2015

On December 2, 2015 a young 26 year old African American named Mario Woods was shot dead by police in the Bay view district. It was a tragic day for the young man's family and community, but one thing I want to let you readers know is that this has been happening non stop all over the world.

A couple of days later approximately 100 people gathered on Gilman st where the killing took place at and we made an altar dedicated to Mario Woods. It was really unnecessary for 8 to 10 cops to fire 15 to 20 shots at Mario Woods. They could've made a different decision so Mario woods could be with his family.

A week after Mario Woods passed away there was a walk out in San Francisco by students of June Jordon High School. Deecolonize Academy was invited.  When we arrived at 16^thand mission in front of the Bart station there were young men and women there who were wearing backpacks and talking. There were approximately 80 people at first, then the other high school students arrived. It was a windy day. Then people start talking in front of the crowd. There were posters and organizers talking. A few of my classmates went up and told their opinion about how they felt about what happened.

After we started marching there were lots of cops waiting for us to start marching so they could see the truth and understand what they have done. We marched all the way to San Francisco City Hall. It was terrifying seeing all these cops trying to police us at the end of the protest. It was approximately 400 people when we left.

How I feel about this is that the cops who kill our black and brown people get away with it just because they are wearing a badge and the people's families who lost their children have to suffer and deal with that all of their lives while the cop killers are living their lives.

Raymond Eacret, 34 yrs old, a proud Yurok Tribal Member from Trinidad Rancheria, of Eureka, CA, died “in custody” in the Humboldt County Correctional Center (Jail) on Friday, June 26, 2015.  Raymond was being held on a misdemeanor charge and was due to be released that evening. Something went horribly wrong just hours after his mother, Sheila Eacret, received the message telling her 'not to worry and charges were dropped,' that her son was being released around dinner time, 4pm in fact, that very day.  Relief turned to deep sorrow, grief and outrage. The next time Sheila would see her son it would be after his death, framed as a “suicide” by Humboldt County officials, his lifeless body bludgeoned.

[image description:  An earlier days school photograph of Raymond Eacret, he is wearing a white shirt and there is a standard blue school-photo background.  Raymond is fair-skinned with his long hair pulled back with a cool, pronounced hairline.  He does not smile, looks very sweet, and has a thin mustache.]

“I was refused to see my son until after the autopsy which was against all Native rights, I had every right to prepare him spiritually due to his being Native American with a roll number. Denied that right, I was angry and confused,” said Sheila Eacret, Raymond's mother.

A number of conflicting reports have surfaced, including the police narrative, which has been amplified via most news outlets, so it is the most accessible information.  Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey said in a press release that Raymond was found by an (unnamed) Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) Correctional Deputy (CD) “hanging from a makeshift noose that was wrapped around his neck” while being housed in the medical section of the Humboldt County Jail.  There is already a conflicting report that another officer had said Raymond was laying in his bed when he was discovered dead.  Another person who was in the medical department at the time Raymond was brought there told Sheila Eacret that there is “no way someone could take their own life in medical.”  That person also said that when Raymond was brought to medical he had been horribly beaten, and that he was unconscious.  The Sheriff's press release says that “life saving efforts were immediately initiated,” and basically that Humboldt County is investigating itself on this matter.  “This incident is currently under joint investigation by the HCSO and the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office (HCDAO),” the press release reads.  

When Sheila Eacret was finally able to see her son Raymond, she was horrified.  Raymond was covered in bruises, he had two black eyes and his nose was broken.  His torso appeared as if it had been kicked multiple times.  Raymond's body appeared to be broken, his back broken, Sheila described ribs that stuck out with swelling around the wounds the “size of a watermelon.”  There was a cut about three inches deep in the neck of Raymond Eacret, and whatever it was that caused this deep cut, that was used to strangle him, did not go all the way around his neck.  Raymond's ear was bleeding and bruised.  Raymond was clearly the victim of a horrible, violent assault.

[image description:  Raymond Eacret in the comfort zone of Home, wears a wide brimmed baseball hat with a skull on it, he has a mustache.  He is looking at the camera and has a land line telephone at his ear, with his arm around a beautiful baby.  The baby leans slightly back and looks curiously at Raymond.]

“Our Humboldt County Sheriff's Department, the County Jail and Coroner's office are one in the same, they run all three, they are in it together,” said Shelia Eacret.  She continues, “So to get any kind of justice or truth you have to get at least one (entity) away from here.”  

Sheila took pictures of her son's injuries and demanded for an independent autopsy and secured a lawyer.  She is fighting for justice so that no other mother has to go through what she is experiencing.  She doesn't believe the Humboldt County system should be investigating itself.

“My son wasn't the first young Native American to mysteriously be hung in this jail and die, there was a 25 yr old Native American from Hoopa that was also killed in there on a misdemeanor and was going to get out.  Our system is flawed and allows authorities and deputies to kill anyone in that jail and get away with it. I think officers should have to obey the same laws they are suppose to uphold and should be held accountable for Murder like anyone else. A badge and key does not give them the right to take someone's life. They will be held accountable for this crime.”

[image description:  A long banner celebrating the Yurok People, with beautiful water in the background. On the left is a round emblem of the Yurok, fishing is championed with a boat and fish. The words THE YUROK TRIBE are in all caps.]

That 25 year old Native brother from Hoopa is a Yurok man named James "Hans" Peters, who was brought in to Humboldt County Jail in late June 2007.  Sheriffs say in August 2007, James Hans Peters was being held in a solitary cell, that he had “assaulted a correctional officer” and that he was waiting to be transferred to Napa State Hospital for a court ordered psych eval. Sheriffs say that on August 29, 2007 James Hans Peters “hung himself with torn bed sheets” from a vent in the ceiling. Officers did not inform Hans’ (he was called Hans by those close with him) family of his death. Later, after hearing the news from an anonymous hospital employee, the family went to the Humboldt County Jail in search of their son and demanding answers.  Sheriffs responded sternly and threatened to have the family arrested.  Hans’ mother and relatives were not allowed to see Hans' body for over 20 hours.  James “Hans” Peters was killed/died in custody in Humboldt County Jail within three months of two other victims, Peter Stewart and Martin Cotton.  All three men Disabled, all with diagnosed mental illness.

