Original Post Date
2016-04-26 12:47 PM
Original Body
p style="orphans: 1"font color="#222222"ldquo;font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"iWhat is the amerikkkan dream? families risking their life for the amerikkkkan dream, the same dream all of his hear about but few of us get to see ./i.rdquo; Muteado Silencio, Porsquo; Poet Land Liberator with POOR Magazine/Homefulness/font/font/font/p
p style="orphans: 1"font color="#222222"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"The concrete was quiet on Shotwell street.nbsp;Andnbsp;yet you heard it. A soft ping of a ball against a metal wall. A sidewalk, A curb; The ping sailed through the air on a ray of sun. The sun came from the South. From the land of Yucatac Maya people.The land of Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat. Killed by San Francisco Porsquo;LICE for nothing. Killed because he was unhousednbsp;andnbsp;Brownnbsp;andnbsp;therefore easy to harass, profilenbsp;andnbsp;eventually murder in the stolen Yelamu Ohlone land called San Francisco GentriFUKation City.nbsp;nbsp;/font/font/font/p
p Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat was an Indigenous Mayan father, hard -worker, futbal (soccer) player, a loving friend to everyone who knew him. His story is tragically similar to the story of millions of other migrante, indigenous poverty skolaz who are forced to cross false borders to support their families back home struggling with the impact of indigenous landnbsp;andnbsp;resource theft by empires like the US, by evil contractsnbsp;andnbsp;treaties like NAFTAnbsp;andnbsp;CAFTA. Theyy come here only tonbsp;struggle with wage theft, racism, and profiling innbsp;urban cities like San Francisco, LAnbsp;andnbsp;New York, with very dangerous housing shortagesnbsp;andnbsp;poLIce terror./p
p font color="#222222"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"bPoverty Across False Borders/b/font/font/fontbr /
font color="#222222"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"The story of Luisnbsp;andnbsp;Amilcar Perez Lopez is the story of so many poverty and migrante/indigenous skolaz who come here just to work. Unclesnbsp;andnbsp;Mamaz like POOR Magazinersquo;s own Muteado Silencio, Teresa M, Angel, Ingrid DeLeon from Voces de immigrants en resistencianbsp;andnbsp;my own Sunsrsquo; Tio Tiburcio (who he was named after) a migrante, indigenous skola, a Yucatec Mayan man who worked for 30 years in 3 restaurants as a ldquo;lavaplaterordquo; (dishwasher) struggling with wage theft, racism,nbsp;andnbsp;seriously substandard housing just to survive.nbsp;/font/font/font/p
p ldquo;I am only here to work, I sleep in a corner of a closet with six other people, I have to endure this to make enough money to support my family in Mexico, to eventually go home to the land of my people,rdquo; said Tio Tiburcio to my Mamanbsp;Dee, about his life, ldquo; I dream everyday for the day when i can leave this place.rdquo; he concluded to my mama who shook her head in agreement./p
p Poverty is an industry for all of us on both sides of the empire borders. It is kept in place so that rich people can profit off our cheap labor, our struggles, our incarcerationnbsp;andnbsp;our desperation. The connections between all of us poor, working class, Black, Brownnbsp;andnbsp;indigenous people from all sides of the false borderss are becoming clearer as we struggle with dangerous gentrification, profilingnbsp;andnbsp;police predation, like the kind that caused the death of Alex Nieto, Amilcar Lopeznbsp;andnbsp;Luis. All of them Brown men, hard-workers,nbsp;andnbsp;trying to survive in a City that might want our labor, our poor bodies to make their lattes, secure their partiesnbsp;andnbsp;restaurants, was their dirty dishes, babysit their children but doesnrsquo;t want our bodies to actually live here.nbsp;/p
p Luis was an unhoused San Franciscannbsp;andnbsp;a recycler. Although most people buy into the concept that independent recycling is a crime because they believe that corporations ldquo;ownrdquo; trash, we as fellow poor people understand that recycling is a job, one of the hardest jobs a person can have. He was also a loving man who brought lovenbsp;andnbsp;care to everyone he met. Like so many unseen, unheard, hard-working people, he was someone who my mama would say walked softly on Mama Earth. Luis had an apartment before the rent became too high. Houselessness killed Luis./p
p font color="#222222"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"bPoverty of the Spirit in the US/b/font/font/fontbr /
font color="#222222"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"On the other side of the false borders, we folks in struggle, having dealt with hundreds of years of white-supremacy, colonization, land, culture, languagenbsp;andnbsp;resource theft are holding on by a few threads. Morenbsp;andnbsp;more of us can no longer fight the insane battle to stay housed, to stay on the hamster wheel. Like my mixed race, already soul-destroyed, Afro-Taino mama, who become unable to keep on keeping on, which is why we became houseless for most of my life as a child./font/font/font/p
p ldquo;I had an apartment, but like Luis, they raised the rentnbsp;andnbsp;i couldnrsquo;t afford the rent increase, thats the story of so many of us out here,rdquo; Reggie, a friend of Luis who lived, unhoused, down the block from Luisrsquo;s encampment, talked to us the day after Luis shooting. When we heard about the shooting we went to the encampment when Luis used to stay to support the poverty skolaz who witnessed the murder of their friend by Porsquo;Lice. We did a healing circlenbsp;andnbsp;talk-story with folksnbsp;andnbsp;met a couple who were close friends of Luis.nbsp;/p
