Story Archives 2001

pstrongDo Californians Really Want Nuclear Power and the Recall of Governor Gray Davis?...Or Do Field Polls Tell Californians what they should want?/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/442/photo_2_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Alison VanDeursen, Dee Gray and class at POOR New Journalism/ Media Studies Program/p pIn our journalism and media studies class, we read an article titled "Nuclear power's California Comeback," published May 23, 2001 in the San Francisco Chronicle. Carla Marinucci reports that, according to a Field Poll, the California public opinion has shifted from "No Nukes" to "Go, Nukes!" in the face of the Energy Crisis./p pThe results of the survey made the Chronicle happy. It gave them a good headline. It made Dick Cheney happy. He supports nuclear power. It made executives and stockholders in the nuclear energy business happy. It made me very unhappy, and suspicious./p pNow, I am a Californian, and so are most of my friends, and I don't know any one of us who supports nuclear power. I wondered about this bField Poll/b, which I've always assumed to be a poll taken out in the field, so to speak. I wondered who actually took this poll, and found that it was conducted by the Field Institute- ah!/p pOur class contacted journalists at the Chronicle, including Marinucci. They told us that they trust the results of the Field Poll "bwithout any questions/b," though they claimed not to know much about this source or how it was run. I've been taught to investigate the credibility of sources, so I looked up the Field Institute on the internet. I discovered the that Field Institute is a part of the Field Research Corporation, founded in 1945 by Mervin Field. /p pNot long ago I worked at a market research company, so I know a bit about what goes on in these places. We had a staff of telephone interviewers who would call people from a database and screen them for participation in focus groups. We might be hired by a beer company, or a car company, or a political campaign or a pharmaceutical company. Once we hosted a focus group about sardines. It could be anything. /p pThe client would hire us to find people of a certain demographic- say, San Francisco residents with AIDS who use marijuana, or business executives who will buy a new luxury car in the next 6 months, or housewives who buy a particular brand of cookie. We would find people who matched and then these folks were invited to a focus group, where they might sit and, led by a professional moderator, discuss Kleenex for two hours. They'd receive $50 to $400 bucks in compensation for their time and opinions. The company would then use this information to influence effective advertising campaigns. /p pSometimes the callers get stressed, or lazy, or they haven't met the quota of qualifying participants yet. And then they might prompt their respondents to answer the questions "correctly." This happens to my roommate all the time, who has a sort of part-time job attending focus groups. Say, X-Brand Beer wants men aged 25-40 who drink their product 5 times a week. The screener asks, "What brands of beer do you drink?" My roommate says, "Oh, A, B and C." The screener has been instructed to then say, "Thank you, but you do not qualify," and go on to the next call. But she might go off-script and say, "Well, what about X-Brand?" And my roommate knows that if he wants to make $75 for talking about beer labels, he'd best say, "Oh, yeah, I drink that all the time... I've got some in my fridge right now..."/p pThe Field Research Corporation conducts such studies as these. But the Field Institute has a different focus. It is described as a "non-partisan, independent organization devoted to the study of California public opinion and behavior on social, political and economic issues." The Field Institute, under the direction of Mark DiCamillo and Mervin Field, conducts the Field Poll. /p pSo corporate business hire the Field Research Corporation to conduct surveys. Who hires the Field Institute? In one sense, supposedly no one. When I spoke to DiCamillo, he assured me that he and Mervin Field, solely, determine the subjects of study and design the questionnaires. /p pHowever, the Field Poll, though "non-partisan and independent," identifies itself as a "bmedia-sponsored/b public opinion news service." Funding for the Institute comes from the subscriptions from media sources, including the San Francisco Chronicle. DiCamillo told me that he and Field read five newspapers a day, and from this they make judgements as to what sort of polls might interest their subscribers. As he put it, as researchers they try to "bmake news/b." These questionnaires are designed to not only assess public opinion but to bcreate headlines/b./p pAnd so I wonder how the questions about nuclear power were phrased to the telephone respondents. I wonder if they were designed to show a change of opinion, because this is more news-worthy than the same-old, same-old. /p pI'm imagining a question, say, "What are your top three issues concerning government policy?" Someone might answer, "Uh, gun control, and reduced military spending, and welfare reform." And then a headline could read, "Environmental Issues Not a Priority." Had the question read, "Is the environment a top priority for our government to address?" a majority might have responded to the prompt and said, "Oh, yes." Then the headline would read, "Environment a Top Priority for California Citizens." Do you see what I'm getting at?/p pDid DiCamillo and Field design a survey that asked, "Do you support nuclear power?" Or, "Do you support clean, efficient sources of energy such as nuclear power as an alternative to electricity, in the face of our current energy crisis?" Or, "Despite nuclear disasters of the past, do you support nuclear power plants in California?" /p pMy colleague called Mark DiCamillo, posing as a journalist for a Russian-American newspaper. He asked if the Field Institute would conduct a survey concerning the opinions of Californians toward Russian immigrants. DiCamillo told him that sometimes ba group of media sponsors will get together to request that a particular poll be taken/b, but that the Field Institute does not conduct polls for single organizations- unless that organization has "that kind of money." The energy poll, for example, cost about $100,000 to conduct, he told my colleague. /p pThis is contradictory to what DiCamillo told me. He stated that the media subscribers are privy to the results of the polls, bbut do not in any way/b- individually or as a group- bmake direct requests for polls/b. He assured me that they do not pay for specific polls. And yet he seemed to be asking my colleague to make an offer- though $100,000 is clearly a bit out of reach for the imaginary budget of "Glasnost."