Raymond Eacret is one of many Loved Ones to die to in the United States to police terror in this way, to die violently and “in custody.” On July 13, 2015 a 24 year old pregnant Lakota Woman and mother of two named Sarah Lee Circle Bear was being held in Brown County Jail in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and was complaining of excrutiating pain.  She was denied medical care, told “quit faking,” and her body was dragged to a holding cell so officers and other inmates would not hear her screams.  She died shortly after.  In November 2015 it was released that, so far, in 2015, there have been at least 550 in custody deaths in Texas alone.  Five hundred and fifty human being people, just in the state of Texas.  One of those 550 people managed to make it to the forefront of national media.  Just one, and she was a woman.  She died the same day as Sarah Lee Circle Bear, on July 13, 2015.  And she was Black.  Her name is Sandra Bland.  

Raymond Eacret's violent death also happens within a greater context of in-custody deaths caused by law enforcement in the state of California.  Deaths like 23 year old Victoria Arellano, an HIV-positive Transgender woman and migrant from Mexico, who had been detained at a mens Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in May of 2007 in South Los Angeles.  Victoria started showing signs of illness and pleaded (along with other male detainees) that she receive medical care.  That much needed medical care was denied, and Victoria died on July 20, 2007.  There's also the recent mysterious in-custody deaths of Kristen Hamilton, 51, of Antioch who died in West County Jail in April 2015 and Elizabeth Gaunt, 56, of Santa Rosa who died at Lake County Jail in August of 2015.

Almost every single victim of in-custody deaths in California, and nationwide, have at least one of these things in common:  being Indigenous, Black, Disabled and/or Poor.  Recently the Idriss Stelley Foundation organized an action called #IdidDIEinSanFranciscoCustody which included formal demands for the treatment of Disabled detainees and demanded transparency regarding recent in-custody deaths, mostly bringing to light cases at San Francisco County Jail.  One of many demands being NO MORE IN CUSTODY DEATHS.  Within the past two years (mid 2013-mid 2015), the ISF has advocated for the families of and investigated into the violent wrongful in custody deaths of five men, Alvin Hayes, Alberto Petrolino, Antolin Marenco, Brette Robinson and Darnell Benson.  All five are Disabled, and each are Indigenous, Black and or Poor.  These violent deaths are far from isolated, and they are all related.  

[Loved Ones lost to police violence are chalked on the steps of San Francisco City Hall in October 2015 as a part of a national call to action to end police brutality.  A dog's black paw rests on the top of a blue heart that reads RAYMOND EACRET.  To the right is a pink heart that reads Yuvette Henderson.  Below that a green heart that says Ohlone People.]

Since the death of her son Raymond Eacret, Sheila Eacret has been grieving.  She has also taken a stand, she is demanding justice so that no other Mother has to experience what she is going through.  In being vocal in a rural area, Sheila is being harassed and terrorized by members of law enforcement in and around Eureka, CA.  She is being profiled, singled out and threatened for fighting for justice for her son.  The press and police in it together, villianizing her family.  One of the officers acknowledged knowing her son, Raymond, as a scare tactic.  Raymond's Mother, Sheila Eacret, who is grieving the loss of her son, fears for her life.  She does not feel safe.

A memorial service is set for Raymond Eacret in Eureka, CA on December 5, 2015 and is open to the public.

Justice for Raymond Eacret

REST IN POWER RAYMOND EACRET

Raymond Eacret, Loved One lost to police violence.

#Justice4RaymondEacret  #JusticeforRaymondEacret  #NativeLivesMatter

#IdidDIEinCustody   #iDidDIEinSanFranciscoCustody  #nomoreincustodydeaths

#IdrissStelleyFoundation  #DisabilitySolidarity  #DisabilityJustice

#PoorMagazine

Update: Raymond Eacret's memorial service is being held at 1 Marina Way in the Wharfinger Building at the Eureka Public Marina in Eureka, CA from 1:00 to 5:00 on Saturday December 5th, 2015 and all are welcome to attend.

Lisa Ganser is a white Disabled genderqueer artist living in the Mission District of San Francisco.  They are the daughter of a momma named Sam and this is their first story as a writer for Poor Magazine.

Editors Note: Mr. Jose Villarreal is one of several power-FUL PNNPlantation prison correspondents. As currently and formerly incarcerated poor and indigenous peoples in struggle and resistance with all plantation systems in Amerikkka, POOR Magazine stands in solidarity with all folks on the other side of the razor wire plantation.

Chicano Nations: the Hemispheric Origins of Mexican American Literature by Harissa K Lopex. New York University Press 2011. 208 Pgs.

This book seeks to identify and translate today’s chican@ literature and traces its history. Lopez takes a different approach to arly writing and the birth of chicanismo is literature. Not enough has been written about Chiano literature in a political context, yet this work is necessary in order to take Aztlan deeper in understanding todays Chicanismo, where we have been and our future in literary world.

As I read ‘Chicano Nations’ I wondered why such emphasis was layed on Sarimiento, Zavala and Perez and their tamed approach to Amerika, which I later found could not be thoroughly contrated except with the critiques of Vallejo’s views toward Amerika. 

Lopez explores a “post nationalism” for chican@s. What she overlooks is that in society everything is stamped with a nation Class and Gender character- including literature. Throughout history, there has always been some who in the comfortable confines of stability, view the Chicano Nation via integration lenses. This phenomenon is mirrored in the Black bourgeoisie who see the nomination of Obama as a sign of “post racial” Amerika or that the U.S. has entered the age of color blindness. This, of course, is absurd. So long as national oppression exists there will be a need for national liberation struggle. U.S. Imperialism continues to keep a boot on our necks and on poor people all around the world. This is reflected in the courts, prisons and particularly in the SHU’s where we are kept in solitary confinement, which has been defined as torture.

The most unity I have with Lopez is found in her description of Alurista where she says on pg 203: “Chicanas/os cannot be truly free until they recognize that the struggle in the United States is intricately bound with the anti-Imperialism struggle in other countries”.

Lopez alludes to the interconnection of the oppressed nations as a whole as up against our common oppressor. This is essentially the principal contradiction in the world today.  That is, the oppressed nations vs. the oppressor nations and, of course, the US today serves as the world Imperialist center. It is true that today’s Aztlan needs to clip the tethers of bourgeois nationalism and take on a revolutionary nationalism which, I think, cuts to the heart of our oppression or identifies the main source: Imperialism. Only in this way will we see national liberation for Chican@s as a step toward the liberation of all humanity. What I and my study group have come to understand is that we are for the self-determination of Chican@s and Internationalists at the same time. Indeed, we understand that true internationalism cannot be fully achieved until all nations are fully liberated as Lenin stated.

