image: kiran nigam (insta: @kiranmnigam)

The word pandemic comes from the greek words pan, which means /all/ and demos which means /people/. As humans we don't have much experience with things that have the potential to affect us all. In fact much of our lives are predicated on a deep compartmentalization of cause and effects. It's why most of us avoid the gaze of the houseless person that's asking for sustenance on our morning commute. Without compartmentalization we word have to fully accept the violence that permeates our society, the violence that keeps it running and the violence that we believe is legitimate in the interest of our own safety. Violence in our society isn't an afterthought or anomaly, it's a core tenet, without it our society would not be able to function in the way that it does. One might say that this is a "good" thing but that is too easy of a bypass and we would be overlooking our own culpability, our own satiation, our own sustenance that is derived from this violence. Many of us know this and recognize this, we often see it all around us when we enter /public/ space, we lament its existence , we post, we blog, we tweet, we say "isn't it terrible what's happening to them?", but only at the point that we are presented with their death for our consumption. The daily atrocities become too much to hold.

This tell us something about the nature of a pandemic and what we consider /all people/ problems. A pandemic is such because of its potential to create the conditions of sudden, irrational and inexplicable death to all people. And so the /public/ becomes the terrain on which people's actions are policed in the service of /general/ wellbeing. In a pandemic this means social distancing, business closures and takeout. But even without a pandemic, it means vagrancy laws, stop and frisk, and the criminalization of entire populations. We don't get "that cute brunch place in that up and coming part of town" without a consistent, and perpetual violence. It is the mortar between the bricks of that great new apartment on the border of where we feel safe. Because this is a society premised on scarcity, that apartment is one of the few you can afford, precisely because of its historic experience of violence. Black death is what created the possibility for you to even be there. This is the liminal space we are pushed too, where the threat of violence to the /other/ makes us feel safe. It's the space where a stay-at-home order is a policy to keep you safe from the pandemic while they shoot black people in their homes.

Black people experience a perpetual pandemic in this country. The threat of sudden death, spread by others is constantly present. It happens to us while running the neighborhood, while sleeping in our homes, when we go to the store, sitting in our cars, meeting for church, while being held in a holding cell, while having mental breakdowns from living in a fascist country, while eating, while crossing the street, this obviously being a truncated list. Black death is a pandemic. But it is the pandemic that you don’t think you can catch.

Systems built to oppress people, oppress people. Even though these violent tactics and institutions have been scaffolded on the pain of those deemed less than, the structures themselves become a tool that can be applied to the populace at large. We are facing a fully militarized police force in the streets because your parents, grandparents, great grandparents and great great grandparents opted out of or assented to the escalation in their lifetimes. They believed the racists when they told them to be afraid, and now you are confronted with what was created out of that fear. The effects of this fear are contagious. They spread through cities and communities, into minds and hearts, until we accept the violence as necessary. Accountability and impunity are two sides of the same conversation and it has been a long conversation at that. If the structures of violence have been given tacit impunity for the maiming and murdering of black bodies over centuries, through the acquiescence and praise of white and true /americans/, why would they suddenly feel bad about shooting you in the face with rubber bullets or tear gas? Why would they be able to be shamed or admonished for such behavior. Because you're white?

A society that devalues life devalues all life. The fragility of your vital organs and bones and breath are the same. If I kneel on your neck your whiteness will not save you. I mean weren't we /all created equal/. But if you are indeed shocked about the level of violence you'll need to accept that you implicitly believe the lie. The lie that your life is more valuable than mine because of the color of your skin. That your life is sacrosanct while others are disposable. That your generational wealth is the result of hard work and not systemic preferences. Because how else would you be surprised about the level of violence you see now, without understanding the lineage that it comes from. This society has tried to destroy black people and all you got was this shitty police force. The fuel for this society is the black body, it gives it logic and meaning. The black body here and abroad is the manifesto by which this country operates. Protect and Serve...Protect from Black while Serving White. Terrorize an entire population and then distill the culture they create to survive into content to be distributed. The violence being witnessed now has been prototyped and perfected on black bodies. There is a deep sustainability to this process because the human body is a deeply renewable resource, the black body even more so. "Throw half of them off the ship, we can always go back for more" We are accountable to the crimes committed in our name.

But if this is hard for you to accept that is understandable, it is natural to deny that part of yourself under threat; compartmentalization is how we have been taught to survive violence. The head wants to avoid what the heart doesn't want to take in. You'll need to eventually allow yourself to actually feel it. Your life depends on it. Because the sooner you do, you'll realize how high the stakes truly are, how little time we have and that it's all about to get way more intense. You might even begin to understand the radix, the /root/, the radical position. Patriarchy, White Supremacy, Capitalism and Colonialism have reached the end of their time here on earth, but their roots have permeated every aspect of our lives. They are the pillars of our house and this house is about to collapse. We need to build new houses and sustain those that have been built in defiance of these constructs, we need to build spaces to create, to grieve, to laugh, to sustain, to learn, to work, to heal. We need to build the spaces that this society has destroyed, especially those in the black community. This isn't about donating to a bail fund, it's about giving the house you're going to inherit to a indigenous and or black land trust. It's about not charging rent to your black tenants so you stop profiting from their lives. It's about shunning the police in your community, stop consuming culture that posits them as the savior. It's about putting your body on the line not in a protest but in daily life. What if 60 year old white women walked into police precincts and stopped their functioning, block the exits so the police can't leave in their vehicles. Setup funds to support cops who defect and take evidence or resources with them. Every local government should be shut down until a actionable plan for societal change is adopted, every town meeting and city council should be overrun. You don't need to be aggressive just unyielding. Business as usual is just another phrase for violence as usual. Make normalcy intolerable. Use your privilege to stop the very functioning of violence. Participate like your life depended on it. And then, maybe then, this pandemic will end.

