Story Archives 2006

Discrimination & Isolation Turned into Artistic Survival & Expression!

09/24/2021 - 11:01 by Anonymous (not verified)
Original Author
root
Original Body

Illin n Chillin ongoing review of the struggle and resistance of disabled artists of color

by Leroy Moore

As a Black poet, researcher, activist, and writer
with a disability, I have studied many disabled people
of color in history and today and I noticed a common
factor in many cases i.e. the treatment they face in
our society in the past and now. Many had turned or
continued with their arts for expression, to adapted
and survival in their harsh situation. Many have
found or were force to create their own community,
language and techniques of surviving all through the
arts. In the last three years I have written on many
disabled artists of color in the past and now from
painter Hoarse Pippin during WW1 to Hip-hop artist
Keith Jones. It is sad to read about the struggles
Hoarse Pippin, the first Disabled African American
self-taught painter, to know that the same struggles
are happening to disabled African American artists
today.

A couple of incredible true real life
struggles and achievements of disabled artists of
color who shares a common story of facing
discrimination, segregation but used the artistic path
to change their situation, opened up gates for other
artists and to reach incredible fame in their field
must be told. All the artists that Ill be writing
about are in the same medium of the arts and that is
music. The main reason why I picked these stories
that you are about to read is to showcase the
international struggles, commonality and talents we
have as Black disabled people and to give written
documentation of these experiences in one essay.
The four groups of musicians are from USA,
Brazil, Jamaica and Africa.

This essay will also
create a thread of commonality of Black disabled
people around the world. These four groups have
changed the face of music from gospel to reggae to
world jazz but havent in my view gain the mass
recognition that can offer more in writing i.e. books
& articles etc. like Elvis, the Beetles and even
rapper Emminem. The four are the Blind Boys of
Alabama, Israel Vibration of Jamaica, Tribo Da Jah of
Brazil, and Amadou & Mariam of Africa. As youll find
out three of the four are blind. Israel Vibration is
the only group in this essay that has a physical
disability; Polio, but all have a common beginning.
All were sent to institutions in their countries
because of their disability and or poverty. All have
found each other in these institutions. And all have
found or improved their musical talents in these
institutions that formed their early music careers as
we know them today.

Most have experienced raw
discrimination based on their race and or disability
in these institutions, in their early days in the
music industry and from the general public.
Lets start with our elders, The Blind Boys of
Alabama, who grew up around the 1930s. The four
original members of the group are blind--singers
Clarence Fountain, Jimmy Carter, George Scott and
drummer Eric (Ricky) McKinnie.

From their website,
it says that The Blind Boys of Alabama have spread
the spirit and energy of pure soul gospel music for
over 60 years, ever since the first version of the
group formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro
Blind in 1939. They were born into poverty in the
rural south of the 1930s. Six boys, all about 7 years
old and all blind, arrived there in 1937 with little
more than the clothes on their backs. Throughout my
research on the early days of the Blind Boys of
Alabama Ive found very little on their experiences in
the institute. The Alabama Institute for the Negro
Blind opened in 1892 but was not integrated until
1968. Separate but equal was the law of the land in
the South including Black disabled people who received
no services, no or a second class education compared
to their White disabled counterparts. To get to know
how the Blind Boys of Alabama and other Black blind &
deaf people lived and were treated back then I
recommend Mary Herring Wrights book, Sounds Like
Home: Growing Up Black & Deaf in the South.

The Blind Boys were lucky they were helped by
sighted friends to focus on their musical talents and
all of them left the institute that offered only a
career in broom making to make it as gospel singers.
Although there is very little written that I know of
about their early days, I can just imagine what they
went through as African American, blind, young men
down south at that time. I used the book, Brother
Ray, written by late Ray Charles to judge what the
Blind Boys of Alabama went through in the 1930s down
south because Ray Charles went through almost the same
treatment. Plus it has been documented from disabled
and race scholars that the South had its own why of
dealing with Black disabled people. Authors like
Steven Noll has written about the treatment of Black
disabled people in the south from 1900-1940. Although
Noll concentrates on Black people with developmental
disabilities, we can use this as a model of how other
disabled Black people were treated i.e. the Blind Boys
of Alabama at that time. However they did learn how
to read Braille and got to practice their singing
while attending the institute.

Now, today The Blind Boys of Alabama is on top and
are known as the grand dads of gospel music. I still
wonder where is their book & movie about their lives?
It took Ray Charles almost a decade to find a right
market to introduced his ideal about a movie of his
life. Can you imagine being Black blind and poor down
south in the thirties and to come almost full circle
and still be able the kick out albums today? So far
I found a video entitled, The Five Blind Boys of
Alabama. Im not sure but I think this is a concert
video with some interviews and hopeful they talked
about those days.

The fathers of reggae started out poor, homeless and
were taken advantage of during their early years.
They were even shunned by other reggae groups because
of their disability. Although there is a lot written
on the incredible story of Israel Vibration on the
internet, in reggae magazines and in their box CD
collection, there is no book about their lives and
their struggles and accomplishments as of yet. I
recommend reading an article of Dread online entitled
RASTAMAN VIBRATION: Israel Vibration by Jason Levy if
you really want to get known Israel Vibration. Just
like the Blind Boys of Alabama, Israel Vibration,
Lancelle Bulgin, Albert Craig and Cecil Spence, known
as Skelley, Apple and Wise were separated from their
families to be institutionalize for education and to
receive what doctors at that time called medical
treatment for their disability, Polio. Although the
three members that make up Israel Vibration lived in
Jamaica, millions and thousands miles away from
Alabama, more than their stories of segregation,
discrimination and their saving grace, music, has a
shockingly common threads that links the two together.

The members of the Blinds Boys of Alabama and Israel
Vibration both were born in poverty and parents had to
put them in institutions\ boarding school far away
from them as their only choice. Both grew up in a time
and area that didnt have the services and medical
treatment for their disability, down South in the
1930s and in Jamaica in the 1940s where Polio spread
through out the land with no cure in sight. Both
found each other and discovered their musical talents,
both were discriminated in their institutions and both
had no choice but to leave and follow their dreams.
However the similarities end there. As some of
us know the Blind Boys of Alabama had two sighted
friends that helped them when they voluntarily left
the institution to pursue their music career. While
Skelley, Wise and Apple were all kicked out of Monia
Rehabilitation Center in Kingstown because of their
strong faith in Rasta and their new look with
dreadlocks and with no support they became homeless.

Another difference between the Blind Boys of Alabama
and Israel Vibration early years is that Skelley, Wise
and Apple all were badly abused while they attended
Monia Rehabilitation Center. They were not given
opportunities like singing in a choir or working on
other skills like the Blind Boys of Alabama had back
in the US. There are more similaries between the two
bands in how they survive those harsh years. The one
common thread of all the artists in this essay
especially the Blind Boys of Alabama and Israel
Vibration is their faith in a higher power. The Blind
Boys believed that God brought them together and
continues to bring them glory, awards and inner
strength. They are wrapped in spirituality and
teaching of the Black Christian church. This is the
same for Israel Vibration but in another form as
Rastafari and of His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile
Selassie I of Ethiopia along with Jah and the Rastas
culture gave them the spiritual and a foundation of
support even with their disability. Both also sing
about this incredible support that literally saved
their lives.

Israel Vibrations story is well known to their
fans and in the reggae arena but I wonder if people
really understand what they survived and the
foundation they created as not only musicians but as
Black disabled people being the one of the first all
Black physically disabled band. They turned to their
gift, music, in the face of physical abuse, poverty,
homelessness and segregation. For more on Israel
Vibration buy their video and DVD, Israel Vibration
Reggae in the Holyland, that has interviews and
concert footage. They even talk about their early
days in Monia Rehabilitation Center and how they dealt
with their disability.

To stay on this reggae vibe and travel to Brazil
well find a similarly story as the ones above. I was
recently drawn to the story and music of a Brazilian
roots reggae group, Tribo da Jah. From their wesite it
says that The Tribo of Jah is composed by Fauzi
Beydoun, Zi Orlando, Achiles Rabelo, Joco Rodrigues,
Neto and Frazco. But for Fauzi, all the others are
blind Even Fauzi has said in many interviews that he
is partially blind. Reggae in Brazil have deep roots
which many say started to grow in Sco Luis a town in
the state of Maranhao that is why its called the
capital of Brazilian reggae. This was where Maranhco
School for the Blind is located and where the five
members who make up Tribo da Jah met. Like The Israel
Vibration all the members of Tribo da Jah, came from
separate families that were poor and had no choice but
to send their sons to this school far away from home
for education and medical support.

