THANKS

Daca

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Por Blanca

Alto al daca..............

hola soy una mujer migrante que se encuentra frustrada a raiz de esta notcia el dia de hoy un juez del estado de Texas detiene el DACA una ley que faborese a jovenes y adultos imigrantes que tienen una vida hecha en este pais que buscan el anelado sueno americano y que por personas con complejos estupidos y racismo que piensan que migran a este pais bienen a robar o a quitarles los trabajos....... Bueno espero que tengan en mente que estados unidos es una nacion formada de inmigrantes de los cuales muchos fueron y siguen siendo abusados.... MI ejemplo soy enfermera y aqui no puedo ejercer mi profecion e trabajado de mil cosas menos de lo que estudie y me gusta ser que era ayudar a las personas …....

DACA

by Blanca

Enough with DACA…

 Hello, I am a migrant woman who finds herself frustrated and the root of it is today’s news;      A judge in the state of Texas has declined the new DACA law- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This law favors youth and immigrant adults that already have it made in this country; and those in search of the aspired American dream. Because of people who have the complex issue of being stupid, racist, and think that those who migrate to this country are here to steal and take their jobs, the ruling was declined. I’ll use myself as an example: I am a nurse and I can’t practice my profession. In this country, I have worked doing thousands of things except what I studied for. I would like to be who I used to be… I would like to help people. Well, I hope that they have in mind that the United States was a nation formed by immigrants in which many were abused and still continue to be.

Translated and co-edited by Laura Cedillo

July 7, 2015

On June 17, 2015,  a white gunman identified as Dylann Roof went into the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal [A.M.E.] Church, allegedly to attend a Bible study and prayer meeting.

As soon as the prayer meeting was over he began to open fire in a massacre that killed 9 church members, including the senior pastor Clementa C. Pickney who was also a State Senator. Several others were injured in the shooting spree.

One victim tried to talk Roof out of committing this heinous act, who is alleged to have said, "You rape our women and you're taking over our country. You have to go."

Ironically the vast majority of the shooting victims were middle-aged and elderly women.

Several images of Roof have been posted online with him posing in front of a confederate flag.

Since this incident, Confederate flags have been removed from state capitols in the south faster than the spread of the flames of Sherman's army.

The history of the Confederate flag, once the battle flag of the Confederacy during the war between the states, has consistently been present in terrorist attacks on blacks after the Civil War. Its raising over Southern state capitosl has generally been viewed as a Southern act of defiance, seemingly stating, "We lost the war but we still reserve the right to treat blacks as bad as we want."

Roof is alleged to have claimed on his personal website that he intended to carry out a racist attack on blacks because of his race hatred. He is also alleged to have stated he attacked that church in particular because of the work it had done to register voters during the Civil Rights Movement. According to witnesses he specifically asked to speak with Pastor Pickney, which would suggest his killing spree was premeditated.

A.M.E. Churches in general are the oldest known black Christian churches in the country, established when blacks were finally allowed to openly worship during the time of slavery. Prior to this, blacks were not allowed to worship in any religious or spiritual ceremonies nor gather publicly together, and of course weren't allowed to worship alongside whites.

Image: The Mississippi state flag, complete with symbol of terror

Dylann Roof is not the first ameriklan that rolls with this kind of hateful belief towards blacks. The terrorizing of Black people by whites is deeply rooted into this country. The slap in the face regarding this situation was how society sat in awe as if this was the first time that a white man in amerikkka had committed an act of terrorism, the part that has me in awe is that no one really looks at the war against blacks and other peoples of color as an act of terrorism. Matter of fact particularly in amerikkka, the slaughter of the black man and woman was advertised in newspapers and celebrated in the form of picnics aka "pick a nigger" and certain body parts were cut off and kept as souvenirs, some even were sent to political figures as gifts. In this country "nigger barbeques" was a  spectacular event one dared not miss! The act of terrorism disguised as festivities, imagine that!

It was a way of life- the declaration of genocide upon the "savage" Natives and the Black "beasts" all in the name of so-called pure white savagery, posing as missionaries. Not only was this an act of terrorism, but another failed attempt by the wicked ones to crush our spirits by infiltrating and crossing the threshold into "God and Mother Nature's sacred spaces", and boastfully taunting "where is your God now?!?" After the terrorist act in South Carolina, it is safe to say that the same old tactics are still being used.

It is not possible for a nation to fully and truly move on from the travesties of the past without healing and retribution. How can we say that Amerikkka has improved far as her attitude towards the stolen Africans that were brought here by force when our people, still in 2015 are being subjected to the same practices of discrimination and murder?

