by David Smith, Tiny, Leroy Moore

How I remember

By David smith and Tiny

Soft - that's how the aluminum cans felt to my hands as I picked them up from the streets of West Oakland so I could sell them for change to buy food for myself and my three younger brothers….

Hard -that's how the floor felt to my cheek when my head hit the floor…after my older cousin beat me down and knocked me and my brothers out the house…

Cold -that's how the seats of that abandoned car felt when we had to sleep on them…

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Soft -that's how gentrification was for the developers who evicted us, demolished our old house and put up a steel fence where we used to sleep

Hard - that's how my rap lyrics feel as they hit people's ears with the truth…

Cold- that's how I feel sometimes when I remember everything…..

Uprooted- but Still Growing

By Leroy Moore

In a place where Black fists covered the sky and people felt protected, empowered and helped each other, now lays vacant souls, boarded up homes and a sense of loss eating away at the community, the birthplace of the Black Panthers, Black power and Black entrepreneurs. This place is West Oakland, CA. USA. In the heart of Black is Beautiful and Black activism lives a new generation that's been kidnapped by outside forces i.e. City Hall, gentrification, developers, artists etc. Now that the defenses are down the growth of domestic weeds, i.e. drugs, alcohol, billboards and corner liquor stores have entered into the vacant souls and into the homes of West Oakland.

This ex-Black utopia has one of many black roses that have and are now struggling for air, food, shelter and all other nutrition that humans need to survive. This black rose gave birth to four off springs; boys, however the rose like many in the community lacked strong roots to take care of the family. The roots\family were dug up by domestic fertilization i.e. drug abuse , gentrification, and Mayor Jerry Brown’s 10k Plan.

Infested with the poverty insects of unemployment, environmental racism, poor health, lack of access to health care institutions and social services and the disappearing act of ownership in the community have increased the risk of disability and homelessness. The four offspring, Tony, Cornell, Jerry and David were all touched by some type of disability. Due to the infected environment of this family, the black rose and its offspring had to go without food for days at a time. The house that this family lived in was a mirror of what has happened in the community. With no help in sight, the machine of the City with the deep pockets and maps of the future of New Oakland fired up their gas chambers and bulldozers and landed on West Oakland. The switch was turned on and the developers went to work. The machine of the 10K plan of Jerry Brown landed on David’s home completely cutting the roots of this Black rose.

Scattering for salvation and survival, this family turned inward for scarce resources by stealing from each other. Big Brother, the city, and their agencies i.e. Child Protective Services, (CPS) waited for the destruction of this family and at the last minute added the last straw that severed the beautiful but struggling black puddles of the rose from its stem. CPS came into the house with guns drawn and the parents were arrested and the three remaining sons were snatched from their environment and placed separately in-group homes far away from West Oakland.

During this time the only hand that half way reached out to the three boys were the hands that were in the back pocket of Brown’s 10K Plan. Some times your enemies become your last hope of survival especially here in the U.S. Just like the Black Panthers were eliminated by the U.S. government and other institutions that work together i.e. police departments and banks etc. and now are asking for justice for Black Panthers in prison. David’s family has been separated and driven to the brink of extinction from the people who have half-heartedly tried to support him, the artists that are invading West Oakland. However David’ family is not an episode of the 1970’s sitcom Different Strokes, the nice to do artists and the White upper class families from Livermore and Pittsburgh hit the reality of reconstructing the roots of a Black disabled young man. David’s roots have been plucked so much that his faith in the so called system has been clouded with insecurity creating a wall that has blocked out others that might reveal sun for the young seed of talent buried within him. The rest of his brothers’ roots have been blowing in the West Oakland winds with no stable foundation or garden of services and advocacy for years.

David finally made his way back home with his relatives in Pittsburgh, CA. but it was a dog-eat-dog life in this house. David was an easy prey with his disabilities. These relatives ate up his monthly Social security check and threw him out. They had no clue or didn’t care that this type of stealing would put David in the red in Uncle Sam’s eyes snatching his only source of income from him for years.

Once again this strong disabled Black youth returned to the deserted streets of West Oakland with some assistance from the new artists that have invaded West Oakland. There is a diamond under this haze of David’s life name Julie. She has rallied activists and organizations around David’s case. Most important during this time David’s roots were replanted and the food of the earth, his new friends and advocates in the Bay Area have provided water to his inner talents and sunny personality that has been dying to appear on the stage of life.

Today David’s battles are far from over. With help from Julie and others, David has gone head to head with the disability services from reclaiming his disability benefits to finally sleeping under his own roof in a transitional housing program in Berkeley, where he can call home for now. There are questions still unanswered! Where is David going to transition to? Throughout his twenty years, David has been in and out of schools. Will the disability services system provide a road to real independence i.e. education that will lead to a successful and empowering paid work environment? Will David receive counseling for all the years of abuse? What about his family and his mother who is still living in West Oakland with no support services to deal with the cycle of poverty that wraps around her like a zipped up sleeping bag.

Can you believe David has been through all of this and he is only twenty? No youth should have had their roots up rooted and plucked for years.

Growing up Black, disabled and poor does not equal three strikes.. it gives us strength to deal with the racism, disabilism and classism to blossom through oppression and live with our colorful images.