Before moving up to WA. State, sunday mornings meant either playing drums in church or going to the Ashby flea market in Berkeley,CA.Both of these gatherings had similarities, music ,food ,people,and a tremendous sense of community that pulls you in.On the Sunday we were to visit Nickelsville,a self sustained village of homeless folk,allowed by the city of Seattle to temporarily reside on the grounds of a church,I awoke at sunrise ,the faint glimpse of sunlight peeking through the blinds,welcoming my weary eyes to the day ahead.Something amazing must be happening today,I thought to myself,considering I had not woke up this early on a Sunday,on my own since moving from the Bay Area.

Rain slapped against the window,yet I was still enthusiastic about heading out to visit the people living in Nicklesville.As soon as we reached Seattle,the rain stopped and I was surprised too see that this village in a city was located inside of the U of W district.Moving out here a year ago it was not the warmest experience and that coldness always reflected off of my staust as being poor and non-white.As we approached the site,this stuck in my mind ,especially when the majority of the homeless population is made up of poor and non white folks.We got to the entrance and were asked to sign in at a small post at a small post that resembled an outdoor office.

The staff that greeted us were quick to let us know they were part of the collective and not social workers or homeless advocates with homes,who came to supervise.We made our way to the common living area,passing rows of neatly arranged tents,each set up on a wooden pallet,that seemed like they could withstand the the worst seasons Seattle has to offer.The common area doubled as kitchen and a eating space,with tables of stored food and utensils alongside a row of BBQ pits.Sitting amongst this was a young woman who smiled as she noticed us and said hello,perfect an opportunity to talk to someone.My teacher from CJW,Gioioa asked her if she was willing to do an interview with us.Yes,she replied ,introducing herself as Erin Miller. Unashamed with an energy that gave me a feeling that she was joyful despite the hard times she was going through,there was a place for her.She spoke of having the time to find her passion for filmmaking and working on a documentary about homelessness.

This took me back to 15 years ago when I was alone on the streets and found the comfort of creativity,and it’s salvation as I struggled to stay awake during the long dark hours of early morning inside the 24 hour doughnut shop.It was here I would sit filling page after page of notebook paper,so I could keep warm as I waited on sunrise.A maple old fashioned and a jelly ,a cup of hot coffee,enough to make me look like a customer and not someone seeking refuge from the cold Oakland November wind,even though that was exactly me.Yet the details of preparing over 60 dozen fresh sugar and flour treats probably kept the busy workers behind the counter unaware of their sleepover stowaway.I would eventually become a regular that winter,collecting pens and notebooks during the day and hanging out at the doughnut shop after midnight.This became my rite of passage into expressing myself with the written word and a lot of ideas I came up with in that period,I am still developing currently so it definitely shaped who I am as a artist.Erin Miller spoke of people having super powers and I knew firsthand what she was talking about.Trying to live with nothing much but the clothes on your back and maybe a bag on your back can bring out the best in you if you can connect with that emotion.

Everyday,millions of people in this country suffer from Amerikkka’s debilitating ling disease,homelessness,according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.Almost half of that population have nowhere even to temporarly find shelter for one night.My experiences in CA and what we encountered at Nicklesville and elsewhere in Seattle WA recently,echo,that this vicious condition has not been realistically addressed as time goes forward and folks get colder living on the streets.How can a city as rich and affluent not have the resources to provide a living space for each homeless citizen,yet for the longest they have funded a mission with a promise to create decent affordable housing and end homelessness as the population of those without appropriate shelter grows and grows.The plans King County have set are slow and exclusive,only responding to a low amount of the impoverished community with services that target certain criteria that economically challenged folk simply can’t meet.The most immediate help King County can provide in an emergency situation to homeless or at risk homeless is a search website with links to resources as if every person living on the streets in Seattle has wi-fi built in their brains to browse the web all day.So the inhabitants of Nicklesville are luckier,than most,despite having to move at least 4 times in the last 2 years.

Upon returning to catch up with Erin Miller and see their new location,after the permit expired in Nov.2010 at the church parking lot,at the fire station in the Lake City we were invited into a hopeful gathering ,who were still waiting on a permanent location at an old peanut butter factory across town.The enviorment was bustling with activity,families sat out ,tables lined up in rows and bright light filled up the noisy hall.The smell of cooking rose from the center of the kitchen.Down a corridor a familiar face pops out of a small room,pushing a wheeled bucket and mop,stern faced,looking exhausted,it’s our old friend.Erin Miller has evolved further in her artistic pursuit,finishing her film,and on the eve of premeiring it on cable TV,she has just tackled her weekly chores,yet is confident as she speaks volumes,proudly of her upcoming debut,proving that with just enough space,shortcomings,could be squeezed into a flavorful blessing,of a lemonade to quench the thirst of lonely souls.

Today was my first orientation for the birth companion project and training I am participating in. My sisters with Mamas of Color Rising (MOCR) have been organizing tremendously around birthing access in Austin for poor women of color. Mamas of color rising  is a collective of working class and poor mothers of color based in the Austin, TX area.