Where I find the most disagreement with Lopez is oddly on that same page (203), where she states: “The struggle against racism and injustice is a global, historical struggle, and we are all – Chicanas/os, Anglos, World citizens – imbricated in a global network within which we feel the tug and pull of these small battles that are more visible and pressing post 9/11”.

Such vague phrases promote the Amerikan apologist line where some feel we are all somehow at fault or responsible for causing such oppression. This of course downplays the oppressor’s role in national oppression. What’s more dangerous in this approach, is that it then gives birth to the idea of somehow the oppressor will come to understand we are all “imbricated” in this network and allow Aztlan to stand up or support our full liberation, rather than the more correct approach of understanding that the oppressor will never relinquish their power and privilege willingly and thus the need for Chican@s to do our own Nation building.

Ultimately Literature plays a huge part in what path the Chicano nation takes in the future, thus it is up to our Chican@ cultural workers to scratch out the path word by word and letter by letter so that this body of Chican@ literature serves as the bricks in our future road to a liberated Aztlan, a socialist Aztlan. This book is one of those bricks that add to the building this path. 

This book is one of the first books I have read that tells raw experiences from a Black disabled male  viewpoint who have experienced discrimination and went on to achieve from Africa to America and doesn’t wrapped it up in a Hollywood ending because life is an ongoing struggle especailly for a Black disabled individual...

Blew me away and I thought as a Black disabled scholar that I was updated about books by Black disabled authors finally seeing Black disabled writers getting published most of the times writing about their lives however Chibike Ifechinelo Nwabude blew me away with his book, The Sad And Painful Journey of a Struggling Disabled Black Man..  Can you believe this is the first book i have the opportunity to received by the author and sat down to swallow it by a Black disabled author who has roots in Africa?

The Sad And Painful Journey of a Struggling Disabled Black Man starts in Chibike’s villages to cities in Nigeria describing his disability, Polio and how schools were not accessible to his college years and his continue struggling and discrimination in Seattle, USA before the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.  Although Chibike’s struggles goes all through the book,  he came from a supportive middle class family where his mom and dad seems to me embraced him as a Black disabled boy to a young man.    His struggles began very early not only in school facing inaccessible environment i.e. stairs, long distances to classes and kids attitudes but at home when his parents hired a home supporter that started to sexually abuse him.  Although in the book he described himself as a city boy and explained that the city is more accessible, the way he described the sense of community that sounded like family in the villages made me long for what he experienced.

Chibike tells us about the Nigerian civil war, the worst periods of his life.  In the three year period till today Chibike can’t tell us why the war broke out.  I can’t imagine being physically disabled teenage in a middle of a war!  At this part of the book, I went to youtbue  to learn about the war and was not surprise that it goes back to the British “empire” aka the government  benefited a lot from the war as we know the British was colonial master before Nigeria independence of October 1st/ 1960 all because the British wanted Nigeria’s oil.  His family's plan for their escape when they heard that the attacks were getting closer included Chibike going ahead in a family member's car cause they knew that he couldn’t run because of his disability.   My heart was on a roller-coster when he described waiting for his family in a refugee camp seeing people come but noticing it wasn’t his family.  Finally his family showed up.  I can’t imagine starting all over again, like housing, school and the physical state of the city especially for a young boy with a physical disability after a war.  He was lucky to come from a middle class family.  I can’t imagine being poor disabled after a war!  Just like the beginning of the war the end of the war was blunt like turning on a light switch.   My mind was like how can you go though that and the next day go to school but he did.

Of course being an American I thought at a point in the book where he is thinking about going to college in the US where his brother was that everything would be like a utopia even in back in the 80’s but damn I was totally wrong.  The amount  of discrimination that he faced from institutions college to employment made me reread the title again.  At the same time I could relate with his experiences in college where teachers were blunt by telling him he would never be a mathematician although he was passing his classes.

Poor Magazine would love the ways that Chibike continued his higher education and also providing for his family back in Nigeria and flipping the college system of pay first then take the class on its head.  When he was poor and used to signed up for the classes and at the last minute ask to take it for no credit so he could stay in the class.  After doing this many times to get credit to graduate he took all his classes with a written note from professors to the president of the college.  After a long back and forth he was granted his right to graduate.  Also many at Poor Magazine can relate to his shame of being on welfare but I just wish that Chibike could be in a Poor Magazine workshop that flip the script about this shame and the American’s capitalist thinking of pull yourself up by your boots strings.  I think he would benefit from Poor Magazine philosophy and so much more. 

Once again I thought the tides were turn for Chibike but no.  Like many Black/Brown people with disabilities in the US find themselves unemployed but if they do find employment they continue to face discrimination.  I was cheering for him when he got his fist job but the pattern of just raw discrimination on the job from White and Black managers was heartbreaking and some brought me back to some of my 9 to 5 experiences.  I can’t tell you how many times he filed an EOC complaint and he would win and then go on to another job to face the something.  Once again I looked at the title of the book and said ok it has to get better, right?  

The discrimination was not only in the workplace, as most of disabled folks find out that relationships are hard too and other things.  I can’t tell you what happened but the title of the book says it all.   What gave me hope is one he has wrote his story and two his strong family bond that really help him stay the course and his belief in God and his thrist not only to continue but to see that it is others that need to change and meet him where he achieve to be at.   

As a Black disabled activist born and raised in America one of my hopes before Chibike and I pass away is that we come together as Black disabled people not only in the US but worldwide and say hi, get to know each other that I hope would lead into supporting each other.  I know that is a big want but what the hell you live only once on this earth.  It might be hard but we, like Chibike Ifechinelo Nwabude, must write and publish our truths!

Go buy his book here   http://outskirtspress.com/webPage/isbn/9781478752196

His Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009880215742

By Leroy F Moore Jr.

In The Photo:  In the background there is a white sign with Black letters saying: Hallf of all people killed by police have a disability end racist police terror!  Terrea Mitchell with eye glasses - holding Black Lives Matter /Jeremy McDole poster, People’s Power Assemblies..In the background there is a sign that reads Stop Attacking Disabled People with a red circle with Donald Trump’s face and a thick redline crossing his.  Beside Terrea is a Black man with a sign saying People with disabilities need decent jobs livable wage, quality home and health care and transportation.

