Oakland - With the long lasting effects of the on-going draconian sequestration budget cuts occurring including the recent government shutdown, people in Oakland and across the nation are being stepped on, abused, and treated like a punching bag.

Due to the on-going sequestration automatic across-the-board spending cuts ($1.2 trillion in on-going spending cuts), and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs as a direct result, it has become even more difficult for residents in Oakland to find work. It is very difficult to find employment that pays a living-wage, or to receive assistance for food, housing, energy bills, transportation needs, health care, dental work, child care or day care services.

The Section 8 housing choice voucher program is also at risk in Oakland because the Oakland Housing Authority is facing over $11 million in budget cuts since the on-going sequestration budget cuts took effect on March 1, 2013 that threaten thousands of low-income renters with higher rent increases, or the possible loss of their vouchers someday. Low-income families in the Section 8 voucher program pay 30 to 40 percent of their income in rent each month, and the rest of the rent is paid to the landlord by the federal program.

Because the Democrats joined the Republicans in allowing the sequestration budgets cuts to continue in the latest political deal known as a "continuing resolution" that ended the government shutdown on October 16, it appears to be a very grim situation for Section 8 voucher holders in Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley and people in cities all across the nation. Housing officials claim that 140,000 voucher holders are at risk of losing their vouchers because of the sequestration budget cuts. 

The sequestration budget cuts are also shredding the Meals on Wheels Program that feeds senior citizens, and includes massive budget cuts to education, food programs, small business, food safety, mental health programs, emergency responders, Native American programs, public housing, head start, homelessness programs, AIDS and HIV treatment services, Community Development Block Grants, and many other vital services or programs.

Affordable housing developers scheme to grab Section 8 vouchers and public housing

Local non-profit so-called affordable housing developers including Affordable Housing Associates, Resources for Community Development, and the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation have teamed up with local and national organizations that are pushing for Rental Assistance Reform (RAR) legislation to be passed in the House and Senate, that is harmful to the poor.

The non-profit organizations are pushing for rental assistance reform (RAR) legislation that will result in fewer Section 8 housing choice vouchers for the poor, higher rents for public housing residents, and the acceleration of the privatization of conventional public housing projects into privatized mixed-income residential housing developments for higher income renters. Developments that are being promoted by so-called non-profit and for profit affordable housing developers who want to get their hands on public housing properties locally, and all across the nation.

In California alone, during 2011 when Governor Jerry Brown put more than 400 redevelopment agencies out of business, the so-called multi-billion dollar affordable housing industry began looking for other funding sources to continue it's empire building. The industry decided on grabbing as much conventional public housing property as possible, and wants to loot the Section 8 housing choice voucher program for more project-based vouchers.

The so-called affordable housing industry is pushing for RAR legislation to be passed in the House and Senate as soon as possible and it may be tucked away inside legislation heading for Congress as soon as December 13, 2013.

If lawmakers cave in to the pressures of the so-called affordable housing industry, the impact of RAR will result in more Section 8 housing choice vouchers being taken away from low-income renters in Oakland and all across the nation, so that they can be converted into project-based vouchers to fund so-called affordable housing projects for wealthy developers.

Currently under federal law, each Public Housing Authority (3,300 PHAs nation wide) is allowed to grab as much as 20% of the funding granted to them that is meant to be used for Section 8 housing choice vouchers for low-income renters, and convert the funding for use as project-based vouchers. Project-based vouchers that wealthy non-profit and for profit so-called affordable housing developers can use to fund their projects.

The so-called affordable housing industry wants RAR legislation to be passed that would allow all 3,300 PHAs to convert a whopping 25% of their Section 8 housing choice vouchers, into project-based vouchers for the wealthy so-called affordable housing developers and their projects. This is 5% more than what is currently allowed under federal law, and would be a great hardship on low-income Section 8 housing choice voucher holders.

RAR is a trojan horse of stealth legislation that was created under the guise of helping the poor, but actually promotes higher rents for poor people in public housing and the Section 8 housing choice voucher program, and scales back itemized deductions for medical and child care used by the poor for rent reductions in those programs.

If passed into legislation RAR would also set "flat rates" for higher income public housing tenants closer to market levels. In total the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that poor people in public housing and the Section 8 voucher program would pay about $1.75 billion more in rent over a five year period because of the loss of itemized deductions for medical and child care, in addition to the major rent increases that would be imposed on public housing tenants.

Another aspect of RAR if passed into law, it would change federal law so that higher income families would be assisted by the nation's federal housing assistance programs. Presently 75 percent of vouchers and 40 percent of project-based Section 8 and public housing units must be allocated to households with incomes at or below 30 percent of the local median income when they enter the program. RAR would instead require that those vouchers and units go to households with incomes at or below 30 percent of the local median or the federal poverty line, whichever is higher. By subsidizing the rents of higher income renters instead of low-income renters, the CBO estimates that the change would raise rent revenues and cut program costs by $1.12 billion over five years, because families admitted into the programs could afford somewhat higher rents.

RAR also supports the Rental Assistance Demonstration program (RAD) that accelerates the privatization of conventional public housing, and tests the conversion of public housing and Section 8 moderate rehabilitation units to project-based vouchers or Section 8 project-based rental assistance, and allows similar conversions of units from the Rent Supplement and Rental Assistance Payment programs.

On Sept. 24, 2013 in San Francisco, Poor Magazine, the San Francisco Bay View newspaper, Causa Justa/Just Cause, POWER and WRAP united for an emergency STOP THE ILLEGAL SELLING OF OUR HOUSING EQUITY, STOP THE RAD press conference, on the steps of City Hall in protest against RAD.

Mayor Ed Lee and the San Francisco Housing Authority want to privatize as many as 3,000 public housing units out of 6,054 public housing units, and hand over their day-to-day operations to some very eager non-profit housing developers. The so-called affordable housing developers are drooling at the thought of how many fortunes could be made by grabbing as many public housing units as possible for privatization, while displacing the poor with their major renovation projects that eventually will result in new gentrified housing projects for higher income, and middle class renters.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan was in San Francisco on Sept. 24, to promote RAD while people protested against RAD at City Hall, and Donovan signed off on Mayor Ed Lee's scheme to privatize the public housing projects of San Francisco.

RAR also seeks to create more Moving-To-Work (MTW) demonstration Public Housing Authorities, and seeks to give some of the 33 existing MTWs more flexibility.

Authorized by Congress in 1996, the Moving To Work (MTW) demonstration program was created for a limited number of PHAs to try out new and different ways to save money, and find cheaper methods to deliver housing services. However, MTWs have morphed into agencies that are becoming notorious for abusing the funding from Congress. Funding that was meant to assist the poor.

During April 2012, HUD was under fire by the Government Accounting Office (GAO), that ridicules any assertions by HUD that an MTW's activities can be evaluated properly.

The GAO is an investigative arm of Congress with the power to examine matters related to the receipt and use of funding by Congress, and the GAO believes that MTWs are not regulated enough to properly evaluate how they are operating.

The latest continuing resolution that President Barack Obama signed that ended the government shutdown on October 16, only funds the federal government through January 15, 2014, and only extends the debt limit until February 7, 2014. Another government shutdown may occur again in a few months if the budget battles in Congress continue.   

The House and Senate also passed a measure that requires a conference committee of twenty-nine members to come up with a spending plan, and to return a budget agreement to both chambers by December 13, 2013. An agreement that would establish the budget for the federal government for FY 2014, including appropriate budgetary levels for FY 2015 through FY 2023.

It is up to the public at large to speak-up immediately and pressure the politicians to enact new legislation that will make the rich pay their fair share of taxes to do business in America, and to persuade the lawmakers to reverse the sequestration budget cuts that have shredded the nation's safety-net. 

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule@yahoo.com

Keith Jones and I have a lot in common. Both Black both have CP, both are activists and into Hip-Hop. We also both have been targets of racial/disabled profiling at hotels Keith in ATL & Leroy in Oakland. Now we went into studios and recorded a song, Disabled Profiled, about our experiences of being profiled as Black disabled men. Keith on the beats, raps and mixed it and Leroy spits his poetry. More to come. Another edited version of this song is on the Krip-Hop/5th Battalion Ent's cd, Broken Bodies PBP, Police Brutality Profiling Mixtape that came out 2012 Keith Jones was profiled in ATL at a hotel in which he was staying at for a Krip--Hop event. He was using the computer and the guard thought he was homeless that led to Keith who had to prove that he was staying there. And peeps know about my experiences in the Bay Area and in NY where I was approached by NYPD and a store manager that said "I was making them nervous!"

Lyrics here:

Disabled Profiled (Song Keith & Leroy)

Leroy:           

Yeah I’m a Black man

Known about racially profiled

Two Black hotel workers

Same race but in my face

Disabled profiled

Making assumptions upon appearances

Blocking the entrance

Can’t be race because we are both Black

Black Disabled Man

Must be a drunk

Slur speech drugging feet

Must be begging for money

Disabled profiled

Making assumptions upon appearances

Blocking the entrance

Can’t be race because we are both Black

Must protect others from this bum

Got to do my job

I summed him up from across the street

Poor cripple homeless beggar

Confused, disabled and black

The fear builds

As he approaches

Looking at him like he’s a roach

Firing out questions upon questions

No not racially but disabled profiled

Here in the home of ED Roberts

Disabled profiled

Making assumptions upon appearances

Blocking the entrance

Can’t be race because we are both Black

Mocking my walk

Didn’t read my tense body talk

Friends saw my anger,

“Mr. We’re together!”

