h2 nbsp;/h2 p (Editor#39;s Note:nbsp; Peter span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Jamero" data-scaytid="3"Jamero/span is a longtime friend of Al Robles.nbsp; He is the author of 2 books--Growing up Brown and The Bridge Generation.nbsp; The books talk about Filipino life in America from the perspective of a native son navigating between two worlds--the world of his parents and the world of America.nbsp; This interview was done after the publication of his first book Growing up Brown.nbsp; His follow up book, The Bridge Generation was just released by University of Washington Press and will be featured in an upcoming column of POOR Magazine.nbsp; For more information on Peter span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Jamero" data-scaytid="5"Jamero/span, go to:nbsp; a href="http://peterjamero.net/default.aspx"http://span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="peterjamero.net" data-scaytid="1"peterjamero.net/span/default.aspx/a.nbsp; Tony Robles--Co-Editor, POOR Magazine)/p h2 nbsp;/h2 h2 By a href="http://www.iexaminer.org/author/the-international-examiner/" title="Posts by The International Examiner"font color="#003366"The International Examiner/font/abr / Posted in a href="http://www.iexaminer.org/category/news/" rel="category tag" title="View all posts in News"font color="#003366"News/font/a, a href="http://www.iexaminer.org/category/issue/volume-33-no-20/" rel="category tag" title="View all posts in Volume 33 No. 20"font color="#003366"Volume 33 No. 20/font/a/h2 div class="postmetadata_single" p class="clear" nbsp;/p /div div class="entry" !-- AddThis Button Begin --!-- AddThis Button Begin --!-- AddThis Button Begin --!-- AddThis Button Begin --SCRIPT type=text/javascriptvar addthis_product = 'wpp-261'; var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":false};/scriptSCRIPT type=text/javascript src="//s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#pubid=wp-4e63b3e01490ca14"/scriptp !--cut=none--!--cut=none--!--cut=none--!--cut=none--/p p strongBY LUCIA span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ENRIQUEZ" data-scaytid="9"ENRIQUEZ/span/strongbr / emstrongExaminer Contributor/strong/em/p !--/cut--!--/cut--!--/cut--!--/cut--p Peter span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Jamero’s" data-scaytid="11"Jamerorsquo;s/span newly published memoir, ldquo;Growing Up Brown,rdquo; talks about early Filipino American history. He was born in 1930 at a Filipino farm workerrsquo;s camp run by his parents in California, surrounded by 80-100 workers housed and fed by his family. He overcame a language barrier and became a precocious and popular young man in high school. Despite many early achievements he experienced discrimination. Undeterred, he went on to join the Navy and took on broader and riskier opportunities when he got out. He started a family and at the same time went on to graduate school. Then he rose up to the executive ranks in government and played a prominent role in the Filipino community in Seattle in the lsquo;70s and span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="‘80s" data-scaytid="13"lsquo;80s/span./p !--cut=raquo; continue reading--!--cut=raquo; continue reading--!--cut=raquo; continue reading--!--cut=raquo; continue reading--p An enthusiastic and raucous audience received Peter span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Jamero" data-scaytid="7"Jamero/span at a talk and reading at the University Bookstore in Seattle last August. I sat with him prior to the reading to talk about things he learned from his experiences, how he overcame the lack of opportunities and ended up trailblazing an amazing career./p p strongLE:/strong Tell me about growing up in the camp. We hear a lot about the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="“manongs”" data-scaytid="15"ldquo;manongsrdquo;/span (first-generation Filipino farm workers who came over in the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="‘20s" data-scaytid="17"lsquo;20s/span and span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="‘30s" data-scaytid="19"lsquo;30s/span) but most of the stories are about single men, not about families who actually ran their own camps./p p strongspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="PJ" data-scaytid="21"PJ/span:/strong Therersquo;s the misconception that the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="“manong”" data-scaytid="39"ldquo;manongrdquo;/span generation were all single. Many of them were, but a lot of them were married, including women from the Philippines. And my father was fortunately one of them. And there were also a lot of mixed kids. Those of us in the ldquo;Bridge Generationrdquo; (the children of the farm workers) considered those mixed kids as Filipino. If they hung out with us and said they were Filipino, thatrsquo;s all that was necessary. We didnrsquo;t make the distinction that was prevalent at that time of span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="regionalization" data-scaytid="41"regionalization/span, where people identified as span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Visayan" data-scaytid="43"Visayan/span, or span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Ilocano" data-scaytid="45"Ilocano/span or whatever. We just simply felt that in our generation, if they were Filipino they were Filipino. And we didnrsquo;t go beyond that. We didnrsquo;t question whether they had a white mother or a black mother or whatever./p p At the same time we were Filipino. Our belief system was Filipino. Our cultural way of life was Filipino. People spoke different dialects, but that didnrsquo;t matter. Our identity was Filipino, there was no doubt in our minds about that, and thatrsquo;s the way we continue to feel./p p strongLE:/strong It was startling to read about your experience meeting white people for the first time. To you it was a strange encounter because most of the people you knew were Filipino, and that you consider English a second language./p p strongspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="PJ" data-scaytid="23"PJ/span: /strongItrsquo;s hard today to imagine the situation then, but we were isolated. But the country at that time wasnrsquo;t as heavily populated. And so we were not unusual in that sense. I think most ethnic groups hung together, but in our case because were not like the prevalent white folks, there was more of a reason for us to be on our own or to be by ourselves. And so it was true, I had no idea that there was an overwhelming number of white people in this country. Until I went to school, of course, and found out that, indeed, the United States of America was a lot bigger than the farm country that I was familiar with. And so that was a big awakening for me./p p strongLE:/strong You describe your many responsibilities at camp. It seemed like a city almost, like a little town./p p strongspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="PJ" data-scaytid="25"PJ/span:/strong In many ways it was. We had a little store there, a ldquo;sari-sarirdquo; (variety) store that my mother ran. We were pretty independent in terms of preparing our own food, we slaughtered our own chickens and our own span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="“baboy”" data-scaytid="47"ldquo;baboyrdquo;/span (pigs or hogs), grew our own vegetables. But lots of families in those days were doing that same thing. What was unusual was that we had to provide for 80-100 people, most of whom were single men./p p strongLE: /strongWas it then unusual for you to go to school, having come from camp?/p p strongspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="PJ" data-scaytid="27"PJ/span:/strong Very unusual. I was the only one in school then who came from that situation./p p strongLE:/strong So you had the acculturation at camp, and a different acculturation in school. In spite of that you did very well. In high school you write that you were class president, then student body vice president./p p strongspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="PJ" data-scaytid="29"PJ/span: /strongThat was my span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="naïveté" data-scaytid="49"naiuml;veteacute;/span. I believed what they tried to teach us in this country about equality. Discrimination wasnrsquo;t something I experienced until high school. It isnrsquo;t like that today obviously, but that was an awakening. I think you read in there about one of my teachers saying to me when I signed up for college prep that my kind belongs in agriculture or machine shop./p p strongLE: /strongThat must have been devastating./p p strongspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="PJ" data-scaytid="31"PJ/span: /strongVery devastating. You may also remember what I put in the book, especially after the prom, where here I thought I was so popular that I wouldnrsquo;t have a problem getting a prom date. I was very wrong. I tried to wash my color. It didnrsquo;t come off./p p strongLE: /strongWhat kept you going despite these kinds of experiences?/p p strongspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="PJ" data-scaytid="33"PJ/span:/strong I got pretty good guidance from my mother in particular, who was a teacher in the Philippines, and very much believed in the ideals of this country. And, of course, a number of teachers who were very supportive of me as well. They were not only supportive, but very helpful in trying to show me other aspects. They didnrsquo;t necessarily know the hurt I went through but they believed in me as an individual. I went through some bitter things, but that was not necessarily all of my experience. The good experiences I had with my classmates were sustaining./p p strongLE:/strong Tell me about the people in the camps. Did some of them take other jobs, or did they tend to stay as farm workers and migrate?/p p strongspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="PJ" data-scaytid="35"PJ/span: /strongMost of them ndash; not because they preferred it that way ndash; died as farm workers. Which meant that if they were fortunate enough to live till they were in their span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="60s" data-scaytid="51"60s/span and 70s, they were still farm workers. It was not because they were not educated, and did not have the desire to do something else. It was because the opportunities were not there./p p The doors were not entirely very open to us, and we were American citizens. So you can imagine that people who came from the Philippines had even greater problems in trying to make it in mainstream employment. Donrsquo;t forget there were no laws there that would protect you against discrimination and things like that. In fact, those laws didnrsquo;t protect me for most of my career. They didnrsquo;t come into being in this country until the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="‘60s" data-scaytid="57"lsquo;60s/span. And by the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="‘60s" data-scaytid="59"lsquo;60s/span, I was already in my span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="30s-40s" data-scaytid="61"30s-40s/span, so there were no legal protections for people of color./p p I chose to look at those events where I experienced discrimination as learning experiences. Some people go through events and become bitter. I donrsquo;t look at it that way, and my wife and I try to raise our children that way. We were very clear with the kids. Understand racism, know how to deal with discrimination. But never, never use it as an excuse. Itrsquo;s an easy cop-out to say well, I didnrsquo;t get that job because I was Filipino. I never really did that./p p strongLE:/strong What would you like new immigrants from the Philippines to learn from your history?/p p strongspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="PJ" data-scaytid="37"PJ/span: /strongWhat I would hope theyrsquo;ll learn is that what they may be going through in trying to make it in this country ndash; and this is a tough country ndash; therersquo;s nothing easy here even today. The history ought to teach them that theyrsquo;re really not alone, and havenrsquo;t been. What theyrsquo;re going through is similar in a lot of ways to what other people are going through. Thatrsquo;s what I mean by understanding history./p p One thing I like to say at book readings is that, despite the things Irsquo;ve gone through, I truly appreciate that only in America could the things that Irsquo;ve been able to accomplish happen. I come from peasant stock in the Philippines. I wouldnrsquo;t have been able to do this in the Philippines. I know the old country ways, and I know this country./p p Newly arrived immigrants ndash; the thing that I hope they would do is they would turn to people like us whorsquo;ve gone through some of this. We can help. We can at least tell them, donrsquo;t feel alone. These are the ways Irsquo;ve handled it. They (immigrants) ought not to put us down because we canrsquo;t speak Tagalog. Thatrsquo;s the least thing they ought to be concerned about./p p Whether we speak Tagalog or not, the blood that goes through our veins is the same as theirs. We donrsquo;t see them as different. They ought not to see us as different. span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/p !--/cut--!--/cut--!--/cut--!--/cut--/div

p Our politicians are either stupid or lazy, because they donrsquo;t look at the bigger issues and are only concerned about monetary span data-scayt_word="profit.”" data-scaytid="1"profit.rdquo;/span Alberto span data-scayt_word="Saldamando" data-scaytid="2"Saldamando/span, representative from the International Indian Treaty Council, gave me this simple revelation concerning the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.nbsp;/p p What concerns me is the fact that it could affect the reservations that surround the proposed pipeline. Tens of thousands of people below poverty level could get sick and die or get hurt or killed in an explosion or rupture. Trans Canada Pipelines Corporation clearly already have pipeline laid down to Cushing OK, where major refining plants are located, and hence they already go around the areas where major poverty levels are at./p p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;" President Barack Obama, self-proclaimed leader in clean energy revision, has planned to accept all parties undertaking this project that could lay waste to sensitive ecosystems, up the price of gas because of such dirty oil needs to be refined even further due to different compounds that make up the Tar Sands of Alberta, Canada. But most of all that matters to me, with this controversial topic, is where they want to build it as well as the environmental issues/p p class="MsoNormal" span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanUpon reviewing a map of the proposed pipeline, it shows the original Keystone Pipeline as it heads south from span data-scayt_word="Hardisty" data-scaytid="3"Hardisty/span, then it makes itrsquo;s way to Winnipeg. Which is east from span data-scayt_word="Hardisty" data-scaytid="4"Hardisty/span. From there all the way down to Steele City KA, then breaking off from there to span data-scayt_word="Patoka" data-scaytid="5"Patoka/span and Wood River IL.,/p p class="MsoNormal" Instead of going east to Winnipeg, they decided it must go south to Baker MO., already several issues come to mind. Including a way to put the pipeline inside of the Rocky Mountains, also along with that comes the issue of the strength and durability of the pipeline as well as a way to keep it from leaking or corroding. I believe we may have another BP situation on our hands here. What happens when there is a spill of BPrsquo;s proportion on land? Do the politicians think of that? Just last Monday September 20, a major oil rig exploded and not a single word was said about it, witness Maria Slay told the span data-scayt_word="Oklahoman" data-scaytid="6"Oklahoman/span that she heard four or five explosions and said workers are at the drilling rig around the clock. No injuries were so called reported. Letrsquo;s say that happened near the reservations. That would be a cataclysmic event that would affect a lot of indigenous people of the reservations. Another issue is the compounds that make up the tar sands of Alberta, Canada./p p class="MsoNormal" span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanBituminous sands, colloquially known as oil sands or tar sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Making liquid fuels from oil sands requires energy for steam injection and refining. This process generates two to four times the amount of greenhouse span data-scayt_word="gases" data-scaytid="7"gases/span per barrel of final product as the production of conventional oil./p p class="MsoNormal" span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanHeavy metals such as vanadium, nickel, lead, cobalt, mercury, chromium, cadmium, arsenic, selenium, copper, manganese, iron and zinc are present in oil sands, which make the oil sands extremely hard to pump and refine, which is why many people call the bituminous sands ldquo;dirty oilrdquo;.span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /span/p p class="MsoNormal" span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanAnother issue I just stumbled upon is the lies that were told to us. I recently heard from a colleague of mine, whorsquo;s name I will not release due to the relative nature ofspan style=""nbsp; /spanthis article, informed me that Trans Canada Corporation is not selling the oil to the United States but instead they are only renting the land from the United States to sell oil to South America. When I heard this, two things came to mind, jobs and money./p p class="MsoNormal" span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanIf this is true, Americans near and around the extended pipeline would be the most in danger, including those peoples on the reservations. What if nothing happened, oil production is moving forward in the process and oil is being sold. Greenhouse gasses would be the major problem. Many people in the Midwest have breathing problems due to so much drought.span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /span/p p class="MsoNormal" span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanThe only money the United States would be getting is from Trans Canada Pipelines for renting the land, and the only jobs created by this would be for the oil rigs that are already in place and have workers. Not a single man or woman would be able to build the actual pipeline even if they had the experience. I canrsquo;t say for sure if anything will happen, but what I have the right to say is that this proposed pipeline will only bring more issues to come instead of solutions./p