Sankofa means in  the Akan language of Ghana, "go back and take" often used with the proverb "It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten." ^. This meaning is very close to my heart, because that is the reason why I have been drawn and called to birth support work. I believe it is time to go back and learn the indigenous practices of my ancestors and live as they did.

At the orientation we learned about the program, specifics, time commitments and parts of the bigger vision that the Mamas have.  I also learned more about the NEED for women of color support networks, the NEED for access for alternative birthing options, and the "Womb to Prison Pipeline".

What a fierce day reconnecting with my sisters, meeting new sisters, and participating in an intentional and revolutionary space and project.

There will be a women in hip hop showcase (featuring Invincible of Detroit and Krudas Cubensi just to name a few!)  and benefit for this project on Tuesday March 15, 2011 at austin's historic Victory Grill.....!

www.MamasofColorRising.Wordpress.com>

Shhhhhh listen with your heart
Brown Yellow, Red
voices of color
Rising us up from boxes
people put us in
Yes, I’m Black
feeling activist elders from all ethnic cultures

Combining communities
Through the arts
Black, Chicano, Asian, Native, Women Gay Arts Movements
From Manilatown to Motown
Homo-Hop to Krip-Hop

Koreatown, Chinatown to Chocolate City
Walking Down These Mean Streets
With Piri Tomas, Gil Scott Heron & Al Robles
Spoke political poetry
Real artists\activists

California Hotel residents learning from I Hotel legacy
Black elders strategizing with Asian elders
Robles left a foundation
Of self-reliance
planting seeds that left POOR with homefulness
collective ownership

Folk lyrics of justice by Chris Lijima
mixing with 2009 Hip-Hop by Blue Scholars
A Song For Ourselves
Burn Hollywood burn
as we write and film our stories

In post production for more than thirty years
No more ties to foundations that had ties to the economy of plantations
Untie the knots that keep our art and stories like
Manilatown Is In The Heart..
in endless production

Passing It On wrote Yuri Kochiyama
“Gave up dancing to become a revolutionary“ said Bill Sorro
When Will The Time Come? Sang Bambu
Rapping with Ten Thousand Carabaos in the Dark with Uncle Al Robles

Ted Nakamura, Trinh Minh-ha, Raeshem Nijhon
pointing their lenses on his/herstories for the big screen
Noemi Sohn, Mia Mingus mixing identity & politics of race, sex & disability
on paper in lecture halls and on protest lines
Grace Padaca serving her people and country in the Governor’s Mansion

Aiming to be the first disabled woman president of the Philippines

The smells of San Francisco
Black-eye Peas, Burritos, Lumpia MMMMMMMM
Forms a cloud of aroma around the Bay
Dissolving boundaries following your nose
Into different neighborhoods

Meeting the real policy makers cultural workers
Uncle Al's’ spirit will always be around Manilatown
Like the sounds of great jazz musicians
Echoing through the Fillmore at 2am
With Sakeone on the cheek cheek- turntables

Do you think I’m culturally 'voyeurism because I’m Black? Naw, it’s called giving respect
Remember Richard Aoki, a field marshal for The Black Panther Party
Not your average Asian, donated first defend weapons for police patrols to the BPP
Afro-Asian, Latino-Cuban, Puerto-Rican Tribes, Afro-Haitians
Jessie Jackson didn’t create the concept of the Rainbow coalition more like Fred Hampton

So I stand here in the oral tradition
Continue to learn from my elders
Beyond institutional walls
Paying respect to Al, Bill, Chris, Yuri ….
A rainbow of Revolutionary spirits in the sky going back home

Hey! Misaligned nation in a candy-coated thumbscrew
Who's gonna bring the REAL news to you?
Sometimes homeless humans, finding lucrative jobs
Significant employment, the system otherwise robs
Inspecting the issues, taking a stand
Providing needed insight, impact by demand
Making a difference, one paper at a time
For the reader AND the seller--just spare a dollar (not a dime)
 

Today back in El Paso,  I had lunch with my childhood friend Jackie who works at La Mujer Obrera (which translates The Woman Worker). La Mujer Obrera is a space/center/organization which holds a special place in my heart. It is a place where no matter what I always learn something new from the women who are there.
 
This time the building was quiet, Cemelli de Aztlan was in an office with her baby girl, so I stopped to say hello.  As  I started talking to Cemelli I learned many things, like how like me she decided to return to her homeland of El Paso to learn the indigenous practice of midwifery!

Cemelli shared her history with the work she is doing and how La Mujer Obrera has changed over its 29 years. Standing in the second poorest district in the country, the Chamizal District the organization started off as part of the labor rights movement with its members working in factories who were displaced after work moved to Mexico after NAFTA.

Cemelli also shared that as a teen in El Paso, there were not a lot of safe spaces for youth and she first came to Mujer as a teenager attending punk shows. Now Cemelli as a mother, organizes events for the Centro, like this years Mexica New Year event which she explains in the video.