/p pOutside of my budget as well is a subscription to the Field Poll. One can gain on-line access to the results of its polls for $200. This is for an individual subscription, of course- not the type of sponsorship that major news media organizations contribute. Of course, you can read the results of the poll in the Chronicle for 25 cents- or for free if you find a paper on the bus. But then you're reading spin on a spin. Makes me dizzy./p pWhen people read the headline "Nuclear power's California Comeback," do they buy it? The Chronicle bought it- literally. Who else? Whether technically contracted or not, it appears that the Field Poll is most definitely for hire- and that the "opinions" of Californians may be not only purchased, but customized to order. /p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongHomes Not Jails Occupyingbr / Vacant City Property /strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/440/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Ted Gullickson/p p While thousands of people are forced to live on the streets and while over a hundred families are turned away from shelters every night, there are dozens of city owned buildings which are vacant and have been declared "surplus" by the city's Real Estate Department. Each of these buildings could be renovated cheaply via sweat equity and turned into permanent affordable housing./p pPeople who are homeless have occupied one such building today: the old High School of Commerce at 170 Fell Street (corner of Fell and Franklin). The occupiers will hold a press conference at the site today, Sunday, August 12, at Noon to demand that the city make the property available to the squatters so that they can renovate it and live there. The squatters also call for legislation to require that ALL surplus city property be made available immediately for housing./p pThe Site/p p 170 Fell Street is the site of the old High School of Commerce and has been vacant for 11 years. The site is in need of renovation (and as a historic building can not be demolished)./p p Two civil grand juries in San Francisco have sharply criticized the school district (as well as other city agencies) for failing to adequately inventory and plan re-use of surplus property. Complaining that city agencies have ignored repeated requests to utilize surplus property, he grand jury said: "The (School) District still has no plans for disposition of its surplus real estate property. Meanwhile, the unused properties remain idle. Nearby residents complain of the eyesore and the City is deprived..." The grand jury recommended: "The District should immediately develop a formal plan to sell or lease all of its surplus real properties."/p pEarlier (1992), a similar study of surplus school properties was highly critical of how these properties were managed. The so-called "Simmons Report" (Surplus Property and the District Real Estate Portfolio -A Strategic Approach). That report said the city should dispose of certain properties (including the old High School of Commerce) which:/p p ".They had not been used for a number of years."/p p.In their present unused and hazardous condition they represent a potential liability to the School District./p pDemographic forecasts indicate that there will be no future demand for these facilities."/p p These critiques of vacant city property were issued after 170 Fell Street had already sat unused and vacant and deteriorating almost five years. Now, more than five years later the site still is empty and unused./p pMeanwhile, the city is critically short of affordable housing, to the point that every year well over a hundred people die while living on the streets./p pHomes Not Jails calls for the immediate transfer of this property to HNJ or a non-profit housing developer for renovation into affordable housing via the sweat equity labor of people who are homeless who could trade their skills and labor for affordable housing./p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongDoctor Leroy Reveals His Heart: Relationships and Disability /strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/441/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Dr. Leroy, ha,ha,ha/p pI'm a man who grew up in a houseful of women , but when it comes to relationships I still can't understand them. In college my door stayed open for friends to talk, most of them were women. I should have charged them for all of the times I stopped and listened to their problems. Many of them talked about their boyfriends. Wow, what stories I had a chance to listen to! I don't know why I was the one chosen to listen to their relationship problems. Did they just feel comfortable with me or was I no threat to them because of my disability?/p pCheck this out! A couple friends that I liked more than friends can't get over my disability, but they continue to stay in an abusive relationships with jerks, and keep me around so they can do things like talk and go shopping which they can't do with their own boyfriends. Why do they put themselves in that situation?/p pWomen are very complex individuals when it comes to relationships. Although many of my friends wanted a relationship with a nice guy, they found themselves in my room crying on my shoulder about their boyfriends. Although I'm a straight man, some women think I am gay because I don't act like their boyfriends. /p pI like putting a woman to the test. The real person she is comes out when I like her and when I ask her out. I can see it in her eyes, the confusion. I can feel the instant tension when I let a woman know how I feel. It is like looking into a cracked mirror, you see different images, different reactions. Right then I've stripped them down to their bare skin and they are trying to hide their bodies like I can see their nakedness. Although I have the power to revel the true person, it hurts me to see their nakedness. After I've exposed her, things are never the same. From there I would receive three kinds of reactions: pity, shame or guilt. That is the part I hate! They are stuck in the moment and every time they see me they can't get over that moment./p pOn the other side of the story, men are not angels. After listening to my friends talk about their boyfriends and seeing my male friends with their girlfriends, I wonder how they even get a date. I might be old fashioned, but I can't understand how a man can really expect to have sex on the first, second or third date. But they do! From experiences I've had with my friends, it appears that they don't care how the woman feels or what is on her mind. What happened to getting to know one other? Some women say that men don't talk and I can say that yes, this is true. But when they meet a man like me then they don't know what they want./p pI'm not a relationship professional. Hell! I have only had two intimate relationships in my thirty-three years on this earth, but I'm a great listener and thinker. Relationships can be easier, if each person stops and really thinks about what it is they want and is honest with themselves. I think talking and listening are the main elements in making or breaking a relationship. /p pI also found that there is a give and take in a relationship, but that some people give so much that they try to change 100 percent for their mate. I see this element of relationships a lot in my friends—they changed drastically because their boyfriends tell them to. I witnessed my male friends disconnecting themselves from their female origin because they have a girlfriend. /p pIf you take what I'm saying about relationships and add the term “disabled”, then you're opening a whole new can of worms. As a disabled Black man, I've noticed that 80 percent of my women friends are White and I have never had a Black disabled or a Black non-disabled girlfriend. /p pA good friend talked about this subject and she had the same story. We are both Black and disabled and we noticed that most of our friends were White. She agreed that her close relationships were with White, non-disabled men. She could count on one hand all the boyfriends she had had and all of them were White. I wonder if Black women and men are frightened of getting involved with a person with a disability or do they lack experience being with individuals with disabilities?