Story Archives 2006

by TJ Johnston

"Last summer under the shade of a tree on the Boston Common, I spoke often with a man who'd been homeless for ten years. He was in his late fifties an had an alcohol problem. He described the daily humiliating routine of checking in and out of the shelter at night and morning Food and clothes were available to him as well as a bed. Yet when he got up to leave he'd say, 'Back to the concentration camp.'

"He was articulate about his life in the shelter that was as if
he'd allowed me to visit his reality."---Poverty and Language

The reality of this unidentified homeless person mirrors that of
George Wynn's characters in Back To The Streets, a collection of
stories,essays and poems in which he fabricates a vivid reality of
society's dispossessed. It has just been published by Freedom
Voices in San Francisco.

Most of the stories are set in Boston and have been originally
printed in Spare Change, the local homeless paper (they've also seen publication in Bay Are a counterparts Street Spirit and Street
Sheet). "Exiled and Eyeless" and "Dinner in Chinatown" depict
Beantown's gentrification on those not affluent enough to live in the Back Bay neighborhood or attend the city's universities.

But the travails of the down-and-almost-out aren't just confined to New England environs. They fit just as easily in Texas, Seattle, Montreal or, for that matter, San Francisco. Wynn reminisces of the SF of his youth in his poem "Radio Trance": "Restless Tenderloin room/ On Golden Gate roof/ Listening to Stella Dallas/ Dusty silver radio."

Wynn was born in San Francisco and spent a dozen years in Boston. Upon his return, he observes the proportionate increase in
homelessness and hostility towards the homeless. "Who swallowed
up peace?/ What happened to love everybody?/ What happened to
the new age?" Wynn beseeches in "San Francisco, New Year. He
displays the grit in this picture: "Hobbled men piss between dumpsters/ Grizzled men piss on every corner/ Restless Men in Blue---clean shaven---/ stampede homeless folk through Tenderloin/ alleyways to Market Street encampments/ Without pity/ Tinged with blood."

In "UN Plaza: A City Attacks The Poor," Wynn points out that such harassment of indigents belie images as a beacon of tolerance San Fran portrays. The Proclamation of the United Nations (founded in SF in 1945) is etched on the plaza. The lofty ideals espoused are but mere words where the desperately poor have their human rights ignored.

However, the humanity of Wynn's fictional outsiders is acknowledged. Behind every person written off as a statistic in a
headcount, there is an individual's story and Wynn aspires to detail that person's own narrative. Aside from immediate housing, each person longs for a human connection. When it is received, it could take the form of language lessons (and food) in "The Chinese Teacher" or even justice afforded an ex-football player who is falsely accused of avoiding payment on a meal.

In this milieu, literary references are abound. The Characters read and cite Camus, Proust, Dostoyevsky, Kafka and Nikos Kazantakis.Literature is a respite, compulsion or redemption. Note Dexter from "Keyboard Jockey": a former journalist, he doesn't let his hard times deter him from writing or taking the young narrator under his wing.

In his essays, Wynn charges the reader to recognize the persons who characterize homelessness and to those who want to write about their condition (including those experiencing it for themselves). His language is obvious and lucid and urges the would-be street writer toward similar clarity in his/her advocacy.
By the same token, he also recognizes that the voluntary silence of the homeless person is also valid and must be respected: "While personal experience of the homeless may be related vividly or kept private, language in defense of the homeless and advocacy for the homeless must be direct and aggressive."

Wynn acutely observes the hopes and despairs of the downtrodden and, need it be said, makes a damn fine read.

Back To The Streets by George Wynn. Available from Freedom Voices, San Francisco. 80pg. www.freedomvoices.org
> --

by Michael Phillip Glynn

This is the house that dope built.
The house of death and money-
milk and honey soured and spoiled -
Of soiled diapers and absentee fathers -
Where no-one bothers to count the cost-
of the futures lost to the house of iron doors and
concrete floors filled with whores of one stripe or another
you have no friend and you have no brother .
In the house that dope built

by Ace Tafoya/PNN

Surrounded by the crystal blue waters of the Caribbean Sea sits Jamaica. An
Island slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut with a population of
roughly 3 million people. A third world country famous for sugarcane,
coffee, rum, bananas, the"Luminous Lagoon", ganja and Bob Marley and the
Wailers.