You cannot force the sons and daughters of the confederacy to love Black people or anyone else for that matter by taking away their flags. Racist and hurtful as it is nonetheless the confederate flag is a part of a bloody history that should not be swept under the rug as if this part of history never existed. To do so means that the legacies of the masses of people who lost their lives "in the name" of the confederate flag would also be forgotten.

DYLANN ROOF'S TIRADE AND DISUNIFICATION
Roof's tirade of how he is tired of blacks committing crimes against whites that goes unpunished sounds like the same, weak excuse that klansmen have always used to justify the lynchings/murders of Black people- the typical platform of the oppressed white man. Complaining and blaming others for his own inaccuracies, that INFERIOR way of thinking has cost a whole nation its true existence and made the ameriklan look like a hero.

More disunity? There are Black people who are beautiful, humble, forgiving souls despite the hell they continue to catch on a daily, and there are black folks who are beautiful, enraged and unyielding and ready to "go there". Disagreement seems to always be the stubborn barrier that keeps us divided therefore we take our eyes off the prize of who and what the agenda is because we are too busy at each other's throats thus stagnating our own struggle but will accept an outsider to come up with solutions for us.

When an amerikkklan opens fire on a group of humble churchgoers, why isn't that considered as an act of terrorism?
 POOR MAGAZINE'S Tiny says it best that this amerikkkan terrorist is "a perfect candidate for guantanamo bay" Was Senior pastor/Senator Clementa Pinckney's work and accomplishments  a threat to the Amerikkklan way and the whole thing was a set-up from the gate?
The movie "Ghosts of Mississippi" was playing on my television while I sat in a daze with tears flowing trying to understand why are we still going through the same hells of yesterday? Why are we still being terrorized by dullusional racist whytes who for some reason feel as if we are inferior gun-toting, 8ball drinking slavemassa-worshipping beast with a lesser value of life? And the real terror is that the laws of the land is designed to ensure that Blacks and other people's of color and indigenous backgrounds. But no one has ever heard of an amerikkkan terrorist, at least no one will admit it.

MI HISTORIA...

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Bueno parte de mi historia .

ERNESTO .El nombre que eligieron mis padres,

cuando naci eso hace ya mas de 52 años.

Ahora tengo un nombre espiritual que es YEI CIPACTLI en LENGUA NAHUATL

SIGNIFICA 3 COCODRILO, el # 3 YEI significa : CREACION

Y COCODRILO : donde se origino la vida y que emergio del agua yen su espalda traia los 4

colores del maiz.

Mi motivo principal de estar aqui, fue la noticia de que un bebe estaba en camino y seria el nuevo

mienbro de la famila MI SOBRINO FRANK.

Ahora eso ya hace mas de 13 años y aqui estamos luchando siempre hacia adelante todos los

dias acompañando a este guerrero que sigue sobre el caminorojo en cada ceremonia donde se

hace presente en cada ceremonia como fundador del CALPULLI COATLICUE de danza

GUERRERA todos los lunes en HACIENDA PERALTA HISTORICAL PARK OAKLAND CA

94601.

TLAZO CAMATLI......OMETEOTL !!.

My Story…

Okay, part of my story.

Ernesto. This is the name my parents chose for me when I was born more than 52 years ago. Today, I have a spiritual name: Yei Cipactli in the nahuatl language. It signifies 3 crocodile; the number 3 means creation. Crocodile means: Where life originated and emerged from the water on the back of a crocodile that carried the 4 colors of corn.

    My principal reason for coming to the country was the news that a new baby was on the way and would be a new member to our family: my nephew, Frank. That was more than 13 years ago and here we are; still pushing forward, accompanying this warrior who follows the red road from ceremony to ceremony where he presents himself as the founder of Calpulli Coatlicue, of Danza Guerrera (Warrior Dancing) every Monday at the Hacienda Peralta Historical Park in Oakland, California.

Tlazo Kamatli (Thank you), Ometeotl.

Translated and co-edited by Laura Cedillo

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?

Editors Note:Timothy Yeargin 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

I ask this because we serve life sentences and have left our children and teens do for themselves.

Some of us don't like the way other people raise our teens now, but you and I are left out of the job that was ours. We are upset because our sons or daughters took on another person as their idol because we were not there.

Now, I ask why you always do what he says. I am your father. Why don't you listen to me? Our young teens will say to us, “Who left?” Dad, who are you? Because you were never around, I talked to my uncle and my stepfather about life and what I wanted to be.