p On the Saturday after the shooting of Luis Gongora, writernbsp;andnbsp;community organizer with the justice for Alex Nieto Coalition Adriana Camerena, showed up at the encampment to find the police targeting the witnesses, kicking tentsnbsp;andnbsp;handing out citations to them specifically./p
p ldquo;You better get your stuff off this street or we will have DPW pick it up,rdquo; When POOR Magazine arrived the next day, there were two SFPD officers who drove up to the tents of the witnesses-- a couple, one of whom is 8 months pregnant-- threatening them with the removal ( read: theft) of their belongingsnbsp;andnbsp;citations if they didnt leave. It was obviously targeted harassment because they left after harassing them, even though there were other unhoused San Franciscans literally right next to them./p
p font color="#222222"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"bPoverty Scholarship - a lesson outside of institutional boxesnbsp;/b/font/font/fontbr /
font color="#222222"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"After we met the witnesses we put a call out to the community to donate moneynbsp;andnbsp;ldquo;papersrdquo; ( i.e., ID). Even though many of us poverty skolaz are ldquo;bornrdquo; on this side of the stolen Turtle Island, due to racism, povertynbsp;andnbsp;criminalization many of us donrsquo;t have access to the capitalist tools of co-called ldquo;successrdquo; , i.e., addresses, credit scores, well-paying jobs, family with resourcesnbsp;andnbsp;stolen land. Thanks to POOR Magazine extended family Pearl Ubungen, artistnbsp;andnbsp;dancernbsp;andnbsp;Adriana we were able to get the witnesses a storage facilitynbsp;andnbsp;thanks to all of the generous folks who heeded the call POOR was able to rent them a motel room. The hardest part of this process was teaching on poverty scholarship. Something we teach on atnbsp;/font/font/fonta href="http://www.racepovertymediajustice.org/" target="_blank"font color="#1155cc"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"PeopleSkoolnbsp;/font/font/font/afont color="#222222"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"to housed folks who havenrsquo;t struggled is that just because folks are unhoused, outside, or in struggle, it doesnrsquo;t mean they are any less ldquo;deservingrdquo; of protection, lovenbsp;andnbsp;support when they have witnessed a serious crime like the murder of their best friend. We are still trying to raise enough to keep them in the motel until they can secure housing in one of the meanest cities in the world to poor people./font/font/font/p
p Now the family herenbsp;andnbsp;the family in Mexico are working with Advocates like Adriananbsp;andnbsp;Laura Guzman as well as lawyers, indigenous groups like Association Mayabnbsp;andnbsp;the Mexican Consulate to bring a case against the San Francisco police department.nbsp;Andnbsp;all of us conscious peoples are working to fight this endless policenbsp;andnbsp;gentrification terror on our poor, Black, Brownnbsp;andnbsp;indigenous bodies.nbsp;/p
p font color="#222222"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"bHunger Strikesnbsp;andnbsp;Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources Toursnbsp;/b/font/font/fontbr /
font color="#222222"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"Last week brothersnbsp;andnbsp;sistarz in the struggle, Equiptonbsp;andnbsp;his beautiful mama Maria Cristina Gutierez, Selassie, Edwin Lindo,nbsp;andnbsp;many morenbsp; launched a hunger strike until Porsquo;Lice Chief Greg Suhrnbsp;andnbsp;Gentrification City Mayor Ed Lie stepped down. Come by the Mission Po#39;Lice station to lend your support./font/font/font/p
p Andnbsp;then on Earth Day, a beautiful group of us 1st Nations, Black, Brownnbsp;andnbsp;Unhoused peoples from POOR Magazinenbsp;andnbsp;the Sogorea Te Land Trust launchednbsp;a href="http://www.poormagazine.org/node/5516" target="_blank"font color="#1155cc"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"a stolen land/hoarded resources tour, refusing the accept the status quo from the land-stealersnbsp;andnbsp;resource hoarders./font/font/font/afont color="#222222"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"nbsp; I walked in honor of Luis Gongora, Mario Woods, Alex Nieto, Orsquo;Shaine Evans, Amilcar Perez Lopez, Papa Bear, Gerry X, Iris Canada, Ron Likkers, Elaine Turnernbsp;andnbsp;all victims of Porsquo;Lice terrornbsp;andnbsp;displacement who continue to hold on to these increasingly hatenbsp;andnbsp;raicsm-filled cities, BY Any Means Necessary. Next stop Huchiun Ohlone Land ( Oakland ) on May 20th./font/font/font/p
p On Saturday night at the wake organized by the family, Inbsp; Prayed with the vessel that was Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat I-felt his beautiful , humble, loving spirit as it wafted thru the mortuary, down the amerikkklan streets up into the last rays of Sun in the direction of his Yucatec Maya ancestors- wrapping around everything inHuman un-Loving that is this stolen Yelamu-Ohlone land the colonizers call SF./p
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p style="orphans: 1"font color="#222222"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"To support the family of Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat go to thisnbsp;/font/font/fonta href="https://www.gofundme.com/justice4luis" target="_blank"font color="#1155cc"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"GoFundMe page/font/font/font/a/p
p style="orphans: 1"font color="#222222"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"To support the witnesses motelnbsp;andnbsp;storage fund clicknbsp;/font/font/fonta href="https://www.gofundme.com/2rkb42qc" target="_blank"font color="#1155cc"font face="Times New Roman, serif"font size="3"here for the GoFUndMe page/font/font/font/a/p