POOR Magazine has been threatened with eviction from their offices in the Tenderloin by the new owners so they are launching an offensive strategy to deal with the onslaught of eviction and displacement of people of color locally and globally
What: Take Back The Land Ceremony
When: 8:00 am, Thursday, August 7th
Where: 1095 Market street @ 7th street in San Francisco
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by Libby Reiser and K. Anderson Franco, Race, Poverty, Media Justice Interns at POOR Magazine "We're getting evicted, and we're fighting back." The icy words reverberated through the still morning air of the POOR Magazine office. This firsthand experience with eviction was like a slap to the face. After my initial shock I inquired further. I learned that Seligman Western Enterprises recently sold the Grant Building where POOR has been located since 2004 to PRJ Holdings, Inc. The new owner is Peter R. Johnson, CEO at PRJ Holdings, Inc. "Knock. . .knock, knock". Libby and myself, two interns in POOR's Race, Poverty and Media Justice Institute, were sent on an investigative mission to discover who else in the building were facing this situation. We banged on every door of the Grant Building, asking each tenant and business in the building the same question, "We got an eviction notice, did you?" Responses varied but the result was invariably that if one was not contracted on a multiple year lease, he or she was asked to leave. Randy Shaw, a housing rights lawyer and founder of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, is assisting POOR Magazine with legal advice and representation. He believes that the purchase "makes no sense, the market is really bad for commercial property." This was my first experience with what Tiny, co-editor of POOR/PNN called "capital creep"; however I remembered back to my first POOR Magazine community newsroom, a revolutionary news production project that creates media directly from the community. This was when I realized that this foreign term, "capital creep" is an unavoidable reality for many. "The first lesson you will learn today is eldership." Tiny proclaimed before we walked through the door. As two of the youngest present at POOR News Network's newsroom meeting, we both took a seat on the floor. The watchful eyes that surrounded us were that of the poverty scholars who were distressed with next months rent, welfare, disabilities, police brutality and profiling. This diverse group was united by a shared hope to end the criminalization of poor people and social injustices; these people followed Mama dee and Tiny's structure of an indigenous organization. As introductions flowed so did my new list of vocabulary words: poverty scholar, gentrification, superbaby mama, poverty pimpology, media justice. I was eager to learn each origin and meaning, however I kept going back to the top of my list, to a word that had been uttered several times in speeches. It was a word that I understood but never experienced. EVICTION. I ran my pen over the letters several times, bolding it above the rest. Not only was this word repeated in numerous introductions, but it was said with a breath of defeat like a nomination resignation. To our right sat Vivien, a poverty scholar in residence at POOR who has faced numerous evictions throughout her life. Behind us was RAM, a youth and poverty scholar and native San Franciscan who had been recently evicted. And the voice in front of us belonged to Tiny, who had faced 22 evictions. "The displacement of migrant people did not just start happening today", Tiny speaks the truth of the cliche, "history repeats itself." Colonizers began with the conquering of Native Americans and continued with the stealing of land from Mexico, Hawaii and many other indigenous groups. These civilizations were exploited, poisoned, enslaved, brutalized and ultimately removed from their land. As Tiny clenched Peter R. Johnson's letter, my mind flipped through pages of my history book and the stories from that first POOR newsroom. In that meeting, the speeches were filled with passion and progressive words to fight social injustices, but the utterance of eviction was a black sheep,a white notice that inevitably signaled destruction. "The spirit of Bill Sorro keeps telling me to fight and to never quit", I spoke with Tony Robles, long-time tenant organizer, poet, poverty scholar and Co-editor of POOR Magazine about his experience with powerful resistance movements over land use in the Filipino community. "I'll never forget the way he walked into the Shorenstein building and said, "I'm here to speak to Mr. Shorenstein" when our elders were fighting for the I-Hotel. "In his spirit and in the spirit of the elders of the I-Hotel and Manilatown, we are here to fight this eviction and to continue doing the work that POOR Magazine does, which is the work of our spiritual father". The story of the Grant building though, on 7th and Market, refused defeat. Back in 2000, the previous owner Seligman attempted to redevelop this building, sending eviction notices to many of his tenants. However, unlike indigenous leaders of the past, the tenants won the fight. Manny Alarcon, an office tenant of the Grant Building since 1998 told us his experience, "When the ownership changed to Seligman, they tried to evict us. Tenants organized with Chris Daly and Randy Shaw." He continued, "they staged a rally in City Hall and put posters in the windows." The tenants would not be moved. Unfortunately, Manny Alarcon and many other small businesses and non-profits including POOR Magazine are currently facing this exact same story. History has repeated. Alarcon states, "Seligman did the same thing that Johnson is doing today." Tiny proclaims, developers and speculators are "colonizers dressed as developers in 21st century armor." Like the massacre of Native Americans and colonizing of indigenous people, these capitalist creepers are directly re-zoning and displacing migrants from their homes. Angelica Cabande, a leading organizer for South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN), acknowledges the recent gentrification of San Francisco, "we are seeing a lot of changes in the downtown area. We're seeing a lot of condominiums and office space being prioritized by the city to build and not a lot of affordable housing." She demonstrated concern for not only the lack of affordable housing in San Francisco, but also the common displacement of people. Knock,knock, knock. Every beat of our knuckles against the cold wooden doors represented more than interns seeking more information about the eviction. Every knock was an exclamation against gentrification. The hollow thumps that resonated throughout the hallways were noises of frustration from displaced communities. These knocks will not go unheard. POOR Magazine refuses to go. They are launching an offensive strategy that they hope will travel around the globe in the tradition of the movement to take back Alcatraz Island in San Francisco which was launched in the 1960's with indigenous elders and is celebrated every year at Thanks-taking. The fight of the people to take back the I-Hotel in Manilatown, The fight for DQ University, the only off-reservation tribal college in the US and the Longest Walk which was also launched in the 1968 and again in 2008 (and completed by one of POOR Magazine's own indigenous scholars , Mari Villauna). The strategy includes seizing the land at 7th and Market streets on August 7th at 8 a.m. and giving it back to its rightful owners the native people, the indigenous peoples of Califas, turtle island, and the Americas. Following the sovereignty ceremony, POOR will hold a press conference at 9 a.m. If your organization is interested in being a testifier, co-leader, or co-sponser please call or email POOR Magazine at (415) 865-1932 Other Organizations joining us are, |