They were my idols growing up and also some of my friends' fathers and mothers. Now you come into my life asking me who who are they to teach me because that's your job! Dad, you let us and mom down.

Now, my brothers want to know who you are and where you have been. I ask again, who are you? If you know who you are, take time to love and understand your children. Care for them and talk to them too.

I come to you in concern for all prisoners that are locked up and trying to do something better with their lives, so that we can get back into society. We have a lot of inmates here in prison that have families out there trying to do their best.

Here at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison we are trying to start a young men's awareness group dealing with insight into criminal behavior, etc. Since we are a group of older fathers in prison we do need help from the public. We do need volunteers to serve as mentors for men who want to change their lives so they can be better fathers. This program needs to be here. Some fathers in here are really hurting and don't know how to let it out. This is why when society hears about fathers behind bars many people on the outside can say this program is helping our young fathers to learn to avoid violence.

Our young men need help and our children too, so will you please hear our cry so all of us can save our children. To help our young men, it takes all of us. It has to be something that we in here can use or feel that hits us hard at home, so we fathers can look at ourselves with more pride and dignity. As we lift up one another we lift up ourselves.

Help us to look out for our young children and young men out there.

(photo of Nate Wilks family by Tony Robles/PoorNewsNetwork)

“He was a loving young father, he was sharp, he was respectful to everyone and loved by his family he loved life, he had that New York swag, this killing has to stop,” Jasmine, one of several loving family members of 27 year old Nathaniel Wilkins, cried out to the crowd of over 110 people who billowed out of the tiny corner at 27th and Martin Luther King Bl in North Oakland to hold space for another Afrikan Mamaz sun, a young father and brother stolen from us all by the Po’Lice.

On August 12, 2015, Nathaniel Wilks, 27, born August 26th in New York city and father to a tiny beautiful baby girl named Kai’Lei was fatally shot in the back of his head as he slowed down with his hands up, back to the pigs, saying, "OK OK OK".  His girlfriends family and community resides in Hunters Point district of San Francisco.

“This is 4th shooting of a black man in Oakland this year, and justice still hasn’t been served for any of them.” Cat Brooks, leader with Onyx and Anti-Police Terror Project stated after launching the day with the pouring of libations for ancestors lost to amerikkklan violence. Cat chronicled the last 72 hours of Oakland Po’Lice lies, “We talked to 12 witnesses within the hour of the police murder and one thing that was a constant in each person’s account was that this young man was running away, his back was to the cops and they still shot him,”  Cat went on to paraphrase the gentrifier Mayor Shaaf’s assertion that this ( Nate’s murder) was ok because he was “suspected” of a crime.
 
The huge crowd that gathered on Friday, BlackAugust 14th at the Po’Lice murder scene at 27th & MLK where bullit holes had penetrated the gray fence behind us were directed to just “hold space” and it seemed that the crowd which grew with every minute, could not do much more. Our collective hearts were too heavy to keep in our chests. For me It was not just a murder of another young sun but the outright and almost arrogant way that these 21st century slave-catchers and stolen land protectors are picking off our people. African peoples, Native Peoples, Poor peoples are being killed by both private and governmental agents of the amerikkklan state with impunity. Extra-judicial killing as comrade and fellow truth warrior Jeremy Miller from Idriss Stelly Foundation called it

It seems like we were just at the protest for young brother, Demourria Hogg a few months back killed for sleeping while black in amerikkklan and then less than a month ago Richard Linyard after being chased down by Oakland police and killed. The flagrantly bullshit filled statements by Po’Lice and their enablers, kkkorporate media stated that he ran after being stopped and then the police found him already dead “wedged between two structures”.  Po’LICE telling his family that he died from choking on vomit. which to all of us who have seen these lies before know sounds like bullshit, as revolutionary soldier and mama of murdered African sun Idriss Stelley stated on the Facebook page Justice4Richard.

“How is it a lawyer for the Po”lice Officers Association (POA) came out within 24 hours with an autopsy for Nate and was speaking on behalf of the police?  an elder brother spoke on the weird cover-up that is already gathering around the Nate Wilks case. “Something isn’t right” he concluded.

“This family needs an independent autopsy, this is one of the only ways we will get justice, “ Cat Brooks concluded.

“We are here for justice, not just for our family, but for everyone, please help us get justice for us all.” the powerful words of Nates girlfriend Chemika whispered to the crowd while holding our future, little Kai’lei.

For more information go to the facebook page Justice 4 Nate Wilks page. To donate to the family for funeral expenses and to get an independent autopsy go to http://www.gofundme.com/justice4natewilks