2017

Oakland - Tenant activists are urging low-income renters in HUD’s (Department of Housing and Urban Development) subsidized housing programs to contact their representatives during February 18 - February 26, to speak up in support of HUD’s subsidized housing programs. Massive budget cuts to the federal government are being proposed ranging from $6 trillion, to over $10 trillion during the next ten years. 

In the Bay Area according to HUD, the Oakland Housing Authority has 13,422 federally subsidized housing units in it’s section 8 inventory, and 2,122 units in it’s low rent inventory, formerly known as public housing units. 

San Francisco has 9,711 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 3,756 units in it’s low rent inventory. San Francisco is in the process of privatizing more than 4,584 public housing units under the RAD program. South San Francisco has 80 units in it’s low rent inventory. 

According to HUD, there are approximately 1.2 million households living in public housing units, managed by around 3,300 Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) across the nation. 

Additionally, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), the Housing Choice Voucher Program (section 8 voucher program) assists more than 2.2 million low-income households across the nation including veterans, the chronically ill, elderly, blind and disabled. 

Millions of households locally and across the nation being assisted with their housing needs from HUD’s subsidized housing programs, will be severely impacted or made homeless if the GOP/Republicans have it their way. If President Donald Trump and Congress cuts the budget of HUD’s subsidized housing programs in the near future, including severe budget cuts or the elimination of the Housing Choice Voucher Program (section 8 program) being proposed as an option, it will be a total disaster for millions of children, veterans, the chronically ill, elderly, blind, disabled and low-income families locally, and across the nation. 

The Housing Choice Voucher Program (section 8 voucher program) is already being underfunded according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), and rental assistance to families with children is at it's lowest point in a decade. More budget cuts would be a complete disaster for millions of families, and will result in much more homelessness in the Bay Area, and across the nation. 

Additionally, thousands of renters residing in the so-called affordable housing projects of the nonprofit housing developers in the East Bay would be placed at risk of homelessness if Trump/GOP cuts the budget to HUD’s subsidized housing programs. Unfortunately for many poor low-income households, they already are being excluded from many so-called affordable housing projects because of minimum income requirements, in addition to projects that exclude renters with an income less that 30% of the area median income (AMI). 

In other cities in the Bay Area. The Richmond Housing Authority has 1,851 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 559 units in it’s low rent inventory. 

Berkeley Housing Authority has 1,935 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and has sold it’s 75 public housing town homes to some out of state billionaires. 

Alameda Housing Authority has 1,845 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory. The Alameda County Housing Authority has 6,341 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and one low rent housing development managed by the agency. 

In Contra Costa County, there are 6,921 units in their section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 1,177 low rent units. 

In Marin County, there are 2,162 units in their section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 496 low rent units. 

Tens of thousands of low-income households in the Bay Area, including veterans, the chronically ill, elderly, blind and disabled, are being placed at risk of homelessness if the Republicans have it their way, now that they have gained full control of the House and Senate, including the White House. In recent years, it has become apparent that the Republicans want to dismantle HUD, and terminate all of it’s subsidized housing programs. 

National Alliance of HUD Tenants 

In a release from the National Alliance of HUD Tenants (NAHT), “Tenant leaders and organizers are encouraged to mobilize people to participate in Town Halls and other actions during the Congressional recess, February 18-26.      

Although the Administrations budget proposal is now not expected until May, it is not too soon to begin educating our members and allies and challenging Members of Congress that WE WILL NOT STAND for cuts to housing, health, Social Security and other vital programs, and to support the Peoples Budget from the House Progressive Caucus as an alternative! 

NAHT, through the Peoples Budget Campaign, will be drafting Talking Points and Questions to challenge Members of Congress during the upcoming recess.   A delegation of HUD tenants from the District can try to put their Representative or Senator on notice that WE WILL NOT BE MOVED!   

Please keep the NAHT office informed if you are able to participate in a forum near you!     

“NAHT is also asking its local affiliates to PREPARE NOW for coordinated protests later this spring, as details about the Administration and/or House Budgets emerge. We know their cuts will be somewhere between the Ryan Budget ($6 trillion in cuts over 10 years), and the even more extremist “Freedom Caucus/Heritage Foundation Budget” ($10 trillion in cuts over 10 years) supported last year by Rep. Mulvaney, Trump’s nominee for the Office of Management and Budget! The forums February 18-26 will be a great opportunity to begin educating people your local press NOW about what is likely to come.” 

National Low-Income Housing Coalition 

In a release from the National Low-income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), called Affordable Housing and Transportation Programs Threatened, “Funding for affordable housing, community development, and transportation programs is under attack. Contact Congress today and tell them to protect the federal spending needed to ensure families and communities can thrive.  And sign your organization onto a letter by advocates calling on Congress to protect vital programs. 

In late January 2017, news broke that the Trump Administration is preparing dramatic cuts to the federal budget to reduce spending by over $10 trillion over 10 years, while also promising to increase defense spending and cut taxes that predominantly benefit wealthy Americans. Severe budget cuts will largely fall on critical safety net and other essential programs, including affordable housing, community development, and transportation programs that help raise families out of poverty—programs that are already facing devastating cuts in the upcoming budget year because of the very low spending caps required by law. 

Organizations and advocates concerned about transportation, housing, community development, and homelessness are working together to circulate a letter urging Congress to lift the harmful caps on federal spending and provide the highest level of funding possible for these programs in fiscal year (FY) 2018.” 

Making matters worse, is President Donald Trump's racist attack on sanctuary cities including Oakland, and other cities all across the nation according to the East Bay Express. 



Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com 

- Krip-Hop Nation tenth anniversary with DJ Quad CD late Jan.
- Black Kripple new EP, Krip-Blues Stories, Feb.
- Leroy Moore's Children Book, Black Disability Art History 101 will be publish by Xochitl Justice Press and illustrations by Asian Robles. late Feb.
- Krip-Hop Nation's All Women CD. Compile by Lisa Ganser and Vita E. Cleveland in March
- Krip-Hop Nation Bay Area Tour July 
- Joe Capers' Month August Film, Naru. August
-Part Two of A Journey To The South Tour (Back to South Africa/Ghana) Aug
- A Journey To The South Africa film/book Dec
- Ronald Galiwango & Krip-Hop Nation continue to raise funds so Eunice in Uganda can finish her education to become an advocate of people with disabilities.

Click Here to Watch the Follow-up Action at the Federal Building 

“This is like the Santa Rita Bus,” I whispered as I looked over at my comrade revolutionary Aunti Frances Moore’s terrified eyes. We’ve both ridden the bus that carries homeless and other “criminal” people to Santa Rita County Jail. I could barely utter a whisper, lost in my own fear of incarceration and endless criminalization as an unhoused poor person in stolen Turtle Island.

We were in the plane to North Dakota, a “pond jumper” as the experienced flyers call it. Most people in the tiny cramped plane were cool, calm and collected, but me and Frances were huddled up against the toilet wall, praying for it all to end, hyperventilating and dreaming on the prayer, “Water is life.”

Myself and Aunti Frances, poverty skola, Po Poet and teacher with POOR Magazine’s PeopleSkool, Homefulness and founder of the Self-Help Hunger Project in North Huchuin (Oakland) were part of a small Po’ Folks Delegation to Standing Rock, Mni Wiconi, along with two youth poverty skolaz from Deecolonize Academy and POOR Magazine, Tiburcio Garcia and Aselah Pacheco.

We began our prayerful journey on invitation from the All Nations Camp at Standing Rock to bring prayers and media, share knowledge about unhoused, Black, Brown and Indigenous poor peoples and exchange survival innovation. Our delegation chose this time because all us unhoused folks are dying on the streets due to exposure and cold, and the water protectors are facing the same thing many of us face every day in urban settings with little or no support.

“Even if we only had liberated land, we could pitch our tents and build from there. This is a continuum from No. 4 of the Black Panthers’ Ten-Point Program on land. This is liberation,” said Frances as we sat around the sacred fire of the Two Spirit Camp at Mni Wiconi.

“We are bringing our own love and prayer from the streets of Oakland to the

water protectors of North Dakota,” said Aunti Frances Moore.

The terrifying plane ride had included a “plane police-social worker” threatening us that she would have to involve “authorities” and stop the plane – aka Homeland Security or what I am renaming HomeLESS Security – to deal with us. It reminded us endlessly criminalized folks even more clearly that we were on stolen land dealing with the agents and enablers of the land stealers, and this perhaps was the best introduction to the fight to save our water and Mama Earth at Standing Rock.

“We as unhoused, landless and formerly unhoused poets, land liberators and media producers who face extreme conditions on the street and criminalization just for being alive while unhoused, are working to liberate Mama Earth from the line of ownership, banksters, gentrification and desecration here in Huchuin want to support, share prayer, love and knowledge with water protectors in Standing Rock, while we continue to fight the war on the poor right here in Huchuin,” said Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia, co-founder POOR Magazine and Homefulness and author of “Criminal of Poverty: Growing Up Homeless in America.”

“We are bringing our own love and prayer from the streets of Oakland to the water protectors of North Dakota,” said Aunti Frances Moore.

“We youth skolaz at Deecolonize Academy have been supporting Standing Rock Water protectors since the struggle for our water began,” said Aselah Pacheco, 12, from Deecolonize Academy.

First day at Standing Rock

by Tiburcio Garcia, 13, Deecolonize Academy

The snow shined against the afternoon sun. The multicolored flags bearing the images of our ancestors rippled and flapped in the afternoon breeze as the “Po’ Folx Delegation” from POOR Magazine and Decolonize Academy rode in on a rented four-wheel drive car. After a long, harrowing journey from Huchuin, Ohlone (Oakland, California), in two planes and a rental car we finally arrived to find an avenue of flags from hundreds of nations across Mama Earth, including our favorite, where we piled out of the car to take our first picture, the RBG flag of Black liberation.

Every crunch of snow against my rubber boots was a rush of relief that the long arduous journey was finally over.

A snowman with ski glasses over his eyes greeted us at the entrance of the Standing Rock reservation and protest camp with a cheery, inanimate wave. As the car drove down the road, we saw giant military tents sporting signs saying Healing Center, Kitchen and Compost Toilets.

Standing Rock is amazing!

by Aselah Pacheco, 12, Deecolonize Academy

When we officially got to Standing Rock, it was amazing. There were huge army tents that held a kitchen filled with nothing but food, goodies, and silverware. Snow was all outside. Also, the tents all had big wood boards as floors so that the cold wind couldn’t get in.

We are sharing a tent with three other people we stay with at the Two Spirits Camp. Two Spirits Camp is one of the smallest and most organized camp, very open to lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and women and men.

It is a cozy little camp, and everyone is so friendly. We are right across from the kitchen, which is organized and has food. And the bathroom is right across from us. Be careful where you step in the patched-up snow, ‘cause you might get stuck in it.

“We youth skolaz at Deecolonize Academy have been supporting Standing Rock Water protectors since the struggle for our water began,” said Aselah

Pacheco, 12, from Deecolonize Academy.

Day 1 of our learning

by Tiny and Frances

“We staff the compost toilets all day. There is a whole organized system that makes this stay clean and sanitary,” one of many camp attendees said while taking us poverty skolaz through the intricate process to keep the beautiful compost toilets clean. We formerly unhoused po folks at Homefulness who are trying to move off the grid of stolen Mama Earth resources, aka PG&E and the so-called Water Department, watched and learned carefully.

It was a system of support and respect. Everyone worked carefully and with intention to keep these off-grid toilets clean.

From the above-ground Standing Rock Railroad as I call it that hooked up us po folks up with free expensive warm clothing and sleeping bags in Oakland (Huchuin) before we left and also existed as a beautifully supported “supplies tent” out at Standing Rock, and its multi-nationed network of support is a model of redistribution. So let’s also look at how this redistribution can be manifested to our unhoused folks.

The day we left Huchuin (Oakland), police were threatening unhoused peoples under the 580 freeway to move them out of their encampments. These struggles are all connected.

As POOR Magazine always calls for: Give us some liberated indigenous land and we can build ourselves a self-determiNATION like we are doing at Homefulness – like our prayer and water warriors are manifesting at Standing Rock, and as Aunti Frances reminded us was already named, dreamed and conceived in the Black Panther Party 50 years ago.

“What is your name,” a mechanical voice shouted through the receiver of my phone. Before  I could answer this bizarre beginning to a call, he added, “ What is your address, Where do you work, Do you have any other phone numbers…?” The barrage of accusatory questions with no basis continued for several minutes with me barely able to get a word in edgewise, and then.., “Do you have a 13 year old son?”, with this sentence… my heart began to race, my eyes started to blur and the the room began to warp.

After 15 more minutes of terror, i figured out that this was a kkkop calling me. He had my 13 year old sun, Tibu who he had been “detained” at West Oakland Bart for doing nothing. 

For the last month, Tibu went to different Bay Area locations, three days a week, from 6-8am, before school, distributing Deecolonewz, the school newspaper for Deecolonize Academy, a liberation school for children in poverty., where Tiburcio is enrolled. He has been doing this as a good Sun, to support his low-income single mama(me) and his very grassroots school, both of which are struggling financially. He did nothing wrong, in fact he did everything right. 

“Its not Normal for a 13 year old to be selling newspapers,” the kkkop kept shouting over the phone to me, after he “confirmed" that everything my sun had told him was true. And then, “I’m just worried about his Welfare!!! and why you as a parent allowed this, I believe your parenting are in question,” 

Later that night at the BART Board Hearing 

“We are just trying to respond to complaints about aggressive panhandlers,” said the nameless BART PoLice representative to the BART board and the tiny sprinkling of actual people in the audience. 

