2011

  • Al Robles Living Library Launch @ POOR Magazine Pt 1 2

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    p bPt. 1- The Blessing Ceremony/biframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LrPztDzJcqc" width="480"/iframe/p p strongPt 2; The Poets read for Uncle Al Robles/strong/p pobject height="349" width="425"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gXWMnQG5iTk?version=3hl=en_USrel=0" /param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gXWMnQG5iTk?version=3hl=en_USrel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425"/embed/object/p
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  • Calling Black Celebrities (For Neli Latson, please set him free)

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Leroy
    Original Body
    p nbsp;/p p Itrsquo;s all about overcoming or a cure/p p Seeing it as a tax ride off as they throw/p p Thousands to a cause that they r not sure/p p Raising money for only one side of the story/p p nbsp;/p p Musicians putting on charities/p p For big time foundations/p p Got spent on salaries/p p Feel good documentaries/p p All about I not the community/p p nbsp;/p p Black celebrities cashing in on opportunities/p p Bigger microphones, span data-scayt_word="bling" data-scaytid="4"bling/span span data-scayt_word="bling" data-scaytid="5"bling/span got the camera/p p Pulling strings to make important phones ring/p p Because Autism hit their families/p p nbsp;/p p They are still shelter from every day reality/p p But want Beverly Hills to care/p p Some become a spokesperson with nothing to say/p p Causing more bad than good/p p Taking up space for more face time/p p nbsp;/p p Brothers Sisters can we talk for real/p p Whatrsquo;s on peoplersquo;s minds/p p Let us educate you/p p Whatrsquo;s really going on/p p nbsp;/p p Wersquo;ve bigger fish to fry/p p Our Black disabled young men are doing unfair time/p p Wrongfully incarcerated segregated/p p Disability is not the problem/p p Attitudes hinders her/him/p p nbsp;/p p In the lost-n-found is his IEP/p p Dig up after he was profiled/p p Police the span data-scayt_word="D.A" data-scaytid="1"D.A/span. trying to bury his identity/p p So where are the Black celebrities for span data-scayt_word="Neli" data-scaytid="6"Neli/span/p p nbsp;/p p There is no law/p p That says you canrsquo;t sit on a libraryrsquo;s lawn/p p span data-scayt_word="Neli’s" data-scaytid="8"Nelirsquo;s/span mother writing letters to Black leaders/p p They are too far up/p p Climbing that ladder/p p nbsp;/p p No answers/p p From big names/p p Small donations funding this campaign/p p While the span data-scayt_word="D.O.J" data-scaytid="2"D.O.J/span flip-flopping/p p span data-scayt_word="Neli" data-scaytid="7"Neli/span is lock down in sever pain/p p nbsp;/p p This is only one case/p p Why do we have to get in your face/p p To show u raw discrimination base on disability race/p p Your involvement might be too late/p p If we have to wait until it happens to your family/p p nbsp;/p p One last call/p p To Black celebrities the Black community/p p To step up to injustice from police brutality/p p To profilingnbsp; to hate crimes to rape, understand/p p If you donrsquo;t answer, blood will be on your hands/p p nbsp;/p p Itrsquo;s not all about you/p p The love of a mother/p p People power has great numbers/p p And longer lasting than anything in Hollywood/p p But just wonder what we can do together/p p nbsp;/p p By Leroy Moore/p p 8/4/11/p p strongPARDON WRONGFULLY CONVICTED AUTISTIC YOUTH, span data-scayt_word="NELI" data-scaytid="9"NELI/span span data-scayt_word="LATSON" data-scaytid="10"LATSON/span!/strong/p p http://span data-scayt_word="www.change.org" data-scaytid="3"www.change.org/span/petitions/span data-scayt_word="pardon-wrongfully-convicted-autistic-youth-neli-latson" data-scaytid="11"pardon-wrongfully-convicted-autistic-youth-neli-latson/span/p
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  • The Poem Okashi By Al Robles

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    object width="425" height="349"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Qu4dycm69tc?version=3hl=en_USrel=0" /param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Qu4dycm69tc?version=3hl=en_USrel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="349" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"/embed/object
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  • Tribute to Uncle Al

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    pobject height="349" width="425"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5a5ugJKwgGw?version=3hl=en_USrel=0" /param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5a5ugJKwgGw?version=3hl=en_USrel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425"/embed/object/p
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  • Illegal Evictions in East Oakland

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    pbbr / Join the East Oakland residents who have suffered illegal removal from their homes on August 19th @ 12:00pm @ Oakland City Hall- Frank Ogawa Plaza for a press conference and rally for Housing justice/b/p p/p piframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3MQs_et-J3A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen/iframe/p
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  • A Victory of Resistance For Sogorea Te

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    p style="margin-top: 15px;" After 98 days and nights of a continuous prayer vigil, thebr / Committee to Protect Glen Cove is pleased to announce a victory in the struggle to protect the sacred grounds of span data-scayt_word="Sogorea" data-scaytid="5"Sogorea/span span data-scayt_word="Te" data-scaytid="12"Te/span/Glen Cove./p p Yesterday, the span data-scayt_word="Yocha" data-scaytid="19"Yocha/span span data-scayt_word="Dehe" data-scaytid="27"Dehe/span and Cortina tribes established a a href="http://protectglencove.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cultural_easement-and-settlement-agreement.pdf"cultural easement and settlement agreement/a with the City of Vallejo and the Greater Vallejo Recreation District (span data-scayt_word="GVRD" data-scaytid="35"GVRD/span). The agreement sets a legal precedent for granting Native peoples jurisdiction over their sacred sites and ancestral lands. The cultural easement forever guarantees that the span data-scayt_word="Yocha" data-scaytid="20"Yocha/span span data-scayt_word="Dehe" data-scaytid="28"Dehe/span and Cortina tribes will have legal oversight in all activities taking place on the sacred burial grounds of span data-scayt_word="Sogorea" data-scaytid="6"Sogorea/span span data-scayt_word="Te" data-scaytid="13"Te/span/Glen Cove. It also represents a significant step forward in enacting tribal sovereignty, as the first such easement under CA Senate Bill 18 to be negotiated at the city and recreational district levels./p p The agreementrsquo;s terms include elimination of the formerly planned restroom facility and relocation of a downsized 2-space parking lot to an area thoroughly tested to confirm that it contains no human remains or cultural remnants./p p While the specifics of the deal leave some ambiguity about how span data-scayt_word="GVRD’s" data-scaytid="37"GVRDrsquo;s/span park development project can and cannot proceed, the Committee is hopeful that span data-scayt_word="Yocha" data-scaytid="21"Yocha/span span data-scayt_word="Dehe" data-scaytid="29"Dehe/span and Cortina will use their newfound influence to make sure that the resting place of the ancestors is not further disturbed or desecrated./p p ldquo;The cultural easement is an important victory, however we are concerned about the lack of specific language that would prevent grading on the western portion of the site,rdquo; states span data-scayt_word="Corrina" data-scaytid="38"Corrina/span Gould (span data-scayt_word="Chochenyo" data-scaytid="39"Chochenyo/span/span data-scayt_word="Karkin" data-scaytid="40"Karkin/span span data-scayt_word="Ohlone" data-scaytid="41"Ohlone/span.) ldquo;We will be communicating this to the tribes and we have faith that they will take all necessary measures to ensure that ancestral remains and cremations are left span data-scayt_word="undisturbed.”" data-scaytid="1"undisturbed.rdquo;/span/p p Gould continued, ldquo;We appreciate and are humbled by the vast support that we have received in protecting our ancestors. It is our responsibility to continue to do the work to make certain that all of our sacred places are span data-scayt_word="protected.”" data-scaytid="2"protected.rdquo;/span/p p The historical and cultural value of the 3,500-year old site has never been disputed and it continues to be spiritually important to California tribes.nbsp;On April 14th, local Native Americans and supporters began a 24-hour prayer vigil at span data-scayt_word="Sogorea" data-scaytid="7"Sogorea/span span data-scayt_word="Te" data-scaytid="14"Te/span to prevent the Greater Vallejo Recreation District from bulldozing/grading a large portion of the sacred site and constructing bathrooms and a parking lot./p p nbsp;/p h1 class="entry-title" Day 104: Closing ceremony set for Saturday, span data-scayt_word="Yocha" data-scaytid="22"Yocha/span span data-scayt_word="Dehe" data-scaytid="30"Dehe/span representative visits/h1 div class="entry-meta" nbsp;/div p a href="http://protectglencove.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/P1060497-sm1.jpg"img alt="" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-3912" height="150" src="http://protectglencove.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/P1060497-sm1-150x150.jpg" title="P1060497-sm" width="150" //a/p p a href="http://protectglencove.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_4785-sm-crop.jpg"img alt="" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-3908" height="150" src="http://protectglencove.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_4785-sm-crop-150x150.jpg" title="IMG_4785-sm-crop" width="150" //a/p p bAnnouncement:/b A final closing ceremony for the prayer vigil encampment at span data-scayt_word="Sogorea" data-scaytid="8"Sogorea/span span data-scayt_word="Te" data-scaytid="15"Te/span will be held on Saturday, July 30th, starting at noon. During the ceremony, long-term participants and warriors will be honored and the sacred fire that has been continuously tended for over 100 days and nights will be allowed to burn out./p p Bring chairs to sit in and food to share. Wersquo;ll be asking volunteers to take trash out with them as they leave. Also, on Sunday the 31st, we will work together to pack everything up and to thoroughly clean and restore the grounds. Extra hands will be very much appreciated./p p bOn Monday the 25th,/b a representative of span data-scayt_word="Yocha" data-scaytid="23"Yocha/span span data-scayt_word="Dehe" data-scaytid="31"Dehe/span visited span data-scayt_word="Sogorea" data-scaytid="9"Sogorea/span span data-scayt_word="Te" data-scaytid="16"Te/span and walked the grounds with Protect Glen Cove Committee members, who pointed out all the specific areas of cultural concern. He brought with him a a href="http://protectglencove.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/yochadehe-letters-7_25.pdf"letter/a from Marshall McKay, the Chairman of span data-scayt_word="Yocha" data-scaytid="24"Yocha/span span data-scayt_word="Dehe" data-scaytid="32"Dehe/span. A personal note from McKay accompanying the letter stated that ldquo;It is with heartfelt appreciation for your dedication to the preservation of the sacred burials and sites at Glen Cove that I send this messagehellip;Please know that while I cannot attend the closing ceremony, I will be with you in span data-scayt_word="spirit.”" data-scaytid="3"spirit.rdquo;/span/p p The a href="http://protectglencove.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/yochadehe-letters-7_25.pdf"open letter/a ldquo;to our friends at Glen Coverdquo; states, ldquo;On behalf of the span data-scayt_word="Yocha" data-scaytid="25"Yocha/span span data-scayt_word="Dehe" data-scaytid="33"Dehe/span span data-scayt_word="Wintun" data-scaytid="42"Wintun/span Nation, I thank you for your efforts to protect the sacred sites here at Glen Cove in the City of Vallejo. With your help, we succeeded in securing a cultural easement that will forever ensure that Native Americans govern the protection of this area so cherished by those who gave us lifehellip; you have persevered through many difficulties and your willingness to support our efforts is so greatly span data-scayt_word="appreciated.”" data-scaytid="4"appreciated.rdquo;/span/p p The span data-scayt_word="Yocha" data-scaytid="26"Yocha/span span data-scayt_word="Dehe" data-scaytid="34"Dehe/span representatives also brought with them the news that the ldquo;reducedrdquo; parking lot still planned by span data-scayt_word="GVRD" data-scaytid="36"GVRD/span is a b2 space/b parking lot for the handicapped. Careful testing will be done to make certain that the area where they want to place this lot contains no cultural materials or human remains./p p a href="http://protectglencove.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/P1060515.jpg"img alt="" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-3923" height="150" src="http://protectglencove.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/P1060515-150x150.jpg" title="P1060515" width="150" //a/p p This past weekend was packed with special occasions and visitors, including a contingent of island indigenous people from the iOceania Coalition of Northern California/i (span data-scayt_word="OCNC" data-scaytid="43"OCNC/span) that brought gifts and blessings, a delegation from ldquo;a href="http://sites.google.com/site/freepeltierhiphopcampaign/"Free span data-scayt_word="Peltier" data-scaytid="44"Peltier/span, Free Em All/ardquo; with a href="http://socialjustice.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/index.php/Fred_Hampton,_Jr."Fred Hampton span data-scayt_word="Jr" data-scaytid="45"Jr/span/a, and a a href="http://protectglencove.org/2011/hawaii-solidarity-statement/"group of Native Hawaiians/a who stayed late in to the evening, sharing songs and stories of Hawaiian struggles. The Vallejo Intertribal Councilrsquo;s annual Pow-Wow was held in downtown Vallejo over the weekend, and on Sunday, warriors and supporters from span data-scayt_word="Sogorea" data-scaytid="10"Sogorea/span span data-scayt_word="Te" data-scaytid="17"Te/span came out in strong numbers to sing the AIM honoring song and span data-scayt_word="Sogorea" data-scaytid="11"Sogorea/span span data-scayt_word="Te" data-scaytid="18"Te/span song./p
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  • From Devils Tower to San Francisco Peaks - The Desecration of our Sacred Sites Continues

