2015

I recently read the text of author David Talbot’s speech, “Don’t be a Stanford Asshole” (http://48hillsonline.org/2015/01/26/dont-stanford-asshole/) in which he connects the dots between San Francisco and Silicon Valley.  He spoke of the incestuous relationship between tech and politics and how the tandem workings of both have caused both positive and insidious consequences to the city of my birth and across the globe.  As impassioned as Talbot’s speech was, I was in somewhat of a quandary.  Was he speaking to me, or was he speaking to those who arrived in San Francisco in the last 15 or so years, survivors of the first dot-com boom?  Mind you, as a native born San Franciscan, I have become accustomed to being talked over, looked over and unconsidered.  I do not suggest that Talbot was ignoring born and raised San Franciscans like myself, but being someone born and raised in the city, we often occupy a gray area in which we ask ourselves—when a narrative about the city is explored or expounded—is this narrative reflective of my experience, my history, my skin, my roots?  Or is it a reflection of those who have arrived in recent years, who have benefited from my culture—that is, my San Francisco and or/ethnic culture—and the beauty that goes with it, while I—and other native-borns-- have not benefited to the same degree.  It is to question your visibility, your voice, your presence.  It is to ask yourself, do I even exist? To be a born and raised San Franciscan, particularly one of color, is to be invisible, to receive a cursory sideways glance that suggests the question: Oh, you live here too?   It is to exist but not be acknowledged. It is to be seen as a hindrance, an eyesore, grudgingly accepted as part of the landscape that is far too nice and picturesque and valuable for you to inhabit—despite your generations as part of the landscape—especially if you’re black.  To be a native born San Franciscan is to be disrespected; it is putting up with the whimsical, often obnoxious hordes that flock here, planting seeds imported from elsewhere without regards for the roots already here.  This phenomenon prompted the late Manilatown poet Al Robles, who was a native San Franciscan and one of the primary fighters in the I-Hotel struggle for housing rights of seniors and all people, to pose this question

Who is to say the

Weeds are not the roots?

Who is to say the

Roots are not the weeds?

Of course, Robles was speaking of the community whose voices were silenced—working class communities of color who Justin Herman, Ben Swig and their descendants saw as hindrances and blight; communities in need of revitalization, a word that is used in the current iteration of the city.  Our communities were black, brown, red, yellow and working class/poor white.  It was multicultural before that word became fashionable.  It was mestizo and mestiza.  It was hapa before hapa knew what hapa was; before some genius mixed rice, spam and seaweed and gave it a name.  We had a vibe, a way of speaking, a way of walking that was the city—part black, part brown, part yellow—a vibe that was Frisco.  Now, I know there are those who decry the use of that word.  But Frisco represents what isn’t seen in the cutesy postcards from Walgreens.  Frisco is everything you don’t want to see, it’s the city that the tech billionaires, the Mayor, the minions etc. don’t want you to remember.  It’s the built up grease in the pots and pans of an abuelita’s kitchen, it’s the southern tongue whose stories speak in the TL, it’s the Filipino World War II Veteranos in SOMA whose lives are written in their faces and are spoken in a silence that make the fog horns seem like a whisper.  With such richness of culture, who needs the fuzzy 20-something blue-eyed blond, fresh out of the peace corps, to tell us what life’s about?

The San Francisco I grew up with, the culture I came to know by being bathed in it and by tasting its dirt is dying at the hands of another culture—that of deletion.  One by one—communities, lives, homes—are deleted with as much forethought as pushing a button or clicking a mouse.  And what better metaphor for the concept of deletion than the tech apparatuses that are abound—encroaching on every aspect of our lives in the name of convenience—but whose convenience?  The tech industry has carved its reality into the city, its presence felt in every crevice—from the gentrification induced murder of Alex Nieto to born and raised San Francisco kids having to duel a group of entitled, obnoxious tech boys over who gets to play (or pay) in the playground.  The kids—and I don’t refer to the young folks who stood their ground at the Mission Playground—the tech kids (it would be disingenuous to refer to them as men or adults) who have no reflection, no respect, no regard, and no foresight—have taken over.  Their values are quickly becoming the rule in San Francisco—and the city is going to hell—not in a hand basket—but in an app. 

It is these smug, so-called clever—what Talbot’s speech referred to as assholes—that are laughing, drinking, smirking, taking more than their share—at our expense, laughing in our faces, so self-assured in their genius, sauntering to the bank while the rest of us subsidize them and their self-centered frat boy obnoxiousness.  I’m tired of the bullshit, are you?  The city has rolled out the red carpet for tech priests and priestesses but that carpet is stained with the blood of eviction and removal; it is stained with the shoeprints of arrogance and a lack of grace, manners, tact, dignity or respect.  It is stained with the blood of our elders that are being preyed upon daily by real estate speculators, real estate agents and their appendages whose only work is destruction of people and communities.  It is being destroyed by 20-something tech millionaire idiots who want the world to believe that they are about a “sharing economy”.  To them I pose the question: Why haven’t your “sharing” hordes offered housing to the victims of the Mission street apartment fire that left many elder and families homeless?  We native born San Franciscans know the answer (and you don’t have to be a native born to know this).  The answer is that they don’t care, they only care about their own particular class or kind.  What they want is a tailor made San Francisco exclusively for them, complete with artisan this and that, windows painfully buffed to a shine while dinky little cupcakes await in quaint display cases—equally buffed.  They want community alright, a golden gated community.  They want their own private Disneyland on their terms.  And the Greg Gopmans and Peter Shihs who come dripping of entitlement articulate an attitude that has become clear without words.  But Gopman, Shih and those of similar ilk, I ask, did you earn the right to speak disparagingly of my hometown, a place you have helped to destroy?  Make no mistake, the city is dying.  It may look alive on the surface with cranes and buildings stabbing into the skyline, but it is a wrinkled postcard with a facelift, a world class city reduced to an app.