Disabled Profiled

And I’m tired

Twice in one week

Its not race it happened from Black & White

Disabled Profiled

And I’m tired

Twice in one week

Its not race it happened from Black & White

Disabled Profiled

And I’m tired

Disabled Profiled

And I’m tired

I’m so tired

Keith:

The wheelchair got no diamond in da back and no sun roof top but I still run da scene wit a disability lean nah what I mean and every day dat im speakin and try to reach ‘em cause they be lookin at me tryin to profile the black man talking bout what happen to you damn see there was not no gun shot matter of fact I have my own kind of plot I have to run da block shut down because ya tryin to hold me down laughin at the way that I talk the way that I walk the way that I speak but ya girl likes da way that I freak ya betta get it right man understand cp is only part of da man I got something for the rest of yall listen something for the best of yall ya betta sit back and try to contemplate can you really demonstrate what it takes to create somehin kinda great in the face of hate ….    

Leroy:

Hey Keith just like you

I was triggered last week

Memories floating back

Makes this grown man weep

Paul Dunbar’s mask didn’t hold up

Felt like I was shot no bulletproof vest

Two days ago & I still can’t rest

Memories coming back

Woowooowoo “up against the wall

Hahaha are you drunk can’t walk?”

“No officer I’m disabled

Just coming home from work!”

“What what can’t understand?”

I was triggered last week

Memories floating back

Makes this grown man weep

Beep beep

“Mr. You is out late

Can I see your I’d?”

Why me

Don’t feel like being a teacher

Please just let me be

Black man in a uniform

Sees me as a threat

Or a charity case

Can’t look at me in my face

His mind is made up

Looking for my tin cup

I was triggered last week

Memories floating back

Makes this grown man weep

By Leroy Moore  & Keith Jones

Yes this is a true story!

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Editor's Note:  Thanks to Angola 3 Newsletter for contributing this piece to PNN.

Well, the old man has decided to leave us! I am sure it was a very hard choice for him, who will I serve, the ancestors who have called me home, or humanity whom I love so much?

Old man was my term of endearment - it had to do with the age of everything - to do with his heart and soul. Herman "Hooks" Wallace was not a perfect human being, and like all men, he had faults and weaknesses, but he also had character! He could make me so mad that I wanted to rip his head off! Then he would melt my heart with a word, or act of kindness to another human being.

On October 1st, sitting in a hospital room with the other part of my heart (Robert H. King), I tried to will a miracle and it was granted, not the miracle of life that I wanted but the miracle of freedom!  After 42 years of tireless struggle against evil, he was a free man!

I wanted so badly to witness his walk to freedom, but it was not to be, I had to leave, but after losing my mother, sister and brother in law to cancer, I was at peace!

I had a chance to say goodbye to my comrade in the struggle, my mentor in life, my fellow panther and most of all, my friend. Herman taught me that a man can stumble, even fall, as long as he gets up. That it's OK to be afraid, but hold onto your courage. To lose battle, is not the loss of a war!

Herman Wallace's greatest pride was joining the Black Panther Party for self defense! He believed in duty, honor and dedication. He never broke the faith of the party, his comrades or the people. As I bent to kiss his forehead, my heart said goodbye - I love you forever - my soul said - separated but never apart - never touching, but always connected. He was the best of us, as long as we remember him, he lives on.

All Power to the People!

Albert "Shaka Cinque" Woodfox 

(Photos of banner and mural from North Carolina)

“If you Believe”

By: Jose H. Villarreal

From my view the world erupts, a myriad of smiles, wrapped in loving arms and a batch of pups.

From my view my emotions spike, jubilant cheers in childhood games, or reflections from a balmy spring day bouncing off the shiny rims on my brand new bike.

From my view my heart bursts forth, my first kiss shoots an electric charge through previously dormant corridors of my being, a mere smile from my newfound sweetheart erupts an orchestra in my heart as melodious as a troop of musicians on course.

From my view the world has awakened, relieved of the fetters producing a grainy existence and all the depth of reality thrust into my cognition, fruition bore through until my very essence has been shaken.

If you have felt the unpaved road whence came the lonesome traveler, bathe in the glow of appreciation that arises from one destined to never be cavalier.

If you have felt delighted in the birth of a child, you need not search for the beauty of opportunity nor look to the parasitic as mild.

If you have felt the shackle cold feeling of injustice, you will forever lock anomie in the anthill rather than the anteroom of the hospice.

If you have felt the solitude of reason, take pleasure in that you embolden idea’s which add to them season.

Also remember my laughter, the chorus of a million children or the bird filled trees of a city park now seems trapped in my subconscious rafter.

Also remember my gaze, the botanical gardens of reflection or deep pools of concentration penetrating to the heart of reality as through a cobweb maze.

Also remember my thoughts, grappling ideas of theoretical warfare in suspended animation midframe for the interpreter to drink in as cool libation.

Also remember my message, words binding us in formation, commingling thought in momentary verse leaping off pages and thrust into the realm of ideas like hot oil leaping from the pan in search of a cool surface, a place where beliefs dwell and thrive.  

Editors Note: Jose is one of several power-FUL PNN Plantation prison correspondents involved in the Hunger Strike to end all solitary confinement and the in-human treatment of all of our incarcerated brothers and sisters.

October 2014

Since September 11, 2001, there have been numerous incidents involving law enforcement severely injuring or killing civilians. The vast majority of these victims have been black, brown or disabled.

The majority of the officers have been white.

Most recently the incident that has made national headlines regarding this sort of incident involved unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

According to eye witnesses Brown had his hands up in an attempt to surrender to police when he was shot to death. Rather than rehashing that story here these are a few simple guidelines that if adhered to could save some lives and some families some heartache.

We all can agree that police have too much power and often literally get away with murder.

That is the first thing to keep in mind.

The first thing you should do when stopped by the police is ask if you are being arrested or detained if the answer is no don't say another word and leave immediately.

Second you should come to terms with the fact that you may go to jail whether or not you broke a law eventually they will have to let you out unless you cant bail out bail is always based on flight risk so if you attempt to run when first encountered that makes you a high flight risk don't do it!

Don't get angry or at least don't show signs of it.

Don't accuse them of being racist or picking on you for any reason there is a good chance that that is true but there is no point in antagonizing somebody who is picking on you and has the ability to beat you, take away your freedom or kill you.
Be as co-operative as possible by giving them your real name and social security. You are not required to tell them anything else and don't. The only other thing you should tell them is “I choose to exercise my right to remain silent at this time.” If you start talking again, even if they offer you something like a chair, or about the ballgame last night, you have to tell them again that you choose to exercise your right to remain silent.

Please keep in mind the moment the police approach you, you are technically under arrest. Anything you do like run, pull away from them, or even argue with them can be considered resisting arrest.

As unfair as it may seem the police can arrest you and hold you up to 72 hours {3days} without filing any charges so don't resist arrest!

If you feel like they do anything inappropriate you can report it later. Check what the rules are where you are at the time, but just try to maintain your cool at all times.

Most importantly don't do anything that would draw their attention to you to begin with if you can help it.

If you do survive Thank God or whoever or whatever you believe in!

If you don't believe in something maybe you should reconsider!

EDITOR'S WARNING: This article contains graphic content about sexual violence and is not appropriate for children.

As poverty scholars we write stories that relate to us, and others as well. I personally had a real horrifying experience when I was nineteen years old. I was religious and a man whom I had known for a long time manipulated me, and I did things that I didn’t want to do or felt uncomfortable doing. After I lost my virginity and was not married, the whole community of Muslims treated me so terrible. They called me Mary Magdalene, a ho, an adulterer, and a person who has committed a serious crime. Afterwards over the podium, the preacher announced that I had become promiscuous I lost my dignity. I left and never went back. The man who had sex with me was praised and honored for getting that far.

This is what women go through all over the world, whether it is rape, pimping, or using women for self-pleasure and not love. I was preyed on because this man saw an innocent Muslim girl who has lost purity and is therefore a detriment to mankind. I felt like they were my family more than my blood relatives, but they disowned me and kicked me to the curb. The most amazing thing I did was get help from a professional, and got sent to Saint Francis for psychiatric reasons.

I am telling this story on media for the first time in my life because I read a book called Half The Sky, and the women in the book have life stories that are worse than mine could ever be.  Rape can also mean being taken advantage of mentally. He raped my personal spirituality and my dignity.