Leroy Moore:  I was so excited to see the article of people with disabilities protesting the police killing of Jeremy McDole, a 28-year-old African-American paraplegic who was shot and killed by police in Wilmington, Del., on Sept. 23 while in his wheelchair.  Give us/me some background about the People’s Power Assemblies, the activists who called for this protest and the connection between police brutality and disability.

Terrea Mitchell of  Peoples Power Assemblies: The PPA is part of the Black Lives Matter movement collective. Well reading from our mission statement: Peoples Power Assemblies (PPA) organizes to empower workers and oppressed people to demand jobs, education and healthcare while fighting against racist police terror, sexism, LGBTQ and ableist oppression. PPA is a network of activists and organizations that are committed to a world free of oppression of any kind. These are values that we hold in our meetings as well as in the streets. I am an activist who was disabled. I thought about calling an action because half of the people killed by police have a disability. I didn't feel this was being highlighted, so I brought the idea to the group to do an action on the International Day of persons with disabilities to highlight police brutality, and killing of disabled people, as well as access to decent jobs with livable wages, quality,  affordable housing, and health care.  Issues that working, and/or poor people deal with, but that particularly affect the disabled community. Ezell Ford, Natasha McKenna, David Felix, Jeremy McDole, Shereese Francis are just a few of the many disabled people being murdered by police officers nationwide.

Leroy Moore: Tell us what goes on in your meetings and how are the assemblies organize.

Terrea Mitchell of  People’s Power Assemblies:  In our meetings, we usually do a report back on actions that may have taken place the following week or two. Actions we attended to show Solidarity, or ones that we organized, or helped organize. We usually have an agenda to discuss upcoming actions, some political discussion about a current event. Attendees and members can submit an idea for an action, or event. And we also have announcements so that people from other organizations can announce their upcoming actions. There are people's power assemblies chapters across the United States. From Baltimore, Maryland, to New York City, to Los Angeles, California.

Leroy Moore:   How did/do you make the protest and your meetings accessible?

Terrea Mitchell of  Peoples Power Assemblies:  We tried to make sure our action would be accessible to disabled people by choosing a location that had an elevator and an escalator, that was fairly free of obstacles, barring the people of course and had freedom of movement. Our meetings are in a building that has an elevator. Our materials are not so accessible, but I'm still working with my crew on to resolve that issue.  We do have  a spanish interpreter, and generally if someone needs a special accommodation let us know beforehand, and we will do our best to accommodate you. Just keep in mind we are a small grassroots organization with limited monies so our solutions will be low tech and inexpensive. And if we don't know something, or you think of something better, or we were amiss in providing an accommodation - let us know. We try to think of all contingencies but we are humans but we do forget and make mistakes.

Leroy Moore:  Give us some background of the activists who attend the protest and are they deeply involve in the assemblies.

Terrea Mitchell of  Peoples Power Assemblies:Our members come from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Approximately 95% of them work full time jobs, some as many as 50 hours plays a week but they still take time to organize, plan, coordinate, and carry out an action. i.e. protests, rally's, marches, speak outs, outreach, etc. Nate Chase, KaLisa Moore, and Kim Ortiz are just a few of the PPA members who have been targeted for arrest and harassment by NYPD. KaLisa Moore is a founding member of the NYC PPA since 2013.

Leroy Moore:  Knowing that over 50% of police shootings are people with disabilities but at the same time our voices are not heard in the media and in movements how can we change that not only locally but also nationally?

Terrea Mitchell of  Peoples Power Assemblies: We change the way we are doing now, by casting light on the issue of police brutality against disabled people. We do it by going to organizations that assist and service disabled people and demanding that they make this issue front and center. We do it but advocating for ourselves, become a part of the Black Lives Matter Movement, or any organization that fights for social justice and demand that they put these issues on the table. After all it's not us vs. them people, law enforcement and the criminal justice system overall, are hurting and killing all of us, disabled or not, they make no distinction. I say this with the caveat that if you are a disabled person you must be prepared to address accessibility challenges, and other issues that go with working with fully ableist bodied people, if that makes sense. After all, you are most likely working with people that have never encountered people with disabilities or they interactions with people who have hidden disabilities. I'm saying this to say that you may experience some level of frustration as they adjust and make accommodations for your particular 

disability.

Leroy Moore:  Is there going to be a follow up from the protest and is the assemblies going to continue to work on the issue of police brutality and people with disabilities?

Terrea Mitchell of  Peoples Power Assemblies: Yes. We plan to do this again next year for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in 2016, and as the need arises before then.  We're taking feedback and assessments of the last action to make this an even bigger and better one. We will be reaching out earlier and more often to organizations that work with, and/or are run by people with disabilities.

Leroy Moore:  What do you think is needed in our communities to keep people with disabilities “safe” from police brutality?

Terrea Mitchell of  Peoples Power Assemblies:  What is needed in the communities to keep people with disabilities safe: is Copwatch, someone monitoring and filming  cops, asking the person if they're alright during their interaction with officers; coming out to support a protest against police brutality and to demand justice for people murdered by police; if you are not able to physically join an action support by volunteering, we need bodies and capacity to do the background work- making signs, banners, flyers, phone calls, social media etc;  support grassroots organizations monetarily with donations. We need paper, ink flyers, banners, etc.

Leroy Moore:  What is next for Peoples Power Assemblies?

Terrea Mitchell of  Peoples Power Assemblies:  We are having an action Sunday December 20th, 2016. Say no to Trump and his racist megaphone, in New York City at Trump Towers 56th street and 5th Avenue. His dangerous and racist rhetoric has resulted in black lives matter activists being beaten and  assaulted at his rallies, and violent speech and acts perpetrated against Americans of the Muslim faith and mocking people with disabilities.

Leroy Moore:  How can people get in contact with you all and any last words?

Terrea Mitchell of  Peoples Power Assemblies:  You can reach people's power assemblies by: coming to our weekly Wednesday meetings from 7 to 9 p.m., 147 West 24th Street, New York NY. Take the For 1 train to 23rd st.  2nd Fl. Solidarity Center.   Visiting our website - peoplespower.net or http://peoplespowerassemblies.org/

emailing us at - info@peoplespowerassemblies.org phoning us (212)-633-6646. We won't be holding any meetings December 23rd or December 30th 2016.