It was great reconnecting with Cemelli and meeting Ameyalli (which means 'water that springs from the earth) today on our Indigenous Peoples Highway! A blessing to see how places just as people, grow and transform!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Hurry Hurry Hurry!
Greatest Reality Show.
Your City And You On Display.
We're Here To Help You Wretched Folks.

Urban Sightseeing Remember the words “Deepest Darkest Africa” describing the sun loved inhabitants of the continent of Africa?

Or socalled Wild Aboriginal people’s of Australia.

Mighty Rome saw early Gaul’s (German’s), British,as Barbarian’s in ancient Rome.

Well its well over 2000 years and a similar though modernized notion is reviving this sickness all over again.

Like Hippies of the late 1960’s with busloads of tour guides to show the denizens of the counter culture.

Now there’s L. A. Gang Tours There Mission: show people on tourists walking how low income people live and how some of these tourist supposedly out of the goodness of the hearts and with money can safe these sad, degraded people.

I didn’t believe this crap still goes on at this late time but if one want to feel superior buy a ticket to Los Angeles, take cell phone camera, digital camera’s and click at the spectacle of everyday people living, surviving in West L.A. or The other Tenderloin.

Good intentions maybe however callous and calculating in its way of turning people troubles to a profit making venture for a non-profit group.

Let's see how the well healed, wealthy, gated, Mc Mansion living folk having their pristine neighborhoods made into a tourists attraction on the wild, watchful, slightly deviant, always absolutely fascinating, rarely seen rich in their private habitats.

Let gawk at the obscene wealth problem of too much money can do to so –called regular ordinary people.

Do you think they would want such attention on them day in, day out, for weeks, months, or years?

Seems to me this urban sight seeing can cut either way or a non profit org. can see how these rare individuals live their lives and how the burden of wealth changes them.

Armored care full of suited riot gear police in paramilitary fashion would be on hand to quell the non disturbance of bus loads of people and those on foot with all sorts of image taking devices snapping, clicking, away at stunned embarrassed populace.

I people cannot imagine the disrespectful; incursions on others people rights to be left alone in their own place and not to be treated as animals in display in a zoo.

Then maybe the rich and wealthy should be treated to the same indignity and invasion of their most precious right.

The right of poverty in there owns home and not seen as objects of pity.

Maybe this thing in L. A. won’t happen in January of 2010 because most of us are more sophisticated and know all neighborhoods, streets, areas, have their endangered people places.

Treating people in depressed, low income places like some new age safari fetish only shows low America’s standards have gone. Then again maybe we should do the non profit wealthy-sightseeing tour too and have enjoy the gawking looks of surprised faces as what was conceived as help- our poor brethren and sisters into 2010 is See The Wealthy in their gated community compounds, see how they live, and learn the ways of their Urban Jungle. Yes, that ought to be one trickle down theory I’d like to see.

Hotel Voices Update!
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NO RESERVATIONS
When:2pm Sunday, January 17, 2010.
Where:Jefferson Hotel Speakeasy/Stage
440 Eddy Street,
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(between Hyde & Leavenworth,
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Besides Japan's earthquake, tsunami, and on-going nuclear crisis, there is another problem.  Where do you store nuclear waste?  It takes 10,000 years for it to be safe enough to stand next to the stuff without losing your hair and/or your life. 

This is not disputed by any expert in the field.  There is a lot of talk about building more nuclear power reactors in this country.  The industry has had many problems with the security of the sites in general, at least the terrorism fear-mongers have been yammering at us about this for years. 

March 8, 2011 (three days before the earthquake and tsunami) the Nuclear Power industry sued the U.S. Dept of Energy to stop taxing it with a fee that raises $750 million a year for the Nuclear Waste Fund, managed by the U.S. Treasury.  There is $24 billion in the NWF right now, which is supposed to be used for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage site, 100 miles from Las Vegas, or for any other that might be created (don't hold your breath, you might need to learn to like the color blue...).

The longest-lasting governments we've ever had were the Chinese dynasties running that empire, the Egyptian dynasties, and the Roman Empire (which split into two empires...), none of them going much more than 1,000 to 2,000 years. Iceland's "Thing", or Parliament, has lasted 1,000 years.  The average of more common empire-like power structures is a few centuries.

Ten thousand years is a lot longer than humans have been able to stay focused on running a government, or a religion.  The U.S. Government's code phrase for a lost nuclear weapon is Broken Arrow, and there have a been a few broken arrows that have never been recovered. 

This elder skolah has learned a few things here and there.  The Public Library is one of them, the internet is the other.  I get angry about stuff like this, especially when people challenge me on facts that are easy to prove.  You don't need a Ph.D in nuclear physics to figure this stuff out. 

There's only two types of nuclear power that have no waste.  One is real, one is theoretical.  The real one, which is still years away from being a reality, is fusion.  The theoretical one is anti-matter, which will take a lot longer because it takes so much energy to produce even tiny amounts of the stuff, although scientists recently discovered that thunderstorms make the stuff all the time.