The beginnings and growth of Tribo da Jah have
commonalties of the Blind Boys of Alabama & Israel
Vibration. Like the Blind Boys and Israel Vibration,
the five members met in the school for the
blind\disabled in Maranhco and shared like the above
artists difficulties and discrimination in their early
days. However like the Blind Boys of Alabama, Tribo
da Jah was eagred, supported by a soon to be close
friend and lead singer of Tribo da Jah, Fauzi Beydoun.
It was reported that he really adopted these
youngsters with a vision of forming a band. On Tribo
da Jahs website Fauzi Beydoun wrote that "they were
poor kids, and were awoken to music improvising toy
instruments before they started to play in school
parties. He bought the instruments and hired the boys
to create a band what we now know today as Tribo da
Jah.

So far in my research there is very little
details of their experiences at the board school for
the blind. The members of Tribo da Jah passed their
time making, playing instruments and singing and like
Blind Boys and Israel Vibration, the members of Tribo
da Jah left the school to focus on their music. The
common thread continues to sew all these musicians
together i.e. their music, their strong religious
beliefs and their social political messages in their
songs. Although Tribo da Jahs thread has kept them
together for more than ten years, it was hard in the
beginning because nobody liked their instruments that
the band members made by hand themselves in their
school. Also many didn't like their new style of
reggea that is now known as Brazilian Roots Reggae.
Through all these years the band has remain an
independent group with their birth of roots reggae
that was over shadow in the past by Jamaican style of
reggae.

Once again we see a common story amongst the artists
which is some times but not often though an
environment that can seem to be a form of segregation
among the general public can also be a garden of
creativity, artistic growth & expression. Although
instruments making day in and day out might seemed
boring after a while, it did set the stage of their
success in the Brazilian reggae industry and beyond.
Like all the musicians I mentioned Tribo da Jah left
the school to pursue their career. As of now, there
is very little written information in a form of a book
that is out there on Tribo da Jah. However you can
check their DVD entitled Tribe of Jah - Tribe of Jah -
to the Living creature 15 Years which has interviews
and live concert footage.

I cant see no better way to end this essay with a
story of relationship, love and of course the power of
music. Im talking about the talented blind married
couple from Bamako, Mali, Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam
Doumbia. I found many articles on the internet about
this incredible love affair and their extraordinary
musical talents. Unlike The Blind Boys of Alabama,
Israel Vibration and Tribo da Jah, Amadou & Marian
found and crafted their talents before they attended
the Institute for the Young Blind of Mali in the 50
and 60s. Another difference that Amadou & Mariam have
compared to the above artists is that both have been
apart of other bands before they decided to make their
career together.

Just like Skelly, Apple and Wise of
Israel Vibration Amadou wasnt born with his
disability. He contracted at an early age that
qualified him to attend the Institute for the Young
Blind of Mali where Mariam was a rising star for her
vocal and songwriting talents. Her first song she
wrote translates to What Did I Do God to Deserve
This? The title of this song brings up a lot of
question for me. Is she talking about her disability,
or her schooling or is it bigger to discuss her
country etc? So in this situation the Institute was
the place that nurture this early love affair, respect
and what led into the first blind couple to step in
the international music industry. Like the other
musicians in this essay, Amadou & Mariam bonded
through their music and past the time practicing their
art. Like the musicians that make up Tribo da Jah who
were also gifted in playing instruments, Amadou is not
only a vocalist, he is also a plays an instrument,
guitar.

As you have or will read, all was not rosy for Amadou
& Mariam. Living under a military dictatorship was
hard to find opportunities to grow as artists singing
in their own countrys language. Being blind their
parents and others did not approve of their
relationship at first that led to marriage and three
children. This and the urge to blossom their talents
internationally made them to decide to move and leave
their country to live in the Ivory Coast and Paris but
like James Baldwin, Amadou & Mariam returned to their
home after they reached international fame. It seemed
like Amadou & Mariam had their own way of seeing,
hearing and living their lives and perfecting their
career from the beginning. From early on they were
influenced and experiment with the pop of the
Seventies, electric blues, reggae, Cuba and played a
key role in what is Malian music today. As the common
thread continues Amadou & Mariams music has socially
and spiritual message to their people of Mali.

Like Ive been saying all along there is very small
amount of written material out there on these artists
including Amadou Bagayoko & Mariam Doumbia in a book
form or even articles. I can say that all these true
stories of: disability, struggle, discrimination,
artistic expression, finding each other in an
environment that separated them from their families
and friends to change the face and sounds of the music
industry in their own countries is an attractive story
for an explosive book. Wow, disabled people of color,
we have so much strength, beauty, talents and stories
that need to be displayed and told. There are many
more disabled people of color in all arenas of life
that have similar stories that have grown to share
their talents and have changed their societies. I
realized that institutionalizing and segregation of
anybody is not the way to encourage any kind of growth
but the above stories should remind us today, Black
disabled people and other people of color with
disabilities, that we have a history of struggle that
led to incredible achievements. As a Black disabled
artist these stories are more than encouragement its
my history that needs to be acknowledge and shared in
our communities, institutions and in the publishing
arena!!

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Section 8 Restored...sort of…

09/24/2021 - 11:01 by Anonymous (not verified)
Original Author
root
Original Body

While some states partially restore Section 8 funding others plan for more "gentrification". Housing activists call for nationwide protests

by Lynda Carson/Roll Back the Rents

This latest batch of news includes the latest info
from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition. See
below...

The Feds/HUD have been restoring funds back into the
severely damaged Section 8 program due to the
April/May 2004 budget cuts that took place, at the
same time HUD has just lowered the Fair Market Rents
which means another whole set of cutbacks are taking
place around the nation in the Section 8 program. See
the Fair Market Rent stories below from Cape Cod &
Stamford.

San Diego Housing Agency has HUD funds restored but
fails to restore full funding back to voucher holders.
See below story...

Charlotte public housing tenants face displacement
from the privatization of public housing in their
city... See below story...

The VA-HUD Appropriations Bill which includes the
funding for the Section 8 program which the Bush
Administration opposes is taking a backburner to avoid
political fallout that may occur before the November
election.

Legislation: The $92.9 billion FY '05 VA-HUD
appropriations bill.

Floor action: Possible this week, though Democrats do
not expect the bill on the floor until after the
November election.

Quick House floor action on the FY '05 VA-HUD
appropriations bill appears unlikely this week as
lawmakers return to Capitol Hill from their summer
recess.

Democrats are anticipating Republicans will keep the
VA-HUD bill far from the floor before the presidential
election to avoid a politically risky debate.

b>Nationwide Protest Against Funding Cuts to
Housing & Homeless Programs

WASHINGTON, DC The National Coalition to Save Section
8, a broad based diverse group of over 150
researchers, service providers, advocates, people
experiencing homelessness, people who live in public
or subsidized housing and people of faith are
coordinating a day of action across the U.S to demand
full funding for Section 8 and all federal housing
programs.

. The Section 8 housing choice voucher program
currently serves two million low-income households,
the vast majority of who are working families with
children, senior citizens, and people with
disabilities.

The Bush Administration has continued its efforts to
cut up to 60,000 existing families from the Section 8
program this year through cuts to local Housing
Authorities. This was done in spite of Congress
voting for enough funds to renew all Section 8
contracts this year. If the administrations Section
8 budget for Fiscal Year 05--still before Congressis
passed as is, Housing Authorities around the country
would be forced to drop an estimated 250,000 families
from Section 8 next year and/or institute significant
rent increases within the program.

A diverse group of individuals from around the country
have been fighting these cuts for several months.
Advocates scored a major victory when the House
Appropriations Committee voted to add $1.49 billion to
Bushs Section 8 request. However, the Committee did
this by cutting all other HUD programs by
4.3%--including McKinney Act federal funds for
homeless programs, Housing for People with Aids,
Public Housing, and Community Development Block Grant
Program and HOME grants to cities. Garrick Ruiz of the
National Coalition to Save Section 8 said Existing
federal housing programs are not solving the massive
affordable housing crisis in this country, to talk
about cutting Section 8 or funding it by cutting
housing programs for people with AIDS, homeless people
or senior citizens is unconscionable

The proposed cuts to the Housing and Urban Development
Programs (HUD) programs would have a devastating
impact on the current 3.5 million homeless people in
this country.

