by Staff Writer

I once heard of someone writing about a blank piece of paper, now that I look at my blank piece I could start to imagine what that person probably thought, no better yet what I think , I look at this paper sort of as my people unappreciated and taken for granted, unnoticed or rather yet ignored, when I say my people I don�t just mean BLACK but as a wise teacher once said the �P.W.C� do they view us as sand paper , that we will just lay there unused and get sick and die HELL NO we stand as construction paper hard and hard to break no matter how much weight but you ask what happens when you get to the point when there is not much more you can take�. Recycle and come back stronger next time�� no let me stop feeding you that bullshit line don�t go no where stand , stand stronger then those �fixed levi�s� and taller than the eiffel tower then well see in the end who really has the fuckin POWER�

DeVaughn Glaze

by Teresa Molina/PNN Voces de Inmigrante en Resistencia

Scroll Down for English

La mañana estaba fría y afilada, mientras yo, una inmigrante trabajadora, madre y reportera de Voces de Inmigrantes en Resistencia en Prensa POBRE estaba parada entre cientos de trabajadores emigrantes en San Francisco City Hall mas temprano en este mes en solidaridad con todos los trabajadores de la nación luchando por justicia--luchando para ser pagados por nuestro trabajo--peleando la epidemia del robo de sueldos. Todos est·bamos emocionados que nuestra voz sea escuchada, hacen acto de presencia y que miles y miles de empleadores que no han pagado sus trabajadores, algunos desde el 2006 seran puestos a la luz. Estos empleadores han motivado la epidemia del robo de sueldo.

Hilary Ronen de La Raza Centro Legal dice que esta acción y protesta fue dada porque, "ay una epidemia del robo de sueldo!". En esta manifestación, estuvieron presente como ochenta personas, y varias organizaciones, como La Colectiva de Mujeres, La Raza Centro Legal, POWER, MUA, Filipinos por Acción Afirmativa, La Asociación Progresiva de Chinos, Filipinos Community Center, Young Workers United, y Prensa POBRE.

Muchos de los empleados injustos no les pagan a sus empleados, o les pagan lo que les da la gana. No es justo porque estos empleados criminales, ponen a trabajar a las personas horas extras y no lo reconocen, y no les dan descansos; y los abusos siguen sin parar. Los patrones abusivos siguen explotando al trabajador, y este problema no solo se enfocan en la industria de trabajadoras domesticas o jornaleros, también se han visto afectadas las personas que trabajan en hoteles, cuidadoras de niños, y trabajadores de restaurante. Por eso estamos aquí, reclamando al gobierno para que se haga justicia. Que ajusten a los empleadores que no pagan y que los arresten. Ya basta! Que cumplan con las leyes porque no estamos haciendo respetados. Somos los que hacemos los trabajos mas peores y mas pesados.

Todos aqui presentes, de cualquier modo expresamos los abusos que pasamos con nuestros patrones. Uno de ellos es Julio Loyola, un jornalero del Day Laborer Program, quien expreso sus sentimientos hacia los abusos de los jornaleros, "que nos han puesto a trabajar y los exponen a quÌmicos peligrosos y los ponen a trabajar sin equipo de protección, y aparte le roban su sueldo."

Al preguntarle a Hilary Ronen, una abogada de La Raza Centro Legal, ìcuales son sus esperanzas al tener esta manifestación?" ella respondió, "espero que la cuidad se envolviera mas en recursos y hacer cumplir a los patrones de San Francisco sobre las leyes laborarles. Es ley que todo trabajador debe recibir su sueldo independientemente de su estatus migratorio."

Aqui en prensa POBRE estamos cansados de la injusticia y es la razon que salimos a luchar. Porque si no luchamos no seremos escuchados, porque nadie va luchar por nosotros. Con la unidad siempre ganaremos! Solos no podemos.

Unete Pueblo a la Lucha!

Ingles sigue

The morning was cool and sharp, as I, a migrant worker, mother and reportera for Voces de Inmigrantes en Resistencia at POOR Magazine stood with hundreds of migrant workers at San Francisco City Hall earlier this month in solidarity with workers all across the nation struggling for justice – struggling to be paid for our work- fighting the epidemic of “wage theft. We were all excited that our voices would be heard, and that thousands of employers who have not paid their poor workers, some since as far back as 2006, would be brought forth today. These employers have fueled the epidemic of wage theft.

