Politricks the Post-Colonial Pissing Match

p nbsp;/p p/p p class="MsoNormal" ldquo;Who are you going to vote for tiny?rdquo; Friends and span data-scayt_word="FAFFs" data-scaytid="16"FAFFs/span (span data-scayt_word="fake-azz" data-scaytid="17"fake-azz/span span data-scayt_word="facecrak" data-scaytid="18"facecrak/span friends) alike continue to inquire as to who am I voting for in the upcoming mayoral candidate race in San Francisco. At each inquiry I wince internally, wanting to tell the truth, the whole span data-scayt_word="truf" data-scaytid="19"truf/span and nothing but the span data-scayt_word="truf" data-scaytid="20"truf/span, but with only enough time for a simple answer, I usually reply, ldquo;Irsquo;m not span data-scayt_word="sure.”" data-scaytid="1"sure.rdquo;/span/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" The span data-scayt_word="truf" data-scaytid="21"truf/span is, I am in conflict. span data-scayt_word="Politricks" data-scaytid="23"Politricks/span and all of its insidious wrong-ness has struck again. The 2011 San Francisco Mayoral Campaign is a user-friendly, progressive, non-sexist, non-gender span data-scayt_word="conformative" data-scaytid="24"conformative/span pissing match. Its 2008 all over. In 2008 when brother in the struggle and span data-scayt_word="compa" data-scaytid="25"compa/span Eric span data-scayt_word="Quezada" data-scaytid="27"Quezada/span ran for the district 10 board of supervisors race up against brother in the struggle and span data-scayt_word="compa" data-scaytid="26"compa/span David Campos it was the same thing, and I was endlessly conflicted. How does one decide against two people so similar in values, actions and beliefs? This is no Rick Perry versus Paul span data-scayt_word="Wellstone" data-scaytid="40"Wellstone/span or Sarah Palin span data-scayt_word="verus" data-scaytid="41"verus/span Barbara Lee. For the record, I donrsquo;t believe in any national span data-scayt_word="politricks" data-scaytid="42"politricks/span between span data-scayt_word="demicans" data-scaytid="45"demicans/span and span data-scayt_word="republicrats" data-scaytid="46"republicrats/span, cause it NEVER includes poor peoples of color in struggle and we rarely if ever benefit, but rather play a dangerous game of voting for the candidate who wonrsquo;t hurt us as much as the other candidate./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" But local span data-scayt_word="politricks" data-scaytid="43"politricks/span are decidedly different. If John span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="49"Avalos/span, Jeff span data-scayt_word="Adachi" data-scaytid="84"Adachi/span, Terry Baum orspan style=""nbsp; /spanLeland Yee were to win the mayoral race, I believe there might be a few tiny flickers of hope for poor span data-scayt_word="mamaz" data-scaytid="52"mamaz/span, poor peoples of color in this increasingly rich and white city. Or maybe not?/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" I have witnessed both Jeff span data-scayt_word="Adachi" data-scaytid="48"Adachi/span and John span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="50"Avalos/span throw down for poor peoples and communities of color multiple times. Jeff as the public defender went up against a corrupt span data-scayt_word="po’lice" data-scaytid="53"porsquo;lice/span force when about their profiling and wrongly accusing of poor peoples of color who live in Single Room Occupancy hotels as well as multiple times supporting poor peoples in struggle, young men of color caught in the system, the issue of race and disability which was championed by POOR Magazinersquo;s own Leroy Moorespan style=""nbsp; /spanand endlessly through innovative programming in the work of his position as public defender.. I have witnessed John span data-scayt_word="Avalos" data-scaytid="51"Avalos/span stand up to the Twitter-sell-out when almost everyone else took the ldquo;dimerdquo; and stand up against the endless attempts by this city to criminalize public space and people for just being poor through the sit-lie lie and other deeply problematic span data-scayt_word="legislations" data-scaytid="90"legislations/span. I have witnessed Leland Yee stand up for poor women and children and I have seen Terry Joan Baum be on the front-line of as many protests as she could handle./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" But in the end, like so many seemingly conscious candidates before them (Jean span data-scayt_word="Quan" data-scaytid="59"Quan/span and Ron span data-scayt_word="Dellums" data-scaytid="61"Dellums/span, both mayors of Oakland) I fear that once swallowed into the machine that is span data-scayt_word="politricks" data-scaytid="44"politricks/span, they would concede to span data-scayt_word="po’lice" data-scaytid="54"porsquo;lice/span force, eviction, span data-scayt_word="re-devil-opment" data-scaytid="62"re-devil-opment/span and other forms of corporate capitalistic government systems and criminalizing span data-scayt_word="legislations" data-scaytid="57"legislations/span which ultimately rule in span data-scayt_word="Amerikkkka" data-scaytid="63"Amerikkkka/span, such as the gang Injunctions and insane use of force used against the span data-scayt_word="Decolonize" data-scaytid="64"Decolonize/span Oakland camp under Mayor Jean span data-scayt_word="Quan" data-scaytid="60"Quan/span./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" The one candidate I am intrigued by is comrade in the struggle for poor peoples, Cheri span data-scayt_word="Honkala" data-scaytid="65"Honkala/span from Mama Deersquo;s city of origin, Philadelphia, who is running for sheriff. She is running specifically as sheriff to stop the evictions by sheriffrsquo;s of thousands of poor families impacted by the foreclosure scams and span data-scayt_word="gentrifying" data-scaytid="66"gentrifying/span landlords. In other words she is using the office itself as a space of revolution./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" span style=""nbsp;/spanI know we live in a capitalistic society that functions on a simulated democracy, I know this is our reality, so I will vote./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" But I also have a challenge, instead of these really creative and clear-thinking folks running against each other in this post-colonial pissing match, why donrsquo;t they actually practice what is so often preached in every rally across Turtle Island, ldquo;Letrsquo;s come span data-scayt_word="together….”" data-scaytid="2"togetherhellip;.rdquo;/span And through the coming together reconfigure a different horizontal movement that gives reparations to stolen peoples and span data-scayt_word="pachamama" data-scaytid="68"pachamama/span and 1supspan data-scayt_word="st" data-scaytid="69"st/span/sup nation peoples, changes the use of public space into truly public and un-raced and un-classed, criminalized space, takes away these ldquo;occupying armiesrdquo; called span data-scayt_word="po’lice" data-scaytid="55"porsquo;lice/span, halts Gentrifying span data-scayt_word="legislations" data-scaytid="58"legislations/span and re-devil-opement and displacement of peoples,span style=""nbsp; /spanbrings art and spirit back to communities and so much morehellip; Then through all of this coming together, thinking together and being together of like-minded companeros, a new kind of post-political movement could be created which re-defines the tired and lying notion of US democracy into something like peoplopacy./p