/p pLike I mentioned above, I have this worried magic of revealing the true person when it comes to having a relationship. From reading disabled , feminist authors, I learned that they have almost the same experience in establishing a relationship with a non-disabled man and some times with a disabled man. Although I learned a lot from disabled, feminist authors, I am still waiting for a Black, disabled, feminist author to shared some light from a Black, disabled woman point of view./p pOne friend told me that I should look for a person like myself! “You know DISABLED!” Wow, what a stupid comment. But I thought about it for a while and how it relates to other oppressions. Even today some Black women and men are upset when they see interracial couples. Many people feed into stereotypical views that you're better off with your own. Today we know that some times your “own kind” is more oppressive than the main oppressor. Some Black men have a hard time with the Black, feminist movement and the Black, gay movement. When Bell Hooks wrote Ain't I a Women, she received complaints from all varieties of women but she couldn't believe how resistant the Black community was about the book. /p pEvery group in society has a higher standard to measure up to. Many times these standards are stereotypical and oppressive. In relationships some people look to the dominant cultural as the ultimate goal. For example, if you are a Black, disabled, heterosexual man than the standard is a Black, non-disabled, heterosexual woman. Or if you break through the first layer of oppression, the real prize is a White, non-disabled, heterosexual woman. Being with your “own kind”, if you're not part of the dominant culture, smacks the dominant culture in the face and they don't understand it in some situations, especially if you're disabled./p pOne story that has been locked in my brain for years came from a disabled feminist. The author wrote about how a family of a young, disabled woman reacted to her many accomplishments. The disabled young lady got into college, graduated with honors, got into graduate school and landed a great job, but received no reaction from her family. However, when she brought her non-disabled boyfriend home, her family was overjoyed and celebrated by throwing her an all-night party. /p pOn the other side is the famous movie "Guess Who Is Coming to Dinner" with Sidney Poitier. The movie was based on an interracial couple. The Black, soon-to-be husband surprises his girlfriend's White parents. Her parents are shocked to see "what" her daughter brought home. Do you see the two examples I'm playing with and how people from the dominant culture react when they get into a relationship with the "Other?" /p pI tossed this concept around in my brain for a long time and I wrote a short story entitled At Dinner. The story follows the main theme of "Guess Who is Coming to Dinner" but the main obstacles in At Dinner are disablism and classism. A Black, non- disabled , wealthy woman brings her disabled, middle class, Black boyfriend home to announced their engagement to her parents. To make the story short the parents were shocked and talked their daughter out of the marriage because they couldn’t related to their daughter's boyfriend. Her parents also told her that she could have brought a White man into their house but not this inner city cripple. /p pThe media and literature are only one avenue that sheds light (negative or positive) on the concept of relationships with the "Other”. Let's go back to the early nineteenth and twentieth century and examine the laws this country wrote and enforced on who could and couldn’t marry. Black slaves couldn't get married by law and couldn't think about marrying a White person. Slaves had their own secret way to get married. With the birth of the eugenics movement, racial separation to improve the CHOSEN RACE was the law of the land. Whites were the chosen people who had the brains, physical stamina and beauty and everyone else was sub-human, with nothing to offer except their weakness. /p pAs we all know the eugenics movement’s first experiments were conducted on persons with disabilities, especially people with mental retardation. Although the two groups followed the same path in the eugenic movement, people with disabilities went beyond separation. What is sad is that even today a handful of states still have laws on their books prohibiting marriages of disabled people and interracial marriages. /p pSome disabled individuals are also discouraged from marriage because of the rules of the federal benefits they receive. In certain cases when two disabled persons get together and decide to marry and move in together their benefits are cut in half. /p pWhen I think about my high school years, I can pin point what was important to my peers—your looks and the opposite sex. As a Black, physically disabled student in a mainstream high school, I realized that my opportunities with the opposite sex were nil. I've noticed that girls were experimenting with makeup and sexy clothes. The boys went out of their way to look cool but I couldn't hide my walker, leg braces and the way I walked. Thank God times have changed since I was in high school. From my involvement with youths with disabilities, I've noticed that today’s disabled youth and young adults have girlfriends and boyfriends,but the peer pressure is still there. /p pThe concept of sex and relationships is always hard for parents to talk to their children about, but nowadays children know more than their parents do. I realized that many times parents with disabled children close their eyes and ears to sex and relationships. Finally, today women with disabilities are writing and talking about the public’s view on the concept of sexuality and disability in society and the family. However, there is very little out there from a viewpoint of men with disabilities on the subject of sex and relationship./p pNo wonder relationships are so complex and take a lifetime to perfect. With all the oppression from the dominate culture, internal oppression from the “Other” assumptions, history, laws, the social structure and the media's misrepresentation of the "Other", men and women are on opposite poles even when they are in relationships. There is no river between the sexes. If only people would stop, think, talk and listen to each others’ histories and lifestyles without judgment, this relationship thing would be a piece of cake. Yes, I’m still single, but hopeful./p pDr. Leroy, ha,ha,habr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongPOOR Magazine gives the Bay Area's needy a forum. Its "formerlybr / homeless" mother-daughter editors have also created a journalismbr / welfare-to-work program. /strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/444/photo_1_feature.