The lowest of the low. It comes a time when you think that you've hit rock bottom but the reality is there is such a deeper lower low that one could experience...

However the one thing about being on the bottom is that you can go up, get up or shoot up.

At least that's what they say. You can't miss what you never had. I find that not to be true. And sometimes you're so deep in the ditch that you can't get out in your step. 

Imagine a horse with a broken leg in a ditch. How does one come up from such a situation? And so it brings me to all sorts of perspectives and I am finding that it is my own shackling due to my own perspectives that have prevented me from living my fullest potential.

I have had the opportunity to reflect.

This year will be four years. It's the anniversary of my belated eldest son Torian. Today is December 18th 2019 and December 20th will be the marked date of my son's transition. 

Today is the decolonize extended family celebration and report card meeting. The boys did well and I am grateful that they have moved up in their academic achievements this school year. We will celebrate their accomplishments of operating in their honor. Star needs me to take her to the DMV and so after that I will work on my book. And I got to say today is a good day. No, but time it is.

As I write this, around the country my people are rising up and along side them a wide array of different people who identify our fight as their fight, who identify with our grief and our rage, and they are in the process of tearing down the American plantation. But for my home of Olympia, I cannot say the same thing. I have been disheartened, exhausted, and pissed off by the things I have seen and experienced in the streets of oly this past week, to say the least. What I have seen is a whole lot of people whos reason for being in the streets I cannot make out because their actions have routinely shown their blatant disdain and disregard for black people.

Yesterday (6/4/2020) was probably the worst example of this so it’s the particular situation that I will address, but the things that im about to talk about have been happening all the other days shit has been going on here.

The amount of peace policing and how its been happening has honestly left me feeling incredibly unsafe showing up to these demos. Any time people would do something as mild as starting an anti police chant such as “cops-pigs-mur-der-ers!” a whole bunch of white people would drown people out by shouting “peaceful protest!”. In a horrifying display of doublespeak I on multiple occasions saw people chanting “no justice no peace” and immediately pivot to “peaceful protest!”. Apparently for a lot of yall peace is fine just fine without justice. And even more than that, when people in their rightful rage and grief would try to do anything from yelling at police to catching a tag on one of these gentrifying shops, a whole bunch of loud ass white people would surround and physically block them while chanting “peaceful protest”. Multiple times comrades (and absolutely not just white ones) have had hands put on them by these crackers, while theyre sitting there shouting peaceful protest! We dont call them peace POLICE for nothing.

It really begs the question, why are some of yall out? Yall will put hands on peeople for “peace” but I dont see a single one of these crackers putting hands on police when they harass, beat, kidnap, and kill us. Who’s peace are you preserving? The peace of the killer pigs and the antiblack order they serve?

On top of this run of the mill peace policing last night the march was constantly surrounded and followed around by neo-fascists and “patriot” militias. I saw a lot of white people being buddy buddy with them. At one point they physically defended a fascist who put hands on someone AND THEN GAVE THAT FASCIST THE MEGAPHONE. More and more this seems like a white lives matter crowd than a black lives matter crowd.

And even more, I consistently saw white people talking to and trying to point out people to the police. I saw them shaking hands with the police. I saw them clapping for and thanking the police. The same police who harass us, who beat us, who kill us. The same olympia police department who for years have harassed me and my community, who when the good liberals and PR cameras go away have repeatedly threatened to kill many of us. In the middle of one of the largest black liberation and anti-police revolts of our lifetimes, this is not only unacceptable but these actions are ACTIVELY on the side of the police and on the side of white supremacy.

With all this in mind I was mad. I was furious. I was grieving too because these pigs keep killing us and getting away with it. And just since George Floyd 29 more black people have been murdered, SOME EVEN AT PROTESTS FOR GEORGE FLOYD. So I was pissed. And I was yelling at a lot of these crackers, and none of them could handle black grief, black rage. Continually I was told to calm down. Continually I was told to stop being so aggressive, that I was “bringing bad energy”. Multiple times I told these crackers to shut the fuck up and stop talking to me and continually they just said “im listening, im here for you” while actively not listening and not being here for me.

Most of these people arent out for black lives. They love these protests though and that slogan though because they know they can use us when were dead because we cant talk back when we’re dead. A lot of these self imposed protest leaders love dead black people because they use our corpses to build their brands, build their careers, and cash out on our death. These white liberals love dead black people because it gives them a moment to take the spotlight and publicly self flagellate and pretend to care about black people to assuage their guilt. But when it comes to black people when were still here? We get ignored, silenced, spoken over, pushed out, shouted down, and physically assaulted.

So once again I ask, what the fuck are yall out there for? To defend the police? To defend property? To defend whiteness? Cause yall should black lives matter but your actions say white power. Yall will applaud the “good” peaceful protesting of a bunch of white people sitting around and demonize a 400 years in the making revolt of people who dont want to die. Cause you can talk about ‘violence’ all you want and be scared of it all you want but when I saw the news of the police station on fire in Minneapolis what I heard was the chorus of my people saying WE WANT TO LIVE.

I don’t want to die. I don’t want to continually worry about being killed by a pig or a nazi whenever I go outside. I, too, WANT TO LIVE.

Im pissed, and I will remain pissed, but I will not concede space to these crackers and I ask my community to have peoples fucking backs. To talk to people about why peace policing is not okay. To show the fuck up and shut down these antiblack crackers and to have the backs of black people & people of color when we are being drowned out, pushed out, and attacked by these people.