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    p nbsp;/p p/p p class="MsoNormal" Who out there likes to ski or snow board in snow made out of wastewater?spannbsp;nbsp;T/spanhat is exactly what span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Snowbowl" data-scaytid="3"Snowbowl/span, a major snow making company, wants you to do. They are cutting through the San Francisco Peaks, a sacred religious indigenous site located in Flagstaff AZ, to lay wastewater pipeline directly through the Peaks. That means digging, excavation, proper grading for the pipeline. I wonder if they even have a purification system in order for there to be clean snow. Not only has the San Francisco Peaks been a sacred place forspannbsp; /spanmany nations for many years, but it also attracts those who have money and want to make more./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" For years people have used this land for climbing, hiking, skiing, and a many of other activities. But the San Francisco Peaks are not the only lands that are being desecrated and disturbed because of the power of paper. When someone wants to have something built somewhere all he/she has to do is flash some paper or ldquo;moneyrdquo;. All this situation is about is a money flow issue./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Just like the issue of Devilrsquo;s Tower, another sacred indigenous site located in Crook County Wyoming, my Lakota ancestors have migrated there for many years during the summer solstice. We regard Devilrsquo;s Tower as a sacred relic of extreme importance. Now the National Park Service wants to say that there can be no ldquo;voluntaryrdquo; ban on climbing during the month of July. Because it is a constitutional right to climb Devilrsquo;s Tower, (whenever that was made into law) we no longer have the right to privacy over our ceremonies. All we have been asking for was privacy over our traditions during one month in the year.spannbsp; /spanI am not against climbing on Devilrsquo;s Tower, I only oppose the issue of Traditional privacy. Letrsquo;s take the Sun Dance, for example, if a non- traditional person were to see a young brave putting hooks into his chest, they would think he was crazy! But for the traditional eye, self- mutilation is a rite of passage for young men./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Now they want to lay waste to yet another traditional site. . ./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Using waste water to make snow. . .spannbsp; /spanWaste water is just another term for water that is probably contaminated with anything from minor bacterial infections, to life-threatening diseases.spannbsp; I/spansnrsquo;t there another word for that:nbsp; Biological warfare. You willingly, arrogantly press the issue of an important pipeline that absolutely has to run through the San Francisco Peaks, just to make snownbsp;nbsp;infected with diseases? That is almost like passing out blankets among the native peoples of Turtle Island, knowing that blankets were popular and that they were infected with smallpox./p p class="MsoNormal" spannbsp;/span/p p class="MsoNormal" I want to say thank you span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Klee" data-scaytid="5"Klee/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Benally" data-scaytid="7"Benally/span, and those fighting with Indigenous Action span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Media.org" data-scaytid="1"Media.org/span and all of those who are fighting for our ancestors. I now know why you fight.nbsp; Just because we have had everything taken from us doesnrsquo;t mean that we have to stand for it. That doesnrsquo;t give us an excuse to give up and say that we donrsquo;t know who we are. We do know who we are and you canrsquo;t take that from us, we will never let you have it./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" This land is ours and I will see it returned to us, until my final breath I will not give up hope on fighting for what is rightfully ours,/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" With Respect,/p p class="MsoNormal" Philip Standing/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" spannbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /span/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" spannbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /span/p
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  • Eviction, Poverty and Houselessness in AMerikkka