Hilary Ronen, from La Raza Centro Legal, said that this action and protest took place because, “wage theft has become an epidemic!” There were many powerful community organizations present such as, La Colectiva de Mujeres, La Raza Centro Legal, POWER, MUA, Filipinos for Affirmative Action, Chinese Progressive Movement, Filipinos Community Center, Young Workers United, and POOR Magazine.

Many of the unjust employers have not paid wages, or they pay them whatever they want. It is not fair, because these criminal employers make the workers work overtime, then do not recognize the hours or they do not give the workers any days off; and the abuses continue without a stop. The abuse employers continue to exploit the worker, and this is not a problem that only focuses on domestic workers or day laborers, but it also extends to hotel workers, nannies and restaurant workers. This is why we are here, to demand the government in order to seek justice. Arrest the employers who do not pay their workers. Ya Basta! Enough! We are not being respected and these employers are not abiding with the law. We are the ones that do the heaviest and dirtiest jobs.

All of us present, in one way or another expressed the abuse we have endured with our employers. One of these people is Julio Loyola, a day laborer from the Day Laborer Program, who expressed his feelings about the abuse that many day laborers face, “that they put them to work exposing them to dangerous chemicals and they make them work without any protective equipment, and they still steal their salary.”

After asking Hilary Ronen, a lawyer from La Raza Centro Legal, “What are your hopes in having this protest?” she responded, “I hope that The City gets involved with more resources and make the employers abide by the labor laws of San Francisco. It is law that all worker gets paid for their work independent of their immigration status.”

Here at POOR Magazine we are tired of such injustice and it is the reason we are out here resisting. If we do not resist we will not be heard, because no one else is going to fight our struggles. With unity we will always win! Alone we cannot win.

Community Unite and Join the Struggle!

by Tiny/PNN

Houzless chyle….

sky iz r roof

keepin us lookin up.

windowz r tha eye’z of r people

showin us socitiez

justice iz just.ice.

capitalizm has no human worth

Excerpt from the poem :Houzless Chyle by Jewnbug, Po’ Poetz ProjecK of, POOR Magazine

"We are here today to hear the truth of homelessness and to remind people that there are homeless people who have died on our streets….we have to find a more compassionate way to solve homelessness and to be compassionate really means to suffer with people and through the identification with people, to relieve their suffering," I watched the warm brown eyes of Reverend Dorsey Blake from the Church of the Fellowship of all
Peoples as he prepared to participate in the multi-denominational, and truly inspiring Covenant of Compassion ceremony held last Sunday in San Francisco’s City Hall plaza. As he spoke, I clutched a handmade wooden cross, one of 100 crosses created by the ceremonies organizers; Religious Witness with Homeless People covered with the name of a houseless San Franciscan who had passed, unnoticed, uncounted, unnamed and unremembered, until now, on the ice-like streets of San Francisco in 2004.

As a formerly houseless, member of POOR Magazine’s Po Poets Project, I, too was preparing to participate by spitting spoken Wordz and poverty scholarship with my fellow po’ poets Jewnbug and, A. Faye Hicks, in a day focused not only on honoring the houseless who have passed but also to hear, recognize and act compassionately on the real story behind the racist, classist, anti-homeless people legislation known as Care Not Cash(CNC) launched as the mayoral platform for Gavin Newsom

"We live in very violent times when the current (presidential) administration is more outraged at a breast shown at a football game than the systematic abuse and torture of people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay" The day began by hearing from

Assemblyman Mark Leno who along with SF supervisors Chris Daly and Bevan Dufty sponsored a legislation that would force the City to start counting and naming the City’s homeless who died on the streets, a process which used to happen every year but was ended in 2001, Mark continued, "when violence is so glorified, humanity and the value of humans is debased –we need to put a name and a face on the people that have died on the streets"

