. The line was dead and I was frozen in place. I have never felt so sick and so scared in all of my life. My stomach violently strangled the air out of my lungs and my muscles were locked in short spasms. I was so afraid for her life. She is so young.

----

We did everything we could to try to find the kids. We knew they were in danger and we wanted to bring them home safe. We desperately wanted to keep them out of the filth and the beatings and the molestation. We did everything we could to try to find them but we couldn’t.

In April of 2004, Ron received court papers stating that there were court proceedings in motion to remove Chelsea and Brandon from Kayela’s custody permanently. We learned the children had been removed from Kayela’s home for 3 days because of lack of heat and hazardous living conditions. No one contacted Ron to let him know where the children were or to let him know they were in danger. His parental rights were completely ignored. The children were placed with Kayela’s parents, and juvenile officers were working to remove custody not just from Kayela, but from Ron as well.

Kayela ran off with the children once again. Again we had no idea where to find them. Since Kayela took Chelsea and Brandon in April of 2004, we have only seen them a handful of times.

- - -

The phone rang.

“Chelsea?”

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I dragged you into this. The battery on my phone is low and ---”

The line went dead again.

- - -

For the past three years, Chelsea and Brandon have been forced to continue to endure the most physically and psychologically torturous treatment. Their minds and bodies have been twisted for years without rescue.

Reports show that dog feces and urine were on the floors of their house. Trash and garbage bags overflowed in each room. Moldy food sat out Chelsea was afraid to take her shoes off. She developed huge, red, raw, sores all over her feet as a result. It was foot rot.

Brandon was put on multiple different medications. Kayela was inconsistently administering these drugs and Brandon was sick as a result. He was lethargic, wet the bed and slept ungodly amounts of hours. He had memory problems and could not even remember his birth date. He was hearing voices.

Not even a teenager, and Brandon has been put in the psych ward on at least two different occasions. The second time he tried to commit suicide. He said he wanted to kill himself because no one cared.

Now he is starting to turn his anger outward. He hits and kicks ad bites in his hopeless rage. He has even started to physically abuse Chelsea.

Billy and his family continue to physically and psychologically abuse Chelsea and Brandon and reports show that Kayela still allows Brian Roselius around the children.

---

“Jen why won’t anyone help me? I don’t understand why they won’t help me?”

---

We have done everything we can to try and keep these children safe. The Department of Social Services refuses to help us. Kayela learned that she could keep the children away from Ron and I by filing false reports against us for abuse that occurs in her home. Each charge has been cleared, but in addition to fighting for the children’s safety, we are now being forced to fight to keep our names clear so we don’t lose what limited rights we’ve got left. All the while, the children continue to suffer and their mental and physical health deteriorates further.

We have been treated like criminals for trying to protect our children while the people that have committed physical and sexual crimes against their little innocent bodies are allowed to continue abusing them with the protection of the Department of Social Services. We are continually punished for doing whatever we can to try to get someone to help Chelsea and Brandon.

But what else can we do? We can’t just sit here and do nothing. These are our children. They are in very real danger. If we can’t find a way to protect them, who will?

---

“Jen, please come and get me. I just want to live with you where it’s safe. Please come and get me. I can’t take it anymore. Jen, I can’t take it anymore.”

I told her I wanted to do this more than anything in the world but if we did, we would go to jail.

“But I have to get away from here. I can’t take it anymore!”

The phone went dead again.

---

Ron has not seen his children since February of 2006. We have had limited contact with Chelsea. She continues to beg us to help her. She begs us to take her away so the abuse will stop. My heart is torn open each time and I am sick with helplessness. I feel like I am failing her because I can’t keep her away from this abuse.

She is only a car ride away and a safe loving home is waiting for her and for Brandon, but there’s still nothing we can do to get these kids away from safety. There’s nothing we can do to get them out of the filth and psychosis and sexual abuse and physical beatings. There’s nothing we can do to get them into safe, warm beds where they will not have to fear for their lives every single day.

We have called numerous attorneys by the hundreds all over the state of Iowa and Missouri, Illinois and bordering states to Missouri. We just can’t afford a retainer. There is a gag order on Ron, so he can’t discuss the case with anyone. Now I am the only one that can try to find help for Brandon and Chelsea.

I hope there is someone out there that will help us save our children. Brandon and Chelsea are begging for our help. They are just small children. They shouldn’t have to spend another day fearing for their lives. Please somebody help us.