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"ldquo;Take out what you can carry,rdquo; said one of the officers who responded to my wife#39;s 911 call.nbsp; ldquo;We#39;re not going to stay here all span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="day.”" data-scaytid="37"day.rdquo;/span/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"ldquo;I#39;m not going to leave without my span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="cat.”" data-scaytid="39"cat.rdquo;/spannbsp; My wife was adamant.nbsp; Her glasses hung crookedly on her face.nbsp; The person we thought was our friend tore them off and tossed them into the yard after Holly refused to be shaken down for five bucks./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"I missed the whole thing.nbsp; I left the day before.nbsp; The person we considered our closest friend became a mad tyrant after we moved into a room in her house.nbsp; I am physically disabled and she constantly demanded that I do work I am incapable of doing.nbsp; I hurt myself repeatedly because I didn#39;t want my autistic son tossed out in the street with us.nbsp; Now my hands are so wrecked from psoriatic arthritis that I cannot hold a hammer or use a paintbrush.nbsp; My ability to contribute financially is severely curtailed.nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"Worse, I had a mini-stroke when she forced me to haul gravel.nbsp; Inbsp; became so weak I could not stand or breath.nbsp; My legs trembled.nbsp; I gasped ldquo;Asher, I can#39;t breath.nbsp; Help me!rdquo;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"ldquo;Stop snapping at me, Bill!rdquo; she screamed.nbsp; She walked away as I fell to the tarmac.nbsp; After a few minutes I managed to crawl inside the truck.nbsp; Too weak to dial 911, I hit two on my cell and got my wife.nbsp; She called Asher who refused to do any first aid until her truck was filled with gravel.nbsp; My wife got the ambulance when we got home.nbsp; By then the worse was over.nbsp; Tests show I had a mini-stroke./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"ldquo;Get out of my house, you piece of shit!rdquo;nbsp; the madwoman screamed.nbsp; Her girlfriend, a hospice nurse added, ldquo;You#39;ve been free loading on her too long!rdquo;nbsp; It#39;s a good thing she was a hospice nurse because her patients aren#39;t expected to recover.nbsp; She is one of the stupidest people I ever met./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"ldquo;Shut up, or I#39;ll arrest you,rdquo;nbsp; The second cop added./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"They made the nut stay outside while Holly grabbed what she could.nbsp; We scratch out a meager living through her clowning and by selling her handcrafts on Telegraph Ave.nbsp; She left $1,500 worth of merchandise behind as well as well as $2,200 worth of materials.nbsp; We also had to leave our vending license.nbsp; Between the two of us we had $55.00.nbsp; Holly can buy more balloons and span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="busk" data-scaytid="41"busk/span.nbsp; That will bring in about thirty to forty dollars.nbsp; There are going to be some disappointed kids.nbsp; The puppets are still with the nut./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"This was actually the second time I walked out of that mad house.nbsp; The first time was a few days after I came home from the hospital.nbsp; It was less than five days since I was released from the hospital.nbsp; She decided to have one of her temper tantrums over the flies./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"Her back yard is entirely gravel, and she has a huge dog who is not allowed outside his run and severely underfed.nbsp;nbsp; Of course he craps in the run, and the lunatic has fits if anybody tosses out the soiled gravel with the feces.nbsp; Along with the dog, she has two cats and a neurotic span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="french" data-scaytid="45"french/span poodle that pees on everything including our bed and my shoes.nbsp; So of course there are flies.nbsp; My wife is allergic to insecticides.nbsp; The Landlady went, if you will pardon the expression, fly shit at me, because she couldn#39;t spray Raid and pretend she was doing something about the fly infestation.nbsp; Even though Holly was coming back with $40 worth of fly traps, she yelled and screamed in my face and kept at it until I yelled back.nbsp; She left crying and I collapsed on the porch with chest pains and yelling, ldquo;The flies, the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="flies.”" data-scaytid="47"flies.rdquo;/spannbsp; That was my second trip by ambulance in five days./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"Holly was supposed to show up at eight to get the stuff we needed immediately.nbsp; She met Holly at the door and demanded a percentage of our General Assistance checks and five dollars out of pocket.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; When span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tHolly" data-scaytid="49"tHolly/span told her that we were not giving her one more cent, she freaked out and attacked her.nbsp; She ripped the glasses off my wife#39;s face and threw them into the yard and struck her repeatedly on the shoulders.nbsp; The nut grabbed Holly#39;s hand when she took out her cell to call 911.nbsp; Holly#39;s Tai Chi training came to her aid.nbsp;nbsp; Holly kept the cell phone and called the cops without having to hit her back. She took several punches to her shoulder instead. A victory for pacifism./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"With nowhere else to go, we went back to Berkeley and did what we could to get our property back.nbsp; Next week, we will have a storage locker and a place where we can store our stock and clothes.nbsp; Our son is in a program for autistic people.nbsp; All we have to worry about is ourselves and the dog.nbsp; My brother put me up for two days, and that is all he dares do.nbsp; He has a rent controlled apartment in San Francisco, and his landlords would love to get rid of him so they can jack up the rent.nbsp; Holly and the pets stayed with a friend who cannot stand having too many people around her.nbsp; After two days, we were screwed./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"I came back two days after the fly incident, and renegotiated our deal.nbsp; Originally it was work for room, helping her out with her bills, and letting her join us for dinner.nbsp; I had been working 35-45 hours a week, mostly doing stupid things like hauling flower pots from one side of the yard to another.nbsp; My favorite was when she had me use a scoop to empty her compost bin into another container and then scrub out the bin.nbsp; Two days later, she decided she liked it better in the original bin and I had to put it all back./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"Little real work got done because the madwoman compulsively collected stuff from the Craig#39;s List free section.nbsp; She came back with the damnedest garbage from giant balloons to span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="hydroponic" data-scaytid="51"hydroponic/span gear.nbsp; It didn#39;t matter to her.nbsp; If it was free, she would grab it.nbsp; I spent weeks clearing the bedroom and porch so my family could use them.nbsp; In a matter of weeks they were a worse mess than before.nbsp; Plus she had the front entrance blocked with the most incredible garbage.nbsp; More of my time was spent trying to stack the shit so people could move than in any actual work.nbsp; Then I got hissy-fits when the actual work wasn#39;t done as well./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"Since I couldn#39;t haul anymore, my new job was selling hernbsp; garbage on Craig#39;s list, which I did.nbsp; In three days I sold about $175 which was brilliant.nbsp; (Better than I ever saw her do in the 7 years we knew her.)nbsp; All it got me was more bullying.nbsp; I also let her know that I wasn#39;t working more than 25 hours a week.nbsp; I clocked 70 hours in the next two weeks.nbsp; Holly and Colin also contributed quite a few hours of work.nbsp; Not only did she ignore our new agreement, but she continued to verbally abuse me./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"There wasn#39;t much we could do once we were in Berkeley.nbsp; It was July 4supth/sup and the police and legal aid were all doing Independence Day stuff.nbsp; So we hung out and I went to my brother#39;s.nbsp; I don#39;t know what I would do without my brother.nbsp; He provided the money so I could keep my phone on.nbsp; The phone was a bone of contention between the madwoman and me.nbsp; My brother-in-law helped me get a smart phone so I could take credit card payments while vending.nbsp; She felt the money should have been given to her.nbsp; In her mind, everything is hers, including our general assistance and food stamps.nbsp;nbsp; She was constantly haranguing us for money.nbsp; She claimed she had no income.nbsp; She freaked out about the unpaid electric bill.nbsp; Her house in the East Bay was mortgaged for more than it was worth and she claimed they would foreclose.nbsp; We were there for two months, and I saw no sign of foreclosure, but being a former mortgage salesman, I recognized the refinancing paperwork that came in the mail./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"It was the electric bill that first warned me what anbsp; dangerous nut bag she was.nbsp; After bullying us about it for two weeks, she realized that if we had it, we would have paid it just to make her span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="STFU" data-scaytid="53"STFU/span!nbsp; In the middle of Junenbsp; she claimednbsp; that she paid the bill out of the mortgage money and now she would be foreclosed on.nbsp; Two weeks later, I had the money and paid the new electric bill with my ATM card.nbsp; I ended up paying the electric bill for April, May, and June, and we had only been there since the beginning of May.nbsp; The mortgage was another matter.nbsp; I found a program that could renegotiate the loan.nbsp; She said she was too overwhelmed to call the number.nbsp; By the paperwork I saw in the mail, that was a lie.nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"Just before I left the first time, we scraped up $1,000 to put towards the mortgage.nbsp; The next day she came back from one of her Craig#39;s List expeditions with two chickens, a coop, fencing wire, and two day laborers from Home Depot to assemble the coop.nbsp; She told us the stuff was free.nbsp; I guess since she thought we fell for everything else, we would be stupid enough to believe her./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"Yesterday, things got really tough.nbsp; Our son was finished with one residential program and there was going to be a few days gap until the next one.nbsp; Our friend, the surrealist poet Lee span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Gerstmann" data-scaytid="55"Gerstmann/span, was kind enough to take him for a few days.nbsp; Thank you, Lee.nbsp; You repaid every favor we did for you and left us in your debt.nbsp; Holly and I love you. Our welcome home dinner for Colin was in the park.nbsp; I got some charcoal and some span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="vegibergers" data-scaytid="57"vegibergers/span, chicken sausage, and salads.nbsp; It was the happiest family meal we had since losing the apartment in Mountain View./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"My son is of the opinion that the madwoman was deliberately trying to kill me.nbsp; That#39;s why she extorted me into do things that hurt me, and why she walked away from me while I was having my stroke.nbsp; That#39;s why she screamed in my face over the flies, and why she sent me to the emergency room the third time./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"The madwoman tried to horn in on Holly#39;s clown span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="busking" data-scaytid="59"busking/span.nbsp; She called herself span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Meshugah" data-scaytid="63"Meshugah/span the Clown, but it should have been Downer.nbsp; She was always bitching about everything.nbsp; Either there span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="weren'tenough" data-scaytid="65"weren#39;tenough/span kids in the crowd or her legs hurt.nbsp; It was always too far to drive, and we owed hernbsp; gas money.nbsp; Once she almost got them kicked out of a farmer#39;s market by demanding a set price for Holly#39;s balloon sculptures.nbsp; She never learned that span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="busking" data-scaytid="61"busking/span isn#39;t about the tips, it#39;s about giving.nbsp; The more you give the more the crowd puts money in the tip box.nbsp; The more you love to give to others, the more others love to give to you.nbsp; Human beings are generally good and kind.nbsp; She is an exception that tests that rule.nbsp; Now that Holly ditched her, we have permission to span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="busk" data-scaytid="43"busk/span at even more farmer#39;s market.nbsp; The manager is a really nice person./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"I think that our sudden eviction and lockout was planned.nbsp; We insisted that Aug. 31supst/sup was our last day at her house.nbsp; She knewnbsp; she was not going to get all the cash she hoped she could extort out of us.nbsp; In the past two months we gave her $1,284 in cash or consumer goods.nbsp; ($50 in flytraps alone.)nbsp; She also extorted $384 in food stamps.nbsp; Mostly in expensive coffee and whipping cream to add to it.nbsp; Between the three of us we did 317 hours of unpaid labor.nbsp; I sold an extra $175 for garbage she got off Craig#39;s List and she took $30 from the clown disaster at the farmer#39;s market.nbsp; Rather than pay bills with the clown and Craig#39;s List money, she decided to take a five day trip with her girlfriend.nbsp; We were all over that.nbsp; We planned to be out of that hellhole before she came back./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"The day before, she threw tantrums and threats until I bought her two bags of coffee, (making it three bags in under three days.) cream, two jars of tomato sauce and a yam. I told her that was it for the month./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"The next morning she started her usual morning temper tantrum with a twist.nbsp; First she did it in front of Holly.nbsp; She never pulled that crap in front of my wife before. This time it was over a list of the stuff I was selling for her on the web.nbsp; I told her I would do it as soon as I did span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="poo" data-scaytid="67"poo/span patrol, fed her big dog, and had my breakfast so I could take my pills.nbsp; She wanted it now.nbsp; I told her to fuck off.nbsp; I was leaving and nuking her Craig#39;s List ads.nbsp; She went nuts and screamed in my face and physically blocked me from getting my computer.nbsp; She kept at it until I found myself screaming back.nbsp; Then she ran into the bathroom and broke her own mirror.nbsp; She ran out and yelled, ldquo;see, asshole, now I have you on domestic violence!rdquo;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"The joke#39;s on her.nbsp; My rheumatoid arthritis is out of control, I am debilitated from a mini-stroke and the doctor#39;s report will prove that I am not physically capable of doing what she claimed.nbsp; I abandoned trying to get my computer and tried to leave, and she wouldn#39;t let me out the door.nbsp; She kept screaming in my face and blocking me.nbsp; I had to threaten to break her china cabinet in order to get her to lay off.nbsp; Not cool, I know, but I was a little crazy myself by then. nbsp;She got out of the way and I was out the door.nbsp; I got about three feet away from the house when the chest pains hit and I fell to the ground.nbsp; That made it three times I was taken out by ambulance./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"I have a lot to do today.nbsp; First I have to wait until my phone charges.nbsp; Next I have to call legal aid to get our stuff out.nbsp; Then I have to call the humane society about that poor dog.nbsp; I love that big goofy mutt.nbsp; He#39;s been a prisoner since the chickens came in.nbsp; He doesn#39;tnbsp; get the hour of run around time I used to give him, and he#39;s too dog aggressive to take to the park.nbsp; Now that we are no longer there, he#39;ll go back to starvation rations.nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"I have learned that there are worse things than not having a roof over your head.nbsp; I just escaped from it.nbsp; After I took Colin to Lee#39;s, I went back to the park. Holly and I found a secluded spot.nbsp; We talked and held hands until she fell asleep.nbsp; It was a little too cold for me, so I lay down and looked at the sky.nbsp; Zack the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Wonderdog" data-scaytid="69"Wonderdog/span was with us.nbsp; We figured we would have her between us to keep her warm.nbsp; She#39;s 13 years old and used to a warm house and a span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="snuggy-bed" data-scaytid="71"snuggy-bed/span, but Zack is a by-the-book type of doggie.nbsp; She understood her ancestral duty.nbsp; She took point and kept watch for us all night.nbsp; That#39;s how we rested until the sprinklers went on./span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"nbsp;/span/p p span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"nbsp;/span/p p class="MsoBodyText" span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: arial"nbsp;/span/p
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  • I-Hotel Commemoration

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    p emComing back to/em/p p emspan class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Manilatown" data-scaytid="1"Manilatown/span is like/em/p p emcoming home to a/em/p p emfresh crop of rice/em/p p nbsp;/p p --Bill span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Sorro" data-scaytid="5"Sorro/span/p p nbsp;/p p Honor the elders who fought eviction and displacement from their community and homesnbsp;on August 4th/p p span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="530pm-830pm" data-scaytid="7"530pm-830pm/span/p p I-Hotel span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Manilatown" data-scaytid="3"Manilatown/span Center/p p 868 span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Kearny" data-scaytid="9"Kearny/span Street/p p San Francisco, CA/p
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  • To the SF Police: Running for Your Life is Probable Cause