CONTACTS: National- Donald Whitehead 202-737-6444
ext 14; dwhitehead@nationalhomeless.org

************


FY04 VOUCHER FUNDING CRISIS - WEEK 19


New England Groups Warn HUD On Housing Cuts

On August 20, the Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire
Interagency Councils on Homelessness sent a letter to
HUD warning that cuts in housing voucher funds will
lead to an increase in homelessness. The letter was
addressed to Philip Mangano and Veterans Affairs
Secretary Anthony J. Principi, director and chair,
respectively, of the U.S. Interagency Council on
Homelessness.

The letter warns that, if proposed cuts sought by HUD
for the Section 8 program are implemented, the ability
of the Interagency Councils to address homelessness
will be severely curtailed. The letter points out
that New England states are experiencing a severe
housing shortage and housing costs have escalated
dramatically over the past decade. The New England
states are looking for your help in restoring the only
lifeline most of our clients have, the letter
concludes.

Cathleen Voyer, Chair of the Vermont Interagency
Council, said in a press release that without basic
mechanisms for affordable housing, like Section 8
vouchers, the many efforts to keep families housed
would be negated. As many as 740 low income families
in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are at risk of
losing their vouchers.

In addition, Burlington, VT, Mayor Peter Clavelle has
written a strongly worded letter to HUD Secretary
Alphonso Jackson arguing that there is a fundamental
contradiction in federal housing policy between HUD's
initiative to end homelessness and HUD's recent
Section 8 voucher funding policy for FY04.

Mr. Clavelle says that he previously wrote to
Secretary Jackson on June 30 to alert HUD to this
contradiction, but the response he received from
Assistant Secretary Steven Nesmith "is a boilerplate
response, one that does not even address the concern
that I raised." He went on to say that without funding
to support all authorized vouchers, "the City of
Burlington's Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness is a
meaningless document."

Vouchers Still an Issue in MT. Montana Governor Judy
Martz (R) has written to the Montana Congressional
delegation noting the importance of Section 8 and
questioning changes to the program in both FY04 and
FY05. Earlier in August, Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT)
sent a letter to HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson
expressing concerns about the proposed changes to the
voucher program (see Memo, August 13).

In a letter to Senator Burns, Senator Max Baucus
(D-MT) and Representative Dennis Rehberg (R-MT),
Governor Martz said, For over 30 years Montanas
disabled, children, elderly and poor have had roofs
over their heads with help from the Section 8 voucher
program. The Governor points out that Section 8 has
been the cornerstone of national housing policy since
the Nixon years, and that it is being wrongly
targeted.

The letter states that Montana housing authorities
have appealed to HUD to have their funding restored
for FY04. If successful, the appeal will keep as many
as 400 families from losing their housing assistance.

The Governor also wrote that additional families stand
to lose their homes if proposed voucher budget cuts
for FY05 are implemented. She urged Congress to
intervene, calling the voucher program good for
Montana and good for the nation.

Advocates Prepare for Next Congressional Action.
Advocates are preparing for further advocacy on FY05
HUD appropriations, including the voucher program,
upon the reconvening of Congress the week of September
7. Before adjourning for the August recess, the House
Appropriations Committee considered the FY05 HUD
appropriations, restoring the cuts to the voucher
program proposed by President Bush, but continuing
harmful Section 8 language and proposing cuts to all
other housing programs by more than 4%. The Senate
has not yet considered the FY05 HUD appropriations.
Additional information is at www.nlihc.org.

************

Montana Update

* The Associated Press reported on September 2, 2004
that the HUD decision restores partial funding to
voucher programs in Montana. However, according to
George Warn, manager of the Montana Commerce
Department's Housing Assistance Bureau, "They [HUD]
told us that this was a one-time increase and that the
funding would not be included in our base in 2005."
According to the Billings Gazette, 150 families are
still at risk of losing their vouchers.

************

San Diego Housing commission to get back $3.3 million cut by HUD
in April


San Diego Daily Transcript

The San Diego Housing Commission is having $3.3
million restored by the U.S. Housing and Urban
Development Department for Section 8 voucher
financing.

The government will restore approximately $156 million
to housing authorities nationwide. The money will be
distributed to 379 of the 398 housing authorities that
appealed.

Despite the restored funds, the commission said it
wouldn't reverse two changes it implemented earlier
this year after learning in April that HUD had changed
its funding formula. As a result of the HUD change,
the commission reduced its voucher size and the
maximum subsidy level. HUD's change was retroactive
and based on average rental rates in August 2003.

The voucher size dictates the number of bedrooms per
unit, depending on how many people live in the
household.

In the city of San Diego, approximately 5,000 property
owners rent to 12,000 low-income, voucher-holding
households in the housing commission's rental
assistance program. Households include families,
seniors and disabled people.

When renters who are affected by these changes are
recertified annually, they must either pay more rent
or move to a home with fewer bedrooms.

"The housing commission has been on a program trying
to reduce the cost of the Section 8 rental
assistance," said Elizabeth C. Morris, president and
CEO of the commission. "Even with those cost saving
measures it's likely we would not have had sufficient
funds to continue to help all 12,200 families."

Between 75 percent and 80 percent of the families earn
30 percent of the region's median income. For a family
of four, that would be $20,550. The total household
income allowed for a family of four to qualify for
Section 8 assistance is 80 percent of the median
income, which is $54,000 for a family of four.

When landlords rent to families, they enter into a
lease agreement with both the housing commission and
the tenant. Under the agreement, tenants pay
approximately 30 percent to 40 percent of their gross
monthly income for rent.

One or two people in the household qualify for a
one-bedroom rental. The maximum rental subsidy is
$962. The level may vary from neighborhood to
neighborhood. Households with three or four people
qualify for a voucher for two bedrooms, and up to
$1,204 in rental assistance.

"Our budget is still not healthy by a long shot," said
Bobbie Christensen, director of the commission's
communication and strategy department, in a prepared
statement. "We had to use our commitment to voucher
holders and rental owners. We (still) need to make the
voucher size change to keep us financially viable so
we can continue to help all those we do."

************
Fair market' may not be fair - Cape Cod Story


Cape Cod Times - Sep 06

Affordable housing advocates criticize federal
calculations of Cape rental rates. Are Cape rents
going down? The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development seems to think so, say advocates for
affordable housing.

They are protesting a HUD proposal to decrease what
the agency considers a "fair market rent" for
subsidized housing on Cape Cod.

While HUD set a fair market rent for a three-bedroom
house or apartment in Barnstable County at $1,202 this
year, it proposes the rate be reduced to $1,094 as of
Oct. 1. That's a decrease of 9 percent in what federal
officials consider a fair price for people who receive
subsidized Section 8 housing.

Housing advocates say federal officials will end up
forcing low-income renters on Section 8 to spend more
of their income on rent and may alienate the private
landlords who participate in the Section 8 program.

************
Stamford Housing officials call for fairness in rents


The Stamford Advocate

Several housing authorities in lower Fairfield County
think a proposed change in rent standards set by the
federal government won't be fair. Fair market rents,
published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, represent the average rent for an
apartment and utilities in an area.

This is the first time HUD is calculating the rates
using 2000 Census data and new Office of Management
and Budget geographical definitions. HUD establishes
new fair market rent benchmarks every 10 years based
on the Census.

Fair market rents, or the amount HUD says it will give
Section 8 landlords for rent subsidies, will be $787
for an efficiency apartment; $950 for a one bedroom;
$1,100 for a two-bedroom; $1,316 for a three-bedroom;
and $1,725 for a four-bedroom.

About 1,000 families in Stamford and 770 in Norwalk
rely on the affected programs. Greenwich housing
officials did not return calls last week.

************
North Carolina Public housing to get a makeover


The Charlotte Observer - Sep 05

Tawana Shannon sat with neighbors playing Monopoly
under a shade tree to escape her sweltering apartment
at Live Oak public housing complex. Outside, the
community of 32 apartments seems a peaceful,
tree-lined enclave in the shadow of Phillips Place
near SouthPark mall.

Live Oak, behind Phillips Place off Fairview Road, is
one of six valuable properties the Housing Authority
owns and wants to put to different use, either by
building mixed-income communities or selling the land
and using profits to build affordable housing
elsewhere.