I read about a village in Somalia that has a large number of rapes, and a doctor from another country actually wanted to open up a hospital and shelter for women in this village. Around eighty women get raped in this village every day. The doctor who established this awesome clinic made something called Rape-aXe, and it is inserted like a tampon except when the man rapes a woman it hurts him, and he can't take it off by himself - he has to go to the hospital emergency room. After reading that chapter it made me feel good that someone went through the same thing I did. Especially because the women are oppressed, not by religion but by man. And men use religion as a scapegoat to oppress women and make them feel unworthy for the rest of their life. Rape-aXe has helped even though in Somalia the women go through a lot. The doctor at this clinic has to pay off some men just to protect women who are at risk of getting killed. The women who have come to the clinic are not only raped but also humiliated, and physically tormented. Some women have acid on their face; others have body parts cut off and various other diseases like AIDS. Though the government does not like what this doctor is doing because women are not recognized as human beings in some countries, and they are looked at as objects and servants for men.

When someone rapes you it hurts two ways - physically and emotionally. Evidently the emotional part haunts you for the rest of your life. It is not fair that men use God to manipulate women. Half the Sky brought me joy, because I am so torn apart that I have never had a real relationship before and this happened when I was nineteen now I am twenty-nine. Stories like this have to be told and, creating rape-aXe is a revolutionary-minded action. It is not okay to abuse women, or demand women act a certain way because of how men feel. Now I follow inner peace and read a lot of inspirational books like this one. I learned about it in my diversity and sexism class at City College of San Francisco. As women we have to stand up and nourish ourselves by taking care of us first.

Original Artwork by Jesse on the SHU. Jesse survived through 50 days of the recent Hunger Strike at Pelican Bay

Three Strikes

California’s shameful legacy holding it’s poor hostage,

Locked in a fascist visegrip without a conscious,

Don’t touch that bread for your hunger may cost you your head,

A caste-like system that would leave confederates in awe and without all the dead.

When stealing a burger gets you more time than a murder,

The public deceived when the vehicles a pervert,

Using Amerikkka’s pass time to steal oppressed lives,

The peoples victory will be triple runs, not flys.

Modern day slavery- a new plantation,

Lady liberty a witness, and our bodies the concession,

500 years of their regurgitated scheme,

Amerikkka’s air-conditioned nightmare was never a dream.

By: Jose H. Villareal

POOR Magazine Pelican Bay SHU Correspondent

Ms. Carolyn Smith, my grandma, was a community activist and played many roles and wore many hats, but I am just going to talk about the ones she bragged about the most.    

First she was on the board of the city college of New York alumni association where her position was considered the president of the organization. Nowhere in any other undergraduate college are there so many opportunities to work with seniors who have graduated and accomplished a lot. There were at least three hundred graduates that shadowed people like my grandma. The director of the alumni association expressed that grandma stood up for her beliefs, in spite of dissent from others. She wasn’t just a part of the alumni, she was an advocate for the African American graduates as well.

Grandma was also a participant and advocate for Aging in America. In 1977 Aging in America was created to serve as the parent company for Morningside House and other services being provided to the community. Today Aging in America oversees five subsidiaries with the common mission of devoting time, resources and skills to those who need it most in neighborhoods of the Bronx, Westchester, Rockland and Long island.  She was a dedicated staff of Aging In America. She took a leading role in finding solutions and serving the needs of the seniors. The director of the organization said that Carolyn Smith focused on self-esteem and self-reliance and enhancing each person’s sense of freedom and dignity. He explained that grandma was a soft shoulder to lean on for every client and staff. Everything he said absolutely confirmed how I remember my grandma. Whenever I called her she would write her TTD list, meaning things to do. Her first priority was working with seniors, and I would laugh because she yelled at some of them for peeing on themselves without saying anything. I would talk to her for hours and all she did was tell people what to do. She was also a part of JPAC/JASA the institute for senior action, which is a comprehensive education, leadership, and advocacy program.   

I write for a non-profit organization called Poor Magazine. We do not study linguistics, syntax, or any other standardized writing. We call our classes the people school, because it is by the people, for the people, led by the people. I’m not talking about Ivy League college graduates. I am talking about people from the streets, the shelters, the churches, and various other revolutionary minded people who are willing to struggle with poverty, yet embrace writing as a tool. I have terrible grammar at times but my words are powerful, and my experience is strong. That is what journalism really is: the person, the environment, and the truth. As I’ve grown in this grassroots organization, I’ve often thought about my grandma who has transitioned, but yet is still in my heart. My grandma was the first one who told me how to write, and how to write with passion, intelligence, and humility. My Uncle, whom I love, transitioned after her and they are not only going to have a memorial at Columbia University but they are being put on our website as poverty heroes. Poverty Heroes is a project coordinated by Lisa Garcia Dee Gray and Tony Moore. It is a ten week project created for honoring the lives of youth, adults and elders who have struggled, resisted, and lived through poverty, racism, disability, criminalization and violence locally and globally.

    In the nineties I went to New York every summer, and grandma basically sacrificed every penny she ever had to make us happy. She would always write letters to organizations, the mayor, and various people with whom she either got upset or embraced as an associate in the community. It’s no coincidence that when I started writing for this magazine I was so stressed out about this article because I didn’t know what to say or do. I decided to let the spirit lead me from my heart and not try to please everyone by sugarcoating my grandma’s experience in life. Every person I interviewed about Carolyn Smith was devastated about her passing, and described her as as a natural teacher and a natural leader.

After I spoke to these people, I reflected on our “elephant meetings” at Poor Magazine. Elephant meetings got their name from the African belief that elephants represent the women as matriarchs. Poor magazine was founded by a black woman called Momma Dee, and she was the matriarch of the organization. The last time I saw my grandma in 2011 she pulled me to the side and said, “I’m the matriarch of the family, and you have to stay strong for the family because I will not be around forever.” The metaphor of the elephant meetings spiritually coincides with what my grandma is and was.

    My Uncle Raymondloyd transitioned a week prior to my grandma. Before this happened I started to write and bond with Uncle Ray because he was so proud of me for finishing my bachelor’s degree. He cried with empathy for all the tough times I told him about. He listened to my experiences about being a young teenager growing up Muslim, and having hardships with family members who held grudges against me. From the time I was a young age, he always said good words to me no matter how sassy I was. When I would get in trouble, I remember him taking me to the side to say, “You can do whatever you want at my house.”

What I remember most of my two beloved family members is their endurance and perseverance. Uncle Raymondloyd was a twenty-six year old veteran of the United States Army, serving Southwest Asia, who left to serve in the Gulf War on Thanksgiving day 1985. He was a medic, with 865th combat support Hospital. He ended his career in 2002 as a first sergeant. Raymond worked as an LPN from 1994 to 2010 at Erie County Medical Center and another six years in a similar facility. He was with my beautiful and loving Aunt Rita Bennett. They raised my cousins Nathaniel Bennett, Sammy Bennett, Trevor Bennett, and Gideon Bennett. I’m sure they had tough times but their family was special because they had such strong bonds and they grew up being bi-racial. Regardless of any circumstances my Uncle was always there to listen and provide for his handsome sons (yes, our family members look damn good!). I know for a fact that my Uncle was so proud of his sons, and he adopted the whole community. Everyone went to him for advice and comfort or just a laugh because he had such a good sense of humor.

Recently I reconnected with my cousin Nate and hope to re-connect with my other cousins Trevor and Sammy. I am reminded that blood is thicker than water. Nate, Sammy, and Trevor are not victims of the stereotypical complex that they say about young black men. They all are beautiful in spirit and they represent what young black men should be. I love my Uncle and Grandma but their transitions have helped me and my cousins come back together. When I was little, I always wanted a big family. Another Uncle, Wendell, always said “We will do with the family we do have babe.”

In memory of these two magnificent people: whenever you wake up in the morning, know that my Uncle and Grandma are watching all of us, family and friends as well, and they transitioned with humble spirits. All I know is they left painless and happy. God Bless the Bennetts for their strength and thank God for Uncle Ray and Uncle Wendell because without their help life would’ve been harder for my grandma. I sincerely believe through this extremely hard time for the family both Raymondlloyd and Carolyn would want us to connect and grow through our differences and mistakes in the past. I think they would want us to be non-judgemental and sincere with each other. We should make a call log list and tell one another at least once a week, “I love you and you are family.”

I never cared about family all during high school (except for Nate - I always wrote to him). I considered my associates more of family than my own. I didn’t take value in what God had put in my life. When I turned twenty-one, my best friend died and people hurt me really bad in the community. White people do not have to do anything anymore in low income communities, because usually your own people will turn on you and kick you when you’re down. After this, the only people I could turn to were grandma, daddy, Uncle Wendell, my mom, stepfather, and of course now my cousins. Through this tough time with slander in the community, I was involved in a lot of organizations in the projects, homeless shelters, library, and even wrote for a local black newspaper. At the age of fourteen I was never home, not even for dinner.  When I called my twin (Veronica Smith) for the first time recently, I started to actually get to know little things that I never even knew before. For example, my sister’s best friend recently told me that dishes were the best of what my dad made for dinner every night.