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    p emEditors Note: span data-scayt_word="Giancarlo" data-scaytid="1"Giancarlo/span is a resident of the span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="3"Bayview/span/em/p p nbsp;/p p span lang="EN"span lang="EN"strongTo the SF Police Running for Your Life is Probable Cause/strong/span/span/p p Two single dollars are worth more to them than our lives.br / The very existence of the police clearly endangers all of usbr / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;wbrnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; -Anonymous span data-scayt_word="Indybay" data-scaytid="5"Indybay/span writer/wbr/p p On Saturday July 16supspan data-scayt_word="th" data-scaytid="6"th/span/sup in the span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="4"Bayview/spanbr / The rocketrsquo;s red glare at 4:40 in the afternoonbr / A 19 span data-scayt_word="yr" data-scaytid="7"yr/span old black man is shot deadbr / Running from policemen/p p It all started with him not havingbr / Money the lousy 2 bucks for span data-scayt_word="MUNI" data-scaytid="8"MUNI/span so he attemptedbr / To dodge a history of reprisalbr / For being a black man with or without money/p p In the end forced by the first blow he laybr / On the asphalt with numerous bullets in himbr / And blood mixing into the uneven groundbr / Of the entrance to the Opera House parking lot/p p He cried for help he tried lifting himself to safetybr / But none came for him his family in another statebr / People rushing to defend begging for his lifebr / Crying for his life to wash back in/p p The police surrounding guns drawnbr / Pointing span data-scayt_word="wouldbe" data-scaytid="9"wouldbe/span casingsbr / At them like hunters to their killbr / They closed the circle/p p The manrsquo;s body depleted of its potential for growthbr / Depleted the body breaks beneath the bulletbr / It breaks against the force of moneybr / Worth more to the controllers than life itself/p p Depleted of any doubts forming another questionbr / To a young black man in the US under the bullet a questionbr / To a populous so riddled so pained so in turmoil so over beautifulbr / With unformulated rebellion/p p font face="Times New Roman"font size="3" style="font-size: 12pt;"strongemspan data-scayt_word="Giancarlo" data-scaytid="2"Giancarlo/span span data-scayt_word="Campagna" data-scaytid="10"Campagna/span/em/strong/font/font/p
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  • John Avalos visita a la Sala Comunitaria/John Avalos visits Community Newsroom