Sadly, this nation which broke from British Commonwealth in August 1962
faces a major crisis:
Prejudice and Homophobic Violence.

On February 15th, Amnesty International's OUTfront program together with
Community United Against Violence presented at the Swedish American Hall in
San Francisco, 'J-FLAG Breaking the Cycle of Homophobic Violence in
Jamaica.'

J-FLAG (Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals, and Gays) is the isle's one
and only organization helping the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender
community.

Growing reports of torture, stabbings, stonings, rapes and even murder
against people with alternative lifestyles are reported to police. But the
cries seem to be falling on deaf ears, because nothing ever happens to the
culprits.

The reception and discussion on these and other issues featured prominent
activists form the land of the yellow, green and black and by local
speakers. Unfortunately, we were prohibited from taking pictures of the
four-member panel because of confidentiality. Gareth and Karlene (J-FLAG),
Andy Wong (CUAV), and Rebecca Schleifer from Human Rights Watch (who wrote a
80-page booklet entitled "Hated to Death - Homophobia, Violence, and
Jamaica's HIV/AIDS Epidemic") came together to speak out of the concerns of
anti-gay violence and HIV cases on the rise in Jamaica.

"We're just trying to rally people...around a common cause, a very specific
issue, which is an international one, which is the discrimination against
people of Jamaica who are in same-sex relationships," voiced Brian Griffey,
Field Organizer of AI's Western Regional Office. "A discrimination against
gay people with HIV/AIDS, or people who are perceived to be gay."

Jamaica's laws regarding homosexuality and sodomy are archaic. Many
individuals and activists are calling on the government to repeal those
outdated and outrageous sodomy laws. I know the United States has had
horrific murders such as Gwen Arajo, Matthew Sheppard and Brandon Teena,
but we are way ahead of the game in terms of civil rights.

Speaking about people being verbally harrassed and physically abused almost
everyday, Gareth (for protection I can't use his last name) has been an
active member of J-FLAG since 1998 and has manage to have a full-time job
and go to school full-time. "I went to the police station to file my report
(of being harrassed) and when I reached that station, I was laughed at by
every police officer in the station," he said. Basically if you've been
victimized by these harrassments you are virtually on your own. "It sends a
clear message to me: The fight that I'm fighting, I had to do it by
myself."

Gareth also witnessed a man being beaten, whipped and chopped in the streets
but was afraid to help him because of intense pressure of his situation.
"They left this guy to the burden of these people...I was just hoping that he
would make his get-away and everything (would be) okay. When I woke up in
the morning, the first thing in the local paper was that this guy was
killed."

For her part, Karlene told the audience of about 50 people of a friend of
hers who was raped because she is a lesbian. "Unfortunately," she sighed,
"she was unable to report it, because of fear and embarrassment. A year
later he told her if she said anything, he was going to kill her."

Gareth and Karlene are on a 7 city tour of the U.S. that started January
28th, spreading the truth about discrimination, HIV/AIDS issues and sexual
orientation. Their journey started in New York, from there they spoke in
Washington, DC, Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco and then they move
on to Los Angeles. We have a chance to help these courageous people during
their process.
You can pick up 'Action Alert' cards at the AI office on 350 Sansome, Suite
630 in San Francisco or we can write to the Prime Minister of Jamaica in
support of these people to have him repeal these ancient laws. His address
is:

Right Honorable P.J. Johnson
Prime Minister of Jamaica
Office of the Prime Minister
Jamaica House
1 Devon Road
Kingston 6 JAMAICA

Or to get in touch with J-FLAG for donations or support of any kind, their
address is:

J-FLAG

P.O.Box 1152

Kingston 8 JAMAICA

Their website is: JFLAG.org

We can help these people, we've done it before by protesting current
dancehall music artists that promote anti-gay violence in their lyrics by
boycotting their concerts. Brother and Sisterhood has to be restored for
the people of Jamaica suffering these horrendous hate crimes. And in the
words of Bob Marley, "One Love, One Heart, Let's get together and feel
alright." It's basic human rights and it's time.