The impending earthquake that is sure to hit San Francisco is spoken of with a tone—from some—that appears to welcome that event.  But to me and many other born and raised San Franciscans (particularly of color), the earthquake has already happened.  When the real one comes it will be a mere afterthought, a whimper compared to the evictions and the effects they have had on the health of seniors, the disabled, on the families who are now without housing.  And yet, the mayor acts as if these things haven’t happened.

Yesterday was the birthday of my uncle, the late Al Robles, who spent much of his life fighting for the rights of elder tenants in Manilatown and the International Hotel.  As current board president of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation, I am disgusted by what has been allowed to happen to seniors and communities of color in the city—a city that bends over backwards catering to and coddling entitled tech idiot millionaires, real estate speculators, the owners of big boats and those who profess to share but share nothing, contribute nothing. 

The mayor recently spoke of the I-Hotel struggle at a gathering of a Filipino community center that has served the community for many years. From what I understand, he was once a tenant lawyer. 

What happened to him?  What happened to my city?

“The families homelessness has nothing to do with the Housing Authority, we couldn’t help what the landlord did.” I listened as the Housing Authority of Monterey County supervisor rattled off a long list of reasons that they  thought released their agency from any responsibility for the crisis of Bessie Taylor and her disabled sun Devonte who are now living houselessly in Salinas, California because the Housing Authority took too long to move on the families reasonable accommodation claim and they subsequently lost their home of 22 years.

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act protects you from illegal discrimination and harassment in housing based on a mental or physical disability. Discrimination includes, but is not limited to, the following actions failure to provide reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices, or procedures when necessary to afford a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, read at the Press conference by Krip Hop Nation/POOR Magazine reporter Leroy Moore.

After being contacted by the Taylor family and their revolutionary advocate Pamela Weston POOR Magazine youth and adult poverty skolaz held an emegerncy Black History Month press conference and rally for the Taylor family and all Black and Brown families with disabled children struggling in Monterey county with endless poverty “industry” pimping, racism, classism and ableism.

“There are so many homeless people in Monterey County, said Jamellah, Bessie’s beautiful, strong hearted, adult daughter explained to me as we walked through the brush-stroked painting that is downtown Salinas, “Its really cause the rent is so high here and there is no rent control,” she concluded.

No rent control, old-school scarcity model poverty pimps, racist klan agri-business run city hall, anti-poor people laws that criminalize, harass and arrest poor people and ableist laws that don’t protect disabled peoples at all. This is Salinas. This is Monterey County. This is most of what i affectionately call Amerikkklan. And more and more poor, Black, Brown, disabled families and elders across this stolen indigenous land are in a serious crisis. 

From Salinas to San Francisco the rich white people (created) laws protect the rich white poeple class or “stolen indigenous land” class  (i.e., landlords) so much so that in places  like Monterey County they have managed to twist and turn the laws so insanely that they have made the city exempt form rent control???

“This city does not treat  poor families, peoples of color right, it never has,” conscious servant of the peoples and city council member Jose Castaneda narrated our 6 minute journey from the oddly clean, boutique downtown of Salinas into a tiny area known since the Steinbeck days as “Chinatown”.

Tents, lean-tos, cardboard boxes and abandoned couches butted up against sleeping bags, plastic bags, suitcases, shopping carts and the scattered belongings of peoples who once had a home. And then i saw it, the part that always pierces my already broken heart, baby strollers, coloring books, and half-broken toddler toys, remnants of houseless children, a silent statistic lost in the vortex of greed, profit and earnings off of the fake notion of “owning” land.

I was houseless with my mama for most of my childhood across this state. Ended up sleeping in our car when we had one and on the street when there was no room in shelters or money to rent a motel. This trauma haunts me to this day and often renders me speechless when i witness children and families living like me and my mama did for so long. We were houseless cause my mama was disabled and as an orphan, an unwanted child  of color in Amerikkklan, severely abused and tortured as a child in racist foster homes and orphanages. So much of what she went through had everything to do with US scarcity models, white-supremacy and the criminalization of poor mothers, I eventually did “time” for the poverty crime of houselessness. These are the roots and the real of everything we work on at POOR Magazine as fellow poor, disabled, indigenous peoples of color in resistance.

After the rally and press conference our crew of conscious youth from Decolonize Academy, the school we landless peoples at POOR Magazine started in conjunction with Homefulness- ( a poor people-led solution to Houselessness) and reporters Queenandi,Leroy Moore, also with Krip Hop Nation and POOR and migrant poverty skola Muteado SIlencio and myself accompanied the family to Assemblyman Alejo’s office to try to get some justice for the family.After the original meeting our youth skolaz and I  went to Dorothy’s Kitchen, a free lunch in the middle of Chinatown which is where we witnessed the violence of poverty this town wages against its poor.

“Several times a year the City does sweeps of this area, arresting people, throwing away belongings and tents and completely dismantling this community, “ Jose explained pointing toward the several lines of tents and peoples crammed into a five block long area with an odd prison like boundary. The same exact scene i have witnessed, lived in and fought against in Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland and Phoenix, Arizona, the latter being a scandal perpetrated and set-up by none other than Migrant hater Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona

After we are displaced and gentrified..
Generations of exploitation and colonization. Beginning with the original displacement and genocide by colonizers and missionaries of 1st Nations peoples there followed generations of ablism, shame, classism, false borders, and wite-supreamcist kkkourts have led to shanty town after shanty town from Sacramento to San Francisco. After we are evicted and displaced, we are hiding under bus shelters, doorways and in cars, arrested for sleeping, standing, being alive while poor, disabled, Black and Brown. While i was writing this article i received four calls from families and elders facing unlawful, gentrification-fueled evictions in San Francisco and Oakland. In every case, people cried, “ Where will we go?”