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    p emEditors Note: Community Newsroom is POOR Magazine#39;s Indigenous News-making circle. This is the poor people-led , indigenous people-led process where we produce all of our radio, video print and written media. It is open to the whole community who respect this sacred space and desire to get heard about issues impacting youth, adults and elders in poverty locally and globally. John span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="5"Avalos/span came through as a community member. As a no-profit, very grassroots,arts organization all candidates are welcome to come to Newsroom and we are not endorsing any candidate running for office in span data-scayt_word="Amerikkka" data-scaytid="21"Amerikkka/span./em/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p strongScroll down for English/strong/p p strongJuan span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="6"Avalos/span span data-scayt_word="visita" data-scaytid="22"visita/span a la span data-scayt_word="sala" data-scaytid="23"sala/span span data-scayt_word="comunitaria" data-scaytid="25"comunitaria/spanbr / span data-scayt_word="por" data-scaytid="27"por/span Ingrid span data-scayt_word="DeLeon" data-scaytid="37"DeLeon/span/span data-scayt_word="Voces" data-scaytid="38"Voces/span de span data-scayt_word="inmigrantes" data-scaytid="40"inmigrantes/span/span data-scayt_word="PNN" data-scaytid="42"PNN/span /strong/p p span data-scayt_word="Estuve" data-scaytid="44"Estuve/span en la span data-scayt_word="sala" data-scaytid="24"sala/span span data-scayt_word="comunitaria" data-scaytid="26"comunitaria/span de la span data-scayt_word="Prensa" data-scaytid="45"Prensa/span span data-scayt_word="POBRE" data-scaytid="46"POBRE/span, span data-scayt_word="cuando" data-scaytid="47"cuando/span mire a un span data-scayt_word="señor" data-scaytid="48"sentilde;or/span y me span data-scayt_word="almire" data-scaytid="49"almire/span al span data-scayt_word="verlo" data-scaytid="50"verlo/span con span data-scayt_word="traje" data-scaytid="51"traje/span de span data-scayt_word="vestir" data-scaytid="52"vestir/span y span data-scayt_word="corvata" data-scaytid="53"corvata/span. Me span data-scayt_word="asuste" data-scaytid="54"asuste/span y span data-scayt_word="dije" data-scaytid="55"dije/span y el span data-scayt_word="quien" data-scaytid="56"quien/span span data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="58"es/span? Se span data-scayt_word="veia" data-scaytid="61"veia/span span data-scayt_word="amable" data-scaytid="62"amable/span y span data-scayt_word="sonriente" data-scaytid="63"sonriente/span y al span data-scayt_word="poco" data-scaytid="64"poco/span span data-scayt_word="tiempo" data-scaytid="65"tiempo/span de span data-scayt_word="estar" data-scaytid="66"estar/span span data-scayt_word="reunidos" data-scaytid="69"reunidos/span se span data-scayt_word="presento" data-scaytid="70"presento/span, y span data-scayt_word="supe" data-scaytid="71"supe/span span data-scayt_word="quien" data-scaytid="57"quien/span era./p p Se span data-scayt_word="trataba" data-scaytid="72"trataba/span nada span data-scayt_word="mas" data-scaytid="73"mas/span de Juan span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="7"Avalos/span/p p span data-scayt_word="Yo" data-scaytid="75"Yo/span no span data-scayt_word="podia" data-scaytid="77"podia/span span data-scayt_word="creer" data-scaytid="78"creer/span, span data-scayt_word="pues" data-scaytid="79"pues/span me span data-scayt_word="parecia" data-scaytid="81"parecia/span span data-scayt_word="increible" data-scaytid="83"increible/span span data-scayt_word="ver" data-scaytid="84"ver/span span data-scayt_word="su" data-scaytid="85"su/span span data-scayt_word="rostro" data-scaytid="87"rostro/span span data-scayt_word="sonriendo" data-scaytid="88"sonriendo/span con span data-scayt_word="todos" data-scaytid="89"todos/span span data-scayt_word="como" data-scaytid="91"como/span span data-scayt_word="si" data-scaytid="94"si/span nos span data-scayt_word="conociera" data-scaytid="96"conociera/span, span data-scayt_word="desde" data-scaytid="97"desde/span span data-scayt_word="muchos" data-scaytid="98"muchos/span span data-scayt_word="años" data-scaytid="99"antilde;os/span span data-scayt_word="parecia" data-scaytid="82"parecia/span span data-scayt_word="estar" data-scaytid="67"estar/span en span data-scayt_word="familia" data-scaytid="100"familia/span, span data-scayt_word="yo" data-scaytid="101"yo/span lo span data-scayt_word="senti" data-scaytid="106"senti/span span data-scayt_word="como" data-scaytid="92"como/span span data-scayt_word="uno" data-scaytid="107"uno/span de los span data-scayt_word="nuestros" data-scaytid="108"nuestros/span. Le span data-scayt_word="hicieron" data-scaytid="109"hicieron/span span data-scayt_word="algunas" data-scaytid="110"algunas/span span data-scayt_word="preguntas" data-scaytid="111"preguntas/span y el span data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="112"las/span span data-scayt_word="respondio" data-scaytid="117"respondio/span a span data-scayt_word="todas" data-scaytid="118"todas/span. span data-scayt_word="Dijo" data-scaytid="119"Dijo/span span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="121"que/span se span data-scayt_word="esta" data-scaytid="135"esta/span span data-scayt_word="postulando" data-scaytid="137"postulando/span span data-scayt_word="para" data-scaytid="138"para/span span data-scayt_word="alcalde" data-scaytid="148"alcalde/span span data-scayt_word="para" data-scaytid="139"para/span la span data-scayt_word="ciudad" data-scaytid="149"ciudad/span de San span data-scayt_word="Fransisco" data-scaytid="150"Fransisco/span span data-scayt_word="su" data-scaytid="86"su/span span data-scayt_word="proposito" data-scaytid="151"proposito/span span data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="59"es/span span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="122"que/span span data-scayt_word="esta" data-scaytid="136"esta/span span data-scayt_word="cuidad" data-scaytid="152"cuidad/span sea span data-scayt_word="para" data-scaytid="140"para/span span data-scayt_word="todos" data-scaytid="90"todos/span./p p ldquo;Las span data-scayt_word="comunidades" data-scaytid="154"comunidades/span y span data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="113"las/span span data-scayt_word="familias" data-scaytid="155"familias/span de span data-scayt_word="una" data-scaytid="156"una/span span data-scayt_word="cuidad" data-scaytid="153"cuidad/span span data-scayt_word="prospera" data-scaytid="158"prospera/span y span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="123"que/span la span data-scayt_word="gente" data-scaytid="159"gente/span span data-scayt_word="puedan" data-scaytid="166"puedan/span span data-scayt_word="sobre" data-scaytid="168"sobre/span span data-scayt_word="vivir" data-scaytid="171"vivir/span en span data-scayt_word="paz" data-scaytid="173"paz/span y span data-scayt_word="tranquilidad" data-scaytid="174"tranquilidad/span, span data-scayt_word="aunque" data-scaytid="175"aunque/span span data-scayt_word="ahora" data-scaytid="176"ahora/span soy el supervisor span data-scayt_word="estoy" data-scaytid="177"estoy/span span data-scayt_word="luchando" data-scaytid="178"luchando/span y span data-scayt_word="ayudando" data-scaytid="180"ayudando/span a la span data-scayt_word="gente" data-scaytid="160"gente/span span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="124"que/span span data-scayt_word="realmente" data-scaytid="181"realmente/span lo span data-scayt_word="necesita" data-scaytid="182"necesita/span span data-scayt_word="hago" data-scaytid="183"hago/span span data-scayt_word="esto" data-scaytid="184"esto/span span data-scayt_word="porque" data-scaytid="186"porque/span span data-scayt_word="mis" data-scaytid="188"mis/span raises span data-scayt_word="vienen" data-scaytid="189"vienen/span de span data-scayt_word="gente" data-scaytid="161"gente/span span data-scayt_word="trabajadora.”" data-scaytid="1"trabajadora.rdquo;/span span data-scayt_word="dijo" data-scaytid="190"dijo/span Juan span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="8"Avalos/span./p p Y a span data-scayt_word="pesar" data-scaytid="192"pesar/span span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="125"que/span span data-scayt_word="estudie" data-scaytid="193"estudie/span en un span data-scayt_word="colejio" data-scaytid="194"colejio/span .Para mi la span data-scayt_word="gente" data-scaytid="162"gente/span span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="126"que/span span data-scayt_word="trabaja" data-scaytid="195"trabaja/span y span data-scayt_word="lucha" data-scaytid="196"lucha/span span data-scayt_word="para" data-scaytid="141"para/span span data-scayt_word="sobre" data-scaytid="169"sobre/span span data-scayt_word="vivir" data-scaytid="172"vivir/span, span data-scayt_word="yo" data-scaytid="102"yo/span la span data-scayt_word="admiro" data-scaytid="197"admiro/span span data-scayt_word="dijo" data-scaytid="191"dijo/span span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="9"Avalos/span span data-scayt_word="yo" data-scaytid="103"yo/spannbsp; span data-scayt_word="pongo" data-scaytid="198"pongo/span span data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="114"las/span ideas span data-scayt_word="sobre" data-scaytid="170"sobre/span la mesanbsp; y span data-scayt_word="trabajo" data-scaytid="199"trabajo/span en span data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="115"las/span span data-scayt_word="cortes" data-scaytid="200"cortes/span span data-scayt_word="luchando" data-scaytid="179"luchando/span span data-scayt_word="por" data-scaytid="28"por/span la span data-scayt_word="gente" data-scaytid="163"gente/span ./p p nbsp;Y span data-scayt_word="eso" data-scaytid="201"eso/span span data-scayt_word="si" data-scaytid="95"si/span span data-scayt_word="es" data-scaytid="60"es/span span data-scayt_word="cierto" data-scaytid="202"cierto/span span data-scayt_word="porque" data-scaytid="187"porque/span span data-scayt_word="por" data-scaytid="29"por/span span data-scayt_word="ejemplo" data-scaytid="203"ejemplo/span la span data-scayt_word="Policia" data-scaytid="206"Policia/span en span data-scayt_word="vez" data-scaytid="208"vez/span de span data-scayt_word="ayudar" data-scaytid="209"ayudar/span span data-scayt_word="hasta" data-scaytid="211"hasta/span span data-scayt_word="matan" data-scaytid="212"matan/spannbsp; span data-scayt_word="segun" data-scaytid="213"segun/span span data-scayt_word="ellos" data-scaytid="214"ellos/span lo span data-scayt_word="hacen" data-scaytid="217"hacen/span en span data-scayt_word="defensa" data-scaytid="219"defensa/span span data-scayt_word="propia" data-scaytid="220"propia/span y span data-scayt_word="yo" data-scaytid="104"yo/span he span data-scayt_word="visto" data-scaytid="221"visto/span span data-scayt_word="como" data-scaytid="93"como/span span data-scayt_word="por" data-scaytid="30"por/span span data-scayt_word="una" data-scaytid="157"una/span span data-scayt_word="cosa" data-scaytid="222"cosa/span tan simple span data-scayt_word="por" data-scaytid="31"por/span span data-scayt_word="ejemplo" data-scaytid="204"ejemplo/span la span data-scayt_word="Policia" data-scaytid="207"Policia/span span data-scayt_word="ve" data-scaytid="223"ve/span a span data-scayt_word="algun" data-scaytid="224"algun/span span data-scayt_word="borracho" data-scaytid="225"borracho/span span data-scayt_word="tirado" data-scaytid="226"tirado/span en la span data-scayt_word="calle" data-scaytid="227"calle/span llamanbsp; a span data-scayt_word="sus" data-scaytid="228"sus/span span data-scayt_word="compañeros" data-scaytid="230"compantilde;eros/span y span data-scayt_word="aparesen" data-scaytid="231"aparesen/span span data-scayt_word="por" data-scaytid="32"por/span lo span data-scayt_word="menos" data-scaytid="232"menos/span span data-scayt_word="tres" data-scaytid="234"tres/span span data-scayt_word="patruyas" data-scaytid="235"patruyas/span con dos span data-scayt_word="policias" data-scaytid="236"policias/span span data-scayt_word="cada" data-scaytid="238"cada/span span data-scayt_word="patruya" data-scaytid="239"patruya/span span data-scayt_word="cuantos" data-scaytid="240"cuantos/span span data-scayt_word="policias" data-scaytid="237"policias/span son?solo span data-scayt_word="por" data-scaytid="33"por/span un span data-scayt_word="borrachito" data-scaytid="241"borrachito/span./p p span data-scayt_word="Yo" data-scaytid="76"Yo/span span data-scayt_word="entiendo" data-scaytid="242"entiendo/span de span data-scayt_word="Jovenes" data-scaytid="243"Jovenes/span sin span data-scayt_word="oportunidad" data-scaytid="244"oportunidad/span span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="127"que/span no span data-scayt_word="ven" data-scaytid="245"ven/span el futuro, ynbsp; span data-scayt_word="por" data-scaytid="34"por/span span data-scayt_word="ellos" data-scaytid="215"ellos/span y span data-scayt_word="para" data-scaytid="142"para/span span data-scayt_word="ellos" data-scaytid="216"ellos/span quiero span data-scayt_word="luchar.El" data-scaytid="2"luchar.El/span dinero span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="128"que/span gastan en span data-scayt_word="las" data-scaytid="116"las/span guerras deberian ser span data-scayt_word="para" data-scaytid="143"para/span la span data-scayt_word="gente" data-scaytid="164"gente/span span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="129"que/span lo nesesita y span data-scayt_word="por" data-scaytid="35"por/span lo span data-scayt_word="menos" data-scaytid="233"menos/span span data-scayt_word="puedan" data-scaytid="167"puedan/span pagar span data-scayt_word="sus" data-scaytid="229"sus/span rentas. Quizas hacer span data-scayt_word="mas" data-scaytid="74"mas/span grandes los taxes span data-scayt_word="para" data-scaytid="144"para/span los span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="130"que/span tienen mucho dinero span data-scayt_word="yo" data-scaytid="105"yo/span creo span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="131"que/span span data-scayt_word="esto" data-scaytid="185"esto/span va span data-scayt_word="ayudar" data-scaytid="210"ayudar/span y span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="132"que/span la span data-scayt_word="gente" data-scaytid="165"gente/span tengan voz./p p Tenemos span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="133"que/span empujar span data-scayt_word="para" data-scaytid="145"para/span hacer el cambio span data-scayt_word="por" data-scaytid="36"por/span span data-scayt_word="ejemplo" data-scaytid="205"ejemplo/span tenemos dinero span data-scayt_word="para" data-scaytid="146"para/span la guerra en Irak pero sin embargo se span data-scayt_word="hacen" data-scaytid="218"hacen/span recortes de escuelas y a donde se ba ese dinero? span data-scayt_word="pues" data-scaytid="80"pues/span a la guerra y no se hace nada span data-scayt_word="para" data-scaytid="147"para/span cambiar./p p nbsp;Hay razones de span data-scayt_word="estar" data-scaytid="68"estar/span en el City hallnbsp; hay cosas span data-scayt_word="que" data-scaytid="134"que/span quiero hacer y ya tengo planes. span data-scayt_word="Dijo" data-scaytid="120"Dijo/span Juan span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="10"Avalos/span./p p strongEnglish Follows/strong/p p John span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="11"Avalos/span Visits Community Newsroombr / By ingrid De Leon/span data-scayt_word="Voces" data-scaytid="39"Voces/span de span data-scayt_word="inmigrantes" data-scaytid="41"inmigrantes/span en resistencia/span data-scayt_word="PNN" data-scaytid="43"PNN/span/p p I was at POOR Magazine#39;s monthly Community Newsroom in July whennbsp; I noticed a strange man wearing a suit and tie. Fightened I asked myself who is this man? He looked sincere and happy, in a few moments later after the newsroom had begun he presented himself and then it became clear who it was./p p br / It was no more or no less than John span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="12"Avalos/span./p p br / I couldnrsquo;t believe it,nbsp; it was incredible seing his face in happiness as if he had known us for many years, he appeared to be around family, I felt him as one of our own. We asked him questions and he answered all of them. He said that he was running for Mayor for the city of San Francisco his goal is that this city should be for everyone./p p br / ldquo;The communities and families should be together for onenbsp; prosperous city, so folks can survive in peace and tranquility even though today I am the supervisor I fight and help everyday those people that really need it, I do this because my roots come from a labor hardworking background, said John span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="13"Avalos/span to all of us/p p br / He continued, Even though I went to college. For me the people that work and fight to survive, I admire span data-scayt_word="them.”" data-scaytid="3"them.rdquo;/spannbsp; Said John span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="14"Avalos/span. ldquo; I put ideas on the table and work on the budget cuts fighting for the span data-scayt_word="people.”" data-scaytid="4"people.rdquo;/span/p p br / And this is true because I have seen for example the police instead of helping they murder, supposedly in self defence. I have seen how for simple things like seeing a drunk man on the streets, they call their comrades and suddenly three cop cars are there with two cops in each vehicle, how many cops are they? Just for one drunk. In reality its better to have a school for the children of the future./p p br / I know youngsters without opportunities, they donrsquo;t see the future for them, and for them I will fight. ./p p br / ldquo;I want to have new projects and I will push to make a change. For example we have lots of money in Iraq but we make lots of cuts to education and where is this money going? To the wars and nobody does anything about thisrdquo;./p p br / I felt that he was being honest and I wait to see his support because we really need him.br / nbsp;/p p br / strongLess Double Talk- A reflection on John span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="15"Avalos/spanbr / nbsp;by Stacey Langley-Watts, Poverty Scholar/strong/p p John span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="16"Avalos/span of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (representing the Outer Mission and Excelsior) visited us at POOR Magazine#39;s Community Newsroom last week.nbsp; I had heard a little about him from some friends on Facebook, but it was interesting to meet with him in person.nbsp; Though I am involved in party politics in my home state, I still don#39;t feel that most major candidates really give a shit about what#39;s really going on with the common people.nbsp; I didn#39;t get that impression with John span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="17"Avalos/span.nbsp; He#39;s been involved in activism since his days as a labor organizer with the Justice for Janitors Campaign of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1877, which won union members affordable health care and wages to support their families.nbsp; span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="18"Avalos/span comes from a working-class background himself, though he was among the first generation of his family to attend a four-year university, graduating from UC Santa Barbara and then receiving a masterrsquo;s degree in social work from San Francisco State University./p p br / He seemed like someone that had a real concern for better community conditions, and he told me that he wanted to fight a war on poverty, increase opportunities for San Franciscans, and make San Francisco a more livable and sustainable place.nbsp; He said that power, money, and access create laws, and that it takes a lot of organizing for change, because people are resistant to it.nbsp; He also believes in the inside/outside strategy of working in politics, to which I can relate./p p br / In his term as Supervisor, span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="19"Avalos/span has been involved with passing the countryrsquo;s strongest local hiring legislation.nbsp; Coming from a state that doesn#39;t give a crap about job creation, I was impressed when he discussed that.nbsp; He has also fought to save city programs affecting elders and children from the budget ax./p p br / He also seemed concerned about the immigrant community.nbsp; He told us, They have an ally in me.nbsp; In response to a question regarding squatting, he mentioned that he could not legalize squatting, but said I could see not doing anything about it./p p br / We asked him about gentrification, and he seemed like he didn#39;t want to answer the question.nbsp; I didn#39;t really understand his answer, being unfamiliar with San Francisco geography, but I got the impression that he was dancing around the topic.nbsp; He did discuss how some communities are improving and that we need to look at the conditions that lead to violence.nbsp; He added that he wants the police in his district to get out of their cars and get on their feet./p p br / It seems to me that span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="20"Avalos/span cares about the local community, and uses less double talk than most politicians I have met over the years.nbsp; Nobody#39;s perfect in politics, but he looks like someone with whom our community can sit down and discuss the issues important to us.br / nbsp;/p
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  • The Real Rioters in the UK?- Po'Lice State Attack communities in London before the riots by the people