p (Editor#39;s note: This story is reprinted from the San Francisco span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="127"Bayview/span Newspaper, September 2011 issue.nbsp; To read other stories from the San Francisco span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="131"Bayview/span Newspaper go to span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="www.sfbayview.com" data-scaytid="137"www.sfbayview.com/span)/p p nbsp;/p p With the current wave of uprisings across England ndash; after police murdered Mark span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Duggan" data-scaytid="9"Duggan/span, 29, Black father of four, and beat a 16-year-old girl at the peaceful protest led by Markrsquo;s family outside the police station when she asked police why they shot him ndash; and the insurgence of flash mobs across the United States, sparked by unrest in Black communities in cities from Chicago and Kansas City to Philadelphia, where Black youth face problems of unemployment, poor education and constant span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="demonization" data-scaytid="11"demonization/span and vilification from the police, media and wider span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="U.S" data-scaytid="1"U.S/span. demographic, it is appropriate to call on the history of rebellions by our people./p p nbsp;/p p As Dr. Martin Luther King span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Jr" data-scaytid="13"Jr/span. once stated, riot is the language of the unheard; and so it comes as no surprise that the language of our underclass is of the same dialect that it has been for decades and even centuries, as the socio-political issues that plague Black communities have refused to subside and the outcry of our people continues to ring a mere murmur in the ears of the power elite and our fellow world citizens./p p The span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="15"Bayview/span community erupted in 1966, at the height of the civil rights movement, upon the unlawful police killing of 16-year-old Black youth Matthew ldquo;Peanutrdquo; Johnson. Police killings continue to haunt Black communities not only here in span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="17"Bayview/span Hunters Point ndash; rest in peace, Kenneth Harding ndash; or even the Bay Area ndash; Oscar Grant and span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Raheim" data-scaytid="29"Raheim/span Brown, to name but two stolen lives, remain in our hearts ndash; but across the Atlantic too, in Black communities suffering the same injustices that burn fury in the consciousness of our people: a people of peace./p p Our people of peace, when provoked tirelessly by the evils of police brutality, gentrification and a near genocidal prison system, stand together and claim a united voice: the voice of rebellion./p p So to those young rebels fighting the oppression of Black people today in America, the United Kingdom and across the world, we stand in solidarity with your vision. The fight began long before the 1966 rebellion and continues to live on in the consciousness of every man and woman who has the courage to stand against the white supremacist state in which we live./p p The following interview, conducted earlier this year by span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Alka" data-scaytid="31"Alka/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Joshi" data-scaytid="35"Joshi/span, talking with her neighbors in span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="19"Bayview/span Hunters Point who lived here then, gives an inside look at the 1966 uprising. Those rebels are present today in the consciousness of our youth: Our plight necessitates the continuation of their fight./p p strongMan:/strong That chain of events ndash; [Nat] span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Burbridge" data-scaytid="41"Burbridge/span [president of the San Francisco NAACP] had to take a stand on something. And the issue was: murder./p p strongWoman 1:/strong I realized that it was just, they were fighting for the right to be enabled to walk down the street and be equal, just like anybody else./p p strongMan:/strong Irsquo;m not just span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gon’" data-scaytid="43"gonrsquo;/span let you get away with doing anything to me and expect me to like it. And my stand is, is to fight back./p p strongWoman 1:/strong We were span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="havin’" data-scaytid="47"havinrsquo;/span an Indian summer; it was warm that day./p p strongMan:/strong We were, you know, out in front of the house playing, like little kids do, and we heard tires span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="squealin’" data-scaytid="49"squealinrsquo;/span and saw a guy in a stolen car and hersquo;s just span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="wheelin’" data-scaytid="51"wheelinrsquo;/span around the schoolyard and span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="doin’" data-scaytid="53"doinrsquo;/span doughnuts and stuff like this. At that time it was real exciting, lsquo;cause he was too young to be driving./p p strongMan:/strong Police cruisers came into the schoolyard. I can remember him doing a doughnut and heading towards the south end of the schoolyard and span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="slammin’" data-scaytid="57"slamminrsquo;/span on the breaks; the car slammed into one of the school benches and he jumped out and took off span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="runnin’" data-scaytid="59"runninrsquo;/span. He went to jump off the top of this little hill and I heard the gun crack; and I saw the body contort. They shot him! But they shot him in the back./p p Mind you, I was a kid then. So I really didnrsquo;t understand all of the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="grumblin’" data-scaytid="61"grumblinrsquo;/span and the anger and stuff like this ndash; I didnrsquo;t make the connection then. Well, he stole a car, he did span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="somethin’" data-scaytid="63"somethinrsquo;/span wrong; but, they didnrsquo;t have to kill him./p p strongNewscaster from 1966 clip:/strong It was as if a war had broken out on San Franciscorsquo;s city streets [the sound of people screaming in the background]./p p strongWoman 1:/strong I could hear my mom on the phone, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="talkin’" data-scaytid="69"talkinrsquo;/span about a riot; and, itrsquo;s like, you know, what is span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="goin’" data-scaytid="71"goinrsquo;/span on? And then my brother, he says, he goes down to Third Street and he said the National Guard is out there. I can still visualize all the helicopters; I remember the police cars and paddy wagons that was span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="goin’" data-scaytid="73"goinrsquo;/span back and forth./p p strongMan:/strong [inaudible] span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="comin’" data-scaytid="77"cominrsquo;/span from everywhere, a lot of police sirens and stuff like this./p p strongWoman 1:/strong Shots were fired around the Opera House, which was just down the street from my school./p p strongMan:/strong A whole lot of Black people gathered in the streets and they were span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="shoutin’" data-scaytid="79"shoutinrsquo;/span: ldquo;Piggy, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="wiggy" data-scaytid="81"wiggy/span! span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Ooo" data-scaytid="83"Ooo/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ooo" data-scaytid="85"ooo/span, you span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gotta" data-scaytid="87"gotta/span go now. Oink span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="oink.”" data-scaytid="3"oink.rdquo;/span/p p strongWoman 1:/strong It was really, it was just a mess, it really was. It really, really was a mess./p p strongWoman 2:/strong I have been in span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="21"Bayview/span for 48 years. My parents purchased a home here a month before I was born./p p strongMan:/strong My dad was in the Navy./p p strongWoman 2:/strong My dad was in the military. He was a porter on the Southern Pacific railroad. 1964, when they came here and bought the house, [there were] very few places that would allow Blacks to move [in]. But finally, I was someplace where I could run up and down the street and have a big back yard, and I was just so happy. I was just so happy in the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="23"Bayview/span./p p strongMan:/strong Third Street was a beautiful place. We didnrsquo;t even have to go out of the community, basically, for anything. Everything we needed was right there. It was such a thrill to have a quarter and to be able to go to Third Street, to the candy store./p p strongWoman 1:/strong Half of the counter was full of candy. And it was so, it would just be so fun to go down there and just pick up all the candy you want!/p p Everybody would come home and do their homework; and if it was a nice day, somebody would try to talk their parent into span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="hangin’" data-scaytid="93"hanginrsquo;/span outside. If we had one parent outside, everybody was able to stay out. And sometimes one parent would fix hot dogs and chips, or one parent would fix French fries and maybe a sandwich; and we all shared it together./p p And we would get on somebodyrsquo;s stairs or we would sit in the driveway and just sit out and eat and have fun./p p strongWoman 2:/strong The demographics when we moved in rsquo;64 here was very diverse. White, Black, we had an Asian family that they still live down there./p p strongMan:/strong This was all Russian and Italian before we moved down here: Russian, Italian, a few Chinese, but no Hispanics./p p strongWoman 2:/strong Didnrsquo;t feel any type of racial tension, really didnrsquo;t at all. At least I didnrsquo;t. Everybody was just so nice. I can still look around and think about ndash; I probably went into everybodyrsquo;s house on this whole entire block./p p Things were so different: If you as a child was rude to someone, or another neighbor saw that you were doing something, they would go and tell your parents, but they would spank you!/p p strongWoman 1:/strong Then you went home and got disciplined. You got disciplined at school, [so] you walk down the street and somebody donrsquo;t know what happened [says], ldquo;What you span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="doin’" data-scaytid="55"doinrsquo;/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="goin’" data-scaytid="75"goinrsquo;/span home at this time of day?rdquo; You got in trouble with them; you got in trouble with who was at home; and then, you might even get in trouble when your daddy came home [laughs]./p p strongWoman 2:/strong The stores that were down on Third Street ndash; I didnrsquo;t even think anything about span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="walkin’" data-scaytid="95"walkinrsquo;/span down Third Street. We would go shopping down Third Street all the time, walk down there never worried about anything really happening. It was really a nice place to shop./p p strongWoman 1:/strong One family on the other block, they would get tickets for the Giants and we would pack up a lunch and we would go span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="walkin’" data-scaytid="97"walkinrsquo;/span off to Candlestick. And then, the thing about it, it wasnrsquo;t just African American children: We had all nationalities, all religions. But we had a good time./p p strongWoman 2:/strong You have to remember the shipyard was still open too. And you hear the Navy that was down there ndash; you could hear it in the morning, you could actually hear the trumpets with revelry, taps in the evening at 10 orsquo;clock and just sailors all over the place, just all over the place. You couldnrsquo;t even get a seat on the bus lsquo;cause it was just packed with the sailors! So I thought that was cool too, how we had the Navy hellip;/p p strongMan:/strong After the riots, most of the business started span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="movin’" data-scaytid="99"movinrsquo;/span out. Immediate. They got the glass back in the place pretty quick, but, as I can remember, [a] few places stayed empty./p p After the rsquo;66 riots, thatrsquo;s when the white flight took and people moved down to the Peninsula, mainly to escape from here. And thatrsquo;s when span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="25"Bayview/span really got a bad reputation. And it was that nobody cared; nobody cared at all and I felt it was so sad to walk down Third Street or drive down Third Street and see all these abandoned places and nobody cared any more. People just packed up and they left./p p Some of the places, theyrsquo;re still there but theyrsquo;ve changed over the years. Theyrsquo;ve changed owners. At Third and span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Palou" data-scaytid="101"Palou/span, we had span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Rexall" data-scaytid="103"Rexall/span drugstore; we had, oh God what was that, it was like a five and dime store; it was just all these cute little boutiques and places you could go in and buy hellip;/p p strongMan:/strong With the riots and stuff, what the riots and stuff did was basically just highlight the injustices. Some of my best friends back then were white, so, you know, it really messed me up. All of that to me, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="kinda" data-scaytid="105"kinda/span liked shaped me as a child./p p strongWoman 2:/strong There was some Maltese out here and that was sad too, to see them leave. They used to have their social club on Oakdale./p p strongMan:/strong I remember one kid that happened to be a good friend of mine named Michael Wilson, ended up span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gettin’" data-scaytid="107"gettinrsquo;/span caught up in that mess and he was only 6 or 7, but he was down on Third Street with the rest of lsquo;em, you know. And I can only wonder today, if that had anything to do with him, you know, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="bein’" data-scaytid="109"beinrsquo;/span in and out of prison, you know, like myself./p p strongWoman 2:/strong People who wore uniforms, like even like mailmen, anybody that was in a uniform, they took it as like that they were the cops or something ndash; that you donrsquo;t belong here type of thing./p p strongMan:/strong Somewhere around here shortly after, they would bus in children from the other neighborhoods hellip;/p p strongWoman 2:/strong When I got old enough to move away ndash; I left when I was 17, soon as I graduated ndash; I was just so happy to get away from here./p p strongMan:/strong The mentality of the people is totally different now than it was back then. Wersquo;d look out for you. If we saw you everyday, then yoursquo;d have people span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="lookin’" data-scaytid="111"lookinrsquo;/span out for you. Now people, especially in the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="27"Bayview/span, really donrsquo;t care. They see a crime span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="happenin’" data-scaytid="113"happeninrsquo;/span and they look the other way, ldquo;Oh span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="well.”" data-scaytid="5"well.rdquo;/span Thatrsquo;s the way it is, you know. So there is no, no genuine love and care and any more./p p strongWoman 2:/strong I hated this place so much, just hated it, because of everything that had happened in the past and all the violence./p h4 News broadcast from rsquo;66:/h4 p strongNews anchor:/strong ldquo;Is there going to be more trouble tonight?rdquo;/p p strongInterviewee:/strong ldquo;I donrsquo;t know if therersquo;s span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gonna" data-scaytid="115"gonna/span be more trouble and if I did know I wouldnrsquo;t say, because I donrsquo;t think, I wouldnrsquo;t trust a white man as long as I live ndash; never again. I know I span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gotta" data-scaytid="89"gotta/span go to him for a job. I know I span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gotta" data-scaytid="91"gotta/span go to a white manrsquo;s school and Irsquo;ll go. But if they donrsquo;t want to treat me right, I ainrsquo;t got to beg, lsquo;cause I wasnrsquo;t accustomed to span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="beggin’" data-scaytid="121"begginrsquo;/span: I got pride./p p strongWoman 2:/strong I think that the kids that did it, they had so much anger anyway simmering inside of them. I donrsquo;t think that it was something that could have been avoided. There was just too many deep rooted anger. If it wasnrsquo;t that [the police killing] it wouldrsquo;ve been span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="somethin’" data-scaytid="65"somethinrsquo;/span else, I think, it wouldrsquo;ve been span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="somethin’" data-scaytid="67"somethinrsquo;/span else./p p But yeah, I kind of wish they wouldrsquo;ve found a more constructive way of going about things. I mean, didnrsquo;t they, I mean Martin Luther King was still alive at that time. Itrsquo;s like, didnrsquo;t they pay attention to, you know, anything that he said, you know? He would have never consented to that sort./p p So but what I would of hoped to happen is that it never happened./p p strongMan:/strong If you suffered some of the things that we suffered as a people, as a people, therersquo;s a lot of stuff ndash; we span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gon’" data-scaytid="45"gonrsquo;/span make you go on and we span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gonna" data-scaytid="117"gonna/span stand up. We span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gonna" data-scaytid="119"gonna/span support each other. I donrsquo;t think the law is always right, because therersquo;s an element of humanity there. I mean, what is morally right? Not according to the law, but by human beings./p p emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Alka" data-scaytid="33"Alka/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Joshi" data-scaytid="37"Joshi/span, who recorded this interview, was born and raised in India until the age of 9, when her family immigrated to America. She graduated from Stanford and worked for 25 years, then in the advertising industry before enrolling in the MFA program at California College of the Arts. Earlier this year, she interviewed three of her African American neighbors to learn more about the lingering emotional and economic scars that stem from the Hunters Point rebellion 40 years ago. span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Joshi" data-scaytid="39"Joshi/span can be reached at /ema href="mailto:creativewiz@earthlink.net"creativewiz@earthlink.net/aem. You can listen to this interview at /ema href="http://www.samizdat.me/oral-history-san-francisco-bayview-1966-race-riot/" jquery16105522250723188635="67" modo="false"http://span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="www.samizdat.me" data-scaytid="7"www.samizdat.me/span/span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="oral-history-san-francisco-bayview-1966-race-riot" data-scaytid="123"oral-history-san-francisco-bayview-1966-race-riot/span//aem. /em/p p emNatasha Reid, who transcribed the interview and wrote the introduction, is a writer of Zimbabwean and Scottish descent. She holds an honors law degree, though her real passion lies in journalism and political awareness. You can contact her at a href="mailto:tash.reid7@gmail.com"tash.reid7@gmail.com/a./em/p p br / emspan _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/em/p

p strongHipsters Desecrating an Altar/strong/p p nbsp;We began walking with span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Ayat" data-scaytid="1"Ayat/span, Ram, and I heading to Clarion alley a narrow street or alley surrounded by murals, graffiti, art, debris everything you can imagine in an alley, we were heading to the site that has POOR Magazine mural, a mural created by POOR Magazine Family multi-generational, multi-Ethnicity, multi-culture, and mural that speaks about the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="GentrufuKation" data-scaytid="3"GentrufuKation/span, the displacement of poor, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="migrante" data-scaytid="5"migrante/span and ldquo;minoritiesrdquo; out of the Mission. The mural also speaks out of the resistance that people are living and are fighting in the Mission day by day./p p nbsp;One our span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Sheroes" data-scaytid="7"Sheroes/span in the POOR magazine mural is Super baby mama she is a poet, writer, mother and she is on welfare, her words are her weapons, her voice is her power, she shatters stereotypes while protecting poor mothers and children everywhere. Her unborn child can detect police harassment at anytime from anywhere and she signals her mother. Super baby mama crushes the batons, guns and squad cars of the unjust law officers within 10 seconds.nbsp; El Mosquito is our span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="polylingual" data-scaytid="9"polylingual/span, multi-racial Superhero who speaks more than 2000 indigenous languages who are no longer spoken and he is a panhandler by day and fightrsquo;s for poor people justice by night./p p nbsp;Is privilege for Poor and oppress peoples to make and create art and be exposed, we are proud of the POOR magazine mural that was created by our family and community members./p p nbsp;As we talk of the mural we notice a group of ldquo;Hipstersrdquo; arriving from the other end of the clarion alley bumping disco music and looking as usual, nbsp;we didnrsquo;t care so we went back into talking about the mural and the message of it, we also admire a beautiful altar that someone had created, from flowers, posters, rare stones, and boxes that seems contain something inside, it was a beautiful Altar. As the nbsp;sun went down we decide to leave, as we pass by the hipsters we had no choice to walk around them to get by, as we pass them you can feel the negative energy they were given us, almost like ldquo;get out, you donrsquo;t belong hererdquo; but we kept quite and walk on. As we got to Mission and 16supth/supI realize I left my plastic bag containing my hot span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Cheetos" data-scaytid="11"Cheetos/span and Orange span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Jarrito" data-scaytid="13"Jarrito/span so I told nbsp;Ram to nbsp;wait for me while I went back to get my munchies./p p nbsp;As I was getting back I notice that two of the hipsters were close to the Altar and POOR magazine mural, as got closer I realize nbsp;what was happening, the hipsters were desecrating the Altar, dumping the small wooden boxes that seems they containing personal things and taking some of the posters with them and destroying the Altar I stood and watch as they continue to disrespect the altar, I wanted to say something but it was seven of them and I was by myself, one the hipsters notice that I was just there watching, he got up from sitting in the curb and start stretching like he was getting ready to fight, I watch until they finish disrespecting the altar./p p nbsp;I was sad and mad at the same time, and could not understand what I had witness, I told friends about the incident and my anger turn into sadness after realizing that those young man, they were product of the environment they were raise without respect, manners, without any culture, without knowing about their ancestors, just like span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Amerikkka" data-scaytid="15"Amerikkka/span was born. As I think more deeply of the ancestors of these young man ornbsp; ldquo;founding fathersrdquo; as they are know who were a bunch thieves, who rape and murder nbsp;who stole land and use slaves to build span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Amerikkka" data-scaytid="17"Amerikkka/span .I am not surprised how even their ancestors were weird in dressing too, wearing fake wigs and the weird clothes they wear, to show their ignorance./p p ldquo;They say that apples donrsquo;t fall far away from the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tree.”" data-scaytid="19"tree.rdquo;/span/p p nbsp;Is sad to see the arrogance on these group of folks all over Valencia street, creating span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="GentriFukation" data-scaytid="21"GentriFukation/span and almost feels like they are entitle to do it../p p nbsp;I hope each of those creatures who disrespected the Altar get what they deserve and that our ancestors make justice./p p ldquo;You span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gotta" data-scaytid="23"gotta/span Give respect, to get respectrdquo;nbsp;/p