On the same day as my sun’s harassment by West Oakland Bart poLice there was a BART board hearing. I am not sure which PoLice terrorized ancestor spoke through me when I suggested West Oakland to my sun that morning  but they did and i did and so instead of going to the Rockridge or Downtown stations which he had been going to without incident, he walked into a trap.  We realized after he came home that he walked into a “snare” of newspaper sellers (aka poor peoples of color exercising their constitutional rights to free speech), all of whom the BART poLice had profiled as unhoused and aggressive panhandlers. 

Right before the kkkop detained my sun, Tibu was given tips on the best location to distribute by fellow newspaper sellers at the West Oakland station, a location of constant poLice harassment which like most poor people of color neighborhoods is over-policed and under constant attack by the paid agents of the state . 

The first series of questions he was asked by the kkkop who profiled him as “a runaway” code for houseless youth, and then proceeded from there to continue to repeat the same questions about his school , his address, his mothers name, his reasons for being here, repeatedly trying to trip him up. 

As myself, my sun and other youth skolaz from Deecolonize Academy and POOR Magazine stood together at the BART hearing we listened to a stream of racist , classist comments about unhoused people said as though it was common practice to speak of poor people selling newspapers as though they weren’t human, had no voice and no right to speak for themselves 

The concept of "panhandling" is the nexus of racist and classist amerikkklan profiling. It is a highly charged and misunderstood issue that us poverty skolaz at POOR Magazine hold a completely different perspective on and always have. In 1998 my mama launched the WORK issue of POOR Magazine to look at and document different forms of unrecognized labor like recylcing, welfare-demanded work, mothering, street newspaper selling and panhandling itself. First of all it's a constitutional right to free speech that Tibu and the other newspaper sellers were exercising, something the youth skolaz are learning right now in their oppressed Peoples Herstory class at school  So clearly Tibu unintentionally proved these low-income men of color are being harassed and this harassment should be re-named selling newspapers while Black, Brown, Poor or Young in amerikkklan. 

But even the notion of straight up panhandling is labor as my mama Dee proved in issue #3 of POOR, a form of micro-business in fact, and when myself and my mama used to be street vendors which we were for most of my poverty stricken, houseless childhood, we had the same "day" in terms of "sales" as our humble panhandler brothers and sisters sitting next to us on the streets of Oakland and San Francisco.  And just like poor people recycling, it is completely raced and classed, depending on who is doing the selling, distributing, asking or soliciting. When people go door to door asking for donations for a poltical campaign, religion or other campaign how are they really different form panhandlers?. And how is it that just because peoples dont have access to a roof or their business is associated with living outside, people feel entitled to judge what they do with their income. Why dont we ask CEO's at Chevron what they do "with their money, if they are going to spend it "all on drugs , the same way we demand to know what pandhandlers do with their money. How is it that corporate recycling companies get million dollar constracts to pick up recycling but when independent contractors who might be unhoused recylce, we accuse them of "stealing our trash" like anyone can steal trash anyway. (Another WeSearch study conducted by POOR in 2006)

My advice always to people about their conundrum about "giving money" to unhoused people is, if you have it and are able to to buy a paper or spport a brother or sister on the street, do it. Stop feeling entited to a story about what they are doing with the money. Panhandling is a very hard job and any kind of sales or solicitaiton work with a multiude of "cold calls" is one of the hardest jobs anyone can have. So just leave it at that , and if you dont want to or dont have the money to support then don't.

Back at the Meeting 
Jennifer Friedenbach and other members of the Coalition on Homelessness, DeeNa and Oscar Salinas from the Justice for Nate Greer Coalition were also present to speak on BARTS’ Use of force policies and their relationship to the murder of Nate Greer and other Black, Brown and disabled peoples 

I knew that ancestors called us into this because everything about the meeting was wrong. The weird “diversity” training videos presented by the kkkops, showing two middle class women, one Asian, one White in 2016 Prius’ fighting  with each, which was supposed to show diffusion tactics to new BART poLice officers. Which truthfully couldn’t train anyone on anything except maybe the newest fashion for 30 something business ladies The building itself, which is almost impossible to get in and once you get in can’t find the location and is completely ableist, with no bathroom access, making it almost impossible for our youth skolaz to be in the meeting because they couldn’t use the bathroom without getting locked out of the meeting room.

We did manage to speak, thanks to Jenny who had to make a special request for public comment, and I knew it was necessary for this board to hear real poor people in the flesh speaking up against this over-policing, my sun’s healing and his brothers and sister comrades at Deecolonize Academy to report and support on. 

I know sis-STAR Lateefah Simon was voted onto the Bart Board and as i told her in a text message that day, she has so much work to do. We all do.



 

Mni Wiconi....WATER IS LIFE!!!!!

Each step a prayer- through snow so deep your body can’t think. Sharp blue sky filled with whispers from ancestors, a river so sacred it spoke.  We had arrived, at the sacred Oceti Sakowin. Our small delegation of youth and adult "poverty skolaz" as we call ourselves at POOR Magazine representing the Ohlone villages of Huchuin (Oakland) and Yelamu (San Francisco), educated in life, the streets and struggle, not the akademik institutions, journeyed to Standing Rock, North Dakota to bring our humble form of prayer, our stories, love, support, poor and indigenous people-led media to the prayerful encampment of many 1st Nations Peoples at Standing Rock that has been alive since April of 2016 to pray for water. We were also there to take back lessons for all of us unhoused and formerly unhoused folks trying to liberate land in the Bay Area, trying to live without more desecration and destruction in projects like homefulness, the Self-Help Hunger Program and Qilumbo. This was a journey of connected liberation for all of us.

Mni Wiconi - Mni WICONIIIIIII! Water is Life - WATER IS LIFE!!!! The calls for liberation of our water of our Mama Earth rang through the sky every day - from dawn to late in the night- the prayers embraced, held and lifted everything, even the resistance.

"This prayer is for us all, for all of our water from the four-leggeds to the winged-ones ," said the elder 1st Nations mama prayer-bringers as we walked through the deep snow in the daily morning prayer ceremony for water down at the vast silence and soft beauty that is the sacred river that lined the camp.

For five days our small delegation prayed, learned and manifested this dream alongside so many dedicated water protectors. From the supplies tent where you got all your warm clothes and supplies needs met on a donations only system, people donated what they didn't need and others took what they did need to the compost toilet , staffed 24 hours 7 days a week by two volunteers to keep the toilets clean, shiny and warm, we were overwhelmed with the lessons.

"Its either one or two scoops of sawdust based on what you need to do in the bathroom," that nights bathroom attendants took us though the intricate process of cleaning, compost bag changing and sawdust covering in the beautifully clean and warm compost toilet. It wasn't just a toilet, it was a toilet center. Like a community center to pee and poo. She went on to explain that they slice in half a pool toy and line the top of the bucket and then put a toilet seat on top of that and then line the bucket with a compost bag and voila - you have a toilet.

"We are serving pozole tonite," the "mess Hall" kitchen attendant spoke while she ladeled fresh cooked pozole - a soup common to many parts of Central and South Turtle Island. Throughout the camp there were several kitchens, each one with its own flavor, prayer and love. The food would come in as donations and be cooked with loving hands by folks who stepped up to the task. At our own Two spirit camp, everyone traded off to create three daily meals of wonder, hot coffee and hot water for tea.

The "housing" for this beautiful community of protectors was a threaded network of tipis, tents, tarpees and yurts, winding though each "camp" . Our delegations housing inside the two spirit camp launched by two spirit indigenous youth leader Candy and other two spirit comrades was a tarpee, kept warm by a wood stove made out of a recycled garbage can with a recycled drain pipe leading up to the tarpee's roof. When baking or roasting needed to happen a garbage can was filled half way with charcoal or wood and a grill is placed on top and bricks are placed below to life it slightly above the ground.

There were so many lessons for us landless peoples struggling to get ourselves housed on liberated land not owned/controlled by the non-profit industrial complex and the lie of land ownership. How do we un-learn ourselves off of stolen land resource hoarding and depending while still barely able to feed ourselves? How do we secure roofs when we have no paper trail access or bankkkster credit. How do we liberate our water, and energy from the grid of blood-stained dollars. The message from ancestors from Yucatan in the lands of poLice murdered indigenous father, husband sun and brother Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat and the water protectors at Standing Rock  is to realize this dream of truly off-grid living at Homefulness, our homeless peoples solution to Homelessness. This will take more time and will not be easy cause it actually takes resources to not use resources, but we have planned that from the beginning and these prayerful journeys reminded us of this important work.

Decolonized Medicine and Indigenous Youth Resistance from Saami to Saskatchewan
kkuf kuff... kaaarghkuff kuff - the low and long gurgle of a painful cough came from all sides of our small tent and for this this asthma survivor it sounded like an asthma cough but it wasn't . My heart clutched in pain everytime i heard it, knowing that respiratory pain so deeply

"We aren't sure what it is, it has been happening since the attack by DAPL of our water protectors, we think its just the combination of dehydration, wood smoke and and extreme cold, but we aren't sure, said Samantha a medic at the powerful decolonized medic compound at Standing Rock.

The cough and the revolutionary medics were a perfect metaphor for the hard medicine and the complex struggle of the this small "town" of over 2000 people who made up the Oceti Sakowin Camp at Standing Rock, North Dakota.

“We are here to share our knowledge about arctic survival,” said Lasse-Ivvara Erke ( he said his “paper” name is Erik as he spoke to us replete in deerskin pants, a felt jacket and a strangely small hat topped off with a red pom pom. He explained to us that he was from the Saami people of the Northern Hemisphere and his sacred indigenous territory in the Northern Hemisphere was being impacted by the same things that indigenous leaders at Standing Rock were fighting against.

“Some of the countries have signed on to the land protection agreements but many have not, so we face increased climate destruction of our lands,” concluded Erik.

“We are walking from Saskatchewan to Standing Rock to lend support to water protectors but also to shed light on the struggle we face with corporations ready to drill in our sacred lands as well, Ricky a youth indigenous leader from Canada, spoke with us in the “dome” before he went to join other youth leaders on the walk from Saskatchewan.

The Front-Lines
As our little group  wound around the ice-filled roads at 11pm on Gregorian New Years evening 2016, in a caravan of horses, pick-up trucks filled with young indigenous peoples and flags from all nations headed towards the sacred grounds of Lakota ancestors the lights appeared from the distance.

We were met with the warring signs of the 21st century calvary Flood lights, scopes from guns, snowmobiles filled with armed agents of the kkkorporation. We were on the sacred river, the burial ground of 1st Nations ancestors but according to the land-stealers and water destroyers we were tresspassing. Tresspassing!!!

And then suddenly our group was scaling the sacred mountain heading toward the barbed wire and floodlights. Headed towards the frontlines. Myself, Tiburcio and Aselah couldnt hold ourselves back, suddenly we were up there. At the top. Putting down prayers. holding our ancestors close. Dreaming that we werent being pointed at with a high powered rifle. Dreaming back All Our Relations.

"We are still here, we are still in this powerful prayer for our water, for our life, " Our small delegation reunited with beautiful revolutionary brother Edwin Lindo who took us to the center of the camp, the most important ceremony we had the blessing to be part of, a ceremony for Wounded Knee

Our last day in this magical place was spent in the ceremony for Wounded Knee ancestors, in prayer and clarity that these colonizer holidays like New Years, launched in 1904 13 years after the Wounded Knee massacre and were just a way to celebrate the massacre, genocide and land theft of people and Mama Earth. It was in this prayer that we were so clearly reminded that  our liberation, our walk to self-determination and our collective interdependence were so important. That our dreams and work to unhinge ourselves from the pain and exploitation of colonization is everything we are doing at Hopefulness. It is everything we as poor and unhoused people need to do. It is our work. It is our resistance.

(Espanol Sigue)

“Even an animal doesn’t deserve to die the way they killed my husband" said Dona Fedelia del Carmen, widow of Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat, a Mayan indigenous man killed by San Francisco PoLice April 7th 2017 for doing nothing. For doing nothing, except being Brown and Unhoused in a city plagued by the disease of capitalism and its sister illness, gentrificaiton. “I am demanding justice and honor for my husband," she concluded to a barrage of Mexican cameras and reporters  in an international press conference in Merida, Yucatan, the land of Luis's family and extended family. 

The family stood together, wearing their traditional Mayan dress. Mamas, Aunties, Daughters, Uncles, Brothers and Suns in a sterile hotel conference room in the city of Merida, Yucatan, their love creating a space that wasn’t there, Together they were peaceful warriors for justice. Tears flowed from their collective eyes for the brother, Sun, father and Uncle they had lost behind the violence and dangerous racism of the colonizer borders, littered with the bodies of us all.

The pain of indigenous peoples crossing colonial constructed borders in search of basic livelihoods, jobs, safety, food, and all that was stolen from them by corporations, colonization and poltricksters, are in a state of constant danger. They are forced into this brutal diaspora leaving behind love, land, children, families, spouses, traditions, languages, friends, spirits and ancestors. Leaving all you know and all you are in a tortured journey seeping with capitalist hate, racism, separation and confusion. Only to be consumed by a society that doesn’t know you, care about your heart or your scholarship, traditions, languages or families, they only care about how much work you can perform for them, rent you can pay them, or service you can provide them. This is a colonizer defined world and it kills us all somehow. 

Luis' murder was a terrifying example of the concept of "intersectionality" in other words in the murder of Luis all of our struggles for justice come together. An indigenous immigrant, a low-paid worker, a person that was evicted, and eventually an unhoused Brown resident killed by PoLice terror in a so-called sancturary city overrun by wealth-hoarders, greed and land-stealers, who treats its poorest residents with a onslaught of racist and classist laws and poLice abuse.