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    p nbsp;/p h1 font color="black" face="Arial" size="2"font class="Arial10" face="Arial"Thousand police attack community in north London/font/font/h1 p font color="black" face="Arial" size="2"font class="Arial10" face="Arial"font class="Arial12" color="black" face="Arial"img src="http://www.informationliberation.com/space.gif" vspace="2" /br / img align="left" border="1" hspace="10" src="http://www.informationliberation.com/files/policePA_468x311.jpg" /iOver 1000 police officers head towards span data-scayt_word="Blackstock" data-scaytid="3"Blackstock/span road in north London to carry out Operation span data-scayt_word="Mista" data-scaytid="7"Mista/span/i/font/font/font/p p Police today smashed gangs dealing in class A drugs and stolen goods in a series of span data-scayt_word="�unprecedented�" data-scaytid="8"�unprecedented�/span swoops./p p In one of the Met#39;s biggest operations, more than 1,100 officers stormed 40 addresses and 19 firms in Islington./p p Investigations focused on a network involved in heroin, cocaine, stolen goods and fraud./p p In one raid, police stormed span data-scayt_word="Blackstock" data-scaytid="4"Blackstock/span Road, hitting 19 businesses from butchers to internet span data-scayt_word="caf�s" data-scaytid="9"caf�s/span and fast food outlets./p p A stretch of the north London road was barricaded as more than 40 vans ferried in officers in riot gear./p p Police hope to pick up at least 70 suspects./p p Hours earlier, 40 warrants were executed in dawn swoops in north and north-west London. Other addresses in Hertfordshire and Gloucestershire and Leeds were also targeted./p p Officers from the Met, the British Transport Police and Immigration Services were involved in the operation./p p They recovered forged documents, including passports and span data-scayt_word="licences" data-scaytid="10"licences/span./p p They also found stolen goods including laptops, cameras, iPods and span data-scayt_word="sat-nav" data-scaytid="11"sat-nav/span systems./p p span data-scayt_word="Blackstock" data-scaytid="5"Blackstock/span Road has long been on their radar say police sources./p p In the morning raids, 35 people were arrested. Commander of Islington Police Bob Carr said: span data-scayt_word="�The" data-scaytid="12"�The/span area that we have focused on has always been in our span data-scayt_word="sights.�" data-scaytid="1"sights.�/span/p p He said that more operations will be ongoing, adding that because of the span data-scayt_word="�relatively�" data-scaytid="13"�relatively�/span sophisticated nature of the network span data-scayt_word="�we" data-scaytid="14"�we/span had to do it at one time and all in one span data-scayt_word="hit�" data-scaytid="15"hit�/span./p p He added: span data-scayt_word="�It's" data-scaytid="16"�It#39;s/span something that needed to be done for a long span data-scayt_word="time.�" data-scaytid="2"time.�/span/p p He explained the numbers of officers were needed to storm span data-scayt_word="Blackstock" data-scaytid="6"Blackstock/span Road because of the scores of businesses they were targeting and the possible threat of violence./p p He said that police will be out in force working with and reassuring the community.br / /p
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  • No Mo' Po'Lice Shooting of our Black and Brown Youth-Justice for Raheim Brown

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    p/p p bPOOR Magazine re-ported and sup-ported on The Justice for Raheim Brown Rally and March in Oakland,August 10th, 2011. No Mo Po#39;lice Murder!/b/p piframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pJRSm4JJqV8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen/iframe/p
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  • We Claim the Soil

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"strongWe Claim the Soil/strong/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"By To/spanMy uncle, the poet Al Robles, often wrote of the need to ldquo;take back our livesrdquo;.nbsp; He wrote of the lives of the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="1"manongs/span, the early Filipino immigrants whose lives of struggle in America allow those of us in the communitynbsp;who write the privilege to do so.nbsp; I seek to write with laughter, fire and spirit--qualities that allowed the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="3"manongs/span to survive American society.nbsp; Part of taking back our lives includes celebrating the life we do have.nbsp; So often we forget ourselves, our creator, our eldersmdash;the land.nbsp; We go after wants that are not only span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="dispensible" data-scaytid="41"dispensible/span, but are, as Henry David Thoreau said, ldquo;Positive hindrances to the elevation of mankindrdquo;.nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p I remember my Uncle Al walking across the face of span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Manilatown" data-scaytid="45"Manilatown/spanmdash;a wandering poetmdash;breathing the fish and rice smells of the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="5"manongs/span, walking with themmdash;every breath a lifetime to cherish, remember and honor.nbsp; Every bowl of rice, every grain was a year, a season, a story to be told again and again.nbsp; The span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="7"manongs/span living in the small rooms of span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manilatown" data-scaytid="53"manilatown/span on span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Kearny" data-scaytid="57"Kearny/span Street breathed resistance into the hearts, minds andnbsp;lives of poets and activists who were--what my uncle called--the seeds of span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Manilatown" data-scaytid="47"Manilatown/span that were planted long ago.nbsp; The poets were the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="9"manongs/span and the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="11"manongs/span were the poets who stood against the developer, the police, the slumlord.nbsp; The span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="13"manongs/span had much to teach us about struggle but also about community.nbsp; Looking into the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manong’s" data-scaytid="61"manongrsquo;s/span face is to see our reflection in a river.nbsp; The stones in the river hold stories.nbsp; We become wet with the lives, words and poetry of the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="15"manongs/span.nbsp; We become drenched in spirit, community and life.nbsp; We become caught in the flow of life, the movement, the direction of our ancestral past.nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p At my present job I often think, emthere are no span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="17"manongs/span here/em.nbsp; I work at an apartment complex that houses the affluent, where the anthems to gentrification are sung in hushed tones in the halls, corridors, restrooms, elevators and, of course, the property management office.nbsp; Many residents are young, some elders.nbsp; The lobby smells of eucalyptus one week, pine the nextmdash;shipped in by a aroma/fragrance manufacturer from the great state of Florida./p p nbsp;/p p Therersquo;s a coworker I have whose presence is like fresh air.nbsp; Hersquo;s half-Filipino, half white.nbsp; The Filipino is written in his facemdash;thick features that reveal a Filipino heart.nbsp; Many miss the Filipino written in his skin as he swings his mop and pushes his broom.nbsp; We talk and try to maintain a level of professionalism, which means pretending that anything that resembles who we really are remains beneath the surface.nbsp; We are trained to nod and repeat mantras such as, ldquo;Nice day outsidehellip;isnrsquo;t it?rdquo; and ldquo;Yes sirhellip;Irsquo;ll get to it right awayhellip;no problem, emno problem at all/emrdquo;.nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p One of our duties is to raise the American flag each morning at span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="8am" data-scaytid="65"8am/span.nbsp; I carry the flag, tightly folded into a triangle.nbsp; He snaps the flag to a rope and pulls.nbsp; The flag slithers up the pole.nbsp; When it reaches the top, we gaze into the sky.nbsp; We see ravens and crows.nbsp; We hear them cry out.nbsp; We once saw something we thought was a rainbow.nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p One day I say, ldquo;We should get a Filipino flagrdquo;.nbsp; ldquo;And do what with it?rdquo; he asks.nbsp; I tell him we should raise it.nbsp; Hersquo;s quiet for a moment, then says, ldquo;Yeah, Irsquo;m down with thatrdquo;.nbsp; We walk back and slip into our jobs, our roles, our routine./p p nbsp;/p p We take back our lives.nbsp; We claim the soil for our ancestors, our elders, our mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers whose stories live and breathe in the landscape of this country.nbsp; We claim the soil of our skin, the soil of our blood, the soil of our poetry, the soil of our journey.nbsp; We claim it for our children.nbsp; We pass it to their hands to plant the seeds of poetry, fire and struggle.nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p My coworker and I will raise the Filipino flag one day.nbsp; But we honor the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="19"manongs/span and span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manangs" data-scaytid="69"manangs/span every day by turning over the soil that covers the landscape of our hearts and minds./p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p copy; 2011 span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="RWS" data-scaytid="73"RWS/span/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"My uncle, the poet Al Robles, often wrote of the need to ldquo;take back our livesrdquo;.nbsp; He wrote of the lives of the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="21"manongs/span, the early Filipino immigrants whose lives of struggle in America allow those of us who write the privilege to do so.nbsp; I seek to write with laughter, fire and spirit, the qualities that allowed the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="23"manongs/span to survive American society.nbsp; Part of taking back our lives includes celebrating the life we do have.nbsp; So often we forget ourselves, our creator, our eldersmdash;the land.nbsp; We go after wants that are not only span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="dispensible" data-scaytid="43"dispensible/span, but are, as Henry David Thoreau said, ldquo;Positive hindrances to the elevation of mankindrdquo;.nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"I remember my Uncle Al walking across the face of span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Manilatown" data-scaytid="49"Manilatown/spanmdash;a wandering poetmdash;breathing the fish and rice smells of the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="25"manongs/span, walking with themmdash;every breath was a lifetime to cherish, remember and honor.nbsp; Every bowl of rice, every grain was a year, a season, a story to be told again and again.nbsp; The span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="27"manongs/span living in the small rooms of span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manilatown" data-scaytid="55"manilatown/span on span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Kearny" data-scaytid="59"Kearny/span Street breathed resistance into the hearts, minds, lives of poets and activists who were, what my uncle called, the seeds of span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Manilatown" data-scaytid="51"Manilatown/span that were planted long ago.nbsp; The poets were the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="29"manongs/span and the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="31"manongs/span were the poets who stood against the developer, the police, the slumlord.nbsp; The span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="33"manongs/span had much to teach us about struggle but also about community.nbsp; Looking into the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manong’s" data-scaytid="63"manongrsquo;s/span face is to see our reflection in a river.nbsp; The stones in the river hold stories.nbsp; We become wet with the lives, words and poetry of the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="35"manongs/span.nbsp; We become drenched in spirit, community and life.nbsp; We become caught in the flow of life, the movement, the direction of our ancestral past.nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"At my span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="presentjob" data-scaytid="77"presentjob/span I often think, there are no span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="37"manongs/span here.nbsp; I work at an apartment complex that houses the affluent, where the anthems to gentrification are sung in hushed tones in the halls, corridors, restrooms, elevators and, of course, the property management office.nbsp; Many residents are young, some elders.nbsp; The lobby smells of eucalyptus one week, pine the nextmdash;shipped in by a aroma/fragrance manufacturer from the great stare of Florida./span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"Therersquo;s a coworker I have whose presence is like fresh air.nbsp; Hersquo;s half-Filipino, half white.nbsp; The Filipino is written in his facemdash;thick features that reveal a Filipino heart.nbsp; Many miss the Filipino written in his skin as he swings his mop and pushes his broom.nbsp; We talk and try to maintain a level of professionalism, which means pretending that anything that resembles who we really are remains beneath the surface.nbsp; We are trained to nod and repeat mantras such as, ldquo;Nice day outsidehellip;isnrsquo;t it?rdquo; and ldquo;Yes sirhellip;Irsquo;ll get to it right awayhellip;no problem, emno problem at all/emrdquo;.nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"One of our duties is to raise the American flag each morning at span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="8am" data-scaytid="67"8am/span.nbsp; I carry the flag, tightly folded into a triangle.nbsp; He snaps the flag to a rope and pulls.nbsp; The flag slithers up the pole.nbsp; When it reaches the top, we gaze into the sky.nbsp; We see ravens and crows.nbsp; We hear them cry out.nbsp; Once we saw a rainbow./span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"One day I say, ldquo;We should get a Filipino flagrdquo;.nbsp; ldquo;And do what with it?rdquo; he asks.nbsp; I tell him we should raise it.nbsp; Hersquo;s quiet for a moment, then says, ldquo;Yeah, Irsquo;m down with thatrdquo;.nbsp; We walk back and slip into our jobs, our roles, our routine./span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"We take back our lives.nbsp; We claim the soil for our ancestors, our elders, our mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers whose stories live and breathe in the landscape of this country.nbsp; We claim the soil of our skin, the soil of our blood, the soil of our poetry, the soil of our journey.nbsp; We claim it for our children.nbsp; We pass it to their hands to plant the seeds of poetry, fire and struggle.nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"My coworker and I will raise the Filipino flag one day.nbsp; But we honor the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manongs" data-scaytid="39"manongs/span and span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="manangs" data-scaytid="71"manangs/span every day by turning over the soil that covers the landscape of our hearts and minds./span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"copy; 2011 span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="RWS" data-scaytid="75"RWS/span/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/p p span _fck_bookmark="1" style="display: none"nbsp;/span/p
    Tags
  • UNIVERSAL FILIPINO: An Interview with Playwright, activist and Indigenous Scholar Kilusan Bautista