p A Panel on Hip-Hop Artists with Disabilities plus introducing upcoming CD span data-scayt_word="Mixtape" data-scaytid="3"Mixtape/span/Documentary entitled, Police Brutality/Profiling Against People With Disabilities.br / There will also be Live Performances/p p LOCATIONbr / Syracuse Universitybr / span class="text_exposed_show" Syracuse, NY 13244-5040/span/p p span data-scayt_word="Krip" data-scaytid="5"Krip/span Hop Nation Founder/Activist/Poet Leroy Moore will be in Syracuse NY for the October 22nd Event Disability in the Hip-Hop Mix with talks about an upcoming span data-scayt_word="mixtape" data-scaytid="7"mixtape/span/documentary Police Brutality against people with disabilities and more. He will be part of a Panel which will include Keith Jones, span data-scayt_word="Kalyn" data-scaytid="8"Kalyn/span span data-scayt_word="Heffernan" data-scaytid="10"Heffernan/span and others talking about the group#39;s work and the upcoming Documentary produced by span data-scayt_word="Emmitt" data-scaytid="11"Emmitt/span Thrower and span data-scayt_word="Wabi" data-scaytid="12"Wabi/span span data-scayt_word="Sabi" data-scaytid="14"Sabi/span Productions Inc entitled WHERE IS HOPE. span data-scayt_word="Wabi" data-scaytid="13"Wabi/span span data-scayt_word="Sabi" data-scaytid="15"Sabi/span Productions will be attending and filming events, performances and interviews for the documentary project./p p Documentary Website located at/p p a href="http://www.whereishope.webs.com/" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank"spanhttp:///spanspan data-scayt_word="www.whereishope.webs.com" data-scaytid="1"spanwww.whereishope.web/spanwbrs.com/wbr/span//a and/p p Fundraising Effort and more info at/p p a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/whereishope" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank"spanhttp://span data-scayt_word="www.indiegogo.com" data-scaytid="2"www.indiegogo.com/span//spanspan data-scayt_word="whereishope" data-scaytid="16"spanw/spanwbrwbrwbrwbrhereishope/wbr/wbr/wbr/wbr/span/a/p p and CD span data-scayt_word="Mixtape" data-scaytid="4"Mixtape/span project produced by span data-scayt_word="Krip" data-scaytid="6"Krip/span Hop Nation 5th Battalion around Police Brutality and Profiling issues and it is called Broken Bodies: Police Brutality Profiling. Afterward there will be a Live performance./p p The Featured Performers will include Leroy Moore, span data-scayt_word="Kalyn" data-scaytid="9"Kalyn/span span data-scayt_word="Hefferman" data-scaytid="17"Hefferman/span, Keith Jones also Featuring MC span data-scayt_word="Dj" data-scaytid="18"Dj/span R Source/p p This event is Presented by The Beyond Compliance Coordinating Committee./p p Additional support provided by SU Center on Human Policy, Law and Disability Studies , The span data-scayt_word="Taishoff" data-scaytid="19"Taishoff/span Center, School of Education, Teaching and Leadership Programs, Nutrition/p

p emstrongEditorial by Willie span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Ratcliff" data-scaytid="13"Ratcliff/span/strong/em/p div class="img alignright size-full wp-image-23554" style="width: 450px" div On July 12, when demolition of the old span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="21"Bayview/span Library was getting underway, all the construction workers were white. ndash; Photo: Natasha Reid/div /div p On the corner of Third and Revere, where the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="23"Bayview/span Library used to be, nothing is left but bare ground. One of the few places in the neighborhood where youngsters felt safe and enriched and everyone was welcome is gone./p p nbsp;If the City had allowed the low bidder to build the new library, it would have been at least halfway to completion by now. The youngsters who love the library would be watching their parents and older brothers and sisters build a beautiful new library for them to return to in a matter of months./p p Liberty Builders, my general contracting company, was that low bidder. If yoursquo;ve been reading the Bay View for at least a year, you know that the City awarded the contract, I signed and returned it, and then the City snatched it back. Their flimsy excuse was that my insurance broker was a day late submitting a certificate proving I had auto insurance, even though Irsquo;d given the City a certificate for that same auto insurance policy over four months earlier./p p On Aug. 18, a library activist friend called and suggested I check out the agenda for the Library Commission meeting later that afternoon. Item 2 on the agenda was described like this: ldquo;Branch Library Improvement Program Budget Transfers Action (Discussion and possible action to increase BLIP program reserve through transfer of span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Visitacion" data-scaytid="53"Visitacion/span Valley Infrastructure fund revenue; and transfer of funds from program reserve to increase span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="25"Bayview/span Branch Library Project budget).rdquo;/p p They werenrsquo;t talking about transferring a little bit of money; no, the Library Commission that day approved a transfer of $1.7 million. On top of the $310,000 extra the City is unnecessarily paying span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="KCK" data-scaytid="55"KCK/span Builders, the second low bidder ndash; thatrsquo;s how much higher his bid was than Liberty Buildersrsquo; bid ndash; the ldquo;progressiverdquo; City of San Francisco is paying a total of over $2 million more taxpayersrsquo; dollars for choosing to put a white contractor in charge of building the new library instead of sticking with the low bidder, a Black contractor./p p I went to the Library Commission meeting that day, and Claude Carpenter went with me, even though he was recovering from surgery. Claude was the first president of the African American Contractors of San Francisco, and I was the second. He knows and I know and you know the good that an infusion of construction jobs would do for this community. Thatrsquo;s why I bid to build the new span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="27"Bayview/span Library./p p Construction workers make good money, enough to support an extended family, and a Black contractor who cares about the community will be happy to hire you even if yoursquo;ve been locked up, as so many have these days. The trouble is that because of hostility from City Hall, the number of licensed Black contractors in shape to bid City work can be counted on one hand with a few fingers left over./p div class="img alignleft size-full wp-image-23555" style="width: 380px" a href="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Bullet-hole-in-our-bedroom-window-051310-by-Francisco.jpg"img alt="" height="285" src="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Bullet-hole-in-our-bedroom-window-051310-by-Francisco.jpg" width="380" //a div When a .44 caliber bullet was shot through our window at 1:45 span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="a.m" data-scaytid="1"a.m/span. on May 13, 2010, from the roof of the bank next door, Mary span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Ratcliff" data-scaytid="15"Ratcliff/span reported in the Bay View, ldquo;(Willie) span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Ratcliff" data-scaytid="17"Ratcliff/span has a strong hunch it was fired by someone trying to scare him into withdrawing from the competition for the contract to build the new span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="29"Bayview/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Library.”" data-scaytid="3"Library.rdquo;/span The bullet was fired exactly one week before the City issued the final bid package for the library. Read more in ldquo;Bullet through Bay Viewrsquo;s window: Whorsquo;s afraid of Black power?rdquo;/div /div p We told the Library Commission that they could save that $1.7 million to buy more books and keep the library open more hours if the City would sit down with me and Claude and others in the community with decades of experience hiring our own people and work out a way to get construction of the new span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="31"Bayview/span Library back on track. Today, as you can see whenever you pass Third and Revere, our beloved library is nothing but a vacant lot./p p nbsp;/p p Ho hum, who cares? The long struggle for construction work by Blacks in span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="33"Bayview/span Hunters Point ndash; that was the other demand besides an end to police violence that kicked off the world famous Hunters Point rebellion 45 years ago, on Sept. 27, 1966 ndash; has been a span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="snoozer" data-scaytid="61"snoozer/span at City Hall among the powers that be. But itrsquo;s not any more./p p This morning, the struggle over the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="35"Bayview/span Library literally woke people up all over San Francisco when it was a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/29/MN5L1KS0PR.DTL" jquery161046892778666693574="67"font color="#265372"the main story on the front page of todayrsquo;s San Francisco Chronicle/font/a. I applaud the Chronicle for taking the issue on, but I wish theyrsquo;d told the real story. The writer, Stephanie Lee, also attended the Aug. 18 Library Commission meeting. We talked then and she called and interviewed me later by phone. Not a word I told her made its way into the story she wrote./p p She wrote that the libraryrsquo;s price is up more than $2 million because subcontract bids are coming in way high, but she didnrsquo;t say why. Two main reasons were expressed at the meeting. White contractors complain about the workers, saying span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="37"Bayview/span Hunters Point workers will drive up the price, implying theyrsquo;re inexperienced ndash; and thatrsquo;s true for the younger folks; Blacks here have been locked out of construction since 1998 ndash; and hinting theyrsquo;re also slow, stupid and lazy./p p Black contractors know the truth ndash; that Black construction workers are the best in the business. What Black contractors complain about is bonding and financing, saying the City wonrsquo;t let them bid without it, when everybody knows that banks and bonding companies are racist to the core. Even the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="U.S" data-scaytid="5"U.S/span. Supreme Court has told cities over and over again not to exclude Blacks when banks and bonding and insurance companies keep them out of the game ndash; not due to their ability but due to their color./p p Irsquo;ve spent a lifetime ndash; and so have Claude and other veterans of the struggle ndash; figuring out how to put our people to work in spite of all that. I would have used those techniques if the City had let the low bidder ndash; Liberty Builders ndash; build the library. And itrsquo;s not too late. Irsquo;m waiting for a call from Mayor Ed Lee inviting us to the table to work out a plan using contractors and workers who live here to build the library our children are waiting for./p p And I know that when one of our two favorite candidates for mayor ndash; wersquo;re endorsing Public Defender Jeff span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Adachi" data-scaytid="63"Adachi/span first and Supervisor John span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="65"Avalos/span second ndash; replaces Ed Lee, wersquo;ll really put our people to work, not only on the library but year lsquo;round, year after year./p p Mike span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Hannegan" data-scaytid="67"Hannegan/span of span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="KCK" data-scaytid="57"KCK/span Builders, who was given the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="39"Bayview/span Library contract almost immediately after the City snatched it back from me, even though his bid was $310,000 higher than mine, has no idea how to put our local Black contractors and workers to work. Hersquo;s not even from here./p p The Chronicle story claims that span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="KCK" data-scaytid="59"KCK/span is ldquo;a company in the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="41"Bayview/span,rdquo; but I went to visit Mike shortly after the City gave him the contract last November. I went to the address on span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Egbert" data-scaytid="69"Egbert/span that hersquo;d given the City./p p What I found was another companyrsquo;s office suite. The owner showed me Mikersquo;s office: a room that was almost empty except for a desk and chair./p p I agree with one person quoted by the Chronicle: Library Commissioner Larry Kane said regarding the extra $1.7 million, ldquo;Obviously, I would prefer not to have that money spent, to keep that money for hours and librarians and library span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="services.”" data-scaytid="7"services.rdquo;/span So would I, and so would you no doubt./p div class="img alignright size-full wp-image-23556" style="width: 248px" a href="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Dr.-William-Mason-president-Metro-East-Black-Contractors-Organization-MEBCO-atty-Eric-Vickers-St.-Louis-0811.jpg"img alt="" height="302" src="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Dr.-William-Mason-president-Metro-East-Black-Contractors-Organization-MEBCO-atty-Eric-Vickers-St.-Louis-0811.jpg" width="248" //a div Dr. William Mason, president of the Metro East Black Contractors Organization (span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="MEBCO" data-scaytid="71"MEBCO/span), and attorney Eric Vickers fight for economic equity in St. Louis./div /div p The Chronicle reports, ldquo;So far, 10 of the 27 subcontracts are set to be awarded to span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="43"Bayview/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="companies.”" data-scaytid="9"companies.rdquo;/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="45"Bayview/span companies, hmm. This is the ldquo;low rent districtrdquo; for office and warehouse space, and non-Black contractors are flocking to it. But a span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="47"Bayview/span Hunters Point address doesnrsquo;t guarantee a commitment to the people who live here./p p nbsp;/p p If itrsquo;s any comfort, we in San Francisco are not alone. Blacks are fighting City Hall in other cities to put their people to work. Our old friend Eric Vickers in St. Louis, a lawyer whorsquo;s nationally known for fighting to stop the now nationwide lockout of Blacks from construction, made the news this week in a local Black paper, the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Rivercity" data-scaytid="75"Rivercity/span Examiner./p p He and Dr. William Mason, president of the Metro East Black Contractors Organization (span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="MEBCO" data-scaytid="73"MEBCO/span), want to shut down the Mississippi River Bridge construction. When the agency in charge, the Illinois Department of Transportation (span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="IDOT" data-scaytid="81"IDOT/span) wanted to meet anywhere but East St. Louis, the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Rivercity" data-scaytid="77"Rivercity/span Examiner wrote:/p p ldquo;What span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="IDOT" data-scaytid="83"IDOT/span obviously didnrsquo;t realize was that their refusal to meet in the very city of the citizens that they were depriving of opportunity further showed their racist perspective on Blacks. It was a continuation of their discriminatory principles and practices. They could make the arrangements for Whites, by the truckloads, to go into East St. Louis (a city which is 99.5% Black) to work on the bridge project and take the money back to their White communities, but they certainly couldnrsquo;t participate in a meeting to discuss the depth of the outrage of the Blacks who were affected by the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="deprivation.”" data-scaytid="11"deprivation.rdquo;/span/p p Theyrsquo;re fighting discrimination on the multi-million dollar renovation of the local library too. The span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Rivercity" data-scaytid="79"Rivercity/span Examiner made a video thatrsquo;ll make your blood boil. Watch it below. It shows 97 workers walking onto the worksite one morning with their big lunch boxes ndash; so they wonrsquo;t have to spend their money at a Black restaurant ndash; and guess what? Every one is white./p p If we donrsquo;t intervene soon, that could be the sight that we and our children will see live every day that the new span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="49"Bayview/span Library is under construction ndash; if it ever gets started ndash; for the next year and a half. Sounds a lot like the five years we were locked out of building the light rail, the one the T-train runs on, the one Kenneth Harding was exiting when a couple of cops asked for his transfer as proof hersquo;d paid his fare./p p He ran, they shot him, he died hellip; just like Matthew ldquo;Peanutrdquo; Johnson 45 years ago this month, whose police murder sparked the 1966 Hunters Point rebellion ndash; or riot ndash; that made headlines around the world and showed the world that span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="51"Bayview/span Hunters Point is one fierce neighborhood./p p This time, letrsquo;s settle our differences with City Hall at the negotiating table. Mayor Ed Lee, wersquo;re waiting for your call./p p emBay View publisher Willie span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Ratcliff" data-scaytid="19"Ratcliff/span can be reached at (415) 671-0789 or a href="mailto:publisher@sfbayview.com"font color="#265372"publisher@sfbayview.com/font/a./em/p

p nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Tahoma; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 1) span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="1"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="2"KHN/span)nbsp;Where are you from tell us about the Hip-Hop SCENE there./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="3"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/bnbsp; /spannbsp;isnbsp;Malaga, anbsp;city in southernnbsp;Spain,nbsp;but I live innbsp;Madrid/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 2) span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="4"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="5"KHN/span)nbsp;Tell us more about the song, nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="6"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:nbsp;/b /spanThenbsp;song talks aboutnbsp;overcomingnbsp;strugglenbsp;belongs tonbsp;Jake#39;s new albumnbsp;where she worksnbsp;andnbsp;T-Sonnbsp;span data-scayt_word="Juako" data-scaytid="7"Juako/span./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 3) span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="8"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="9"KHN/span)nbsp;Being disabled Hip-Hop artist what is the hardest thing for you?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="10"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/b /spanIn Spainnbsp;itnbsp;isnbsp;harder tonbsp;be seen,nbsp;no onenbsp;opts for anbsp;disabled person./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 4) span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="11"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="12"KHN/span)nbsp;What is your future goals/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="13"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/b /spanMynbsp;goal is tonbsp;get mynbsp;CD,nbsp;because fornbsp;various reasonsnbsp;I had to leavenbsp;the span data-scayt_word="labelbecause" data-scaytid="14"labelbecause/spannbsp;itnbsp;did not meet established in the contract,nbsp;and decided tonbsp;start from scratch./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 5) nbsp;span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="15"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="17"KHN/span) What do you think about span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="16"Krip-Hop/span Nation?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="18"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/b /spanI like knowing thatnbsp;we are many andnbsp;above all thatnbsp;we cannbsp;unite andnbsp;show the worldnbsp;what we do./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 6) nbsp;span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="19"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="20"KHN/span) Do you know any other disabled musicians in your country?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="21"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/bnbsp; /spanYes, butnbsp;many peoplenbsp;feel verynbsp;badnbsp;reputationnbsp;... we havenbsp;spokennbsp;a thousand times,nbsp;but since winningnbsp;annbsp;MTV Europenbsp;Award/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" forgetnbsp;all the friendship./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 7) span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="22"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="23"KHN/span)nbsp;How did you get into Hip-Hop?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="24"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/bnbsp; /spanI startednbsp;with albums likenbsp;The Predatornbsp;by Icenbsp;Cube,nbsp;span data-scayt_word="NWA" data-scaytid="25"NWA/spannbsp;then,nbsp;and started lookingnbsp;in my language, I foundnbsp;a groupnbsp;(span data-scayt_word="CPV" data-scaytid="26"CPV/spannbsp;violentnbsp;Poets)/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" I decidednbsp;that Inbsp;could do that,nbsp;tell a little ofnbsp;me ... andnbsp;so I startednbsp;...nbsp;in 1994/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Arial; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 8) nbsp;span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="27"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="28"KHN/span) How do people react to your performance?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="29"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/b /spanInnbsp;concert, I gotnbsp;to dancenbsp;tonbsp;4 000nbsp;people, Inbsp;playednbsp;with greats such asnbsp;span data-scayt_word="Jeru" data-scaytid="30"Jeru/spannbsp;The span data-scayt_word="Damaja" data-scaytid="31"Damaja/spannbsp;ornbsp;span data-scayt_word="Masta" data-scaytid="32"Masta/spannbsp;Ace People alwaysnbsp;enjoy anbsp;show./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 9) nbsp;span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="33"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="34"KHN/span) What can we learn from your music?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="35"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/bnbsp; /spanIn my musicnbsp;there is struggle,nbsp;and farnbsp;exceedednbsp;message.nbsp;Althoughnbsp;you span data-scayt_word="canfind" data-scaytid="36"canfind/spannbsp;songs withnbsp;great force/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" and muchnbsp;hesitation/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 10) nbsp;span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="37"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="38"KHN/span) How can readers contact you?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Tahoma; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="39"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/bnbsp; /spanTonbsp;contact menbsp;has 2nbsp;media,nbsp;and on mynbsp;websitenbsp;a href="mailto:jakecrudo@gmail.com"span style="text-decoration: underline ; color: #234786"span data-scayt_word="jakecrudo@gmail.com" data-scaytid="40"jakecrudo@gmail.com/span/span/a/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #234786; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="text-decoration: underline"a href="http://www.lahainepro.tk/"span data-scayt_word="www.lahainepro.tk" data-scaytid="41"www.lahainepro.tk/span/a/span/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5; min-height: 18.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 11) nbsp;span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="42"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="43"KHN/span) Any last words?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="44"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/bnbsp; /spanThank you fornbsp;these lines and excusenbsp;my limit English.nbsp;Andnbsp;soon mynbsp;CD will be onlinenbsp;for free downloadnbsp;on my website./p

p emAugust 22, 2011/em/p p Sign the petition at the link below!/p p http://span data-scayt_word="www.change.org" data-scaytid="1"www.change.org/span/petitions/span data-scayt_word="we-demand-justice-for-murder-victim-kerry-baxter-junior" data-scaytid="7"we-demand-justice-for-murder-victim-kerry-baxter-junior/span/p p Kerry Baxter Junior, a nineteen year old, African American Male, was shot and killed, on January 16, 2011. That night he left his home accompanied by two young women, one of whom was described as his girlfriend. The two assailants were described as two African American males by witnesses, yet the Police have released no description of the Gunmen. Kerry was not armed and his assailants chased him from San Antonio Park, before shooting him in front of San Antonio Church. There is no known motive for his killing, although there is speculation that they may have been attempting to rob Kerry. The Police are ignoring clues and witnesses in the case and the family believes the lead detective should be taken off of the case. The head of Oakland#39;s homicide bureau is Lt. Brian span data-scayt_word="Medeiros" data-scaytid="8"Medeiros/span, a homicide Detectives who in 2001 arrested and charged, Kerry Baxter Senior with murder. The family and Kerry Baxter Senior, are appealing a 66-year sentence he received under California#39;s Three Strike Law. The case was mismanaged by then span data-scayt_word="Sgt" data-scaytid="11"Sgt/span. Brian span data-scayt_word="Medeiros" data-scaytid="9"Medeiros/span and the District Attorneyrsquo;s Office. Kerry Baxter Senior (then 34-years old), was involved in an altercation with several gang members in front of the span data-scayt_word="Martinque" data-scaytid="12"Martinque/span Bar in East Oakland in March of 2001./p p Now that Kerry Baxter Junior has been killed, Lt. Brian span data-scayt_word="Medeiros" data-scaytid="10"Medeiros/span is in charge of the investigation. The family has asked the Police Review Board in Oakland, to remove him from the investigation of Kerry Baxter Juniors Murder. span data-scayt_word="Medieros" data-scaytid="13"Medieros/span had a history with Kerry, which began in April of 2001, when he took him out of his elementary school, and questioned him in a Police Patrol car, without a parent present. The span data-scayt_word="OPD" data-scaytid="14"OPD/span went into their Berkeley Apartment and destroyed it, and even cut the mattresses of Kerry Junior and his brother span data-scayt_word="Kmani" data-scaytid="15"Kmani/span. The Oakland Police Department has ignored clues in the killing of Kerry Baxter Junior, by not questioning his friends, or people who knew him and his habits. His best friend saw him the night he was killed, and shared information about his demeanor. Yet, the Oakland Police have not interviewed his friend. They have not posted a reward and do not return calls from family members./p p The eyewitnesses should be considered material witnesses, yet they have not been offered protection by the Police Department. The family does not believe there will be any movement on the case until an independent investigator is assigned, and are demanding that the Citizens Review Board take action immediately. Those who shot Kerry Baxter Junior are roaming the streets of Oakland and are armed and dangerous./p

p The poet Charles span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bukowski" data-scaytid="16"Bukowski/span wrote that it is sometimes necessary for a writermdash;addressing a particular subjectmdash;to have some distance between him (Or her) self and said subject.nbsp; It has been a quarter of a century since I worked at a church in the capacity of sextonmdash;also known as janitor. I currently occupy the position of door attendant at an upscale apartment complex in the city.nbsp; I cannot afford to live at this complex, nor can I afford the array of polo shirts I see clinging to the various emin-shape/emmdash;and sometimes emout-of-shape/em--bodies as they make their way past the desk.nbsp; I sometimes feel like a beauty contest judge as I watch this passel of humanity sauntermdash;and occasionally limpmdash;past me.nbsp; Where is the beauty, I ask?nbsp; I see lots of new clothes and very expensive shoes which bring to mind a quote by span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="H.D" data-scaytid="1"H.D/span. Thoreau:/p p nbsp;/p p emldquo;It is an interesting question how far men would retain their/em/p p emrelative rank if they were divested of their clothesrdquo;/em/p p nbsp;/p p The quote is liberatingmdash;so much so that I copy it on an index card and slip it in my back pocket.nbsp; I read the quote and get the urge to run through the halls of this high end apartment complex, stripping myself of clothing, shedding them like leaves.nbsp; I picture myself running across the halls, banging on doors and running away.nbsp; I imagine myself naked and free, people looking at me as if Irsquo;d lost my mind as I call on them to join me in this new found freedom.nbsp; Then I hear a siren followed by two very large men who seem to occupy the space between two words: Stolid and stupid.nbsp; They are wearing clothesmdash;uniformsmdash;blue, to be exact.nbsp; They proceed to toss my naked ass in the squad car.nbsp; Peace restored./p p nbsp;/p p Which brings me back to 25 years ago when Imdash;fully clothedmdash;was hired as a sexton at a church about 6 blocks from my current place of employment.nbsp; The church was large, Presbyterian, with a congregation of mostly elders.nbsp; The staircase was imposingnbsp;and the entire structure was topped with anbsp;precise roof.nbsp; A friendrsquo;s mother, who knew I was in school and in need of a job, suggested I see a fellow named Art--the maintenance supervisor--at the Church.nbsp; She had attended the church years ago and stayed in contact with some in the congregation.nbsp; Art, apparently, was looking for a part time janitor to carry some of the load following his 3rd heart attack.nbsp; ldquo;Itrsquo;s all set uprdquo; my friendrsquo;s mother said.nbsp; ldquo;I told him yoursquo;ll be there tomorrow, at 2rdquo;.nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p I arrive at the church door at 2. I look at the grain of the wood.nbsp; The door would be appropriate in a fortress.nbsp; I feel like a dwarf.nbsp; Inbsp;surmise it would take 2, maybe 3 people to push it open.nbsp; It is beautiful.nbsp; A metal door ring is affixed to the door. nbsp;I get the crazy idea that knocking would hurt the wood.nbsp; I stand and look at the trees a few yards away near the sidewalkrsquo;s edge.nbsp; I consider walking away but I need a job.nbsp; I lift the ring and give the door three reverent knocks.nbsp; No answer.nbsp; I give three more knocks--this time irreverent.nbsp;/p p ldquo;Heyhellip;Hey!rdquo; a voice calls from outside./p p I descend the stairs and look both ways.nbsp;/p p ldquo;Over here!rdquo;/p p I look down.nbsp; A manrsquo;s head is sticking from a window, hands waving.nbsp; I walk towards him./p p ldquo;Irsquo;m here for the janitorialmdash;ldquo;, I begin/p p ldquo;I know, I knowrdquo; he says, waving me over.nbsp; ldquo;Come on down to the glory holerdquo;./p p He closes the window. I walk past a few skinny trees and bushes and head down a flight of stairs and into the glory hole./p p nbsp;/p p The glory hole is stuffymdash;smelling of holy water, urine and rancid meat.nbsp; The ceiling is low./p p ldquo;Come on inhellip;I ainrsquo;t span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gonna" data-scaytid="18"gonna/span hurt span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ya”" data-scaytid="20"yardquo;/span./p p I wade through a path lined with paint cans and industrial cleaning supplies and head towards a desk strewn with papers and partially crushed soda cans.nbsp; I take a seat./p p ldquo;My name is Art Carneyrdquo; said the man, moving papers, searching for something./p p ldquo;Art Carney?rdquo; I said.nbsp; ldquo;You mean, like the guy onmdash;ldquo;/p p ldquo;TVhellip;yeah, I know.nbsp; Irsquo;ve heard that a million times.nbsp; But I span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="aint’" data-scaytid="22"aintrsquo;/span him and he ainrsquo;t merdquo;.nbsp;/p p I looked at Artrsquo;s facemdash;fat, slightly freckled, receding hairline.nbsp; The room looked like an adult playroom.nbsp; Cassette tapes were lined on a shelf next to bottles of beer.nbsp; I scanned the walls for a picture of Jesus.nbsp;/p p ldquo;You do janitorial work before?rdquo;/p p ldquo;Yes, with my dadrdquo;/p p ldquo;Where?rdquo;/p p ldquo;In the city.nbsp; He had a janitorial businessrdquo;./p p Art shook his head.nbsp; He searched my face, as if to verify something.nbsp; He reached below to open the desk drawer but his belly was in the way.nbsp; He backed away, pulled it open./p p ldquo;Fill this outhellip;itrsquo;s an applicationrdquo; he said, tossing a tablet with applications towards me.nbsp; I tore one off, leaving one behind.nbsp; I begin writing my name.nbsp;/p p ldquo;Where it says emposition applied for/emhellip;you write in emsexton/emrdquo;./p p ldquo;Sexton? I thought it was janitor?rdquo;/p p Art looked at me, inhaled./p p I put a line through the word janitor./p p How do you spell sexton? i asknbsp;/p p ldquo;Yoursquo;ll start this Sundayrdquo; he said, not hearing my question.nbsp; ldquo;Donrsquo;t be laterdquo;/p p ldquo;I wonrsquo;t/p p nbsp;/p p I got there on time.nbsp; I, as my uncle would say, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="sexton’d" data-scaytid="24"sextonrsquo;d/span my ass off.nbsp; I cleaned toilets with a red solution that resembled span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Chambord" data-scaytid="26"Chambord/span liqueur.nbsp; My uncle was also a janitor, working for the city and county.nbsp; He would mention to his friends that I was a sextonmdash;implying that it was a higher class of janitor.nbsp; His friends, not knowing the term sexton (They kept pronouncing it span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="sexin’" data-scaytid="28"emsexin/emrsquo;/span), thought it had something to do with sex.nbsp; When he mentioned that I was working in a church, they were convinced.nbsp; ldquo;Tell young blood to watch his assrdquo; theyrsquo;d say.nbsp; ldquo;You know about them priestshellip;the moment you bend over to change the toilet paper they span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gettin" data-scaytid="29"gettin/span#39; off inside span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="yo’" data-scaytid="31"yorsquo;/span assrdquo;.nbsp; I checked the soap dispensers, cleaned the toilets, sink and changed the toilet papermdash;making sure to be mindful of my surroundings prior to flushing.nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p Art Carney seemed fairly decent.nbsp;nbsp; He began opening up to me, slowly.nbsp; One day we were washing the church windows.nbsp; He stood holding the ladder which I ascended, intent on illustrating my glass cleaning artistry.nbsp; I used the squeegee like a paintbrush, gliding left to right, turning the curves as if painting a span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="rubenesque" data-scaytid="33"rubenesque/span female in the presence of saints.nbsp;/p p ldquo;Hey!rdquo;/p p I look down./p p ldquo;Yeah?rdquo;/p p Art was leaning on the ladder more then steadying it.nbsp; His red face was sweating in the chilly air./p p ldquo;Donrsquo;t waste time being fancy.nbsp; Just use one motion with the squeegeehellip;top to bottomhellip;up then downrdquo;/p p ldquo;Okrdquo;/p p I lifted the squeegee, brought it down in a cutting motion.nbsp; It was faster this way but I found it boringmdash;no variationmdash;like sex performed in one positionmdash;up and downmdash;heaven or hell, right or wrongmdash;no room for argument. I stepped to the bottom of the ladder.nbsp; I lifted it onto my shoulder.nbsp; Art inspected my work.nbsp; We headed back towards the glory hole. I felt powerful, balancing the metal laddermdash;heavy but not overly so.nbsp; We stopped at the door.nbsp; Art dug into his pocket./p p ldquo;They never told merdquo; said Art/p p ldquo;What?rdquo;/p p ldquo;That red meat was bad for yourdquo;/p p ldquo;Is that how you got 3 heart attacks?rdquo;/p p ldquo;Nohellip;the red meat was responsible for 2 of themrdquo;/p p ldquo;And the other?rdquo;/p p ldquo;I got it from a niggerrdquo;/p p I looked at Art.nbsp; I wasnrsquo;t sure Irsquo;d heard him correctly, or did I?rdquo;/p p You mean span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="niggah...right" data-scaytid="3"emniggah/em...right/span?/p p I span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="meant...nigger" data-scaytid="4"meant...emnigger/em/span/p p Well, i span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="mean...there" data-scaytid="6"mean...there/span is a difference you know, between nigger and emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="niggah" data-scaytid="35"niggah/span/em.nbsp; And it is well documented that span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="niggah's" data-scaytid="39"strongn/strongiggah#39;s/span stronga/strongren#39;t stronga/stronglways strongc/strongolored strongp/strongeople?/p p span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Documented...where" data-scaytid="8"Documented...where/span?/p p You#39;ve heard of span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="N.A.A.C.P" data-scaytid="10"N.A.A.C.P/span. haven#39;t you?/p p What#39;s that?/p p Never mind.nbsp; How about a hamburger?/p p ldquo;This nigger popped out of the bushesrdquo; Art continued.nbsp; ldquo;Scared the shit out of me.nbsp; I fell to the ground wishing I had my gun.nbsp; Anyway, the guy helps me up, asks me I could give him a dollar.nbsp; I tell him to take my walletrdquo;./p p ldquo;Did he take it?rdquo;/p p span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="“Yeah...he" data-scaytid="12"ldquo;Yeah...he/span took it, opened it and took a dollar out.nbsp; Then he walks me to the glory hole, sits me down, calls 911 and leaves.nbsp; Can you believe that?rdquo;/p p Art finds his keys, opens the door.nbsp;The conversation about nigger vs.nbsp;span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="niggah" data-scaytid="37"niggah/span was disconcerting.nbsp; I felt the urge to kick him in the balls but--even if i did--given Art#39;s girth in the midriff area, i doubt i would hit anything other than fat. nbsp;I follow his 3 heart attack-having, two-ton redneck ass into the glory hole, the ladder heavy on my shoulders./p p nbsp;/p p I spent one more month cleaning toilets, making coffee for the church ladiesmdash;who took me by the wrists and told me what a nice boy I was.nbsp; I cleaned the toilets, mopped the floor and blew leaves of the sidewalk with a very loud leaf blower.nbsp;I would have to vacuum the main sanctuary at night, which was scary.nbsp; There were air pockets, or perhaps holes, that i wasn#39;t aware of where air would come through.nbsp;nbsp;The noise sounded like emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ooooooooh...oooooooh" data-scaytid="14"ooooooooh...oooooooh/span/em.nbsp; I always hurried through that portion of the job.nbsp; Mostlynbsp;I did what I was told: emStay down in that glory hold until the service ends/em.nbsp; I ended my service leaving only my keys behind./p p nbsp;/p p That was a quarter of a century ago.nbsp; I sometimes think about Art.nbsp; Is he still alive?nbsp; Did he improve his diet?nbsp; Did his wife stick with that yoga class?nbsp; I sit here at my present job, watching the affluent go bymdash;one by one.nbsp; I take my rag and buff the French door windows.nbsp; I see myself,nbsp;the kid I was washing the church windowsmdash;one motion: up/down/, right/wrong, heaven/hell.nbsp; Irsquo;ve come far in a distance of six blocks.span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/p p nbsp;/p p emstrongPhoto courtesy Davis Wiki--nbsp;a href="http://daviswiki.org/" target="_blank"font color="#0068cf"http://span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="daviswiki.org" data-scaytid="40"daviswiki.org/span//font/a/strong/embr / nbsp;/p

