2014

(Image by Street Cred- Advertising for the People)

First and foremost this story goes out to peoples, conscious or not, who have never had to fear a kkkop, security guard or default klan member stalking them for attack, murder, arrest or  random harassment solely because of their race, color or culture

Additionally, for all of my fellow poor, disabled, houseless folks, non-Black POC’s, migrante peoples  who have walked with the terror of other serious oppressions, I am also speaking to you. Cause like me, you might fear the Po’Lice, ICE or racists at every corner too, but our specific stories of oppression are not at issue at this moment. This moment is and must be about Black-ness.

In the fight against Po’Lice terror killings in the wite-supremacist nation of amerikkklan, po’ wite peoples and non-Black POC’s must practice something we are never taught,humility. In this moment this means step aside with #allofourlives to ensure a single issue rooted in hundreds of years of lies, exploitation and murder be about a single issue rooted in hundreds of years of lies exploitation and murder. To do this we must collectively shut up, stay quiet, move- aside, sit down, stand in witness, listen, not lead, and most importantly for us folks in struggle, not even try to place our oppression in the pool.

In other words, if you do not walk in a Black-identified body, this is a moment to practice humility.A value never taught in this stolen colonizer-run world.

Actually most peoples of all colors, Black, Brown and all in between, in the US, are encouraged to win, to be first, to “get ahead” to lead. This is a practice created to lure peoples away from their elders and ancestors and traditions and communities and make them more able to exploit each other for profit. To “win” in the kkkompetitive pool of amerikkklan, folks are taught by the institutions of learning to shout out, stand in front , raise their hands all the time, colonize space and time and actions, and above all, move ahead of the “pack”.

As a daughter of a Black/indian houseless, disabled woman, i have practiced humility all my life. i have had to use my own light-skin, mobility and strength, as my mama used to say, to navigate the deep racism that runs through every single aspect of life in this colonizer run reality and hold up, provide space for, enable access and resources to, provide endless love and support for first my mama and then to all of my fellow Black, Brown and indigenous brothers and sisters in struggle who I work with, fight and stand along-side in multiple revolutions. My own sun, a light-skinned Mayan, Aztec, African, Chinese and Taino boy, whose ancestral cultures all teach humility and respect, and he himself practiced at home based on my teaching, was drowning in Man skoo teaching which was encouraging him to colonize space and time. It was so deep he didn’t even know it was happening and i had to spend months helping him un-learn those lies.

But this is the plan, we are all pawns in the game of non-humility - the cult of independence and nation of separation, It is important for us all to care little for our fellow human and to constantly look out for our needs, to colonize ideas, and peoples like there was nothing before us except us, These self-absorbed ways lead to us never walking with humility and enabling our collective separation. This is a sickness specific to the stolen state of amerikkklan. And it filters activism and revolutionary work to a fault

This same colonizing processes led to the multiple ways that the “Occupy movement” caused a lot of harm to already existent peoples of color movements. When Occupy was launched there were so many people flooding into activism which was great, but they moved en masse like nothing and no-one came before them

Sadly this is very typical in a lot of activist movements in the US - environmental movements that don’t  include, support or honor the original stewards of Mama Earth, aka 1st Nations peoples who have always honored and protected Mama Earth, Food Insecurity aka Hunger movements led by peoples who have never missed a meal a day in their lives never being led by peoples fighting for food stamps and WIC. Poverty and houseless struggles led by peoples who have never been poor  or houseless and Disability justice movements serving poor, disabled peoples of color, not including any leadership by poor disabled peoples of color.

Why We Po' Folks Produced the Decolonizers Guide to A Humble Revoltuion

This process bleeds into media and academia, with the endless onslaught of media and “research” focusing on things and peoples that never have any agency in the fight and are never part of the conversation This is why us Po folks started POOR Magazine- this is why my comrade and brother Leroy Moore started Krip Hop and this is why many of us at POOR Press, wrote the book a Decolonizers Guide to A Humble Revolution, which we produced, by any means necessary in the middle of the Occupy scene to attempt to teach folks back the most basic values of humility, a value which so many of us lack.