    Despite all of this, I learned that family is something genuine, and that family must stick together regardless. I now go to a church with no walls. No building but just living in the spirit. Walls can mean anything: financial burdens, family feuds, low self-esteem. Most of all we put up walls so we wont get hurt from anyone. Even with these issues, the intervention that God helped me realize is that He already gave me my friends, He already gave me hope, and He already gave me faith. Instead of hanging out with other people I discovered God gave me a gift, which was my family. I do feel bad for having a nasty attitude with grandma when I was seventeen, but we talked about it long before she transitioned. I’m so happy that my cousins are holding up (not on their own, the Lord is carrying them through this meaningful storm.) This is just my healing of getting close to family and not other people. But I do believe that everything happens for a reason and my grandma and uncle are the light at the end of that tunnel. Through them everyone will grow and realize the beauty of life and the foundation they put down for us. I thank God everyday for my family, because we have unconditional love. At least that’s how its supposed to be.

Back in the day even before my time when you were a person of color or you were poor you couldn’t go to the doctor so one or two things happened. 1) A doctor out of the goodness of his heart would come to the house or 2) you had to do it yourself. My mother was born in the barn because my great-grandfather thought he could do what the doctor could do and delivered a 10lb. baby girl, the baby of course was fine but my grandmother was in a coma for three weeks behind that but she lived and is still kicking at 84 years of age.

So many people today don’t have insurance and no doctors are making house calls to my knowledge. Because of crimes in the inner city and vigilante cops no one is safe from these trigger-happy thugs. In the hood the authorities either don’t come at all when called or show up two deaths too late to save a person on the brink of death.  So now 50 plus years later we come to the conclusion “we gotta do it ourselves.”

PCM-Oakland (People’s Community Medics) is a group of concerned citizens in the neighborhood who are members of the Oscar Grant Committee got tired of seeing too many young Black and Brown mostly men but women too losing their lives because either the EMT’s would get there too late or not show up at all.

People’s Community Medics have been trained to do the basic things to save a life enough to get them to the hospital and in some cases have had to load the gun shot/stabbed victim into a car and drive them to the hospital. Thanks to this group of individuals, lives have been saved/spared. Somebody’s family didn’t have to lose a loved one thanks to someone giving a damn.

Sharena Thomas and Leslye Phillips founded PCM; it is a grassroots organization that teaches the basic emergency First Aid skills free of charge.

Are you aware that if the cops show up first that they can refuse a concerned citizen from aiding a person in distress? According to Leslye Phillips they can and in a lot of cases they do. One example of this is what happened in Anaheim, California when the cops at close range shot and killed an unarmed man and allowed him to bleed out. People wanted to help and tried but were viciously attacked by dogs to include children and other family members, so it is best to get there before the cops show up because it can be the difference between life and death.

Leslye also stated that 1 and 5 victims live if they beat the ambulance to the hospital, this being true of gun shot victims.

The People’s Community Medics don’t want to harbor their labor of love and concern for just East Oakland they would like to share the information and training they have received so that not only Oakland be spared but the whole Bay Area and beyond.

Because times are so hard and the economy is still not good, people can live even without insurance. Leslye and a few members of their group stopped by POOR Magazine to share this information and to let us know where they will be doing their next training session.

PCM only goes where they are invited so if you’re interested give them a call, they will come to schools, churches, community events and etc.

Itinerary/Upcoming Events

For upcoming events visit their website

Contact information:

People’s Community Medics

Email Address peoples communitymedics@gmail.com

Telephone number (510) 239-7720

Website www.peoplescommunitymedics.org

The Public Land that’s only for some of the Public
The Albany City Council voted to started enforcing an ordinance against camping in October,to remove the long-time houseless residents from the public commons known as The Albany Bulb.

For the last two decades, houseless residents of the East Bay who wanted to avoid the oppressive structure of shelters, found respite at the Bulb which is an abandoned landfill located on the Albany Waterfront adjacent to Golden Gate Fields and the East bay Shore Regional Park. In the past, city officials have directed houseless residents in Albany and other East Bay municipalities to the Blub because it is out of the way.

The residents of the Albany Bulb have formed a strong community that provide stability for each other. There are approximately 70, residents of the Albany Bulb. According to their supporters the vast majority of the Bulb residents are lacking a steady income, if evicted from the Bulb the vast majority won't have a place to stay, and will be sleeping on the street. Many are worried about their health and safety without support of their community.

The City of Albany contracted with a Berkeley non-profit corporation to assist in finding the Bulb residents housing. However, inside the city of limits of Albany there are not any shelters, and very little if any services for homeless people. Albany constantly fails to perform its duty to provide duty housing for the homeless. The reasoning and rationale of the Albany City Council and the City is that the residents at the Bulb have to be evicted in order to transfer the Bulb to the East Regional Park District.

The remoteness of the Bulb allowed the unhoused residents to survive out of the sight of the middles class residents of Albany. In 1999, the City of Albany passed an ordinance banning camping to forcibly rid the Bulb of it's residents. At that time they could have transferred the land to the Park District. The fear and hatred of the unhoused in Albany is shrouded in lies and propaganda. City officials and residents are claiming there is an urgency to evict the bulb residents so they can transfer the land the Park District.

According to lawyer/activist/artist Ohsa Neumann there is no agreement to transfer the Bulb to the Park District. Therefore, there no need to evict the residents by October of this year. The Albany Bulb is a landfill site, there is no activity happening there that is a hazard to the public. There is no order by any agency supporting these claims. The residents of the bulb have acted as good stewards to the land. Not only is their a shortage of low-income housing in Albany, the city has shown disdain for low and no income people by not only failing to provide shelters and services for its low-income and homeless residents, it's fails to fulfill it's mandate to provide low-income housing. The City statement that they are attempting to find housing for the residents of the Bulb because they contracted with a Berkeley Non-profit is a farce.
These are lies that the government uses to oppress homeless people. The people residing at the Blub have being residing there for years, with the tacit the approval the City. Now all of sudden they want them out.. So what is rush? KC and Amber are two Blub residents that have been living at the bulb for 3 years and 7 years respectively, and don't know where they are to live once they evicted ,

Share the Bulb is a group of East Bay citizens formed to support the residents of the Bulb, they are seeking a commons sense solution in helping them find housing instead of forcing people on the street. At the Albany Council of Meeting on July 15, 2013, many of the citizenry stated fear of homeless as the reason for not going to the Bulb. However, there is no incident in which any resident of the Bulb has threatened any of their fellow Albany residents.

Several public interest law firms, plan on representing any Bulb residents if they receive citations under that unlawful camping ordinance on the grounds that it is unconstitutional because sleeping is a necessity, and you can’t punish people for a necessity as it is a violation of the 8th Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. For more information go to www.sharethebulb.org.

Friday, 11 October 2013           
Abahlali baseMjoindolo Press Statement

uMlazi Update

Our movement is growing in uMlazi. We are very strong in the eMhlabeni land occupation and the Silva City transit camp. On Friday last week three comrades were arrested on an uMlazi road blockade organized to demand (1) the release of Bandile Mdlalose and (2) that the City stops its repression and start negotiations with us on our demands given to them at the march on 16 September 2013. We are demanding democracy, not just voting but also, real democracy, everyday democracy, and an end to repression.

These three comrades were kept in the holding cells till Monday. On Monday morning some comrades went to the Durban Magistrates’ Court and others went to the court in uMlazi to support comrades in detention. Before the court was in session our members were singing outside, as is their right. The police came, threatened them, and said that if they were not be quiet they would know who to start with when the shooting started. They said that they would shoot two people. After this the people stopped singing. We have signed statements on the threat from the police to shoot two people.

When the case was called people began to enter the court building. They had to go through security, which means that it is certain that no one was armed. At the door of the court two security guards (Fidentia) started pushing people out and refusing to let them in. They were then attacked from behind by a group of police officers (between 7 and 10) who peppered sprayed them and shocked them. Amanda Nokobeni and Nyati Gcinithemba were pushed into a room. Amanda has made a signed statement to the police about what she saw. A security guard took out a small black gun. He fired two shots. The first shot
hit his own hand. The second shot hit Nyathi in the chest, on the left side near his heart. The police officers then pushed him to the floor, beat him, tied his hands and continued to beat him. This was also witnessed by one of our members, Emmanuel Mangcoba. He has made a signed statement to the police
that he looked through a window and saw Nyathi being beaten while his hands were tied.  Nyathi said he needed to go to hospital. This was refused. An off-duty paramedic wanted to help but was not allowed too. At first Nyathi was trying to sing while the beating continued.  But he lost a lot of blood and
stopped talking and his eyes closed. We then rushed to report this attempted murder to our lawyer, Shabna Palesa Mohamed and to Pastor Ngubane. The police forced everyone to leave the court and wouldn’t allow anyone to see Nyathi. More police came with helmets, tear gas, rubber bullets etc and forced the comrades to leave the area outside of the court. Naythi was taken to hospital where he was kept under police guards as if was a dangerous criminal. He was charged with assault. As far as we know none of the police officers who assaulted Nyathi have been arrested and the security guard who shot him has not been arrested either.

As usual the media reported the very violent and near fatal police attack on us as ‘a violent protest’. It is becoming clear that some of the media will always consider any protest during which poor people are violently attacked by the police (or the Land Invasions Unit or private security guards) to be ‘a violent protest’ even when the only violence comes from the police. They take our suffering as normal and they take state violence as normal. At the same time they take our demand that our dignity must be recognised as violent and criminal. We are supposed to remain in silence in our dark corners. It is unacceptable that peaceful protests in which no person is harmed are continually described as ‘violent’ protests in the media when they include road blockades or when the police attack them. It is unacceptable
that violence by the police, private security and the Land Invasions Unit, is often not described as violent but presented as normal and necessary.