p I was sitting on a train in Moravia, the eastern province of The Czech Republic, when I heard a woman calling out from the stairway in the middle of the platform. I didn#39;tnbsp; know what she was asking but she was trying to haul a huge suitcase up the station stairs. There were several people gathered on the platform including a conductor, but no one responded to the woman#39;s query, or offered to help her with her bag. My friend said to me, ldquo;that gypsy woman is trying to find the right train to get on,rdquo; which struck me as being a strange observation. I have struggled with that same train locating issue more than once, so I was immediately sympathetic./p p Out the window, I saw her going back down the stairs for what looked like a second bag, and I realized the train I was on wasn#39;t gong to leave for another few minutes, so I hopped off and helped the woman up the stairs with her second bag. The woman seemed grateful for a hand, but she was clearly in need of some information, which I as a foreigner didn#39;t have. Moreover, I didn#39;t know what she was saying beyond our interaction. It was about that moment that the train she was trying to get on pulled away from the platform. This became clear to me after the conductor--who had watched this whole exchange between myself and the woman--indicated that the train she had been asking about was pulling away. I could see its tail lights off to my right, and I wondered why this man had just stood there while this woman missed her train... and indeed, it turned out to be the last train of the evening./p p She indicated to me that she had to get her bags back out of the station, so I took them down the stairs and then back up and deposited them in front of the station for her. I couldn#39;t do more at that moment and ran back to get on the train I was waiting for, where my friend was sitting. This incident led to an argument, because I didn#39;t understand what I had just seen. There was a single woman who needed help and no one who could have helped her find what she needed did anything about it. I, in my ignorance, simply responded to what looked like needed to happen. And I will never know if that woman waited out front of that station until the next morning or what./p p I didn#39;t understand this, but the little I knew about the view of #39;gypsies#39; in Europe led me to see this as a racist event. After all, there are stories of state sponsored sterilization of gypsy women, or Francersquo;s policy of expelling the Roma people from the country as of last year. In my experience, Gypsies are publicly looked down upon. They are openly discussed at dinner as a #39;problem group#39; and any young person has a story of a time a gypsy stole something from them. I myself had an encounter with a fellow who would always ask me for money, or ask me to buy him things, and the one time I saw him with money in his hand he ran the other way./p p But this criminalizing and narrow part of the story leaves out a big piece of the events that have brought us to where we are.. The gypsies aren#39;t exactly interested in assimilating into the dominant culture, of fixed houses, and economic rules and domination. Though they have faced legal discrimination, oppression and harassment from before the Nazirsquo;s to 2011, they have a heritage of traveling, and of trade, and of movement, and they are resisting the colonization of theirnbsp;way of lifenbsp;by any means necessary./p p I had to admire the story I heard of a family of gypsies getting into public housing and stripping the place down of every removable aspect to the house. You can call that many things, but it is surely a method of resistance. It#39;s a way of saying #39;we are not going to bow to the dominant culture.... ever. In a world like this one, where we seek to conform and buy the latest models of the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ipad" data-scaytid="1"ipad/span, a group of people who will defend their culture like this and refuse to assimilate in any way are warriors./p p And it#39;s far beyond the places in which they live, or the way they provide for themselves. The incident on the train was just one of the ways I saw the public ignore and degrade these traveling people, and treat them like trash./p

p August 26, 2011/p p ldquo;We are not evacuating span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="2"Rikers/span Island,rdquo; Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a a href="http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/08/mike_bloomberg_mandatory_evacuation.php"news conference /athis afternoon. Bloombergnbsp;span data-scayt_word="annouced" data-scaytid="5"annouced/spannbsp;a hostnbsp; of extreme measures being taken by New York City in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Irene, including a shutdown of the public transit system and the unprecedented mandatory evacuation of some 250,000 people from low-lying areas. Butnbsp;in response to a reporterrsquo;s question,nbsp;thenbsp;mayornbsp;stated in no uncertain terms (and with more than a hint of annoyance) thatnbsp;one group of New Yorkers on vulnerable ground will be staying put./p p a href="http://solitarywatch.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/rikers1.jpg"img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-3751" height="188" src="http://solitarywatch.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/rikers1.jpg?w=244h=188" title="rikers1" width="244" //aNew York City is surrounded by small islands and barrier beaches, and a glance at the cityrsquo;s a href="http://www.mockpaperscissors.com/2011/08/26/why-isnt-the-rikers-island-jail-being-evacuated-for-hurricane-irene/"evacuation mapnbsp;/areveals all of them to be in Zone A (already under a mandatorynbsp;evacuation order) or Zone Bndash;all, that is, save one. span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="3"Rikers/span Island, which lies in the waters between Queens and the Bronx, is not highlighted at all, meaning it is not to be evacuated under any circumstances./p p According to the New York City Department of Correctionsrsquo; a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/doc/html/about/facilities_overview.shtml"own website/a, more than three-quarters of span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="4"Rikers/span Islandrsquo;s 400 acres are built on landfillndash;which is generally thought to be more vulnerable to natural disasters. Its ten jails have a capacity of close to 17,000 inmates, andnbsp;normally house at least 12,000, including juveniles and large numbers of prisoners with mental illnessndash;not to mention pre-trial detainees who have yet to be convicted of any crime. There are also hundreds of corrections officers at work on the island./p p We were not able to reach anyone at the NYC DOC for commentndash;but the a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/hurricane-irene-questions-and-answers/"emNew York Times/emlsquo;s City Room /ablog reported: ldquo;According to the cityrsquo;s Department of Correction, no hypothetical evacuation plan for the roughly 12,000 inmates that the facility may house on a given day even exists. Contingencies do exist for smaller-scale relocations from one facility to span data-scayt_word="another.”" data-scaytid="1"another.rdquo;/span/p p For a warning of what can happen to prisoners in a hurricane we need only look back at Katrina, and the horrific conditions endured by inmates at Orleans Parish Prison in New Orleans. According to a a href="http://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/aclu-report-details-horrors-suffered-orleans-parish-prisoners-wake-hurricane-katrin"report produced by the ACLU/a:/p blockquotep [A]nbsp;culture of neglect was evident in the days before Katrina, when the sheriff declared that the prisoners would remain ldquo;where they belong,rdquo; despite the mayorrsquo;s decision to declare the cityrsquo;s first-ever mandatory evacuation. span data-scayt_word="OPP" data-scaytid="6"OPP/span even accepted prisoners, including juveniles as young as 10, from other facilities to ride out the storm./p p As floodwaters rose in the span data-scayt_word="OPP" data-scaytid="7"OPP/span buildings, power was lost, and entire buildings were plunged into darkness. Deputies left their posts wholesale, leaving behind prisoners in locked cells, some standing in sewage-tainted water up to their chests hellip;/p p Prisoners went days without food, water and ventilation, and deputies admit that they received no emergency training and were entirely unaware of any evacuation plan. Even some prison guards were left locked in at their posts to fend for themselves, unable to provide assistance to prisoners in need./p p nbsp;/p div id="content" h2 August 27, 2011/h2 div class="post-627 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-uncategorized" id="post-627" div class="storycontent" div div p strongspan style="font-size: small;"span style="font-family: Georgia;"Take Action for span data-scayt_word="Rikers’" data-scaytid="38"Rikersrsquo;/span Island Prisoners!nbsp; Demand the City Create an Emergency Evacuation Plannbsp; /span/span/strongbr / span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;" /span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"Mayor Bloomberg has announced that in the event of a hurricane, that he will not evacuate prisoners at span data-scayt_word="Rikers’" data-scaytid="39"Rikersrsquo;/span Island, claiming instead to have a ldquo;contingency planrdquo; in place. The experience of prisoners in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina shows that city authorities will abandon the basic rights of prisoners in the face of disaster.br / /span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"We canrsquo;t let Bloomberg get away with this!br / /span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"span style="font-family: Georgia;"(1.) Demand the city strongspan style="text-decoration: underline;"create an emergency evacuation plan by span data-scayt_word="5pm" data-scaytid="42"5pm/span today to evacuate prisoners at span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="13"Rikers/span Island in the event that other areas in Zone B or C around span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="14"Rikers/span Island are evacuated./span/strong/spanbr / /span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"Call NYC Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs at a href="http://alaa2325.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/take-action-for-rikers%E2%80%99-island-prisoners-demand-the-city-create-an-emergency-evacuation-plan/%28212%29%20788-2485" target="_blank"(212) 788-2485/a/span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"a href="mailto:lgibbs@cityhall.nyc.gov" target="_blank"span data-scayt_word="lgibbs@cityhall.nyc.gov" data-scaytid="22"lgibbs@cityhall.nyc.gov/span/a/span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"Twitter: span data-scayt_word="@NYCMayorsOffice" data-scaytid="44"@NYCMayorsOffice/spanbr / /span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"(2.) Call strongon span data-scayt_word="NY1" data-scaytid="45"NY1/span to investigate the status of the ldquo;contingency planrdquo; for span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="15"Rikers/span Island prisoners/strong:/span/p p span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-family: Georgia;"nbsp;a href="http://www.ny1.com/content/contact_us/" target="_blank"http://span data-scayt_word="www.ny1.com" data-scaytid="23"www.ny1.com/span/content/contact_us//a /span/span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"Tel.: nbsp;a href="http://alaa2325.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/take-action-for-rikers%E2%80%99-island-prisoners-demand-the-city-create-an-emergency-evacuation-plan/212-691-6397" target="_blank"212-691-6397/abr / /span/p p span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-family: Georgia;"(3.) strongSubmit evacuation plan demand to cityrsquo;s website: /strong/span/span/p p span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-family: Georgia;"strong-/strongGo to a href="http://nycsevereweather.crowdmap.com/reports/submit/" target="_blank"http://span data-scayt_word="nycsevereweather.crowdmap.com" data-scaytid="24"nycsevereweather.crowdmap.com/span/reports/submit//anbsp; ndash;this is a website set up by the city for people to submit weather-related service problems.nbsp; Locate span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="16"Rikers/span Island on the map and drag the red marker there./span/span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"-Copy and paste this text (or write your own!):/span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"Title: Evacuation plan needed/span/p p span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"The city has no evacuation plan for span data-scayt_word="Rikers" data-scaytid="17"Rikers/span Island, despite its low elevation and its nearly 13,000 prisoners. Please do not let these individuals, or the ones at the nearby floating Vernon C. Bain Correction Center, suffer./span/p /div /div /div /div /div /blockquote