The International Press Conference in Mexico 
My 13 year old Sun, Tiburcio (who is Mayan, Aztec and Chinese on his father's side) and I had the blessing of being in the room with these warriors along with revolutionary lawyer Adante Pointer from the John Burris Law firm who is representing the family in their case for justice against the SF PoLice. Together with Justice and Honor for Luis organizer Adriana Camarena and her husband, Chris Carlsson, historian and writer. we all traveled to Teabo, Yucatan, the birthplace of Luis, in October of 2016 to deliver a quilt created by the Justice and Honor for Luis Coalition in Yelamu (San Francisco) and hold an international press conference for justice for the family.

“In talking to the witnesses and looking at the physical evidence and surveillance camera footage which was directly across the street from where Mr. Gongora was shot we know that what happened on April 7, 2016 was wrong. My law firm filed a lawsuit, a federal lawsuit against the San Francisco city as well as the two police officers that robbed this family of their loved one,” said Adante Pointer. Adante continued while showing terrifying images on the big screen of the body and head of Luis, whose head was literally shot off by the PoLice attack, “This is the way it happened….Two police cars come to the scene, and then a third one pulls up. The officer in the first car gets out. He...has a shotgun in his hand.  And within seconds he starts firing the shotgun, as if he was firing (at) an animal in the wild. You saw a lady who was walking by as the officer started firing their gun. What you can tell from the video is that Mr. Gongora is never seen running at the officers, but what you see are the officers pointing their guns in a downward direction, and they fire a number of shots with their guns pointed down at the ground. Down at the ground, meaning, the target they were firing their guns at, who was Mr. Gongora, was not standing up, he was not coming at them but instead was either on the ground or going to the ground—meaning that he was not a threat to anyone—to the officers themselves, or anyone else who was out there.” (full transcript of Adante’s testimony here)

Poor People traveling for Justice for Poor People 

I still was confused on how I, a very low-income, formerly unhoused single mother who like my co-madre jewnbug says, didn’t even have “documents” in my own so-called stolen land, was able to go to Teabo .The journey to Luis homelands in Central Turtle Island (Southern Mexico)  between colonization and our liberation began in one of the pinnacles of capitalism - the ultimate example of displacement, gentrification and post-colonial destruction- the Ohlone village of Yelamu, stolen by the lie of discovery, sadistic colonizers and their enabling missionaries  and where Tiburcio and I and other poor mama and children used to live but were evicted out of and no longer able to even come back. 

Luis Gravesite in Teabo

“This is where Luis is buried, “ Adriana explained to me as we stood quietly with the family as they cleaned and laid down fresh flowers on Luis's grave in Teabo. Little multi-colored castles, lined up next to each other in a series of tiny streets. We huddled under an awning of a larger “house” holding a families gravestones. These families, many of whom lost so many members to the other side of the borders, honored their ancestors here.

The indigenous lands of Luis were beyond an idyllic post card or travelogue, but rather a place of indigenous resistance where the panaderia cooked their pan dulce in a clay oven with fire rather than use the electrical oven that lay under plastic over in the corner, unused. A place where straw bale homes were still the primary form of building, a place where brick and mortar homes paid by remittances from across the border often stood vacant, a tribute to the violence of capitalism. 

The village of Teabo on one hand would be considered poverty-stricken from a greed-fueled capitalist lens because it has no jobs, no industry, no banks, no supermarkets and no freeways. And yet from the perspective of many of the elders I spoke with it had everything needed for a people to thrive .

“These plants make soap,” One of the young family members, Viki stood on their family's land pointing out the many plants growing there that provided them with medicine, tools and cleaning supplies  She went on to show us a well, a small farm of animals for meat and the pure science of the hammock, the efficient, comfortable and cool form of bedding used by everyone in the town.

“People think we are rich here, just because we have family on the other side,” said Dona Carmen, widow of Luis as she stood in her kitchen in Teabo. As we sat together eating the beautiful meal they prepared specially for us, their guests, us poverty skolaz from stolen Turtle Island compared notes with their family about the lies from both sides of the borders. She went on to explain that many people think wrongly about the families that cross, that they are “better off” than the families that stay. I was reminded of one of my ghetto Skola Mama Dee’s required movies she assigns to students in POOR Magazine’s PeopleSkool, Hoop Dreams, which looks at two basketball players from the hood, one who stays in town with family and community and another who takes the corporate sports pimp-deal offered by a famous university. Out of the two examples, the young man who stayed close to his mama and family and people actually ended up doing better than the pimped corporate Sun.  

Family in Yelamu (SF) One Year Later

“We want to show the brutality and racism of the SF PoLice, we want to show the truth about the connection between eviction and houselessness and police murder, about the terror of poLice terror, and look at what a sanctuary city like San Francisco should even mean” said Luis Poot Pat, cousin of Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat speaking about a grand march for justice they are planning for April 7th and hope the whole city will join.

The family of Luis who are on this side of the colonizer borders are cousins, nieces, nephews and a brother, who like over 70,000 other Mayan indigenous people living in San Francisco, work hard at different forms of hard labor employment, many staffing the kitchens and restaurants of San Francisco, cleaning your dishes, your floors, your houses, and without whom most of the restaurants would be forced to close if they lost these Mayan leaders.

One year later they still seek justice and are asking the city of SF to see this moment as a moment of pan indigenous prayer, of decolonization, of art, theatre, dance, and rhythm, of intersectionality between workers, unhoused peoples, tenants, poLice terrorized, disabled, immigrants/migrants, Mayan, 1st Nations, and indigenous peoples rights. To realize that Luis was a tragic symbol of everything we conscious peoples all fight for everyday, we all wish to see justice for and we all need to manifest in these terrifying times where we are all under attack. That this day, this march, is connectivity under the struggle for Luis, is a march of decolonization and justice for all of us.

The family asks everyone to join the march on Friday April 7th which will begin at 10am at  the corner of 19th and Shotwell, the location of the murder of Luis by SFPD.  For More information on Luis’s case go to https://justice4luis.org/  or look on Facebook for Justice and Honor for Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat.

El asesinato de Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat un año más tarde: Una lucha por la descolonización y justicia para todos.

Por Lisa Tiny Gray-Garcia, hija de Dee, mamá de Tiburcio y cofundadora de la revista POOR

"Incluso, un animal no merece morir como mataron a mi marido", dijo doña Fedelia del Carmen, viuda de Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat, un indígena Maya asesinado por la policia de San Francisco el 7 de abril de 2017. Lo mataron sin razon excepto tener piel de color obscuro  y ser sin hogar en una ciudad plagada por la enfermedad del capitalismo y su enfermedad hermana, gentrification (burguesizacion). "Estoy exigiendo justicia y honor para mi esposo", concluyó a una avalancha de cámaras y reporteros mexicanos en una conferencia de prensa internacional en Mérida, Yucatán, la tierra de la familia Luis y la familia extendida.

La familia estaba de pie, vestida con sus trajes tradicionales mayas, Mamas, tías, hijas, tíos, hermanos y hijos. En una estéril sala de conferencias de hotel en la ciudad de Mérida, Yucatán, su amor creo un espacio que no estaba allí, juntos eran guerreros pacíficos por la justicia. Las lágrimas fluían, desde sus ojos colectivos por el hermano, el sol, el padre y el tío Perdida pro violencia y el peligroso racismo de las fronteras del colonizador, lleno de cadáveres de todos nosotros.

El dolor de los pueblos indígenas que cruzan las fronteras coloniales en busca una vida básica con empleos, seguridad, alimentos y todo lo que les robaron las corporaciones, la colonización y los politicos vendidos; están en un estado de constante de peligro. Se ven obligados a entrar en esta brutal diáspora dejando atrás el amor, la tierra, los hijos, las familias, los cónyuges, las tradiciones, las lenguas, los amigos, sus espíritus, y sus antepasados. Dejando todo lo que sabes para vivir un viaje torturado filtrando con el odio capitalista, el racismo, la separación y la confusión. Sólo para ser consumido por una sociedad que no te conoce, que no le importa su corazón o por tus conocimientos, tradiciones, idiomas o familias, solo les importa cuánto trabajo puedes realizar, alquilarlos, pagarlos o servirte puede proporcionarlos. Este es un mundo colonizador y nos mata a todos de alguna manera.

Mi sol de 13 años, Tiburcio (que es maya, azteca y china por su padre) y yo tuve la bendición de estar en la habitación con estos guerreros junto con el abogado revolucionario Adante Pointer de la firma de abogados John Burris que representa a la familia. En su caso por la justicia contra el SF PoLice. Junto con la Justicia y el Honor de la organizadora de Luis Adriana Camarena y su esposo y escritor Christopher Cook) todos viajamos a Teabo, Yucatán, el lugar de nacimiento de Luis, en octubre de 2016 para entregar un edredón creado por la Coalición Dr Justicia y Honor para Luis  en Yelamu (San Francisco) y celebrar una conferencia de prensa internacional para la justicia para la familia.

"Hablando con los testigos y mirando la evidencia física, y las imágenes de la cámara de vigilancia que estaba directamente al otro lado de la calle de donde se disparó al Sr. Gongora, sabemos que lo que sucedió el 7 de abril de 2016 estaba equivocado. Mi bufete presentó una demanda, una demanda federal contra la ciudad de San Francisco, así como los dos policías que robaron a esta familia de su ser querido ", dijo Adante Pointer. Adante continuó mostrando imágenes aterradoras en la pantalla grande del cuerpo y Cabeza de Luis, cuya cabeza fue literalmente derribada por el ataque PoLice, "Así es como pasó ... Dos coches de policía llegan a la escena. Y luego un tercero tira hacia arriba. El oficial en el primer coche sale. Él (inaudible) tiene una escopeta en la mano. Y en cuestión de segundos comienza a disparar la escopeta, como si estuviera disparando contra un animal en estado salvaje. Usted vio a una señora que estaba caminando cerca mientras que el oficial comenzó a encender su arma. Lo que se puede decir del video es que al Sr. Gongora nunca se le ve corriendo a los oficiales, pero lo que ves son los oficiales apuntando con sus armas hacia abajo y disparan una serie de disparos con sus armas apuntando al suelo. En el suelo, es decir, el objetivo al que disparaban sus armas, que era el Sr. Góngora, no estaba de pie, no venía hacia ellos, sino que estaba en el suelo o en el suelo, lo que significa que estaba Ni una amenaza para nadie, ni para los oficiales ni para nadie que estuviera allí. "(Transcripción completa del testimonio de Adante aquí)

Gente pobre que viaja para la justicia para la gente pobre

Yo, todavía estoy confundid cómo yo, una madre soltera de muy bajo ingreso, anteriormente desamparada que como mi co-madre jewnbug dice, ni siquiera tenía "documentos" en mi propia tierra robada, fue capaz de ir a Teabo . El viaje a las tierras de Luis - en la Isla Central de las Tortugas (México Meridional) - entre la colonización y nuestra liberación - comenzó en uno de los pináculos del capitalismo. El ejemplo de desplazamiento, gentrificación y destrucción postcolonial en el pueblo Ohlone de Yelamu, robado en el nombre de la mentira del descubrimiento por colonizadores sádicos y sus misioneros habilitadores y donde Tiburcio y yo y otros pobres mamá y niños solían vivir, pero fuimos desalojados.

Luis en Teabo

"Aquí es donde Luis está enterrado", me explicó Adriana mientras nos quedamos en silencio con la familia mientras limpiaban y colocaban flores frescas en la tumba de Luis en Teabo. Pequeños castillos multicolores, alineados uno junto al otro en una serie de diminutas calles. Nos acurrucamos bajo un toldo de una "casa" más grande que sostenía una lápida de la familia. Esta familia, muchas de las cuales perdieron tantos miembros al otro lado de las fronteras, fueron detenidas.

Las tierras indígenas de Luis estaban más allá de una postal idílica o un libro de viaje, sino un lugar de resistencia indígena donde la panadería cocinaba su pan dulce en un horno de arcilla con fuego en lugar de usar la cocina eléctrica que se encontraba en su envoltura a un lado de la cocina. Un lugar donde los hogares de casas de paja seguían siendo la forma primaria de construcción, un lugar donde las casas de ladrillo y mortero pagadas por remesas de la frontera a menudo estaban vacantes, un homenaje a la violencia del capitalismo.

La aldea de Teabo, por un lado, sería considerada como un desastre de la pobreza debido a que no tiene empleos, ni industria, ni bancos, ni supermercados ni autopistas, y sin embargo desde la perspectiva de muchos de los ancianos tenían todo lo necesario para que una gente prosperara. "Estas plantas producen jabón" contaba un abuelo. Uno de las jóvenes miembros de la familia, Viki, estaba de pie en la tierra de sus familias señalando las muchas plantas que allí crecían y que les proporcionaban medicinas, herramientas y suministros de limpieza. Nos enseñó un pozo, una pequeña granja de Animales para la carne y la ciencia pura de la hamaca, la forma eficiente, cómoda y fresca de ropa de cama utilizada por todos en la ciudad.

"La gente piensa que somos ricos aquí, sólo porque tenemos familia al otro lado", dijo doña Carmen, viuda de Luis mientras se paraba en su cocina de Teabo. Mientras nos sentábamos juntos comiendo la bella comida que preparaban especialmente para nosotros sus invitados. Nosotros, los Poor Skolaz de la Isla de la Tortuga robada, compartio las notas con su familia sobre las mentiras de ambos lados de las fronteras. Ella continuó explicando que mucha gente piensa erróneamente acerca de las familias que cruzan, que están "mejor" que las familias que se quedan. Me acordé de una de mis películas requeridas para la Escuela Mama Dee, que asigna a los estudiantes de PeopleSkool, Hoop Dreams de POOR Magazine, que mira a dos jugadores de baloncesto de la capilla, uno que se queda en la ciudad con la familia y la comunidad y otro que toma la oferta del Deporte Corporaivo ofrecida por una famosa universidad y de los dos ejemplos el joven que se quedó cerca de su mamá, su familia, y su pueblo, termino siendo el mejor hijo.