Because Black bodies leading, is this revolution
In the end, the particular practice of humility I am pleading for, falls hardest on us po folks of many cultures and colors who already feel like we are never heard or included. But in this moment in the United Snakkkes of AMerikkklan we must realize Blackness and Black skinned bodies must be made space for to lead, speak and teach, because Black bodies leading, is this revolution.The fight must name blackness and Blackness only- and although ALL lives matter and black and brown and disabled and poor lives matter and are under attack, we shouldn’t feel the need to insert ourselves or be heard. This moment is about the hideous fact that Black Lives are being killed, incarcerated and targeted at the highest rate in this racist state   As non-Black POC’s and poor folks, we must step back, stand by, stand with, and support , Humbly, realizing this doesn’t mean that ALL lives don’t matter, or do matter- its just that for now, in this time until there is real systemic halt to the extra -judicial killing of Black peoples, Black babies, Black fathers and Black Lives must be at the center of this fight..

Years before a foot
of track was laid for
the Bart system

my father collected
record albums with
miles of tracks pressed
into the grooves

he had hundreds of them
and he always handled
them by the edges

he didn't want to
get fingerprints, scratches
or dust on them

said it would
ruin the sound

(not to mention waste his hard earned money from his trusted Janitorial
job over on Van Ness Ave)

But as much as
he tried to take care of those
albums, he couldn't keep some
of them from warping and getting
scratched

and those albums would
spin like a wheel going
east, west, north, ,south
or whatever direction our
minds took us

Miles, Monk, Lou Donaldson,
Sonny Rollins, Willie Bobo

My dad had 'em all
and many others

and over time my
father lost album after album
like leaves falling from a tree,
like a friend dying

and in the Bart station
in the morning those lost
albums and songs are found
among yesterday's newspapers,
wet cardboard and the footsteps
of those with places to go

a man with skin the color of
yesterday's coffee sits with his
horn in a florescent flood of light

his breath a husk
of a note

the fog lifts and
a new song is given birth,
warped, scratched

and we pass by
heading towards
the escalators, the
stairs

in a direction
of our own

(c) 2014 Tony Robles

October 7, 2014

Revolution begins with I, and many of our greatest victories are individual acts of defiance, independence, and determination [IDID]. Often we poor folks don't have food immediately available to us when we are out protesting. We miss the soup kitchens because they are closed by the time we get back.

We can, however, save up various condiments from some of them, piece together staples from various food pantries and procure other food items the best way we know how.

Last week I did just that, and built a pizza almost completely from scratch. Starting with the crust I purchased fresh pizza crust from “Hipster Bro's” (Trader Joes) for $1.29.

The sauce was a can of tomato sauce I had spirited away from a free food pantry.

The first layer of ingredients was sauteed mixed greens as well as sauteed zucchini and white summer squash I got from “poor peoples' free farm stand.”

Next I added green tomato and peppers from Pachamama Garden, and a jar of green olives from a potluck dinner thrown by the soup kitchen I volunteer at.

Next I added vegetarian pepperoni crumbles, vegetarian Italian seitan crumbles, and sauteed onions from a free food pantry.

The final ingredient of mozzarella cheese I paid $1.99 for at a discount grocery store.

My final cost was less than the cost of a slice of pizza at most pizza places, with more ingredients than most large pizzas!

I followed the directions that came with the dough and followed my own taste otherwise. I am not an experienced pizza chef so don't feel intimidated but if you have more experience making pizza than me, maybe yours will look a lot prettier!

My final creation I dubbed the beast from the east because a good amount of the ingredients came from the landless peoples movement in deep East Oakland known as “Homefulness.”

Who made my dinner? IDID!

Nov 6, 2014

It's tough being poor anywhere in the world, but here in the hypocritically wealthiest and hypocritically most racist nation on earth it is particularly challenging. When those with so much more wealth flaunt it and those with white skin privilege pretend white privilege doesnt exist: that's when it gets especially challenging.