After Jose and I drove around the corner leaving the tragedy of “Chinatown” we had the surreal experience of going to the John Steinbeck museum only to learn how Steinbeck chronicled the ways in which poor white people who were refugess from the Dust Bowl and the depression-era banksters had been violated and abused, by the rich white land-owners of the Salinas valley. Ironically, the same rich white land-owners seem to run the town now.  The “Monster” as the companies were called by, Tom Joad from Grapes of Wrath who exploited poor people then are acting the same now - except now the monster has expanded to include housing developers and slum-lords who charge exorbitant rent from the poor, migrant and very poor people who go there to work in the fields and face abusive work conditions. At the same time the city and county arrests peoples for being homeless and criminalizes families for being poor. Except now it seems worse, Now we have gentrification and a new class of rich peoples who have been born and bred in killer kkkaptilaism to care for no-one but themselves and their own self-centered “success”. coupled with the intentional leeching of the few resources aka public housing and section 8 programs as WeSearched by Western Regional Advocacy Program (WRAP) over the last several years.

So many Settler-colonial lies, so little time….
The surrealist part is the people who clearly seem to understand the indecency against the Oakies” described so eloquently by Steinbeck in Grapes of Wrath don’t see the 21st century oakies, dont see them or perhaps don’t want to see them They are right there, right under their nose. two blocks away from the  john steinbeck museum.This is where the settler-colonial, racism comes in as well as the US style Scarcity models that the welfareQUEEN’s project of POOR Magazine uncovered over our 4 years of WeSearch and lived investigation. Who are the deserving versus undeserving poor?  Perhaps in their settler - colonial minds the “Oakies” were the “good” poor people, aka white, previous homeowners, workers,  and therefore somehow they were “different” poor people. But the reality is that generations of capitalist exploitation, white-supremacist laws, budget cuts, hate and greed has rendered people sick, destroyed,, isolated, abused, addicted and disabled. And then add in the extra-judicial killing of Brown men and you have the covert and overt racism of most of this stolen 1st Nations Costonoan Ohlone/Esslen/Salinian territory.

POOR Magazine was first introduced to our poor brothers and sisters of Salinas when author and poet Luis J Rodriguez who ran for Governor of California in 2014 launched the California Network of Revolutionary Change and held the first convening in Salinas, California focused on the police killing of that town. Last year alone there were almost 5 Po’Lice killings of brown men, fathers suns, hard-workers, killed for the sole act of being brown in this covertly racist town that pretends to be conscious.

“We have to do for ourselves, we can’t keep relying on others do “fix” our communities when they never do,”said a powerful African-American Pastor Carrie Silas,  who attended the press conference  summing up the revolution of self-determination that we live by at POOR Magazine. Its why we took back stolen indigenous land in Deep East Oakland and are working to build homefulness. Its what we hope we can help other poor communities across Mama Earth to begin building without the lie of philanthro-pimping and government infiltration.

“My home since i was a baby is gone, now we have nowhere to live,” Devonte spoke for his family, and all of the Black and Brown and Disabled families fighting for justice everyday in Amerikkka.Now we all need to fight for Devonte and his family.

POOR has been collecting donations for the Taylor family and has managed to help them stay in a motel for over a month. if you want to donate to the GoFUndMe campaign pls click here. We are also seeking an attorney to advocate for the family against the Housing Authority. and finally for a landlord willing to rent to the family who is still on Section 8.please contact POOR Magazine at poormag@gmail.com or call 510-435-7500   
 

There are no words for how sad i am about the loss of sister Yuvette, killed by Emeryville pigs on February 3rd with war-style weapons  which is why i needed to write this story.

Tragically,  there are many Yuvette Hendersons and other poor , criminalized mamas and daddys like her and me living precariously on the margins of what sister Tiny calls Gentryville (Emeryville) much of which used to be a larger West Oakland until realtors realized they could sell more over-priced apartments and condos to young rich white people if they called it Emeryville.  Now all of our poor, black and brown bodies are in even more danger.
 

We are all profiled for shopping, walking, living while Black and Po’ in Gentryville. When we go into Home Depot or Starbucks, Office Depot or even the parking lot . There is always a possibility that we will be followed by a security guard, asked to leave or escorted off the “property”

Since the Dot-com boom of 1999 and increasing every year since, this neighborhood where many of us were born or have lived for years has become dangerous to our health. If any of us sit, stand, chill or park in the nearby park or leave our shopping carts, belongings or cars near the freeway overpass, they are always at-risk of being seized, towed or confiscated.

I can’t tell you how many times i have been followed by “loss prevention” agents out of Home Depot because i allegedly “stole” something when all i was doing was trying to use the bathroom. Questioned by pigs just for standing in front of Starbucks. Had all of my cans confiscated just for pushing my shopping cart past the great white wall of Hollis when it morphs into Gentryville

These are the hazards of being poor, houseless and of color in neighborhoods that used to be ours and now belong to whiter, richer people. Before I lived in West Oakland homelessly i lived in a home our family had lived in for 15 years until we lost it because the owner sold it to a housing developer for 3 times the amount he paid for it.
 

At POOR Magazine we always say eviction is death and gentrification is genocide. These are harsh terms but they are true, What ever happens to us peoples once we are outside. Either we are endlessly harassed, our bodies and lives are surveilled and/ or arrested andor we end up in prison.

Marilyn X is a Poverty skola reporter with POOR Magazine who is a houseless resident of West Oakland. There will be a vigil and march for Yuvette this Sunday, April 12th at 3pm- at Extra Space Storage 3406 Hollis St Emeryville, CA 94608

It is no secret that San Francisco is the third most expensive city in the world to live in.

For poor folks we must come up with creative and sometimes tried and true methods of survival when often 2/3 or more of our monthly income goes to rent.