SF Supervisor Chris Daly followed him,"Its not just about the fact that people who have died on our streets should not go unmarked and un-mourned but its also about analyzing how we’re doing as a city and a society on one of our most difficult and confusing issues, homelessness"., With his support of this and other issues Chris continues to be one of the few consistently progressive voices on the board for economic justice in San Francisco

"Allaaaaaaah Aloo Akebah" After the triumphant news that we had won back the right to recognize the passing of San Francisco's’ homeless, the diminutive and powerful Sister Bernie, Executive Director of Religious Witness with Homeless People launched the days cross denominational "Solemn Opening of Service" which included a Buddhist bell sounding, a Jewish horn, a song about homelessness and a haunting Muslim chant by Souleiman Ghali. As he sung/chant I was transported to the multiple targets of Bush/Cheny Inc.'s Krusades/kolinazation efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran and mused at the similar ways in which the corporate media promoted international abuses and local abuses of marginalized and unheard peoples.

"We come here today because our sisters and brothers with no homes have asked us to listen to them in their time of suffering despite the rosy picture created by the media" After the Solemn service Reverend Jana Drakka described the focus of the covenant of compassion, "Throughout the past eight months that the legislation Care not Cash has been in effect the media has repeatedly reported on its wonderful results and indeed over 628 homeless adults have been placed in rooms. And we rejoice as members of religious witness in that fact as we have been advocating for housing with supportive services for the last eleven years. Sadly, however, the way Care Not Cash has been implemented has resulted in the suffering of many other homeless people- by both the 1000 people targeted by Care Not Cash as well as the over 13,000 San Franciscans not targeted by Care Not Cash - a study released in November conducted by homeless people confirmed what we have been told.

She concluded with a grace that only a religious leader could muster, "Let us be clear we are not here to question the commitment of Mayor Newsom and his administration to, and I quote, 'end homelessness as we know it' but we Leaders, friends and members of religious witness are committed to listening to the voices of our poor and homeless brothers and sisters to stand compassionately with them in their suffering and to join them in their struggle for justice."

"We think its wrong for a shelter to be considered "housing" which is how it is worded in the CNC legislation," Shelly Roder from St Boniface Shelter was one of the first advocates to address the gathering, "to consider a mat or cot cramped in with a lot of other people which often ends up being a mat on the floor, housing, is not right- and then making a shelter mat part of a (welfare) benefit package displaces many of the homeless who don't receive city funds (i.e., Welfare/ General Assistance/GA ) cause the beds are reserved for people on GA"

"I just wanted to start by thanking Mark Leno cause Food stamps were restored to felons who were convicted for drug offenses thanks to his tireless efforts" Next we heard from Bill Hart, the formerly houseless, executive director of General Assistance Advocacy Project /GAAP

He continued,"Before Care Not Cash there were 2,497 homeless people receiving welfare benefits-its now down to 852 - but where did the 1090 people go?- most of them dropped off the program cause its too hard to do all the hoops just to get $29.00 every two weeks, including a new rigorous form of job search and they don't even give you a bus pass, so people just said forget it I can’t to do all that"

"We are starting this new year tragically for poor and homeless people. One of the saddest examples of this is when I meet previously homeless people who are now incarcerated telling me that they are better off in prison (where they are now) in San Quentin- they only thing they lost was their freedom but that was better than how they felt on the streets of San Francisco under care not cash living on $59 a month." With tears of horror in my eyes at Bill’s last comment, I wondered if the "paupers prisons" my poor Irish Grandmother used to tell me about could be far behind. But of course who needs them, they are already here…

"Hi, I am Ken Sanders, I am 55 years old and I am a diabetic residing at Hospitality House - I have lived in SF all of my life- only homeless for the last four years - homelessness is a hard job-and cause of Care Not Cash, its even harder" The most important part of the day, the testimonies of folk struggling with this CNC mess, was launched with the tragic voices of African Descendent, Latino and White folks like long-term SF resident, Mr. Sanders and the next speaker, the eloquent David Hawkins-Bey