One of the greatest challenges is when other people of color put that oppression onto us.

This happened recently while pricing several items at Rainbow Food Co-operative in San Francisco, including one of them cheeses that doesnt have artificial hormones that could be used to make my now famous “Beast From the East Pizza.”

The cashier was one of the employees who I had numerous run-ins with in the past, especially while I was homeless. They would mostly harass me about how much time I would use in the rest room or how the restroom was messy when I got done.

In my own defense, I must say often I had to clean the toilet just to use it, that's why I took so long and the bathroom was generally left in the shape it was in when I arrived on other occasions.

Anyhow, on this most recent occasion I noticed through the corner of my eye this employee making signals with his head, indicating he wanted security to keep an eye on me.

Everywhere I went, security went. Needless to say it made me leave without gathering all the information I wanted and looking for another source for cheese and other items.

In the same week, on my way to Poor Magazine on Bart, I sat next to a well dressed white woman in a business suit with several expensive looking parcels. When she saw me sit she clutched the bag nearest me as if I wanted to snatch it from her.

I looked at her in horror as she clutched it even tighter.

Shortly before my train arrived she actually got up a moved to the other side of the circular bench. My train approached and I got up while shaking my head, so I could get on my train and leave that ignorance behind.

I ran into the same stupidity while shopping at Home Depot with my brother and colleague at Poor Magazine, Muteado Silencio, after security watched the items that were purchased be scanned purchased and bagged. Upon departing the store security abrubtly demanded a receipt.

Then on my way back across the bay, again while getting on Bart, I noticed a Bart employee of color eyeballing my fresh unbagged produced that I aquirred from the people's produce stand. He really looked at me hard as if he wanted to say something but declined to do so.

I definenately got the vibe that that wasn't the end of it.

Then lo and behold several stations later after boarding my train, 2 Bart cops get on and eyeballed me for 2 full minutes, which can seem like a lifetime when 2 people with guns are eyeballing you!

Eventually one of them mumbled some words into his communication device.

The other officer, apparently his senior officer, signalled for him to walk ahead of him almost as if to say “this guy isnt doing anything wrong,” which quite frankly shocked me!

We shall overcome some day but apparently not any day soon!

On September 25, 2014, I was stopped by the San Francisco Police and given a ticket for fare evasion.

I and another gentlemen of African descent were stopped for this alleged offense while hipsters and yuppies enjoyed their privilege of not being cited by police presumably because it was assumed that they were going to work and therefore “contributing” to society.

Less than an hour earlier I received a transfer from the previous bus I caught that morning but apparently lost it.

Co-editor of Poor Magazine and fellow poverty skola/writer Lisa Tiny Gray-Garcia has also been stopped for this alleged offense in the past and was told by the police in that incident that “the only reason we started enforcing this activity is Mayor Ed Lee wants to cut down on fare evasion.” I was riding the bus that morning on my way to SFGH because I am diabetic and apparently had an infection in one of my toes.

Obviously the seriousness of that situation outweighed where I put my transfer in the mad scramble for a seat on a crowded bus. My personal safety is important to me, and the prospect of saving a toe and ultimately my foot and leg!

When the bus stopped at Market and Fifth Street SFPD began to board. I had my headphones on and did not hear what they had to say, but my concern for my health was great enough that I decided it was best to get off and continue on the next bus.
As I got off, there was another officer who stopped me and asked if I had my transfer. I checked and realized it was not in any of my pockets. She asked where I was going. I told her SFGH.

She did not enquire as to whether I was experiencing a medical emergency and if she could assist me somehow, but instead asked for my ID and address. I complied.

When her partner was done with the other African descended person, he asked me “Why didn't you want to pay your fare?” To which I replied I had a transfer but apparently I lost it.

He replied “You're the fifth person who told us that this morning.”

I had to continue, injury and all, on foot to SFGH, where it was confirmed that I did indeed have an infection.