To do it without depending on huge grants of federal
money, the authority will partner with a private
developer to demolish Live Oak and replace it with
mixed-income apartments, condos and perhaps detached
homes and offices.

Such a plan would renew concerns that not enough
public housing would be rebuilt or would be too
expensive. The same concerns arose when Earle Village
public housing complex was transformed into
mixed-income First Ward Place in uptown Charlotte in
the 1990s.

"We looked at our portfolio and realized we have some
of the choicest real estate in the state of North
Carolina," authority CEO Charles Woodyard said. "We
started thinking that we are underutilizing these
valuable assets, and we've got to convert them into
cash flow or housing that makes more sense for
low-income families."

Gentrification a concern

Housing advocates worry that redeveloping public
housing in prime locations opens the door to
gentrification, where neighborhoods are redeveloped
for well-paid professionals as low-income residents
are squeezed out.

Fear of displacement

Yet some public housing residents are nervous after
years of hearing stories about residents at HOPE VI
redevelopments being displaced.

************

Washington State Housing money restored


JASON HAGEY/ Tacoma News Tribune

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
has agreed to restore nearly $1.3 million in funding
to the Tacoma Housing Authority's Section 8 rent
subsidy program and an additional $650,000 to the
Pierce County Housing Authority.

Officials from both housing agencies say they now have
enough money to run their Section 8 programs through
the end of the year without making additional cuts.

This summer the Pierce County Housing Authority mailed
letters to 229 Section 8 voucher recipients notifying
them they would be cut from the program, and Tacoma
was making plans to borrow money from the City of
Tacoma.

At the same time they found ways to cut costs, many
housing authorities appealed HUD's calculations.

Nationwide, HUD agreed to restore $156 million in
funding to 379 of the 398 housing authorities that
appealed, said Donna White, a HUD spokeswoman.

**********

B>VA-HUD SPENDING BILL LIKELY HEADED FOR HOUSE
BACKBURNER
Environment and Energy Daily
September 7, 2004

Darren Samuelsohn, Environment & Energy Daily senior
reporter

Legislation: The $92.9 billion FY '05 VA-HUD
appropriations bill, which includes $7.75 billion for
the U.S. EPA.

Floor action: Possible this week, though Democrats do
not expect the bill on the floor until after the
November election.

Quick House floor action on the FY '05 VA-HUD
appropriations bill appears unlikely this week as
lawmakers return to Capitol Hill from their summer
recess.

According to a spokesman for House Appropriations
Committee ranking member David Obey (D-Wis.), sharp
spending cuts for many of the bill's most popular
agencies, including the U.S. EPA, NASA and the
National Science Foundation, have pressed GOP leaders
into holding off on a debate on the overall $92.9
billion spending bill. Democrats are anticipating
Republicans will keep the VA-HUD bill far from the
floor before the presidential election to avoid a
politically risky debate, Obey's spokesman said.

The White House Office of Management and Budget
criticized the VA-HUD bill when it passed the House
Appropriations Committee in late July, offering a veto
threat because of the 7 percent NASA cut. The space
agency's budget also drew the ire of House Majority
Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), whose home district next
year will include all of the Johnson Space Center in
Houston. DeLay called the NASA budget cut
unacceptable.

A spokesman for House Appropriations Committee
Chairman Bill Young (R-Fla.) said the FY '05 Labor,
Health and Human Services spending bill is the only
appropriations measure scheduled for floor debate this
week, with no set schedule for VA-HUD or the
Transportation spending bills. Floor action on the
Labor-HHS bill is expected tomorrow and Thursday.

Just prior to the summer recess, Young shifted his
plan for the FY '05 appropriations process, saying he
would try to complete all of the outstanding bills
when lawmakers return after Labor Day. Previously, he
had said his goal was to pass all 13 spending bills
individually before the start of the August break,
wrapping them together after that into a year-end
omnibus for conference with the Senate.

But with a short calendar leading up to the November
presidential election, it remains unclear if Young
will need to change his strategy again. So far, the
Senate has debated and approved only the FY '05
Defense appropriations bill, and Senate Appropriations
Committee markups for VA-HUD and eight other spending
measures have yet to be scheduled. The outcome of the
White House race is also considered a major factor in
determining the direction of the appropriations
process.

The House VA-HUD bill that advanced out of committee
includes $7.75 billion for EPA, which is a $605
million cut from the FY '04 enacted level of $8.37
billion. The House's EPA mark is also just below the
administration's $7.76 billion request. Within the
larger VA-HUD bill, spending on veterans health care
and low-income housing take top billing and are the
only major programs to receive a significant increase.

At EPA specifically, the Clean Water State Revolving
Loan Fund takes the largest spending hit with a
funding total of $850 million, the same level in the
administration's budget proposal. Congress last year
approved $1.35 billion for the catch-all water
infrastructure account.

Democrats criticized the CWSRF cut during the House
committee markup but refrained from offering any
amendments. Obey's spokesman said a CWSRF amendment
could be offered if the VA-HUD bill comes to the floor
on its own but noted that it would be more difficult
to try to increase funding for it if the legislation
ends up in an omnibus.

Both the Bush and Clinton administrations recommended
limiting the CWSRF only to see lawmakers add money
back during the appropriations process. Rep. Jim Walsh
(R-N.Y.), chairman of the VA-HUD panel, said during
the July markup he hoped the funding cut would be a
one-time event spawned by tight overall budget caps.

"This is not something we should or can do again next
year," Walsh said. "This is something we're basically
forced to do this year."

EPA spending other than the CWSRF would fall by an
average of 2 percent from FY '04 levels in the House
VA-HUD bill, Walsh said. The agency's science and
technology account nets $729 million under the VA-HUD
bill, a $53 million cut from FY '04 levels but a $50
million increase over Bush's request. The EPA's
environmental programs and management account receives
$2.24 billion in the House bill, a $39 million cut
from current levels and a $76 million reduction from
the administration's request.

The Superfund cleanup account receives $1.26 billion
in the House bill, status quo from current levels. And
the House bill also includes $845 million for EPA's
Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund, the same
level as FY '04.

At this point, the House bill does not make any major
policy recommendations or advance controversial riders
addressing EPA. In the event VA-HUD ends up in an
omnibus, Obey's spokesman said Democrats will be on
the lookout for such language.

On the issue of EPA enforcement, the House VA-HUD bill
does not spark controversy this year. For FY '05, the
panel funds the same full-time employee level of 3,471
that Democrats were able to include in the FY '04 EPA
budget. The Bush administration has proposed slight
personnel increases in past years but has still faced
pressure from Democrats to boost environmental
enforcement staffing even further.

A tight budget has led the House VA-HUD bill's authors
to limit spending on several of Bush's proposed new
spending priorities. The administration requested $65
million for the expansion of EPA's Clean School Bus
USA program, which aims to upgrade the nation's entire
school bus fleet to low-emission vehicles by 2010. But
the House bill included only $10 million in grants for
local school districts.

The VA-HUD bill also includes $3.28 million for the
White House Council on Environmental Quality, the same
total from the Bush budget request and a $65,000
increase from current levels. Report language in the
bill calls on CEQ to complete a report by March 2005
examining existing federal water reuse, recycling and
reclamation programs.

For the latest in tenant/housing news, join Roll Back
The Rents!
Just send an e-mail to;
rollbacktherents-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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This Boy had his hands in the Air

09/24/2021 - 11:01 by Anonymous (not verified)
Original Author
root
Original Body

Family and community supporters demand Mayor Newsom meet with them about the unsolved murder by police of Cammerin Boyd

by Tiny

" I am here and I won't go away", A deep heat beat down on the alabaster concrete steps of City Hall on Thursday, while the melodious voice of Isabel (Mother) Boyd, Cammerin Boyd's grandmama began filling with tears of unjustified grief, " In May my grandson, Cammerin Boyd, was shot down like a dog in the streets, he was murdered." With each tear she brought everyday sounds and movements at City Hall to a complete stop.

"The mayor won't even talk to my daughter - his mother" Mother Boyd was addressing a crowd of extended family, community members and activists gathered on the steps of San Francisco City Hall to demand that Mayor Newsom make good on his promises to meet with the Boyd family and call for discipline of the police officers involved in the shooting of the 29 year old disabled brother of color, Cammerin Boyd killed in May.