"I am from Detroit Michigan, I came to the Bay Area in July of 2004 I came here to work in the hotels and come to find out they were on strike. I eventually started to receive the $29.00 CNC benefit but my whole purpose of being here was to work and it seemed like I was being penalized for working part-time and receiving $200-300 a month which I was going to use to move in to an apartment. Instead my food stamps were cut and I still haven't found any housing, I thought if I proved myself to be a productive citizen that the GA program would work for me. In Michigan there is no general Assistance program, no welfare, no nothing- I came here in the hopes of providing a better life for myself and in the end I know that the only savior is love and to believe in love and the love of God - it is all you can take with you"

We then heard a bi-lingual plea for economic justice from the Lorenzo Cruz, a homeless, immigrant day laborer, "The life for day laborers is very hard- in the past, day laborers like me could stay in shelters for a place to sleep but now because of Care not Cash the shelters are no longer a place to sleep for us- and with little work immigrant workers have no money to rent a room- why is this city making the lives of poor people so difficult?"

The day was filled with the poverty scholarship of many more homeless folks trying to express the unbelievably difficult position of poor people living under this corporate poverty pimpin program called Care not Cash sponsored by the city government including one man who spoke of spending all night just to get one bed only to be told at 11:00pm, that his struggle was futile as there was in fact, no room at the Inn.

The powerful and tragic day closed with a Dance of compassion, response "to the testimonies" by Reverend Jane Schlager and Reverend Nobu Hanaoka and closing hymn called The Lord hears the Cry of the Poor……

by Tony Robles/PNN

My Uncle Anthony has this expression that goes, “You might be my color but you ain’t my kind”. He is a street minister who says he’s workin’ for the lord. “The pay might be low but the benefits are out of this world” he says.

You might be my color but…

Working as a security guard, I’ve worked with many people of color. Each has their own personality, their own story, their own trip. I’ve met folks who act like cops and others who have dreamed, or have let their dream slip away. I have met people who have shared their last bit of food with me and those who have shared nothing.

I work at an apartment complex with several other guards. We handle noise complaints; make sure no one’s drinking alcohol in the pool etc.

Surrounding the apartment complex are clusters of trees. Some trees stand straight while others stand at an angle, having withstood the wind and time. At night the moon can be seen peeking through the trees. I look up as the moon announces itself as it did to my elders and ancestors an ocean away in a place whose songs and poetry travel though my veins, nourishing my spirit. In that moment my uniform disappears, I am brown, a man whose bloodline knows only resistance and love and poetry.

Then, a fellow guard approaches me, shows me a slingshot he bought. He is brown like me. He hands me the slingshot and I ask him what he uses it for. “I use it to shoot those birds” he says, “Those black ones”. I ask him if he’s referring to ravens and he answers in the affirmative.

I hand the slingshot back. I look at the moon and the trees that bend. Who would shoot such beautiful birds, those carriers of messages of the ancestors, I ask myself. I hear my uncle’s voice:

You might be my color but…

by Ken Moshesh

ODE TO LANGSTON

UNSEEN

ARE THE DIVERSE FACES

OF MY HOMELESS AND AT-RISK

PEOPLE

STILL CLOAKED IN INVISIBILITIES

OF

SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL, COLD

WAR

DENIALS AND FEARS

PASSED DOWN THROUGH

PAEENTINGS AND NIGHTMARES

OF PAST AND POSSIBLE

DEPRESSIONS

VEILED IN PRESENT

INSECURITIES AND OBLIGATIONS

DEEMED NECESSARY TO PREVENT

THE NON-BEHOLDER FROM

BECOMING THE BEHELD.

STEEPED IN SELF-SERVING

NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES

DEMOCRATIC PROCLAMATIONS

RATIONALIZING

LOFTY, POSITIVE,CONCEPTS

FOR WHICH WE HAVE KILLED.

AND NOW, FAR TOO MANY

WHO RISKED ALL TO KILL

FOR THE CAUSE

ARE ALSO RENDERED

HOMELESSSLY MISSING IN

ACTION
B
Y THE UNNECESSARY

UNREGULATED GREED

OF A FEW.