Thursday, November 20th - Action and March in Berkeley

From LA to Deep East Ohlone Land - Revolutionaries, Po Mamaz, Elders and Folks are resisting Devil-opers and real estate snakkkes trying to push poor peoples, working peoples and indigenous peoples out of our communities,

In this PNN-TV interview on the sacred Ohlone (Oakland) land we Po folks call Homefulness, revolutionary organizer Lydia Ponce speaks on the resistance to gentriFUKation in Venice Beach, LA, CalifAztlan

October 2014

This may seem like an odd statement coming from a proud US military veteran who earned a life long skill that has benefitted him greatly.

The first thing you need to understand is, why would I say this?

We as people of color have made as many contributions to the US becoming the powerful nation that it has become, but have paid the ultimate price here and abroad, sometimes more than our white counterparts.

First, one must understand the rich history that people of color have added to the US military.

The first casualty of the so-called Boston Massacre, the catalyst to the Revolutionary War, was Crispus Attucks, a man of African and Native American descent.

When the war began, blacks in the north were promised by the colonists that they would be freed from slavery if they helped fight the British.

In the south, blacks were promised by the British that if they helped fight the colonists they would be freed.

As history would have it the colonists won and for the most part kept their bargain by outlawing slavery in the north.

The famous Dred Scott case involved a slave named Dred Scott whose master moved to the north. Scott asserted that since slavery was not legal in the north he was therefore free.

His “master“ thought otherwise, a civil trial ensued and the final outcome was that since slavery was the law of the land he was still indeed a piece of property.

Free men who fought in the revolutionary war were assumed to have the very same property rights as whites but were not allowed to marry whites.

The fugitive slave act of 1854 changed all of this when congress penned a law that allowed any white man the right to claim any black person as his runaway slave with no recourse, even if it had been documented for generations that he and his family were free. {This of course excluded slaves that were already “property” of another white man.}

Even in the conflict that allegedly ended slavery {and it has not really ended- now it is known as the prison industry}, free blacks who enlisted in the Union Army were not treated as equals to their white counterparts, and many of them did not get the wages they were promised.

Ironically even the Confederacy kept its promise, and awarded a black soldier in the early 20th century, who fought for the Confederacy during the civil war.

Blacks fought in every major war or conflict that the US was involved in, and even during WWII while black soldiers helped liberate Europe from the tyranny of Nazi occupation, blacks themselves were being maimed tortured and murdered by whites while the government turned a blind eye. Indeed the so-called civil rights act was not signed into a bill until nearly 100 years later.

Even with the signing of the civil rights bill, racists have just found slick ways around the law, and even the law itself demands such strictness that even the most ignorant can find a way around it.

Segregation in the military wasn't lifted until the Korean War in the 50's.

In spite of our dedication and trust in change we still continue to be treated like second-class citizens.

Having the first “black” President really hasn't changed much for us at all.

The response in Ferguson should be reason enough, but just remember this: the government is the only entity that can change an agreement anytime they want without any penalty.

The GI bill has changed at least 3 times since WWII.

In answering why we should boycott the military, we first need to ask why do we join?

The number one reason is because military recruiters are very slick and good at what they do.

Secondly, what they offer can be very appealing to people who want to further their education but aren't eligible for scholarships or grants, often because they weren't given the proper tools in high school to get the kinds of grades that qualify. Also the prospect of achieving the so called “American Dream” of home ownership or owning a small business someday can be quite appealing to young people who are disenfranchised.

In order to buy that home you have to have the income to justify it and the credit report. In order to get the small business loan you have to have matching funds and credit report.

The vast majority of HUD homes are VA loans that have been foreclosed.

Often people come back from the military traumatized by events like war. For females, rape is often more of a reality than in the civilian world. All that glitters is not gold, especially when offered by the government!
 

1) As we chant to F#@*k the Po'Lice can we also commit to NOT (F)phoning the Po'Lice

2) As we begin "Filming the Po'Lice can we also work on Firing the Po'Lice.