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    p (Editor#39;s Note:nbsp; I met span data-scayt_word="Kilusan" data-scaytid="6"Kilusan/span Bautista several years ago in San Francisco.nbsp; He had an enthusiasm for poetry and community that was infectious.nbsp; I had an opportunity to see him perform spoken word poetry, including a benefit performance for victims of Hurricane Katrina.nbsp;nbsp;He is truly an artist who puts community above all else. The brother is for real,nbsp;putting himself on the line for what he believes in--cross cultural unity, personal healing and resistance tonbsp;thenbsp;displacement and removal of poor communitiesnbsp;andnbsp;communities of color. His solo theater span data-scayt_word="prodcution" data-scaytid="11"prodcution/span UNIVERSAL FILIPINO is span data-scayt_word="Kilusan's" data-scaytid="12"Kilusan#39;s/span artistic vision of Filipinos across the span data-scayt_word="diaspora--weaving" data-scaytid="14"diaspora--weaving/spannbsp;elements of hip hop, martial art, spoken word and dance to convey a message of strength and resistance to colonization.nbsp;nbsp;The production has been performed in many parts of the country and willnbsp;be featured at New York#39;s legendary span data-scayt_word="Nuyorican" data-scaytid="15"Nuyorican/span Poets cafe in September.nbsp;The name emspan data-scayt_word="Kilusan" data-scaytid="7"Kilusan/span/emnbsp;truly represents his spirit, a spirit of movement, a spirit emof the /emmovement.nbsp; Through his work and commitment, he embodies the spirit of my uncle, the poet Al Robles, for whom the Al Robles Living Library Project is named.nbsp; It is fitting that we highlight span data-scayt_word="Kilusan's" data-scaytid="13"Kilusan#39;s/span work, for he is a son of the city, the Mission and South of Market--places that were close tonbsp;Uncle Al#39;s heart in his passion for community and tirelessnbsp;fight for social change--emTony Robles, Co-Editor Poor Magazine)/em/p p nbsp;/p p strongWho gave you the name span data-scayt_word="Kilusan" data-scaytid="8"Kilusan/span and what meaning does it hold for you?/strong/p p In 1999, I was part of a Philippine study abroad program for Filipino Americans known as Tagalog On Site.nbsp; I was given the name span data-scayt_word="Kilusan" data-scaytid="9"Kilusan/span, which means active movement, by community activists and artists who encouraged me to continue the movement for social justice and human rights in the United States of North America.nbsp; The name span data-scayt_word="Kilusan" data-scaytid="10"Kilusan/span is more of a reminder that as a Filipino American I am connected to a global struggle and I have a responsibility to live consciously and to live for social change!/p p nbsp;/p p strongWhat is your relationship to poverty and how has it informed your work?/strong/p p I grew up within a working class family in San Francisco.nbsp; Most of my youth dealt with the domestic struggles of having a father addicted to drugs.nbsp; I also have family in the Philippines who either live in urban slums or rural provinces.nbsp; As an artist and humanitarian, I create my work from these places because they molded how I see the world.nbsp; I work from the ideal that transformation comes from immense pain and struggle.nbsp; Therefore I look at poverty as a foundation that informs my work because it was a part of my identity as a young Filipino American and it was a huge push factor that influenced my family to immigrate to the United States of North America.nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p strongOne of your favorite quotes is span data-scayt_word="Rizal’s" data-scaytid="16"Rizalrsquo;s/span ldquo;Those who do not know from where they came shall never arrive at their destinationrdquo;.nbsp; How important is it for youth to learn their history and incorporate it in their art/writing and every day lives?/strong/p p Knowledge of onersquo;s history connects us to a rich legacy of wisdom and it helps us see the world with a broader perspective.nbsp; It is so important for American youth to study their unique history because K-12 public schools can only tap into the surface but it is our own responsibility to do that work/research to understand our historical roots.nbsp; I can only speak for myself in addressing the importance of history because I personally have always loved listening to the stories of elders, family members and others who simply wanted to share their stories with me.nbsp; As a result, I am blessed with a wealth of knowledge that helps me make better decisions in my life and it offers me an abundance of rich material to create art from./p p nbsp;/p p strongHow did UNIVERSAL FILIPINO come into being?/strong/p p I began writing Universal Filipino in 2005.nbsp; But it was not until the summer of 2009 in which I began to create a movement that would allow me the personal drive to complete me script and be brave enough to bring my script to life in a full production.nbsp; Universal Filipino is my artistic offering to the world as well as an opportunity to reveal my personal experiences as a Filipino American growing up in a multicultural reality.nbsp; I wanted to push my performance abilities in order to bring out the best in me.nbsp; As a solo performer within a full theater production, Universal Filipino has proven to be my most difficult artistic works to date.nbsp; What started in my living room, evolved into a community performance in a small arts warehouse and now it has toured on a national level at universities and other cultural arts venues.nbsp;nbsp; I have my eyes set on a near future production run on the stages of a Broadway Theater as well as a world tour./p p nbsp;/p p strongAl Robles often described mixture as being ldquo;Halo-Halordquo;hellip;different but the same.nbsp; How is UNIVERSAL FILIPINO ldquo;Halo Halordquo;?/strong/p p I have shared Universal Filipino in front of practically all audiences: Filipino/Filipino American, African American, Chicano/Latino, Caribbean, White, Graduate Law students, Life-Serving inmates at an adult prison, High School and college students, etchellip;.nbsp; I titled this production very strategically because it is a political statement acknowledging my roots as a Filipino but possessing the characteristics of a ldquo;Universal Identityrdquo; as a result of being a child of Diaspora.nbsp; Universal Filipino is my personal story but my goal is to make it relate-able to just about anyone because we are ldquo;different but the span data-scayt_word="same.”" data-scaytid="1"same.rdquo;/span/p p nbsp;/p p strongHow were you able to connect with your indigenous roots?/strong/p p I was able to connect with my indigenous roots through my Lola (grandmother), my uncle and Hip Hop.nbsp; My Lola brought me to the Philippines at first through her stories and unconditional love.nbsp; But she also brought me back to the Philippines for the first time ever when I was 14 years old.nbsp; That experience whooped my Americanized teenage mind with an eye opening introduction to the immense realities of Philippines./p p At the age of 12 my uncle introduced me to Kali or the Philippine martial arts of the span data-scayt_word="Visayas" data-scaytid="17"Visayas/span.nbsp; We studied in a garage with all of my other younger cousins in San Francisco.nbsp; I remember my uncle always encouraging us to be strong like the ancient Filipino warriors who also knew Kali.nbsp; I loved it because it gave me not only discipline but also confidence as a brown skinned youth in North America.nbsp;/p p Lastly, Hip Hop helped me connect with my indigenous roots.nbsp; I fell in love with Hip Hop as a dancer which meant that I was always encouraged to represent my dance skills in circle or cipher.nbsp; I did not know it at the time but the improvisation that Hip Hop dance brought out of me also allowed me to bring in my martial arts movements and instinctual movement patterns that connect with Philippine folkloric movements.nbsp;/p p Universal Filipino combines these stories of what influenced me to be proud of my Philippine culture and how I express myself as a Filipino American span data-scayt_word="Diasporic" data-scaytid="18"Diasporic/span artist./p p nbsp;/p p strongOne of the things I saw in the UNIVERSAL FILIPINO video clip was that it incorporated the Filipino martial art of Kali.nbsp; My father is an instructor in the art and recently went to Cebu.nbsp; What should people know about the art of Kali?/strong/p p Kali is both beautiful and deadly.nbsp; I have seen it used to break bones and I have also seen it choreographed into a breath-taking performance.nbsp; I incorporate Kali into Universal Filipino because it is a part of my personal history and I want the world to be exposed to a traditional martial arts whose origins are traced back to the Philippines.nbsp; For many Filipino Americans who do not speak Tagalog or other languages of the Philippines, Kali is also an opportunity to connect back with the Philippines through martial arts and movement./p p nbsp;/p p strongAre you seeing any similarities between New York and the Bay area in terms of gentrification and span data-scayt_word="criminalization" data-scaytid="19"criminalization/span of poverty?/strong/p p Irsquo;ve been living and working in New York City for 3 years now.nbsp; For 2 years I worked as a teacher for young adults striving to obtain their GED.nbsp; And as an independent artist, I have worked with independent artists, collective and organizations that pro-actively address issues of justice for the most disenfranchised citizens of NYC.nbsp; The issues of gentrification and span data-scayt_word="criminalization" data-scaytid="20"criminalization/span of poor and immigrant communities are very much similar between New York City and the Bay Area.nbsp; For example, there are places in Harlem that once had a strong ethnic diversity are now filled with white collar professionals or college students who do not know that they are part of urban redevelopment policies known as gentrification.nbsp; These areas of Harlem in Manhattan are very reminiscent of whatrsquo;s happening in my old neighborhood of the Mission District in San Francisco.nbsp; My family was asked to leave our apartment in 1998 when the landlord took advantage of raising the rent to higher paying renters, leaving my family to bounce from apartment to apartment for many years./p p As a teacher in Brooklyn I found it extremely disheartening to see the poor conditions for disenfranchised youth and young adults.nbsp; Many of my students were influenced by gangs, drugs, prostitution, harassment/ racial profiling by the local police and violence in general.nbsp; I felt as if I never left the streets of West Oakland where I worked as a violence prevention educator and community organizer for 3 years before I moved to NYC.nbsp; Despite these realities, what stands out the most are how the youth, young adults and the larger community are resilient in not letting these high risk circumstances stop them from achieving their goals.nbsp; I still receive emails, phone calls or lunches with my former students informing me that they are moving forward in life./p p nbsp;/p p strongHow has UNIVERSAL FILIPINO been received in the various places it has been seen?/strong/p p I am grateful to have received some amazing responses to Universal Filipino.nbsp; I performed as the closing performance for a youth empowerment conference in span data-scayt_word="Watsonville" data-scaytid="21"Watsonville/span, CA.nbsp; The majority of participants were of immigrant Latino background.nbsp; I wasnrsquo;t sure how they would receive my story considering that I am Filipino American.nbsp; During the performance I noticed that they were loving it, laughing at relate-able parts or quiet during intense dramatic moments.nbsp; Many students approached me afterwards to talk more about the playrsquo;s themes or simply to show off their dance styles such as the span data-scayt_word="Dougie" data-scaytid="22"Dougie/span.nbsp;/p p Another interesting moment was when I performed in San Quentin State Prison.nbsp; There were about 15 male inmates taking an Asian American Theater course, all of different ethnicities.nbsp; Despite the intimidating feel of the prison, I reminded myself that true art transcends all borders and inmates need pure art just as much as college students because rehabilitation and education go hand in hand.nbsp; I saw hard faces change into regular people having a good time at a theater performance.nbsp; I ended my performance with a brief discussion where practically all of the inmates had something to say about how they could relate to Universal Filipino./p p Another unique performance worth mentioning was at span data-scayt_word="CUNY" data-scaytid="23"CUNY/span Law School.nbsp; I shared Universal Filipino with graduate law students.nbsp; I received a standing ovation and a few students came up to me in tears because they were able to connect with my story on a personal level./p p What stands out the most was performing in front my family, especially my mother and father.nbsp; The play is about them just as it is about me.nbsp; They are both extremely proud of me and I realize that if I can touch my family, I can touch the world.nbsp; My younger sister elbowed me and said, ldquo;Damn, now I got to read more about Filipino history.nbsp; Thanks span data-scayt_word="Kuya.”" data-scaytid="2"Kuya.rdquo;/span/p p nbsp;/p p strongHow can people get more information about UNIVERSAL FILIPINO and your other work?/strong/p p a href="http://universalfilipino.wordpress.com/"http:///aspan data-scayt_word="universalfilipino.wordpress.com–" data-scaytid="3"a href="http://universalfilipino.wordpress.com/"universalfilipino.wordpress.com/andash;/span electronic press kit/p p nbsp;/p p a href="http://kilusan1898.blogspot.com/"http:///aspan data-scayt_word="kilusan1898.blogspot.com–artist" data-scaytid="4"a href="http://kilusan1898.blogspot.com/"kilusan1898.blogspot.com/andash;artist/span blog/p p nbsp;/p p a href="http://urbancrazes.com/"http://span data-scayt_word="urbancrazes.com" data-scaytid="5"urbancrazes.com/span/anbsp; -online magazine/p p nbsp;/p p strongLast question, if you had to face boxer span data-scayt_word="Nonito" data-scaytid="24"Nonito/span span data-scayt_word="Donaire" data-scaytid="28"Donaire/span (Current WBC and span data-scayt_word="WBO" data-scaytid="30"WBO/span Bantamweight Champion of the world)nbsp;in a spoken word battle, who would win?/strong/p p Only the crowd could judge that one.nbsp; I know span data-scayt_word="Nonito" data-scaytid="25"Nonito/span to be extremely talented as a span data-scayt_word="wordssmith" data-scaytid="31"wordssmith/span.nbsp; He puts just as much heart and concentration in boxing as he does as a role model in the community.nbsp; The best spoken word artists are those who use their art for the good of humanity.nbsp; It was an amazing experience to open up for span data-scayt_word="Nonito" data-scaytid="26"Nonito/span span data-scayt_word="Donaire" data-scaytid="29"Donaire/span in 2008, at Mandalay Bay.nbsp; My spoken word skills along with span data-scayt_word="Nonito" data-scaytid="27"Nonito/span span data-scayt_word="Donaire’s" data-scaytid="32"Donairersquo;s/span punch makes a powerful combination/p
    Tags
  • Too Dangerous to Ride