One such methods for many is relying on local soup kitchens or food pantries to get staples and components of meals if not entire meals.

Recently after standing in a long line at Jones memorial Church on Post st, where people often argue and attempt to cut others in line, I made a very awful discovery. I received many fresh fruits vegetables as well as several other odds and ends I also received a pack of frozen chicken.

I brought all of my groceries home immediately and refrigerated everything that needed to be including the chicken so it would thaw.

This occurred on a Saturday morning.

Monday afternoon after taking the now thawed chicken out of the refrigerator so I could wash and prepare it I noticed that the blood was not red but brown !

I thoroughly washed it and upon further inspection I noticed the awful odor of rotting flesh and noticed the odd color of the chicken and was so appalled I immediately threw it away.

I looked up the number of the food bank and attempted to contact the appropriate party or department.

As the pre-recorded message indicated and was not able to get through. After being so disgusted I did not bother attending the food pantry the following Saturday.

This is a serious issue especially during flu and cold season where somebody who’s sense of smell could be compromised especially a person with a otherwise compromised immune system as this could have literally killed them !

California: For Rich People ONLY???

1st Nations, Black, Brown & Poor peoples across the state resist the Apartheid state of Displacement, Po'Lice Terror, False Borders and Plantation Prisons

Is Cali4Rich People Only-dont b fooled-  they want you in jail, the ground or dead homey... before the colonizers came we loved our mama earth- but then they came to steal everything using jesus name & calling themselves Holy- now they  come wit eviction papers , handcuffs and legislations cuz they want Cali for rich peoples only...Po Poets Project/Poetas Pobres

"After being evicted out of her home and community of over 40 years, my mama not only lost her job, she lost hope and became sick,," said Stevie A, the sun of a very low-income domestic laborer. whose entire five generations of family were displaced from San Francisco, He noted that his family which included young children and elders not only lost their life-long home, but the adult members of the working class family lost their jobs and the children lost their community and schools which ultimately resulted in the young men of the family being racially profiled and incarcerated

"My children were traumatized by our eviction. Our family never recovered," Sabrina, a mother of three spoke about losing her family to the eviction and criminalization of her family due to eviction from their now-privatized/gentrified no longer public housing in San Francisco.

"My sun Josiah cries for his father everyday," said his mother Laurie Valdez whose husband Antonio Lopez was shot in February of 2014 for doing nothing by San Jose Po'Lice dept in an act of po'Lice terror just like Mike Brown of Ferguson, Ezell Ford and "Africa" of LA, and Alex Nieto of San Francisco and so many Black, Brown and Po peoples across this stolen indigenous territory from Salinas to Oakland to San Francisco. 

Police terrorized, displacement victims Stevie, Sabrina, Laurie and Josiah are just a few of thousands of families, elders and babies across the state who are under attack by the concerted forces of gentrification and removal by the wite-supremacist nation who would like to remove us all. From Po'Lice Terror to  the acts of elder and child abuse caused by eviction to the endless building of prisons and militarizing of these colonizer created borders leaves us all asking who is this shiny state being built for?

From the original settler colonizers bringing their false borders, slave-catchers (po"lice), paper and mind-stealing poison (alcohol) to steal, rape and pillage mother earth and her earth people to current day 21st century gentryTEchNation, the corporations/speculators and their state agents displacing, incarcerating and/or killing every poor and working person they get, the time has come  to name the obvious; California's Indigenous, Black, Brown, Poor and Working class peoples are undergoing the final and most deadly colonial removal project so California can become a state for Rich People Only.

Like  previous apartheid/colonization removal projects throughout herstory from the Congo to South Africa to West Papua to the 1st theft by colonizers of Turtle Island, they always involve covert and overt genocide,  extra-judicial killings of the indigenous peoples of the land, the workers, and the children. All of these acts of genocide and removal are rooted in the theft of resources from ancestral lands of the indigenous peoples and the ongoing destruction of Mama Earth and Mama Ocean.

From LA to Oakland, from Salinas to San Francisco 1st Nations, Black, Brown,Disabled and Po peoples are resisting this Removal project. We are taking back our civil and human rights, our ancestral lands and saying NO we will not be moved.

Join IdleNoMore LA, California Network of Revolutionary Change, POOR Magazine, The Manilatown Heritage Foundation, Idriss Stelly Foundation, Our Mission No Eviction,OCNC (Oceania Coalition of Northern California), Justice For Josiah, Justice For Mario Romero and many more on May 1st across California as we put forth clear demands which include moratoriums on evictions,  continuing to pressure District Attornies across the state to convict Ellis Act using real estate snakes with Elde and child abuse, to launch  an immediate moratorium on more rich people housing devil-opment by speculators, to institute the Homeless Bill of Rights, to support peoples investigations into po'Lice murders and resist the amerikkklan lie of security (Po'Lice)  and much more.

In Oakland we will be at 1225 Fallon, eviction and foreclosure kkkourt In San Francisco we will be returning at 10am to the District Attorneys office to demand they convect real estate snakkes of elder and child abuse for these evictions violent impact on our children and elders and moving onto the SF City Hall to support the "Mission Takes City Hall" action. In Salinas and Los Angeles we will be at their local City Halls, In Vallejo and San Jose we will be at their Po'Lice departments. If you are from another city and want to sign on to do an press conference and/or action email us at poormag@gmail.com or call 510-435-7500 .

Schedule So far- (More Cities Soon to Come)
Thurs, May 7th
-Oakland Eviction kkkort 1225 Fallon st - 12noon
-Salinas City Hall - Time TBA
-Los Angeles City Hall - 12 noon

Fri, May 8th -
10am-SF DIstrict Atty Office to bring Elder & Child Abuse Charges against speculators- 850 Bryant SF
12noon Fri, May 8th SF CIty Hall/CIty Atty Office in support of "The Mission Takes CIty Hall"  action
Vallejo Po'Lice Dept- Time TBA
San Jose CIty Hall- Time TBA
Santa Barbara City Hall- Time TBA

In recent months The San Francisco health department has alerted many San Francisco free food service entities such as soup kitchens of a potentially lethal infectious disease known as Shigella.