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby LA Times/p pHome Editionbr / br /Section: Southern California Livingbr / br /Page: E-1/p pSAN FRANCISCO—Dee Gray would probably want this story to start with the word "I". Dee thinks the best stories are told in the first person. Her daughter, Tiny, doesn't always agree.br / /pPThis is what it might look like, if Dee had her way:br / /pPI first heard from Lisa Gray-Garcia, also known as Tiny, in a long, long message on my voicemail machine about living poor in America's most expensive city. "A lot of us are affected by gentrification and poverty and how that translates to having to leave this area," she said, in a voice somewhere between nasal and squeaky. "Oftentimes, poor families arebr / the ones who are leaving."br / /pPOther mothers and daughters may wrangle over literary license, currentbr / events and how the media shape the news, but their ruminations don't oftenbr / make it into print. Dee's and Tiny's usually do. You can read them onlinebr / at Abr / href="http://www.poornewsnetwork.org/"http://www.poornewsnetwork.org/,br / a weekly news service with the motto: "All the news that doesn't fit."br / POr in the pages of POOR Magazine, where they write under headings likebr / "Editors' Statement by Dee and Tiny." You can catch them on the lastbr / Monday of every month on the Bay Area's KPFA radio, if you wake up reallybr / early.br / /pPOr, if you are on welfare in the San Francisco area and fortunate inbr / your misfortune, you can listen to them in person as part of their Newbr / Journalism/Media Studies Program. Many media and public-policy expertsbr / believe the program, which receives some funding from San Franciscobr / County, is the only journalism welfare-to-work effort operating today.br / /pPTiny and Dee—30 and "I'd rather not say," who describe themselves asbr / "formerly homeless, currently at risk"—have a few goals. They want tobr / change how the mainstream media portray poor and homeless people. Theybr / want to give voice to those who have long been silent, or at the verybr / least not been heard. They want to change how the government gets peoplebr / off of public assistance and into jobs. And they'd like to make the rent.br / /pPThey are as likely to march in a demonstration as cover it. Theybr / regularly lash out at the institutions that they feel harm poor people inbr / the name of helping; Child Protective Services is Dee's current favoritebr / target, although Pacific Gas Electric, the welfare system, thebr / California penal code, most police departments, and City Halls on bothbr / sides of the bay come under regular attack too.br / /pPTheir work—and articles by other PoorNewsNetwork reporters—appears inbr / other alternative publications and has graced the op-ed pages of thisbr / city's two mainstream newspapers. The star graduate of their first year inbr / welfare-to-work has a job writing regularly for the San Francisco Baybr / View, a small community paper covering the region's African Americanbr / population.br / /pPTheir brand of journalism favors advocacy over explanation. But ifbr / there is a place in the american media for the likes of conservativebr / commentator William Kristol and his iWeekly Standard/i, there's a place forbr / Tiny, Dee and POOR.br / /pPThe question, of course, is whether taxpayers should foot the bill forbr / teaching poor and homeless people to be writers, when most welfare-to-workbr / programs stress far more basic job skills. Not surprisingly, Tiny and Deebr / say yes. And San Francisco County agrees.br / /pPWith funding from the county Department of Human Services, whichbr / administers welfare benefits here, the Media Studies Program trained eightbr / people over the last year and will likely train another eight in the nextbr / fiscal year, says Amanda Feinstein, the agency's project director forbr / work-force development.br / /pP"They're tutoring and mentoring one person at a time," Feinstein says.br / "It's small. We expect it to be—small and intensive for the right type ofbr / person." /p pMother, Daughter Spiral Into Homelessnessbr / /pPBerkeley, 1993. Tiny spent three days in jail for driving without abr / license, having too many unpaid parking tickets, no registration for thebr / car in which she and Dee were living, and failure to appear on similarbr / earlier charges—what she now refers to as crimes of poverty.br / /pPShe was eventually sentenced to hundreds of hours of community service,br / which she worked off at a small nonprofit called Community Defense Inc.br / Osha Neumann, who runs the organization, asked her what she wanted to do.br / Survive. He asked her what she knew how to do. Write. Had there been abr / Media Studies Program at the time, Tiny would have been a perfectbr / candidate.br / /pP"She was struggling at that point to just keep it together and needingbr / every moment of her time to try and survive with her mom," Neumannbr / recalls. "I said, 'I tell you what. Why don't you do that writing as yourbr / community service for us?" We do advocacy for homeless people. She wrotebr / this article. I read it and realized that this is a really good writer."br / /pPA surprisingly good writer for a young woman who had dropped out ofbr / school in the sixth grade as she and her mother spiraled intobr / homelessness. Dee was a social worker who lost her job, became disabledbr / and then couldn't work. Their savings ran out in three to four months. Deebr / was an orphan who had been raised in a series of foster homes andbr / institutions. Tiny's father was long gone. They had no money and nobr / family.br / /pPThey were evicted 21 times in Los Angeles and Oakland, Dee says,br / recalling a time in which they had just enough money to get an apartmentbr / but never enough to pay the rent for long. Each time their welcome wouldbr / wear out, they would look for another temporary home. Lisa, too young tobr / have a bad credit rating, would do the hard part. "I would dress Lisa in abr / dress and gloves at 13, say she was 18 or 20, and she'd get us anbr / apartment," Dee says. "We'd stay as long as we could and save enough moneybr / to get another apartment. We moved up here, and it wasn't much better."br / /pPTiny's first article was about being poor, and it was published in anbr / East Bay alternative paper, an event that became a turning point. "Notbr / only was I heard as a writer and an artist," she says, "but I was heardbr / about this."br / /pPStanding in front of the magazine rack at Cody's Books in Berkeley onebr / day, she realized there were no publications that talked about the livesbr / of poor people—the kind of revelation that would happen only to a personbr / with little interest in advertising revenues.br / /pPSo, Tiny got together a small group of financially stressed people withbr / artistic or literary bents to meet each month and figure out "how to makebr / literary art out of our lives." With the help of a group of artistbr / friends, she raised some seed money and POOR was born. One Theme Per Issuebr / /pPVol. 1 of the intentionally glossy, almost-annual magazine came out inbr / 1996.br / /pPVol. 