3) As we Fight the Police for their killing of our Black and Brown babies - can we also fight just as hard to stop criminalizing, illegalizing peoples for the sole act of working in amerikkka without the Man's paper

4) As we resist the Po'Lice can we also connect the dots to the kkkourts where peoples are incarcerated for crimes of poverty, racism, homelessness and parenting while poor in amerikkka-

5) As we get ready to march against more state sanctioned Po'Lice Terror in Ferguson and beyond, can we also carry these values to family, home and origin community and stop calling the Po'Lice when you have an "emergency".  If you think this is the only "agency" to call- include in your resistance movements the creation of family councils and elder councils like we have at POOR Magazine and Homefulness. ( A very hard thing to do- No Doubt!- but a necessary one if we want change to happen) When revolutionaries realize you have to walk the talk and enact at home what you fight for in the streets then they will be ready to do the hardest work of all, deal with each other and hold each other accountable for each others actions.

6) Stop equating safety and security with po'lice and gated communities - stop believing the empire's lies about what and who is safe and who and where is secure.

7) And perhaps most importantly, the one "F" that relates to all of the aforementioned "F's"- Stop Funding the Po'Lice - This will only happen if we enact the above list so that cities across amerikkka can no longer justify giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to these occupying colonizer armies to "ensure our safety" They will try anyway, but the argument will get weaker and weaker if we truly decolonize our actions and re-actions.

June 17, 2014

I heard a young girl crying hysterically outside of my home, which kicked my maternal instincts into overdrive as I rushed to her aid. "They shot me with them BB guns!"

And before I could ask who, I saw 3 young boys tripping away from the scene attempting to flee. I caught up to them and asked where their parents were. "They're not home," is an answer I've heard before, but it did not get them out of a educational tonguelashing as I reminded them how dangerous it was to shoot pellet guns at other people—And at a GIRL!?!?

"Don't you know that the po'lice is killing ya'll behind those real-like guns?" After getting on the young boys' cases, I commanded that they take those pellet guns inside, and quick!

The spike in BB gun-related deaths is rising to an exodus level in the black and brown communities across the nation. Children like Andy Lopez, DeAunta Farrow, Noe Rojas, Michael Jones (who was shot 17 times) and countless others have been murdered by po'lice for possessing "real-like" BB guns, and many times the justification of these murders is the same old "kid was pointing the toy gun at officers" excuse.

Therefore our children receive no justice. BB guns are easily accessible from popular stores like Walmart, Big 5 and Sports Authority. They're known for selling them, making money hand over fist, and the types of BB guns on display are looking more and more real.

Why are these companies allowed to keep making these types of real-like weaponry when people, young and old alike, are being killed by the po'lice? If it is not the young boy who gets killed playing target practice, it's the adult who was fatally wounded at his home for having a fake gun at HIS Halloween party. No blind eye to those who utilize these toys to engage in criminal activity, either way we in amerikkka have a serious problem on our hands, and the lust for weapons and bloodshed is not a new subject here.

In Amerikkkan society, guns and violence are glorified in "history" books, TV, video games, po'lice terror and (C)rap music, but our children's blood is being spilled all across the country because the images they see and are taught become the reality they will emulate. Elder accountability plays an important role because we must teach our children to not repeat the cycle of violence against one another. Every time I see kids of color playing with pellet guns, they are always shooting each other while calling each other the "N" word, and it is sickening when the grown folks think its "cute"... No child looks "cute" in a casket due to miseducation and po'lice terror.

As a reporter and supporter of the hood with a duty and responsibility to bring awareness to the people, I urge Mamaz of color to cease the purchases of these deadly toy guns for our children.

The po'lice are killing our children over these toy guns and no one is held accountable, not the people who make these fake guns, nor the police who are shooting us. Another point I want to put out there to the people is I have witnessed children without supervision and guidance run amuck in the community shooting and seriously injuring one another, including a 3 year-old girl! This type of genocidal training is the onset of future black on black crimes and without discipline and elder accountability this poisonous cycle continues. 