Shigella is an oral fecal disease that is initially caused by ingesting human fecal matter, and is generally spread when the infected stool is spread to others who ingest it.

Generally there are 10 -20 cases of it per year, however as early as December of last year rates have shot up to 100.

Numbers have been cut in half since January and are hoped to continue to decline even more in the upcoming months. Symptoms of Shigella include vomiting and continuous painful diarrhea.

The number of cases of Shigella are believed to have dropped due to the diligence of soup kitchen volunteers and workers at various locations throughout the city such as Martin De Porres house of hospitality, taking the following proactive steps.

Such measures as not allowing clients self service for such items as bread and water by handing each client bread with tongs, pre pouring water in individual cups and providing individual packets of salt and pepper as well as prepackaged plastic eating utensils, providing clients with information about Shigella and encouraging them to wash their hands with warm soapy water, which has always been a policy and proves to be one of the most effective ways of combating this dreaded illness.

Other San Francisco soup kitchens such as Mother Brown’s in Bayview Hunter point area require clients to wash and dry their hands before participating in a meal.

Is it a crime to be poor in Downtown Berkeley??

As someone who experienced houselessness in the East Bay over ten years ago, I cannot imagine having local punitive laws making it illegal for me being poor in certain areas of a city like the ones that the City of Berkeley are trying to impose on houseless communities in Downtown Berkeley. The Downtown Berkeley Association is thinking that they can literally ‘sweep away’ houseless people out of the downtown area just because they are poor. This attempt of exterminating poor houseless communities out of Downtown Berkeley is being spearheaded by the Downtown Business Association of Berkeley (DBA), chaired by a Berkeley resident who doesn’t even own a business in Downtown Berkeley and lacks empathy for poor houseless communities period.

Currently, the DBA is proposing the implementation of draconian local ‘pauper laws’ against houseless communities in Downtown Berkeley, attempting to seek support from the Mayor of Berkeley and the Berkeley City Council. The proposed laws include; not being able to panhandle within ten feet of a parking pay station, placing any objects within three feet from a tree well, using any type of bedding or blankets on the sidewalks between 7am and 10pm, attaching objects to public fixtures and unpermitted cooking on sidewalks or in the plaza area.

On March 18, 2015, there was a march and rally held against the proposal of these draconian laws which were set on the Berkeley City Council’s meeting agenda for consideration. These proposed laws moved forward in secret with zero input from the City of Berkeley’s own Homeless Commission, or any of the local Berkeley homeless program providers. People with actual knowledge about homelessness were locked out of the secret process of formulating these laws. Unfortunately, the Berkeley Mayor and the majority of the Berkeley City Council voted ‘in favor’ of allowing the proposal of these laws to be considered and the laws are now being reviewed by the City Manager and the City Attorney. The laws will come back to the City Council for their approval.

As someone who diligently worked on the ‘No on Measure S’ campaign in Berkeley during the 2012 election season against Measure S (which would have outlawed sitting on the sidewalks of Berkeley), I feel that this recent proposal against poor and homeless communities in Berkeley is a direct retaliatory act as Measure S did not pass. Just like Measure S in 2012, these new laws are proposed by the DBA in an attempt to criminalize poor communities from having the ability to sit and rest in public space. The DBA has met with City Council members repeatedly since Measure S failed to try to get another anti-homeless set of laws passed, despite the will of Berkeley voters. The DBA will not be happy until they can “disappear” all poor people from downtown Berkeley.

At the same time that all of this anti-homeless work is being done by the DBA, two of its staff “ambassadors” were caught on camera brutally assaulting two homeless men who were temporarily resting behind a building after recycling for cans and bottles. These same “ambassadors” then filed a false police report against the homeless men that they had just assaulted, and the Berkeley Police arrested the two men shortly after the assault. The two homeless men were arrested and taken to jail for the weekend. Each of them pled guilty to the charges in order to get out of jail. After reviewing a videotape of the “ambassadors” beating the two homeless ment, the District Attorney dropped all the charges against the two men and made a factual finding of innocence. To see the video go to: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/berkeley-ambassador-caught-came...

This DBA sponsored, Downtown Berkeley Ambassador is a source of misery and harassment for homeless people in downtown Berkeley. The “ambassadors” are paid by DBA to clean up, and to get homeless people to “move along”. They are in steady communication with the Berkeley Police Department, and often call the police when they witness homeless people who are seated outside businesses. The ambassadors are low-paid workers who are hired to enforce economic segregation and “clean up” downtown. While the DBA would say that ambassadors help get homeless people into services, ambassadors are an arm of enforcement and not assistance. The DBA is concerned about planters, benches, new public art ( huge pricey art sculpture of a huge metal grizzly bear who is about to step into a bear trap instead), and having the “right” people in the neighborhood.

As Dan McMullan, a longtime Berkeley resident who was formerly houseless in Berkeley for many years, stated, “The bear is about to step in the trap, what does that tell you? The same people (these Ambassadors of Downtown Berkeley) beat up those people in the alley in that video, because they were trapped…so they got a trap for you if you if you are poor and homeless in Downtown Berkeley.” Dan spoke at the Interfaith Action in Solidarity with Homeless People held on April 9, 2015 in Downtown Berkeley where many local Berkeley community members and local community members of faith slept out overnight on the street with the homeless community on the streets of Downtown Berkeley

It is easy for the DBA to target the most vulnerable community, than face the truth about the over-priced rent costs and economic disparity that greatly divides communities. Demonizing the poor is a handy smokescreen hiding the reality that many struggle to live through each day. Turning Downtown Berkeley into a exclusive, suburban outdoor mall seems to be the DBA’s goal. With this goal, they directly target homeless and poor people with their bigoted attempts to criminalize people for their very existence.