The prosecution failed to be bring a docket to the court for the case against Themba Msomi, Thembeka Sondaba & Fikiswa Mgoduka and so they were sent back to the holding cells without the bail application being heard.

Nyathi was released on Tuesday. He still has the bullet in his chest.

Themba, Thembeka and Fikiswa were only released on Wednesday. They were released on free bail. They have sign in to the police station each week.

As repression gets worse and we are treated like animals in a slaughterhouse more and more people who are supposed to be part of the system of repression are breaking ranks. Some ANC members are supporting our protests. Anyone with eyes to see can see that the politicians have lied to the people and will continue to lie to the people and that our cause is just.

We note that some middle class resident’s associations are calling for the Tactical Response Team of the SAPS and the army to replace the Public Order Policing Unit. Their local newspapers are saying that ‘the city is under siege’. We are asking the middle classes to please note that three housing activists have been killed this year and that three others have been shot. We are asking the middle classes to note that no one has been arrested for these murders and shootings even when witnesses have publicly stated the names of the murders and shooters. We have killed no one and we have shot no one. We are asking the middle classes to please note that large numbers of people have been illegally evicted from their homes and arrested on trumped up charges. Many of those who have been arrested have been assaulted in custody. We have driven no one from their home and we have detained no-one against their will.  We are not the threat to this society. The threat is coming from a corrupt and violent political class that is using public housing for its own enrichment rather than for the public good.

Everyone knows how corrupt the City is. This affects the middle classes too. The time to stop corruption is now. The time is coming when the violence against the poor will start to affect the middle classes too. On Wednesday a middle class man was shot at while driving by a blue light cavalcade. The
politicians are becoming a threat to everyone. The time to stop state violence is now.

Poor people across this city have given notice that we will no longer accept to live in shacks with no refuse removal, no toilets, no paths, no drains and regular fires. We have given notice that we will not accept transit camps. We have given notice that we will not accept re-ruralization via forced removals
to human dumping grounds. We have given notice that we will no longer accept corruption, lies and repression.

We stand for an inclusive city, a democratic city, and a city for all. The Municipality stands for corruption and violence. They want to intimidate us into accepting oppression instead of negotiating a better way forward. If the middle classes join the Municipality in supporting the campaign of violent intimidation, and even murder, against us, the democracy that is left will be destroyed for everyone. If they join with us and stand for an end to corruption, for an end to lies and for a city that respects the dignity of all
who live in it, a shared city, a just city, then democracy can be deepened. That is the choice that the middle classes must make.

We have made our choice. Across the city the message from our branches is the same. There is no turning back.

For comment and updates please contact:

Mnikelo Ndabankulu (Abahlali baseMjondolo Spokesperson) 081 263 3462
Khayelihle Magcaba (Abahlali baseMjondolo uMlazi) 073 873 0636

Viernes, 11 de octubre del 2013

Base Abahlali de Mjoindolo, Comunicado de prensa

Umlazi actualización

Nuestro movimiento está creciendo en Umlazi . Somos muy fuertes en la ocupación de tierras eMhlabeni y el campo de tránsito, City Silva. El viernes de la semana pasada tres compañeros fueron detenidos en un corte de ruta Umlazi organizado para exigir ( 1 ) la liberación de Bandile Mdlalose y ( 2 ) que el Ayuntamiento deja su represión y las negociaciones iniciales con nosotros en nuestras demandas que se les da en la marcha el 16 de septiembre de 2013. Estamos exigiendo la democracia, no sólo votar, sino también, la verdadera democracia, la democracia cotidiana  y poner fin a la represión.

Estos tres compañeros se mantuvieron en los calabozos hasta el lunes. El lunes por la mañana algunos compañeros fueron a la Corte de Magistrados de Durban y otros fueron a la corte en Umlazi para apoyar a compañeros detenidos. Antes de que el tribunal estaba reunido nuestros miembros estaban cantando afuera, como es su derecho. Vino la policía los amenazó y les dijo que si no se callaban sabrían que les iba a pasar y es cuando comenzó el tiroteo. Dijeron que iban a disparar a dos personas. Después de esto la gente dejó de cantar. Hemos firmado declaraciones sobre la amenaza de la policía de disparar a dos personas.

Cuando el caso empezó la gente comenzó a entrar en el edificio tribunal . Tuvieron que pasar por la seguridad, lo que significa que nadie estaba armado. En la puerta del tribunal dos guardias de seguridad (Fidentia) comenzó a empujar a la gente y nego a dejarlos entrar. Luego fueron atacados por la espalda por un grupo de policías (entre 7 y 10), que les rocía pimienta y les sorprendió. Amanda Nokobeni y Nyathi Gcinithemba fueron empujados a una habitación. Amanda ha hecho una declaración firmada con la policía sobre lo que vio. Un guardia de seguridad sacó una pequeña pistola de negro. Disparó dos tiros. El primer disparo golpeó su propio puño. El segundo disparo alcanzó Nyathi en el pecho, en el lado izquierdo cerca de su corazón. Los agentes de la policía y luego lo tiraron al suelo, le golpearon, le ataron las manos y continuaron golpeándolo. Esto también fue presenciado por uno de nuestros miembros, Emmanuel Mangcoba . Él ha hecho una declaración firmada a la policía que se veía por la ventana y vio Nyathi siendo golpeado mientras tenía las manos atadas . Nyathi dijo que tenía que ir al hospital. Esto fue rechazado. Un paramédico fuera de servicio quería ayudar, pero no se le permitió también. Al principio Nyathi estaba trató de cantar mientras la paliza continuó. Sin embargo, perdió mucha sangre y dejo de hablar y permaneció con los ojos cerrados. A continuación, se apresuraron a informar de este intento de asesinato a nuestro abogado, Shabna Palesa Mohamed y Pastor Ngubane . La policía obligó a todos a salir de la cancha y no iba a permitir que nadie vea Nyathi . Más policías llegaron con cascos, gas lacrimógeno, balas de goma, etc y obligó a los compañeros a abandonar el área fuera de la cancha. Naythi fue llevado al hospital donde se le mantuvo bajo guardias de la policía como si fuera un criminal peligroso. Fue acusado de asalto. Por lo que ninguno de los policías que agredieron Nyathi han sido arrestados y el guardia de seguridad que le disparó no ha sido detenido.

Como de costumbre, los medios de comunicación informaron que el ataque policial fatal muy violento y cerca de nosotros como ' una protesta violenta.’  Cada vez es más claro que los medios de comunicación nunca tendrá en cuenta las manifestaciones de los pobres cuando son atacados violentamente por la policía (o la unidad de invasiones de tierras o de guardias de seguridad privada) de ser ‘una protesta violenta,’ aun cuando la única violencia viene de la policía. Toman nuestro sufrimiento y la violencia estatal como normal. Toman nuestra exigencia de dignidad como ser violento y criminal. Se supone que debemos permanecer en silencio en los rincones obscuros. Es inaceptable que las protestas pacíficas, en las que ninguna persona se vea perjudicada, sean continuamente descritas como "violentos" en los medios de comunicación, cuando incluyen bloqueos de caminos o cuando los atacan a la policía. Es inaceptable que la violencia de la policía, la seguridad privada, y la unidad de invasiones de tierras, se presenta como normal y necesaria y no se describe como violenta.

La fiscalía no pudo llevar un expediente al tribunal de la causa contra Themba Msomi, Thembeka Sondaba, y Fikiswa Mgoduka, por lo cual fueron enviados de nuevo a las celdas de detención sin permiso a fianza.

Nyathi fue liberado el martes. Él todavía tiene la bala en el pecho.

Themba, Thembeka, y Fikiswa eran liberado los miércoles. Fueron puestos en libertad bajo fianza gratis. Ellos tienen que presenciarse en la estación de policía cada semana.

Como la represión empeora y nos tratan como animales en un matadero, más, y más personas que se supone que son parte del sistema de represión están rompiendo filas. Algunos miembros del ANC están apoyando nuestras protestas. Cualquiera que tenga ojos para ver, puede ver que los políticos han mentido al pueblo y seguirán mintiendole a la gente y nuestra causa es justa .

Tomamos nota de que algunas asociaciones de residentes de clase media están pidiendo que el Equipo de Respuesta Táctica de la SAPS y el ejército para sustituir la unidad de Policía de Orden Público. Sus periódicos locales dicen que la ciudad está en estado de citio. Estamos pidiendo a las clases medias que reconozcan que tres activistas de vivienda han sido asesinados este año y que otros tres se han desaparecido. Pedimos a las clases medias que reconozcan que nadie ha sido arrestado por los asesinatos y tiroteos, incluso cuando los testigos han declarado públicamente los nombres de los asesinos. Nosotros no hemos matado a nadie ni hemos disparado a nadie. Estamos pidiendo a las clases medias que reconozca el un gran número de personas que ha sido desalojada ilegalmente de sus casas y arrestadas bajo cargos falsos. Muchos de los que han sido arrestados han sido asaltados en custodia. Nosotros no hemos echado a nadie de su casa y no hemos detenido a nadie en contra de su voluntad. No somos amenaza a esta sociedad. La amenaza proviene de una clase política corrupta y violenta que está utilizando la vivienda pública para su propio enriquecimiento y no para el bien público.