San Francisco's Navy Yard, owned by the Lennar Corporation, is a case in point.  It is contaminated, and some of that contamination is nuclear--the result of sand-blasting Navy ships exposed to nuclear bomb tests near the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean decades ago.  Lennar says they can clean the Navy Yard by putting a concrete cap over the contamination.  There have been five previous attempts to do this, what's one more among friends and neighbors made chronically ill because of this?

The Bayview-Hunter's Point area, where the Navy Yard is, has the highest amount of cancer, still-births, and similar problems, per capita, in this country.  This is a 5-square-miles chunk of the 49-square-miles of San Francisco.

Nuclear power generates nuclear waste, and what happens when you create something that dangerous?  The poor live near it, the people with money don't--they don't want to, and they don't have to. 

...will add audio later...

When I was fifteen I dreamed about being 21

Couldn't wait for that freedom

My own place would be so much fun

But when I left my gardenland of childhood bliss

You know I never thought I

Would have so much to miss...

Chorus:

Why didn't anybody tell me

All those things I needed to know

Why did they fill me

With meaningless innuendos

I coulda done so much better

If I'd've only known what I was doing

It only hurts us all

Who are they fooling?

When I left high school

I still had the better part of my dreams

Only three years later

I was falling apart at the seams

Well, did I know the year

--they wanna know

Did I know who was President

(like it really mattered)

Did I know who I was--ha!

I hardly knew how to pay the rent---

Chorus...Bridge...

Oh, I was

Too smart to die

I was too dumb to see

That if I had a baby

The government would take them

Away from me

They said I didn't know how to handle

Re--spon--si--bil--it--y

I'm just a bit too unorthodox--

--in the end, they took all three------

from me...             (scream)

So, for those of you who're

Out   there   now

With young minds and young dreams

Don't get hooked on the future

Because it might not be as great as it seems

Thursday, December 31, 2009;

Last Column of '09.
Creating less stress for me.
May all of us reap the...
good fortunes of a peaceful mind.

No New Years Resolutions!

Why the above?

Because like many of us starting new year's after a drink or two I say what and mean what I definitely will do in the coming months of said new year, and what happens?

Somehow, somewhere, invariably I mess it up and feel I’ve betrayed myself terribly.

No more of that awful feeling wretchedness. From now on its; Do-Be better without any resolutions.

Recently with a good friend a financial bet was made I want to stick too that.

It will take will power and prayer to succeed.

My reward is privately mind to have said and by actions abide by my word which is reward enough for me.

Everyone who’ve ever messed up their resolve over the years just keep faith in yourself to stand by your actions.

To all of us, may we all empower ourselves to do and be the best we can for all the years and decades to come.

Everyone have a grand, safe, sensuously-sexy, blessed New Year;)

I've been reading on-line news reports about the post-earthquake/tsunami nuclear crisis in Japan, and the reaction from the Obama Administration is, well, interesting to say the least.  The Japanese government says stay 12 miles from the worst-affected nuclear power plant.  The U.S. government says 50 miles, preferably more. 

When the news shifted to reporting about active evacuation of U.S. citizens from Japan, White House spokesbeing  Jay Carney said, "I will not from here judge the Japanese evaluation of the data.  This is what we would do if this incident were happening in the United States."  Oh really?

This reminds me of the reaction to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, when British Petroleum (BP) and the U.S. government insisted nothing too tremendously bad was afoot, but both were forced to eat their words times after time until forced to tell us--well, um, oops, it's really really bad!  Even then BP tried to downplay the amount of oil gushing into the gulf by shifting from talking about GALLONS of oil to BARRELS of oil.

I believe we are also being encouraged to think that any amount of radiation that hitches a gulf stream, or Pineapple Express storm-track ride, to the West Coast (which means POOR Magazine and a bunch of our neighbors...) and beyond ain't about nuthin' because we ALWAYS get bad stuff like particles of lead and what-not from Asia in our weather diet. 

You getting that warm fuzzy feeling I'm feeling?  Yeah.  Please, don't forget what the experts did the last time something ginormous happened!  I haven't.
 

On one rainy night Jan. 2011, my eyes was wide open like pan fried eggs. My pupils burned like hot sauce and fogged up like steamy shower doors. Apartment tenants slammed doors all night long to early morning hours when the birds started to sing. Loud voices of party prowlers penetrated the paper thin walls. Thump! Thump! Thump! the sound of heavy feet running over head shook me out of what little three minute sleep I manage to steal. SCREAM! How did a once nice peaceful studio apartment turn to a horrilble hub of hell? I FEEL THE FIRE OF THE SLUM LORD MILLIONAIRE SPELL!!!        

Wikipedia's definition of slumlord:

"A slumlord (also spelled slum lord) is a derogatory term for landlords, generally absentee landlords, who attempt to maximize profit by minimizing spending on property maintenance, often in deteriorating neighborhoods. They may need to charge lower than market rent to tenants. Severe housing shortages allow slumlords to charge higher rents.    " Wikipedia definition for millionaire: "A millionaire (originally and sometimes still millionnaire^[1]) is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire, which makes that amount of wealth a goal for some, and almost unattainable for others."