At the April 9th event, Bob Offer-Westort, who organizes on homeless issues in Berkeley explained, “The Proposal is to create a set of new laws which will be exclusive to harassing anyone deemed ‘undesirable’ and is a distraction from the real issues of extremely high rent costs and parking problems in Downtown Berkeley.”

The struggle continues…

The movie Selma was a somewhat educational, bittersweet movie about Martin Luther King Jr. and other advocates bravely organizing the poor, oppressed and bitterly hated black people to march on Selma, Alabama and declare in one voice that we, the African descended sons and daughters of great Kings and Queens, Gods and Goddesses have the right to be treated as human beings, have the right to equality, the right to vote- the right to exist without living in constant fear of being murdered/lynched by racist whites HERE in what we call, Amerikkka.

The movie allowed for the viewers to get a small glimpse into the King family, of course putting light on the relationship of Martin and Malcolm X, overall painting the pictures of our Martyrs not getting along too much with a bit of that hollywood flair and the bone-chilling fact that white citizens were pardoned in the murders of Black people and of those few who dared to stand up and do the right thing. The movie was hurtful because it touched on a lot of truth on how Amerikkka treated its stolen black citizens and continues to do so to this day with impunity and we damn sure didn't receive reparations for making this one of the most wealthiest countries with nothing to show for it but unmarked graves. The OMG response to the movie "Selma" being snubbed at the awards had one less surprised person in the audience, myself. I had gotten a few snubs also whenever I was asked did I think the movie "Selma" would win in the first place because I knew that in this unjust, quick to pacify the oppressed society,  "Selma" would not win. Making amerikkkan movies about amerikkkans killing so-called "rebellious" "Educated" or "militant"  amerikkkan slaves here just to turn around and reward the so-called slave descendant for rebelling in the first place against the amerikkkan white man who still, in 2015 murder people of color (and others) for continuing to defy his racist genocidal tactics of white "non-supremacy" and global domination is like taking sand to the beach, it makes no sense no matter how you slice it.

After the movie, as the credits were rolling POOR magazine had invited others who just saw  "Selma" to join us in a "die in" outside in front of the theatre and only two or three of the moviegoers out of a full house showed up with love and support. I remember some of the looks on the other folks' faces were of mixed reactions to me, like we were stirring up trouble for the injustices that happened then and now, and the following look was as if we weren't of race and class privilege enough to lead part of a movement of great importance. Whether it is 1965 or 2015, the struggle continues.

There have always been limitations on how far the African in Amerikkka can go in the quest for knowledge of self, without some white (non) supremacist crying foul thus creating more lies and punishment as obstacles to ensure the darker nations remain under European oppressor rule. Teachers like Shannon Gibney and even Alan Barron working in these institutions can only say so much pertaining to the true history/ourstory of the world without being penalized for being "disrespectful" or "insensitive" to Caucasian students in general for revealing one way or another that they are indeed not the "master race". The truth may hurt the whites, but the racists' lies kill us everyday and globally. 

Earlier this week, an African Descended, female teacher and according to earlier reports, the only black teacher in this particular school district in Benicia, California was called out and reprimanded for limiting a presentation pertaining to Black Ourstory to only Black students. In this society, only those with this stolen race and class advantages can keep things amongst themselves no matter who complains, there are restricted neighborhoods that exist even and if anyone opposes the will of the colonizer is in for a helluva battle. Along with an apology, school officials in Benicia had mentioned in a statement that the school "Wants every student to feel valued and respected", but my response is that African Descendant children who attend majority of these schools in this country are shortchanged from the start because the WHOLE educational institution is "owned" by white scholars who have deliberately erased the Histories/Ourstories of people of color to acquire and maintain white supremacy in the first place. There have always been discriminating laws in place against Blacks, especially those in captivity that prohibited any form of "Blacks only" congregations without the presence of the white overseer, or his house negro to make sure we "stayed in our place", to ensure that there were no discussions on so-called "slave" rebellions, uprisings or any negro truth-telling whatsoever. White students may have many advantages when we speak of skin privilege but they too have been given a small dose of injustice because they have been lied to also about their history. The truth has been layered with lies of heroism and honorable conquests when honestly it was rape, genocide, colonization, land/ culture theft and barbarism and the lessons our sons are left with is that murder makes the man. Mother Nature who? No virtue. Self Determination or the struggle will forever continue.                             

Homefulness is a poor people led, landless peoples/indigenous peoples revolution that has taken root in Oakland.  Homefulness can also be called humbleness.  It is a sweat-equity model of housing that honors the land that was stolen from our ancestors. By poor people defined sweat-equity we refer to a housing model that is not predicated upon one's wealth but upon one's art, music, poetry, practical skills and, of course, humility.  The idea of Homefulness was conceived by Lisa Gray-Garcia aka Tiny and her mother Dee; a mother and daughter who lived on the streets of Oakland, houseless and in their car; harassed by cops and eventually incarcerated for the sole act of being poor.  The reality of Homefulness was carried out by years of  multi-rationed work, sweat, art, education and organizing by POOR Magazine and its allies.

POOR Magazine asked permission and consultation from Ohlone 1st Nations peoples and ancestors as well as many other indigenous nations to bless the land in multiple ceremonies that included folks with deep roots in Blackarthur—a place where the history of African Descended elders, youth and families run deep. There was years of revolutionary community building circles including peoples from all four corners of Mama Earth and BlackArthur Neighbors convened to determine what Homefulness would look like—what it would be.  Meeting after meeting to determine the vision of a real poor poeple-led community garden, Street Newsroom (Our media making circle and healthy community feed held every Thursday on 82nd and MacArthur) and the home school at Homefulness called “Deecolonize Academy”.  We came correct to the community by asking permission of the ancestors and neighbors before working to make the vision a reality.