Familia en Yelamu (SF) Un año después

"Queremos mostrar la brutalidad y el racismo de la Población de San Francisco, queremos demostrar la verdad sobre la conexión entre el desalojo y la falta de vivienda y el asesinato de la policía, el terror del terror político y ver lo que una ciudad santuario como San Francisco debería incluso Significa "dijo Luis Poot Pat, primo de Luis Demetrio Góngora Pat hablando de una gran marcha por la justicia que están planeando para el 7 de abril y esperamos que toda la ciudad se unirá.

La familia de Luis que está en este lado de las fronteras del colonizador son primos, sobrinas, sobrinos y un hermano, que como más de 70,000 otros indígenas mayas que viven en San Francisco, trabajan duro en diferentes formas de trabajo duro, muchos de ellos son empleados de las cocinas y restaurantes de San Francisco, limpiando sus platos, sus pisos, sus casas, y sin los cuales la mayoría de los restaurantes se verían obligados a cerrar si perdían a estos líderes mayas.

Un año más tarde todavía buscan justicia y le piden a la ciudad de San Francisco que vea este momento como un momento de oración indígena, de descolonización, de arte, teatro, danza y ritmo, de interseccionalidad entre obreros, pueblos desamparados, Aterrorizados, discapacitados, inmigrantes / migrantes, mayas, 1ras Naciones y derechos de los pueblos indígenas. Para darse cuenta de que Luis era un símbolo trágico de todo lo que todos los pueblos conscientes luchamos por todos los días, todos deseamos ver la justicia y todos tenemos que manifestarnos en estos tiempos aterradores en los que todos estamos bajo ataque. Que este día, esta marcha, es conectividad bajo la lucha de Luis, es una marcha de descolonización y justicia para todos nosotros.

La familia pide a todos que se unan a la marcha el viernes 7 de abril que comenzará a las 10am en la esquina del 19 y Shotwell, la ubicación del asesinato de Luis por la SFPD. Para más información sobre el caso de Luis vaya a https://justice4luis.org/ o busque en Facebook para Justicia y Honor por Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat.

Every year during MLK month I reread two books, The King & His Unsung Heroes & Sheroes & Why We Can't Wait.  I wrote this poem years ago.

-After skimming through Deric Gilliard's book, Unsung Heroes and Sheroes who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King and internet research this poem was written

The King & His Unsung Heroes & Sheroes

"Tho' I'm blind I can see the injustice here"

Al Hibbler

Happy birthday 

Not only you but to the movement

To the Unsung Heroes & Sheroes 

Who marched with the King

Ordinary people with extraordinary faith and talents

Over shadowed by names like Jackson and Young

No time to fight for the spotlight

Like then today’s police dogs don’t care about a name

Deric Gilliard’s pen erased the shadow over the masses

Penned them onto paper and into a book

Kept mothers, union workers, musicians and community activists alive

For us to read today

Oh what I found in those pages

My Black disabled elders

Key in organizing and implementing 

Demonstrations all over the south

Hard choices for Black musicians

From Ray Charles, Nina Simone Stevie Wonder to Al Hibbler

Some protest on stage others marched in demonstrations

All felt the sting and bullets of racism

Hard to be an artist\activist in the 60’s

Not IMPOSSIBE Paul Robeson gave an example a decade earlier

Read about the dual life of Al Hibbler

A blind jazz singer turned civil rights activist

Blacklisted by record labels

Kept on singing on protest lines

Arrested in New Jersey and Alabama

Kept on coming back to the frontlines along side of MLK

Al use to say “Thou I’m Blind I Can See the Injustice Here!”

The name Hosea Williams stirred up fires

Of freedom and equality throughout the South

“A man without fear because God was his armor”

His motto “unboss and unbought”

A son of Blind parents and was a caretaker

Disabled in WW11

Almost died in a racist attack

Jumped back to fight for the Civil Rights Act

Masses surrounded the King

On Bloody Sunday

Many lives gone

MLK answered the question 

Why We Can’t Wait
Hate in the face of Non-violence

Didn’t crack under pleasure

Made the people stronger

MLK preached to turn the other cheek

“You shall reek what you sew!”

His answer to police brutality

Another Black Blind Brother

One of MLK key organizer

In Birmingham

Pulled all the strings behind the scenes

The youth filled up the streets

Elders boycotted the stores, buses and the workplace

The Black Masses halted everything to a stand still

Study the terms Black Masses and Black Revolution 

They are inclusive one leader but many stories

January Black Hero and Sheros Month

Before MLK’s birthday is Rev. Hosea William B.day

After is the birth of a sister who lead us to freedom 

I’m talking about Harriet Tubman

The Civil Rights era lasted more than a month

Look down to your hands

Black people we built this land

The next Generation of Unsung Heroes & Sheroes

Standing on MLK’s foundation that many helped built

By Leroy F. Moore Jr.

For the Unsung Heroes & Sheroes of the Civil Rights Movement Era

by Lisa Ganser

On January 28, 2016, 19 year old Black Loved One, Christopher Kalonji, was in a mental health crisis and needed help.  His PTSD was in a flare up, and he became so anxious and distraught that he called 911 himself, requesting medical assistance.  Instead of getting help, police arrived and separated his family and friends from him, escalating the situation, and even called in a SWAT team.  Instead of providing help, police killed Christopher in his own home, where he had lived with his parents for 15 years.  Christopher Kalonji did not commit suicide, as was stated on the coroner’s report and on his death certificate.  Christopher was murdered by Sgt. Tony Killinger and Deputy Lon Steinhauer of Clackamas County sheriff’s office, with impunity.

[Christopher Kalonji has a big brown afro and a sweet baby face, he is seated in a blue camping chair and is wearing a green jacket.  Photo courtesy Irene Kalonji]

Christopher Kalonji was born in Israel, in the city of Nahariya, to loving parents, his mother Irene, and his father Antoine, also called Tony.  Irene and Tony were both born in Ukraine, which was then the Soviet Union.  Tony’s father was from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and his mother is Jewish and from Ukraine.  Irene’s father is from Tanzania, and her mother is from Ukraine.  

[Irene Kalonji, the mother of Christopher Kalonji is standing at the one year anniversary gathering of the death of her son, at the elementary school he attended.  She is wearing her son’s Justice pin and a t-shirt with his photo with angelic wings stretching out . She is holding a Love & Disability Justice for Christopher Kalonji protest sign, she is surrounded by people.]

Christopher was the youngest child, with one older brother named Joe.  The family migrated to the U.S. when Christopher was 6, they settled into a modest apartment in Oak Grove, Oregon, where Christopher lived out the rest of his life.  Christopher went to elementary school right across the street from their home, at Concord Elementary School.  Everyone in the neighborhood knew Christopher.  Christopher was really proud of his ancestry, of his name, he was proud to be born in Israel, and to be Jewish.  He wore his hair in a big, natural afro.  He was well-liked, he liked himself, he had a lot of friends, and this carried him into high school.

“I had a memory with Chris, my junior year at Putnim,” says Ben E. Miller, at the one year memorial for Christopher, held at Concord Elementary School on January 27, 2017.  “He came into school, English 11 class, a little late, but that’s okay, I’ve done that.  Several times,” says Ben, and there is laughter from the crowd gathered remembering Christopher.  

Ben continues, “He (Christopher) sits down, he only sat a couple of seats from me, and he starts going through his backpack.  And he just yells ‘Oh my G-d, there’s a spider in there!’ And he’s shaking his backpack out, he gets the spider out and Jarmar, our English teacher at the time, grabbed some paper, ya know, getting it out.  And as soon as the teacher leaves the room to go throw the spider out,  Chris says, ‘Arachnids are the biggest pain in the ass!”

The group listening to the story laughs. “That’s the first time I ever heard Chris use a scientific word like that.  Just Sayin!” the crowd laughs again and then Ben gets very serious.

“When people go into a mental health crisis, I know, from me having a lot of hurt in my life and depression, where I wanted to just give up; when people from, like my church, showed me love…  I feel like if people would have shown the same kind of love toward Chris, the events that took place on January 28, 2016 probably wouldn’t have happened.” Ben has become emotional, and Irene puts her arm around him.

[Black & white drawing/protest poster of Christopher Kalonji that says “Love & Justice for Christopher Kalonji.  19 years old forever, February 19, 1996 - January 28, 2016, REST IN POWER.”  There are hearts around Christopher’s face and it says “Mental Illness is not a Crime!!!  DISABILITY JUSTICE NOW #blacklivesmatter drawing by Lisa Ganser]

Christopher was intuitive.  He was intelligent, charismatic and he had an open and full heart.  He told jokes, he was incredibly funny.  Christopher was a smooth talker.  He could bullshit.  He was down to help anyone.  He was kind.  He had fun.  He made mistakes.  He was a good listener.  He took time for people, for anyone.  He helped people.  

[a sweet snapshot of 9 year old Christopher Kalonji looking over his shoulder fondly to the camera.  Chris is fair skinned with reddish brown curly hair and a small soft smile.  Photo from 2005 courtesy Irene Kalonji.]

Christopher was especially informed when it came to his rights, he knew the law.

“Chris was my best friend,” says Grace Michael, who goes by “Misha.”  Christopher was one of the first kids at Putnim High School to talk to Misha.  “He came up to me in gym class, in P.E. class and he said, “Hey, are you Russian?” He spoke in Russian to me.  And I said, “Yeah, how did you know?”  Because Chris had this big afro, he didn’t look like a Russian guy at all.  It was pretty cool.”  The two exchanged names and became fast friends.  Christopher took Misha under his wing and introduced him to many people.  He would translate for him, helping Misha to become fluent in English.

[photo of Christopher Kalonji and Grace “Misha” Michael walking in the hallway at school together.  Misha says that Chris was his closest friend, they were together often.  This is the only photo Misha has of them together.  Christopher has a big natural afro and is wearing a backpack, Misha’s hair is short and he’s wearing sunglasses on his head.  Photo courtesy of Misha Michael.]

“Christopher gave me my confidence.  I would not be the person I am today without him,” said Misha.  The two were confidants.  Christopher was very skilled in knowing the law and his rights, and supported Misha through traffic court.  Christopher could recite the first 10 amendments by heart.  Misha tells a story of when Christopher had a run in with the law.

Chris had been hanging out with friends, in Portland, and they were drinking in public.  Some cops came up and asked for their IDs and Chris asked ‘am I being detained?’  The police didn’t respond right away, so Chris, who knew his rights, said ‘well i guess not’ and started walking away.  The police then responded ‘Yes, you are being detained.’  

According to Irene, the police got mad that Christopher knew his rights, and they threatened him with a gun. His friends were there watching, and the police singled Chris out for knowing his rights, for not being properly subservient, not passing the “attitude test.” The police escalated the situation, and wouldn’t show their badges, so Chris took out his cell phone and called 911 and said  “There are police here not showing their badges, they won’t tell me their badge numbers.  They won’t identify themselves and they are scaring me, I am fearing for my life.”

While Christopher was calling 911, the police radioed in, saying “it’s us, it’s us!”

The police were not amused and said to Christopher, “you think you’re smart, huh?” They forcefully grabbed him and put handcuffs on him, and said they were arresting him for “unlawful calling of 911.”  They then seized and searched his backpack.  They found a knife in Christopher’s backpack, but in the police report they said that it was in Christopher’s pocket, beefing up his bogus charges to include carrying a concealed weapon.  

“The police are lying, Chris knew the rules.  That knife was in his backpack, not in his pocket,” says Irene.

Before those Portland police officers forced Christopher Kalonji into the squad car, they slammed his head onto the car.  It was at that moment that everything changed for Christopher.

Chris knew he was being wrongfully arrested, that he had been profiled. He knew his rights, and he thought that would protect him.  He had even called 911 himself to report the police who were violating his rights.  He wasn’t prepared to be assaulted.  

Chris didn’t confide in his mother about the police terror he experienced until a week before his court appearance, but she could tell something was wrong.  He had been withdrawn and acting strangely for the month leading up to his death, isolating in his room, his parents said. 

“The last month of his life, Chris barely left the house.  He wouldn’t leave the house by himself,” says Irene.  “I tried to talk to him.  It was a nightmare.  He was so scared.”  Irene did not know that he was so triggered about an upcoming court date, and she didn’t yet know about the assault.

In retrospect, Irene thinks Christopher was doing a good job taking care of himself, he was riding out being triggered while alone in his room, away from people, reducing the risk of harm.  He was removing environments that might be triggering for him.  He was newly Disabled and without tools, and he was taking down time in the safety of his home, in his room.

A couple days before the scheduled court appearance, Christopher’s new psychiatric disability, caused by the police, flared up even more.  He was becoming paranoid, and things were not making sense.  “They are going to kill me,” he told his parents.  Christopher feared that the police were going to take him into custody and kill him, and that his mom would never know how he died.   

Christopher told his mom he was afraid to go to the upcoming court date on January 28, 2016.  “They beat me on the head,” he told Irene.  “I have PTSD.”  He was having a hard time telling what was real, he kept clicking back to that moment the police smashed his head against the police car.  “I don’t know what’s going on with me.  They are watching me, mom.  They are coming to kill me.”

Christopher Kalonji was afraid of the police and afraid of going to court, and for good reason.  He had been profiled for loving how he looked and being proud of who he was, for being mixed race and Black.  He was assaulted and detained by police for knowing and exercising his rights.  He was falling deeper into the trauma, in his fear and distrust of The System.  He told his mother he could not go.

On the day of the court appearance, January 28, 2016, Irene told Christopher, “You know Son, let’s go together.  I want to go with you, I want to be with you.”

And Christopher said “No. No, Mom.  If I go to court they will put me in handcuffs and put me in jail and kill me, and you will not know the truth about my death.”  It was on this morning that his flare up was in a full blown mental health crisis.  His mind was spinning, he was so scared, he wasn’t making sense and he was yelling.