Im asking yall to show me that “community” actually fucking means something and that you actually care about black people while were hear and that you show the fuck up for black liberation. Because people are revolting for black liberation right now, and its messy and complicated and dangerous. It scares white people and it scares people who have a material interest in this white supremacist order. But if black life means anything to you, then have our fucking backs through this shit.

(please copy and paste and share widely)

Below are the reports from the DeeColonize Academy youth skolaz on the POOR Magazine meetings at City Hall trying to challenge the impact fees being imposed on Homefulness. Here is a petition on our behalf.

Photo: DeeColonize Academy youth skolaz learning about the law for self-advocacy at the Alameda County Law Library

Permit Wars

by Akil Carrillo

In December 2019 the building process of Homefulness #1 was halted after the Permit Gangstas (City Officials) said that we had taken too long and our permit had expired. When we went to find how to fix this they said that we needed to pay 27,000 in Impact Fees. Now if you don’t know what an Impact fee is, I’ll tell you. An Impact Fee is a fee that people pay so that the money goes to affordable housing, WE ARE BUILDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING! We also have to start from the beginning and start on zoning. 

We have always paid their fees without problems but now we could not just let this pass by. After community pressure and Wesearch we were able to get a 30-day extension and with that extension we are trying to finish everything we can in the construction and we are continuing our Wesearch. In this search, we met up with Lia Azul Salaverry who is the Policy Analyst and Community Liaison of Nikki Fortunato Bas. We explained to her our situation and one of the biggest issues is that it took 8 months for the fire sprinkles and the irony of the Impact Fees.

In this conversation, Lia Salaverry said something that surprised me. She said “We are also wondering, what is happening with Impact Fees?” Meaning that not even city council employees know where the money of Impact Fees goes. This could end up being a bigger issue. In this conference Leo Stegman who was also there was trying to explain to Lia Salaverry that “This is not a career, is a lifestyle”. He was telling her that we aren’t Berkshire Hathaway building buildings for profit, we are Homefulness building houses for people. We are doing this because of stuff we have experienced not because we want to start a business, it’s because we want to help ourselves and others.

Lia Salaverry suggested that we meet up with Bobby Lopez who already knows about us and that she would be there for us in other meetings. Tiny gave an example of what most people think of us. “Ew, you’re the poor people. You must be hiding something.” So Lia will help those judgments leave by supporting us.

These last few weeks have been fast-paced and busy. We have all been trying to finish the houses. After everything we’ve done, including a mini protest in front of City Hall, the city still demands us to pay the impact fees. Keep in mind that the Impact Fees are only a small part of the payments. We still have to pay for inspections, construction supplies and the permits themselves. This experience was one of the many that show how disorganized the system is. And this is why Poor Magazine exists. To fight it.

Conference meeting/complaint(protest)

by Ziair Hughes

It feels like a normal day. But First detective Ziair Hughes and his classmates go on an adventure. We go to city hall to get justice for our project. 

Back Story: December 2019. The building process of homefulness has stopped community projects (town houses) that started in 2018. We successfully started but that is not going well mid way. These townhomes are for “low income, no income, low wage, no wage '' homeless people and people that need support. And because the city officials members said that we (poor magazine) were taking too long, and our permit had expired, and they said that we had to pay 27,000 for impact fees and that doesn’t make sense because we are making affordable housing for poor people that can’t afford and that need affordable housing. So we went to the city council to protest and fix the problem that had occurred. At the protest we prayed, did the four directions and spoke about our problems. All of the youth skolarz and adult poverty skolaz spoke and we got our point across to the community. 

Quotes

Conference meeting with Lia Salaverry district 2 (policy analyst & community liaison):

“This is not a career this is a lifestyle”  Leo Stegman 

“Ew, you're the poor people.you must be hiding something” Tiny

“I'm really here to listen to what you have to say about homeless” Lia Salaverry

“This is a family run project we don’t roll with the CEO's “ Uncle Mueteado (co builder)

“Built by the people and it’s for the people”  Leroy Moore

”Doesn’t understand the model to unsell mama earth” Tiny

“And how we get this this project moving forward” Lia Salaverry

“They have lived separately but live together as a community” Charles

“Black people and brown people that have land but it was foreclosed” Tiny

(at the protest) “I’m Ziair. Because of these fees and the process to build and try to work with conscious legislators to exempt poor and homeless people from these huge fees and impossible requirements which make it impossible for homeless and poor people to manifest our own solutions and stay in our neighborhood communities and will be kicked out by gentrification.” - Ziair

opinion

In conclusion: thanks to the community and poor members /poor/ homefulness was able to get a thirty-day Extension to shut down but in this crisis, the homefulness project realized  we have to speak out but we are still fighting because they want us to pay other fees and they do not care if we are trying to do good by the community. Even when we pay their fees when we don’t have the money we still pay the fees being poor people because they are the government and they don’t give any empathy they just want “bloodstain dollars.” And to say we have to pay permits for our own people doesn't make sense as with apply pressure like the community we will be able to get this house done. But if we were gentrificaters it we would be looked at different but sense we are poor people they treat us different. Story by ziair hughes 

Meeting With Lia Azul

by Tiburcia Garcia

“The concept is that those fees are pulled then allocated to fund public housing.” Those were the words of Lia Salaverry, the community liaison and policy analyst under Councilwoman  Nikki Fortunato Bass, talking about the impact fees that we were there to discuss that afternoon. She looked as confused as us when we told her the fee that, like she said, was used to fund public housing (i.e below market rate or affordable housing) was charged to us, a poor and homeless people-led building project meant to house other poor and homeless families for way below market rate. After many long years being charged exorbitant fees for every single small thing that has the name “permit” in it in the process of building homefulness, a $27,000 Impact Fee, meant to help poor people who need to be housed, was the final straw for us in Homefulness, who right now barely have enough money to afford the utility bills for our current residents. 