Mis management and slum lord practice goes together like freezing temperatures and icicles. The slum lord only care about collecting the rent money.The tenants safety, security and privacy are put in the hands of an unqualified, arrogant, and dishonest apartment managers. The slum lord hires the jerks to save money. It will cost him more to hire a real qualified manager with a good record.One dreary day I fell to sleep while I was watching television,I was woke up by a snooping female apartment manager who had the master key to all of the apartments, I was woke up to the noise of her opening my door. She didn't knock on my door at all. When I asked her what was she doing she just said, " sorry "! Then like a psycho, she slammed the door hard.  That was scary as a Stephen King stalker. I was as happy as the three stoogies when she quit and ran off to cow girl heaven.

The happiness didn't last too long, her left behind boyfriend from hell became the new manager.. His management skills stank like dead skunk breathe. Constantly the toilet, shower,washer,or dryers stayed broken down so much it became a habit ,expect bad news anytime.Party purgers threw up on the bathroom wall and floor,it took hours before the jaintor came to clean it up. Janitors was hard to keep on the job . They blew away like dust in a storm, maybe the bad -mouth graffitti on the walls scared them off in the sunset. I knew that one day things would get out of control like a loin in New York steak house.

Many times I came home from work and noticed that my apartment had been searched. I knew I wasn't the only one when an african american tenant yeled at the manager about his room being violated. Later many other tenats spoke of their apartments being searched while they was out working.    When I reseaarched the law about the landlord entering your apartment it stated:
"He is supposed to notify you 24 hours in advance if he needs to enter your home for any business connected to the renovation/repair of his property. If he does not notify you, you need to notify him IN WRITING that he is violating the privacy laws and that you can and will take him to court to prevent his "snooping" in your personal/private affairs. I would be certain, however, that he is indeed the one who is responsible for releasing personal information without your consent."

3AM one morning, I was woken up by some one click-click-clicking my lock to my apartment door. I sat up and yell, " You got the wrong door! " The click-click-clicking got more insane. I yell, "You got the wrong door!" The click-click-clicking went into overdrive. finally my patience RAN OUT LIKE COLD BEER at a frat house party. I snatched the door open, there stood a 6'4" frankenstien home invader who push my door open, babbling " this my roooor ooom. "I snapped into survivor mode and slamed the door. Some how he stuck his head in the door jamb . I increased my strenght and his head was crushed vice-like. His eyes gut big and then he dashed off down the creepy hallway. I told the manager abouy the incedent : he ignored me, He never tighten up srecurity for the tenants safety.

Racial tensuon grew and tenants didn't respect their neighbors safety, security, or privacy.   On the internet, Criminal Justice Tntervention stated:  "  Harassment is a crime. If proven, depending on the severity and frequency of the conduct and the harasser's prior criminal record, harassment can be punishable as either a gross misdemeanor or a felony. Harassment can mean many things. It can refer to the actions of a person (or group) who is repeatedly sending you threatening letters, calling you on the phone, or repeatedly sending you unwanted gifts. It can also involve behavior such as following you, watching you, and coming to your place of work or home. This behavior is commonly referred to as "stalking". Harassment can also include intentionally exposing you to materials which the harasser knows, or has reason to know, are culturally offensive or intimidating to you."

The land lord becomeds a millinaire while the tenants dignity and morals fades and dissapears.

The srange thing is that I found more safety and security while living in a shelter. I get enough sleep at night and get to work on time.

And I save my money so I can find a better place to live in the future.  Here are some helpful links to click for more information.http://bit.ly/geboSF

"They are referring to elders and people with disabilities as “useless human material,””  Michael Lyon sat in POOR’s community Newsroom speaking about how the right wing is framing the debate over Social Security. I immediately thought of Dr. Hajo Meyer, 86 year old elder activist in my Jewish community. He is a survivor of 10 months in Auschwitz, and recalls Nazis using the same language about people with disabilities, gay and lesbian people, Jews, trade unionists and all others targeted by the Nazis in the Holocaust. Refereing to people as “useless human material” is indicative of genocidal intent, and --when it comes to the proposed changes to SSI and Social Security, that is not a stretch.  

In November, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles the co-chairs of the National Commission on FIscal Responsibility and Reform created by President Obama, proposed major cuts to Social Security. Specifically, they recommend raising the retirement age to 69, slashing retirement benefits by up to 35 percent for middle-income earners, reducing Social Security's annual cost-of-living adjustments, cutting healthcare benefits, including Medicare, and raising fees for veterans. Although they are distancing themselves from George W. Bush’s vendetta to privatize Social Security, their restructuring plan is indeed a move towards privatization.