p People milling by on their daily grind.nbsp; The sounds and smells of the San Francisco morningnbsp;waft throughnbsp;the air.nbsp; I watch newsnbsp;crews set up their equipmentnbsp;in anticipation of Mayor Ed Lee#39;s visit to the 16th St.nbsp;BART station. I see anbsp;reporternbsp;rehearsing his questions--and last minute flossing--before the cameras roll. Cops patrol the sidewalks in twos, rousting the poor from the closest thing they have to a place to be,nbsp;while other guys who look like secret service agents appearnbsp;magically in expensive suits./p p nbsp;/p p The Mayor was to arrive at 8:15nbsp;AM to meet and greet (who does he know down here?).nbsp; Mayor emfor the moment /emEd Lee announced yesterday that he will run for Mayor of San Francisco, reneging on his promise at the beginning of his termnbsp;that he would not.nbsp;nbsp;Now henbsp;feels it isnbsp;important to grace this district with his presence to answer questions regarding that decision. I wonder if he will answer questions about what he plans to do once he gets there (assuming he will). The guys who look like secret service walk by me as if I#39;m invisible, sitting here typing away, talking about encrypted radios and security related stuff, giving lie to the fact they aren#39;t wearing uniforms and open badges. These guys are cops too. By last count they have no fewer than ten men here in various modes of dress but all of them are armed and harassing the poor--for being poor--where the Mayor will set foot in ten minutes./p p nbsp;/p p In this district the poor are nearly all with black or brown skin. Some of the officers roust the homeless by radio, ordering the uniforms to handle their dirty work. I wonder if the mayor realizes that the questions that matter to the people who live in the district he is speakingnbsp;to probably won#39;t be asked because the ones who would ask them are conspicuously absent. At least they won#39;t be asked by the clean white van of channel 2, or its clean white occupants./p p nbsp;/p p Good thing I#39;m here with POOR magazine to get down to the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="nitty" data-scaytid="3"nitty/span gritty! The mayor arrives and addresses the news crewsnbsp;informally. I walk over and introduce myself. Wow! He shook my hand. I wonder which of us wanted to wash his hands more.nbsp; He says he wants to talk about the issues that the people of this city want to talk about, particularly getting a new police chief, creating jobs, and pension reform. His family is supportive, he says, and actually talked him out of his previous resolve not to run for the office that he now holds. They told him to #39;listen to everybody, we are an international city and one which loves its#39; neighborhoods and its multicultural span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="nature.’" data-scaytid="1"nature.rsquo;/span As he spoke I watched a man ignore him as he tried to greet him. Apparently Mayors don#39;t really rate as high as he had supposed, in the eyes of the average citizen of the Mission district. Perhaps the Mission has seen its share of politicians who say all the right things and then do just what the last one did. Anna Torres met with him and they discussed housing. She indicated a desire to build more public housing. He asked for her card and assured her he wanted the same. I sincerely hope he means that, if he winds up in the Mayors#39; office after election./p p nbsp;/p p Jane Kim then pulled him away to confer briefly as a poorly dressed man walked by cursing.nbsp;nbsp; I seized my opportunity to ask him a question: Good morning, my name is Michael span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Glynn" data-scaytid="5"Glynn/span and I#39;m with POOR magazine, I just wanted to ask a quick question Inbsp;begin. Yes Michael ..POOR? Yes Sir, in the Redstone building... you can see it from here. I was wondering what plans you had for changing span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Muni" data-scaytid="7"Muni/span so that they don#39;t target black and brown people. I heard younbsp;talking about a new police chief, is that a part of your plan? he then replied that He didn#39;t believe that span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Muni" data-scaytid="9"Muni/span targeted anyone.nbsp; I wonder if the families of those slain recently by span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Muni" data-scaytid="11"Muni/span cops would agree. There#39;s no telling who will be next in line for the slaughter, but itrsquo;s a given that they won#39;t be white and affluent. Sorry Ed, but ignoring the facts don#39;t change them./p p nbsp;/p p As he sets up for his camera shot, I sit in the background--probably missed in the frame--but I#39;m there. I can see him standing looking for babies to kiss and hands to shake. Most of the people here have no clue who this man is. He looked a little disappointed by that. Glad I could make you feel like a star, me and the dozen or so men with guns who are here for you. Oh he spits a good game on pension reform and creating jobs but he does it like a general retreating to the safety of friendly lines. I don#39;t get the feeling that he is a front line fighter on the issue of homelessness. I would be willing to bet he doesn#39;t ride the bus, or sleep in the park./p p nbsp;/p p 22 years in government and his record shows that on the issue of the poor he really hasnrsquo;t made any stand at all that reflects the needs of the community that he says he wants tonbsp;serve.nbsp; Innbsp;fact, most of the true representatives of this area seem to have been shuffled off for his arrival, barring of course Jane Kim who was there with Mayor Lee. After the dog and pony show I went down to the Coalition on Homelessness and spoke with James who works at the desk. He said that he wouldn#39;t vote for Lee in the coming election, but that his reasonsnbsp;had nothing to do with Lee#39;s record than that there was another candidate that he favored. Unspoken was the expectation that any person who could attain the office of the Mayor of San Francisco would inevitably show the true colors of any politician. San Francisco has been waiting a long time for an honest Mayor with real concern for the well-being of all her inhabitants, but nobody expects one in the near future, if at all./p

p (Co-editor#39;s note--This wonderful piece was written by poet span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Sarahí" data-scaytid="9"Sarahiacute;/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Yajaira" data-scaytid="15"Yajaira/span.nbsp; I came across it through mutual friend, poet Marvin White via his Facebook page.nbsp; The piece made me think of food, and how it brings us together--how it beckons our ancestors and allows us to give thanks to them and acknowledge their presence.nbsp; POOR Magazine thanks span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Sarahí" data-scaytid="11"Sarahiacute;/span for allowing us to republish this piece from her blog.nbsp;To read more of her work, check out her blog:nbsp; a href="http://writingdistillslove.wordpress.com/"http://span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="writingdistillslove.wordpress.com" data-scaytid="1"writingdistillslove.wordpress.com/span//a.nbsp; Tony Robles--Co-Editor, POOR Magazine)/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="jamas" data-scaytid="131"jamas/span le span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="niegues" data-scaytid="19"niegues/span anbsp;span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="alguien" data-scaytid="21"alguien/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tres" data-scaytid="23"tres/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="cosas" data-scaytid="25"cosas/span:br / un span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="vaso" data-scaytid="27"vaso/span de span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="agua" data-scaytid="29"agua/span,nbsp;un span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="plato" data-scaytid="31"plato/span de span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="comida" data-scaytid="33"comida/span,br / el span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="uso" data-scaytid="35"uso/span de un span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="baño.”" data-scaytid="3"bantilde;o.rdquo;/span/embr / span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="-Doña" data-scaytid="37"-Dontilde;a/span Juananbsp;Rivera/p p nbsp;/p p in 1985./p p my emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="abuela" data-scaytid="39"abuela/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="juana" data-scaytid="47"juana/span/em was a Mother.nbsp;to her eleven children, forty-six grandchildren and a little six-storynbsp;tenement building that sat in the middle of a span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="spanish" data-scaytid="49"spanish/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="harlem" data-scaytid="51"harlem/span, new span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="york" data-scaytid="53"york/span city block in the 12 orsquo;clock shadow of the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="taino" data-scaytid="55"taino/span towers./p p 218 e. span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="122nd" data-scaytid="57"122nd/span street./p p on span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="sundays" data-scaytid="59"sundays/span my emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="abuela" data-scaytid="41"abuela/span/em cooked. and when i say she cooked, i mean she had the emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="cucharones" data-scaytid="63"cucharones/span/em banging on emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="calderos" data-scaytid="65"calderos/span,nbsp;el span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="horno" data-scaytid="67"horno/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="encendio’" data-scaytid="69"encendiorsquo;/spannbsp;/emmaking music in that kitchen to the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="rythmn" data-scaytid="71"rythmn/span of my aunts chatter and emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="chismes" data-scaytid="73"chismes/span/em. while the men played emdomino/em talking emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pelota" data-scaytid="75"pelota/span y lorsquo; span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="yankis" data-scaytid="77"yankis/span o los span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="mets…" data-scaytid="79"metshellip;/span/emnbsp;and the kids ran up and down emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="81"las/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="escaleras" data-scaytid="83"escaleras/span./em/p p span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="sunday" data-scaytid="85"sunday/span was another way of saying family. if we werenrsquo;t at span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="randall’s" data-scaytid="89"randallrsquo;s/span island, we were at emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="abuela’s" data-scaytid="91"abuelarsquo;s/span /emor at emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Titi" data-scaytid="93"Titi/span Isabelrsquo;s. /embut cooking was happening. and so was eating. and Love./p p when it was time to eathellip; my grandma would lead us in prayer and she would always say something along the emldquo;hellip; y span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="95"que/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="aquellos" data-scaytid="99"aquellos/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="97"que/span no span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tienen" data-scaytid="101"tienen/span de comer, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="encuentren" data-scaytid="133"encuentren/span el span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="camino" data-scaytid="105"camino/span a mi span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="cocina.”" data-scaytid="5"cocina.rdquo;/span /em(hellip;and may those who donbsp;not have a meal, find their way to my kitchen)./p p cooking lesson 101: we are responsible for each other (blood related or not)./p p this isnbsp;something that has always stayed with ushellip; as the cousins have all grown older, we always tell each other, ldquo;stop by therersquo;s always a plate for one span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="more.”" data-scaytid="7"more.rdquo;/span and we remember emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="abuela" data-scaytid="43"abuela/span./emnbsp;it was never a lesson that we werenbsp;taught in the sense of sitting us down to tell ushellip; it was just a natural way of nurturing./p p between the emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pernil" data-scaytid="107"pernil/span, el span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pollo" data-scaytid="109"pollo/span, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="arroz" data-scaytid="111"arroz/span con span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gandules" data-scaytid="113"gandules/span, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ensalada" data-scaytid="115"ensalada/span de papa, y span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="escabeche" data-scaytid="117"escabeche/span de span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="mollejitas" data-scaytid="119"mollejitas/span/em we realized we had enough to fill our bellies and our hearts and those around us./p p hellip;yoursquo;d always see a few of us bringing somebody else. ldquo;this is my span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="amiga" data-scaytid="121"amiga/span from schoolhellip;rdquo; you didnrsquo;t even have to finishnbsp;saying her name, whonbsp;she was related to, hownbsp;shenbsp;got herehellip;nbsp;when she was already being handed a plate. and thennbsp;someone shouting, emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="“quien" data-scaytid="123"ldquo;quien/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="falta" data-scaytid="125"falta/span de comer?rdquo; /em/p p emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="abuela" data-scaytid="45"abuela/span /emfed more than just our bellies. she fed our hearts with a sense of responsibility that lives in each of us eighteen years after her physical body left us. but her presence is still present in our meals./p p feeding thenbsp;collective emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="familia" data-scaytid="127"familia/span/emnbsp;is not just culturehellip; itrsquo;s a commandment. food is just food if it has no nourishment that goes beyond the one it provides the physical body.nbsp;emstrongnbsp;ifnbsp;you cannot feed the soul, donrsquo;t even bother to cook./strong/em/p p on span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="sundays" data-scaytid="61"sundays/span and every dayhellip; may i always feed souls./p p ~span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Sarahí" data-scaytid="13"Sarahiacute;/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Yajaira" data-scaytid="17"Yajaira/span, 2011 copy;/p p emwriterrsquo;s note: a special thanks to Marvin span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Bings" data-scaytid="129"Bings/span and Antonio Robles for inspiring my span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="sunday" data-scaytid="87"sunday/span muse./em/p

p (image courtesy of spanBradley Stuart / a href="http://indybay.org/" target="_blank"span data-scayt_word="Indybay.org" data-scaytid="59"Indybay.org/span)/a/span/p p br / At todayrsquo;s ldquo;Save the Knoll span data-scayt_word="Ohlone" data-scaytid="10"Ohlone/span Burial Site BBQ and Gatheringrdquo; Charlene Sal, Director of the Confederation of span data-scayt_word="Ohlone" data-scaytid="11"Ohlone/span People, called out an amplified request, ldquo;All I ask is, for the sake of the ancestors, pay attentionrdquo;. Her calm yet insistent voice rang as unshakable as a bell through a still circle of native and non-native people gathered on a cool Santa Cruz afternoon to save something sacred./p p ldquo;If you donrsquo;t think you know me you do,rdquo; Charlene said. ldquo;Maybe its today that wersquo;ll meet for the first time, and maybe we met a hundred years ago. Itrsquo;s not for me to say. But what I do know for absolute sure is that the ancestors called us here today right now to reunite. What I do know is that theyrsquo;re asking for your protectionhellip;rdquo;./p p The language of calling always hits me somewhere rebellious in my preacherrsquo;s daughter knee-jerk rejection of all things span data-scayt_word="divinized" data-scaytid="16"divinized/span. But as I listened closer, what I heard her saying was that we were being called not just to this Grant Street Park, not just to this informal informational gathering for BBQ and brainstorming creative ways to stop KB Home, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, from disrespecting the span data-scayt_word="Ohlone" data-scaytid="12"Ohlone/span burial site and village by disrupting the dead and erecting a housing development on sacred span data-scayt_word="Ohlone" data-scaytid="13"Ohlone/span land. Charlene was asking us to pay attention to the fact that we were being called to a different way of activism, a different vision for protest. None of the nearly 50 people gathered on the green field of the sun soaked park appeared to be strangers to the brandishing of signs and chanting of slogans so familiar to the scene of workers strikes and antiwar rallies. These women were clearly inviting us to engage in still another kind of collective action./p p ldquo;Our society is so absent of the sacredrdquo; elder Anne Marie span data-scayt_word="Sayers" data-scaytid="17"Sayers/span explained, the closest identified relative of the small child whose body was unearthed by a development crew at the span data-scayt_word="Branciforte" data-scaytid="21"Branciforte/span Creek site on August 2nd. The disruption of more burial sites was planned to resume tomorrow, August 22, but has been delayed for now, for reasons unknown. The contract allowing KB Homes to continue with the housing project still has yet to be broken. Though the City of Santa Cruz knew of the presence of sacred land at this site they have permitted KB Homes to proceed. Though KB Homes knew of the presence of sacred land before they purchased it they have proceeded to demolish the site and uproot a native child from the land in order to build seven homes, a road and a driveway./p p Ms. Anne Marie span data-scayt_word="Sayers" data-scaytid="18"Sayers/span was asked by one of the lead organizers of the Save the Knoll Campaign to share with the group gathered there in support what the significance of the burial site is to her and her people./p p ldquo;My mother believed that when the burial is disturbed the spirit of that individual is left wandering,rdquo; Ms. span data-scayt_word="Sayers" data-scaytid="19"Sayers/span said. ldquo;She watched bulldozers go through Native American cemeteries in the span data-scayt_word="40s" data-scaytid="22"40s/span and span data-scayt_word="50s" data-scaytid="23"50s/span where there was no law in place, there was nothing that could be done outside of watch. Today there are some laws in place, but like the majority of native laws that are for native peoples they donrsquo;t have any teeth. So I say well letrsquo;s gum them to death then. I think we can do it. I really believe so and with the power of prayer, believe in prayer or not I do, it canrsquo;t go on!rdquo;/p p The elderrsquo;s energy was contagious. We were all paying more attention now and Charlene Sal added to the urgency of her message saying, ldquo;this space that we are talking about right now is just one of many examples of desecrations and there are so many more. But it takes all of us. The spirits donrsquo;t care how old we are, they donrsquo;t care what we look like. They donrsquo;t care about anything except our presence so that we can speak for span data-scayt_word="them.”" data-scaytid="1"them.rdquo;/span/p p Paying attention. Being Present. Protecting the past to preserve the future. Were we all already praying? No pews, no books, nor priests were needed and yet spirit was moving, calling us to protest differently, sensible simply because we were listening, paying attention to something sacred./p p The development happening on Market and Isabel near Santa Cruzrsquo;s beautiful Market Street Field was approved by the City Council in 2007 despite ldquo;wide spread opposition from local residents, environmentalists, archeologists and historic preservationistsrdquo;. (Save the Knoll flyer)The Save the Knoll campaign is growing but needs support to garner sufficient social pressure to make KB Homes realize that honoring sacred space should become part and parcel of their calculus for identifying when and where to develop new homes and build new communities out of an understanding of the priceless relationship of ldquo;progressrdquo; to healing the past./p p To this end at the close of the Sunday afternoon gathering everyone was invited to contribute to the making of sacred prayer ties which Ms. Anne Marie offered to take up to the burial site Monday morning as a way to call the developers too to pay attention to a different kind of bottom line. As Ms. Anne Marie explained to me the red, white, black, and yellow cloth ties filled with sacred tobacco and prayers represent the four directions, the color of life. They are part of a practice of protest meant, ldquo;to remind them [the developers],rdquo; she said, ldquo;that our ancestors are here and these are prayers for our ancestors not to be destroyed span data-scayt_word="anymore.”" data-scaytid="2"anymore.rdquo;/span/p p Charlene Sal went on to explain, ldquo;So the one great wonderful things about having something physical that is a part of prayer to people who donrsquo;t really understand is that here is an actual thing made by real people who are supporting Ms. Anne Marie and the span data-scayt_word="Ohlone" data-scaytid="14"Ohlone/span people in this action, if you donrsquo;t believe in spirits thatrsquo;s finehellip; To say, ldquo;the ancestors donrsquo;t appreciate thisrdquo;, [the developers] may or may not believe that, but the prayer flags represent all the community who donrsquo;t appreciate this and that might make a difference!rdquo;/p p If you too are feeling called, please join in the urgent collective outcry and supportnbsp; Ms. Anne Marie span data-scayt_word="Sayers" data-scaytid="20"Sayers/span and the span data-scayt_word="Ohlone" data-scaytid="15"Ohlone/span People protect whatrsquo;s sacred TODAY. The developers could resume their work as soon as Tuesday and the more time we can stall them the more time we will have to move KB Homes and the City of Santa Cruz into alignment with the people whose land this has been for 6,000 years. Please follow the links below and sign the petition, write a letter, come participate, but also never underestimate the precious and powerful practice of prayer./p p emJasmine is a graduate of POOR Magazine#39;s Race, Poverty and Media Justice Program and a special reporter to Indigenous Peoples Media Project on span data-scayt_word="PoorNewsNetwork" data-scaytid="24"PoorNewsNetwork/span/em/p p br / emstrongWhat You Can Do:/strong/em/p p nbsp;nbsp; embull;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Spread the word.br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; bull;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Sign and share our online petition.br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; bull;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Call and email KB Home and City of Santa Cruz representatives to request that they take action to stop the desecration this ancient settlement and burial site. Please CC emails to [a href="mailto:info@savetheknoll.org" target="_blank"span data-scayt_word="info@savetheknoll.org" data-scaytid="3"info@savetheknoll.org/span/a].br / City of Santa Cruz
/emem/emspan data-scayt_word="citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com" data-scaytid="5"ema href="mailto:citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com" target="_blank"citycouncil@cityofsantacruz./a/ema href="mailto:citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com" target="_blank"wbr/wbr/aema href="mailto:citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com" target="_blank"com/a/em/spanem
a href="tel:%28831%29%20420-5020" target="_blank" value="+18314205020"(831) 420-5020/abr / Ryan span data-scayt_word="Coonerty" data-scaytid="25"Coonerty/span, Santa Cruz Mayor
a href="tel:%28831%29%20420-5027" target="_blank" value="+18314205027"(831) 420-5027/a
a href="tel:%28831%29%20423-8939" target="_blank" value="+18314238939"(831) 423-8939/a
a href="mailto:rcoonerty@cityofsantacruz.com" target="_blank"span data-scayt_word="rcoonerty@cityofsantacruz.com" data-scaytid="6"rcoonerty@cityofsantacruz.com/span/abr / Juliana span data-scayt_word="Rebagliati" data-scaytid="26"Rebagliati/span ndash; Director of Planning and Community Development
/emem/emspan data-scayt_word="jrebagliati@cityofsantacruz.com" data-scaytid="7"ema href="mailto:jrebagliati@cityofsantacruz.com" target="_blank"jrebagliati@cityofsantacruz./a/ema href="mailto:jrebagliati@cityofsantacruz.com" target="_blank"wbr/wbr/aema href="mailto:jrebagliati@cityofsantacruz.com" target="_blank"com/a/em/spanem
a href="tel:%28831%29%20420-5103" target="_blank" value="+18314205103"(831) 420-5103/abr / KB Home South Bay:
a href="tel:925-750-1700" target="_blank" value="+19257501700"925-750-1700/abr / KB Home Corporate Headquarters
Tel: a href="tel:310.231.4000" target="_blank" value="+13102314000"310.231.4000/a
a href="mailto:customerrelations@kbhome.com" target="_blank"span data-scayt_word="customerrelations@kbhome.com" data-scaytid="8"customerrelations@kbhome.com/span/a, a href="mailto:ethics@kbhome.com" target="_blank"span data-scayt_word="ethics@kbhome.com" data-scaytid="9"ethics@kbhome.com/span/a
10990 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Fax: a href="tel:310.231.4222" target="_blank" value="+13102314222"310.231.4222/abr / KB Home Central:
888-KB-HOMESbr / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; bull;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Donate money to our Emergency Defense Fund.br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; bull;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Help maintain a presence in front of the construction site on each work day, holding signs and handing out flyers.br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; bull;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Visit the land. It is located at the North end of Market Street in Santa Cruz, just after the Highway 1 overpass. The front gate is at the intersection of Market St. and span data-scayt_word="Isbel" data-scaytid="27"Isbel/span Dr., and the official address of the property is 5 span data-scayt_word="Isbel" data-scaytid="28"Isbel/span Dr., Santa Cruz, CA.br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; bull;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Print out flyers/leaflets to give away. Print out blank petitions and collect signatures.br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; bull;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Show your support by attending events, gatherings and demonstrations.br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; bull;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Help us obtain letters statements from neighbors, organizations, and political leaders, in support of protecting and preserving the Knoll.br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; bull;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Offer your prayers for the land, for the ancestors who have been disturbed, and their families.br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; bull;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Please email a href="mailto:info@savetheknoll.org" target="_blank"span data-scayt_word="info@savetheknoll.org" data-scaytid="4"info@savetheknoll.org/span/a with questions, or to offer support./em/p