Todo el mundo sabe lo corrupto que está la Ciudad. Esto afecta a las clases medias también. El tiempo de parar la corrupción es hoy. Está llegando el tiempo cuando la violencia contra los pobres comenzará a afectar a las clases medias también. El miércoles pasado un hombre de clase media fue valiado mientras conducía por una cabalgata de luz azul. La los políticos se están convirtiendo en una amenaza para todos. El tiempo para detener la violencia del Estado es ahora.

La gente pobre a través de esta ciudad se han dado cuenta de que ya no podremos aceptar vivir en chozas sin basureros, sin baños, sin caminos, sin desagües y los incendios son regulares. Ya no vamos a aceptar los campamentos de tránsito. No vamos a aceptar la re - ruralización mediante traslados forzosos

a vertederos humanos. Nos hemos dado cuenta de que ya no podremos aceptar la corrupción, las mentiras y la represión.

Estamos a favor de una ciudad inclusiva, una ciudad democrática, una ciudad para todos. El municipio se destaca por la corrupción y la violencia. Nos quieren intimidar con la opresión en lugar de negociar un mejor camino. Si las clases medias se unen al Municipio en apoyar la campaña de intimidación, violencia, incluso el asesinato en contra de la democracia, todo será destruido para todos. Si se unen con nosotros y se destacan por el fin de la corrupción, que se ponga fin a las mentiras y se de una ciudad que respete la dignidad de todos que viven en ella, una ciudad compartida, una ciudad justa, entonces la democracia se puede profundizar. Esa es la elección que las clases medias tienen que hacer.

Hemos hecho nuestra elección. Al otro lado de la ciudad el mensaje de nuestras sucursales es el mismo. No hay vuelta atrás.

Para comentarios y actualizaciones, por favor comuníquese con:

Mnikelo Ndabankulu (Portavoz de Base Abahlali Mjondolo) 081 263 3462

Khayelihle Magcaba (Base Abahlali Mjondolo Umlazi) 073 873 0636

On Th Sept 19th/2013 KPFA 94.1 FM  Letters & Politics Host Mitch Jeserich.  Leroy F. More Jr. Talks about police brutality against people with disabilities.  Song title:  Disabled Profiled by Keith Jones and Leroy Moore.  Here are the points that didn't make the cut (Listen to the full audio interview here below):

Police Brutality Against PWD A Different Answer.  Talking points/Resources:

·      Broken promises of decreasing cases of police shootings of people with disabilities by introducing more training. This answer has been around since the late 80s when I began to get involved in this issue.  There has to be more answers but if we have to only deal with training and be force to live with this broken record then lets tweak the evaluation of these trainings, how?

·      Have an independent board of people with all kinds of disabilities that would go from state to state city to city not only evaluate the training but collecting data of these cases for a national report.  Remember there is not one report, data or anything on cases of police brutality against people with disabilities nationally.

·      Disabled orgs/activists can learn from the Malcolm X Grassroots Center in NY who did a report on police brutality against Black people (http://mxgm.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/07_24_Report_all_rev_protected.pdf), on pg. 7 of the report it talks about Black people with mental health disabilities.  The disabled community/orgs must take on this issue nationally and locally.  We live in a country based on numbers for example we do the US Census every ten years, non-profits keeps numbers to get more funding.  So the same with this issue we need to keep records, data, reports and numbers. 

·      Add race and class to police brutality against PWD.  The recent case of a white young man with developmental disability rough up at a movie theater and passed away in custody.  Now National Down Syndrome Congress discussing with media coverage their efforts to develop a nationwide-training program for law enforcement and first responders on how to handle individuals with developmental disabilities.  For people of color with disabilities at this time there are very few local organizations and on a national level it is almost 0.  The disabled rights movement haven't deal with their racism and because of that many national disabled organizations lack strong voices of POC with disabilities.  National org of people of color need to work with people of color with disabilities and the National Black Disabled Coalition etc..

·      As we all know the majority of cases of police brutality against people with disabilities don’t come under training but just blunt discrimination, profiling and not listening as we will soon see and hear from these video and audio clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmhjKjjJKIU

·      One thing has been common in some cases is parents, providers and other call police for help but ends up deadly.  Can we have an alternative phone number?

       Tap into local orgs that have been on the front line on this issue like Idriss Stelley Foundation, Poor Magazine....

       Increase cultural work on this issue into the broader arts/media arenea like Krip-Hop Nation/5th Battalion Mixtape Hip-Hop CD by artists with disabilities.

Great articles to read on this issue:

Police Violence and People with Disabilities

Police use Taser on deaf crime victim

http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/crime-law/police-use-taser-deaf-crime-victim/nP9mZ/

D Center, SDC host police brutality workshop

http://dailyuw.com/archive/2013/05/12/news/d-center-sdc-host-police-brutality-workshop#.Ujuy-SSoXOt

Malcolm X Grassroots Center/

Report on the Extrajudicial Killing of 120 Black People

http://mxgm.org/against-and-beyond-police-brutality/

On Mission Street the

Lime

Papaya

Banana

Jicama

Mango

Pomegranate

Cantaloupe

And watermelon are real

Apples don’t have buttons and screens

And switches and pushpads

They are just apples

With seeds

And skin and core

And there is a grocery

Store named in honor of

The apple called “Apple Grocery”

Where unadulterated, unbitten

Apples lie in the cradle of crates

Before seeing the

Mission Street sun

And a short

Distance from the market

A woman sits at the bus stop

I get off the #16 bus

Through the rear door

And come upon her face

In the apple moist air

She must have been

In her late 60’s, early

70’s

She held a straw hat,

Shielding her head

From the sun

She was beautiful

And I imagined her

As a young woman

The red life in her lips

Sung out as her eyes

Looked through a pair

Of sunglasses

I crossed the street

Knowing that at one

Time she could have stopped

The flow of both human and

non-human traffic

And she knew what I was

Thinking and she knew

That I knew that she

Knew and we kept it to

Ourselves

And the apples

Knew

© 2013 Tony Robles

Rich-Wite People Store "Jack Spade" lies to get beyond zoning requirements so they can gentrify Valencia Street

            I sincerely believe a lot of indigenous culture has been gentrified from San Francisco, California. The people who are still around are scraping for money just to stay in the neighborhood they grew up in. Almost in every neighborhood from Mission, Potrero Hill, Hunters Point, Fillmore, and Chinatown has been taken over by people with a lot of money. In every one of these neighborhoods the elite is starting to take over, and poverty stricken people are being unheard, and unrecognized. They have torn down projects in Hunters Point while telling the tenants they can come back, but after the buildings are built they raise the rent ridiculously high so black people cannot afford to move back in. In any one of these neighborhoods people offer a lot of money to the tenants for their homes and then resell the land for a higher rate. Despite all of these horrible factors, as a poverty scholar at Poor Magazine when we had NewsRoom in August a man by the name of Andy Blue came and spoke of unknown problems the Mission District is going through from the inside.

            Andy Blue is a rare person because he identifies with having the white class privilege of passing through racism without a problem. He grew up in the Mid West and has lived in San Francisco for sixteen years. He discussed how, when he moved to San Francisco it was diverse and full of good people, but he also discovered the injustices of the communities. Andy consistently said everything he does is a learning process, and he is honored to have the privilege of working with people of color in all aspects of the dilemmas we as poor people go through.

            He has been a San Francisco schoolteacher and has volunteered in various campaigns including fighting the sit/lie law, which was viewed in part, as an attempt to criminalize right of poor homeless people to exist in public spaces of the city. A friend of his, Nate Miller, co organized the “Sidewalks are For People” days that involved thousands of people in more than one hundred events on the sidewalks around the city. He gestured and said “I knew we were doing something right when Poor Magazine became involved and did an amazing event art, music, and people power on the sidewalks are for People Day!”

            The major problem in the Mission District is Jack Spade. Jack Spade is a high-end corporate men’s clothing and accessories retailer based in New York. Jack Spade is the upstart men’s brand of Kate Spade, a high-end women’s designer with some one hundred eighty nine stores in the United States. Jack Spade is a rich company for rich customers who are happy to pay nine hundred duffel bags. This company wants to move into the Mission for the cool factor that the neighborhood can give to the company. They also see the high priced condos sprouting up all around the neighborhood and see a growing market for their $900 duffel bag, but available storefronts are few in the Mission and Jack Spade has its eyes on the location where Adobe Books was twenty-five years. Adobe book was a pretty special bookstore and community based. The store is a family room of sorts, for the neighborhood and people could hang out there for hours browsing the shelves and reading in the comfy old chairs. For some of the folks living in SRO’s along 16^th Street, this was a priceless sort of quasi-public space, like a public library branch without all the rules and with later hours.