What would cuts to Social Security and Medicare mean? “Bad News” Bruce Allison, poverty scholar and activist is on SSI and Social Security. “I get roughly $840 a month to live on in a city that costs me $580 to rent, $20 for PG&E and the rest of the money goes to food or future functions.” About 8 years ago, Bruce was had to stop working due to a back injury. After being a homecare attendant for about 20 years, lifting people people out of beds and into wheelchairs and carrying them up and down flights of stairs when the SROs they lived in did not have elevators, two of his vertebrae fused together. Without SSI, “I would be pushing a grocery cart, sleeping on the streets or using an unorthodox way of renting known as squatting,” he says.

The proposed cuts would effect millions of children, disabled youth and adults and elders like Bruce, and what’s more- raising the age of retirement would only exacerbate the unemployment problems. With older folks working longer, those jobs do not become available to other people who are trying to work. Thus, the of the Senior Action Network, California Alliance of Retired Americans and the Gray Panthers have come together under the banner “Hands off Social Security- Jobs Now!”

The plans to cut Social Security and the impact that will have on the millions of people who currently rely on it or will be relying on it are bad enough. But what is even more sinister is that Simpson and Bowles have admittsed that Social Security does not actually add to the deficit.Michael Lyon, of the Senior Action Network asks “How can you justify raising the age to collect Social Security, when it’s an average 13% benefit cut, when it’s only the wealthy who are living longer, when older people find it almost impossible to find jobs, when many older people’s bodies are already worn out, when it would make it harder for younger people to find jobs, and when you say Social Security doesn’t add to the deficit?”

Right now, the right-wing is circulating lies that Social Security is in crisis. They are hoping that in a panic, we will make some bad decisions and actually end the system as we know it. They are also referring to Social Security as “entitlement,” implying that those who receive it need to “toughen up” and “get real,” that elders and folks with disabilities do not deserve to have their basic needs met. To them, the idea of someone who is not directly engaged in capitalist production receiving what they need to stay alive is a waste. No matter what wisdom, life experience, kindness, curiosity, relationships or thoughts someone is contributing to the world, if they aren’t making money for someone else, they are treated as “useless human material.”

To get involved in defending Social Security, contact mlyon01@comcast.net

http://www.socialsecuritymatters.org/Resources.html

Monday, June 7, 2010

One Poverty Skolar Challenges the Non-profit Industrial Complex in Court!

The corner stores, health insurance, same day loans services are examples of how Poor folks, People of Color, and women overpay for services. We also get paid less for the services we provide the public. The mainstream media and the educational systems indoctrinates us with the propaganda the this society is based on equality and the rule of law. Yet, we pay the most and get the less, and try to exercise these so called rights becomes a monumental task. There is a cottage industry set to help the the houseless, poor and us that are receive public assistance. Just like in “Confession of an Economic Hit-man”, the billions of dollars raised for the relief the Haitian or the funds raised by the Red Cross that was supposed to assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the funds never reached the people These funds created jobs for a herd of non-profits that hide behind their tax exempt status like wolves in sheep's clothing sucking those scarce resources from those they are allegedly helping.

Transitional Housing Providers are the wolves that suck the government resources meant to assist us poor people. California has a system of laws that are set up for individuals renting real property, enacted to protect tenants. These aren't rights that landlords just gave tenants, they were hard fought by the people.

A rental agreement establishes tenancy, these simple contractual relationships are the pillars of the American Housing Rental Market. This relationship is accompanied with a series of due process rights that are codified in the statutes. In order for a Landlord to regain any rental property from a Tenant, the property must use the unlawful detainer process better known as the eviction process. This the bedrock of a Tenant's rights in California.

Yet, in the progressive blueness of Alameda County very low income tenants find themselves victims of unlawful and illegal behavior by Transitional Housing programs that received funding from governments. Most of the residents of transitional housing facilities are the poor, people of color and women, and we become marginalized, invisible as human beings not deserving of the bundle of rights that others receive.

California Civil Code § 1940 defines what is renting of residential property, and the Landlord must use California Code of Civil Procedure §§ 1159 -1170. Which gives tenants a right to trial, and notice of termination of tenancy before a landlord can file a lawsuit against a tenant for eviction.

The legislature passage of Health and Safety Code §§ 50580 – 50591 defines “Transitional Housing”. This gives a providers an option of getting Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) for those individuals accused of egregious behavior. The California Judicial Council as even created Judicial Council forms to be utilized by Transitional Housing Providers to use in accusations of misconduct by residents at Transitional Housing Facilities.

However, under no means can Providers forcibly remove residents from the facilities without going through the legal process. A trick used by many providers to attempt nullify a tenants' rights with the practices is having residents sign a document waving their rights has tenants. According to the Civil Code § 1953 that practice is prohibited It is against public policy for a tenant to waive any right to litigation. The forcible eviction of human beings from their place of residence without due process is not only illegal and unlawful, it is inhumane.

In 2007, after my Unemployment Insurance Grant had been exhausted, and i was having a difficult time finding employment, and as I got further behind in my rent. without the prospect of a job in sight , I decided to take a relative's offers to move in with them. After a few days, it became very evident that this living situation was not going to work, so I moved out.