BLIND ARE THE TUNNEL

EYES

OF THE ABUNDANT SOLUTIONS

TO THE BEAUTIFUL HUMAN FACES OF

MY HOMELESS AND AT-RISK PEOPLE

WHO ALSO

BARELY SEE EACH OTHER

AS THE NATION STRUGGLES

TOWARD HOMELESSNESS

RECOVERY

K MOSHESH 3/00

THE WARM MORNING OF MARCH 21ST FINDS ME LEAVING MY USUALLY- ONCE- PER WEEK INSIDE SPOT EARLIER THAN USUAL. SINCE THIS IS ALSO THE DAY I WASH MY CLOTHES, SOILED FROM THE PREVIOUS NIGHTS’
OUTDOOR ABODES, MY STEPS PASS THE ADJACENT, NOW DORMANT, MOTELS AND TAKE ME TOWARDS THE AREA LAUNDROMAT.

THE PROPRIETOR GREETS ME ON THE WAY OUT AND DISAPPEARS INTO HIS ACTIVITIES AS MY DOLLAR BILL VANISHES INTO A HANDFUL OF COINS. I CAREFULLY DROP THE CORRECT AMOUNT INTO THE RIGHT SLOTS TO BEGIN THE WASH... SOAP IN THE BOTTOM, CLOTHES ON TOP, SELECTION DIAL TO NORMAL INSTEAD OF PERMANENT PRESS... “AT LEAST THE CLOTHES WILL BE CLEAN FOR MY DAY IN COURT,” GIVES WAY TO THE SOUND OF THE INCOMING WATER FILLING THE VACUUMS.

I HOPE SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO SAID THEY MIGHT COME SHOW UP, JUST IN CASE SOMETHING GOES WRONG LIKE LAST TIME AND I END UP IN JAIL. THAT WAY I COULD LEAVE MY STUFF WITH FRIENDS INSTEAD OF HAVING SELECTED ITEMS CONFISCATED (LIKE MY BOOK ON HOMELESSNESS, COBBLESTONING QUICKSAND MAZES, WAS DURING MY LAST ARREST). I OPEN THE TOP LOADER. THE MACHINERY STOPS ALONG WITH MY THOUGHTS AS MY FINGERS CHRONICLE THE COLDNESS OF THE WATER. ANOTHER PATRON COMES IN, ALSO LOOKING FOR THE MANAGER, AS THE IMPENDING 9:30 COURT TIME SLAMS THE LID SHUT.

WEARING MY SEMI-CLEAN APPAREL, I AM GREETED IN FRONT OF THE BERKELEY SUPERIOR COURT, RIGHT NEXT TO THE BRAND NEW BERKELEY POLICE DEPARTMENT, BY A CHARACTER DRESSED IN MANY THINGS. THE MOST NOTABLE OF THESE ARE AN OLD TRENCH COAT AND A COLORFUL BANDANA AROUND HIS FOREHEAD. “THEY CALL ME THE ACE OF SHADES,” GESTICULATES MY HOST AS HE ATTEMPTS TO OCCUPY AS MUCH OF THE WALKWAY LEADING TO THE COURTHOUSE AS HE CAN. MEANWHILE, POLICE OFFICERS ENTER IN AND OUT OF THE POLICE STATION AND COURT PERSONNEL IN AND OUT OF THE COURTHOUSE NONCHALANTLY.

NOTICING THE DAMPNESS INSIDE MY COLDLY WASHED JACKET POCKETS, I WALK OVER TO THE GRASS IN FRONT OF THE COURT BUILDING TO A STRUCTURE THERE, AND PLACE MY TWO HOUSE PACKS ON IT.
THE ACE OF SHADES THEN WALKS BY, KICKS OVER A CONTAINER OF LIQUID ON THE GROUND NEAR ME, AND BACKS UP QUICKLY, APPARENTLY THINKING THIS SPLASH WOULD RESULT IN THE TYPE OF ATTENTION HE DESIRES. EVEN THOUGH THE MARTIAL ARTIST IN ME OBJECTS, THE PART OF ME SEEKING TO CHALLENGE THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE LODGING LAWS THAT OCCASIONED MY RENDEZVOUS WITH THE ACE OF SHADES BEFORE MY UPCOMING APPEARANCE IN COURT TODAY (TO KEEP FROM GOING BACK TO JAIL FOR SLEEPING OUTSIDE) IS VICTORIOUS.