Phase 2 of the Homefulness Project, the 4 townhouses that will be converted into 8 units that will house homeless and low-income families was started in 2016, and us being poor builders with very little experience in the contracting game, had no idea how much it would cost to be allowed to start building things. Yes, we knew about permits, and yes we were aware they were going to be a lot of money, however, as we ventured further and further into this project, and faced more roadblocks and obstacles, we realized how profitable the business of permit licensing really was. Every step along the way was a bill, and we finally, after 4 years, are putting a stop to this. 

“Homefulness makes sense, because it's built by the people, for the people,'' said Leo Stegman in the meeting with Lia. On Tuesday, February 4th, 2020, the students of Deecolonize Academy along with the residents of Homefulness and most of the Homefulness building crew, (which conveniently happens to be Homefulness residents) launched a movement by press conference, in order to prevent poor and low-income builders from being stopped completely by the giant wall which is the Impact Fee, which was designed to help them in the first place. We spoke about how the fee is impacting us, as a grass-roots and government grantless movement, and demanded change within this system that is designed to push aside us poor people with every move. We then asked for support from whoever was watching and listening, because all of us are people from the streets housing people on the streets and the city is shutting us down. 

Lia Salaverry agreed to support in any way possible and also was planning to report back to Councilwoman Bass. In my eyes, she looked like she understood the struggle we were going through, and did want to help in any way. But how much she is going to help is yet to be decided, because before there have been a lot of people with access who claimed they were down and were going to help us yet never returned our calls after the first meeting. I'm only hoping that when Lia reports back to the councilwoman the councilwoman will see the evidence presented in front of her that this is unjust, and this money making scheme has to stop, at least for the people who the supposed fee was designed to help.  

By doing this action we are trying to put in effect a change in the impact fee, saying that it will no longer be charged to the people it is supposed to help, and that there are gray areas in the legislation that put it in place, and there are no accidents in government so those gray areas must mean something, that the gray areas be cleared, and the money from the fees that is taken from the big companies is actually given to fund affordable housing, like Homefulnesses, that are yet to be built.

“We need your office to come to our neighborhood, and see what we are doing.” Leroy cut in, and his sentiment was reflected in everyone's faces. We left the meeting hoping that we would see some changes, and were immediately disappointed because as soon as some of the homefulness building crew went to the permit office, they were slapped in the face with a matter-of-fact statement claiming Homefulness still owes the 27,000 dollar Impact Fee. After all of our fighting, and even though it is too soon to tell whether or not Councilwoman Bass will be on our side and back us up to get the impact fee boot off of our neck, but as well as the Impact Fee we also have continuous smaller fees like a 529 dollar bill allowing us to put water meters, not even covering the expenses for the water meters, just allowing us to put them there, so this fight is still going. We always say here that Homefulness isn't a utopic dream or something we wish to do one day, it is something we are currently doing and struggling with.     

Editors Note: Kiran collected a list of things we can do even if we are struggling to live outside, on EBT or SSI or nothing at all- if you cant do all of them - do some of the most basic like drinking more water, lemon, salt and garlic- and if you have trouble getting any of these ingredients POOR Magazine, United Front Against DIsplacement and Self-Help Hunger Program will be distributing them along with Healing, Cleaning & Sanitation Supplies on Tuesday, March 25th at 1pm at the Wood Street West Oakland Encampment- as well as our SLiding Scale Cafe weekly meal at Homefulness and our weekly meals at East Oakland & SF encampments- email if you would like more information poormag@gmail.com or click here

Immune Tips for COVID-19 (and for cold and flu season in general)

by kiran nigam, Nutritional Therapy Consultant and community facilitator

I think it's safe to say that we've all been thinking more about public health and stopping the spread of viruses over the last few weeks. The need for social distancing right now is high. This helps us to protect each other (especially those who are elder, immune compromised, or have other health conditions that make them more vulnerable) from rapid virus spread, and helps to avoid overwhelming our health system. 

I also want to remind you that our bodies come equipped with an immune system that is designed for fighting viruses. Below are some nutrition and lifestyle tips to help you support your immune system, so that you are better able to fight off infection when exposed. 

First reduce the work your immune system has to do by minimizing the need to fight off viruses and bacteria.

• Wash your hands, more than you are used to, more than you think you need to, and for longer than you probably do usually (20 seconds). Work up a good soapy lather. Great times to wash your hands: before eating, after using the bathroom, after touching public surfaces (door knobs, tables, chairs, etc), after using public transit. 
• Avoid touching your face. 
• As much as possible follow guidelines for social distancing, to minimize exposure of yourself and others.

Get as much sleep as you are able to. 

Sleep plays an important role in immune system functioning. Being well rested can help you fight infection and prevent getting sick by supporting an optimally functioning immune system. If you aren't getting as much sleep as you know you could use, try adding an hour or two of sleep in by going to bed earlier. Take advantage of opportunities to nap if they arise. 

Remove whatever stresses you have control over. 

Stress reduces the immune system's ability to fight off infections. If there are any stresses in your life you have control over, take steps to remove or reduce them. 

Stay hydrated. 

Good hydration supports lymph flow, supports strong immune functioning, and helps your body eliminate toxins and bacteria. Aim to drink half your body weight in ounces of water a day. 

Avoid sugar. 

Sugar weakens the immune system. As much as possible, minimize sugary drinks and snacks to support your immune health. 

Eat foods high in zinc. 

• Zinc supports and strengthens the immune system. 
• Foods high in zinc include:  oysters (you can find smoked oysters in a can for more affordable prices), lamb, pumpkin seeds (soaked/sprouted), grass fed beef, chickpeas, cocoa powder, kefir, yogurt, mushrooms, spinach, chicken, turkey, cheese, swiss chard, lima beans, potato (with skin), oats, pecans. 
• You can also find zinc lozenges, for when you first get sick, in many grocery stores. 