In my previous employment at a local non-profit, one of my tasks was assisting Alameda County residents in defending themselves in evictions. I also assisted people in obtaining emergency, food, shelter and transitional housing. Now, it was me seeking the same assistance. Alameda County offers General Assistance to single adults without dependent children, if the applicant is homeless they will not obtain a cash grant, but they offered a bed in Community Housing and Shelter Services (CHASS) program for 90 days. In the CHASS program the participating Housing Provider receives in kind cash aid for each GA recipient which amounts to more than twice the amount of a normal monthly cash grant. If I would have received the money that they paid the Provider I would have been able to stay in my original residence.

I was assigned a top bed on a bunk bed and a locker at the East Oakland Community Project (ECOP) a CHASS program located in the flatlands of East Oakland on International Blvd. $720 a month for a bed and shared locker seems kinda steep even in the Bay Area. The ECOP receives over $400,000 annually for providing space for the CHASS programs.

It is abundantly clearly that GA recipient participants of the CHASS programs are tenants under California Law. Therefore, they are entitled to a basic modicum of due process. Yet, in the Big I and little Yous attitudes of the a Transitional Housing programs of the Non-profit Industrial Complex you bascially have no rights the Provider will respect. Yet, the attitude of many Transitional Housing Providers is the California Statutes don't apply to their residents.

On many occasions residents of Transitional Housing have been forced out of their housing without any use of any legal process. Just imagine being kicked out of your housing or place to stay, without any means and told to move your belongings. On many occasions, after the Transitional Housing Provider accepted a Tenant's rent, and assigned them a bed, they would evict the tenant for the most minor infraction of the rules, things like disagreements with staff are grounds for forcible removal from the facilities.

37 days into my stay in the ECOP facility during a Saturday morning meeting with a Case Worker I was ordered to take a drug test. The refusal was because the ECOP is a not licensed drug treatment facility or medical facility. Also, there were concerns about adequacy of the testing procedures and facilities, and doubts to the legalities of both. California Statute does allows a County to drug test General Assistance recipients unless drug test requirement have been expressly approved by County Board Supervisors. Alameda County has not enacted a drug testing requirement for General Assistance recipients.

This is a prime example, of when you live in Transitional Housing, you become less than an adult, we no longer have choices. No longer are we capable of making choices for ourselves. Staff decides how you spend your day, what you eat and who you see, when and where you urinate. It is like being on parole or probation, our crime is that de-facto crime of being poor and homeless.

When presented the option of being subjected to a intrusive and illegal test or getting put out on the streets, it can be a difficult decision. Imagine a mother with kids, disabled person, or an elder being presented with that choice. Or how about being forced out the street during the cold, wetness of the winter? It is a difficult decision, it is easy to understand why many refuse to participate in any Transitional Housing program, The residents are automatically criminalized. marginalized and dehumanized.

After a 30 minute interview the Staff at the Transitional Housing facilities becomes experts on your life and know exactly what you need in order straight out of your problems. Now, most of the times these programs don't really help folk, but it does provide jobs the work in the Non-Profit Industrial Complex.

This primary purpose is not to help people, but to create jobs and employment and a cottage industry of Poverty Pimps that suck the life, resources and humanity out of us. How does the $24 per day the ECOP receives in the Alameda County Social Services help the Tenant?

We need real housing, not overpriced rented bunk beds and lockers in a crowded facility.

A political stand is necessary to shed light in the way the non-profits like the ECOP, violates the rights of its residents. “power concedes nothing without a demand”. I filed a lawsuit against the EOCP in Pro Per . However, I am not under any illusion, I know that I am the underdog in this action. The Defendant has an annual budget of several millions dollars. In additional, they are represented by the Narayan Law Group an insurance defense firm that represent municipalities in police misconduct case. The Courts through out United States History has not look favorably on the rights of the poor and people of color, but rather favors corporations over individuals.

Being out numbered and out-gunned is a situation that people like me are used to what get us moving is the belief in the power of the people. This case is a referendum of the unlawful and illegal conduct of the Non-profit Industrial Complex that takes our resources and still disenfranchise us and treat us has second class human being.

My next court date is June 11th, 2010 at 9:00 am in Department 25, of the Alameda County Superior Court, located at 1225 Fallon Street. Please show up, I need the support of the people in this struggle for the humane treatment of CHASS program recipients.

 With the disasters that have hit Pacha Mama in the last couple years, it seems to affect poor people the worst--from the earthquake in Haiti, to the oppression in Egypt and the Middle East, violence in Mexico and now in Japan.

   I was not surprised of the little coverage devoted by mainstream media to those most affected by the tsunami in Japan--Poor people. The Majority of the people who live on the coastline of Japan are Poor people who depend on fishing as survival to eat and sell. This doesn’t happen only in Japan but in other so called “Third world countries” so when tsunamis, hurricanes and storms occur, poor people who live on the coastline suffer the worst compared with middle and upper class people who live in the downtowns or higher grounds.

    Poor people who don’t work in factories like Honda, Toyota, or in the technology industries which require some kind of education, end up as fisherman or living in poor areas next to coastlines.