"My grandson was a good boy, Mother Boyd continued, calling on generations of Black mothers and grandmamas who lost their kin to the bullets of brutal police forces across the country acting on the false pretense of "To Protect and to Serve."He was gonna be a football player, so what happened?.. One night before he graduated the CHP ran him off the road and crippled him, took his legs from him. Now this May they finished him off and they aren't doin anything about it," Mother Boyd gave the tragic background of Cammerin who less than ten years ago had had another brutal "run-in" with police which resulted in him being permanently disabled and left with prosthetics and mostly relegated to a wheelchair, " and please I beg you to look into this case, not only for my grandson- but for the 26 other cases (of people shot by police) who were shot for what? Just because they are poor minority and Black."

Mother Boyd concluded in a tearful plea, " This boy had his hands in the air"- this boy was crippled- and they just kept shooting him and shooting and shooting - Its Wrong wrong wrong.."

After Cammerin was shot near a housing authority complex in the Western Addition there was community outrage about what really happened and as is always the case with these invasions of police into poor communities of color their were multiple contradictions from the people versus the so-called "official" versions of what actually happened. Including the fact that Cammerin had his hands in the air in surrender when the cops started shooting and then that after the cops had killed him they kept on shooting into his already dead body.

"It fills my heart to see you here today-to know that other folks are involved in this battle for justice - but the battle is just beginning, Marylon Boyd, Cammerins' mother spoke to the crowd about the shifty tactics of Newsom in dealing with this case and police accountability in general who due to community outrage about the shooting in May had given multiple assurances that the case would thoroughly investigated, but in the last four months since the shooting nothing has happened.

"I came to City Hall just two days after my son was killed because I heard that he (Newsom) had called a special meeting where he invited everyone in the community to hear what happened to my son, but he didn't invite me Once again today I came to Mayor Newsoms office because he is holding a press conference about this case - I asked if I could be involved and get some information - once again I was turned away because I didn't have a press press, " Marylon's description of the Newsom media shuffle of this case was typical of his dealing with several complicated issues affecting poor folks and communities of color always setting the public stage to make him look good while he doesn't actually have to do Anything

"We are here today because Mayor Newsom can find time to meet with press corps of SF but not the people of San Francisco, " the action was Emceed by organizer and community activist Jakada Imani who also called out SF police Chief Fong for her complicit inaction in this issue, "Chief Fong can't find time in her busy schedule to sit down with Marylon Boyd - even though she promised to - so we have come here today to demand that they meet with the Boyd Family like they promised."

The police department actually had the gall to close its investigation into this matter. But we in the community all know that's just another government inspired "cover-up" to protect and to serve its own. The police investigation ignored key witnesses and crucial information and found no failure in the police's action.

"We are out here today because this police department has failed the community over and over again- and then worse the mayor and chief Fong has washed their hands of it," Maliaka Parker from lead organization Bay Area Police Watch addressed the crowd about Newsom's failure to hold the police accountable at all, "He (Newsom) has a responsibility not just to play basketball with some black kids but to make hard decisions, and for those of you all that don't know, Newsom has given more money to get 50 more cops on the force" Malaika was talking about Newsom's recent decision to grant the police department more money to "fight crime" i.e., send more cops into poor communities of color like the Bayview and the Mission

"We all want peace and to be safe- but recently this city has failed to keep us safe- my cousin Cammerin 's life was taken from him by the SFPD" This day was all the more powerful as it included so many family and extended family dedicating their time and energy to see this issue come to justice including Cammerin's children's mothers, his anties, uncles and even Cammerin's cousin , Patrick Taylor who spoke so eloquently to the crowd about why justice must come to this case, " it is now time for freedom from this pain and all this grief, truth and justice will release that peace we all need"

" I can't rest -my disabled brothers and sisters are being shot dragged and beaten to death, One of the last speakers at the action was POOR Magazine/PNN's own columnist and revolutionary poet, Leroy Moore, long-time advocate and national organizer for issues affecting disabled people of color, who opened his shout out with the first line of his poem Can't Rest " For ten years I have traveled around this country protesting police shootings of people of color with disabilities, but we aren't asking no more, we are taking justice - I am sick of seeing my black brothers and sisters killed by police - if they won't let us in the press conference we'll push the doors open"

Leroy provided the perfect ending to this powerful day, because the truth is, if Newsom and Fong continue to refuse this family and our whole community the justice we all deserve about yet another young man of color who was taken down by brutal police action we won't take it - and we all Can't and Won't rest.

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Why Aren’t we saving for a college Fund?

09/24/2021 - 11:01 by Anonymous (not verified)
Original Author
root
Original Body

PNN looks at the sources of the tradition of Black families taking out life insurance on their own children

by Dee

"My son was murdered." The clear voice on the other end of the phone was Kathy Tyson. A single working, African descendent mother and grandmother of many children. As well, Ms. Tyson was the mother of a 25 year old African Descendent man who was murdered by gun shot.

I called Ms. Tyson last week after I read an article written in the SF Examiner about African descendent mothers who take out life insurance on their own children. First we contacted the author of the piece, Alison Soltau who as a police beat reporter seemed to believe that the reasons for the insurance was because of the rise in homicides of Black youth in Amerikka.

"In the black community most people have always had life insurance policies for their children. My mom had insurance policy for us and I had for my children." Ms Tyson explained.

"Black (families) automatically insure their children cause you never know what the future here is. I think this tradition was started in the time of slavery because (The death of our children) is something that we always fear.

She continued, "how many parents are going to have 30 or 40,000 dollars just laying around." Ms. Tyson elaborated that $30,000 was in fact the going rate for burial costs.

We asked Ms. Tyson if she felt protected by the increased police presence in the Bayview Hunters Point community where she resided and she was clear on the fact that they (the police) are in fact the perpetrators of the violence against the community in many cases rather than the protectors.

The origin of this report occurred when Ms. Tyson told her multi-racial co-workers in her Redwood City office that she had life insurance on her children, and they were shocked as they had never dreamed of saving or spending money on the "death" of their children and rather were saving money for their own children’s college fund., "this got me to thinking, why aren’t we (Black families) saving for college funds for our children?"

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Prop. 71, An insider Look from Illin n'chillin'

09/24/2021 - 11:01 by Anonymous (not verified)
Original Author
root
Original Body

Stem Cell Research and Cures
Initiative: A perspective opposing it from a disabled
man of color

by Leroy Moore and Pam Fadem/Illin n Chillin

After being bombarded with dreadful and able-ist
commercials for Yes on Prop. 71, seeing the faces and
reading the and stories of white, wealthy disabled men
(i.e. Christopher Reeve and Ronald Reagan), I wonder
as a Black, disabled activist living on SSI, would
this proposition reach my people and other people of
color who are wheelchair users because of police
brutality? Can Randy M, who became a wheelchair user
after an Oakland Police officer threw him over a fence
thus breaking his neck benefit from Prop. 71? I guess
Randy would not be a good spokesperson for a cure
compared to Christopher Reeves. After reading the
bill's summary and list of sponsors, it is interesting
to see that some traditional organizations of color
signed up to push for the passage of this bill even
though many of these organizations have little
connection with the growing disabled people of color
movement and our organizations. It is also funny that
I don't see a Black Christopher Reeves coming out for
this proposition in the mainstream news. Where is
Teddy Pendergrass, who became a wheelchair user way
before Christopher Reeves because of a car accident?

Have you checked out the list of DISEASES? They list
Developmental Disabilities. As some of you know this
includes Cerebral Palsy (which I have) and Mental
Retardation, among many others. This is stretching it
too far. Of course the old argument comes up, THE
$$$$ SAVE SAVE SAVE argument. People with
disabilities are always linked to $$. Our capitalist
system has always tried to get rid of us and the laws
that protect us. We always cost too much, but with $ 3
billion (what Prop. 71 calls for) going toward this
research, how much will go toward social programs,
health care and the run down hospitals in our cities?

Let's be clear- the Yes on Prop 71 website
(www.yeson71.com) says that research grants will be
guided by medical experts." This fits into the
medical model of disability, not the social model that
the disabled community has been shouting for.

I don't want to stand in the way of a cure for
anybody, but I want to offer an invitation to those
who sponsored this bill and those who will receive
research grants to put their organizations on the list
to support disabled organizations, programs, services,
arts, legal rights etc., which are drastically under
funded and
unsupported in our diverse communities in California.