As history has shown us with poor people led revolutions and movements of the past, there are those who—either out of envy or jealousy, or other motives—will try to undermine a humble revolution.  Homefulness has garnered national attention as a template for housing and has roused the curiosity of revolutionaries in other countries. 

We opened our doors at Homefulness to a collaboration with a community member who we thought shared our humble vision.  This person moved into homefulness—into a large 1 bedroom unit with a bathroom, kitchen and large attic/loft.  She agreed to collaborate with POOR Magazine as a teacher in Deecolonize Academy.  What started as a good working relationship soon turned into a campaign—complete with bullying—to smear POOR Magazine and Homefulness through rumors and falsehoods spread on social media and by word of mouth.

Many vitriol-laced accusations launched by this person towards POOR went so far as to target our revolutionary donors, asserting that POOR does not do the true community work (While asserting that she, of course, does) and does not truly represent the community.  The ironic part about this attack on POOR Magazine is that this person has lived on the Homefulness property for 6 months without paying her share of utility/maintenance costs as per her residence agreement that she signed. Nor has she performed any of the sweat-equity duties that her residence was contingent upon (Taking out the refuse, helping with street newsroom, cleaning the land etc.)  She has lived, essentially, free at homefulness while at the same time attacking us.  We haven't received so much as a thank you or any showing of gratitude befitting an organization that has essentially provided a home to a family.  This lack of grace and tact is, quite frankly, baffling.  It begs the question:  if homefulness is such a bad place, then why do you stay?

The personal attacks against POOR Magazine co-founder Tiny ensued, increasing in regularity—including attacks on her character, history and background.  These attacks are childish and mean spirited—tinged with language that one might hear on “World Star Hip Hop”.  Other so-called revolutionaries/community people piled on, inserting themselves into the dispute although they never helped in the process of making Homefulness a reality.  They didn't break the concrete, push the wheelbarrow, dig the soil etc.  Yet, they joined the attack on Tiny and the integrity of POOR Magazine and Homefulness.  Much talk and gossip has taken place, proving that the tongue can be a devastating weapon, because it plants seeds meant—not to feed—but to destroy and cause turmoil.  Advocates and so-called community activists have ganged up on Homefulness.  This ganging up and bullying has turned into a frenzy of ridiculous proportions—a swarming of the overly politically correct who tend to be self-righteous and outright obnoxious, steeped in much theory but lacking when it comes to interpersonal and practical matters.  These folks get a little taste of consciousness and then move about as if they own the whole movement—alienating those, and, at worst, bullying those who move in a humble way if they don’t tow their line—in order to feed their lisping egos that require much feeding.  Ironically, many of these folks come to POOR Magazine, often times at the last minute, asking us to provide media coverage to their actions/events and otherwise.  What better way to silence a revolution. 

In spite of this person's refusal to leave Homefulness, and the fact that she has broken the extensive and revolutionary “People's Agreement” outlining the stipulations of her residence at Homefulness, we, as a poor people led organization, will continue to do the work that we do, that is, making media—Reporting and Supporting those in struggle, making revolutionary access available for silenced voices, providing revolutionary advocacy for fellow folks in struggle trying to survive, creating cultural art and street based education.  We will continue to live the revolution by any means necessary. We can't control rumors and lies that are craftily posted on social media and disseminated by other means.  This manipulation is rooted in envy, jealousy and distortion of the truth.  It has no place in our humble revolution known as Homefulness.

(Editor's note:  Tony Robles is co-editor of POOR Magazine and board president of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation (www.manilatown.org).  He is following in the footsteps of his uncle Al Robles, Manilatown elder, poet,  historian and major figure who fought in the anti-eviction struggle for the International Hotel and was instrumental in the subsequent rebuilding of the hotel 30 years later.  Al Robles was a board member of POOR Magazine until his death in 2009, and honors him as an elder ancestor through our work and our Al Robles Living Library Project)

Eduardo Roman talks about his friend Amilcar Lopez, who was killed at age 21 by SFPD on February 26, 2015.

January 27, 2015

I stand on the point overlooking baby Baghdad.
As I gaze across the waters of the bay…
I’m mesmerized captivated by the bay’s view…
An iconic landmark a rare diamond in the rough….
I’m intrigued by its panoramic view.
The point is well known for its famous history rich culture and renown sights….
So what’s the Point?
Notorious for its reputation ….
Hard hitters and grave diggers….
Occupy these concrete huts….
Then we have our wild flowers raised in stone flower pots….
The sundial looks over us casting shadows of the sun remaindering us what time it really is…
Captured by the hunter and blinded by its view….
Eyes wide open and still can’t see in front of you…
Street corners and sidewalks covered like painted canvases….
Dots periods form images making the picture complete…
So what’s the Point…?
We survive deadly elements on a daily basis.
Yet, we continue to beat the odds that are critical to our existence…
Our environment grows more and more hostile but we endure.
Redevelopment and Gentrification threats are on the rise…
Leaving us no choice but to submit to the times….
Fears of displacement or maybe de-location….
No matter how you look at the situation…
The numbers of blacks has decrease in population…
So what’s the Point?

A treasure chest tucked by the bay….
A ghetto reality soon to fade away….
Known for its landmarks and breath taking views…
We’re more than a sight.
We’re the Hunter’s Point/ Bayview…
Transformation has been applied influenced by capital and political demise.
You better recognize!

A written agenda set in motion for Hunter’s Point present time…
Plans have been implemented to meet proper provisions…
So what’s the point!
I shout out to my community….
I shout out with a point…
I shout out to the residents in the Bayview / Hunter’s Point…

Angela Naggie talks about her son, O'Shaine Evans, who was killed at age 26 by SFPD officer David Goff on October 7, 2014.