p Long beforenbsp;I was born, my people, the Lakota, lived andnbsp;thrived within and around span data-scayt_word="Paha" data-scaytid="1"Paha/span span data-scayt_word="Sapa--or" data-scaytid="7"Sapa--or/span Black Hills.nbsp; My people have always lived there.nbsp; Our creation stories came fromnbsp;Wind Tunnel, which is now privately owned bynbsp;the tourist industrial complex.nbsp; They chargenbsp;admissionnbsp;for entry ontonbsp;ournbsp;sacred grounds./p p Although many will tell you that the Cheyennenbsp;first inhabited span data-scayt_word="Paha" data-scaytid="2"Paha/span span data-scayt_word="Sapa" data-scaytid="8"Sapa/span,nbsp;we will tell you otherwise.nbsp; We believe that Mother Earth gave us birth--that we too grew like a seed in her belly.nbsp; We hold many sacrednbsp;ceremonies and have many ancestors buried there.nbsp; span data-scayt_word="Paha" data-scaytid="3"Paha/span span data-scayt_word="Sapa" data-scaytid="9"Sapa/span was taken from us, forcefully.nbsp; The government thinks that a number or dollar amount can change that.nbsp; The people whonbsp;gavenbsp;the word on gold in the Black Hills was the Hearst Corporation./p p Thenbsp;Hearst Corporation conspired with General Custer, as well as with the people that passed the treaties to take over the land that was once our people#39;s, and is now owned by big corporations that make big money.nbsp; The Hearst Corporation now havenbsp;a castle named after its founder,nbsp;William Randolph Hearst saidnbsp;span data-scayt_word="Quanah" data-scaytid="13"Quanah/span Parker span data-scayt_word="Brightman" data-scaytid="14"Brightman/span of United Native Americans Inc. (span data-scayt_word="UNA" data-scaytid="15"UNA/span Inc.) during a rally in front of the San Francisco Chronicle, a subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation./p p When I was a child, i remember my elders talking about how they would never take the money, that they would rather have died than betray our ancestors.nbsp; We always believed that span data-scayt_word="Paha" data-scaytid="4"Paha/span span data-scayt_word="Sapa" data-scaytid="10"Sapa/span was specifically The heart of everything that was and always will be.nbsp; It is a meaning that goes farther back than AIM (American Indian Movement)./p p If you do a span data-scayt_word="google" data-scaytid="19"google/span search of The Black Hills, the first things you#39;ll get are tourist sites, like Mt. Rushmore, or historical Keystone.nbsp; The most disturbing thing is that the people who teach our children teach them that the Cherokee first inhabited The Black span data-scayt_word="HIlls" data-scaytid="20"HIlls/span.nbsp; That is not true.nbsp; My people have been there since before we can remember.nbsp; Science proves that our people have been there since 7000 BC!/p p If you look at a topographical map of the Black Hills, you will see that it looks like a human heart, an Island of trees in a sea of grass.nbsp; I believe this to be true.nbsp; I have lived in and around the Black Hills Range--from Pine Ridge, a desolate land where not much is in store, to the vibrant green and cool atmosphere of span data-scayt_word="Paha" data-scaytid="5"Paha/span span data-scayt_word="Sapa" data-scaytid="11"Sapa/span.nbsp; The 1851 and 1868 treaties of Fort Laramie had previously confirmed the Lakota#39;s ownership of the Teton Sioux Mountain Range.nbsp; So in violation of that treaty, a remnant regiment of Gen. George Custer marched into the Black Hills and sent all the Lakota to the reservations where we are now./p p From the beginning we have said that the Black Hills were not for sale. We will always stand behind that promise and never lose faith in what is important to us.nbsp; The government decided that money was more important than people living where they belonged.nbsp; So in turn the government keeps wasting their time and money by holding an interest bearing trust account, which we will never take.nbsp;nbsp; To this day, it now holds up to 1.3 billion dollars./p p Many people would go to Pine Ridge, Kyle, span data-scayt_word="Wanblee" data-scaytid="21"Wanblee/span, Porcupine, and many other desolate areas on the Pine Ridge Reservation and ask, Why won#39;t the Sioux just take the money to expand what they have?nbsp; Because if you have ever been to my home, you would know just from seeing how bad things are there. We live below the poverty line.nbsp; If you have seen the ghettos out in the big cities, you would be shocked to find out that the reservations are worse./p p span data-scayt_word="UNA" data-scaytid="16"UNA/span Inc. wants reimbursement for the theft of the gold in span data-scayt_word="Paha" data-scaytid="6"Paha/span span data-scayt_word="Sapa" data-scaytid="12"Sapa/span.nbsp; Black Elk, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and many others declared the Black Hills not for sale.nbsp; I do see where span data-scayt_word="UNA" data-scaytid="17"UNA/span would want to fight for reimbursement on the gold, none of us every peeped that the gold was not for sale.nbsp; So in other terms, home invasion is legal, but the thievery of our resources is what span data-scayt_word="UNA" data-scaytid="18"UNA/span is trying to fight./p p I know this road will be long and difficult, but we will never give up hope that someday we may have our land back, or at least reimbursement for our resources./p p nbsp;/p p Phillip Standing Bearbr / Indigenous Peoples Media Project/p p style="margin-left: -0.5in;" Long/p

p class="MsoNormal" strongScroll down for English/strong/p p class="MsoNormal" span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Algunas" data-scaytid="1"Algunas/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="veces" data-scaytid="3"veces/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="yo" data-scaytid="5"yo/spanspannbsp; /spanmespannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="sorprendo" data-scaytid="19"sorprendo/spanspannbsp; /spana mi span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="mismo" data-scaytid="21"mismo/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="cuando" data-scaytid="23"cuando/spanspannbsp; /spanla span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pandilla" data-scaytid="33"pandilla/spanspannbsp; /spanlegalspannbsp; /spande Americaspannbsp; /spanlaspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="policia" data-scaytid="35"policia/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="abusa" data-scaytid="53"abusa/span de span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="su" data-scaytid="55"su/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="poder" data-scaytid="59"poder/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="para" data-scaytid="65"para/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="esforsar" data-scaytid="69"esforsar/span la leyspan.nbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Todos" data-scaytid="71"Todos/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="sabemos" data-scaytid="73"sabemos/spanspan /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="75"que/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="eso" data-scaytid="109"eso/span no span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="115"es/span nada span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="nuevo" data-scaytid="119"nuevo/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pero" data-scaytid="121"pero/span, lo span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="77"que/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="llamo" data-scaytid="129"llamo/span mi span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="attencion" data-scaytid="133"attencion/spanspan /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="117"es/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="cuando" data-scaytid="25"cuando/span vi un span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="reportaje" data-scaytid="135"reportaje/spanspan /spanenspan /spanlaspan /spantelevisionspan de /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="cuando" data-scaytid="27"cuando/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="alguien" data-scaytid="139"alguien/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="llamo" data-scaytid="131"llamo/spanspannbsp; /spanaspannbsp; /spanlaspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="policia" data-scaytid="37"policia/spanspannbsp; /spana la casaspannbsp; /spande span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="una" data-scaytid="143"una/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="familia" data-scaytid="147"familia/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="mexicana" data-scaytid="161"mexicana/spanspan /spany span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ellos" data-scaytid="163"ellos/spannbsp;les span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="digieron" data-scaytid="177"digieron/span a la span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="familia" data-scaytid="149"familia/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="79"que/span le span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="bajaran" data-scaytid="179"bajaran/span a la span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="musica" data-scaytid="181"musica/span,spannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ellos" data-scaytid="165"ellos/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="respetaron" data-scaytid="183"respetaron/spanspan /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="185"las/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ordenes" data-scaytid="193"ordenes/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pero" data-scaytid="123"pero/span la span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="policia" data-scaytid="39"policia/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="todavia" data-scaytid="195"todavia/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pateo" data-scaytid="199"pateo/span la span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="puerta" data-scaytid="203"puerta/spanspannbsp; /spany span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="empesaron" data-scaytid="205"empesaron/spanspannbsp; /spana span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="golpear" data-scaytid="207"golpear/spanspannbsp; /spana span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="todos" data-scaytid="209"todos/span en laspannbsp; /spancasa.spannbsp; /span/p div nbsp; div p class="MsoNormal" Si span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ustedes" data-scaytid="211"ustedes/span me span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="preguntan" data-scaytid="213"preguntan/spanspannbsp; /spana mi,spannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ellos" data-scaytid="167"ellos/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="estaban" data-scaytid="215"estaban/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="siendo" data-scaytid="217"siendo/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="racistas" data-scaytid="219"racistas/spanspannbsp; /spancon span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="esa" data-scaytid="221"esa/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="familia" data-scaytid="151"familia/span, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="por" data-scaytid="223"por/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="81"que/span sonspan /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="mexicamos" data-scaytid="227"mexicamos/spanspan /spany span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="por" data-scaytid="225"por/span la span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manera" data-scaytid="229"manera/span en span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="83"que/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ellos" data-scaytid="169"ellos/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="fueron" data-scaytid="231"fueron/span tratadosspan.nbsp; /spanLa span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="familia" data-scaytid="153"familia/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="va" data-scaytid="233"va/span a span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="poner" data-scaytid="239"poner/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="una" data-scaytid="145"una/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="demanda" data-scaytid="241"demanda/spanspannbsp; /spancontraspannbsp; /spanla span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="policia" data-scaytid="41"policia/span.span /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Cuando" data-scaytid="243"Cuando/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="yo" data-scaytid="7"yo/span vi span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ese" data-scaytid="245"ese/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="reportaje" data-scaytid="137"reportaje/spanspannbsp; /spanmespannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="regreso" data-scaytid="249"regreso/span a mi span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pasado" data-scaytid="251"pasado/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="cuando" data-scaytid="29"cuando/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="yo" data-scaytid="9"yo/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tenia" data-scaytid="253"tenia/span 17 span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="años" data-scaytid="259"antilde;os/span,span /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="yo" data-scaytid="11"yo/span y span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="unos" data-scaytid="261"unos/span amigosspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="despues" data-scaytid="263"despues/span de la span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="escuela" data-scaytid="269"escuela/span.spannbsp; /spanNos span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="paro" data-scaytid="271"paro/spanspannbsp; /spanla span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="policia" data-scaytid="43"policia/spanspan /spany nos span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ordenaron" data-scaytid="273"ordenaron/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="85"que/span nos span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tiraramos" data-scaytid="275"tiraramos/span al span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="suelo" data-scaytid="277"suelo/spanspan /spany span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="despues" data-scaytid="265"despues/spanspan /spanun span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="policia" data-scaytid="45"policia/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="salio" data-scaytid="279"salio/span de la nadaspannbsp; /spany me span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pateo" data-scaytid="201"pateo/spanspan /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="duro" data-scaytid="281"duro/span en e span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="cuello" data-scaytid="283"cuello/spanspan /spany me span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="decia" data-scaytid="285"decia/span:spannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="yo" data-scaytid="13"yo/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="odio" data-scaytid="287"odio/span a los span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="mexicanos" data-scaytid="289"mexicanos/spanspannbsp; /spanen span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ese" data-scaytid="247"ese/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tiempo" data-scaytid="291"tiempo/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="yo" data-scaytid="15"yo/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="todavia" data-scaytid="197"todavia/span era un span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="menor" data-scaytid="293"menor/span y mi span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="madre" data-scaytid="295"madre/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tenia" data-scaytid="255"tenia/spanspannbsp; /spanel span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="poder" data-scaytid="61"poder/span de span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tomar" data-scaytid="299"tomar/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="accion" data-scaytid="305"accion/spanspan, /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pero" data-scaytid="125"pero/span mi span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="madre" data-scaytid="297"madre/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tenia" data-scaytid="257"tenia/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="miedo" data-scaytid="311"miedo/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="porque" data-scaytid="313"porque/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="187"las/span personas le span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="decian" data-scaytid="321"decian/spanspan /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="87"que/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="nadie" data-scaytid="323"nadie/span le span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="podia" data-scaytid="325"podia/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ganar" data-scaytid="331"ganar/span contra la span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="policia" data-scaytid="47"policia/spanspannbsp; /spany span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="89"que/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tomando" data-scaytid="333"tomando/span, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="accion" data-scaytid="307"accion/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="toda" data-scaytid="335"toda/span la span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="familia" data-scaytid="155"familia/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="podia" data-scaytid="327"podia/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ser" data-scaytid="337"ser/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="deportada" data-scaytid="341"deportada/span.spannbsp; /span/p /div /div div nbsp;/div p class="MsoNormal" span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Por" data-scaytid="343"Por/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="eso" data-scaytid="111"eso/span me span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gusta" data-scaytid="347"gusta/span de span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="91"que/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="esta" data-scaytid="351"esta/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="familia" data-scaytid="157"familia/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="va" data-scaytid="235"va/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tomar" data-scaytid="301"tomar/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="accion" data-scaytid="309"accion/span contra span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="policia" data-scaytid="49"policia/span de Los Angeles span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="porque" data-scaytid="315"porque/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ellos" data-scaytid="171"ellos/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="nesecitan" data-scaytid="359"nesecitan/span saber span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="93"que/span no span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="esta" data-scaytid="353"esta/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="bien" data-scaytid="361"bien/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="95"que/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="abusen" data-scaytid="363"abusen/span de span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="189"las/span personas,span /spansolo span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="porque" data-scaytid="317"porque/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ellos" data-scaytid="173"ellos/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tienen" data-scaytid="365"tienen/span el span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="poder" data-scaytid="63"poder/span.spannbsp; /spanLo span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="97"que/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="paso" data-scaytid="367"paso/span en mi span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="caso" data-scaytid="369"caso/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="fue" data-scaytid="375"fue/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="99"que/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="despues" data-scaytid="267"despues/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="101"que/span el span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="policia" data-scaytid="51"policia/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="fue" data-scaytid="377"fue/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="investigado" data-scaytid="379"investigado/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="fuimos" data-scaytid="381"fuimos/span a la span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="corte" data-scaytid="383"corte/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="para" data-scaytid="67"para/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="explicar" data-scaytid="385"explicar/span el span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="caso" data-scaytid="371"caso/span.nbsp; Solo me span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="dijieron" data-scaytid="387"dijieron/spanspan /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="103"que/span el span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Iba" data-scaytid="389"Iba/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ser" data-scaytid="339"ser/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="traslado" data-scaytid="391"traslado/spanspan /spana span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="otro" data-scaytid="393"otro/spanspan /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="estado" data-scaytid="395"estado/spanspan, /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pero" data-scaytid="127"pero/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="105"que/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="si" data-scaytid="397"si/span el span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="golpiava" data-scaytid="399"golpiava/span a span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="alguien" data-scaytid="141"alguien/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="mas" data-scaytid="401"mas/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="yo" data-scaytid="17"yo/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="podia" data-scaytid="329"podia/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="testificar" data-scaytid="403"testificar/spanspannbsp; /spanen span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="su" data-scaytid="57"su/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="caso" data-scaytid="373"caso/spanspan.nbsp; /spanY a mi span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="casi" data-scaytid="405"casi/span me span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="dio" data-scaytid="407"dio/span un span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ataque" data-scaytid="409"ataque/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="cuando" data-scaytid="31"cuando/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="oi" data-scaytid="411"oi/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="esto" data-scaytid="413"esto/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="porque" data-scaytid="319"porque/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ellos" data-scaytid="175"ellos/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="pueden" data-scaytid="415"pueden/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="abusar" data-scaytid="417"abusar/span de span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="191"las/span personas y span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="nomas" data-scaytid="419"nomas/span los span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="regañan" data-scaytid="421"regantilde;an/span y los span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="dejan" data-scaytid="423"dejan/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="ir" data-scaytid="425"ir/span. span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Por" data-scaytid="345"Por/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="eso" data-scaytid="113"eso/span me span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gusta" data-scaytid="349"gusta/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="107"que/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="esta" data-scaytid="355"esta/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="familia" data-scaytid="159"familia/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="va" data-scaytid="237"va/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tomar" data-scaytid="303"tomar/spanspannbsp; /spanspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="esta" data-scaytid="357"esta/span accion./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" strongspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Engles" data-scaytid="427"Engles/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="sigue" data-scaytid="429"sigue/span/strong/p p class="MsoNormal" Sometimes I get surprised when the policemdash;the legal gang of America--abuse their powerbr / to enforce the law. We all know that itrsquo;s nothing new, but what caught my attention--br / enough to take time to write some lines--was that the other day when I was watching thebr / news on TV.../p p I see this report about how the police were called to the house of a Mexican family in Losbr / Angeles. They told them to lower the music. They did lower it, but the police still kicked thebr / door down and started hitting everybody in that house. If you ask me they were just beingbr / racist with that family, because they were Mexicans. And because of the way they werebr / mistreated they#39;re going to make a complaint against the Los Angeles Police Department./p p When I saw that report, it took me back in time to when I was only seventeen years old.br / Me and some span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="vatos" data-scaytid="431"vatos/span after school got stopped by the San Francisco Police and they told usbr / to get down and spread like an eagle. Then out of nowhere, one comes from behind andbr / kicks me really hard and tells me, I hate Mexicans. At that time I was still a minor so mybr / mother had the power to take action. But my mother got scared because people told herbr / that nobody wins against the police and that in the end the whole family was going to getbr / deported if we fought back./p p Thatrsquo;s why I like the fact that this family in LA is going to take action against these pigs;br / because they need to learn that it#39;s not okay to push people around just because theybr / have the power to. What happened in my case was that after that pig was investigated, webr / went to court to stand in front of a judge, just so they could tell me that he was span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gonna" data-scaytid="433"gonna/span bebr / transferred to a different state. They said if he hits somebody else I could go and testifybr / against him. I#39;m like, Why they telling me that it#39;s ok to hit people and just get a slap onbr / the wrist and walk away like nada? Thatrsquo;s not cool./p p People need to wake up and really resist the police abuse in our barrios. Thatrsquo;s why I tookbr / the time to write this article/p