July 7, 2015

More than a year has passed since the Sewol Ferry sank on April 16. Despite the broken promises, media smearing and obfuscation, public backlash, red-baiting, pepper spraying, and beating, the families of the Sewol victims (families) continue to lead the movement for truth, justice, closure, and a society where such tragedy would never re-occur. Only truth and social change can bring meaning to their sons’ and daughters’ senseless deaths. They fight not only against time, but against the Park Administration which is determined to cover up the truth. In their latest battle to uncover the truth, the families fight the Park Administration’s enforcement decree to the special law which instead of implementing the latter, effectively neutralizes its ability to search for the truth.

An Accident Turns to National Tragedy
On April 16 2014, the Sewol Ferry capsized on its way to Korea's Jeju island after making a
sharp turn. The captain and his crew ordered the passengers to stay put. They evacuated the ship when the Coast Guard arrived, while 304 passengers, mostly high school students, stayed put awaiting instructions. 172 made it off the ferry and were rescued. Without an emergency response plan or coordination, the Coast Guard and Navy fumbled through the rescue and saved none of the 304 inside.

While the immediate cause of the accident was a sharp turn that careened the ferry to one side and the extra cargo and passengers--in makeshift holds and cabins--that prevented it from regaining balance, it was the convergence of corruption, greed, and lax regulation that led to sinking of the Sewol by turning a blind eye to the excess weight, hiring inexperienced mostly irregular workers, providing little emergency response training, and allowing the ferry to operate in Korea after it was retired in Japan. As the Coast Guard and Navy fumbled through the “golden time” of rescue and then underwater search and rescue, they saved no one and the accident became a national tragedy live on television.

Mourning Turns to Anger and into a Movement
So many absurdities converging together into the tragedy called into question Korean society: “What’s it mean to be developed, if we couldn’t rescue any of them?” “What good is money when people die?” “What are our schools teaching our children to survive in the world?” Then catatonic sorrow turned to a desperate yearning for the truth led by the families. As their search for answers were frustrated by those carrying out the rescue and recovery and then by the Park Administration’s vague delaying promises of doing their best, the yearning turned to a demand for a special law that would grant the authority to inquire and investigate the truth, and prosecute those responsible. When members of the ruling Saenuri Party accused the families of pushing for the special law to gain postmortem honorary designations for their deceased children and scholarships for alive ones, the media obliged and continued misinforming the public even when no such provisions existed in the special law proposed by the families. As the families escalated their demands for a special law to investigate the truth by going on hunger strikes and one father hunger striking for 46 days, members of the Saenuri party attacked the sincerity of the hunger strikes, right-wing counter-protesters held eating parties at the site of fasting, and the media redbaitted the father. Despite all the efforts to break the families’ spirits, their demand for investigating the truth remains. Fueled by grief and moral outrage at the senseless deaths of
their sons and daughters, they have dedicated their lives and bodies to leading a movement for the truth about the Sewol tragedy and a safer society.

Park Undoes the Special Sewol Law with Its Enforcement Decree
Nearly 7 months of struggle later, over 6 million signatures, numerous protests and candlelight vigils, 40+ day hunger strikes, and marches, the families passed a special Sewol Law through the National Assembly that contained a special committee to inquire about the causes of the tragedy. While the final version was a greatly weakened one from that proposed by the families, the families nonetheless accepted it as it contained various provisions that would help search for the truth.

Yet, on March 27 2015, through the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the Park Administration introduced an enforcement decree that undermines - rather than implements - the special Sewol Law‘s inquiry committee by controlling key support roles and limiting its scope of inquiry. First, it undercuts the committee’s independence by appointing a ruling party member to be general secretary and filling strategic support roles, including for the truth investigation, with government officials. This allows a backdoor for the Park Administration and ruling party to paralyze and influence the inquiry even as the key actors/villains in this tragedy are in the Park Administration and ruling party.

Secondly, the enforcement decree limits the committee’s capacity by arbitrarily decreasing its
size from that stipulated in the special Sewol Law and by filling a majority of the support personnel positions with government officials including from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Ministry of Public Security and Safety (which includes the Coast Guard): the latter two are the central actors/villains in the accident and rescue operations.

Finally, it limits the scope of the inquiry. While the special law stipulates that the committee is mandated to analyze and inquire into the causes of the Sewol tragedy, the enforcement decree limits the scope to the results from the government’s investigation. The special law stipulates that the committee can inquire into the government’s rescue and recovery operations; the enforcement decree limits it to its rescue and recovery documents. Furthermore, it limits the special Sewol Law’s mandate of inquiring into disaster prevention and response in general to the Sewol tragedy in particular. That is why the families are demanding the enforcement decree be abolished.

Against overwhelming odds and great foes, led by the indomitable spirit of bereaved parents, a movement wrested the special Sewol Law from the elite and its henchmen. Now the Park Administration threatens to end the search for the truth with its enforcement decree. The Sewol tragedy was no accident; it was a symptom of a society that values economic growth and
profits over people’s livelihoods. To turn the world right side up, the families of the Sewol victims cannot do it on their own. They, alone, cannot create a safer society for all. It is while fighting for a safer society that values life and people that we will transform ourselves into one, and it starts with the truth.

Abolish the enforcement decree! Recover the Sewol! Recover the truth! Recover the 9 missing bodies! 

Hi everybody: I just came back from an experience I don’t want to do again. I went through Homeland Parinoia better known as Homeland Securityrted on June 8, 2015.  I went to visit a friends graduation in Seattle, Washington. I known her for a long time.  She is a good friend of mine. I went through the Airport in San Francisco OK. I got my boarding pass, and went through Homeland Security and the x-ray machine by giving the Lumieadi sign (you make your hands put a triangle over your head). So in the basket where they are checking my jacket. wallet, shoes ID and other useless stuff. Went through the airport, got on the plane, left SFO. Got to Seatack, went to the ATM machine and realized my picture ID was missing. Was half nervous and my PTSD kicked in. Nervous enough. Got money from the ATM. Walked to the shuttle and got the shuttle for downtown Seattle. At downtown Seattle I picked up a cab and rode to my friends home. After I arrived I scoured the Internet for a backup ID. Couldn’t find a logical one. They all wanted picture ID. As an elder and retired I threw all my picture ID’s in San Francisco Bay. So no picture ID I called Homeland Parinoia they said,”Bring your Boarding Pass from San Francisco, a credit card you used to purchase your ticket, and three other pieces of ID.” This losing of my ID makes me feel like a drooling idiot.

Since 9 ll you show your ID if you are a poor white guy more often than you show your Credit/Debit Card.