“This fear Chris had, it was unbreakable,” says Irene, with tears in her eyes.  “It’s so hard to tell this story again.  They’ve told so many lies in the media.”

Irene needed help to de-escalate Christopher, so she called Tony, her husband, Christopher’s father, who was at work.  The two tried to talk with Chris, but there was no calming him.  He was convinced the police would kill him.  Irene and Tony called a number of people, friends and mentors of Christopher’s, people who loved him.  They were trying to get support for their son as quick as they could.  One of the people who came over was Christopher’s martial arts instructor, who Chris admired very much.  

The 911 timeline is unclear, and ultimately, it was Christopher Kalonji who called 911 on the day he was killed.  He called for medical help. He knew he was in trouble, he was panicked, and he requested medical help for his mental health crisis.  

Just as Christopher agreed he would talk to his martial arts instructor, police arrived.  The police instructed all family and friends away from the home.  The police narrative, which was amplified in the corporate press, conflicts directly with the experience of those who were there.  The police narrative says that “his family retreated to a safe location.”  The truth is that the police made the family and friends of Christopher leave.  They would not let Tony, Christopher’s father, stay to de-escalate.  They also made Christopher’s martial arts instructor leave.  The family was whisked away by police.  While they were being forced away from Christopher, Irene told the police “Please do not kill my Son.”

The police narrative says that a mental health unit was called in and were there talking with Christopher, and because that didn’t work, a fully armed militarized SWAT team was called in.

“We were not hostages, we were never threatened, as was in the media,” says Irene.  Christopher’s family had been doing everything to de-escalate and now they were separated from him, and Chris’ life was in the hands of those he feared most, the police.

At about 11:20am shots were fired, and this panicked Irene.  She was told not to worry, that it was just tear gas.  It was at 11:20am that Christopher was in fact shot in the chest and arm by police gunfire.  The police narrative says shots were fired because they saw that Christopher had a weapon.  The family disputes this claim.

“I don’t believe he had the gun out.  And even if he did have a gun in his hand, which I do not believe, he was no threat.  We told the police we have guns.  My son knew his rights, he was smart, he would not harm anyone and he did not want to die,” said Irene.  “He was so afraid.”

The police used their knowledge that this family owns guns to work against Christopher.  It informed their Use of Force while there, and it justifies their abuse of force after the fact.  It is still unclear if Christopher handled a gun while he was in his room.  It’s also unclear what happened because all civilians were ordered away from the Kalonji home.  The police narrative is suspect in the same way the Portland police searched and found a knife in Christopher’s backpack and reported that it was on his person.  There were guns in the Kalonji home.  None of those guns were fired.  

While the bullets that killed Christopher came from the weapons of two police, Sgt. Tony Killinger and Deputy Lon Steinhauer of Clackamas County sheriff’s office, the police still leaked to the media that they were not sure if Chris had shot himself.  They inferred that he did, when he did not.  None of the weapons inside the Kalonji home had been fired, but the lies in the mainstream media can never be erased.

[green sidewalk chalk says “Christopher Kalonji” with a heart lovingly drawn around his name.  Under the heart it says Clackamas County and Oak Grove, OR]

Timeline of January 28, 2016

• 7:35am CCS Clackamas County Sheriff Department respond to 911 calls to the Holly Acres Apartment complex and claim they called in a behavioral health unit

• Police narrative says a 2.5 hour conversation with the BHU does no good, and a SWAT team is called in

• 11:20am Police narrative  says Christopher is “brandishing a rifle” and shots are fired by police.  It is at this time that Christopher sustained two bullet wounds, one to the arm and one to the chest.  After this, for over four hours, police say that Christopher Kalonji is “not complying with orders” to come out of his home.  They are still yelling for him to get out.  They use tear gas, they break windows, they use explosives on a door.  Police are destroying the Kalonji’s home while Christopher is not being subservient and is bleeding to death. There is an ambulance on site.

• 3:45pm Christopher is “taken into custody” and transported to the hospital.

• 4:30pm At the hospital Irene pleads with doctors to tell her how her son is doing, and they confide in her that Christopher is dead.  They tell her they were able to revive him three times.  They tell her that he had no chance because he had lost too much blood before arriving to the hospital.

• 7:30pm CCS department updates their initial press release to say that Christopher is dead.

While Christopher had been shot by police, in both an arm and in the chest, at 11:20, it was not until 3:45pm that he was transported to the hospital.  He was allowed to bleed out for over four hours.

At Christopher Kalonji’s funeral, it was raining, and Rabbi Rachel Joseph presided.  There was an open casket, and Irene and Tony stood in a tight embrace for much of the gathering honoring Christopher’s life.

“Jews don’t grieve silently or privately,” said Rabbi Joseph.  “We grieve outwardly and publicly.  Our tears are important…  Blessed be the Judge of Truth.  Stories are what keeps (Christopher’s) memory alive…  to share stories...  Grief is for the living.  Everybody here is a piece of the puzzle.  That’s all of our job.  To keep Christopher’s memory alive and to do his life Justice and to carry it on.  To keep telling people how important he was and how amazing he was,” she said.

“Chris was really good at talking to people, he had this gift. He was so persuasive. He was so smart. I was always telling him, man, I have a feeling I’m going to read about you some day, like in an encyclopedia or somewhere,” says Misha, pausing to reflect. “I only had one picture of me and Chris together, just that one time… I wish I had taken more pictures with him.”

[a sweet photo of Christopher Kalonji and his older brother Joe.  They are smiling and holding each other tightly arm in arm.  Joe’s hair is short and he wears an Oregon Youth Challenge jacket, while Chris has a big natural afro.  Photo courtesy Irene Kalonji.]

The death of Christopher was not the end of the Kalonji family’s struggle.  The damage the police caused to their home, including their child’s spilled blood, initially sent the family staying with a friend.  “If our friends had not helped us, we would have been without a place to stay,” says Irene. The community also offered financial support for the funeral via a crowd sourced fundraiser.

The police ransacked the apartment after Christopher’s death.  They confiscated computers, searching for any piece of evidence they could find so they could blame Christopher for his death.  The temporary stay away from the Kalonji’s home of fifteen years became permanent, when the management company (the very office that the corporate media suggested was the “safe place” for the family to be while Christopher was being killed) served an eviction notice.

To add insult to injury - the death of their youngest child and being displaced from their home - the Kalonjis were then served a $15,000 bill from the management company for the damage the police caused to their apartment.

Irene went to the Clackamas County Sheriffs with that bill, who refused to pay.  She was told that it “wasn’t in their budget.”

When the Kalonjis got copies of the coroner’s report, it said that Christopher died because of police gunshot, and it also said that the cause of death was “suicide.”  Christopher’s death certificate also says that his cause of death was “suicide.”

Christopher Kalonji was targeted for police terror because he was a smart, mixed race, young, Black man with a big natural afro.  Christopher Kalonji was killed because he knew his rights and he exercised them.  He could recite amendments from heart, and he practiced the second amendment, the right to bear arms.  Christopher Kalonji did not want to die on January 28, 2016.  He was experiencing psychosis and in a PTSD mental health crisis, a Disability caused by police.  Christopher was self aware, he knew he wasn’t well, and he stayed in his home, where he felt the most safe.  Even in the safest of places, with an impending court date, Christopher was not safe from those he feared most.  He was deathly afraid of the police, and for good reason.  Christopher needed love, he needed de-escalating, compassion and a conversation.  Christopher Kalonji did not get help that day, instead he was murdered by police.   

You can support the Kalonji family’s Justice struggle by signing and sharing this petition “Justice for Christopher Kalonji” at https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/justice4CK

This article is dedicated with love & hope to Joe Kalonji, Christopher’s older brother.  

Joe writes, “One thing I never imagined, is losing my little brother before getting out of prison.  Chris was a person of knowledge, always looking things up and learning.  He was never the one to swing first in a fight that would be me, but him, he was always the one trying to help people, take care of people, leave people knowing something new everyday.  He wasn’t perfect as a person - no one is perfect, but to me he was the perfect brother.  One thing I feared the most in prison, is growing old without my little brother.  The love & joy we had shared will always be in my heart and thoughts.

I love you, Chris.  And what you thought will always be with me.”

Lisa Ganser is a white Disabled genderqueer artist and activist living in Olympia, WA on stolen Squaxin and Nisqually land.  They are a sidewalk chalker, a dog walker, a copwatcher and the daughter of a momma named Sam.

My dream is.................. by queena, 11years old

My dream is that I want to be a dancer.

When i'm a good dancer I will go around the world and teach other kids to dance. I will also be helping other kids to stay out of trouble. Dance, Choreography is the act of designing dance. That is why I dance and I want to teach the world.

When my dream come true I will be starting my business and becoming a choreographer and teaching kids in the community. If people say “i don't like your business'', I will just say ''okay it don't bother me'', Most people will not like it but some people will. At least I will love teaching kids.

Dancing helps you relax when you have a bad energy out of your body and if you don't have anything to do you dance.

The Magical Negro is a trope created by white people; the character is typically but not always "in some way outwardly or inwardly disabled, either by discrimination, disability or social constraint", often a janitor or prisoner.The character often has no past but simply appears one day to help the white protagonist. Now we have Black movie makers doing horror movies like the recent, Get Out by Jordan Peele (which I love) and back in 2001 Spike Lee had this to say about The Magic Negro he said the he was dismayed at Hollywood's decision to continue using the premise; he noted that the films The Green Mile and The Legend of Bagger Vance used the "super-duper magical Negro”. In which I agree and to take it one step futher as a Black disabled artist/activist why in many movies (all kinds) when there is a Black disbled character he or she is in the role of evil like Unbreakable or drug dealer like Training Day or homeless like Cavenman’s Valentine? It is interesting the usage of disability in Get Out. I leave with review of The Green Mile that I wrote when the movie came out in for Poor Magazine and connetion of disability in the movie Get Out

I grew up reading Stephen King and was a big fan, but after high school I put down Mr. King until the recent story; The Green Mile. What attracted me to The Green Mile, the movie, was King’s character, John Coffey; a Black giant with some type of developmental disability. As a researcher and writer on disabled people of color I was very interested in the representation of John Coffey. The main issue of John Coffey was his size and the reason why he was at the Green Mile, a prison in Louisiana waiting for his execution. John Coffey was found in the woods with two White girls in his big arms with their skulls crushed. Throughout the movie you find out John Coffey has a power to heal people from their illness. The basis of the movie is that John Coffey is on death row for the murders of the two girls. But in reality John Coffey was trying to heal the girls, only Paul Edgecombe, a guard in The Green Mile and the rest of the guards know about John Coffey powers but can't stop the excution.

The story of John Coffey is what really happened to people withdevelopmental disability especially African Americans in the 1930's. Many disabled scholars and historians have established that people with mental disabilities were viewed as deviants and criminals. Poor, and people with mental health disabilities back then especially down south were out in the the streets trying to make a living cause with Jim Crow they didn’t have access too schools, jobs or any other institutions, so they were link to or seen as waste and someone to be shunned away or locked up. One hot issue was the problem of caring for America's mental retarded population (what they called feeble-minded). According to Steven Noll, author of Feeble-Minded in Our Midst: Institution for the Mentally Retarded in the South, 1900-1940, “the South learned from the North about institutionalizing the mentally disabled but did not look at the striking racial and economic separation in the South that altered the way institutions were established.”

In the words of Mr. Noll, “as the southern color line solidified in the first two decades of the twentienth century, white southerners ignored the needs and concerns of their black brethren. In a region where spending for social services was low to begin with, money for the care of black feeble-minded individuals simply was not available. Feeble-minded black people involved in antisocial or criminal behavior were often adjudicated through the criminal justice system.”

Many people might call The Green Mile a racist stereotype, but if you put the pieces together i.e. the time, and place of the movie and put a Black giant with some type of developmental disability you’ll see that you're not far off from the life of Black developmental disabled in the south back then. Other people thought his speech was stereotypical, but if John Coffey did have a developmental disability in reality he would not have access to a formal education. My God it was 1932 down South!

I was shocked that John Coffey was the only Black character in the movie. This is not realistic, and because of this it was hard to see the full representation of African Americans in the 30's, and to see if his mental disability played a big part of his character. The hidden theme that I received from The Green Mile was mind-blowing! If you concentrate on John Coffey's character alone, you'll realize that Stephen King has put a Black giant with a developmental disability in the shoes of an angel with powers to heal, a person sent from God in 1932. This blows the notion of the usual image of an angel or an agent from God. Nobody would believe that a Black giant with a developmental disability was an agent of good, as Paul found out years later in a nursing home telling the story for the first time to a friend.

It is interesting that it took a White non disabled famous author to bring to light how a Black giant with mental disablity, an agent from god was viewed and treated back then. And the notion that the White man is the savior yeah and no cause at the end it was the Gaint who healed people but on the other side the gaint's life was in the White prison guard.

Now that the movie, Get Out is out and people are again talking about the concept and reality of White movie makers using the Magical Negro practice in Hollywood, I wonder if we use a race and disability lens for both movies, The Green Mile & Get Out what do we get that shapes reality. It is interesting that in Get Out, there is a White blind character that is on the side of capturing Black people. Can we take off our Millennium‎'s glasses to watch The Green Mile again with a critical race & disability in that time period lens to come up like Get Out that it is more than a horror movie but a socal critic back then in tthe South? Is that to far a stretch?

So much to think about!.

More soon.

Leroy Moore Jr.

Press Release

January/2017

Krip-Hop Nation Tenth Anniversary CD Leroy F. Moore Jr.

www.Kriphopnation.com  email us at Kriphopnation@gmail.com

Krip-Hop Nation Kolumn on Poor Magazine

http://poormagazine.org/krip_hop  https://twitter.com/kriphopnation

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kriphop5thbattalion

From Legendary D.M.C. of Run-D.M.C., "Krip-Hop is Hip-Hop!”