Additional comment by Pam Fadem

I also share the concerns expressed by Leroy Moore in
the previous opinion piece. Additionally, I hope that
everyone will read the fine print and understand that
while California taxpayer money will support stem cell
research under Prop. 71, the patents for any research
results will belong to private individuals and
corporations. This means the patent holders will be
free to make significant profits, making treatment so
expensive that it will effectively restrict the
benefits of their research (again, remember that the
taxpayers will have paid for this research!) to those
who are rich enough to pay out- of- pocket or who have
insurance that will pick up the bill. California is a
state with huge numbers of uninsured working people,
where people with disabilities are disproportionately
poor, under- or uneducated, and under- or uninsured.
And California is also cutting Medi-Cal services. All
of these problems affect people of color, immigrants
and the poor within our own disability community more
than others. Vote no on Prop. 71 and tell the Governor
wed rather he put that $3 billion towards housing,
healthcare, education and training, and other
desperately needed services for people with
disabilities.

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What are you doing in the Hall?

09/24/2021 - 11:01 by Anonymous (not verified)
Original Author
root
Original Body

One Black youth speaks out against Proposition Y and the march toward a whiter, richer more militarized Oakland

by By Laurence Ashton/PoorNewsNetwork Youth in Media

" What are you doing in the hall?" A mechanical voice shot through the cavernous hall of Oakland Technical High School. It couldn't have been for me, I thought, I had a hall pass and wasn't causing no trouble for noone

"……did you hear me… what are doing in the hall?" And then it hit me , it was for me and this time it was accompanied the dreaded click click noise of police heels studded with metal tips for that almost like-a-gun sound.

"I have a pass," I turned around and faced two Oakland Police Officers who by this time were now fingering their guns and coming toward me, clicking in unison.

"Let me see it" They had reached me now and one of them was less than five inches away from my face"

I fumbled for my jacket pocket, as I did 'the other cop began whispering into his shoulder, "code… call for back-up"

Suddenly before my nervous hands could find the pass, I was against the wall and they were patting me down. Within seconds instead of weapons, they found the pass and after a short cough, one of them helped me up and said, "you should of spoke up sooner, next time keep your pass in your hand" With that, they both walked on down the hall ready to harass the next unsuspecting student who happened in their path.

Later that day I found out that the Oakland Police Department had been called on campus for "a disturbance" which turned out was nothing, so I figured just to make their day not a complete waste of time, they decided to get me on a casual WWB (Walking While Black) violation. But of course what they failed to differentiate was the fact that I wasn't just "walking" I was a 16 year High School student walking through The Halls of my school and, in my opinion, they had absolutely no right in there in the first place.

This disgusting experience, one of many I have encountered as young African Descendent male living in Amerikka, happened almost 3 years ago, and it all came back to me in living sickening color when my editor at PNN asked me to write about the proposed legislation Proposition Y, which aims to put at least 63 more cops on the streets in Oakland funding it with a new flat tax on Oakland homeowners.

Proposition Y will go on November's ballot because it was approved by a majority vote of the Oakland City Council, and instead of funding the already poverty stricken Oakland schools will direct 60 percent of the newly raised taxes to hire more police officers in Oakland.

Education Not Incarceration reported that just like in my case, cops don't prevent violence, they cause violence, they instigate problems where there aren't any. When there were less cops on Oakland's streets such as between 1995 - 1996 when there approximately 100 less cops on the streets, homicides decreased from 152 to 102 and a similar situation occurred from 1999 to 2000, when homicide rates decreased when the number of Oakland police officers decreased.

Those of us who deal on the frontline of racism and poverty have known all of this for a long time, in my case, not only is it my situation but my fathers' who is a houseless, mentally ill Black man. He lives homelessly in LA and the Bay Area and gets harassed, abused and profiled by cops every day. He doesn't get accepted into over-filled supportive housing or access to scarce mental health treatment just because he is arrested for sleeping in a park at night. And similarly, I don't get a better public education because I get harassed in my school's hall. Police don't get at the root causes of poverty and racism; they just make life harder for the poor folks and the folks of color unlucky enough to be on their radar screen that day.

Now I am not saying that all cops are bad, only most of them, but the idea that getting more cops will solve Oakland's' problems is just more Jerry Drowning of our scarce resources and services to supposedly make life better for scared rich folks who want to move foreward with the march towards a whiter, richer, more militarized Oakland.

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Deep Rooted Tears

09/24/2021 - 11:01 by Anonymous (not verified)
Original Author
root
Original Body

A Panel of mothers and activists speak up about police brutality against disabled people of color

by Tiny

"I am the mother of 2 African American young men - one of them is Bipolar …what am I going to do the next time my son gets a manic attack? As this mother spoke her voice trembled with deep rooted tears born form the ongoing assault by the police on the civil and human rights of disabled people of color all over Amerikka who live day to day in trepidation and fear of the next "search and seizure", harassment or like this mother, murder.

This tearful mother spoke at the Q&A section of one of the most powerful "panels" I have attended this year; The War on the Disabled, people of color, speak out, fight back against police brutality, sponsored by The Freedom Socialist Party, Race and Disability Consultants Inc, and POOR Magazine. The panel was moderated by revolutionary poet, race and disability consultant, and PNN's own illin and chillin columnist Leroy Moore and included the mothers of police shooting victims Cammerin Boyd and Idriss Stelly, Marylon Boyd and Mesha Irizarry, as well as, Nellie Wong, from Comrades of Color, Malaika Parker for Bay Area Police Watch, and, Labor activist and mental health worker with The City and County of San Francisco, Roland Washington

"Its not about whether you committed a crime - its about an out of control police department- in fact a lot of out of control police departments- but its also about officers not being trained, but even more clearly its about not enough resources in our communities, police officers should not be responding to medical emergencies" After Malaika presented the cases of disabled folks of color who had been the victims of fatal police shootings, including Joseph Timms and Cammerin Boyd, she got the root of these senseless crimes, i.e., the fact that police officers should NOT be called out on 911 emergencies that are really 5150 ( ie mentally ill) emergencies.

"They are trained in combat, and that is not appropriate training for someone suffering from a mental health crisis." Malaika concluded with calling out for the need for "Real training in mental health crisis for cops and most importantly, discipline, cause without that the training means nothing"

Readers of PNN and the SF Bayview, are well aware of the current fatal shootings of Young African Descendent citizens of the Bay Area, i.e., Cammerin Boyd, Idriss Stelly, Joseph Timms and at least 26 others in the last four years but one of the reasons this panel was so important is the not so well- known factor of these young brothers disability, and when the corporate media reports on these shootings, its reported as the shooting of "a Black youth, or Asian Female" or other media sponsored stereotypes, which in its depiction automatically releases the cops of the culpability for the death of not only another man or woman of color but of the shooting of a Disabled man or woman.

"As a mental health worker who works specifically with homeless Black mentally ill folks in San Francisco, all I can say is, this has got to stop, just stop" Ron Washington, who spoke as a scholar from so many fronts made a point of connecting the dots of his work as a Labor organizer, housing advocate and mental health activist, " I have worked on these police training's, and they only go so far, so maybe we need to do something pre-emptive as a community when we know folks have a problem," Roland described how he personally has been "touched" by the Police departments profiling of African Descendent males as a standard procedure and how it just made him all the more dedicated to seeing the end of this kind of murder.

"I'm already Black, do you think I need a double diagnosis" The next inspiring speaker was human rights activist, advocate, writer, and mother of Idriss Stelly, African descendent youth of 23 who was shot in the Metreon Theatre in 2002 by police, who quoted her multi-talented son, Idriss, who as well as being a teacher, activist and actor in his own right was also very aware of all of the dangers of being a young Black man in Amerikka with a psychological disability. Mesha outlined the entire story of her son's tragic case including the way that the police interrogated her and Idriss' girlfriend to cover-up the accountability of the police in the death of her son.

"It is very important for folks to come to the Police Review Commission hearings" She concluded her compelling story with the plea that we must attend the commission hearings and that if we don't keep holding these public officials accountable they will drop the ball. Which this PNN writer would also urge, seeing as the people, led in large part by Mesha and her tireless work for justice for parents who have lost their children to this kind of violence, were able to get the police review commission to actually be a more community led body rather than the puppet body that it was before the ballot initiative prop H.