Eat foods high in Vitamin A. 

• Vitamin A helps regulate the immune system.

• Foods high in vitamin A include: liver, egg yolks, fatty fishes (like salmon), sweet potatoes, carrots, red and orange bell peppers, dark green vegetables. 

Eat Probiotic Foods

• Over 70% of your immune system is in your gut! Treat it well. Probiotic foods can help boost the immune system and promote the production of natural antibodies.
• Some probiotic foods include: yogurt, sauerkraut, keifer, crème fraiche, live pickles, kimchi, and other fermented vegetables, kombucha, kvass... 

Kitchen Medicine Cabinet

• Shiitake and maitake mushrooms help to strengthen the immune system. 
• Ginger can naturally boost the immune system and help to fight viruses. Good for tea (with lemon, honey yum!) and cooking 
• Garlic is antiviral. Good for tea and cooking
• Onions are full of immune boosting nutrients. Good for cooking. You can also steep cut onions in water or honey overnight and drink spoonfuls of the liquid to boost your immune response. 
• Kitchen medicine cabinet recipes (from my kitchen):
  • “I Won't Get sick Tea”:  garlic, ginger, black pepper, lemon, honey steeped in hot water. I sometimes add in herbs like rosemary, thyme, or eucalyptus leaves (can be found growing throughout the Bay Area).
  • Homemade Cough Syrup: Finely cut onions, garlic and ginger and fill a mason jar half way. Pour honey on top of the onions, garlic, and ginger, put a top on the jar, and let it sit over night. The syrup is ready to use the next morning. No need to remove the veggies, just press down to access the syrup.
  • Fire Cider: I finely chop garlic, ginger, hot chillies, horseradish, onions, black pepper, turmeric root (or whatever combination of those I have available to me) and fill a mason jar ½ – ¾  full with the mixture. Then fill the jar to the top with apple cider vinegar. This recipe is best if you're able to let it sit for a few weeks. Then you can take “shots” or spoonfuls of fire cider to help fight off cold and flu.
  • Classic Tea: ginger, lemon juice, and honey steeped in hot water. Add in cinnamon for some extra warming effects. 

Other Herbs

• Elderberry helps to boost the immune system. You can find elderberry syrups in many grocery stores. 
• Licorice root and echinacea are both antiviral, antibacterial, increases the production of more immune cells, and increases the activity of existing immune cells. 
• Rosemary, thyme, and eucalyptus leaves are helpful for coughs. They make delicious teas, with honey and lemon. 

The cry for justice was heard in Hendersonville, North Carolina.  The last words of George Floyd were heard, his last breath swept across the seemingly peaceful, tranquil town of Hendersonville, known as the city of four seasons in this part of western North Carolina.  Cries for justice, demands for justice are heard from Minneapolis to Georgia, from Seattle to Korea to France to Palestine—all across the globe.  And in Hendersonville the tongues of young black women and men will not be silent.  On Saturday June 6^th nearly 400 people gathered in front of the Hendersonville police department with a message.  In this time of pandemic, those who are overlooked are now deemed essential.  What is the essential message?  Who are deemed essential, whose voices are heard, silenced?  The young black women who called the community together have felt and lived with silence.  “Just because this is a small community doesn’t mean we can’t have an impact” said organizer Kaelah M. Avery as the crowd began to swell, bearing signs with words “Black Lives Matter”, “Black Women Matter”, and “Say Their Names” among others—a gathering of people black, white and brown donning masks—in unity as people of Hendersonville, and of community.

There is a shift worldwide.  A generation is rising and asking questions, tossing out assumptions and envisioning a new world.  “This is not a matter of white vs. black, it’s us against racism” said a young black man to the crowd.  One young white woman said she was compelled to join the protest to “call out my own white privilege”, questioning the very notion of whiteness and the very real, very brutal and tragic implications it holds for people of color.  A group of young Latinx youth held signs that read: Black Lives matter and Tu Lucha es Mi Lucha (Your fight is my fight).  One of the Latinx group said that there is a connection of police brutality among black and brown youth and that it was important to show solidarity with the black community against a common oppressor.  A black woman in her mid 50’s stood among the crowd with a black t-shirt emblazoned with the hashtag: #SeeMe.  “They see us in a different way” she explained as the sun glared in a sharp angle.  The woman, a lifelong resident of Hendersonville, added, “The assumption is that we are criminals; that we are evil.  They see us differently.”

The voice of Kaelah Avery came over the speakers, spreading beyond the immediate area and beyond the clusters of people, gaining the attention of passersby:

“For some reason, people assume women of color, especially black women,

 Are being belligerent when they are simply passionate or speaking out of

 frustration. Do not confuse my passion with rage. I am enraged by the actions

of the Minneapolis Police Department and to the circumstances that led to

the murders of countless numbers of our black community.  But I’m even more

passionate about the need for fundamental change.”

And in the presence of the Hendersonville police, the people of Hendersonville, the history of Hendersonville, the silence of Hendersonville, she continues:

“In 2014, 287 people were killed by police for

 Minor crimes such as sleeping in park, drug possession

 Looking suspicious or having a mental health crisis.

Imagine a society that doesn’t respond to these situations

With the threat or reality of violence but instead targets the

Underlying issues behind these actions by defunding the police

and redistributing that money to address homelessness, drug addiction

and preventative healthcare.”

 A middle aged Latino man spoke, saying that America is very sophisticated in its racism, that it is subtle to where it looks like something good.  A young African American man approached the microphone and said, “It’s good you’re out here today but—some of you—your apathy is killing us.”