It’s 2017, Happy Birthday Krip-Hop Nation!  On our tenth anniversary, Krip-Hop Nation has grown and pushed itself by searching for more women with disabilities, like Kalyn Heffernan of Wheelchhair Sports Camp, Toni Hickman and Annjewelz, collaborating with DIP-HOP, Deaf Hip-Hop artists like Pinz-D and going deeper with our relationships with non-disabled Hip-Hop artists who have supported Krip-Hop from the beginning like C.R.I.$.I.$. from Zambia, Africa, Latino Hip-Hop Bay Area group, Brown Buffalo, Wonder Mike from Sugar Hill Gang and more. This CD has twenty-four songs some have been on Krip-Hop CDs but many are new members of Krip-Hop Nation or first time to be on a Krip-Hop project.  We also have the legendary D.M.C. from Run-D.M.C.!  And did a song with Wonder Mike of the Sugar Hill Gang.  As we all know Hip-Hop stripped down is poetry so this why we include Black Deaf  poet, Joy Elan.

I like to give thanks to DJ Quad of 5th Battalion in LA who co/produce this CD with me and all the artists who have stuck around and really supported Krip-Hop Nation and the original founders like Keith Jones, Rob Da’ Noize Temple, Binki Wio and Preechman. I hope Krip-Hop Nation live beyond me for the next generation. 

In 2007, Krip-Hop Nation was born with our Vol.1 Mixtape with Hip-Hop artists with disabilities all over the world. Since that day Krip-Hop Nation lived up to our tag line, 'Krip-Hop is more than music.' Krip-Hop Nation is an international network of Hip-Hop & other musicians with disabilities with a few chapters around the world what we call Mcees With Disabilities (MWD) in Germany, UK, Canada, & Africa. Krip-Hop is a community as well as style of music, an artistic space where people with disabilities can speak out and speak back to the social structures that exclude people based on disability, race, sexuality, and a host of other marginalized identities.

Why:  Krip-Hop Nation: Musicians with disabilities have always been here however there has been a lack of cultural activism especially in Hip-Hop with a disability justice to not only advocate but to continue to display the talents of musicians with disabilities & at the same time advocate & celebrate our history, intersectional cultures & to politically educate ourselves & our communities locally, nationally & internationally.

When: Leroy F. Moore Jr. first put a spotlight on disabled Hip-Hop artists in the early 2000s when he co-produced and co-hosted a three-part series on what he dubbed "Krip-Hop" for a Berkeley, California, radio station. The series appeared on KPFA's Pushing Limits program, which focuses on news, arts, and culture from the disabled community. The series was so well-received that Moore shortly thereafter founded the Krip-Hop Nation for disabled musicians.

Krip-Hop's Mission is to educate the music, media industries and general public about the talents, history, rights and marketability of Hip-Hop artists and other musicians with disabilities from Blues to Hip-Hop internationally. Our bi-line is Krip-Hop is More Than Music.

Krip-Hop Nation’s Main Objective is to spread awareness about the history, arts, the isms facing musicians with disabilities along with getting the musical talents of hip-hop artists with disabilities into the hands of media outlets, educators, and hip-hop, disabled and race scholars, youth, journalists and hip-hop conference coordinators. Krip-Hop Nation have put out CDs, held conferences and spoke on issues from police brutality against people with disabilities to ableism in Hip-Hop, media and in our communities.

COMPILED BY DJ Quad & Krip-Hop Nation              ENJOY! 

Artists & Their Songs

1) Intro Black Kripple                                                                                                                     

 Who Am I 

2)  Rinnessy

 Song: Talks About Krip-Hop Nation

3) DJ Quad

Song: Seeds Of Hip-Hop

4) D.M.C.

Song: Flames (Unnecessary Bullets)

5) C.R.I.$.I.$              

Song:  Good Foot

6) Annjewelz

Song: Good News

7) Preechman

Song: The Real

8) Georgetragic

Song: Industry Epidemic

9) Rob DA Noize Temple

Song: Tales of the Krip-Hop

10) Brown Buffalo 

  Song:  Accross The World  Music by Rob DA’ Noize Temple

11)  Wheelchair Sport Camp

Song:  Hard Out Here For A Gimp

12)  Toni Hickman

Song:  Cripple Pretty

13)  Ronnie Ronnie

Song: These Days

14) ft. BigFigg, Juako Wheels, Dr.Wahnsinn, Wondermike, Rob Da Noize Temple, Bowan, Zobibeat, Mat Fraser, Mr. Coronas, Undesirable, BlackMask Beat by Sicktunes, Mix by BinkiWoi w.a.c.h.-prod. Tanz: Dergin "Stix" Tokmak

Song: On The Grind

15) Kounterclockwise 

Song: Whip

16)  Proffessir x & Roxx Da Foxx

Song: Rollin High

17)  Leroy Moore & Fezo da MadOne

Song:  Eat My Disability

18) King Khazm

Song: disAbility

19)  King Kaution

Song: Every Day I Wake Up

20) Joy Elan 

Song:  Old Oakland vs New Oakland

21) Prinz-D The First Deaf Rapper

Song: This Can’t Be Life

22) JAM AKA Jachin Anthony Meeks

Song: World Go Round

23) JAKE

Song: Yo Puedo

24) Annjewelz, Binki, The Black Ktipple

    Song: Sugar Free King

BUY at CDBABY http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thebestofkriphopnation10

I’m everything but broke.

I’m trying to make it home too. Cause I’m riding around in the same car that the police pulled me over in and drawed guns on me and my children on March 3, 2017. I need someone to trail me home now and make sure I make it from East Oakland to West Oakland safe while I left my children’s school.

My name is Audrey Candy Corn. I’m the mother of Torian Dejure Hughes. He is 17 years of age, and I am a grieving mother. He was shot, killed and bullied one year ago. It’ll be 15 months actually exact on the 20^th of March. I have two living children, his brothers Amir, 13 years of age, and Ishy-Me, 8, who are still living.

It’s been a struggle every day of our lives. Outside of our everyday monetarial living, I have to deal with outside circumstances. So in a nutshell, Torian dies. Four months later, after he passes away, I get housing. And housing is around the corner from where my son is murdered. So I have to make a decision on if I stay homeless, living pillow to post with my children? Or do I take this residency that’s supposed to be stable and is in a poverty-stricken community called West Oakland?

So I took the apartment, being triggered, knowing that around the corner my son’s blood was shed.  Then shortly two months after I moved into this poverty-stricken project, housing police abused me, put their hands on me, tried to taze me, remove me out of my car illegally. Internal affairs got involved, and I currently have a lawsuit of misconduct and whatever else falls beneath that.

A few months after that, my house is surrounded by police ready to kick it in. They’re looking for someone. They’re looking for someone who previously lived there. But they didn’t care to go and check the paperwork to see if there had been new residents occupying that place cause they would have known me and my children was up in there.

I’m a single mother, 35 years of age, three male black children, law-abiding citizens, never been in jail. Never did drugs, don’t drink alcohol, not on probation, not on parole. I’m not on fucking welfare. I don’t accept your food stamps. I don’t have Medi-Cal so my teeth is rotting out my fucking mouth. I am totally independent. If I don’t work, I don’t eat.

My son is an author. He writes books. We sell them. My other son is the founder of an anti-bullying campaign for his brother. We are here in Deecolonize Academy because we could not be at the traditional schools because of discrimination against my children.

A woman such as myself that is bridging the gap for the community, between the police and the community, I – four times – have been stopped and guns pulled down on me and my children. I have anxiety, panic attacks, stress, depression, and any goddamn thing that you could think of.

Why? I don’t know.

I don’t know, but what I do know is that the police is out of control. They are not following protocol. Any time a woman comes from home, decides that she is going to go volunteer at her children’s school, to show them love and to show the staff and the teachers support, and show the other children whose parents ain’t here, that they got extended family. I came and I did that.

And I was here. I was in Church’s Chicken, up the street on Macarthur cause I was hungry. Then I made it here. And once I made it here, I didn’t leave. And once I left, I put my children in the car. I told the staff and the children that we would see them on Monday because it was Friday. And me and my children began to talk about our day and what we had planned because later on that day, Friday, we had T.A.Z. Apparel anti-bullying gear where we had to fit their models.

We almost didn’t make it because what transpired was: as I was coming from Macarthur from the school, there was an accident in front of us. And there was a bunch of police cars, so I decided I didn’t want to go through that. I make a right.

A white unmarked cop car gets behind me. Two more cop cars get behind me. I say to myself, “Ooh, I’m scared. Lord Jesus, oh Lord Jesus, the police is behind me.” The children is like, “It’s okay, Mom.” I’m like, yeah that’s right, it’s gonna be okay. I forgot, you know. I’m like, it’s gonna be okay.

It wasn’t okay.

These police officers followed me into the Eastmont Mall, turned on their sirens, and flung the doors open and said, “get out of the car,” with guns drawn on me and my children.

Could it be mistaken identity? Could it be my vehicle fit the description of another vehicle that did something? Could it be Donald Trump is in the office? Could it be that they’re practicing on us? Is it terrorism?

Terrorism is what it is. Cause I had on a dress. And again, they ran the license plates, didn’t they? They see that I was a woman and 98 pounds. I told them, this is what I did:

“Get out of the car.”

“My name is Audrey Candy Corn. I am a law-abiding citizen. I am not on probation or parole. I have 2 male children in the car that are minors, 13 and 8. Please sir, can you tell me what is your business with me and my children because we just came from school? I assure you this is a mistake. Please, put your guns down.”

They told me to put my ear on the ground to humiliate me, spread my legs, and don’t look at him.

My eight-year-old son Ishy-Me later remembered what he saw:

The cop said, “Get on the ground.” She was having anxiety. She couldn’t breathe. She called out my grandma’s number. A lady called my grandma. She said, “I am coming, baby.” And then called my Auntie. She was in San Francisco.

They put her in handcuffs. She said no. Both of them pushed her down. One of the cops had pointed a gun at her.

This lady knew us. She pulled us out of the car. Then they uncuffed her. One of the cops had a boiled-egg head. (Click here to watch the video of Ishy-me)

I’m done. I need some help.

The People Launched a Peoples Investigation

When I was a little boy growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, the mainstream media had just started talking about or admitting that pollution was a problem. But we barely heard anything about water pollution, mostly air pollution and littering.

Now there is hardly a day that goes by that we don’t hear about water being polluted or contaminated somehow. And it is always due to water being intentionally polluted or the gross negligence of government or some large corporation who have no regard for the health of poor and indigenous people.

This of course is known as environmental racism. But it is not just limited to poor people of color. Even rural areas where poor white people live are subject to these careless and hateful practices.

This environmental racism/terrorism goes beyond even those places . Literally from the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli and anywhere else KKKapitalism rears its ugly head and dips its filthy fingers. And i is almost always backed up with the force of military might of the United SnaKKKes of AmeriKKKa.

India is an established nation and it is not exempt.

If these pigs are not contaminating water they are cutting off the water rights of poor and indigenous people such as the Zionist state of Israel cutting off the water rights of the Indigenous People Of Palestine [Israel] during “peace” time and even worse during an “official war” which occurs no fewer than every 5 years or so.

Most of us have heard about contamination of water in Flint , Michigan. But it was never mentioned in national news until those harmed by it reached epidemic proportions with a record number of birth defects, disease and other tragic events concentrated in one area.

The largest gathering of not only American Indian Tribes in history but of Indigenous tribes across the globe is taking place in Standing Rock , North Dakota due to a monstrously evil plan known Dakota Access Pipeline, or Dapl for short.

This plan had and has the intention of disregarding the water rights of the indigenous people of Standing Rock Sioux reservation that is ceded in both north and South Dakota

It was rerouted from Bismarck , North Dakota, a predominately white jurisdiction, when residents there complained that it would contaminate their water.

Without missing a beat they immediately rerouted it towards Standing Rock completely ignoring the treaties established with the local Sioux tribes and even continued to carry on with their efforts and ignoring protocol by not having the necessary work permits signed off by the Army Corp of Engineers.

And of course the Army did nothing to stop them in fact North Dakota invoked his powers to have National Guard storm in and attack the water protectors with everything from water cannons to tear gas and percussion grenades, causing multiple occurrences of maiming injuries.

Ultimately KKKapitalist pigs intend to contaminate many water sources across the globe making our most needed and abundant resource obsolete and denying it as a human right to further control the masses.

The CEO of Nestle, a known water hoarder and slave laborist , has gone on record as saying water should not be considered a human right.

Nestle owns S.Pellegrino , Arrowhead , Perrier Poland , Acqua Panna , Vittel , Contrex and many other brands .

In the aftermath of Oakland ,Ca. Ghostship fire many questions still remain. The two biggest of course are how did it happen and could it have been prevented ?

As fire investigators continue to look for clues, one puzzling question that still remains is, of the 36 people who died and in the sea of faces posted in papers and the internet, why wasn’t a single one of them black ?

After all Oakland has a much denser black population than San Francisco does and in point of fact the neighborhood that the Ghostship was in has a very high black population and surely Oakland isn’t lacking in black artist.

There certainly didn’t appear to be any symbols of white supremacy anywhere on or in the building

And in fact it otherwise appeared to be a multicultural artist collective.

The only answer I can seem to come up with in my own mind at least is the manager of the property recognized the fact that black people are consistently harassed and since he knew that there were various building and safety code violations he didn’t want the burden of having any black tenants who would lead police or other government officials to their door.

I suppose in a way that was a noble gesture towards the other tenants if in fact that was the reasoning but it is also one that helped seal their fate.

There is a housing crisis in the Bay Area and that crisis is even more compounded in some ways for artist s who don’t have an income other than the art they sell.

For most struggling artist a space they can live in and work in is a solution to both problems, especially if rent is cheap.