"We invite all mothers and their children to join and lead the pilgrimage."

1. Pressure the Obama administration to put a halt to its deportation enforcement only regime until the Senate and House come together and pass a Just and Humane Immigration Reform, Not 1 more deportation!
2. Call for an end to the use of Police as Immigration enforcement Agents, no to the failed Secure Communities and 287g programs, No a la Poli-Migra!

   a. Demand an end to family separations, 3,750,000 of citizen children have had a parent deported.

3. Stem the tide toward Racial Profiling that has incarcerated so many migrant and African American brothers and sisters, no to SB 1070 and copycat laws, no to gang injunctions, Stop "stop and frisk" and the targeted check points in migrant communities.

"We are hiding out in our own house with no water, " Shelah a 15 year youth and poverty skola whispered on the phone to me. She went on to tell me she and her mama and 9 year old brother were one of thousands of poor families who had their water service cut off in the last few months by the Detroit Water and Sewage District

Since spring, up to 3000 Detroit households per week have been getting their water shut-off – for owing as little as $150 or two months in bills. This is the Detroit facing water privatization in which upward of 150,000 customers, late on bills that have increased 119 percent in the last decade, are now threatened with shut-offs. Detroit organizers estimate this could impact nearly half of Detroit's mostly poor and black population – between 200,000 and 300,000 people.

Privatization is the US kkkorporate answer to everything, and to Detroit, like Chicago and New Orleans and Oakland and hundred of other US cities, this means the private corporate theft of all of our public resources including schools, parks, streets and housing, As us poor folks know the result is we end up water-less, housel-less, street-less and park-less- gentriFUKed out of our own neighborhoods, schools and communities and shuttled into the biggest private corporation of them all Plantation prisons,

This is nothing new, us poor peoples are always getting our so-called public utilities shut off. When me and my Po' single mama were dealing with our life-long poverty and about to be houseless in Oakland all of our utilities were cut-off. The first thing that happened was my mama was afraid CPS would find out and mark her as "negligent". This is part of the deep criminalization and catch 22 that poor families face all the time, causing us to not even seek so-called "help" for fear of more theft, removal and criminalization.

"My friend was put into foster care after her water got cut off" Shelah whispered. She and her family were one of the many families who are now at risk of seizure  by Children'a Separation Service, because after they take everything away from us poor folks, then they threaten to take our children. "Thats when we went into hiding,"she concluded.

Grassroots organizers have been fighting back.

A coalition of grassroots groups like Detroit People’s Water Board, Food and Water Watch and Canada-based Blue Planet Project issued a report on June 18 that contained the testimony of people who were affected by the service shutoffs and said they were given no warning. which they submitted to the United Nations naming these shut-offs as a violation of human rights- the UN answered back.

"Disconnection of water services because of failure to pay due to lack of means constitutes a violation of the human right to water and other international human rights,” the U.N. officials said in a news release. “Because of a high poverty rate and a high unemployment rate, relatively expensive water bills in Detroit are unaffordable for a significant portion of the population.”.

The public water system, a prized resource worth billions and sitting on the Great Lakes, is now the latest target of the private devil-opers – and these mass water shut-offs of our peoples homes are a way to make the so-called public utility more attractive in the lead up to its privatization.

As Po' folks our so-called public resources are always under attack, our so-called free lives who were used, stolen and exploited to build this stolen land they call amerikkka are always at-risk of eviction, displacement, gentriFUKation, death by po'lice terror and/or incarceration. This is why us poor and landless stolen and diasporic Afrikans, criminalized, false bordered, indigenous and po folks at POOR Magazine are actively creating an international model for poor people-led change we call Homefulness in Deep East Ohlone Land (Oakland) where we take our stolen resources back, self-determined by us and teach descendents  of stolen wealth hoarders to redistribute their families stolen and hoarded blood-stained dollaz.

This is what we at POOR Magazine call Community Reparations. And this model needs to be practiced across the United Snakkkes of Amerikkka and the world so these violations of our human bodies, our communities and our land will cease to occur.