   In a Article I read recently released by the BBC, it was mentioned how climate change will impact “underprivileged” the most.

   "It's the poorest of the poor in the world, and this includes poor people even in prosperous societies, who are going to be the worst hit," said Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

•    75-250 million people across Africa could face water shortages by 2020
•    Crop yields could increase by 20% in East and Southeast Asia, but decrease by up to 30% in Central and South Asia
•    Agriculture fed by rainfall could drop by 50% in some African countries by 2020
•    20-30% of all plant and animal species at increased risk of extinction if temperatures rise between 1.5-2.5C
•    Glaciers and snow cover expected to decline, reducing water availability in countries supplied by melt water
   From Africa to Japan over and over poor people are on the frontlines of disasters. It is sad that even in so called independent media, little is mentioned of the suffering of our poor people, the houseless, landless, jobless the elders.

   The elephant in the room that few want to confront is the Class issue. I remember hearing stories of Katrina and how people got stuck in New Orleans because they did not have a car to leave. It seems we poor people are destined to die.
Corporate media and Governments want to keep us silent but at poor magazine we resist, fight back, speak out, and shout.

By any means possible,

Being poor is not a crime
Then why get criminalized, brutalized,
For breathing
Left behind by society
All we trying do is to make a living
Is not about the color of your skin
Is about the class you belong
So I shout am brown proud
And love my poor gente

So Today, I decided to pick up my mentee Nicole from school and take her out to eat at the Casino. I told her about Indigenous Peoples Media Proje  at PNNt, and she asked if she could talk about the Ute Beardance and since I am such a round dance queen I asked if she could talk about Round dance as well.

If you ever come to the Southern Ute Beardance and if Nicole chooses to dance with you consider yourself blessed, she is an amazing beardancer! Peep the video!

When I started this journey, I asked my Pops to give me a blessing. I didn't call this journey the Indigenous Peoples Highway at the time but I knew I was about to enter a journey deeper into the rabbit hole. I was asking myself "How far in the rabbit hole do I want to go?" So this weekend was that for me...

I faced one of my belief systems head on... and cried because I knew that belief that I had wasn't authentic to whom I really am. 

This belief system affects the way I see myself as a woman, and how I believe elders, grandparents, and parents see me.

So I had to choose to love the me I was meant to be or be the fake person in the name of looking good and "respect". This sounds all really abstract, but the concept is clear being whom you were meant to be.

So this weekend during the round dance was reflection after reflection after reflection and definitly after. 

I thank the Creator for placing all these perfect reflections in my life so that I may destroy this belief that i choose to belief. 

OF course its not over, the work is only the beginning....

I leave you with a round dance video from the rounddance I was at... cya winter and welcome spring... brighter days to come!

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Estoy  muy desesperada por lo que paso en Japon

La verdad es que esto que paso duele porque  nadie espera

Un desastre asi hoy hay niños sin padres, padres sin hijos hermamos sin hermanos, familias destruidas

Yo se que contra la voluntad de Dios nada se puede hacer solo les deseo que el mismo les llene el vasio que an dejado  sus seres queridos y quisas esto es una señal que el hijo de Dios biene pronto y debemos de estar preparados no en lo material si no en lo espiritual que nuestro corason este limpio de maldades.

Debemos de unirnos amarnos unos con otros vivir la vida como si fuera el ultimo dia hacer las cosas mejor que nunca.

Yo solo le pido a DIOS que los bendiga los allude de esta situacion y que la paz de el sea con cada uno de ustedes

For Japan

I'm very sad because of what happened in Japan

The truth is that what happened hurt because nobody expected a disaster so today there are children without parents, parents without children, brothers without brothers, destroyed families

I know that nothing can be done against the will of God, I only wish that the emptiness from the ones who lost their loved ones will be filled and this might be a sign that the son of God very soon will come and we must be prepared not materially but spiritually clear your heart from all that is evil.

We must unite and love each others life as if it were the last day and do things better than ever.

I just ask God to bless and help us overcome this situation and may peace be with each one of you.

After spending the day with my sista Kellee Coleman, Austin native, organizer with Mamas of Color Rising, and supa mama to 3 fierce little ones, I arrived at my sister's house (called the Bunche House) and found a wonderful surprise. The house smelled delicios my sister was in the kitchen cooking, squash, black beans and rice and the house echoed with voices and laughter. Outside I saw the backyard had transformed in to a huge play space and there was a group of young people playing dominoes at the table with housemate Chelsea.

There were around 11 kids ages 4-13 years in backyard and in the house. Everyone knew each other. There was a feeling of mutual respect and family. It reminded me of when I was a kid growing up around all my tios and tias older cousins at my grandmothers house. I felt like a kid again (well we all are kids at heart!)

I had a great time and met new friends! I reflected and thought what a beautiful example of interdependence.

Housemate Courtney had this to share about all the neighborhood kids coming over and playing in the yard, "Even though we live in the house, the land belongs to everybody, they have just as much a right to use it."

Que hermosa la vida y familia!!