    09/24/2021 - 09:13 by Anonymous (not verified)
    Original Author
    Tiny
    Original Body
    p Riding the bus in our Community is Getting Dangerousbr / By span data-scayt_word="Dell’Trianna" data-scaytid="2"Dellrsquo;Trianna/span Davis/span data-scayt_word="PoorNewsNetwork" data-scaytid="6"PoorNewsNetwork/span Youth Media span data-scayt_word="Skolar" data-scaytid="8"Skolar/span/p p nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; On Saturday, June 16th a 19 year old young man, Kenneth Harding, from Seattle, WA, came to San Francisco at the wrong time. He rode a transit vehicle, to Bay view hunters point span data-scayt_word="palou" data-scaytid="10"palou/span station, only to exit, and have an encounter with a police officer, about paying his two dollar fare. Harding ran from being detained, and was shot from the back multiple times, causing him to bleed to death and die at the scene. This shooting took place in broad day light by span data-scayt_word="sf" data-scaytid="12"sf/span police, in front of kids, family, and friends at the Joseph Lee Community Center, and sadly, this is not the exception, it happens all the time to residents of the span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="14"Bayview/span like me./p p Police say Harding fired at them first ( and now maybe even shot at himself!), which they say justified their shooting at Harding. What we hear and read says that the officers were fired upon, but people of the bay view say that was a no-go, Harding only ran from the transit station, to resist citation inquiries./p p As Harding laid there at the scene, there was no emergency ambulance treatment for as long as 30 span data-scayt_word="mins" data-scaytid="18"mins/span. Police stood there for several minutes with guns on Harding, only to watch him bleed to death./p p Lately, the public transit inspectors have been taking their jobs a little to seriously, but only in the poor communities, causing public humiliation, to those short on fare. Once I was short of fare, and had no transfer to show the inspector, which lead to me receiving a citation.nbsp; While facing off the ticket public, authorities, ignored my voice, and searched and rambled through my belongings, only to find no span data-scayt_word="I.d" data-scaytid="1"I.d/span., which I had said I didnrsquo;t have in the first place./p p In the end riding public transportation is getting dangerous, I#39;m afraid for the residents of my community, because of how the police mobbed the span data-scayt_word="buses" data-scaytid="20"buses/span supposedly looking for people short on fare../p p The police are unaware, that we, as a black community, do see the way they view our young men. Viewing them as slick dressed boys, which is why the police must hear, stop Killing Our Brothers and Sisters Because Being Poor is not a Crimerdquo;/p p span data-scayt_word="Dell’Trianna" data-scaytid="3"Dellrsquo;Trianna/span, a span data-scayt_word="PNN" data-scaytid="22"PNN/span student reporter, chef, cheerleader, confident, counselor, encourager, co-pastor and span data-scayt_word="Ceo" data-scaytid="24"Ceo/span, has just graduated from the span data-scayt_word="ReVolutionary" data-scaytid="26"ReVolutionary/span Youth Media Education(span data-scayt_word="RYME" data-scaytid="28"RYME/span) program at span data-scayt_word="PeopleSkool-She" data-scaytid="30"PeopleSkool-She/span will be performingnbsp; a span data-scayt_word="theatre" data-scaytid="32"theatre/span presentation as part of the Off-Plantation Plays span data-scayt_word="Theatre" data-scaytid="34"Theatre/span for span data-scayt_word="PeopleSkool" data-scaytid="36"PeopleSkool/span graduation celebration on Thursday, July 28th @ span data-scayt_word="5pm" data-scaytid="101"5pm/span- at POOR Magazine - 2940 16th span data-scayt_word="st" data-scaytid="40"st/span #301 SF , Ca 94103 - for more information call POOR at a href="tel:415-863-6306" target="_blank" value="+14158636306"415-863-6306/a/p
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