by Charles A. Houston/A Homeless Poet

Passed by as though a crook

I took the time to look

His old black shiny face

Still bore the trace

The depth in his eyes/shown no disguise

Of his true station

Right world/wrong nation

Revered in his motherland

A leader in his clan

An elder, a “Groit” and so

Protected, respected

Above suspicions

A holder of oral traditions

In America, an old manumit,---ne’griot

Holder of false papers

Holder of a fallacy

Holder of empty Starbucks’ cup

7th St. and Market/ at quitting time

Brother can you spare a dime

© 2005

by Laurence Ashton/PoorNewsNetwork

I am back jack

From an illegal occupation

Invasion..colonization..

That is totally whack

Done kilt, and spilt

With no thought to who

To’ up with guilt

And now I am back jack

With a mixed-up mind

Wanting to know

who I should blame

and what should I do

(kilt and spilt by Corporal P)

As I walked home from the powerful anti-war, anti-colonization march and rally in March the words of my friend and poet, Corporal P, who just returned from Iraq began to flood my mind., "Watch out brutha, they’ll get you next"

My friend spoke in his deep, foreboding voice which makes him seem a lot older than his 19 years. He was trying to scare me about an upcoming draft which he is convinced the current Amerikkan goverment has in the pipeline. At first I didn’t listen but recently, my editor suggested I look at the Bigga Pikcher i.e., the impact of what my editor refers to as the No Child Left Alive Act (No Child Left Behind) on the youth of amerikka.Upon examination of the messed-up "act" which was co-opted by Bush Cheny Inc for their latest coup it requires that parents who enroll their children in public schools automatically register them with selective service.

Selective Service spends every hour of every day planning for the heinous crime of conscription. That is who they are. It is what they do. They are like the Terminator- they would draft your grandmother if the order came down.

In my research for information on the draft I discovered www.draftresistance .org who refers to selective service system as the Selective Slavery System and lists 7 reasons why you should Never register for Selective Service including the fact that the more people register the more it appears like Selective Service could actually launch a successful draft.

Personally as a very low-income young African Descendent man who is trying to come up and out of poverty by getting an education, I ended up registering cause I thought I had to but through this website I learned that that too! is another fallacy. They gave an alternative resource for college funding; The Fund for Education and Training (FEAT) will give you money for college if you refuse to register. So don't register! FEAT address: 1830 Connecticut Avenue NW Washington DC 20009-5732 202 483 2220 fax: 202 483-1246

And of course all of this draft mess will, like all military recruitment have the worst impact on poor folks. College not Combat held an anti-military recruiting coalition protest in front of an army recruiting office in downtown San Francisco in March. The main point of their campaign is kicking out all army recruiters from Bay Area schools because the military systematically targets for recruitment those most harmed by the misplaced priorities of the political establishment: working class children and people of color and more often than not like in the case of my now homeless Iraqi veteran friend, the military promises of financial support amount to nothing.

As I got on the Bart to return to Oakland, filled with truth from the day and the strength to resist the pervasive pro-military lies, I couldn’t help noticing a pile of military recruitment brochures emblazoned with the oldest lie of them all, Be all you can be, or as my friend re-named it kill all that you can see

by Kristen Darrelle Chambliss

My cycle of life was hand-crafted by oppressors who hate me. The cycle they put together was to fail. With only a few ways to escape it and they are to go to a professional sport, sell illegal drugs, or death. My vision is to change that and get my education and succeed in life. I will never be like the others who I call sellouts who sell drugs and their bodies on the street. Or ones who walk on the street and act like they know everything and have twenty and hundred dollar bills in their pocket, and see everyone else around them not to be on their level. We are not different.

This all goes back to what one of my teachers Mr. Zarazua was talking about how living in a poor society leads to poor education, the leads to a low paying job. Growing up for me was and still is hard for me. For eighteen months when I was a little baby me, my sister, and my brother was taken away from my mother and put into a foster home. After she got us back for a few years we kept moving form home to home looking for a good place to live in east Oakland. Time after time the bills got higher and more people became homeless. If it wasn’t for my mother, a single parent who loves and supports me, a young black man, I would be dead or in the streets selling illegal drugs.