"More money for War means less money for domestic violence at home, and as a disabled elder of color I am acutely aware of this kind of police violence" the last speaker of the panel was the poet, writer, vibrant fighter for justice and representative from the Comrades of Color Caucus of the Freedom Socialist Party who connected the larger illegal wars on poor people all over the world as well as the civil rights crimes of the so-called patriot act and other attacks put into full effect by Real Terrorists The Bush administration and its troupes. As well, Nellie brought out the issues of capitalism and the root causes of violence against poor people of color by police.

Finally, The floor was opened up to a very powerful Q&A session in which there were many more voices of scholarship from folks who are resisting these abuses everyday including the announcement of the Bush Administrations October Plan which aims to turn the streets of Amerikka into a pseudo state of Martial Law in October in honor of the upcoming election and how we as people must answer back by getting involved in the organizing work that is struggling to resist these oppressive realities including the work of the October 22nd coalition which will lead a march against police murder and abuse, The Million Worker March, and The Cammerin Boyd Action Committee which will have its first meeting Monday, October 11th at 6:00 pm at 54 Mint street in San Francisco.

Through the work of all these wonderful folks and through the one on one work of mothers everywhere maybe we can solve these senseless crimes and in turn come up with real solutions for mothers and fathers of youth of color everywhere.

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the MUNI Lie Rail Project

09/24/2021 - 11:01 by Anonymous (not verified)
Original Author
root
Original Body

The Bayview Hunters Point community speaks up to get access to jobs and contracts for the last big MUNI project

by Tiny

Yeah, a mid-night train is coming

Right down "Homeless Row"

The Metro, co-signed by "Mr. Willie"

The Bar-be-cue’s of Bayview, he threw yearly

Oh but it’s going to cost the home owners dearly

Trickin the people to cut their own, pocket books

Yeah, they used to Lynch a Nigga, at Southern Bar-be-cues

Young bloods mis-guided, hating one another

Railroaded to Jail, by the coming of the Lite rail.

No jobs, no homes, get out of the way, toot, tooted!

Excerpt from "The coming of the Rail" by Po Poet Laureate A. Faye Hicks

Large concrete teeth sliced through the asphalt. Dirt filled my shoes, dust infested my nostrils. And I was only half-way across Third Street at Palou. On this bright Tuesday morning in September I wavered between the sort of safety of the crumbling curb and the near death of the middle of the non-street in ground zero of the largest, most devastating gentrification, oh excuse me, Development projects to hit a poor African descedent community since the descimation of the Fillmo.

So how do you destroy an entire community without a bomb, a firefight or missile?

" They are building this project right up the middle of this mostly Black community (BVHP) and they aren't kicking down any of the money or the contracts to the black residents of this very community." After I walked through the mess that is Third street circa 2004. I ran into longtime Bayview resident, Kyle, who has lived and worked (when he can find work) in San Francisco for the last 20 years.

"It’s the same ol story, how do you get rid of people?… sell off their land and their contracts to outsiders until one day they become the outsiders in their own land" Kyle ended by looking in the direction of the other big "gentrification" (read:displacement) project in BVHP which is the demolition of several hundred projects " on the hill" by the Redevelopment agency and the rebuilding of market rate condos in their place, which this PNN reporter considers a frightening example of 21st colinization

Kyle told me that on many occasions he has inquired into job opportunities in the li(t)e rail project from MUNI, the City, EDD, etc, only to be given the runaround in more ways than one

I came to BVHP this morning to meet with Kyle in preparation of a Transportation hearing held later that morning at SF City Hall to approve the funding (with sales tax and release of prop k funds) of The Metro East Maintenance Facility which was chaired by SF Board Supervisors, Chris Daly Bevan Dufty and Sophie Maxwell.

The issue of who will get this contract and who will be hired has the ire of several San Francisco City Council members, including Matt Gonzalez, Chris Daly and even District 10's sometimes ambivalent-to-act, Sophie Maxwell because of the bizarre lack of compliance by MUNI with the hiring quotas of 50% resident, 25.6% minority, 6.9% women and the fact that the multi-million dollar "Lite Rail" project that runs right all the way up 3rd street right through the Black community has so far not been given to a local African-American contractor.

" I have a stack of memos, that are only just that, memos from meeting after meeting with officials, and none of those translate into jobs." At the meeting, I spoke to Gus Amador teacher in one of the Community based organizations doing training for the very jobs that would be needed if MUNI were to follow the hiring quotas and open the bidding to African American contractors rooted in the community. Gus concluded with a sigh "and I am training low-income residents of this community to become union carpenters and the bottom line is these San Franciscans deserve to get jobs in San Francisco."

This meeting was held at the SF Transportation Authority one week after a 300 community member strong meeting was held before the Human Rights Commission. The fact that the Human Rights Commission was so well attended and this meeting (the one that really mattered,) much less so, was no accident, as the CBO's who on one hand will benefit if these hiring quotas are followed because their participants will be hired upon graduation, are also receiving money from the very folks who are leading the charge to gentrification/descimation of BVHP i.e., the Mayors office of Community Development, et al, These same CBO's decided that it was imperative that they hold classes today at the same time as the Transportation hearing.

" I just want to make sure we look at both sides of the coin," A man who represented himself as a consultant to non-profit agencies that provide employment and training spoke to me outside the hearing room in hushed tones, "yes there is always room for improvement in contracting opportunities, and there is always room for improvement in employment and training opportunities, but I do want to say that there are a number of CBO's that have been very successful in training and placement in projects such as the MUNI lite rail project," Now this well-spoken African Descendent gentleman completely confused me with paragraphs that sounded a lot like they came right out of a grant proposal or MOCD Request For Proposal(RFP) so I had to ask again, "are you saying that MUNI is employing the BVHP community or not?"

"Well, what I am saying is that MUNI has been creating some employment for the community and leveraging other funds to create other training and placement situations happen….." At this point a whole rush of youth who had just spoken before the panel rushed out of the door in a wave of protest, only to meet the eager gaze of Apolliona's skilled camera, which caused the perfect distraction for my consultant friend, well-timed because I didn't know how much more double talk my brain could hold.

Some noteworthy comments from the Board members present included one by Chris, " Unless you satisfy the people in the community, I am not voting for this" (funding) and even an unusually scathing comment to MUNI from Sophie, " Aren't you jus doing the same thing again"

As well, several powerful folk from the community did come up and speak, one of which was a young African Descendent woman, Erica Mccrury, proud enough of her hoped for future with MUNI, that she even donned the requisite orange mesh jacket over her gray sweatshirt for a PNN photo, "I am an out of work veteran of Desert Storm, and I just want to make sure that when I graduate ( from my pre-apprentice-ship program, I get a chance to work on the lite rail project rather than them bringing folks in from the outside (to work on the project) "

Editors Note; This piece was first published in the SF Bayview Newspaper in September. Thanks to the resistance of the community MUNI and The African American Contractors Association are currently in negotiation to reach a fair and equitable situation that would include living wage jobs for the community including folks re-entering the community post-incarceration.

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Just TRyin To Survive In San FRancisco

09/24/2021 - 11:01 by Anonymous (not verified)
Original Author
root
Original Body

San Francisco workers try to negotiate with Multi-National Corporate Hotels for fair wages and health care and get Locked Out!

by Tiny/PNN

The marble floors glistened like freshly cut diamonds in the morning sun. My feet, shod in my favorite mickey mouse socks glided down the halls like an expert skier It was 6:00 am. I was 10 years old and had sneaked out of our hotel room at The Waikiki Sheraton while my mother was asleep. We were there cause my moms new boyfriend was the head of HouseKeeping so he could get us a room for free in that very expensive hotel. He had been a server for 16 years and finally after so many years of dedicated labor at slave wages was promoted to a pseudo-staff position. It meant he could wear a cheap tie and a better pair of polyester slacks, but most importantly it meant he could get health benefits and a .50 cent raise.

"We’re just trying to hold onto an affordable health benefit plan, and a cost of living (COLA) wage raise, basically we're just trying to survive in San Francisco…that's all" . My brief stint with those marble floors in Hawaii 21 years ago came back to me as I listened to Anna, a housekeeper at the Hotel Mark Hopkins.She had worked tirelessly there for the last 18 years and was a current member of the Local 2 union that was holding a powerful strike of many of the city's most expensive hotels, all of which are owned by some of the worlds largest multi-national corporations. Anna went on to explain that housekeepers like her only earn between $8.00 and 8.75 per hour.