ONE BY ONE, FIVE WELCOMED ASSOCIATES ASSEMBLE ON THE COURT HOUSE LAWN, WITH ANOTHER TWO ,OSHA NEUMANN (ATTORNEY AT LAW), AND JULIE CHI, UC STUDENT YET TO COME. LISA GRAY-GARCIA (AKA TINY), PROJECT DIRECTOR/ CO-EDITOR POOR MAGAZINE; DARREN NOY LEAD,COMMUNITY ORGANIZER BOSS; MICHAEL DIEHL, BERKELEY FREE CLINIC ETC.; CHARLES AIKENS, POST NEWSPAPER GROUP; AND VIDEOGRAPHER ALDO ARTURO DELLA MAGGIORA CONVENE, MAP
STRATEGY, CONDUCT INTERVIEWS, AND VIDEOTAPE FOR BOTH THE COURT CASE AND OUR OWN MEDIA COVERAGE.THE ACE RUNS AHEAD AND OPENS THE COURTHOUSE DOORS ATTEMPTING TO ANTICIPATE AND BE INCLUDED IN OUR CAMERA SHOTS.

INSIDE THE COURTHOUSE, DISCUSSIONS AND INTERVIEWS CONTINUE. WE ARE GRANTED PERMISSION TO VIDEO TAPE IN COURT. THE PUBLIC DEFENDER, GREG SYREN, AND OUR LEGAL ASSOCIATE, OSHA NEUMANN, JOIN IN OUR CONTINUING COMMUNICATION CIRCLE.

FINALLY THE PUBLIC DEFENDER IS CONVINCED TO ASK THE JUDGE FOR A LEGAL HEARING TO CHALLENGE THE LODGING LAW, AND THE HEARING ON THE ORIGINAL PETITION TO REVOKE PROBATION (FOR LODGING). THE JUDGE GRANTS THE REQUEST AND SETS THE 12TH OF APRIL AS THE NEW COURT DATE FOR BOTH MOTIONS.

by Tanya Brannan/Purple Berets

A hush fell over the courtroom as Sara Hernandez began her second day of testimony in the María Teresa Macias federal civil rights trial in San Francisco. All eyes were on Sara as she told the story of her daughter‚s valiant but ill-fated attempts to escape her husband‚s violence. 

But that escape was not to be.  On April 15, 1996, Avelino Macias brutally murdered Teresa, shot Sara, and then lay across Teresa‚s dying body and blew his brains out.

Before that awful day, Teresa Macias had contacted the Sonoma County Sheriff‚s Department more than twenty times to report Avelino‚s obsessive stalking; threats to kill Teresa, her children, her mother and other family members in Mexico; and a number of other felony crimes. She‚d had friends, family and employers report incidents they themselves had witnessed, got multiple restraining orders, and reported every violation of those orders to the sheriff.  In short, Teresa Macias did everything right. 

But the Sheriff‚s Department did everything wrong.  They never cited or arrested Avelino, despite their own policy and California law requiring that they do so.  They called Teresa crazy, told her to quit coming in and to just write down her complaints instead, and then never bothered to translate the diary pages she brought them detailing more than 30 separate crimes.  They took her children into Child Protective Services custody because Teresa could not protect them >from Avelino‚s violence and sexual abuse.  And through it all, they only even bothered to write two police reports.

On the witness stand, Sara Hernandez described Teresa‚s constant fear of >Avelino, a man who had beaten her, raped her repeatedly, and shot a man in the head in their home in front of Teresa and her three young children.  He had molested and beaten with broomsticks those same children, and put cigarettes out on Teresa‚s arms.  And then Sara described the day he murdered her.

As Sara and Teresa arrived for their housecleaning job on that drizzly April morning, Avelino lay in wait.  After he forced his way into the car; Teresa escaped and ran into the house.  When he forced his way into the house, Teresa fled to the sidewalk.  As Sara picked up the phone to dial 911 she heard Teresa plead, "For God's sake, for God's sake, don't do it, don't do it." And then she heard the shot.