With every school I went to, I did the best ii could to get my education. The schools that I went to had barely enough money to stay open. Now it is even worse in the new year. Schools across the nation are being shut down while people, innocent people, die oversees. I might not be the best person that I can be but people will never hear about me being arrested after a drive-by shooting, or in a courtroom with a first, second, or third strike against me.

I will break the cycle of failure and try my best to help those around me who needs it. Many people say that he or she will succeed in life but end up in getting caught up in the system. Do I believe that you can change your destiny? Well just ask and I will tell you that you can. I’m not saying that it is not hard but it can happen.

by Jack Tafari/by way of Street Roots

Introduction

It all started when Israel Bayer who I knew as Street Roots’ creative director asked if I’d like to speak at the Crisis Innovation’s Fair 2004 in London in the UK which he’d learned of through Michael Stoops who he knows at the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, DC.

Upon conferring with Dignity’s Treasurer and outreach co-coordinator Tim McCarthy who some know as tight-fisted and "a bit of a Luddite" according to Amy Haimerl’s feature article Pitching Tents in Denver’s Westword magazine and attorney Marc Jolin who many know as Dignity’s defender and Jo O’Rourke of the British charity Crisis UK who I knew from the contact information Israel provided about the hows and whys, I accepted the invitation to speak as a keynote speaker.

The juxtaposition of keynote speakers at the conference was as startling as the venue at the ABN AMRO Bank in the heart of London’s financial district was stunning. Who would have thought a poorly-educated Rasta and former doorway dweller would ever share a podium with a Harvard and Brown educated PHD senior social scientist of the World Bank? I know JAH who is my light and my salvation and who lifteth I up from the dust of the Earth and causeth I to sit at a table with Princes of Men is ever-living and all-powerful. And God alone guides our steps and protects His children.

Not all of what Dr Woolcock said during his presentation of the "social capital" theory at the conference which guides WB policy I agree with, particularly the vertical linking up and down between those at the bottom and those at the top of the social order. Using the vertical metaphor of a ladder it seems many rungs for the poor to climb from our present location in social space to the top rung where Michael Woolcock is perched. My reasoning was to write Michael the accompanying letter and go straight to the top as we now know each other from the conference.

Letter to the World Bank

Dear Michael,

My name’s Jack Tafari and you might remember that we shared a podium at last October’s CRISIS Innovations Fair on Homelessness and Social Exclusion in London, that we met and chatted over glasses of wine at Crisis’ Skylight Café the night before the conference.

The little village named Dignity where I come from and we talked about is poor at least in terms of monetary capital. We raise funding mostly by writing grants, a skill our grant-writing committee is just learning, and by passing the hat in various ways. We need funding to better serve our community and build the green, sustainable urban village of Our Proposal.

Your presentation of the theory of social capital at the conference, Michael, was strong and compelling, an eye-opener to one such as myself. I see Dignity’s formation now with different eyes and recognize our early bonding among next doorway neighbours for what it was in the terminology of the construct, also the networking across the wider community of our early campaign to gain support to extricate ourselves from those doorways and win sanction from the City. It really is in the power of who you know.

My presentation went less well, I’m afraid, as I hadn’t slept that well the night before. I’d spent the night on the streets of Brixton in S. W. London shivering under a market tarp on some cardboard I’d found due to a miscommunication with our hosts, something CRISIS UK rectified right away upon learning of it. Sleep deprivation is common enough among us homeless people who lack roofs over our beds. But be that as it may.

I’m glad we had the opportunity to meet at the Skylight, Michael, as it establishes a link between our organizations and thought we might network a little as per your theory. I’m wondering if the World Bank would consider extending Dignity Village a capitalization loan of US $1,000,000 to purchase the land on which to build the magnificent eco-village we envision and have sought for so long. I should think you’d be proud to see your "social capital" model in action.