Had fun that week. My friend got her Doctorate Degree. Her outfit made her look like she graduated from Hogwash instead of Washington State University. She would bake four hours in the sun with a ceremony that looked like a Mideval Festival. They played Pomp and Ceremony so many times that you know the tune by heart. When the ceremony was completed, we left after four hours. All the windbags had completed their speeches.

Two days later when I went home. I walked to Air Alaska Counter with my return ticket in one hand in the other I had my old boarding pass from seven days earlier. My Social Security Card, Medi-Cal Card (Faded California Medi-Cal Card that looked like it was in World War III) and a Union Bank Debit Card. Got the ticket. got the Boarding Pass walked to Homeland Paranoia where a security supervisor said,”Is this your property?” “I said, “Yes and put everything back into my wallet.” Telling him that I feel like an idiot. He replied, “Don’t , you’re the fifth guy today. It is 9:00 am.” I hope this will help you next time you go through the airport and you lose your picture ID. The world will not end if you use my technique.

You will hear from me on my next report.

Bad News Bruce signing Out.

Image: Security Screening at Denver Airport by Dan Paluska https://www.flickr.com/photos/sixmilliondollardan/3382932556

"you gotta party for your right to fight" -Public Enemy

    On July 14th, we went to San Francisco for a government voting on revisions to the city's short term rental ordinance, and the number of allowable days. “Overall impact on San Francisco is negative” said David Campos and with good reason. Just like this is happening in San Francisco it is also occurring across state.

    Airbnb is in 34,000 cities and 190 countries. Including cities like San Francisco, Berkeley, and New York Los Angeles is the current city with a housing crisis. With rising prices locals are having a hard time staying in their homes and the tourists are flooding in. When people think of cities with the least-affordable housing they think of San Francisco or New York, but Los Angeles is the next possible expensive Airbnb take over.  “The Los Angeles-Santa Ana-Long Beach Metro Area is now, by one measure, the most expensive big-city region in the country in which to buy a home; the average home price is nine times the average income.” Henry Grabar explains in his story about the housing crisis in Los Angeles. This further provides evidence that airbnb is now turning attracting high wealth tourists to the city increasing the vacant apartments and kicking low income tenants.

    The city just builds trying to solve their housing crisis. In my opinion that may not solve the whole problem because if the city is creating expensive buildings for the rich, there is no possible way for po’ folks to have enough homes. Airbnb makes it possible for people to rent out their homes for nights, this is perfect for tourists. When Los Angeles is creating more homes for locals in reality they go to tourists, pushing out locals. This problem creates a chain of gentrification and evictions for low income apartments for redevelopment. This all connects and creates a vicious cycle.

    From the hosts and rich cities like San Francisco point of view airbnb is an amazing way to make money. Tourists come creating business for many. It increases the wealth of the cities which is just great for the government of those cities. “...The country has become more unequal as the number of homeowners has fallen while the number of renters has significantly risen." said Lawrence Yun, chief economists for the realtors. This proves that for big cities there is an increase and demand for condos and apartments. When I Interviewed the elderly couple in San Francisco during the board of supervisors meeting (Campos vs. Ferral) I learned something new. They use airbnb to help them pay the bills and ends meet. It’s the only way they can afford living in San Francisco.

    In my opinion airbnb isn’t the devil but they like many other gigantic corporations are the reason for so many evictions in cities like San Francisco, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and New york. People losing their homes to the rich and wealthy off those cities. The only benefit I find is that it brings people wealth, and I guess that’s enough for this to screw so many people over and cause damage in the long run. As Tina Shaft  from the Migrante organizer committee brilliantly stated “San Francisco needs to recognize that they can’t live without the working class.” It’s just not San Francisco that needs to realize this. They need us and we’re not going anywhere.

walking down valencia, i see

a woman in a wheelchair

we share hellos and i give

her a buck as i wonder

what her story is—she was

just evicted from her home

or maybe her lover beats her

imagining her hunger and

pain i feel compassion for her

and know i’m the lucky one

because i have a dollar to spare

as i leave to walk on, two young

women well dressed and coifed

pass by—and they too must have

a story—maybe one of them has

just broken up with her boyfriend

or the other is having troubles at

work—but i don’t care nor feel

any compassion for them—for as

they go inside a posh eatery

the struggles and strife of

those living on the street

seem not to matter—

since it seems a birthright

of these young women

to have a silver spoon—so

why be bothered by those

without—when a twelve dollar

cocktail awaits.

On  Friday July 10,2015 Sandra Bland, a 28 year old female of African descent was arrested in Hempstead [Waller county] Texas during a routine traffic stop.

On July 14, 2015 we went to San Francisco City Hall to attend the Board of Supervisors meeting and vote on the legislation discussing the revisions of the short term rent ordinances and the number of allowable days a short term renter can rent for. “The overall impact on San Francisco is negative, “ said Supervisor David Campos.

At first glance City Hall could have been mistaken for a golden palace but as you get closer it feels like a scary dungeon used to manipulate people. As you enter you receive this eery feeling as cold and thick as ice that you are being watched as you put your objects down and walk through the metal detector.

San Francisco is in a  housing crisis. Thanks to ellis act evictions and people getting gentrified out their homes there are more people on the streets than under a roof.  Evictions have risen to over 54.7% within these last few years and with these short term rental ordinances more people will have to probably find somewhere else to live.

In the middle of this crossfire is a company called Airbnb. Airbnb is an organization that allows people to rent unique places for guests to stay from local hosts in over 190 countries. The problem with this is that it gives less people less homes to live in.

We had the opportunity to talk to an elder who uses Airbnb and he says that they were fortunate to stay in San Francisco because of Airbnb. They have a single family home and rent one bedroom They are both retired and have a fixed income so they rely on Airbnb to help them pay their taxes and make ends meet.

“We are against people using Ellis Acts to push people out,” said the elder’s wife when she was asked about how she feels about the elders being pushed out their homes.

Some people fear that if Airbnb hosts rent full time it will reduce the city's housing supply and change some aspects of residential neighborhoods.”Neighborhoods became ground zero for evictions,” said Campos.

Clients also claim that Airbnb takes down all of the complaints they posted on blogs or other travelling sites so that they can save their company’s reputation.

In San Francisco, almost 5,000 San Francisco homes, apartments, and private or shared rooms were for rent  via Airbnb. The Mission District had the most Airbnb rentals of any neighborhood. Prices are higher in “elegant” neighborhoods like Russian Hill and North Beach and lower in less upscale neighborhoods like the Sunset District and Parkside.