4 hit bookstores in April. Each edition explores a singlebr / theme—"Homefulness", "Hellthcare", "Work", "Mothers"—through art,br / fiction, poetry and first-person narrative. Each is an effort to define,br / and suggest solutions for, the obstacles facing poor people. The writersbr / are poor people. The artists are poor people. The experts are poor people.br / /pPLike the Web site, which is updated weekly, the magazine has a mix ofbr / harrowing accounts of life on the street and sad tales about the lengthsbr / to which men and women are pushed simply to "Survive." In these pages, thebr / word is often capitalized, a sacred verb, a statement.br / /pPThe journalism training program for welfare recipients evolved out ofbr / the "Work" issue and Tiny's own experiences on welfare in the years afterbr / the Clinton administration passed welfare reform legislation. It was 1998,br / and San Francisco had implemented its Personally Assisted Employmentbr / Specialist program to move men and women from welfare to work in partbr / through skills assessment and counseling.br / /pPTiny was told on several occasions that she would make a fabulousbr / receptionist. She had told various job counselors that she really wantedbr / to be a reporter or writer and that, although she lacked formal education,br / she would be interested in pursuing a college degree program. Thebr / response, she wrote in an article eventually published onbr / Poor-NewsNetwork, was that given her lack of education, earning a degreebr / would take too long.br / /pP"'And besides, is that really a practical career choice for someone inbr / your position?' I don't know ... was it?" she wrote. "My mother and I werebr / endlessly battling homelessness—we were deeply entrenched in thebr / so-called cycle of poverty ... one crisis snowballing into the next untilbr / you are never really able to fix any one problem, because you are justbr / catching the last one, barely."br / /pPWhile still receiving welfare herself and working on POOR Magazine,br / Tiny dreamed up her own welfare-to-work program, which eventually wasbr / funded by the San Francisco Department of Human Services. At its heart arebr / the mother-daughter team's strong beliefs about what is wrong with welfarebr / today.br / /pPIt is impossible, they say, for extremely poor people--especially thosebr / grappling with homelessness, substance abuse, mental illness—to learn anybr / really useful skill in the short time most government training programsbr / allow. That same government, they say, shoves poor people into any jobbr / that comes along just to get them off of welfare, whether there's a futurebr / in it or not.br / /pPTheir welfare-to-work program includes a lot of basics: reporting,br / writing, grammar, graphic arts, Internet design, desktop publishing. Andbr / some more advanced skills, such as investigative and advocacy journalismbr / with a focus on race and class.br / /pPAlong the way, they lecture daily on what they call "povertybr / scholarship"—the belief that poor people who have lived it are experts inbr / it. And they insist that their students write from their own experiences,br / acknowledge their own homelessness, banish their own shame.br / /pPFor Dee, this means using the word "I".br / /pP"Some write in the third person," she complains. "They don't have thebr / confidence to tell their story. They write about poor people as if theybr / weren't one of them. We want to hear their voice.... We teach first-personbr / narrative rather than poverty voyeurism—people from the outside writingbr / about being poor." 'Povery Voyeurism' by Mainstream Pressbr / /pPAlan Weil of the Urban Institute, a liberal Washington think tank,br / believes that the folks at POOR and the Media Studies Program are rightbr / about a lot of things, among them that most states emphasize moving peoplebr / from welfare to work as quickly as possible, "which means [take] the firstbr / job you can find."br / /pP"I think they're right in a different way, which is that our society'sbr / attention to the reality of life for poor people is very shallow," Weilbr / says. "If they can offer a more complete picture of that life, then theybr / are doing something that not really anyone else is doing."br / /pPMost publications put out by poor and homeless people—among them thebr / 40 members of the North American Street Newspaper Assn.—share a single,br / central goal: reframing the news, because their staff members believe thatbr / the mainstream media either patronize or ignore poor people.br / /pPTo Dee, it is "poverty voyeurism". Chance Martin, editor of iStreetbr / Sheet/i in San Francisco, argues that stories about poor and homeless peoplebr / in the traditional press tend to be formulaic, with the ones that actuallybr / talk to the homeless as "the most offensive".br / /pP"They serve to reinforce the personal deficit model," which says thatbr / poor people are broken and need to be fixed, argues Martin, who is on thebr / executive committee of the newspaper association.br / /pPGray, Gray-Garcia and Martin argue that such a model ignores thebr / complexities of lives lived in poverty. The mainstream media, they say,br / have a responsibility to report those lives fully—whether or not poorbr / people vote, shop or take vacations—and that everyone from employers andbr / teachers to legislators would benefit.br / /pPThe personal deficit model, they say, emphasizes the failures in poorbr / people's lives, instead of their tenacious coping. It ignores the factbr / that those living on the edge might be late for work because old carsbr / break down and buses are unreliable, not because of slovenliness. Thatbr / poor parents might not show up for parent-teacher conferences because theybr / have multiple minimum-wage jobs, not because they don't care.br / /pPWhat about the stories that don't talk to the poor but simply talkbr / about them? In a January report, the Harvard Family Research Projectbr / evaluated more than 2,000 articles on health care and welfare issues frombr / 29 electronic and print sources between 1999 and 2000.br / /pPThe most frequent welfare issues discussed included job training andbr / declining caseloads. The media's most common sources were researchers andbr / policymakers, the project reported, but current and former welfarebr / recipients were among the "sources rarely or not used".br / /pPShawn Fremstad, a senior policy analyst with the Center on Budget andbr / Policy Priorities in Washington, looks at the Harvard report as evidencebr / that the media need to improve their coverage of poverty. If POOR's Mediabr / Studies Program succeeds, he figures, it can be only a positive thing bothbr / for its students and American readers.br / /pP"The tricky part," he says, "is to what extent can this deliver inbr / terms of someone ending up in a job in the journalism field?" /p pManybr / Struggles for Program Participantsbr / /pPOn a purely philosophical level, the people in the program believe thatbr / any time a poor person speaks out in print, it is a small success in itsbr / own way. On a more practical level, the program is probably too young tobr / judge. It has been funded for only one full year, and its students facebr / many hurdles. Some are struggling with homelessness, some mental illness,br / some substance abuse and past incarceration. They have a lot to learnbr / about work and journalism.br / /pPIn this second year of their publicly funded effort, Dee and Tiny wantbr / taxpayers to shell out $8,600 to cover training costs for each futurebr / journalist in the program. And then they want those fledgling reporters,br / photographers and graphic artists to get paid $15 an hour, 40 hours abr / week, for a year as apprentices.br / /pPFeinstein didn't bite for the whole package; it is, after all, abr / Cadillac request from a government with a used-Hyundai budget. But Sanbr / Francisco funded them once and will likely fund them again at some level.br / Feinstein believes the Media Studies Program offers "just the start somebr / people may need."br / /pPBenny Joyner, 51, pen name Kaponda, was the star graduate of the Mediabr / Studies Program's maiden year. POOR taught this former legal secretary andbr / former prison inmate how to write a story, and he learned well.br / /pPFor various POOR publications, Joyner has written about California'sbr / "three strikes" law and covered a recent demonstration against lodgingbr / laws that forbid sleeping outside in public places.br / /pPAnd now he has job writing for the iSan Francisco Bay View/i, a smallbr / community paper focusing on the Bay Area's African American population. Hebr / has written about environmental justice, police issues and a local blackbr / micro-radio station. His biggest accomplishment? Probably the story, basedbr / on recent census data, about how San Francisco's black population hasbr / dropped 23% in the last decade. Joyner's story came out May 29. The Sanbr / Francisco Chronicle followed Joyner two weeks later.br / /pPJoyner is happy; his new boss is delighted.br / /pP"This is not fluff, not society news, not feel-good news," says Marybr / Ratcliff, editor of the iBay View/i. "This is real, important hard news, andbr / we're just thrilled.... We really need good news coverage. Benny is ourbr / lifeline." /p pBy: Maria L. LA Gangabr / br /TIMES STAFF WRITER/p p/p/abr/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrong pI'm no journalist./p pIts this "Hit A cop,br / Pay The Price Storybr / that made me write this. /p/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joe. B./p pA person goes “Tilt” on sixth and Market Street. /p pWednesday, August, 15, 2001. I was returning from Henry George School of Social Science at 55 New Montgomery.br / br /Guess its the wrong day or the classes met earier, I don’t know./p pWhile walking back up Market Street toward my home there is another protest about mistreatmentbr / of women in Columbia./p p A yellow flyer is given to me while walking. /p pSoon as my Apartment buildingbr / looms near my eyes br /silently record images, sights, sounds in a rapid jumble./p pTwo people on the ground under my building one lay unmoving in the street.br / br /A third person in the street roughly assisted into a police van, as police sirens scream past the area where the incident happened coming from every direction. /p pI don’t know if its a shooting or a traffic accident?/p pPolice in controlled panic on foot, in cars not exactly blocking people’s way but br /their strong presence make me pause./p pCops swarm like angry hornets hovering over and near one of their own. /p pMumblings, loud, low talk, whispers, and traffic jams in a frenetic mix of concern, constination, awe, anger, curiosity, and fear. /p pI hear from br /a bystander or street folk and on what happened.br / br /B:“HE WALKED UP TO HER AND PUNCHED HER!”br / br /POOR Magazine:“WHAT?”br / B:“He walked up there and just punched her.”br / br /PM:”Nothing-just...” br /br / B:“Nothin’, that’s what all these cops are here for, that’s what’s this is about?” br /br / B:“NO REASON.”br / br /PM:“You mean he went off-just nuts?br / br /B:“And That’s a Woman Too, They (police) was running people with those sticks. (police baton’s, or night stick)./p pA few black women talk about the incident have lots to say until a young, blond cop in his blue uniform asked br /“Did you see or hear what happened, because you were talking about it a lot.”/p pThe women clam up moving away as the cop goes back to fellow officers. Meanwhile in this socalled reporters on words “I’m tryin’to git home but the cop asking the two black women what they’ve seen or heard changed that./p pI take this as a signal crossing the street then rethink ”Typing this up is what should be done even if I don’t have all the facts. /p pPM:I don’t know what happened yet. br /All I know is somebody hit a cop and the cops went nuts,br / or someone hit a lady, br /then hit a cop, and the cops went nuts. /p pbAll I know is... br /looks like a lot-a’ cops went nuts./b/p pWhile waiting for a bus to write up this story another person looking like a tourist, or an a born ‘n raised San Franciscan spoke up. /p pbr /T/SF:“It was a lady cop, some guy on the street hit her.br / br /PM:"A lady cop.”br / T/SF:“Yeah, and her partner, a guy had a billybr / br / club or night stick and and beat him down.” br //p pPM:“That’s why the cops went nuts - one of their own... ok.br /” T/SF: “Exactly, did you see ‘em they all went right past here, they didn’tbr / stop right here, fifteen cop cars came zooming by.”br / br /PM:“Well, thank you." I said to the man as I got on the bus heading to Ninth and Mission Street to file this report./p pIn POOR Magazine’s office turned on the radio to a KCBS news to hear about a female police officer punched in the face was being taken to General Hospital. /p pPolice have arrested a suspect in the attack.br / She is said to have suffered facial and nasal injuries./p pI know its a jumble of mistakes but it’ll be on the web before br / midnight I just hope other folks on the web who were at the scene can supply POOR Magazine with all the missingbr / bits and beware other law enforcement entities are probably webchecking too./p pI couldn’t think for a few minutes letting it sink in. Random, irrational violence on a police officer. The fact the officer is female makes no difference except by a marginal nuance. /p pIf this person hates both police and woman and had a misogynist two-for one punch out this could seen as a larger problem. /p pThe random brutality is a question that must be dealt with and thisbr / doesn’t mean lock ‘em up-throw-away-key if that happens this could be the tip of br /an angry melting iceburg of more random acts of violence./p pThen again I'm John Shmoo public, what do I know?/p pThis is one confused, tired socalled reporter sayingbr / stay alert, be safe and keep your soft and wetware fluidic. good night./p pPlease donate what can to Poor Magazine orbr / C/0 Ask Joe at 255 9th St. Street,br / San Francisco, CA. 94103 USA/p pFor Joe only my snail mail:br / PO Box 1230 #645br / Market St.br / San Francisco, CA 94102br / Email: a href="mailto:askjoe@poormagazine.org"askjoe@poormagazine.org/abr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/298/photo_2_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Husayn Sayfuddiyn/p p I am Love Supreme, of everyone I claim. The rich and famousbr / br / - and those of no name – I dog ‘em all the same. I call and they br / come crawling to me on all foursbr / br / Death and Pain’s my front and back doorsbr / br / Cuz’ Cocaine, is my Name, and I pop a cold game. Got no timebr / br / For formality – when you rush to my rush of immortality from a br / figment of lost reality -==Flowing from the mountains of Columbiabr / br / Or Peru – on the Reagan Express –=from CIA - to you!br / br / The things that I’ll do to you will take all the shame from youbr / br / Till all you got coming - is the blame for you. So whatcha’ gonna do?br / br / Cuz’, I have proved myself, Created millions and improved the gamebr / br / Dead gangstas line my Hall of Fool’s fame –br / Come try play around my turf – and suffer the terrible effects of My Murph –br / Like a mad hatter chasing a ghost in my marathon –br / til’ your loot is gone – br / in My Death dealing traps set up in your mind –=by my psychology – br / bending ya’ to my methodology. The world acknowledges my terminology - sobr / br / Doubt me and the things about me – will waste you when my power tastes you - br / Make ya’ kill your brother or clown him into a Sad Sack,br / br / Dis’ your sisters to the gang bang – and down ‘em to the dog br / track..br / br / Cocaine, is my Name, of ill fame coming at cha with a cold game.br / br /br / br / I’ll starve your children to feed my greed, cuz’ I’ll refuse all your otherbr / needs –br / br / I’ll pluck your nerves, and make you bow to me,br / br / Cuz’ I must be served - nothing else but me.br / br / Cuz I’m your mother and father, daughter and son,br / br / Your sunrise desire and sunset, when the rush is done.br / br / You’ll wake up in the morning From your dreams of me.br / br / And before your eyes are open, you will think of me.br / br / Your desire to possess me, will possess you.br / br / And when I’m beyond your possession, what’s left is no longer you!br / br / Cause I’ve got millions of lovers, craving me. =figments of their br / imaginationsbr / br / Enslaved by me – on death’s merry go round – that comes crashing down -br / In my tragicomedy – when you discover that your soul’s my feebr / br / You pay me - you see? With all your life’s energybr / br / In a bone yard ghetto - That don’t have to be!br / br / If you stop your tribute to me Cuzbr / br / I am Cocaine – of ill fame and I run your cold game.br / br / I am Death and Destruction – so listen to life’s instruction about me.br / br / Don’t come trying your luck with me –br / br / Cuz wise men don’t come and try n' fuck with me!br / br / All my followers are dead or dying – children lost and mothers crying –br / br / I am Prince of Thieves Master of Whores,br / br / Mind Bandit – any man’s Lost Cause -br / br / My Name is Fire raging through the ghetto burning soulsbr / br / Leaving your neglected and traumatized children - to pay the br / price of my toll –br / br / Or with the dishonor of your body, and then your heartbr / br / That fails ya’ when the going gets tough ya’ see?br / br / Or a stroke to croak ya’br / br / And earth to cloak ya’ – when you’ve had too much of me Cuzbr / br / Cocaine, is my Name of ill fame; I run a cold game.br / br / I am the Widow Maker – Undertaker of all Ice Men –br / br / The Dung You Attacker – Body Snatcher when you peek inbr / br / My parlors =with your tribute dollars - =Fools who pay mebr / br / And then say slay me – on the altar of my Ice – or say play br / me – for the essence of his life –br / br / My name is Cocaine, of ill fame, and I run a cold game.br / br / Cocaine!br / br /br / br / Husayn Sayfuddiyn/p pHUSAYN SAYFUDDIYNbr / br / a href="mailto:THEQUILOMBO@AOL.COM"THEQUILOMBO@AOL.COM/abr / br / Copyright 1999br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrong pbLife Exstension will lead tobr / Immortality someday soon./b/p pbDo We Have an IMMORTAL PERSONAbr / TO COPE WITH IT?/b/p/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joe. B./p pMany of us as young boys and girls either, heard on radio, read comic books, saw movies, tv shows, on the concepts of immortality. /p pIn all kinds of tales from Greece, holy texts of many religions to the Summarian Epic of Gilgamesh, a legendary demi-God King searching the world for immortality./p p The end is wrenching for the mighty hero as he loses Enkidu, a true friend br /equal to him in strengh, courage, daring and fighting prowess. /p pGilgamesh, finds Utnapishtim, an Immortal and living witness to the great flood. /p pUtnapishtim is living proor that Immortality is possible - that if br /one mortal can achieve it others can./p pHe tells Gilgamesh where to find the fruit from the tree of life. /ppThe Demi God King found then loses immortality and must contend with aging and death as ordinary mortals do./p pA modern story teller Harold Robbins B.1912-D.1997br / in what for us humans call a long span he (Robbins)br / wrote about the foibles of the rich, hollywood’s seemy side, struggling men and women escaping poverty anyway they can./p p In his 1984 bestsellerbr / b‘DESCENT FROM XANADU'.br / /bbr / A son of a rich man using his vast inherited and br /br / self-made wealth for life exstenion. /p pBecause of a deep psychological pain he experienced in youth he usesbr / state of the br /art science and technology to keep him young, creates a cloned infant, and in a fight forbr / his life, lover’s, and child learns thatbr / just as it's possible for him tobr / live longer than humankind ever dared dreamed he discovers br /br / true, soul searing, shaking, shattering, life affirming love br /walking away br /br / trading in a longer life span for mortal love and family./p pI read the book twice and felt cheated that this powerfull individualbr / with all the applied science at his disposal gave up potential br / eternity for a cloned infant and love a good woman when he and the love his life could both live longer lives./p pI guess when his psychological block was broken he has br /no reason to feel or use power by 'youthening himself,/p pAll this is to say that I have though about the meaning of life in lots of ways sometimes, fatalist, futile, br /or desperate andbr / bord, or excited that I’m still alive./p pI’ve wondered at our capacity to go through lifes processes knowing that in the end we’ll die young, old, or middle age frombr / accidents, illness, war, or any number life snuffing possibility. /p pWe have learned to deal with death by not seeing it as it looms near./p pBut this time of applied science, blending ofbr / technologies extending our lives gets easier and it does one had to thing of how to use the extra time./p pWe know of suicidal personalities, depressed indivduals, and adrenaline junkies who want to live by doing death defying stunts, feats,br / of weirdness like eating glass, jumping off or across 10 to 20 story buildings with parashute or glider either standard or a specially madebr / “flying squirrel” suits./p pIs there a “IMMORTAL PERSONALITY” I mean minds that see in decades not years? There will be a time not to far off br / when an extended life span will become normal./p p How do people use extra time living by months and years change tobr /thinking, seeing by decades or maybe centuries?/p pI do not think it takes special mental facilities some of us do it now but have to bebr / carefull to stay in the present.br / It will be a gradual mindset. /p pAn immortal or pre-immortal mindset will be like anyone elses they need, want, longer lives not because they have so little time to br /do things its just the principle of getting use to breathing and being alive as long as possible just because they want to. /p pAll of us mortals know that death is our due but a few of us refuse to stick with the norm./p p Be we fat, thin, old, young, smart, slow, creative, or dim bulb it dosen’tbr / matter if we want to live 2-3-15,or 50 decades longer some will do whatever legal, illegal, or quazi legalbr / to get thosebr / extra years on great health./p p They are not daredevils, megalomaniacs, psycotic, or sociopaths,br / br / there part of the mix too./p p The basic Immortality profile might be in all of us but as for the natural death br /folks needing to feel that everyone will die sooner or later an immortal or life exstended br /individual will resist the death process seeing a litteral dead end./p p When the time comes for how one wants to live there will be opposition to stepping into this unknown and at first the long livers will be br /snickered at, made fun of, or even killed as freak chosing long life or short death./p pBut the cosmic joke is those chosing long life will multiply while the death-moded br /dies off as their memes (ideas) fade. /p pSimple evolution the meek may inherit the earth because they want to live apon it using all their knowledge to improve their lot./p pSelfish Altruism enables more people to live longer, lead healthier br /lives so death-wardly moble people cannot overrun the world with only their small worms-eye-view./p pThis could be a long socialogical study on the effects of an emerging life lengtheningbr / culture emerging from a death centered one. /p pIt’s all so vague and sketchy now but it is what is coming a battle of idealogical change andbr / frightened, angry status quo. /p pAs for me if death is a blessing andbr / unending life a curse give me a long, healthy, life br /of complexity and let the blessed stay undisturbed slumbering underground or ashes blowing where theybr / wish to be spread. /p pHow about you?