As I walked up the massive hill leading out of the tenderloin where I live to the Monolithic pillar of wealth and privelege that was The Hotel Mark Hopkins and The Fairmont Hotel, I was struck by the tragic irony of these workers' situation, most of whom were immigrants and/or people of color, having to strike just to get basic worker rights like health care and COLA wage increases from the large for-profit corporations, like The Hilton, The Starwood(Sheraton) and The Intercontinental which owns the Mark Hopkins, all of which showed net profits of $156-325 Billion in 2003. The same corporations that if they can get away with it pay virtually nothing to their workers, like my mothers boyfriend who was so afraid to lose his job he never dared join a union or even think about such an act of resistance as striking for benefits.

"They (hotel corporations) are offering us a health plan that will cost an employee with a family of four $273.00 per month to start with an annual increase, a family of four can barely afford to pay rent in San Francisco much-less afford those kind of premiums," Riva , an African Descendent PBX operator for the last 15 years at The Fairmont Hotel concluded by explaining that the new contract proposed by the Hotels did not include a 401(K), IRA or fully funded pension.

The strike was born out of failed contract talks between the Union (UNITE HERE and Local 2) and The Hotel Corporations which began on August 14th when the old contracts between workers and the corporations expired and the hotels refused to change their very unfair contract proposal which included a mere .5 cent raise for workers earning $8.00 per hour and not much more for higher paid workers, as well as the overpriced health care plan. The unions, who were not eager to strike, worrying about the patrons and the City's economy, much of which is built on tourism, waited for 15 days more after they voted to strike on September 14th just to see if the corporations would offer at least something a little better, but they didn't budge by even a nickel.

"We are not striking now, we are locked out," Ann Hunch, a server for 26 years at The Fairmont Hotel clarified the workers current situation "the negotiations (between workers and the Hotels) were stalled after 16 sessions so the Union decided to have a measured strike, just a two week strike at a small group of hotels, cause we don’t' want to mess up the economy at all, and two days later, all of the other multi-group owned hotels like the Fairmont, The Mark Hopkins, and the Holiday Inn civic center locked us all out like garbage, and this isn't regular people, this is big Corporations, like the Fairmont, half of this hotel is owned by a Saudi Prince "

I asked Riva and the other workers what they would do if the next weeks planned negotiations failed "We will continue to stand out here, we will continue to strike, some of us will seek temporary work at a Walgreens or Rite-Aid, something to tide us over, but other than that we have no place to go"

My mother only lasted with the sweet Bill Jimenez, an African-Pilipino Vietnam vet, for a few more months, long enough for my mom to find out he was married and for us to get a free three month hotel stay complete with a filled refrigerator and room service on the shores of Waikiki Beach. I heard later that year that after a few more months in that job he was fired so a college educated guy 10 years his junior could "re-vamp" housekeeping, something management didn't think Bill was "up to"

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Haiti's Long March Toward Freedom

09/24/2021 - 11:01 by Anonymous (not verified)
Original Author
root
Original Body

Reassessing the Haitian Revolution and its meaning today.

by J. Damu

January 1, 2004 marks exactly 200 years since the culmination of one of history’s most titanic, earth-shaking events. Hundreds of thousands of casualties were sustained, national economies were either wrecked or displaced, the history of the western hemisphere was forever altered and the wars of national liberation of Africa, Asia and Latin America that characterized much of the 20th century were pre-figured. What single event caused so much altering of history and empowerment of Blacks and other colonized peoples?-The Haitian Revolution.

When current Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, rises to speak to what will surely be tens of thousands of Haitians to welcome the new year and commemorate one of history’s greatest achievements, he will speak to the worthy successors of those enslaved Blacks and downtrodden masses who rose up so long ago, and he will speak to those in Haiti who continue today to fight for dignity, peace, improved living conditions for all, reparations and even life itself.

Not surprisingly most academicians sweep the Haitian Revolution under the world’s carpet of history. They do this simply by dismissing the revolution, when they refer to it at all, as an event that created the second oldest republic in the western hemisphere. It accomplished this of course, but it did much, much more.

Soberly considered the Haitian Revolution, more than the American and French Revolutions, which were conducted, after all, by slave holders, was the first instance in the history of the planet, where formerly enslaved men and women, workers from throughout society, unified to overthrow their oppressors and to establish their own republic.

Though European and American slave owners never thought such a thing could happen,
the truth of the matter is Haiti, prior to the revolution, was considered the sugar bowl of the world, producing fully one third of the world’s sugar, and it was by far the wealthiest of all the European colonies in the Western hemisphere. Despite the affluence it created however, Haiti was perhaps the most harshly administered of all the slave societies, with the possible exception of Barbados. This was an important pre-condition for the revolution.

The Haitian Revolution which began in August of 1791 with a slave revolt led by Boukman, a voudun spiritual leader, and culminated 13 years later under the successive leadership of Toussaint L’Ouverture and Jean Jacques Dessalines was successful due to a prodigious set of circumstances.

Factors often cited to explain the success of the enslaved Haitians in their overthrow of the French slavocracy include the ideological impact of the American and French revolutions on the Haitians, as well as the inter-imperialist rivalries between the U.S., England, Spain and France. These economic and territorial rivalries prevented any of them sending France more than token support to fight the Black armies.

Only the U.S. seemed to profit nicely from the Haitian revolution. Desperate to raise money to fight the Haitians and simultaneously conduct military expeditions in Europe, France offered to the U.S. the Louisiana Territory, a purchase that would increase the size of the U.S. by nearly one third. At the fire sale price of $15 million, the U.S. quickly accepted the offer, after deducting $3.5 million in U.S. citizen’s claims against France.

While these conditions cannot be discounted as contributing to the success of the revolution, the military experience of the Blacks themselves cannot be overestimated. For instance numerous Haitians had participated in the American Revolution and gained valuable fighting experience there. Henri Christophe, who later served as president of Haiti was typical. As a youth he left his native Graneda and traveled to South Carolina, where he and others from the Caribbean participated in the battle of Savannah. By 1790 he was in Haiti and participated in the revolution from its beginning.

Even more important to the Haitian revolutionary cause, however, were the Congolese and Angolan soldiers. Captured in African warfare, defending their homelands, these highly trained soldiers had been enslaved and sent to Haiti. These soldiers, many of whom still considered themselves subjects of particular African kings and queens, organized and fought spectacularly for a free Haiti.

Furthermore, once the Haitian republic was born, its leaders did all they could to continue to promote the twin goals of abolition of slavery and national liberation throughout the hemisphere..

Well aware of Simon Bolivar’s long running attempts to free the Spanish colonies from colonial rule, Haiti’s leaders supported him when they could. On two different occasions, after Bolivar had been driven from the South American mainland, Haitian president Alexandre Petion re-supplied and re-armed Bolivar’s forces. When Bolivar, who is referred to by some, as the George Washington of South America, asked what he could do to re-pay Haiti, President Petion responded, “You can repay us by freeing all the slaves in the Spanish colonies.”

Petion then gave Bolivar something more important than arms and ammunition. He gave Bolivar a printing press on which was printed the declaration freeing the all the enslaved Africans and Indians held by Spain. Bolivar’s declaration did not prove to be lasting until 1846, however.

Today President Aristide has become a modern version of Boukman andToussaint, a spiritual fighter thrust into political leadership on the crest of a flood-tide of the people. Despite international intervention, wide ranging machinations by foreign intelligence services, collaboration on the part of the five oligarchic Haitian families with remnants of the corrupt Haitian military and massive economic penetration and fundamentalist economic policies imposed by world lending institutions, all in an attempt to return Haiti to the old order dictatorship headed by the Duvalier family; Aristide, his Lavalas organization and the masses of Haitian people have successfully resisted and thwarted political reaction and have implemented policies of social democracy.

Despite many successes however, Aristide and his supporters face dangerous times in Haiti. Violence is being threatened by Duvalierist supporters against many who would celebrate the revolution. Pretexts will be created, many say, to force the removal of Aristide before his elected term is up. Much danger yet exists in Haiti.

African-Americans, Blacks in the Diaspora, Africans, around the world should all express support for Haiti during this most difficult period. All should especially embrace Haiti, particularly on the occasion of its bicentennial celebration, as it looks backward in order to go forward.

J. Damu is the Acting Western Regional Representative for N’COBRA
(National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America.) He can be reached at jdamu@sbcglobal.net.

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