             Jack Spade wanted the location for their fancy store and was happy to pay triple the rent so before long the buildings new landlord gave Adobe Books the boot and welcomed Jack Spade with open arms. In order to move in, Jack Spade needed to get permitted by the City’s planning Department. Voters actually passed a Formula Retail ordinance in SF, a few years back that is intended to make it more difficult for big chain stores like Jack Spade to move in to places like the Mission. Jack Spade presented that they only had seven chain stores and they were very little. This was the lie that allowed them to come into the neighborhood, and take over. They are putting these high-end expensive stores in which poor - people of color cannot afford. The whole law was to make sure family owned businesses could still remain in the mission as a culture. They are driving local stores out by raising the rent and threatening people to back off, or they will report them to immigration. Now since the rent is high, people of color are moving to Antioch, Sacramento, Richmond, and Oakland.

On October 9th a hearing on the appeal of the appeal of Jack Spade is scheduled,.Tune in to PNN for updates

Would you

Bite into a watermelon

Without seeds?

Munch on an ear of corn

Without taste?

Suckle the bittersweet juice from

           a pomegranate

The size of a baby’s skull?

Chew on a tomato

Grown with fish genes?

Eat bread made with wheat

That can withstand heavy

Clouds of insecticidal mist?

Cook a meal with spicy chili peppers

That can make

Their own herbicide?

A loaded gun

Is no longer required

Simply to play

Russian Roulette with

Your own body.

The game can

Now be played

Much slower

When feasting on

The cisgenic harvest.

Keeping hunger away-----

Original intent-----

Perhaps an excuse-----

By scientists.

The poor are left

To take that gamble.

White rats

In a cage

Took a chance

On a potato

They were fed for dinner.

Liver failure

Weakened immunity:

What they’d gotten

In return.

Will these

Be the effects that

Mistakes of science

Corruptions of nature

Have on us?

A loaded gun

Is no longer required

Simply to play

Russian Roulette with

Your own body.

The game can

Now be played

Much slower

When feasting on

The cisgenic harvest.

I wouldn’t take

Such a chance.

Would you?

[ For Nita B., Miguel Robles,

Rachel Parent & Tami Canal. ]

In writing this article, I had many reservations about possible retaliation against my children from San Francisco Unified School District. However, if I do not say anything, more Black and Hispanic parents will continue to be harassed by the public school system. The problem is, 80% of Child Protective Services referrals are coming from San Francisco public school administrators.  Many of the reports filed by public schools are allegations of neglect. Under the Unified School District, public schools are protected by certain laws for reporting issues to Child Protective Services. Public schools are abusing CPS to force parents into the public schools' opinions on parenting. 

I do not believe schools have the right to abuse those laws for the purposes of retaliation, discrimination or harassment against Black and Hispanic parents. 

Many public schools never notify the parents about their concerns. Parents are left in the dark about their own children, until Child Protective Services arrives at their doorstep. The scary fact is this is happening more often to Black and Hispanic parents. 60% of CPS referrals are on Black and Hispanic parents. Most of these are working parents, who love their children, volunteer at their child's school, make it to teacher meetings and so on. As a society, what is happening, it appears, is San Francisco public schools is on a witch hunt to put our children in the CPS system, and to put Black and Hispanic parents under investigation.

I interviewed many Black single mothers voicing their concerns with the San Francisco public school system.  They say they are afraid of speaking out on the subject, for fear of their children being removed out the home.

One parent told me her story. Nancy's children attended Lakeshore Elementary School in San Francisco. In January of 2013, Child Protective Services came to her home, accusing her 6-year-old son of not being registered in school . Nancy said she was confused because her 6-year-old son was attending school every day at Lakeshore Elementary. Nancy asked CPS who had reported those accusations.  The CPS caseworker responded, “The principal of the school called.”  Nancy said the caseworker accused her of being on AFDC welfare, and she responded that she is not on any cash aide. The caseworker was shocked by Nancy's statements. Again, Nancy was advised that the Lakeshore school principal had reported the information. The Unified School District set up a meeting about her 6-year-old son's truancy. When Nancy attended the meeting, she learned that Lakeshore Elementary reported her son had missed 46 days of school. Nancy was shocked. She said her child had attended school. Nancy had a meeting with the Principal and her son’s kindergarten teacher, just to find out the information reported to Child Protective Services was misleading. Lakeshore wrongfully reported the information to CPS. The case was never closed.  CPS still has an open case against Nancy. Twice a month a caseworker visits her home, and shows up to school parent meetings. Nancy is scared that her children will be removed from her home due to Lakeshore's false allegations.

Nancy's story is just one of many. I also have a story. I have two boys who attend Creative Arts Charter School. I thought Creative Arts was a great fit for my 8-year-old son.  Such a great fit that I wanted my 4-year-old son to attend the same school. All went well, and now both of my children are attending Creative Arts Charter School.

However, suddenly in February of 2013 Creative Arts made a decision to kick my 4-year-old son out of the school, due to his age. I fought and wrote letters to keep him in the school.  I received a call from the principal stating he could stay in Creative Arts, yet I did not expect the retaliation aftereffect.  I started receiving phone calls left and right about my 4-year-old son.  First about him not passing his vision test, so I had his vision retested, and my son passed the test done by a private doctor.  I received another call from the school counselor accusing my 4-year-old of sexual harassment.  I later found out the story was a lie, and the school counselor apologized.

In May of 2013, I was picking up my children from school at 1pm.  I asked my 8-year-old to pick up his now 5-year-old brother from class and meet me outside.  Apparently, there was a miscommunication between my 8-year-old son and the afterschool teacher. I found out through an email sent to me at 3pm, stating the following,

"hi there- son cannot take his brother out of school. He is too young.  Both boys are registered for After School and so are technically in After School the minute school ends until they are picked up by a responsible adult who is on your list of people who are allowed to pick up your children. Therefore, they are my responsibility from the moment school ends until they are picked up. Today when I saw them outside of school, I asked them where they were going and they said you were waiting for them up the street. I said you needed to come in to sign them out that they were too young to leave on their own. They ran away from me up the street where the construction is. There is no actual sidewalk there for them to walk on and so they ran into the street. They were very unsafe. Your children's safety after school ends is my responsibility until you or a responsible adult on their list comes to pick them up. Please let them know."

I thought, wow, what is this teacher talking about? I never received a phone call from Creative Arts on this issue. I was confused.  I never saw my children run into the street. I also wondered, if there were any questions about releasing my children, then why didn't anyone contact me from the school?  I thought the email was strange and alarming. The next day, I met with the Creative Arts principal.  He was making false accusations of hearsay from strangers and the afterschool care teacher. The principal admitted he questioned my son on who takes him to school. I asked the principal why that is a question, and furthermore why my son is being questioned without a parent present.

Things became clear that the afterschool teacher was covering her ass for some reason, and accused my children of being unsupervised.  I explained to the principal, and the afterschool teacher that watched my children leave safely. So what is going on? Funny no one could answer that question.

After the meeting, I believed the misunderstanding was cleared up.

A week later Child Protective Services came to my home. I was advised that Creative Art Charter School called, making accusations of neglect and concerns about me being a single parent, and my children's clothing attire. I was greatly shocked. I have never neglected my children.  This was my 8-year-old's second year at Creative Arts, so why all of the sudden the accusations of neglect? The CPS caseworker shocked me with the details, which all were false. Funny, in the report Creative Art Charter School said, "oh the parent is nice."  I realized this is in retaliation for the letter I sent in February 2013 to keep my 5-year-old in the school.

What's even more interesting is that I spent the summer getting my children up to grade level.  However, my 8-year-old slipped two grades behind. I realized my child did not understand the concepts of reading, math and so on. I'm glad I caught it in time.  Both of my sons are smart, so I will advise the public schools to focus more on teaching and academics than calling CPS on parents.

No parent should have to go through this type of retaliation.

Original Artwork by Jose Villarreal

Editors Note: Jose is one of several power-FUL PNN Plantation prison correspondents who was involved in the Hunger Strike to end all solitary confinement and the in-human treatment of all of our incarcerated brothers and sisters.

This round of strikes has been suspended and prisoners are now able to regain strength in these torture chambers. Our efforts are only just beginning in the realm of prison activism.

            As of 9-15-13, the 2013 hunger/work strikes were suspended. This was done no just to preserve humyn life but also because of the support we received and the efforts of some assembly people who see out struggle against torture as a just struggle and have decided to hold hearings on solitary. These efforts are good but we should know that our real victory will not come from state efforts, rather our victory will ultimately come from our own actions. History tells us that small reforms are possible from the California legislature but how we struggle and how we educate and harness the barrios and ghettos will determine where we really go with this prison movement for humyn rights.

            One of the things that the people should know is that despite state propaganda which paints us as bad people who are rehabilitating ourselves outside of state influence. Our greatest tool in rehabilitating ourselves and our fellow prisoners is in humyn rights activism. Some of us here have discovered that people are transformed once they are participants in class struggle; as humyn beings we cannot commit to a positive and selfless act – and denying one’s body nutrients is pretty selfless – with others in concert by the tens of thousands and not be transformed in some way. The upcoming legislative hearings are good but many remember that back in August of 2011 the California legislators held a hearing on SHU and again back in 2003 he same legislators held a hearing on SHU and validation and again there was no change to our torture. This of course helps to educate some of the public but these meetings will not resolve our oppression.