You concluded your presentation by saying "The logic we believe we work to is that we start with an idea, debate the idea, try to measure it, and turn it into practice. A key part of moving forward is recognizing that it also flows the other way. At the World Bank, our directors sometimes spend a week in a village. After a week of going to collect water from a hole in the ground, some come back with the equivalent of a religious conversion and want to start basing policy on practice."

On behalf of our directors whose council I chair, I’d like to invite you and your directors to spend a week in our village. We’ve had many distinguished visitors and guests including a US Vice Presidential candidate and don’t worry, Michael, you won’t have to collect your water from a hole in the ground. Our village is built largely with the recycled scraps of what many people throw away and although the asphalt we live on blisters in the summer and floods in the winter, Dignity has the basic amenities.

We could talk about the possibility of such a loan with your visit, its terms, work out repayment schedules and so forth. I wouldn’t expect the equivalent of a religious conversion among your directors after spending a week in Dignity, but we could share great discussions about basing policy on practice.

Warm regards,

Jack Tafari

Chairman

Dignity Village, Inc

9325 NE Sunderland Road

Portland, OR 97211

(503) 281 1604

(503) 249 6927

http://outofthedoorways.org

Criminal Reality
by Jack Tafari Reprinted from the September 2004 issue of Street Roots

Call me criminal

Me seh call me criminal

Call me criminal beca’ me live inna de street

haffi scuffle ev’ry day fe get someting fe eat

Doan come a hypocrite

like no Sunday ginnal

Iman live inna de street

Gwan, call me criminal

Wage dem a low, price a rent fly so high

people barely see de shadow flyin’ by

When yuh cyaan afford de int’rest

never mind de principal

go live inna de street

dem a go call yuh criminal

Dem would a call yuh criminal

a nex’ dutty criminal

Gwan, call me criminal ca’ me live inna de street

haffi scuffle ev’ry day fe get somet’ing fe eat

fe put food inna mi belly

an’ shoes pon mi feet

Me seh call me criminal

ca me live inna de street

De workers of iniquity

mus’ wuk overtime

fe enact more laws

waan mek homelessness a crime

When so much poor people

livin’ pon de street today

at de stroke of a pen

dem increase de criminae

Create more criminal

Brand new criminal

Whole heap a criminal

Gwan, call me criminal ca’ me live inna de street

haffi scuffle ev’ry day fe get nuff food fe eat

Doan come a hypocrite

like no Sunday ginnal

Ah live inna de street

Me seh call me criminal

Ah beg yuh listen, politician, Mr. Francesconi
nah baddah blame poor people fe yuh poor policy
It is de Homeless System weh yuh haffi address
mek a institution outa homelessness

System mek we criminal

Mek poor people criminal

Me seh call me criminal beca’ me live inna de street

haffi scuffle ev’ry day fe get someting fe eat

Doan come a hypocrite

like no Sunday ginnal

Ah live inna de street

Me seh call me criminal

by Jack Tafari

Introdukshan

Me seh what a weh de policebwoy dem a gwan

inna disya Oregon,

disya Salem, Oregon

Seem seh ev'ryweh me tu'n appear Babylon

inna disya Oregon,

disya Salem, Oregon

Dem approach I fram mi lef'

an' dem come fram mi right

an' dem ax so much question is mus' book dem write!

Dem waan know mi name an' weh me come fram

weh Iman did born

an' weh me a galang

weh me got inna mi pocket dem

an' up under mi tam

an' when me eat mi brukfas' even weh me 'ave fe nyam!

Now Ah could a get vex

an' gaan pon de attack

but listen carefully 'ow me answer dem back

Me seh, "Mi name is Jack Tafari,

me nah come fe do no wrong

mi name mean Peace inna de Amharic tongue

an' when yuh look inna mi pocket nuh

yuh nah go find no gun

ca due to Jah protekshan now

me nah go walk wi' one

Now some claim seh me is a Englishman

an' some nex' one seh me is a 'merican man

but case yuh never know

me is a conscious man

an' Ah did born right yahso inna Creation

So run mi damn ID nuh, man,

den leggo mi han'

an' come out a mi life wi' yuh bagga question

Me seh run mi damn ID nuh

an' den leggo mi han'

an' come out a mi life wi' yuh bagga question"

Me seh what a weh dem policebwoy deh a gwan

inna disya Oregon,

disya Salem, Oregon

by Byron Gafford and Tiny

When the side

Of the road is

Marked by death.