/p pAnd on a weird notebr / The process of embryo creation forbr / infertile couples or lesbian woman wantingbr / children is/was a problem with solutions conservatives don't want to see. /p pthink about it. untold trillions of these embrotic cells were destroyed in clinics all over the country in Fertility Centers by dropping them in medical waste bins, set aside to die naturally, or if frozenbr / are taken out to thaw for 3 or 4 days to die./p pPro and Con, for and against life groups didn't know about these cells dying and now both groups are out to either usedbr / them to help people living or let die because these Stem Cells represent potential lives. /p pDoctor's say "Its unrealistic to expect technology to improve, preserve the lives of early-stage embryos. /p pHuman reproduction is a very ineficent process." Dr.br / Marcelle Cedars, at the UCSF clinic. /p pShades of Mr. Spock, Tuvok,7-of-9, and Q./p pHuman sex ineficent yes, but not expecting technology to improve over time isbr / an illogical br /assumption andbr / short sighted but does notbr / br /take into account todays rapid technical change. /p pIf people don't see ideological mindquakes ahead will then agree with the good doctorbr / at your peril. Some of the above information from by S.F. Chronicle Mon. Aug. 20, 2001 /p pPS. I've only scratched the surface of Life Extention-Immortality bof the ordinary average John Q-shmoo. /b/p pDon't throw junk genes away, we've got spares for a reason folks. bThink On That!/b/p pPlease send donations to Poor Magazinebr /br / C/0 Ask Joe at 255 9th St. Street,br /br / San Francisco, CA. 94103 USA/p p For Joe only my snail mail:br / PO Box 1230 #645br / Market St. San Francisco, CA 94102br / Email: a href="mailto:askjoe@poormagazine.org"askjoe@poormagazine.org/abr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Vlad Pogorelov/p pVLAD’S BIO/p pBorn in the USSR 30 years ago, jumped into the stream and went with a flow of life until landed in the USA. Studied medicine before realized where my true inspiration lied. Worked with the sick and the poor. Edited "Siren’s Silence"—a literary explosion in Philadelphia. Now, live in San Francisco where I defy the insane rents and local ordinances by cruising in the motorhome named "Calipso" together with my dog Marina. Wrote a lot about the human condition, our alienation from being sincere (books of poetry "Derelict" and "Decadent"), and my searching for the extreme love and universal truth. Haven’t found those yet but in the process have met with "Poor Poets." And while my search for the greater and ultimate still continues at full speed, I have discovered that unless we change life around us the way we want it, we’re doomed as humans and artists.br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Vlad Pogorelov/p pWalking down 16th street around Mission almost every day I see junkies being arrested-/p pThe scene is so familiar as if I had a flashback from many years ago while hanging out with dope rebels/p pWe were caught red handed by the Ukranian police- bSoviet style:/b/p pThey had German Shephards and a few soldiers with Kalashnikovs to help them.../p p"Hands up!!! The game is over!!! Give us the stuff!!!"br /br / The dogs were growling, and the soldiers pointed AK's at mebr /br / but I hesitated.br /br / -Smash! and I felt a taste of blood in my mouth.br /br / -Bang! and my nose crunched and turned blue.br /br / I was searched. Everything was confiscated except my house keys. But I wasn't taken to jail and was free to go.br /br / "Don't ever come back here," they instructed me.br /br / A block away I saw another junkie's face being massaged by an official fist, and the dogs were barking, and kids-soldiers were pointing their guns at him./p pNow, ten years later and half way around th globebr /br / I don't see much difference./p pThe official fists, guns, uniforms, control. Here, they read you your rights and then cage you like an animal. Maybe, just to remind you that no matter where you go- Soviet Union, Capitalist States of America, Communist China: you can't escape the ijungle/i, the brutality, the inhumanity...br /br / "Don't ever come back," they told me.br /br / And I wish them just the same/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Husayn Sayfuddiyn/p pWelcome to the world... Welcome to the world... of the undead...br //p p of Death's head, Welcome to the world.. of the Death Row inmate...br / Welcome to the world... with a Death Date...br //p p Counting down to a timeless eternity... where time is both friend and the enemy..br / Count down to a "No Tomorrow"... Counting down on time from which you cant borrow.br //p pThere is no blindfold on American Justices' eyes...br /br / Her scales are unbalanced and her verdict is a Lie...br //p pSo now Mumia is on Death Row... about to die...br //p pCount down on the City of Unbrotherly Love, on cracked Liberty Bells...br //p pMumia Abu Jamal paces the Devils' Death Cell..br /br / Dying for a cause he did not choose... Lynched by a law with triple rules,br //p p another Black man born to lose... born to losebr //p pFirst they lynched Nat, then Malcolm, and then the King..br /br / and now Mumia is about to swing...... a victim of an American genocidal plot..br / that's sings, 'let freedom ring' on a freedom you aint got....br / /p pCount Down from Death Row.. poor man's field where no poppies grow..br //p pMumia's life in an ill wind blows...framed by the police and the prosecution..br /br / who demands his life for white restitution...br //p pBut how much time do you have brother? On the clock that's winding down?br /br / The clock of life that ticks away and never makes a sound...br / Count down without sound.. /pp as the masquerade known as Justice.... counts down.. /ppon the meals you eat../p p on the people you'll meet..br //p p counts down.. on life, counts down on your dreams..br /br / COUNTS DOWN on believing... in other human beings.... /ppCount down to free...br / Mumia Abu Jamal - Get down and free... /p pMumia Abu Jamal br / Today its Abu, tomorrow it's you..br /br / Not only you, but your children too..br //p pTo be caught up in a trap, that's disguised ..as honor and glory, the devils paradise...br //p pCount down to Life... and not to Death..br //p p Let Mumia Abu Jamal breathe freedoms' breath....br //p p Countdown to Free MAJ Get down and Free MAJ!br //p p GET down MAJ Countdown to Free MAJ!br /br / Count down to Life... and not to Death..br /br / Let Mumia Abu Jamal breathe freedoms' breath....br //p p Countdown to Free MAJ Free! MAJ!/p pHusayn Sayfuddiyn As-Sufibr /br / a href="mailto:thequilombo@aol.com"thequilombo@aol.com/abr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p