Airbnb is not a good thing and although it provides people with a source of income it also gives them more things to stress about when a guest causes damage to their living space and Airbnb won’t pay for the damages so the money comes out of their pockets.

In my opinion, Airbnb is a poor excuse for a company. They only care about the image of their company rather than the well being of their hosts or guests. They trick their clients and when they start complaining they’ll pretend like they care at first and then lose all contact with them.  

But what matters the most is that innocent people are losing their homes and it is unacceptable.

1.Looting

“I’m gonna loot ‘til the midnight hour
That’s when the gates come tumblin’ down
I’m gonna loot ‘til the midnight hour
When there’s no guardsmen around…”

I kicked off that martial law, off-the-dome
version of ‘Wicked’ Pickett’s dance floor-
filler and Son-Hawk, Ches-Schu, Ron Shaw,
‘Pookie,’ Jimmy and Jerome came in, Right
On Time, as though we’d rehearsed it, all of
our lives…

Our greeting to hoarse engines, huge tires,
of giant army green trucks bristling with
rifles, loaded with blue eyes and itchy trigger
fingers. Rumbling east, it headed down79th Street,
toward Central Avenue—“The Stem,” as Bunchy
Carter used to call it.

Sitting on wooden milk crates, snacking on cup
cakes, chocolate milk and chips, holding court
as we usually did, we weren’t gonna “loot‘til
the midnight hour…” Brothers had jobs, working
There at the Chinese-owned Family Market.

But belly fires set by the Frye Bros. and their
Mother on the 1-1-6 and Avalon wouldn’t let
us sit silently, saying nothing— if we did nothing
but taunt the pale, alien army occupying our streets,
Disturbing our peace!

Really, we felt like Original Guardsman of ‘The City
of Angels—’ Chumash, Tataviam, Tongva, Serrano—
felt about marauding mass murderers, looters, disguised
as
explorers,
Disturbing their peace!

The ‘City of Angels’ first inhabitants didn’t
believe in devils and evil spirits, until Spanish
missionaries and settlers arrived with ‘thug life.’
Natives didn’t connect murder and manhood.
Endurance trials, fasting, teaching legends of
the world’s origin, hallucinogenic rituals, were
ways elders built boyz to
Men.

Medicine people, spiritual people, gathering in
Circles making decisions, saw sacredness in sweet
Air, crystalline water; knew the penalty for taking
too many deer, sheep, fish, mountain goat and rabbit.
They knew nothing of incest, murder, robbery and rape
and had no chiefs named Parker, Davis, Gates, Bratton,
Beck…

There’s no psychic statue of limitation for looting land,
Lives, lineage of Serrano, Tongva, Tataviam, Chumash
Peoples.
‘Thug life’ missionaries of expropriation, assimilation,
relocation, reservation and extermination, wiped out 90%
of First peoples. Show us mass graves, where the bodies
are
buried.

2.Shooting

Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop Thew-thew-thew-thew-
thew-thew-thew Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud
Coming quickly after trigger-happy, young occupiers’ English
Checkpoint, curfew commands…Mexican drivers, habla Espanol;
volley after volley at volley after volley, at volley, anything moving
Bees piercing walls, farting clouds of fine white dust; buzzing
Lethal lead lullabies to my six-year-old sister and mom, trapped
all day, all night, on their dentist’s floor off 103rd St., the Heart of
Watts.

Down on the ground, Mom and Penny saw much, heard all…
The 8-year-old Watts veteran visited aunts, uncles, cousins for
Summer vacation—two years later. Entering their city from
Metro Airport, Uncle James, pre-Marvin, posed the question:
“What’s Goin’ On?” Penny explained: Motown was “Dancing
In The Streets,” like she’d seen L.A. dance, two years earlier….

While Mom and Penny dodged lead fillings from National Guards,
Dad and I bonded, “Come on, boy,” gruff style, grunting, motioning,
We hiked from the front yard of 730 East 81st Street, pink stucco three-
bedroom we called home. Heading northeast for the 70s, we hit 77th &
Central Avenue—White Front—Wal-Mart-Costco cross of the times

festive energy flowing from the crowd like black pepper, garlic, onion
smells telegraphing good cooking. Mostly reminded me of when Ali
Stood his ground whipping Liston in Florida—maybe, even a wee bit like
when enslaved Africans heard about the Emancipation Proclamation!

steel gates and doors shimmied, wrenched, buckled and broke. Families
emerged elated! Carrying couches, stoves, washing machines, pushing
vacuum cleaners— no money down, no money ever— for overpriced
furniture and appliances, Liberation Shopping— based on need—not
‘Black’ Friday frenzies of overnight camper-zombies, lusting for latest
slave labor products
We sampled soulful, savory democracy, sweet hints of collectivity,
watching organized young men slip like specters through steel gates
and doors liberating guns, before exiting, making way for the masses

Peoples joy chiseled smiles in my dad’s heart, unmasking contours I’d
Never noticed. Truly a crazy glue moment bonding us for the rest of our
Lives… I was proud of him, like I was proud of his work:
Like men on 81st, my dad worked. Worked hard. Outside hammering,
Sawing, sanding cabinets; inside small hours, listening to 105.1 FM Jazz,
Magi birthing blueprints, running the drafting table like a
pool shark on Green felt for new jobs; Bel-Air bar, Beverly Hills office,
Hollywood kitchen…
scribbling my lil’ sloppy thoughts in ragged notebooks, I’d sometimes join
Him, nights I couldn’t sleep

“Burn, baby, burn,” came crescendo cries, unifying calls and responses, from
the white van—a van we’d see speeding around several times that night!
Magnificent Montague’s lick, he’d shouted it for years over KGFJ airwaves at
Hot music of The Ice Man, Curtis, comin’ out of Chitown; The Funk Brothers,
Stevie, Smokey out of Motown; Booker T & The MGs, Sam & Dave, The Big O
out of Memphis— a time when Great Black Music justified: “Burn, baby, burn!”