As a person of color who has lived in Hendersonville since July, I can say that I have been glared at in public, as if my presence were an affront.  A woman in a passing car gave me the finger as I walked the Greenville Highway.  I am keenly aware of my skin.  One’s perception of me, fueled by white supremacy or by what Toni Morrison coined, “The white gaze” can have brutal and tragic implications.  But there are also people who are quite friendly, civil—offering a hello, good morning, God Bless—those things that hold community together.  But as a person of color, you can’t forget your own skin because to do that is to open yourself up to danger.  This awareness was articulated by the late poet Wanda Coleman who said, “To be forewarned is to be forearmed.”

I had the opportunity to talk to a young black brother, Preston Blakely.  Preston is 25 years of age and was elected to the Fletcher City Council in November.  He expressed frustration at the racism he endures.  “I have to be aware of my race everywhere.  Should I have my hands in my pocket?  Should I have my hood on?  It leaves me angry, frustrated and sad but these aren’t new emotions.”  Blakely described being pulled over by an officer for no apparent reason. It turned out the cop pulled him over to “Check his lights”.  “It feels like they are looking for ways to get into an altercation” Blakely added, noting that he has dealt with these experiences most of his life.

The rally culminated in a peaceful march to the Historic Courthouse on Main street where signs were held and names of those killed by police were called: Brionna Taylor, George Floyd, Armaud Arbery (Arbery was killed by a former officer) and others.  As the?” march approached the historic courthouse, a man was seen in front of Mike’s on Main holding an assault rifle.  The windows were covered with slabs of wood.  “What is that?” I said to a man next to me marching.  “It sure ain’t a grilled cheese sandwich” the man replied, walking forward.

The voices rising from Hendersonville join voices in Minneapolis where defunding the police is actively being pursued by their city council, as well as in San Francisco and in other cities.  They join voices in New York, England, France, Korea—across the planet where people are coming together and fighting back.  They are envisioning a new world, a new way of going about the business of life and what it means to be human.  This vision is alive in Hendersonville, lead by young black women whose voices are clear as the skies opening up new possibilities on this stretch of western North Carolina.  As one speaker said, “It’s good to protest but we have to get involved, we have to run for office and attend the city council meetings.”  As the rally ended, people headed in different directions, each with a piece of the movement to take beyond themselves, to their neighborhoods, co-workers, friends.  I headed to my car with the words of one man  still vivid in my mind: Please listen to us. We can’t breathe…listen to us.

(Image: Organizers Shiauna Ledbetter, Jasmine Mills and Kaelah Avery, courtesy of Shiauna Ledbetter's Facebook Page)

© 2020 Tony Robles

_{POOR Magazine/Homefuness is formerly demanding a permanent end to:}

-All "Sweeps", Belonging theft and all Criminalization of Unhoused peoples in this Covid19 Crisis and Forever.

-A Moratorium on Evictions of Low and no-income elders, families and workers in this Covid19 crisis and Forever

- A Moratorium on all Foreclosures of homes owned by individual families, disabled communities and elders 

- A end to the shut off of utilities of families and elders disabled 

-Sick pay paid to all gig workers, low-wage workers and families for the duration of this Covid19crisis 

-Vacant and Hoarded Land, Homes and Buildings Immediately Redistributed to Houseless Families, Elders and Individuals at no cost for their own self-determined movements like Homefulness, Moms4Housing and #WhereDoWeGoBerkeley? #FirstTheyCameForTheHomeless 

Join #RoofLessRadio as we continue to activate radical redistributed resources to all of us Po folks on March 24th- click here:

ComeUnity Healing,Cleaning Sanitation Supplies Radical Redistribution Days at Encampments & Po People Housing

The soul of the nation is burning.  The streets are on fire, minds are on fire, hearts are on fire.  For every broken glass there are shattered lives, broken identities, severed connections to ourselves and to others.  The nation is aflame.  The camera is pointed at us.  There is no hiding.  Things are not going to be the same.  John Wayne is not coming on his galloping horse to swoop us up before the credits roll.  There will be no rerun. We cannot afford it.  There will be no return to the old days, our earth mother will see to that.  In the middle of a pandemic, people are putting themselves on the line.  They know what is at stake.  The collective waters are tainted with the violent virus of racism—from Minneapolis to Flint, to Atlanta to Detroit, to the Brazilian rainforest to the Navajo Nation to San Francisco.  The fires have raged inside for too long.  We cannot lie back and breathe easy when black people are stripped of their dignity, attacked, and mocked under the collective knee of indifference, institutional racism, mass incarceration and economic violence.

The soul of the nation is burning—it has always been on fire.  What are the people saying?  What is the world saying?  During this pandemic, the world is healing itself.  Skies once rife with haze and suffocating pollution are now clear.  Our world is breathing in places where it once gasped, choked.  The world–our earth mother–is saying, get your goddamned knee off my neck.  The people are saying likewise.  In this rising up, the people are breathing a collective breath of clarity, seeing and feeling, rejecting indifference and injustice.  What are the people saying?  The earth is listening.  What was Floyd George trying to say?  What do the eyes of Ahmaud Arbery say to you, eyes speak in the absence of breath?

This is a wake-up call, a turning point.  But there will be no turning back. The soul of the nation is on fire.  It is on fire for a new mind, a new way of dealing with one another.  It is on fire to give and not take, for there are those who have taken too much at the expense of those who have given.  It is on fire for a new world because what has been done with the one whose space we occupy cannot be sustained.  The soul of the nation is on fire.  The hatred against its people, its disregard for its people, its mocking of its people cannot be sustained.  This is a turning point.  There is no turning back.  Our mother earth has hit the reset button.  It is telling those in charge that, contrary to what they believe, she’s the one running the show.