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLES IN DETROIT!!!

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 15, 2014

CONTACT: Lisa Marie Alatorre, Coalition on Homelessness, SF 

Cell: (510) 982-9275

Urgent Community Blockade to Stop Eviction of Recycling Center

What: Protest and Non-violent Civil Disobedience

When: Wednesday July 16, 2014, 6:01am

Where: 2020 Market St. (at Duboce), SF Community Recycler's Center

San Francisco, CA – Safeway has filed the eviction paperwork and SF County Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi has calendered the eviction of the San Francisco Community Recycler's Center (SFCRC) for anytime after Wednesday, July 16^th at 6:01am. Community members and activists will be gathering in front of the entrance to the last non-profit recycling center located on the corner of Market & Duboce to form a non-violent blockade to stop the eviction of this critical pillar of San Francisco. Community-based recycling provides critical work and an economic lifeline to poor, elderly, disabled, undocumented, and struggling San Franciscans.

“Almost all poor San Franciscans redeem their recycling and as a city we are reliant on street-based recycling,” says Jennifer Friedenbach from the Coaition On Homelessness. “Eliminating community-based recycling not only reduces access to economic opportunities for San Franciscans, but it also leaves real gaps in recycling for our city parks and streets. It will impact small businesses who will now be responsible to act as recycling centers, and it means developers and condo owners have more power than legislation like the Bottle Bill. This is bad city policy and we must stop these evictions immediately.”

This trend of pushing out community-based recycling is a result of pressure from condo development, Supervisor Scott Wiener, and further city-wide gentrification efforts. Elected leaders such as Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, Board of Supervisors Eric Mar, and Supervisor John Avalos have spoken out in favor of preserving and expanding recycling in the city. More recently May Ed Lee's Department of the Environment issued a “Request For Qualifications” which calls for the expansion of recycling to all districts in our city, including keeping ALL current recycling sites.

“Recycling is a great service to our cities and in service to our city's green aspirations.” says Ed Dunn of the Market Street San Francisco Community Recyclers Center. “Eliminating community based recycling has grave impacts on San Francisco, from public safety to huge environmental fails including moving us away from goals of being Zero Waste in 2020. It is sad to think any elected leader would support a move like this and a corporation like Safeway would get away with turning their back on their corporate civic responsibility to something as vital as recycling.”

Community members will be blockading the entrance to the recycling center as an act of solidarity with community recyclers, many of whom are out working at that time. Protesters will be demanding that the Sheriff refuse to carry-out the reclamation of the site. Protesters will also be sending a message to Safeway that this eviction, based on hate of poor, disabled, homeless, and people of color will not be tolerated in San Francisco. There will be high spirits, chanting, and signs for visuals and is a planned non-violent act of civil disobedience and some participants may choose to risk arrest.

Aug 7, 2014

Imagine leaving the hospital after seeing the doctor, and the only thing you have to worry about is, "Do I have food in the refrigerator?" Your hospital care is all taken care of by the government, no matter what it was. Your doctor is paid for and their services are not costing you a dime.
This is not a dream. Ninety percent of the world has this system. All industrial countries have this except for the United States of America. In its place, they have the brutality better known as insurance companies.

You ask someone in a foreign country: "Do you worry about preconditions?" They look at you like you're an idiot. But in this country, your wealth and your insurance coverage tells the doctor what he can do. It's about time that doctors make their own decisions about how best to manage patients' health, and not be strangled by insurance companies that say they can't do things that would help their patients.

So people are afraid of socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is not that bad. Either that or single payer are better systems than what we're used to.

With socialized medicine, you can go to your own doctor and you will not pay a dime. Instead, the doctor will be paid-for, similar to how Medicare pays for seniors. You will not see any bill with a copay: instead you will see a doctor with a smiling face. This doctor will be your own personal doctor and you will not have to go through books of insurance companies like Blue Shield, Kaiser and others that they will not cover your preferred doctor. Also, you will have the right to switch doctors, unlike some insurance companies who dictate which doctors you can and can't see.