            As long as all those who are currently participating in the prison humyn rights movement understands that what were face ultimately in these SHUs is national oppression we will not be discouraged or demoralized by any lack of action in the upcoming legislative hearings. By us understanding that the highest levels of power are aware that 30,000+ prisoners went on hunger/work strike and don’t care, we will be determined to find ways to come together to find our own ways forward instead of getting caught in the ballot box trap of bourgeois politics.

            In my opinion the state is a terrorist entity which is not only ok with torturing mostly brown and black folks in these kamps but is attempting to build more of these torture centers, not just in California but throughout the US and around the world. These warehouses work to control first world lumpen which prisoners in the US mostly derive from. Chican@s are a major component of this class, particularly in the states that comprise Aztlan (the southwest).

            The torture being unleashed in California or US prisons for that matter should not be seen as an isolated event but as one portion of oppression that is unleashed by US imperialism globally. In many ways the Palestinians are suffering a brutal occupation by settlers just like chican@s and other internal nations within the US suffer. The SHU is merely a manifestation to the occupation of our land by an oppressor nation. Of course we must struggle against the SHU torture, humyn rights violations throughout the US prisons and lawsuits but our real aim is in obtaining national liberation.

            This down time when the imprisoned people are rejuvenating themselves and nourishing- as best as one can do in a dungeon- our bodies should also be a time when we educate, educate to propel the people! The essence of the beast we are up against should be well grasped by all involved in the humyn rights movement. We should reach a point that when the state slanders us in some way, even the least educated prisoner or people should immediately see this as the vile propaganda that it is! Ultimately we will not make real progress without arriving en mass to the anti-Imperialist front in shackles and all.

            Looking at any phenomenon we commonly know that ones strength is often ones weakness, but when it comes to prisoners we need to look at it the other way and that is that our challenges are also our strength. Our existence as tortured SHU prisoners who are isolated and locked in windowless cells are indeed challenges, these are grave challenges. But our draconian conditions teach us that our “life”, our reality cannot get worse but only ensures that we struggle to improve our conditions by any means. What’s more is those who are armed with political theory and a firm grasp of reality and what it means for the internal semi-colonies to live in Ameri-kkk-a, we have concrete examples to teach the imprisoned masses what national oppression looks like. Settlerism is not an abstract term in Pelican Bay study groups; we have living, breathing examples.

            In order to teach, one must first learn. Our downtime is being used to learn more on all different struggles against oppression around the world. We can learn plenty from other people similarly situated who resisted oppression, in prison and out. We should always attempt to build on our understanding of our reality as an oppressed nation, oppressed class or oppressed gender depending on who we are. Living in a capitalist society we can tie all of these forms of oppression to the relations to production in the society we live in. Poor folks are not expected to ever rise above this poverty because in order for some to be rich there must be a huge segment of poor folks in a society to exploit. These are class contradictions that must remain firmly in place in a capitalist society if this society plans to remain a capitalist society.

            The idea is with our suspended strike is to educate prisoners on who our oppressor is while educating people in society, our friends, family and pen pals as to what is behind our strikes and why their participation in future struggles are essential if we are to advance in our future efforts. Our suspended strike is “suspended” not just to better our health but while doing so bettering our understanding and our peoples understanding of our humyn rights activism in these torture chambers. Resting while studying and educating is what a “protected struggle” looks like in regards to ending SHU torture.

            When our future strikes proceed I hope to get more of my pen pals and outside supporters involved in these efforts. My plan is to get more people starting blogs, creating committees, showing up at marches and contacting their local political representative in support for our efforts to end SHU torture. Each one of us as prisoners have potential to tap our resources (community) on the outside. Some of us have support systems already existing and others must start from scratch, but we al have that potential. It’s important that we realize that each one of our outside supporters in turn has their own community of friends, family and support networks which hopefully with our time and persistence can also be brought to support our future strikes demanding humyn rights.

            I think the biggest lesson that must be learnt from this beautiful struggle is that this is the new normal. We can’t put the baby back in the womb and this is what petrifies the state the most. A new movement has been born in which tens of thousands of oppressed, marginalized and cast off people have been brought to struggle against the World Oppressor. But once more this is a new reality, a reality of struggle between poor prisoners and the arm of the state. Prison activism is a new normal, we have all been bitten by the revolutionary bug and we will never forget these efforts in our lifetime. What we did- both prisoner and outside activist is making history in mobilizing tens of thousands of prisoners in opposition to the super-parasite. Our mobilization has only begun and will continue onward and will spill out into the brown barrios and the black ghettos which will work to put our people’s back on a revolutionary path in our struggle for self-determination.

            FREE THE PEOPLE, FREE THE LAND!!!

            Jose H. Villareal PNN Pelican Bay Prison Correspondent

*Co-editors Update: Today, After a beautiful resistance of community and family the elder Lee Family and their disabled adult daughter were evicted from their family home.The San Francisco so-called progressive sheriff never stopped this from happening. 

The Lee Family Eviction

by Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia

As i stood in front of the Lee family eviction protest, cluttered with art, color, life and resistance I reflected on the deja-vu-sorrow of it all. I had been here so many times in my not so long life in the Bay Area. From Grace Wells to Lola McKay, From the I-Hotel to the Fill-No-More from Derek Cato to MamaHouse I & 2. Eviction, to last weeks Urban Green eviction in the Mission of 98 year old Mary Phillips,  displacement, removal and  death clings to the pictureresque skyline of San Francisco like blood dripping from a knife.

As someone who was evicted and made houseless as a child, there is nothing like the terror of eviction on the psyche of a child. For elders that pain means death. There are countless elders us poverty skola revolutionaries at POOR Magazine have advocated, fought for and as well stood along side organizations like the Tenants Union, Just Cause and the Housing Rights Committee to resist their removal. There are countless others who never had the strength to fight back, who like so many families we work with, just end up giving up.With nowhere to go, facing houselessness at 60, 70 and 80, they give up on life itself.

In the case of the Lee family,  like most of the other cases of elder and family evictions, they are a humble family, living as their cultural deep structures dictate, taking care of their disabled adult daughter at home, where she needs to be, where any of us indigenous peoples, not completely colonized into the cult of independence would have our families and loved ones.

But these acts of love and inter-dependence arent quantified into an "investor portfolio", profit margins, tax incentive, right-off  neighborhood "improvement plan"  "clean-up", or just plain wrong-headed real estate snakkking.

Since the days of Justin Herman and his subsequent destruction, devil-opment and removal of working class, communities of color, elders ad families from the now Fil-No-More aka Fillmore district, the removal and evicton of  international Hotel in a once thriving pre-gentriFUKEd Manila-town in the 1970's, the endless redlining, poisoning and po-'lice harassment, murder of black and brown Hunters Point, Bayview and Mission district communities, San Francisco has been removing, evicting and causing the death of elders in exchange for profit for decades.

Throw in the Original eviction, i.e., the genocide of Ohlone 1st Nations peoples and you have a bloody legacy of profit over people in the alledgely beautiful City by the Bay  

There was alot of excitement from activists, organizers and progressives, about the election of Ross Mirakirimi. He was going to be the sheriff who changed things, who upset the set-up.

We at POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE weren't so sure about this promise so we invited him to our indigenous News- making circle, Community Newsroom. Several of us previously evicted, post-gentriFUKEd and already houseless poverty skolaz asked him the hard questions. "Will you stop an eviction," was one plaintive request.

At first he skirted the issue. We pressed on. And then he made a commitment to stand with us all, to not let us down.

This is that moment Ross. Show us if you have a brave heart. Stand up to this endless murder of our peoples, of our elders, of our town. Or perpetuate the legacy of murder that seems to be a permanent fixture in this stolen Ohlone land the original land-stealers/ colonizers called San Francisco.

*The other Huge fight now is for the Urban Greed (Green) Building on Delores Street- for more information on that go to the Facebook Page Eviction Free Summer

a guy with a

gray afro was

on the #14 bus

this morning

plowing through

the mission where

I first learned my ABC's

A=Asian

B=Black

C=Chicano

and on this bus

going though the neighborhood

it seems like our ABC's are

like those wooden blocks that

we played with as kids that would

eventually get knocked over

and the man with the

gray bumpy afro that

had once been smooth,

sits and watches the world

pass by the window

and another man, a brother,

calls out to him:

say man, that's a nice afro,

looks like the Jackson 5

and the man sings out

ABC, Easy as

1-2-3

and the guy with

the gray afro

sings out

it's simple as

do-re-me

and they kept

singing and the bus

kept moving like a

fish to the smell of water

and when the man

with the gray afro

finished singing the

last line, the other man

said, ok, you got to get

up and spin

and the man with the

gray afro turned slightly

and said

man, I ain't doin' all that now

he turned and

looked ahead with

a half smile

Afro still bumpy

just like the

ride

'(c) 2013 Tony Robles