With pictures, balloons,

Teddy bears, alcohol bottles,

And Candles.

Where drive by shootings

Occur leaving bodies

Where they drop.

An excerpt from WHEN THE SIDE OF THE ROAD IS MARKED BY DEATH by Byron Gafford, poet,author and co-director of A Walk of Resistance through Poverty, Homelessness and Homicide a POOR Press PRoduckshun ©2005

"Another death occurred on the block in my neighborhood…that's Bertha Lane"
Poet, author and poverty scholar, Byron Gafford and I were meeting to discuss a showing of our new film at a workshop we were going to run at Unity High School in Oakland next week when he unveiled his newest group of poetryjournalism based on a drive-by shooting of a young African Descendent male in his Bayview neighborhood. The disturbing thing is, this shooting and Byrons' new poetry were the very issues that we had focused on in our short narrative documentary film; A Walk of Resistance through Poverty Homelessness and Homicide.

"It was a year ago when another young man was gunned down on the same street not far from this recent shooting" Byron continued on to relate the fact that since this most recent shooting another shrine appeared which included the remnants of this young mans' short life; Pictures, Balloons, Teddy Bears, Alcohol Bottles and candles for the spirit that remains.

Homicide (murder) is the leading cause of death for Black youth;14-24 years of age and the second leading cause of death for Latino youth in the US. "

The saddest thing of all is Byron and I weren't surprised. In the process of making the collaborative film which was co-written, co-directed and co-filmed by the youth and adult poverty scholars in POOR Magazine's Digital Resistance Program we all brought our personal experience as residents of the Bayview, the Mission, The Tenderloin and across the bay in Oakland to the planning process, which included the experience of having friends and family shot down in their youth. We also explored related issues such as the root causes of poverty, racism, gentrification, media stereotyping, substance abuse redlining, police harassment and homelessness and how these issues have a direct impact on the youth and their families trying to survive in these communities.

After discussing all of these issues we did research on the actual numbers of families in poverty, facing homelessness, and being killed by a firearm in Amerikka. Our findings were truly frightening.

In 2003 the number of Americans living in poverty rose by 1.3 million"

Our research made us more determined to try to affect change in our respective communities through education, awareness and grassroots media production. So after all the poverty skolars/ filmmakers were schooled in the basics of how to operate a camera, direct , edit and write a film they set about producing POOR's recent form of media resistance. A Walk of Resistance, that is.

The film is told in 8 multi-generational, cross cultural voices, walking through five neighborhoods opening with Byrons' journey through Double Rock (Housing Projects), progressing to a bi-lingual tour of East Oakland's youth violence told from the poetic perspective of immigrant youth skolar Muteado and proceeding back to the tenderloin with the voices of houseless African Descendent elders and houseless and at-risk families, and back to liquor stores on Third street in the Bayview ending with a visual and meditative tour through Sundial Park and an ironic voice from POOR's grandmama. A walk of Resistance is truly educational, speaking the truths of poverty and oppression, struggle and survival from the folks who experience it firsthand

Don’t be afraid those
Are the spots where
A mothers child lost
There life…..BY GUN FIRE.

A walk of Resistance Through Poverty, Homelessness and Homicide is in DVD format /running time 15 min. To book a showing or purchase a copy please call POOR Magazine at (415) 863-6306 or email us. As well as a piece of literary and media art in film we also view it as an educational tool for low-income youth and adults, so the Filmmakers are also interested in conducting live presentations/panels and workshops on these issues at schools, community organizations , film festivals or other venues.

by Teresa Molina/Reportera para Prensa POBRE

For English please scroll down

Era una tarde humeda y fria como cual quier tarde del mes de diciembre. Estaba en la parada del autobus en frente de los projectos de Sunnydale en San Francisco donde vivo esperando para ir a trabajo. A mi derecha se encontraban dos personas que temblaban de frio igual que yo. En ese instante nos tiramos al piso sin importar que nos golperamos y que acabaramos ensima de uno y de otro.