The younger you are the more willing you are to take chances. That’s exactly why car insurance gets cheaper for older drivers, even new ones with little driving experience.

Its not very likely that the owner or manager would have intentionally set the fire because they knew the building was full of violations and it would have been difficult for them to get insurance.

This of course includes clutter that the artist were intending on using to make art with and I’m sure got sidetracked by everyday life as most of us do.

This is not a condemnation of them or their lifestyle. Anybody can have clutter even folks who generally keep a neat and tidy home. All it takes is a prolonged illness ,extra hours at work or a number of many other ordinary things that can cause most of us to be sidetracked.

We may never find the answers to any of the reasons this fire happened, but we can create solutions for the future.

In the 70’s it was mandated that all dog and cat food in the US be made fit for human consumption because so many seniors were dying from eating it. The main reason being it was cheap, but also due to mislabeling or accidentally buying the wrong can or misreading the label.

I’m definitely not a fan of adding new laws but it definitely makes sense that all buildings that humans could shelter themselves in be shelter able with no out of date or poor wiring running water sprinkler systems and adequate accessible fire exits.

The building owners should be tracked down and fined.

The fines should be used to bring the buildings up to code not placed in the city coffers.

If the building owners can’t afford to pay fines than fines from building owners who can afford to pay fines should be combined with city funds.

We may never know all the mysteries to the Ghostship cuz dead men tell no tales.

“This is Private Property!” the angry faced woman yelled at us from the reception desk as we walked into the office of the management of the Eastmont Mall “Town Center” on March 15th.

“I'm calling security” she yells while looking over her shoulder to her assistant mouthing at her to call security in. Remember she is talking to children, some no older than three years old and their parents who are all gathered peacefully in front of the reception area.

This collection of mamas, uncles, daddies and babies was the Deecolonize Academy convoy on their way to figure out what happened the afternoon of March 4th to one of our mamas.

Mama Audrey Candy Corn was brutalized, frightened and humiliated by law enforcement on her way from her children's school to her house in West Oakland. She was in the back parking lot of the Eastmont Mall taking a detour around an accident when two white vans pulled them over. She and her two sons (one of them eight years old) were forced out of the car at gunpoint, and they almost tazed her when she started crying.

We were investigating this crime against humanity when security was almost called.

After leaving the office hurriedly to avoid being brutalized once more by the law we went to the Oakland Police Substation on the right side of the Transit Center exit of the mall. We interviewed the police and after thirty minutes of waiting we finally got a lot of information from the sergeant himself. He told us that he had no records of that incident so therefore, OPD was not involved. He also told us that if they were white vans then they were California Highway Patrol (CHP)

We later went to an Eyewitness of the police brutality. We told him the police told us they had nothing to do with the accident, but if that's true then why did the witness tell us that they asked him about it?

by Tiburcio

On Tuesday we went to Eastmont because we were fighting for my mom. We went to the security first then we went to a mean lady. She said this is private property and she said it again. Then we went to the police station. Me and my mom felt disrespected and now I am going to share the story. It was Friday the police said get out of the car she got out of the car, she had anxiety. They said get on the ground they put her in handcuffs, they drew guns.

by Ziair

On Tuesday we went to Eastmont mall. The woman in the main office called security on all of us. There was a three year old and a one year old too, then we also went to the police station to tell them what happened to Audrey, Amir and Ziair. They got pulled over by 2 police, they had her in handcuffs on the curb and she screamed out the boys' grandma's number and she had anxiety. She said am I getting arrested they said yes she also said I'm not a criminal then they pulled a gun to her face. Then we all stood up around like a circle and we talked about what happened.

by Tristen

Quotes from the People's Investigation on Wednesday, March 15. Compiled by Bella:

*Repeatedly asking the same questions*

"We want to speak to the captain in regards of what happened to me and my sons on this property" - Mama Audrey

"We would also like to inform the station about it." -Mama Tiny

"It doesn't matter, we're a sub-station we don't have any records - where you can go is downtown." - white woman officer

"We cannot release any footage -- it's private property" -woman at Eastmont Town Center

"It's stolen indigenous territory if we want to get technical" -Mama Tiny

"No, we cannot give a quote...Can i get security in here please?" -woman at Eastmont Town Center Management

"You're walking away when a mother had a gun to her" -Mama Tiny

Click here to read the Families Testimony of the Incident

Dylann Roof has been found Guilty of the murders of 9 Charleston, South Carolina church goers who he murdered in cold blood at The Emanuel A.M.E church, one of the oldest historically black churches in America , during a Bible study.

Roof was found guilty on 33 charges under the US Federal hate crime bill. They are as follows:

• Hate Crime Act Resulting in death [9 counts]

• Hate Crime Act Involving An Attempt to Kill [3 counts]

• Obstruction of Exercise Of Religion Resulting in death [9 counts]

• Obstruction of Exercise of Religion An Attempt to Kill and Using a Dangerous Weapon [ 3 counts]

• Use of a Firearm to Commit Murder During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence [3 counts]

He still faces the following charges in South Carolina State court where he also Faces the death penalty:

• Murder [9 counts]

• Attempted Murder [3 Counts]

• Possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime

He initially confessed and chose to represent himself and was found competent to stand trial.

Roof bragged about being a white supremacist and expressed ambitions of starting a race war.

Throughout the trial he showed little or no emotion and even Stated “I feel no remorse for the innocent people I killed.”

He will receive the death penalty.

It’s never a good thing to rejoice over the death of anyone but a message needs to be sent that it is not acceptable to murder black people , that our lives have value and if they are stolen the killer must be punished.

He denied being mentally ill which could have spared him his life if he were found not guilty by reason of insanity/ But apparently he wasn’t interested in being spared the death penalty or being found not guilty.

There could be years of appeals unless he waives his right to an appeal which appears to be likely.

His being executed will not bring back any of the innocent victims nor will it stop people from hating.

Sadly enough a new president was just into the Whitehouse who shares many of the same hateful views.

1. Leroy F. Moore Jr.:  You are a journalist, disability activist and Founder of ASCEND tell us why, when you enter these fields and some work that came out of them.

    

   Ola Ojewumi: As a child, I spent way too many years in denial about having a disability. Though by age 11, I had already survived a rare heart and kidney transplant. This allowed me to start my career in disability activism very young after being denied an accommodation. My high school refused to give me an elevator key despite having a walking disability. It was at that moment when I realized that I would face these obstacles for the rest of my life. Instead of accepting their refusal, I went to the school board to fight the school’s decision. I was then appointed to represent Prince George’s County students on the Disabilities Issues Advisory Board. During my term, I advised elected officials about improving education and school facilities for disabled students. When high school ended, I knew I was not yet done advocating. In my sophomore year of college, I traveled to Guatemala to write about UN women’s programs for Marie Claire.

    

    I learned a great deal about global violence against women and patriarchal systems of oppression. This opportunity showed me how to use the written word to fight injustice and I’ve since been published by the Huffington Post and CNN. In college, I started the 501 c(3) nonprofit organization, Project ASCEND. As a student living with disabilities, it was often challenging paying for my tuition. I was constantly applying for scholarships to stay in school and did not take student loans at the University of Maryland. I wanted to give other young women of color and disabled students the opportunity to fund their education. Project ASCEND also gives middle and high school students a chance to receive mentorship and pathways to attending college. Since starting in 2011, the organization has distributed grants to international and domestic women’s mentorship nonprofits and literacy programs in Guatemala and Nigeria. Our scholarship program has provided college scholarships to disabled students, girls of color and low-income youth learning at institutions from Cornell to George Mason University and more.

    

   Leroy F. Moore Jr.:  What do you think are the major issues for the disabled community & the Black disabled community?

    

   Ola Ojewumi:  I believe African Americans with disabilities encounter the double headed monster of racism and ableism that influences high levels of poverty and unemployment. It starts in the education system with the special education to prison pipeline and mass incarceration. Equal access to quality public education does not exist for African Americans and worsens if they have a disability. If we live in a society that devalues black people how do you think it feels about black people with disabilities? There is a myth that having a disability somehow erases your blackness or race. It doesn’t.  The notion that there is a sympathy complex making it so able bodied people cannot see your race (or discriminate against you) if you have a disability is nonsensical. This is the farthest thing from the truth. 

    

   Recently, I attended the President’s joint address to Congress. While leaving the event, I was sitting in my motorized scooter when a woman began to hurl racial slurs by calling me the n word. This verbal assault happened right next to the U.S. Capitol Building. Racism doesn’t stop when you become disabled. It may amplify it. In the era of Black Lives Matter, African Americans are advocating for an end to police brutality. Though we recognize institutionalized racism in America’s law enforcement, we often don’t address that 50% of those killed by the police are disabled. Yet, when a person with a disability dies it doesn’t inspire marches or mass protests. It barely makes a sound. We die in silence because people still believe that pity means discrimination does not exist for us.

    

   Leroy F. Moore Jr.: We all focus on this Administration and Betsy DeVos push for character schools but what is so surprising is a lot of Hip-Hop well known artists support and even opening up charter schools.  So how can we educate wealthy Black artists and other Black people who support and give money to charter schools?

    

   Ola Ojewumi: In the fifth or fourth grade, I had a 504 plan that implements reasonable accommodations for disabled students in the classroom. I remember seeing the word “disabled” on the pamphlet that the principal handed my mom. I said, “Disabled? Who’s disabled? Not me!” I was so deep in denial and wanted to run from that label for the rest of my life because of the social implications that this label brought. Like most disabled students, I faced several challenges because of the stigmatization of disability in the classroom. Though most people believe that we are given sympathy because of our disabilities, contrarily, those with hidden disabilities face overt discrimination. Before becoming a part-time wheelchair user my disability was invisible to the world.  Having a hidden disability means the legitimacy of your disability is mercilessly questioned and treated with suspicion. You’re accused of faking your chronic illness, taking advantage of your disability by educators and looked at as though you’re less intelligent. Zero tolerance policies meant teachers would argue against providing make up work, look at your absence or tardiness as truancy to be punished with disciplinary action even if you have reasonable accommodations.

    

   Disabled students face enough challenges in the education system and the appointment of Betsy DeVos may spell harm for this already marginalized group. Students with disabilities already have high dropout rates with a widening achievement gap. DeVos’ response that states should decide to enforce the federal law, Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), that grants equal opportunity for education to disabled students is ableism at its apex. The education of a disabled student being equal to that of an able-bodied student should not be a state’s rights issue or a choice. All children deserve a right to an education and to deny compliance with this federal law is morally wrong and unjust. Furthermore, Secretary DeVos is a major proponent of charter schools. The privatization of education through charter schools is a means of making millions from shifting government funds to private schools. While leaving public schools in a destitute state and in further decline. In the private school system, there is the option of turning disabled students away as federal education laws do not apply to them. DeVos’ response that the states should be able to choose whether to enforce the IDEA reflects the selective exclusion of disabled students. Charter schools prioritize making a profit while defunding public education institutions that are already financially strapped.

    

   Charter schools and the voucher system unfortunately has the support of many in the black community including celebrities and musicians. There are so many of us that may or may not be aware of the consequences of charter schools on the black community. Both Black Lives Matter and the NAACP has called for a moratorium on charter schools and disabled rights organizations should partner together to push black celebrities to invest in institutions other than charter schools. We can reach them by being strategic in our outreach. Nearly all celebrities have foundations or charitable organizations they’ve created. Why don’t disability rights organizations seek meetings with those that run these organizations. Then initiate collaborative partnerships that emphasize the dangers of charter school and how they support systematic racism. 

    

   In fact, charter schools have harmful effects on black and brown communities. The voucher system is often cloaked as a civil rights issue to quell racial divide in education. Charter schools in fact expand this division. It leads many to believe that charter schools can close the black and white achievement gap by affording poor black students the same education as wealthy whites. This is a myth. Charter schools only perform 17% better than public schools in terms of standardized testing. The charter school system runs education like a business where teachers are penalized for poor academic performance or student standardized test scores. These teachers don’t receive union protections and are constantly under immense pressure to meet artificially high standards. Charter schools’ zero tolerance policies leave brown and black children subject to harsher punishment and expulsions landing many of these youths in the school to prison pipeline. These institutions divert public funding from public schools in need to well-off private schools. This lines the pockets of the wealthy elite while leaving poor students of color collectively out in the cold. As a whole, charter schools do more harm than good.

    

   Leroy F. Moore Jr.:  Being an activist and I heard one interview when you talked about how activism needs to be more inclusive in that you talked about police brutality against people with disabilities.  Tell us what inclusiveness looks like in hot issues like police brutality, school to prison pipeline and the attack on Planned Parenthood.

    

   Ola Ojewumi: An active way of inclusive activism is organizing with the disabled community and not against them. The traditional model of activism through protesting leaves people with disabilities out unable to participate. Secondly, we show up for you but you don’t show up for us. People with disabilities across the spectrum show up to support Black Lives Matter and the Women’s March. But, we never see you at the marches for our rights. Begin actively inclusive calls for more than superficial commitments. It means partnering with not just a few disabled activists but disability rights organizations. So, the efforts are not just centered on those who already have platforms and are repeatedly tokenized just to check the box on the Affirmative Action list. “Let’s see, did we invite a person in a wheelchair? Check mark! Okay, we’ve done our part to be inclusive!” When organizing demonstrations, make sure the event is accessible with ramps, sign language interpreters and are in accessible facilities.

    

   In this virtual world, where many of us can telework and use social media to go viral for causes. There is little to no excuse for not being inclusive. Activists can make movements more inclusive for disabled people that have trouble traveling, leaving their homes or withstanding the hot or cold temperatures to participate in demonstrations. Try to live stream your demonstrations or community meetings. Create ways for all to participate virtually because disabled activists have a lot to contribute to causes whether it’s from our homes or in the streets fighting alongside you. You may not see many of us at protests because activism is exclusionary and constructed within systems that don’t think to add our voices to the conversations about social change.