Please Support Deecolonize Academy Youth in Media Paid Mentorship- HERE

Teaching and mentoring formerly houseless & houseless Black & Brown youth to write and produce radio, video on PoLice terror  and Gun Violence in their own families and communities, and lives for the next issue of Decolonewz and PNNKEXU radio and get paid stipends for their work.  Mentorship also includes learning and doing construction on Homefulness- a Homeless peoples solution to homelessness, meditation, Basketball  and Aztec Dance   

What is Deecolonize Academy 

As homeless and formelry homeless people of color in a society that was built off of us but not for us, we feel that it is essential to provide quality, relevant and realistic education to our black, brown, disabled,indigenous youth, that will develop them into leaders, enhance their unique gifts, and uplift them to greatness to ultimately decolonize. 

What is Decolonewz

Decolonewz is a community newspaper of the Blackarthur (MacArthur Bl) neighborhood and the school newspaper of the Deecolonize Academy. Deecolonize Academy is a people-led school on the sacred land we Po folks call Homefulness. Homefulness is a project of POOR Magazine.

PLEASE NOTE: Mentorship will be small, outdoor, socially distant classes with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), healthy food love and support 

Rest in Power,

Black Loved One

Yvonne McDonald  

Sunrise

June 23, 1962  to

Sunset

August 7, 2018

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO 

Yvonne McDonald was found injured near her home on the west side of Olympia on the early morning of August 7, 2018. She later died at the hospital. Yvonne McDonald’s family and community have been heartbroken and outraged by the anti-Black handling of Yvonne while she was still alive, and the racist “investigation” into her death. The outrage extends from Shitty (City) of Olympia to Thurston Kounty officials, to first responders, poLice, coroner, the politricksters of the prosecutors orifice (office), the mayor, the shitty council...  all who have ignored obvious signs of trauma and violence and didn’t give Yvonne’s case a thorough investigation. Yvonne McDonald became a “case” to poLice while she was still clinging to life. The lack of care given Yvonne from first contact contributed to her death.  

[image:  Black, Loved One, Yvonne McDonald’s NUAPB National United Against PoLice Brutality justice pin, Olympia, WA 2018]

On June 12, 2020, amidst demands for the liberation of Black people, against the backdrop of the covid-19 pandemic, Talauna Reed made the half hour drive from Olympia, WA to Chehalis for a kourt date in Lewis County, WA.  Talauna arrived with her brother, Terrance, and a small group of comrades and organizers, which she called her “legal team.” Talauna had to go to a kourthouse a whole kounty over because she is suing the kounty she lives in, and she can not stop, will not stop, fighting for Justice for her Aunt, Yvonne McDonald.  

“Wow, y’all. There’s so many people here,” Talauna said in tears, upon arriving at the parking lot outside the Lewis Kounty Kourthouse. “I could cry.” Little did she know that the group of about 50 enthusiastic supporters gathered there early in the morning and in the rain, would soon swell to a roaring 300-400 people while she was inside the kourthouse.

As Talauna and Terrance stood in line to go through the metal detector, a white self-identified “lawyer” came up and pushed her way toward the front of the masked up folks, who were trying to stay safely socially distanced. “I am all for protesting, but really, on a Friday?!?!” she complained. 

[image: Talauna Reed lovingly smiles while holding an altar box with sacred items and memories of her Aunt inside. There is a photo of her Aunt, Yvonne “Gi Gi” McDonald, who is also smiling, on the side of the box.] 

Talauna Reed is a Black business woman specializing in Black hair and wellness and is an advocate of others. She is a Mother and People Protector. Talauna is a community organizer, an Olympia SURJ Showing Up for Racial Justice core organizing member, co-facilitator of Poverty Scholarship Book Club and the founder and lead organizer of Justice for Yvonne. Talauna has conducted a very thorough People’s Investigation into her Aunt’s death. Among the many things being done as part of Justice for Yvonne McDonald, Talauna has filed a lawsuit against Thurston Kounty for violating the Public Records Act. Thurston Kounty has wrongfully denied access to public records related to the death investigation of Yvonne McDonald. These records include and are not limited to the autopsy report, coroner’s report, medics’ records, emails, chain of custody reports, deputy coroner’s reports, photos, and any records that were created or in the County’s possession used to determine Yvonne McDonald’s cause of death.

The in-person June 12th kourt appearance was an attempt by Thurston Kounty, and clearly the prosecutor Jon TOONhime’s orifice (office), to throw out her case on a technicality. The judge heard from both sides, and did not throw out Talauna’s case. The June 12th kourt appearance and event outside organized by Talauna and Justice for Yvonne was a SUCCESS. The kourt appearance was a victory.  Talauna has been given an extension to file papers “properly” and her next kourt date will be July 10, 2020 at 9am at the Lewis Kounty Kourthouse, 345 W Main St, Chehalis, WA. PLEASE SHOW UP IN SUPPORT!

Talauna Reed has recruited widespread support for her Life’s Work of demanding Justice for Yvonne. She single handedly got almost 400 people to show up for her Aunt in Lewis Kounty on a Friday and in the rain!!!! (see video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTmSv8qvl0o)

[image of Talauna Reed showing up for others - outside kourthouse in Tacoma, WA with Crystal Chaplin back in 2019 in support of Black, brothers, Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin, who survived a murder attempt by a racist white poLice officer named Ryan Donald in olympia in 2015. Justice for Yvonne means Justice for Andre and Bryson THEY SURVIVED]

[image: Talauna holding a blow horn during a march in Olympia demanding Justice for her Aunt in 2019.]