That night “Burn, baby, burn” locked rhythms of resistance with harmonies of
Solidarity…
Heading back to 81st Street, Daddy decided we’d walk west to Avalon.
Gus’s burger/pastrami stand: OK; Virgil & Atkins’ state of the art Tonsorial:
OK; but, a crowd ballooned ‘round the Stein Brothers—Ted and Alan’s—
Liquor store. a navy blue valiant roared up from hell. Four, white- helmeted,
shotgun-toting, devils leaped out barking epithets and jacking rounds into WMD.

corralling bystanders, one snarling thug slammed my schoolmate, Eddie Rose,
AKA ‘Bulldog,’ through T& A’s Ponderosa plate glass window. Candy cane-
Thick shards of glass smashed into ‘Bulldog’s’ head like a guillotine, slicing
the Nile in his neck…

3.”Just the facts, man”

We all know the facts, *34 dead, murdered mostly
by police and National Guard
1032 injured, mostly by police and National Guard
**3438 arrested,
$40 million property damage.
We all know the chain of events—the event of chains 1619—1965:
August 11, 1965 21-year-old Marquette Frye was DUI.
And here’s where beauty’s in the eye of the beholder:
Black angels with wide wings gathered in tens of thousands,
spitting out rot gut of 2nd class citizenship—
Speaking fluent Fanny Lou, in actions, “We are sick and tired of being sick and tired—“
of all the ‘routine’ bullshit harassment traffic stops, dumb-ass degrading, humiliating,
Three Stooges questions, corny B- Movie “you fit the description…” “A car like
yours…” throwaway lines, perverted frisks, planting dope and weapons, gratuitous
violence, stream of conscious ‘testi-lying,’ puttin’ cases on folks…

Not this Wednesday; not this 11th day of August; not this 65th year of the 20th century
This hump day will be the tipping point, critical mass
We control the horizontal, we control the vertical for 46 square miles

Not this Wednesday; not this 11th day of August; not this 65th year of the 20th century
We mount the world stage, sons of Malcolm, Mama Harriet’s daughters—not Slausons,
Businessmen, Gladiators, Farmers, ‘spooks,’ not niggers, or “monkeys in the zoo…”
mushroom clouds of Watts will never fit back in the bottle… Rivers of blood, oceans of tears have
Cleansed scales/washed sleep
from a
Generation of L.A. eyes…if only for 144 hours…

*34 people were killed in the L.A. August 1965 rebellion; 5 were killed in 7 1964 uprisings in, Rochester, Paterson, Jersey City, Elizabeth, Chicago, Philadelphia and NYC.
**3,438 were arrested in L.A. August 1965. There were 1,116 arrests in the 7 rebellions of 1964.

Raymond Nat Turner © 2015 All Rights Reserved

Editor's Note: Jose H. Villarreal is one of several power-FUL PNN Plantation correspondents who contribute to Poor Magazine notes from the inside, a column of planation resistors who needs your help to get justice.

Three Strikes

California's shameful legacy holding it's poor hostage, locked in a fascist visegrip without a conscious.

Dont' 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 end.

When stealing a burger gets you more time than a murder, the public deceived when the vehicles a pervert.

Using Amerika's pass time to steal oppressed lives,

The people's victory will be tripled runs not fly's.

Modern day slavery – a new plantation,

Lady liberty a waitress, and our bodies the concession.

500 years of their regurgitated scheme,

Amerika's air conditioned mightmare was never a dream.

By Jose H. Villarreal

5-1-12

Editor's Note: Jose has a new book, available at www.prisoncensorship.info/chicanopower. Please check it out

being in the mission is becoming

like a benetton ad or like living

in disneyland—no longer a place

of everyday people knowing the

the hardness of daily life and yet

creating joy and beauty

out of a myriad of struggles

instead of theater, poetry, dance, music and art

expressing the aliveness of many cultures

indoor miniature golf and outdoor bowling

are the new cultural wave and bars with

twelve dollar cocktails are ongoing frat parties

and for those hip enough—everything

is an app away—yes, there are a mix of people

who play in their new discovered land

people who look like they’re from different

parts of the globe—but not those who built

this community—the working class irish and

italians or the mexicans who have lived here for

many generations or the refugees from war torn

countries in central and south america or immigrants

from all over asia or the african americans that came

from the east and south of the usa—yes the mission

always was a rainbow—a richness in culture

but now the mission is in great danger of being

a caricature of itself—while the homogenized

cut outs from late 1980’s ads for the united

colors of benetton who all favor the color green

play a new kind of multicultural fantasy

while stealing other people’s homes and dreams.

Editors Note:Anthony Robinson Jr.  is one of several power-FUL PNN Plantation correspondents who contribute to Poor Magazine notes from the inside, a column of plantation resistors who needs your help to get justice

One of the greatest loves anyone can experience is having the ability to feel a deep clearness of concern for another person. Now I have the capacity to love myself and others and their feelings as well, in the sense of true concern. Because now I do know, it's not all about me all the time. I have to think about others too. First, I must see and value myself as a good person worthy of being loved as others love themselves and their families. Who am I? Now I'm a person who has to think of others as well as myself. Once I've made this change, then I know I was the cause of the problem dealing with other people, not them.

As I learn these programs about violence and the magnitude of impact especially with life crimes, I know there is never just one victim. I share this with my ability to understand who and how my crime affected me and affected others.

Yes, there were many people I hurt that were around me like family and friends. Being a father, a son, and a teacher of men here in prison, I now can look honestly into myself and my past actions, so I can help others as well as myself.

p.s. Do you men and women on the outside know who you are?

Decolonization Not Canonization

By Tiny Lisa Gray-Garcia/daughter of Dee, granddaughter of Mimi

The screams traveled in the wind. Some so faint you could hardly hear, some so loud you couldn’t see. A gust of hurt blew in my face as  i walked onto the oddly silent stretch of mama earth called Mission Tierra in Fremont. California. The ancestral land of the Ohlone peoples. The screams belonged to the ancestors. they always greeted me when i walked onto to these stolen spaces called Missions, that are the locations of so many decades of colonial genocide to Native people of Turtle Island. Once the screams start- they never quiet .For the last few months myself and other POOR Magazine family of poverty and indigenous skolaz have been traveling to Missions across CalifAztlan along-side 1st Nations elders and revolutionaries to address the 21st century violence of granting saint-hood to Juniperra Serra by Pope Francis.

"As an Ohlone woman who has ancestors that were enslaved at both Mission Dolores in San Francisco and Mission San Jose in Fremont I am disgusted and appalled that the Roman Catholic Church is going through with the canonization of the genocidal maniac Junipero Serra," Explained Corrina Gould, 1st Nations warrior woman leader and truth revolutionary speaking to a convening in July at Mission Tierra entitled Serra- Saint or Sinner?