Escenas como las que acabo de describir son frecuentes en los proyectos de Sunnydale. La violencia es tan usual en este vecindario que la gente ya esta acostumbrada a ver heridos, muertos, a esquivar las balas y a tener miedo. Lo ironico es que solo la gente que vivimos alli nos damos cuenta de lo que pasa. Los medios de comunicacion no se molestan en darnos la importancia de reportar sobre nuestras situacion. En esta sociedad, comunidades pobres y de color como mi familia son aislados y marjinados. Esta misma marjinacion y desolacion que existe en mi vecindario es en si violencia contra mi comunidad.

A simple vista el vecindario aparenta ser tranquilo. Es usual ver gente afuera sonriendo, sentados platicando como si todo estubiese bien. Pero todos los dias al salir de mi casa veo una escena que se contrasta con grupos de personas que beben cerveza y usan drogas en las calles. Al continuar mi partida noto que las casas son de colores verdes, azules y rosados como pasteles. La pintura de las viviendas estan descascaradas como la cascara quebrada de un huevo herbido al prepararse para comer. En la calle siempre hay bolsas de plastico de basura que hacen que el vecindario huela a ropa mojada y a comida echada a perder. La unica escuela que exciste en mi vecindario es una escuela primaria con paredes similares a las viviendas. Solo ay una tienda que suele vender verduras, carne y comida preparada a precios inflados. No tenemos bibliotecas, centros de recreaciones para niños y jovenes, no tenemos lavanderias, no tenemos nada.

“En lugares como Sunnydale la gente no tiene oportunidades economicas, de salud y de educacion. Los pobres somos vistos como basura y la pobresa se ve como un poblema psicologo”, nos conto Sharon Hewit, directora de la organizacion comunitaria Comunidad de Liderasgo Academico de Respuesta de Emergencia (CLAER).

CLAER es una organisacion de base comunitaria que da servicios directos a familias afectadas por la violencia. Tienen programas de abogacia, recaudan fondos para familias y hacen trabajo de capacitacion de liderasgo de su base. Esta organizacion esta localizada en una zona aislada del Sureste de San Francisco por el Cow Palace y de los proyectos Sunnydale que son los mas grandes de la ciudad. Pero sin embargo nunca se escucha sobre las condiciones en las que viven la gente alli. Segun Sharon esto es problematico.

Tensiones raciales son comunes en zonas como Sunnydale. Al preguntarle a Sharon que piensa sobre la violencia entre Latinos y Afroamericanos ella contesta " Pienso Mierda. No ay violencia de Morenos contra Morenos ni Latinos contra Morenos, ni Morenos contra Latinos. Lo que pasa es que eso nos hacen creer los medios de comunicacion. Nos dicen que la violencia la traemos en nuestros genes. La razon por la que se pelean es por que viven juntos y son vecinos. Si gente blanca estubiera en esa situacion economica ellos se pelearian tambien. ¿Por que no se habla de la violencia entre blancos?"

Sharon Hewitt nos informa que la violencia es un sintoma social que surge cuando ay falta de justicia. Para combatir la violencia, Sharon cree que necesitamos abrir espacios de dialogo y analisar los factores exteriores. Sharon nota que es dificil combatir la violencia que surje en las calles cuando tenemos un gobierno que se vasa en ella. Esta violencia es propagada por este gobierno hacia sus ciudadanos y las personas de Iraq pormedio de la guerra. Tenemos que analisar el papel de los medios de comunicacion y como toleran la violencia y los asesinatos. Segun Sharon tenemos que cambiar la constitucion de este pais, en particular el derecho de tener armas. Este articulo de la constitucion Estado Unidense es irrelevante ya que se usa contra nuestras familias.