p Me span data-scayt_word="dió" data-scaytid="3"dioacute;/span span data-scayt_word="tanto" data-scaytid="4"tanto/span gusto span data-scayt_word="haber" data-scaytid="5"haber/span span data-scayt_word="estado" data-scaytid="6"estado/span span data-scayt_word="presente" data-scaytid="7"presente/span en lanbsp; span data-scayt_word="inauguración" data-scaytid="8"inauguracioacute;n/span del span data-scayt_word="nuevo" data-scaytid="9"nuevo/spannbsp; mural span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="10"que/span span data-scayt_word="esta" data-scaytid="39"esta/span span data-scayt_word="localizado" data-scaytid="42"localizado/span en la pared de un span data-scayt_word="lote" data-scaytid="43"lote/span span data-scayt_word="baldío" data-scaytid="44"baldiacute;o/span span data-scayt_word="adyacente" data-scaytid="45"adyacente/span a span data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="46"las/span span data-scayt_word="oficinas" data-scaytid="55"oficinas/span de Quaker House, en el 65 9th Street (span data-scayt_word="entre" data-scaytid="56"entre/span Market y Mission).nbsp; La span data-scayt_word="importancia" data-scaytid="57"importancia/span de span data-scayt_word="este" data-scaytid="58"este/span mural no span data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="66"es/spannbsp; span data-scayt_word="solamente" data-scaytid="77"solamente/span span data-scayt_word="su" data-scaytid="155"su/span valor span data-scayt_word="artístico" data-scaytid="158"artiacute;stico/span y cultural,nbsp; si no tambieacute;n el mensaje span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="11"que/span proclama con sus imaacute;genes tan viacute;vidas e impactantes, span data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="67"es/span un vehiacute;culo para denunciarnbsp; lo difiacute;cilnbsp; span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="12"que/span span data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="68"es/span para los inmigrantes llegar a span data-scayt_word="este" data-scaytid="59"este/span paiacute;s.nbsp; Este Proyecto fue creado por el muralista Pancho Pescador y fue una colaboracioacute;n con el ldquo;Community Rejuvenation Projectrdquo;nbsp; y un grupo de estudiantes, span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="13"que/span se hace llamarnbsp; ldquo;67 Suentilde;osrdquo;, algunos de ellos indocumentados y span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="14"que/span fueron parte vital de span data-scayt_word="este" data-scaytid="60"este/span proyecto, de donde nacioacute; la inspiracioacute;n para el mural, ya span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="15"que/span en el mural se ven reflejadas span data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="47"las/span luchasnbsp; de los inmigrantes y el mensaje escrito span data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="69"es/spannbsp; claro; ldquo;Ningun ser humano span data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="70"es/span ilegalrdquo;nbsp; y el nombre de 67 Suentilde;os, span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="16"que/span span data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="71"es/span un grupo de estudiantes indocumentados y span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="17"que/span fueron parte vital de span data-scayt_word="este" data-scaytid="61"este/span proyecto.br / br / Organiceacute;nbsp; a un grupo de mujeres transLatinas con la intencioacute;n de darnbsp; visibilidad a span data-scayt_word="esta" data-scaytid="40"esta/span comunidad, span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="18"que/span tambieacute;n tiene span data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="48"las/span mismas experiencias span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="19"que/span los inmigrantes ynbsp; algunos de los estudiantes tambieacute;n.nbsp; La Ceremonia estuvo amenizada con comida, la venta denbsp; playeras con la insignia de ldquo;67 Suentilde;osrdquo;, y la presentacioacute;n del video tan conmovedor span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="20"que/span hicieron unas estudiantes span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="21"que/span relata span data-scayt_word="su" data-scaytid="156"su/span situacioacute;n como estudiantes indocumentadas.br / br / El mural estaacute; encabezado del lado izquierdo con la frase ldquo; Ninguacute;n ser humano span data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="72"es/span Ilegalrdquo;; y tiene imagenes span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="22"que/span expresannbsp; culturas ancestrales, tiene la imagen de un jaguar, mirando hacia una cabeza Olmeca, y un colibriacute;,nbsp; encima de unos sembradigrave;os de maiacute;z, todos estos siacute;mbolos denbsp; culturas iacute;ndigenas. Junto a estos siacute;mbolicos caracteres, se ven dos figuras masculinas de dos inmigrantes, aparentemente caminando por el campo, y arriba de uno denbsp; ellos, se puede leer, ldquo; Nos sacan de span data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="49"las/span escuelasrdquo; y arriba del otro inmigrante se lee; ldquo;Los medios nos ignoranrdquo;, aplaudo estos mensajes en el mural, ya span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="23"que/span denuncian la injusticia contra los inmigrantes.nbsp;nbsp; Tambieacute;n, interesantemente, se ven imagenes de un indviduo, aparentemente de descendencia indigena y con un altavoz del cual salen unos escritos tal vez describiendo una lengua indigena, y al mismo tiempo, dando luz a una de span data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="50"las/span barreras span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="24"que/span muchos inmigrantes afrontan en span data-scayt_word="este" data-scaytid="62"este/span pais, span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="25"que/span span data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="73"es/spannbsp; la diferencia del idioma.br / br / Lo maacute;s impresionante del mural para mi, fue le conjunto de imagenes span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="26"que/span hay en el lado derecho de span data-scayt_word="este" data-scaytid="63"este/span, span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="27"que/span son muy impactantes y span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="28"que/span nos cuentan span data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="51"las/span muchas historias de tantos inmigrantes span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="29"que/span cruzan la line sin documentacioacute;n.nbsp; Se ve a una nintilde;a, con span data-scayt_word="su" data-scaytid="157"su/span muntilde;eca a un lado, bajo una serpiente dragon, en un campo lleno de cruces de madera con nombres de personas en ellas.nbsp; Tambieacute;n se ven un par de botas, con una tarjeta verde a un lado.nbsp; Aparentemente la nintilde;a ha sido abandonada y span data-scayt_word="esta" data-scaytid="41"esta/span espantada ynbsp; estas imagenesnbsp; claramente demuestran span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="30"que/span no span data-scayt_word="solamente" data-scaytid="78"solamente/spannbsp; todas logran alcanzar el ldquo;Norterdquo; y span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="31"que/span no solo personas adultas cruzan la frontera, sino tambieacute;n nintilde;os y nintilde;as, hombres y mujeres.nbsp; Tambieacute;n se ve, de espaldas, a un oficial de ICE poniendole span data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="52"las/span esposas a un inmigrante indocumentado, una de span data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="53"las/span realidades span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="32"que/span enferentan muchos y muchas de estos hombres y mujeres.br / br / Este mural span data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="74"es/span uno de los trabajos denbsp; mas hermosos span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="33"que/span he visto en San Francisco y el mensaje span data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="75"es/span una denuncia directa contra el racismo y la injusticia span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="34"que/span son parte de span data-scayt_word="este" data-scaytid="64"este/span sistema capitalista en el span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="35"que/span vivimos.nbsp; Y Mientras no haya una reforma inmigratoria, seguiraacute;n llegando los inmigrantes sin documentacioacute;n y descubriraacute;n span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="36"que/span el ldquo;Suentilde;o Americanordquo;, no span data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="76"es/span para todos.nbsp; Espero el impacto de span data-scayt_word="este" data-scaytid="65"este/span mural en span data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="54"las/span demaacute;s comunidades, sea para bien y paranbsp; hacer conciencia, de span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="37"que/span nuestra gentenbsp; seguiraacute;nbsp; luchando por nuestro lugar en estas tierras span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="38"que/span fueron de nuestros ancestros.nbsp;nbsp; Que todos nosotros,nbsp; con documentos o sin documentos, todos,nbsp; somos iguales.br / br / I really enjoyed to participate in the official unveiling of the new mural located in an empty lot next to the Quaker House Building on 65 9th Street (between Market and Mission Streets).nbsp; The importance of this mural is not only relevant for its artistic and cultural contents, but it is also because of the message that its images proclaim.nbsp; These images are vivid and impacting, as they are a vehicle to denounce the hardship many immigrants have to go through to get to the span data-scayt_word="U.S" data-scaytid="1"U.S/span.nbsp; This project was created by the talented muralist Pancho Pescador in collaboration with with the Community Rejuvenation Project, andnbsp; a group of students called ldquo;67 Suentilde;osrdquo;, some of them undocumented,nbsp; from where it was inspired, as the mural shows some images of the many battles immigrants have to fight an there is also a message that is loud and clear; ldquo;No human being is illegalrdquo;.br / br / I organized a group of transgender Latina women with the intention of giving visibility tonbsp; our community, as I feel we also have experienced the same hardships and battles as many immigrants have and some of these students as well.nbsp; The unveiling ceremony provided some food, and the sale of some T-shirts with the logo ofnbsp; ldquo;67 Suentilde;osrdquo;, and the presentation of a shocking video made by some of these students narratingnbsp; their situation as undocumented students in the span data-scayt_word="U.S" data-scaytid="2"U.S/span.br / br / The Mural has on the top left the powerful phrase ldquo;No human being is illegalrdquo;; and it has images of some cultural ancestors, a jaguar looking toward an Olmec head stone and a colorful hummingbird, flying over a corn field, all these, symbols of indigenous origin.nbsp; Next to these symbolic characters, one can see two men, apparently two immigrants crossing the border through some fields, and right above them, it reads, ldquo;Are pushed out of High Schoolrdquo;, and above the other man, it reads, ldquo;The media ignore usrdquo;.nbsp; I myself applaud these statements, as it denounces some the injustice committed against immigrants.nbsp; Interestingly, there is also an indigenous looking character holding a blow horn that has some kind of writing in an ancient language, giving light to the voices of many, and also to be interpreted as one of the many barriers many immigrants face when they arrive here, the difference in language.br / br / What impacted me most about this mural is the series of images on the right side, they tell so many stories of many immigrants that crossed the border undocumented.nbsp; There#39;s a little girl sitting down on a field with her toy doll next to her on a field with many wooden crosses with names on them, and serpent dragon above her, a pair of boots with what seems to be a ldquo;green cardrdquo; next to them. Apparently, this little girl has been left abandoned in the desert and she#39;snbsp; very scared.nbsp; These images tell exactly what happens to many when crossing the border undocumented, not all of them make it to ldquo;El Norterdquo;, not only adults cross the border undocumented, there are children, men, and women.nbsp; Also, in a corner, with their backs, there#39;s an ICE officer putting the handcuffs to an immigrant, one the realities these immigrants will confront while trying to cross the border without documentation.br / br / This mural is to me one of the must beautiful I have seen so far in the city, but it is the message it sends out that makes it an important piece of work.nbsp; The denounce it makes against racism and injustice, which are part of this capitalist system we live in.nbsp; And as long as there isn#39;t an immigration reform, many more undocumented immigrants will come and discover that ldquo;The American Dreamrdquo; is not for all.nbsp; I hope the impact of this mural is to create awareness that our people will keep on fighting for our right to stay on these lands that belonged to our ancestors.nbsp; That all of us,nbsp; documented or undocumented , we all are created equal./p

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