Sara went to the front door and saw Avelino running up the sidewalk shooting wildly.  I slammed the door closed and leaned against it because ... I was afraid, Sara testified.  Then Avelino shot me [in both legs].  I fell to my knees.  As he turned to leave, Avelino said, laughing,  "My stupid mother-in law, I have killed your daughter."

Moments after this chilling testimony, the courtroom sat in stunned silence as attorneys for the Sonoma County Sheriff announced they had reached a settlement agreement with the Macias family.  And with that historic $1 million settlement ˆ the first-ever paid by a law enforcement agency for their failure to protect a domestic violence victim leading to her homicide ˆ one of the most important women's rights cases in U.S. history came to a dramatic end.
María Teresa Macias v. Sonoma Co. Sheriff Mark Ihde had already made history in July 2000, when a unanimous decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the constitutional violation in the Macias case was the Sheriff‚s Department's failure to provide her non-discriminatory law enforcement.  That precedent-setting decision, the first and clearest ever to state that women victims of domestic violence have a right to Equal Protection under the U.S. constitution, kicked open the doors to justice for the millions of women victimized by their violent partners every year.

But the Macias case is not only a legal victory, it is a victory for grassroots activism.  Myself (Purple Berets) and Marie De Santis of Women‚s Justice Center investigated and exposed the sheriff‚s misconduct, organized six years of demonstrations, events and media revelations, found the attorneys and formulated the legal strategy, and helped the family deal with a host of other needs in the wake of Teresa's murder. 

And in the end, we all fulfilled Teresa Macias' last wish.  In the days before her murder, Teresa told her mother Sara, „If I die, I want you to tell the world what happened to me.  I don't want other women to suffer as I have suffered; I want them to be listened to.

For more on the María Teresa Macias case go to www.purpleberets.org or www.justicewomen.com, or read Tanya Brannan‚s two-part story in the Albion Monitor at www.albionmonitor.net. ///>///>

PURPLE BERETS

Women Defending Women

PO Box 3064

Santa Rosa, CA 95402

707.887.0262; fax 707.887.0865
http://www.purpleberets.org
///>

by Staff Writer

How much longer will Motlanthe
allow migrants like hearing a song’s end
and see Mugabe's corpses
swarming through Limpopo river.

Corpses scrambling out of Zimbabwe
gasping for fresh air, while South Africans
squirm from this encroaching pestilence.
Some of which makes it to high ground.

But what habitation, what work
will they find? Only a few
melting through to the top.
And the rest, is a frigid motley-lot.

Huddled along the tarred roads.
Waiting for a day's cleaning job
or to fix and fit, load and unload
some rich man’s looty-booty.

Crowds standing shoulder to shoulder
under the bright southern sun.
Their browned shaggy bodies
can't support them against ridicule.

Political and economic refugees
migrating into an alien culture.
Where scrambling wars are the norm
and greedy officials feasts upon them.

Now, too far from home.
Doomed to be butchered
by black South Africans' melting impatience
and negrophobia(xenophobia) fangs.

by Felicita Pedroza

These foster families think they are better than us

Saying all we know how to do if fight and fuss

Back biting saying, "Your parents were never there"

Poisoning our minds with words of "Your parents don't care"

Yelling, "You just can't seem to do anything right"

Placing themselves higher than us; they hold a powerful might

Criticizing our families of being worthless and uneducated

Constantly reminding us that we were separated

We are belittled, while they stand above

Saying, "No one has taught you the meaning of love"

Constantly verbalizing, Love is when your family keeps you, not give you away

But they don't love us; they do it for the pay

Telling us that we'll only go from home to home

Why won't these foster parents just leave us alone?

They act like we never been to any place above a dollar

Around our necks they tighten collars

We don't have the same privileges as their own kids

Because we are oppressed by what our parents did

Reminding us of our parents mistake, like they don't have their mistakes

I wonder if they do this to every foster child they take?

by Nestor Castillo/CISPES

Thursday the 15th, President Barack Obama will be visiting San Francisco for a private fundraising event, at the St. Francis Hotel. With tickets starting at $500 just to sit in the reception, the vast majority of the working class who voted him in, will be barred from attending.