This system could only cost you 2 cents of every dollar you earn. And there is not a layer of bureaucracy. The administration of this system would cost 2% compared to the current 30%.

If you receive a message from the Federal Government, asking if you want to do Medicare for All or Single Payer, do not panic. Just pick up the phone and call your Assemblyman or Congressman and say, "Yes, I want Single Payer."

If you are interested in the vision of healthcare described above, phone your Congressman today and you should be happy. Tell them that you would like Medicare for All or Single Payer. If you live in California look up singlepayerforall.com. They will be able to answer any questions better than this reporter can.

June 24, 2014

Seattle and San Francisco are both raising their minimum wage. In San Francisco, the average studio will rent for $1,0000 to $2,000 per month. Seattle has similarly high rental rates. Considering that, $15.00 per hour is not that much of a raise.

The money that a minimum wage worker earns goes back into the community. 95% of the income goes to little ma and pa stores and little ma and pa restaurants. That means the neighborhood will improve through business taxes. Each time you buy something, besides food, you pay sales taxes. The more money goes into sales taxes, the more goes back into the city coffers, which will then in turn stimulate job growth in the community.

The benefits to the community of higher minimum wages may be offset by inflation and the years-long delay of the $15/hr wage increase. In Seattle it's a seven-year delay, and in San Francisco it is three. Most workers I've talked to are looking forward to a raise. Alas, they do not know they are being conned. The city fathers are being brainwashed by the Chamber of Commerce to delay the wage hike. According to the Chamber, the City will become a ghost town after the wage increase. This is a mythology. The mythology is that they will lose money, but they will actually make more money with a wage increase than they will lose, for reasons described above. Half the people that are raising the minimum wage are greedy people in the pocket of the Chamber of Commerce.

On the Federal and State level the income tax will be increased in both San Francisco and Seattle. More job opportunities stemming from higher income taxes will cut the population of homeless people, if they use my example. This will also distribute the wealth among the rich and poor alike. Ten percent is a fair profit margin. I would love to get that on a stock certificate. Any shareholder would love something like that. If it is good enough for the average shareholder, it is good enough for the company head.

In Seattle they have another catch besides the delayed minimum wage increase. They have instituted things like training wages, where an employer can hire a person at a training wage, pay less at that wage, and lay them off two days prior to the end of the "training" period. California does not have this so this can not affect San Francisco. The wait staff in Seattle can have a starting wage below their minimum wage and employers can claim that their tips will make up for it. That is a bold-faced lie. Some business are trying to skirt the issue by charging extra fees and putting them down as a labor tax. The Seattle Airport is using this mythology by charging 99 cents as an additional labor tax, visible on receipts, to make the workers out to be villains. With the help of the mainstream media (who don't want to piss off any major businesses), that myth of villainous unions and workers is being supported. They will not lose any revenue, and these people are in a fools paradise. Most workers are not out to steal anything.

The same mythology was supported when San Francisco raised the minimum wage to $11.00 per hour. Hooked the cost of living of the Bay Area into the raises of the minimum wage. The jump from $7.00 to $10.00 did not turn San Francisco into a ghost town like the Golden Gate Restaurant Association was crying about. During the Great Depression, the City of San Francisco had a smaller unemployment rate than the rest of the county due to small businesses. This was not a utopia but a very good survivalist community with strong labor and strong businesses working together.

Mayor Lee of San Francisco, as a flunky for big businesses, sold this City down the river by giving tax breaks to large corporations instead of giving tax breaks to small business that needed more security than corporations. In Seattle, the so-called Socialist that came up with the $15.00 raise were no more Socailists than Richard Nixon was a Quaker. Like any other politician, he watches his back. That is why he slipped in his 7 years: he wanted business money in his next campaign. In my case, I would have said let's raise the salary to $15.00 per hour and businsses would have a freeze on their costs. They could not raise their cost more than 10% to cover the raise. May the devil take the high ground. Thank you and I am sorry I got on my high horse..