    

   Leroy F. Moore Jr: In 2014, there was the creation of My Brother’s Keeper and in 2015 women of color answered back with “Advancing Equity for Women and Girls of Color” forum.  What are your thoughts about the two initiatives?

    

   Ola Ojewumi: I wrote this article before the My Brother’s Keep Initiative started. But I am impressed by President Obama’s undying commitment to helping and mentoring young men of color. I am so grateful to have lived during a presidency where an Administration cared about voiceless populations excluded in public policy. During his second term, I was invited to a meeting of disability rights leaders and Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett. I asked her about the inclusion of disabled boys of color in the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative because of the special education to prison pipeline—where disabled youth are overdisciplined and funneled out of public schools into the prison system. As a black woman, I see how black girls and women are excluded from similar national initiatives. It is tragic that the well-being of black girls takes a back seat to black boys. 

    

   Black girls are not safe at home or at school. They face a brunt of the physical abuse in schools by resource officers and are sexually harassed in and outside of school. They are less likely to be enrolled in STEM courses and perform poorly on standardized tests. In their homes, they’re likely to have larger responsibilities of tending to younger siblings, cooking and cleaning than boys. The black community (and society at large) refuses to recognize these struggles where black girls are seen as older, harshly disciplined and enter the juvenile justice system because of sexism and racism. It’s ironic that Malcom X contended that the most disrespected human being on Earth is the black woman. Nonetheless, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King were unapologetic misogynists. Much of the civil rights movement was led by black women who went unrecognized for decades. Even within organizations like the Black Panthers, black women activists battled relentlessness sexism and gender-based discrimination. 

    

   Here we are in 2017 and very little has changed. Black women have to fight for ourselves and our rights on our own. When a black man is killed by police brutality the community organizes marches and rallies in the thousands. When a black woman is harmed or killed by the police it doesn’t make a sound. In fact, no one shows up to the protest as seen during a vigil for Rekia Boyd. Black women have spent centuries standing up for and organizing on behalf of black men’s liberation without reciprocation. Ask yourselves, how many men organize or attend protests for black women raped or abused by law enforcement? Male participation at domestic violence rallies and demonstrations is slim to none. In my 26 years on this Earth, I have never seen a black woman appear on television to validate or rationalize the unjustified violence black men face. However, it’s more than common to see black men on television arguing that black women provoke violence against them and support the narrative that “they brought it on themselves!” Don’t believe me? Remember when Amber Rose started a crusade against sexual assault? In response, black musicians Rev Run and Tyrese told her “dress how you want to be addressed.” However, if a person argues that black men should stop “dressing like thugs” if they don’t want to be harmed by police an immediate uproar follows. Rightfully, black men respond by saying don’t judge us or stereotype us as criminals because of the way we dress. Yet that same empathy or humanity is awarded to black women.

    

   ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith  has spent many segments trying to teach women how to not provoke a man to hit them and asserting that NBA wives should be seen not heard. Black men have consistently argued that it is an injustice for anyone to believe that black men provoke police brutality and that it’s really caused by racial bias. Yet, Stephen A. Smith and a legion of black men have ALWAYS argued that black women and our “angry attitudes or outspoken nature” is the reason that we are mistreated, used, abused, sexually assaulted and that we ultimately bring it on ourselves. Hypocrisy or a double standard? You decide. Nonetheless, Black men subject black women to the same bigotry society throws at them. Because we live in a world where black women are devalued by much of society there is little incentive for black men to treat us any differently. We’re often treated worse. When it comes to mentorship, nurturing and the advancement of black women and girls we can only rely on ourselves to save us. We’re on own on and it’s our strength and wisdom that will help us withstand centuries long exclusion and injustice.

    

   Leroy F. Moore Jr.:  I was surprised to see you on Democracy Now cause usually media even left lending media don’t have people/activists with disabilities on.   As a journalist, what do you see that mainstream and left leaning media need to know and do when they report on something to touches the disabled community?  And what disabled Journalist like you and I can do better to keep our voices out there? 

    

   Ola Ojewumi: We as disabled journalists have to organize and begin pitching our stories to major news outlets like CNN, Huffington Post, New York Times and others. In the disabled community, we are repeatedly talking to each other (our own disability networks) and publishing our work on mediums whose primary audience is disabled people. That’s great. But to have inequality addressed we have to spread the word beyond just our own activist circles. If you are unable to get published by big names the internet is here to give you a voice through self-publishing websites like Mic and Medium. The readership is so wide and diverse that more people are inspired to contribute to the disability rights movement whether they’re disabled, able bodied or personally not affected by disability but want to make change regardless.

    

   Like many writers, I am tired of watching local news and major cable news programs only mention people with disabilities through the lens of inspiration porn—defined as society's tendency to reduce people with disabilities to objects of inspiration. I’m tired of reading stories about how an able-bodied individual pitied a disabled person enough to take them to prom. Or even worse how a disabled person has decided to commit suicide and how brave they are because of that tough decision. The news describes them as courageous and the neighborhood throws them a HUGE party for no reason other than that they have a disability. We pity them because imagine how horrible their quality of life must be? Contrary to popular belief, there are quite a number of people with disabilities that are happy and accept disability as a part of the human condition. Many of us don’t feel like we’d “kill ourselves if we ever ended up in a wheelchair” which is a very common phrase able bodied people use without shame. 

    

   Instead of assuring disabled people that they’re valued and that their lives matter. We share social media news stories about how taking your own life (with a non-deadly illness) is amazingly brave and praiseworthy. In any other circumstance, would we celebrate an able-bodied teenager’s choice to commit suicide? Would society label it as brave or celebrate it with a prom party? No, we’d do everything to stop them and direct them to psychological treatment. This happened last year when a disabled Wisconsin teenager chose to commit assisted suicide though her illness was not terminal. Hundreds showed up to her prom to celebrate this choice. This shows young people with disabilities that choosing to die is the right option and that your entire community will show up to support you and not tell you that you should choose life. As a person with a disability, your ambition can take you beyond the limits society has set for you and achievement is on the horizon if you fight ableism and its ability to make us feel worthless. This is precisely why we need more disabled writers. We need to put a cease to this so that this narrative doesn’t dominate the news like it does now. We can put a stop to this negative subliminal messaging that undoubtedly harms people with disabilities. I’ve been published by the Huffington Post. CNN, Marie Claire and other media outlets. So, I know the power of my pen to create social change and show the world that people with disabilities are people and not just our disabilities. People first.   

    

   Leroy F. Moore Jr.:  It’s 2017 and yes, I have seen more Black disabled activists/artists especially online, in the White House especially under Obama but for me I still see very little in the Black community and even in Black popular cultural media, arts and so on.  So how can we take the good work online and under Obama and bring into the streets of the Black disabled community?

    

   Ola Ojewumi: We have got to either start our own organizations and mediums to share our work or not continue to wait for black institutions and organizations to recognize our brilliance. If we continue to wait on others to include us, we will always be asking for a foot in the door and waiting on the approval and acceptance of others. I’ll use Angela Rye as an example. She was former the former Executive Director of the Congressional Black Caucus. She left and founded her own company, IMPACT Strategies. She’s since become a well-known commentator on CNN and Huffington Post Live. She sets the standard because there are too many of us that aren’t brave enough to go out on our own and start nonprofits, activist groups or businesses. But we have to do so as a means of no longer demanding acceptance. Rather, we must champion our own causes. Elevate our voices to launch our own platforms. 

    

   Leroy F. Moore Jr.:  You travel a lot and internationally.  I just got back from South Africa interviewing artists/activists with disabilities.  As a woman with disability what did feel like when you travel and see other disabled women nationally and internationally

    

   Ola Ojewumi: It felt amazing to travel across the United States and other countries. When I board a plane, there is a type of excitement that I feel. It’s this independence of traveling on my own that brings me joy. Many thought that this would never be a possibility for me and decided that I could never be that independent. In college, I had dreams of working in the field of international relations and I’ve done so with the United Nations Population Fund and President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). YALI has an international fellowship program which affords African millennials the opportunity to live and work in the United States.

    

   At a YALI event, I met a deaf fellow and her interpreter. In many parts of my native West Africa, people living with disabilities are shunned and seen as cursed. Often, they never leave their homes and do not receive schooling. Seeing her changed the game for me and altered my thoughts about traveling with a disability and working internationally. I haven’t always had a disability. This occurred later in my adolescence. Before becoming disabled, I was told to reach for the stars and that I could achieve anything. After my transplants, I was told to accept my limitations. I responded by saying, “I have no limits and my potential was limitless.”  I was always told by those in my inner circle that traveling internationally would be nearly impossible while having a disability. Thus far, I’ve traveled to Guatemala and Israel. I live to prove others wrong and change the negative viewpoint of disability.

    

   Leroy F. Moore Jr.:  You attended the National Museum of African American History & Culture.  What did you feel about being there and did you see or read about any African Americans with disabilities?

    

   Ola Ojewumi: I have visited this museum a few times and each time it’s felt incredible. There is so much history that takes you to different time periods in the black history. The exhibits show the power and perseverance of those in the African Diaspora and the many accomplishments and contributions of African Americans to the development of America which has made it the world power that it is today. However, I was greatly disappointed to see no mention of the disability rights movement or disabled and LGBT African American history makers. In fact, Nene Leakes is featured in the museum for the popularization of black gay slang…and not an actual gay African American leader. I say black LGBT and disabled people are excluded respectively as a reflection how the black community has treated both communities historically. In the black community, being gay and disabled are things the black church has shunned. Many view being gay or disabled as something that needs to be prayed away or cured.

    

   In addition, the strong black woman and man narrative encourages people to hide their disabilities or deny they exist. Black gay Americans remain closeted in the same manner for fear of rejection and being ostracized by the community. I hope that the museum will try to change this and choose the inclusion of these two groups. So much of the disability rights movement’s history is influenced by the Black Panthers and the Civil Rights Movement. The same goes for the gay rights movement. The Stonewall Riots began with an African American transgender woman, Marsha Johnson, throwing the first brick. This initiated the beginning of the gay liberation movement. This is African American history and shouldn’t be forgotten due to ableism, heterosexism and transphobia.

    

   Leroy F. Moore Jr.:  In the next four years what would you like to see for you and your community?

    

   Ola Ojewumi: I’d like to see more youth and women of color leading the disability rights movement. I hope that the tumultuous times we’re living in will spark a revolution that brings institutionalized ableism to forefront and that the disabled community can amplify our voices and demands for access to equal education, an end to mass incarceration and police violence against the disabled. I want to see more diversity and inclusion so the disability rights movement doesn’t remain a movement for wealthy and middle class whites as the community is largely diverse. It is that diversity that is needed to effectively dismantle systems of oppression that leaves us trapped in institutions like nursing homes and prisons. Rather, we are fighting to live independently with access to quality healthcare and not further cuts to SSDI and Medicaid. 

    

   More importantly, I want to see a close in the achievement gap for disabled students. It’s unfortunate that we only represent 11% of those attending colleges and universities. Though much of the disability rights system is focused on employment, that centralization is a very classist approach. It doesn’t place an emphasis on how the public education system keeps disabled students of color out of the work force through a pushout into the juvenile justice system. The modern disability rights movement must address the disproportionately high dropout rate and while creating pathways for disabled students to attend college. This will provide equal opportunity to enter the workforce. Even within the workforce, there is an overrepresentation of disabled people in the field of janitorial services and menial jobs that pay them below minimum wage. There is nothing wrong with working in these fields but I want to see an end to laws that legalize subminimum wage for disabled employees. So that we can rise to become CEOs, engineers, tech innovators, doctors, lawyers and world changers.

    

   Leroy F. Moore Jr.  You have been in the White House as a visitor and other roles, what do you see the difference between Obama administration and one now?

    

   Ola Ojewumi: I worked as an intern in the White House and served on their kitchen cabinet on disability. President Obama had a real commitment to making the lives of disabled Americans better through his executive order to increase federal hiring of people with disabilities, the Affordable Care Act and expansion of Medicaid. President Obama has literally saved the lives of numerous disabled Americans that can now have access to affordable health insurance.  The current Administration is trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act and take away crucial programs that assist the disabled. From halting the expansion of Medicaid to eliminating federal funding for the Meals on Wheels program. We have a Secretary of Education who believes that educating children with disabilities should be a choice for states to decide and a President that has been sued for violating the ADA. It was disheartening to see him openly mock a disabled reporter. These factors combined make me legitimately fear that people will disabilities may die because of these policy changes and I fear for the future of disabled Americans. 

    

   Leroy F. Moore Jr.  Lately there has been high profile women in all arenas from the former first lady, Michelle Obama to Senator Warren to Beyoncé to Viola Davis to the founders of Black Lives Matter but very few with noticeable disabilities.  Please give us some names of disabled women who are making moves today.

    

   Ola Ojewumi: I have many disabled idols that are women of color. They’re fighting the good fight for disability rights and equality. I am inspired by the first black female attorney, Claudia Gordon. I look up to former White House disability liaison Taryn McKenzie Phillips. Other disabled women of color making waves are Dr. Angel Miles, Day Al-Mohamed, Keri Gray, Andraea LaVant, Dr. Donna Reed Walton, Kamilah Martin Proctor, Heather Watkins, Charlotte McClain Nhlapo and many more.

    

   Leroy F. Moore Jr.:  Any last words and how can people keep up with your work?

   Ola Ojewumi: You can follow me on Twitter @OlaOjewumi or visit the Project ASCEND website to keep up with our charitable works at www.project-ascend.org. 

    

   Pic Ola Ojewumi  sitting in her wheelchair wearing a black and cream dress suite. In the background is a huge sign that says, " Disaporas Development.  She is sitting next to a woman with a tn scraf that cover geer hair wearing a black jacket.