That same day at Union Square Plaza, directly across from the St. Francis Hotel, a coalition of community organizations under the banner of Stop NAFTA/CAFTA will be demonstrating their opposition to neoliberal trade policies such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Central American Free Trade Agreement as part of a International Week of Action campaign taking place from October 12th- 17th.

The coalition will be holding Pres. Obama accountable to keep his campaign pledge of renegotiating such policies that have further increased poverty and inequality. At the Cleveland Democratic Debate, Obama said, “I will make sure that we renegotiate [NAFTA]…I think we should use the hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage to ensure that we actually get labor and environmental standards that are enforced.” Since then, however, Pres. Obama has done nothing to change such agreements.

The facts are that these trade agreements have been the root of forced migration and loss of land rights in Mexico and Central America. In the first eight years of NAFTA the annual number of immigrants from Mexico increased by more than 61 percent (read more at: globalexchange.org) 2/3 of Mexican people living in the US have come after the passage of NAFTA (read more at: witnessforpeace.org).

Another example of just how unjust trade agreements are, is the way in which federally-subsidized U.S. corn is dumped on their markets therefore small farmers are forced off their land because they cannot compete with massive amounts of crops at a cheaper price. With no way to make a living, hundreds of people are forced to leave their homes and families every day to make the treacherous journey to the U.S.

The latest news of the injurious effects of CAFTA/NAFTA agreements come from San Isidro, Cabanas in El Salvador where gold mining companies, Pacific Rim Mining Corp. and Commerce Group, are suing the Salvadoran government for $177 million under CAFTA for loss of potential profits. The lawsuits come despite strong opposition of local communities to mining and reports showing devastating effects to the environment and water contamination of the country’s main source of clean water, the Lempa River.

Meanwhile, many anti-mining activists in El Salvador are being death threatened or being killed. There is strong evidence suggesting that Pacific Rim is involved in such atrocious crimes as a mean to intimidate those opposing the mining project. "We believe that the results of CAFTA demonstrate the failure of 'free' trade and justify a definitive split with this model by the incoming Obama Administration," said Burke Stansbury of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), a member of the coalition. "Not only should the Democratic Congress reject pending agreements such as the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, but the party in power should take this opportunity to introduce a new trade policy based on human rights, and economic, social and environmental sustainability."

The rally will have key-note speakers addressing the effects of NAFTA and CAFTA on its signatory countries, issues of privatization, sweatshops, the Honduran coup, the displacement of indigenous people, among other topics. It will begin at 5pm at Union Square Plaza on Powell St. in between Geary and Post.

This is only one of the events taking place during the International Week of Action against NAFTA and CAFTA. There will be various demonstrations in Vancouver and Milwaukee where Pacific Rim and Commerce Group headquarters are located.

by PNN Staff

Why did the San Francisco Hilton and the Building Owners and Managers' Association (BOMA) contribute so generously to Earl Rynerson's Propostion E campaign?

Proposition E is an initiative that will be on the March 2000 ballot. It's main function is to cut public assistance checks by 85%. It mandates vouchers for housing and other services but does not ensure that these services exist. The proponents of this measure, themselves in the hotel business, have lied about the vacancy of hotel rooms in San Francisco. Everyone actually attempting to get shelter in San Francisco knows that there is a severe housing crisis, and in fact, no available single room occupancy hotel rooms.
The backers of this initiative; The Hilton Hotel, ( $1, 900.00), the Business Owners Management Association ( $2,500.00 ), The Marriot Hotel ( $1,500.00) and many more, seem to have a conflict of interest in regards to the hotel vacancy rate. They falsely claim there are 3,400 vacant rooms in San Francisco. What would they have to gain by disinforming the public about the real vacancy rate in San Francisco? What do they really have to gain by creating an inititatve that would empty all the downtown SRO's. Perhaps more hotels that they could buy? Perhaps more opportunities to gentrify the Tenderloin, making these once affordable neighborhoods permanently unaffordable to low income San Franciscans. This is the first in an ongoing series on Propostion E.