January 21, 2015

The transparent liar Ed Lee has done it again: first by throwing elderly and disabled people of color under the bus with an unreasonably harsh policy of punishing fare evasion; and then by pretending to be a hero by agreeing with the SFMTA’s recent proposal to extend free Muni to elderly and disabled patrons as it has previously done for the city’s youth.

Prior to Lee's mayoral term, Muni was essentially free to anybody who boarded the bus from the rear. People were rarely questioned or stopped. Part of Lee’s efforts to “clean up the city” has been cracking down on fare evasion, thus making it even more difficult and expensive for poor people to live in one of the most expensive cities in California as well as the entire country.

Now it's getting closer to Ed Lee's potential second elected term as mayor. Many of the people impacted by his fare evasion crackdown are, like himself, of Asian descent. No political candidate in history in this country has ever won an election by not carrying the vote of his own people. One dead alleged fare evader and at least one severely beaten alleged fare evader later, the policy has not only turned out to be fruitless but a waste of city funds that could be used on much worthier causes.

On the steps of City Hall at noon this week, many elders and disabled spokespersons sat holding signs alongside community leaders and local politicians. Many of the elders were Asian descended females but all types were present. Many spoke asking for clarity about what will happen with the new proposal to make Muni free to elderly and disabled people.

At about 12:45 most of the demonstrators went inside to hear how the city board members would cast their votes.
My friend Mira Ingram and I were asked by a local news station about how the new change would impact us.

By 5pm that evening I got the news via Facebook that the Board approved the new measure to go into effect March 1 2015.

Under the bus then over it: even yoyos ain’t got no tricks like that!

Frank Lara talks about the police murder of Amilcar Lopez, as well as police violence and gentrification in the Mission.

January 27, 2015

As we gear towards a new local and state government election season, it would appear that San Francisco Mayor Ed “the Liar” Lee may go unchallenged in his first re-election bid and what would be his final term as mayor.

Lee almost single-handedly sold the city hook line and sinker to high tech industry giants such as Google, Facebook, and Dropbox. He gave them huge tax cuts and other incentives, which inspired many of their employees to move closer to work, thus displacing many low income and people of color residents, some of whom were life-long.

Now it would appear that Lee is using typical political doublespeak to try to appeal to the very same people he helped displace. He is pretending to champion the cause of poverty and homelessness by throwing terms like “affordable housing” and “ending poverty” around, with hopes to increase his chance of winning the election. He even gave some homeless and poor folks a false sense of hope by making them feel included in Measure “C” back in 2010. Measure C was a ballot initiative that promised to use some hotel taxes to build affordable housing, housing he had no intention of having extended to homeless or other poor folks.

Two faced politicians are nothing new to San Francisco [or anywhere else in the world for that matter]. For instance Gavin Newsom, the current Lt. Gov. of California who is expected to run for governor at the end of Brown's term, hand-picked Lee as his successor on a platform of “ending homelessness as we know it.” Newsom set the ball in motion for the current housing crisis by appointing Lee to finish his final term as mayor, knowing full well what Lee had planned for the city as well as the poor population.

Getting back to the myth of affordable housing: it is necessary to point out why this term is doublespeak. To us low income folks who are not in the political arena or real estate industry, we hear the phrase affordable housing and think, “Oh great! Finally decent housing I can afford!” But politicians and developers actually mean “affordable
to the wealthy and middle class, but not to the poor.”

The people have cried for a transparent government for quite a while, but Ed Lee is transparent in a completely different way. As in, his lying is flat out obvious.

The transparent Liar Ed Lee has done it again first by throwing elderly and disabled people of color under the bus with an unreasonable policy of enforcing fare evasion and then by pretending to be a hero by agreeing with the SFMTA’s decision to extend free Muni to elderly and disabled patrons as it has previously done for the city’s youth.

Prior to Lee becoming mayor Muni was essentially free to anybody who boarded the bus from the rear, and were rarely questioned or stopped.

Part of Lee’s efforts to “clean up the city” was cracking down on fare evasion thus making it even more difficult and expensive for poor people to live in one of the most expensive cities not only in California but the entire country. Now that it’s getting closer to his second possible elected term as mayor and many of the people impacted by his policy of cracking down on fare evasion are of Asian descent like himself [no political candidate in history in this country has ever won an election by not carrying the vote of his own people] also one dead alleged fare evader and at least one severely beaten alleged fare evader later, the policy has not only turned out to be fruitless but a waste of city funds that could be used on much worthier causes.

In front of city hall at noon on the steps of city hall many elders and disabled spokes persons sat some holding signs and many spoke asking for what was anticipated to happen. This number included a number of community leaders as well as local politicians.

It was made up of mostly elder Asian descended females but it did also represent the many communities of San Francisco as well.

At about 12:45 most of them went inside to hear how the board members would cast their votes.

I and my friend Mira Ingram were interviewed by a local news station right before this took place and we were asked how the new change would impact us.

By 5pm that evening I got the news via Facebook that the board approved the new measure to go in effect March 1 2015.

Under the bus then over it even yoyo’s ain’t got no tricks like that!

It is also important to note that Lt. Ali of the San Francisco police department has claimed that fare evasion is akin to terrorism or so is his reasoning for San Francisco using funds from the federal government intended for counter terrorism. Ali has gone on record as stating justification in using these funds to enlist unarmed public transportation personnel who are not peace officers and have no right to detain or arrest people other than through voluntary compliance is a counter terrorism measure because terrorist board buses illegally and checking proof of payment is the best way to stop terrorist in their tracks!

PNN reporter Bruce Allison has also noted that 90% of Muni’s budget comes from the federal government.