Como madre de cinco hijos, e inmigrante de bajos ingresos, tengo que proporsionar vivienda economica a mi familia pese la violencia. Al analysar esta situacion de violencia, me eh preguntado ¿que es la violencia? La violencia no solo es propagada por los balazos y el miedo. La violencia se impone en nuestras comunidades dia tras dia y es la de no tener accesso a escuelas, a tiendas, a programas para jovenes y al cuidado de nuestra salud. Las raises de la violencia bienen de la marginazion, del racismo, de la pobresa y de la injusticia, que son impuestos por el systema. El gobierno nos muestra violencia y a la gente no nos queda otro remedio que sobrevivir al responder con mas violencia.

CLAER esta localizada en el 299 Sunnydale Avenue en San Francisco.

Violence in our Communities

It was a cold and moist afternoon like any other December day. I was standing at the bus stop in front of the Sunnydale Housing projects in San Francisco where I live waiting to head out to work. To my right there were two people shivering from the cold just like me. All of a sudden, we heard bullets buzzing next to our ears. At that moment we hit the ground without caring if we hurt ourselves while landing on top of each other.

Scenes like the one I described are frequent in the Sunnydale projects. The violence is so common in this neighborhood that the people are used to seeing people getting hurt, people dying and to dodge the bullets. Ironically, only the people who live in this area know of the situation. The media does not bother reporting our situation. In this society, poor communities of color, poor families such as mine, are marginalized and isolated. This kind of marginalization and desolation that has existed in my neighborhood is in of it self violence against my community.

On the surface the neighborhood appears to be tranquil. It is common to see people outside their homes smiling and sitting down while enjoying a conversation with out a worry in the world. However, everyday as I leave my home I see a contrasting scene of people in the streets drinking beer and doing drugs. As I walk on, I notice that the homes are of pastille green, blue and pink; the paint of many is chipped and cracked like the shell of a boiled egg that is about to be eaten. Out on the streets there’s always ripped plastic trash bags which make the neighborhood smell like wet clothes and spoiled food. The only school that exists in the neighborhood is an elementary school whose walls are similar to those of the homes. There is only one store that sells vegetables, meat and prepared food at an inflated cost. We don’t have libraries, youth centers, we don’t have laundromats, we don’t have anything.

“In places like Sunnydale people don’t have the economic, health and education opportunities. Poor people are seen as trash and poverty is seen as a mental problem” said Sharon Hewit, director of CLAER (Community Leadership Academy of Emergency Response), a community organization.

CLAER is a community based organization that provides direct services to families who are affected by violence. They have advocacy programs, they raise money for affected families and develop member leadership. This organization is located in an isolated area in Southeast San Francisco by the Cow Palace and by the largest projects in the city: the Sunnydale projects. Ironically, we never hear about the conditions that people live in this area. To Sharon, this is problematic.

Racial tensions are common in areas like the Sunnydale projects. When Sharon was asked her opinion on brown and black violence she answered that she doesn’t think “Shit. There is no brown on black violence, black on brown, or black on black violence. What happens is that is what the media makes us believe. They tell us that we carry the violence genes. The reason why they fight is because they are neighbors. If white people where in the same economic situation they would fight amongst each other too. Why don’t we ever hear about white on white violence?”

Sharon Hewitt informs us that violence is a social symptom that surges when there is a lack of justice. To stop the violence, Sharon believes that we must open up spaces for dialogue and that we need to look at outside factors. She notes that it is difficult to fight the violence that surges in the streets when we have a government that is based on violence. This violence is perpetrated by this government towards its people and the Iraqi people through the war. At the same time we need to analyze the role of the mass media and how it tolerates violence and homicides. According to Sharon we have to change the constitution and the right to bear arts for this amendment in the US Constitution is archaic and is constantly used against families.

As a low income immigrant mother of five children I have to provide housing for my family regarding of violence and fear. While analyzing the issue of violence, I have asked myself, what is violence? Violence is not only propagated by bullets and fear. The violence we live in our communities day in and out is manifested by the lack of schools, stores, youth programs, and health centers. The roots of violence come from the marginalization, racism, poverty, and from the injustice that is imposed by the system. The government shows us violence and as people we don’t have any choice but to respond with violence.

CLAER is located on 299 Sunnydale Avenue in San Francisco.