[Talauna at an action holding a sign with her Aunt Yvonne’s face on it, that says Justice for Yvonne and INQUEST NOW, she is surrounded by supporters]

[image of colorful chalk on the sidewalk that says #sayhername and Yvonne McDonald #YvonneMcDonald in a heart next to other Loved Ones killed by olympia poLice, white, Disabled, Vaneesa Hopson and white, poverty scholar, Jeffrey McGaugh]

June 23 is Yvonne McDonald’s birthday.  There is a gathering planned and hosted by Justice for Yvonne and Talauna outside of Olympia Shitty (City) Hall today at 7pm.  

From Justice for Yvonne:  Yvonne's Life is gone from this earth but not forgotten. Please join us as we remember her beautiful soul. While the fight for Justice continues, it feels important to share with the community where we are at with Justice 4 Yvonne McDonald and Refresh ourselves as we continue to do Work in our communities. There will be music, sharing, and a candlelight vigil for loved ones lost or harmed by poLice. Don’t forget to wear masks!!!!

[images:  left a drawing of Yvonne McDonald by nomy lamm with flowers, and right an artists drawing/stencil of Black, Loved One Yvonne McDonald with roses on white paper and displayed in a window]

Lisa Ganser is a white, disabled, Non Binary, queer, poverty scholar, artist and organizer living in Olympia, WA on colonized Chehalis, Nisqually and Squaxin land. They are a copwatcher, a dog walker, a sidewalk chalker, and the daughter of a Momma named Sam.

“We pay your salaries and you have your assault rifles ready to shoot us unarmed protesters!?!? Stop paying them, people!” A poverty skolar shouted from the crowd where about 100 people had gathered in front of the Tenderloin police station in SF to speak up against police terror, murder and blantant brutality that is swiftly plauging many states in the nation once again.

Worldwide unrest opposing the murders of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Atatiana Jefferson and Ahmaud Arbery will not “quiet down” anytime soon, nor should it, because as long as the police perpetuate a form of domestic terrorism our voices shall be heard in unison demanding justice for our murdered loved ones.

While president trump was at a rally in Arizona making up racist names to replace the name of “co-vid” Rayshard Brooks was being laid to rest in a private celebration of life service in Atlanta  and people including young students took to the streets in Berkeley and San Francisco in opposition of police terror.

Protesters that were at the Tenderloin police station had also called out the constant criminalization of the homeless in the city by police and other officials citing that power washing away poor people’s tents without having adequate resources available for those in need with housing, mental health and substance abuse problems is not the solution to the houseless epidemic but to support those in crisis during the covid pandemic and not leave people in the streets basically to die.

The demand was to cease the abundance of funding to police departments and take some of the financial resources and redirect them into more programs that would serve the communities’ needs such as education, healthcare, affordable housing, mental/drug treatment programs and most of all - equal opportunity.

“Every time there is a crisis or a state of emergency due to a disaster, poor people’s lives are always looked over and swept under the rug” said one protester. “Our lives do not matter not only when it comes down to the police, but the system as a whole.”

Some folks argue that if the police departments were to be defunded, that the crime rate will hit the roof because there would be no police officers to serve and protect the citizens. Unfortunately not every cop on the job “protects and serves” unless they are protecting more affluent neighborhoods and serving impoverished folks with the butt of their billy clubs-or worse. The excuse of police brutality victims engaging in alleged criminal activities is played out and does not give authorities the right to hand out death sentences, with that said the criminal activity amongst police departments must be called out indefinitely because criminals in uniform do not deserve one red cent from the very people that they (police) oppress and kill on a daily basis.

The severe discord between the police and the black community has its history of not only brutality, but fear itself because who in the community would dare call a cop when the chief himself was the grand dragon of the KKK? The deep-seeded racism that “kept colored folk in their places” is also a tactic that conditioned black communities and other communities of color to become complacent with being victimized and refusing to report crimes out of fear of being killed and nowadays, deported and with that layer added we have a long way to go.

Photo- Steven Taylor. Source Lee Merritt

It has been a little over two months since Steven Taylor was shot and killed by a police officer inside a Walmart in San Leandro and there has been no justice to his memory. Taylor was unhoused at the time and experiencing a mental health crisis, but rather than calling for a trained mental health expert or the city’s homeless bike police unit, police officers shot him, for holding a baseball bat. National attention to similar police brutality cases has galvanized local San Leandro organizers, and over 70 people attended the June 15th San Leandro City Council meeting to demand justice for Steven Taylor and call for defunding the police. 

In a meeting that lasted well into the early morning hours, the San Leandro City Council was split on approving the city budget. While three councilmembers voted to delay the budget vote, the remaining four councilmembers voted to approve the budget and re-allocate $1.7 million dollars that would have gone to the police department to other community services. This should not be interpreted as truly ‘defunding the police’ as the original city budget included increases to the police department annual budget of over $40 million. 

Among the police budget cuts for the $1.7 million is the popular San Leandro police homeless bike unit. A component of the San Leandro homeless compact, two officers work as case managers to unhoused individuals and assist the Recreation and Human Services department in providing transportation, resources, and social services. A recent media article frames the issue of defunding police as pitting this service to the unhoused against reducing police brutality, a particularly cruel irony given Steven being unhoused at the time of the incident. In reality, the police department has no reason to be involved in mental health services or community outreach to the unhoused. Even if the officers are acting as case managers for the individuals, they are still being called on by businesses and residents to protect property and profit. There is no need for a militarized presence in communities, let alone in unhoused communities.  

The choice between services for the unhoused and reducing police brutality is a false one. To truly keep communities safe and cared for, such services need to be invested in and placed under more appropriate departments such as Recreation and Human Services. The police budget needs to be cut more drastically and funds need to be reallocated to community programs such as mental health services and resources for the unhoused. This is what justice for Steven Taylor needs to look like.